Soo, here is chapter two! I finally got some motivation to get it done I want to thank my friends and others who read my first chapter. It means a lot and I think this is a story that I will stick with. I want it to be very meaningful for its storyline and the characters in it, so it would be helpful to me to hear what you think so far and in future chapters. Enjoy!
Mia and Nicky had just finished their first and only class toether and were saying their farewells until the end of the school day.
"Hey, I'll be looking for that new kid today. I'll get you the scoop," Nicky shouted back to Mia after she started to walk away.
Mia waved. "Can't wait."
Two hours later and Mia sat down in her usual seat in Chemistry. She glanced over to the boy's seat but it was empty.
She pulled out her notebook and folder, waiting for the teacher's instructions.
"Ok, class. Today should be an easy day. I want you to read Ch. 2 and work through the review questions. This should help you with the quiz on Friday." The whole class shrugged simultaneously. "But you can work with a partner if you'd like," she added with a smile, knowing this would help us get through class.
"Mia, you want to work with me?" Bobbie asked, already turning his desk around so that they could face each other. Mia laughed quietly as she thought, Now I have to be his partner, not that I don't want to...
"It's just that I already did Ch. 2," she finished out loud to Bobbie.
"That's perfectly fine to me; I can just copy yours." He threw a quick grin and grabbed her notebook. Mia frowned; she wasn't a fan of other cheating off her, but she consented with this exception because it was not going to be graded.
She sighed. "Alright, but let me know if you don't understand something. I can go through it with you in the textbook."
"Sounds good, Sweet thing," Bobbie smirked with his reply.
Mia shook her head and watched him scribble down her notes. She quickly became bored and began doodling in a handout from yesterday. She started to lightly draw shapes: a circle here, a triangle inside it. Then she added parallel lines with both shapes. She stopped a moment and looked at it. The doodle was beginning to remind her of something. She smiled to herself, and was about to finish the doodle of the Avenger's newly becoming popular symbol, when she heard her teacher speak a name, catching her attention.
"It's nice of you to join us, Vicente."
Mia looked up to the front if the room and saw her teacher talking with the boy she found herself so curious about. She listened as he apologized for coming late, and the teacher told him what the class was doing.
"Oh. Well, that's good then that I did Ch. 2 and 3 last night," he laughed.
Mia gripped her fingers around her pencil in surprise; his laugh sounded so familiar. She brought her curled hair to the side of her face, watching him go to his seat. She glanced back at Bobbie, who had his book open, skimming through the images in the long chapter.
"You need any help?" Mia asked quietly.
"Nope." He flashed her a smile. "Bored? Maybe you shouldn't be such a hard worker in your free time. We could be doing this together."
"Nope, not one bit bored."
"Well, don't plan on working ahead next Friday night. You need to keep that night free for my party."
Mia sat back in her chair and twirled the pencil around between her fingers. "Of course. I wouldn't dare miss it."
As Bobbie went back to concentrating on the review questions, Mia found herself glancing back to the boy. Vicente. She thought she recognized that from somewhere; it wasn't a common name in her community though. Was it his first or last name? Where did he come from? Was he really smart like her? Her thoughts jumbled together as more questions piled on one after the other.
She noticed the boy sat slouched over his desk, a pen in his hand and a thick notebook on the desk. She focused on the book, leaning to the side to get a better look.
It was actually a sketchbook. The page he was currently working on was filled with detail. Mia couldn't tell what it was of exactly from where she was seated, but it looked like a city scene. She debated quelling her light butterflies in her stomach to go over and ask him.
Just then Bobbie asked her something. "Hey, Mia?"
"Yeah?" she answered distractedly.
"What's so interesting over there that you won't help me with the last review question?" he asked as he waved a hand in front of her face.
"Nothing... really..." she said slowly because the boy had raised his head.
He was looking straight at her, staring. She couldn't do anything but look him back in the eyes. They were very familiar; they reminded her of when she stared at herself in the mirror. They seemed identical: The same sea blue with bright green flecks around the irises.
They frowned at the same time. She was so confused. Who was he that she felt like she should know him, like she should have her whole life? Mia opened her mouth to say something, completely forgetting about Bobbie and her school work.
But then the bell rang, loud in her ears, and she blinked. Mia looked at the clock in the wall as she realized class was over. Students packed up around her and Bobbie grumbled about not finishing as he put his desk back.
"Sorry Bobbie," Mia said lamely.
She threw her bag over her shoulder, wanting to catch the boy before lunch, but he had already left the classroom. She stepped into the hall, balancing on her tip toes to find him. But didn't see him. She watched for him the rest of the day. She didn't see him anywhere in lunch. She didn't see him in the halls between classes, or outside by the courts when she had free period.
And she wouldn't see him until the next week because he was absent in Chemistry for the rest of the week.
That day they looked at each other, she found out his name. While Mia and Nicky walked home, she was talking about what she could uncover from the school gossip vines. Nicky couldn't find much on him this early in the school year, just that he transferred from a school for troubled kids on the basis that he earned the grades for a scholarship, had all of his work done for classes that day before they even started and that his name was Miles Vicente.
Miles walked quickly to the nearest boy's bathroom and into a stall. He locked its hinge, waiting for the bell to ring for classes to start. When it did, and he heard the last of the boys leave, he stepped out and leaned onto the faux granite sink. He looked at his face in the small horizontal mirror. His eyes, her eyes. He couldn't tell the difference between the two.
Who was she? Was she related somehow? A distant cousin, maybe? He didn't think he had any family in the states. He was alone. He had always been ever since he could remember. It could just be a coincidence, but somehow he felt that that was a slim chance. They looked too much alike for that. Miles Vicente pulled out his phone and dialed a number as he walked into the empty hall. After a few rings, a male voice answered.
"Hey Miles, did you reconsider my offer?"
"Partially. I'd like to negotiate. I need you to help me find out about someone in return. I'll meet you at the usual in 15 minutes."
Ooooooohhhhh! What do you think? By the way, the Avenger part of it probably won't come into play until Ch. 4, so stay tuned!