Chapter Eleven: Light or Dark?
The door to room three zero nine screeched softly as I gently openned it, trying not to awaken the classroom of students in their awkward slumber. Unfortunate for me, half of them bolted upright and began to whisper and stare as though I wasn't nervous and giddy enough. The brass door handle was cold under my sweaty touch and my fingers squirmed as they felt something sticky squelch beneath them. I didn't dare look but allowed my eyes to settle on the sheet of paper I held in my other hand.
"Mr. Go-od-e-men?" I asked a squat elderly man who had not glanced up from his textbook yet. He remained silent and did not register that I was trying to get his attention by the classroom door. "Mr. …"
"He can't hear you," a beautiful blonde stated in the desk in front of me. She used her yellow pencil to point to a boy with dark skin chatting particularly loudly in the corner of the room. "Gordie wound down Mr. Goodemens hearing aids so you'll have to speak up."
"Oh," I cried, nodding to the girl who smiled kindly. I gazed up to the teacher. "Mr. Goodemen!"
The classroom groaned and rubbed their ears, including the blonde.
"Not that loudly!" she scowled. I bit my lip as my face turned pink just as Mr Goodemen peered down the spectacles on the bridge of his nose.
"He-hello," he stuttered gruffly like he had limited air. "C-c-can I h-help you miss…?"
I stepped through the door archway to approach the frail man and handed him a slip of paper I had received from the principal. He slowly folded the thick book and tugged it from my fingers.
"Ah," he sighed after reading the note. "Take a seat anywhere you like." And with that he picked up the book and continued reading from it. I smiled briefly at him and then swiveled around the room to gaze upon my fellow classmates. Many were judging me, looking at me up and done with either a glare or half-hearted smile. Some were chatting to friends and not taking notice. Others were sleep or staring out the window where a dog was peeing on a tree. Although as I shuffled down an aisle of desks to a spare near the back, I passed one boy trying to pull up the hem of my dress with his pencil to a peek under my dress. I swerved the other way when I realised and ran into a table.
"Beat it dork!" the occupant of the table shot. Many others snickered.
"Sorry," I muttered and scurried off to the spare desk. Once there I breathed a sigh of relief however it did not last long as I was still under someones radar.
To my right a thin boy was spying on me through the corner of his eye as he tried to complete a worksheet most of the class hadn't bothered with. I brushed back a strand of my hair as I too looked at him through the corner of my eye. I was sure most girls would be flattered to have a handsome boy like he to gaze at them except he was not doing it out of curiosity nor pleasure. It seemed more of an awkward glance or that he somehow could not resist, in a non-checking-me-out way. His eyes were glazed over like he was thinking deeply and his pen swiftly sped across the page on the desk. I felt uncomfortable under his observation yet curious to talk to him however during the entire lesson neither of us exchanged a word or proper glimpse to one another.
"Zatarlia!" Hay Lin's shrill voice broke within the centre of the school grounds. I clutched my bag swinging on my shoulder and made my way through the crowd to meet with her beside the basketball court. With her, Irma, Taranee and Will were waving to me to come.
"Hey," I greeted back.
"So how was your first three classes?" Irma asked taking a huge bite from a foot-long sandwich stuffed with assorted foods.
"Alright," I replied as the five of us took a seat on the ground and fumbled through our bag for our lunches. "I've noticed that hardly anyone here actually tries to learn."
Irma swallowed the huge lump of food and said, "that's school for you."
I smiled and stored a couple chips in my stomach. Ever since the first time I tried them a few weeks back I had been hooked on salt and vinigar chips and ate them whenever I could. Probably half of my wages were used to buy packets upon packets of salt and vinigar chips.
"Over here!"Cornellia's voice rang. I turned my head around to peek through the mass of other students and found Cornellia sashaying towards us with another girl practically attached to her hip. The girl's hair was long and braided on either side of her head. She chomped affably on a handful of rice crackers as Cornellia boasted about where Caleb had taken her the night before. The second my eyes caught on the girl something inside lit up and filled me with an odd sense of relief and delight. I just couldn't help myself from beaming when I watched her make her way over.
"Zatarlia," Cornellia smiled once she and the girl with the straw coloured hair took a seat by my side. "This is my best friend Elyon."
"Best friend eh?" I whispered to myself absent-mindly as I shook hands with Elyon with the largest grin on my face.
"You okay?" Taranee asked me. I nodded and released Elyon's hand. Elyon blinked a couple times with a blank expression.
"Have we met before?" she questioned. "You look so familiar."
