The bell rang and I jumped up to make my speedy escape when I noticed Mr. Treat walking towards me. Lilly noticed to and giggled madly shaking my arm.
"He is such a cutie," she whispered into my ear as he came to stand in front of us.
"Maxine Dillard, right?" he asked, almost shyly. It was weird. I'd never met a shy teacher before. I nodded, letting him know he was right and a relieved smile spread across his face. I could feel Lilly practically ripping my arm out of it's socket.
"Mr. Biles wanted me to speak with you about your make up work," he said kindly, glancing at a folder he had in his hand.
"Oh," I murmured, turning to Lilly. "I'll catch up with you at lunch."
She nodded and as Mr. Treat turned away she threw in a suggestive wink that made my face flame before she finally retreated from the now deserted room.
I followed Mr. Treat down the wide steps to his desk and waited patiently as he took a seat. He seemed to rifle through some things before finding what he was looking for. Smiling at me apologetically he motioned to a seat the right of his desk. I moved to it quickly, wondering how I was going to explain being late for the second time to Mrs. Peterson. The five minute bell dinged just as I sat down.
"Sorry to keep you, Maxine," he said at last, "but it says here that you just transferred to Ipswich from Greenfield."
"That's right," I nodded nervously. Was something wrong? Were my grades suffering already for some unknown reason? A list of negative possibilities flew through my head but Mr. Treat just smiled and laid whatever he was looking at down.
"Well then you and me our both new here," he concluded, "so we can help each other out a bit."
A raised a slightly confused eyebrow. "How can I help you?"
"Well Mr. Biles wants you to make up the work that you weren't here for so that you're caught up with the other students," he explained, leaning his elbows on the edge of his desk.
"Alright," I nodded, frowning as I realized how much time that would take. We were nearly five months into the school year already.
"Right," Mr. Treat nodded, "so I'm going to have to ask you to come in here a few times during the week at lunch and maybe even a few times after school." He frowned, looking sincerely sorry that he had to ask this of me, but I waved him off.
"Oh no, no that's fine," I lied, "I understand. But how can I-"
"Help me, yes, I'm getting to that," he chuckled. "If every once and a while you can help me get a bit more organized in this new school, or help me grade some papers, I'll gladly let you omit any projects the other students have done so that this wont take you the rest of the year. And I can help you with anything you do decide to do."
My mouth fell into a surprised 'o' as he finished his little speech. It sounded an awful lot like cheating and I could feel a stone of dread settle in the very pit of my stomach. Was it normal for substitute teachers to allow new students to just skip projects?
I looked curiously at Mr. Treat and noticed he had a hopeful glint in his eyes. I knew how hard it was to be brand new in a strange place and just want to have things a bit easier. The final bell rang and I was reminded that I shouldn't be wasting time. I sighed lowly as I caved and nodded.
"That'd be great, thank you," I murmured, turning my face down and blushing slightly. I heard Mr. Treat clap once before standing from his seat.
"Excellent, thank you so much," he beamed as he stretched a hand out to me. I shook it timidly before standing up, eyes trained on my feet. "That's all I needed to talk with you about, Maxine."
"Ok," I nodded, "I'll just go then, thank-"
"Oh wait," he said, snapping his fingers before I could turn to exit up the stairs. "Let me write you a pass to your next class so you're not marked late."
At this I sighed in relief and let a smile spread over my face. I watched Mr. Treat hurry back behind his desk and grab and random post-it note and scribble out a message for my next teacher. He folded it neatly and handed it to, teeth flashing as he smiled.
"Thank you, Mr. Treat," I smiled, curling my thin fingers around the bit of paper. He laughed and waved me off.
"You can call me Michael," he said, again rifling through his drawers. "Mr. Treat is my father's, and I'm too young to take on that title."
I laughed at his levity and nodded, knowing I would never be able to call him Michael without feeling awkward. With one more friendly nod and hurried up the stairs and exited the classroom. I was already five minutes late.
"What happened?" Kate asked as I slid into my seat after giving Mrs. Peterson my pass.
"Mr. Treat kept me back to talk to me," I whispered, pulling out my notebook as the woman continued to lecture. Sarah was completely absorbed in the lecture and didn't even seem to notice that Kate had waved me over to them.
"What for?" the pretty brown skinned girl prodded, interest sparking in her dark eyes. I shrugged trying to seem nonchalant. Not my strong point.
"I have a lot of work that Biles wants me to make up," I explained. "Mr. Treat was just saying that I need to work a schedule for him for when I can come in and do work."
This wasn't a complete lie. I was definitely planning to go back to his classroom at lunch and discuss just when he wanted me to make up work for him during the week. But I didn't feel the need to mention that I'd also be asking when I was supposed to be giving him a hand with his work too. This still didn't seem completely normal to me so I was just going to leave it unspoken of. Lying by omission.