I thought for a moment, also thinking we might have but then shook it off. The likelihood of me meeting Cornellia's best friend before seemed quite improbable. "I do not believe so. I guess I just have one of those faces."
Elyon smiled.
"Are you sure?" Taranee pressed on. This time I ignored her as I too smiled kindly back at Elyon.
"It's great to meet you though," I said.
"Likewise."
"But Zatarlia…" continued Taranee. This time I swung my head to her, getting a little annoyed now.
"I'm telling you," I spat at the blue haired girl. "I am perfectly fine."
"Then why are you crying?"
At this I was brought back from the unusual feelings I randomly felt and shakily raised two fingers to my eyes. Sure enough a heap of salty water was surrounding the rim of my eyes and some even trickling down my cheek. I stared at the tears I gathered on my fingers, unable to answer Taranee's question.
"Oh!" Hay Lin burst out. "Check out who's checking out our way!"
I didn't turn to glance like the others as I was still trying to make sense to what was happening with my eyes.
"Oh my gosh!" Cornellia gasped, looking away from what they were staring at. Everyone else sighed dramatically.
"He is so cute," Irma cried, twirling her short hair with her fingers.
"Don't stare otherwise he'll know we're talking about him," Cornellia beckoned.
"Well he is!" said Irma. I gazed up from my deep thinking, giving up with the abnormal tears. All the girls but Cornellia were gawking at a boy sitting with a book on a staircase about ten metres in front of us. Instead of actually reading the book though he was gazing intensely in our direction. A boy I was already faintly familiar with for staring.
Hay Lin thumped me in the stomach a couple of times without taking her eyes off the boy.
"Look, look, look!" she ordered. I turned to her with a slight frown, shoving her arm away and patting the tender spot she hit me.
"I already am!" I said to her.
"Isn't he gorgeous," Hay Lin sighed. I raised my eyebrow and looked around the circle of friends all in a daze then back up at him. His short blonde was cut so the fringe only just graced the top of his gleaming green eyes that I caught peering through the corner in my first class in room three zero nine. The book he was reading at one stage was raised so he could peek over top. His figure was a lot thinner than Drake's –whom may I add was laughing and joking with his large group of friends behind me- yet not scrawny either. Basically his appearance was the opposite to Drake's, which kind of put me off a little. Even the way the guy dressed was much different to Drake. He wore an expensive looking orange scarf that went well with his eyes, zip-up chestnut waistcoat and a small almost undetectable gold ring I noticed when the late autumn sun hit it. What Hay Lin said was true. He was gorgeous.
And now looking elsewhere.
Will looked at me with a cheesy grin. "That's Lucus."
"Lucus Newman," Irma intercepted.
"And just like his name states, he's new," Elyon imputed, dusting off the flakes from her ricecrackers. "Came here just a couple days before you."
"And he's got the most amazing voice!" Will cried and everyone sighed along with her. I glanced at Lucus reading on the staircase. The second I looked up, he too gazed up and straight at me. I was so surprised that I forgot to breathe. It was like he wasn't ten metres but only three inches way he looked at me wasn't like the way Drake did that morning at the reception, but similar yet different. He looked directly at me as though he knew me more than I would or could ever know.
"Lucus Newmen," I muttered, trying his name on for size.
Either I said it really loud or Lucus could lipread as he gave me a nod and then went back to reading. My brain went completely slack till Hay Lin thumped me in the stomach again.
"W-" I continued louder and to someone this time, "why don't you go talk to him. He seems…lonely." Which, I shall add, he didn't. Lucus looked totally comfortable on his own.
"What would we say?" Taranee asked then she put on a funny voice. "Hey there Lucus, my friends and I all think you are hot and are absolutely in love with you. That's sure to work."
"Well... maybe" I shrugged. I glanced at Lucus again peacefully reading and whisked around to look at Drake shoving one of his friends and laughing with them. Drake's eyes gazed over everyone and caught on mine for a split second then looked back to his friends.
Again I turned to Lucus whom –again- glanced up at me. Did his eyes just twinkle?
I finally got Lucus in there. Thought I never would. Well there he is! What do you guys think of him? Better or not so better than Drake? Not that you've known Lucus for that long. But I'd love to know what you think of him anyway.
Lucus or Drake?
Light or dark?
Gallagher girl1
PS: Any of you guys Castle fans? What about the Gallagher Girls? Started writing a Gallagher girl/Castle crossover. I have BIG plans for it. However only like 5 people have checked it out and only 1 reviewed. Kinda makes me wonder if it's worth while continuing it. It's there if you want to be BRILLIANT and R&R.