"You mean you get to spend time with that man candy outside of class to?" Kate giggled furiously. I could feel myself going radish red and pressed my lips into a thin line as I tried to concentrate on my notes.
"Kate, he's a teacher," I warned darkly. This was exactly where I didn't want this conversation to go.
"So what?" she laughed, smacking her thigh. "He's a cutie." Flabbergasted and flustered I just shook my head at her.
"If Pogue hears you saying that, he'll probably snap that guy in half," Sarah mumbled, not lifting her face from her paper.
"What Pogue doesn't know wont hurt him," Kate concluded, looking mischievous. "Besides this is purely girl talk, not even serious." She scoffed and shook her head, eyes wondering towards the ceiling. "I mean, as if."
With that we were all able to settle down and focus on the teacher. I took notes studiously and listened for the most part, but my mind started to wonder after the third page of scribbling. It wondered to a certain overly confidant blonde who I thankfully hadn't rammed into today.
Reid Garwin. He was a mystery. I rested my chin in my palm again and stared blinding at the front of the room as I considered him. He was good looking, that was for sure. Just the thought of that handsome face with that triumphant smirk made me start blushing. His style was different from his friends. Black beanies and ever present fingerless gloves. He looked like a rebel rouser and acted like one to. No obvious work ethic, short tempered, rude, and totally disrespectful. Not my type in the least.
But then again I wasn't sure if I had a type. When you've never had a boyfriend or even been on a date, it's hard to know what kind of boys you'd be in to. I'd always considered myself a girl of principle and standard. I always thought that I'd want someone at least slightly similar to me that I could relate with and have civilized conversation with. I wanted someone who was at least nice to me. Reid Garwin was none of these things!
And yet I couldn't get the way he had 'asked' me on a date out of my head. He hadn't even really asked. He'd told me to go on a date with him. Like a sort of order that he was sure I would follow without question. The more I thought about that more peeved I became. Just who did this guy think he was?! I mean sure he was one the most attractive guys I'd ever seen and his confidence was refreshing compared to my own, but I was a semi-strong, independent woman, darn it! He couldn't just go around telling me what to do!
While I went off on my mental rampage I had automatically continued to randomly scribble across my paper. Eventually light, swirling doodles turned into harsh sharp line as I scratched my pen across the paper. My fingers ached from clutching my pen so tightly and I could hear the tip of my pen starting to slice through the paper..
"Are you ok?" Kate asked, making me jump. I turned to her and noticed that she was frowning at my paper. I glanced down and realized that I was now officially scrawling across my desk top. Oops
"Um…yeah…fine," I said trying to throw in a careless laugh. It sounded more like panting and I quickly changed tactics, clearing my throat lowly. "I just…thought my pen had run out of ink is all."
She raised a finally plucked eyebrow at me and I could feel my cheeks darkening. A knowing smirk crossed her face just as Mrs. Peterson told her to face forward. I breathed a sigh of relief until I noticed her writing hurriedly across a blank piece of paper. She slid it over to me as she finished, and I groaned internally at the message.
Reid can be a jerk sometimes huh?
I glanced at her sideways and noticed she was fighting to keep in laughter. Frowning I leaned over the note to scratch out my reply. I slid it back to her, keeping my eyes on Mrs. Peterson.
What makes you say that?
Kate scoffed loudly and camouflaged it as a cough as Mrs. Peterson raised her eyebrow at her, after apologizing she quickly wrote back to me and slid the paper across the desk.
You looked really pissed just then and I know Reid can do that to even the shyest of girls.
I breathed deeply, praying for patience and wrote back a curt reply. I slid it under her nose and crossed my arms indignantly.
I don't know what you mean.
She chuckled under her breath and I noticed Sarah glance up from her notes and frown at her. I felt bad for not continuing on with the lecture and just ignoring Kate, but it was too late now. The cat was out of the bag.
She pushed the note back to me.
Oh please, you know you're ticked about that whole seen in first hour. He teases you about your dirty dancing last night, practically orders you to go on a date with him, and then gets all bent out of shape when you turn him down. I'd be mad too.
I pinched the edge of the paper a bit too tightly when I read the part about the night before but quickly reigned in my shame and started to compose my reply. Had I not been so rapt in my forceful answer I would have noticed Mrs. Peterson stalking over to me. However I didn't notice her until she ripped the note out from under my face and held it away from herself.
"Ms. Dillard," she said coldly as I stared up at her in shock, "as new student who has already shown an aversion to promptness I expect you to give me the proper amount of respect and pay attention to my lessons."
I bowed my head in shame and folded my hands into my lap. "Yes, ma'am."
"And Ms. Tunney, you should no better." Kate bowed her head as well though I could see a sort of amused smirking threatening to spread over her face.
"I expect a five page, hand written essay about today's lecture from the both of you to be on my desk by Monday morning."
"Yes, ma'am," we both chimed, heads down as she stared down at us. Finally she nodded and returned to the front of the class where she continued the lesson. I now returned to my notes with a vengeance and wrote down what she said word for word while at the same time working out my essay thesis statement in my mind.
"This is why you two need to pay attention," Sarah scolded. "And don't expect to be using my notes for this, Kate," she added as she noticed Kate examining her cuticles.
"Damn you," Kate hissed as she was now forced to pay attention. If I hadn't been so busy writing like the wind I would have laughed. Today was not my day.
"What's the matter?" Tyler asked as he noticed mine and Kate's dejected faces when we arrived at the lunch tables. It appeared that after last night, both Lilly's and the Sons' social groups had clicked and we were all now crowded around to tables pushed together in the middle of the cafeteria. I blushed as I sat having a weird feeling of sitting at the 'cool kids' table.
"They're upset because Mrs. Peterson caught them passing a note and now they have to write an essay for her by Monday," Sarah offered smugly, as she pulled her chair up next to Caleb's. Kate sneered as she placed herself on Pogue's lap and started ranting at him about 'the unfairness of it all'.
"Mrs. Peterson is such a dragon lady," Taylor said around a mouthful of taco. Megan nodded her agreement, blonde hair bouncing around her face. I slid into the seat on Tyler's right, as the one on his left was already occupied by Lilly. Kimberly sat to my right and was busy sketching something obscured from my vision by her hair.
On my side of the table it was Hannah, Lilly, Tyler, myself, Kimberly, and Taylor. Across from us it was Caleb, Sarah, Kate sitting on Pogue, Reid, and Megan. I squirmed uncomfortable as I noticed Reid was sitting across from me. I noticed that he smirked at me, any annoyance he'd been feeling in our earlier class seemingly gone.
"Maxi," he greeted pleasantly. I blushed and nodded to him in turn.
"Reid," I stammered before turning to Kimberly. My movement made her glance up at me, pushing her headphones back on her head. I smiled I heard the music blaring from around her neck.
"What's up?" she questioned, throwing Reid a curious look as he frowned at me. I shrugged, tapping my knee nervously.
"Oh nothing," I said, trying to act less jumpy. "What're you drawing?" I inquired, finding something to talk about at long last.
"Oh…" she glanced down at her sketch pad and held it against her chest. "It's…nothing."
I frowned slightly, feeling she couldn't trust me enough to show me her sketch. She stared at me for a moment before sighing and flipping the pad over so I could see. I leaned in and squinted at the picture.
It was us. Us as in Kimberly, Lilly, Taylor, Hannah, Megan and myself. Each part of the page was covered with one girls face doing various things. Megan was busy staring at the ends of her hair and as I glanced up I realized she was doing that right now. I smirked. Kimberly had a lot of talent to draw people on the spot. I leaned back in to look at the picture.
Hannah's sketch self was laughing happily, her eyes squeezed shut and her mouth curved into a smile. Taylor had been drawn licking the remnant of her taco off her ring finger, a funny look on her face. I smiled as I look at the picture of Lilly. It was beautiful.
Her head was tilted slightly to the side so that her hair spilled over her shoulder. She had a mischievous gleam in her eyes and her mouth was curved into an inviting smile. Glancing over my shoulder I realized this was the way she looked at Tyler and smiled again. Turning back to the drawing I noticed that Kimberly was in the process of drawing me.
It was my profile and you could see that my eyes were wide in surprise and from her shading it was obvious I was blushing. This only made me blush further as I chuckled. Kimberly herself was drawn in the upper right hand corner of the paper. She was hunched over a piece of paper, sketching. Our faces floated around her picture like clouds. It was amazing.
I voiced this to Kimberly but she just laughed, a blush now appearing on her face. She waved me off as she returned to her drawing of me. "It's just alright," she muttered humbly. I shook my head at her and let her continue on in peace.
By now I had forgotten about Reid and he seemed to have finally become fed up with waiting for me to turn to him. I watched in confusion as he stabbed angrily at his potato salad. Was I that infuriating? Caleb shot me an apologetic look and I just waved him off with a smile. It was his fault after all.
I sat silently for all of two second before gasping and glancing at my wrist watch. I had wanted to go talk with Mr. Treat. Jumping up I gathered my bag quickly and explained my quick departure to the rest of the table. Kate sent me a suggestive smirk which only sent my skin to burning. I noticed Reid shoot Kate a curious look as he saw me blush.
"You're not gonna eat?" Taylor asked, sounding shocked. I just shook my head pushing my tray towards her.
"I'll grab something later." With one last wave I hurried out of the cafeteria.