Missing You

Chapter 3: A Troubling Coincidence

[The Night World Series]

"I hate that teacher," I fumed, as soon as the bell released us from the torture called homeroom.

"Mm-hm," Karin nodded absent-mindedly, not really paying attention.

"I'm serious! I was literally inside the room when the bell rang—you saw me, right? Plus, it's awful timing—of all days I get a detention, it's the day I have to do that English outline!"

"Well I can give you my outline right now, and you can copy it throughout the day," Karin suggested.

I paused in my rant and looked at my best friend, "That's actually a good idea. At least, it's worth a try. Thanks so much, Karin."

"No problem, just a sec…my outline is around here…" Karin stopped in the middle of the hallway and shuffled around in her binder, "yup, right here. There you go."

I accepted the paper, "Alright, I'm going to Math class. I'll give this back to you right before English."

"Right, and don't you dare forget. And before you go—you know that I'm totally jealous of you right now?" She said lightly.

"Oh yeah," I laughed and looked at Karin knowingly, "no more worries about the new student being ugly, huh? His name is—Charlie? No, Charles?"

"Yeah. Charles. Worries about him being ugly—hah—definitely not! Don't you think so too?" Karin asked excitedly.

"Well, yeah," I admitted, a bit of heat rushed to my face as I recalled the look I shared with him.

"You're so lucky about that detention," Karin went on, "if I were you, I wouldn't have complained."

"Excuse me? Did you just say what I think you said? Did you not hear my whole rant about how that detention is not a good thing for me? And how unfair it is?"

"Oh come on, girl! Think about it—during the detention, it'll just be you and Charles," Karin said exasperatedly. "Do I have to spell it out for you? It an opportunity in a freaking lifetime. All the girls in our class are dying of envy."

I shook my head, but now that she mentioned it…"Well then. Whatever. But I have to go so see you later. We need to get to class."

Karin sighed and shook her head in mock despair, and waved goodbye. I sent a last glance back at her before I entered room 210, my math class...and nearly had a heart attack when I saw him.

Three guesses who it was.

One…

Two…

Three…

Probably only needed one, right? Yep, you got it—it was Charles Uncia himself.

I valiantly tried to ignore him, but it was tough. He was new and interesting, with an undeniably impossible-to-ignore aura around him. When I arrived at my seat in the back of the class, I finally gave in and looked up.

I almost choked on my spit when I saw that he was looking at me too. With an oddly perplexed and upset expression on his face. We locked eyes again. And again I felt a strange tingle of recognition that made me shiver. It was the feeling that you get when you have a word at the tip of your tongue, but you just can't remember it enough to actually say it. Yeah, that feeling. I couldn't tell whether I liked the feeling or not.

"Alright, class! It's time to start, get to you seats!" Mrs. Reza shouted, and we quickly looked away from each other, "As you all have probably noticed, today we have a transfer student. His name is Charles Uncia. Now, Charles, please introduce yourself. Any questions for him can be asked personally after class."

A few sniggers were heard at the word 'personally', but stopped immediately when Charles stood up and started to speak, "As you have heard, my name is Charles Uncia. I am from Minnesota and came here because my parents got a job here."

It was the second time I had heard his voice—third, actually, if you counted the times he spoke in homeroom as twice—but I was still awestruck by it. Unfortunately, I could tell (all too well) that most of the females in the classroom were captivated by it as well. To our defense, I'll say that it really wasn't hard to be awed by it. Smooth, deep, and confident, it was perfection. It would sound good in any situation, probably even an embarrassing one.

"Right then, Zephyr. You can sit by the window, in that open seat," Mrs. Reza instructed, "Leyla, you can help Charles get settled in. Now let's pick up on yesterday's lesson…"

Leyla looked thrilled, excitedly opening her notebook and all-too-eagerly sharing her notes with Charles. He looked slightly aggravated as she babbled to him nonstop, especially as Mrs. Reza told her repeatedly to quiet down. I tried to ignore Leyla's constant chattering, but I found myself more annoyed by it than I should have been.

The hour passed by quickly, split between sneaking quick glances at Charles when I thought he wasn't looking and trying to copy Karin's outline discreetly. I also worried about that irritated expression that he wore when he looked at me. Had I already done something to bother him…?

"Okay then, to wrap it up, the homework tonight is to finish the packet I gave you!" Mrs. Reza announced as the class ended.

I sighed, and stuffed the packet (a thick one that I hadn't even started…probably due to using the time in class to copy that outline) into roughly the 'homework' section of my binder. As I left the classroom, I kept my eyes averted as I passed Charles.

Two times of those weird shivers were enough; I wasn't going to try for a third.

I arrived at Science, after stopping by my locker for the Chemistry textbook. And look who was there. Yup.

He was. Again.

I shook my head, hard.

It's just a coincidence, I reassured myself, trying not to hyperventilate. After all, it was only out of, what, around 30 other classes that he could have had…

And he got this one.

However, Science class passed rather uneventfully. It was actually pretty much a repeat of Math. Just switch the desks for lab tables, Mrs. Reza for Mr. Nelson, and Leyla for a painfully shy genius named Michel.

Spanish class was normal as well, other than the fact that he was in that class too. That time I couldn't shake it off as a fluke as easily. But I managed.

The clock ticked to 12:15, and the bell ended Spanish class.

Lunch! I thought eagerly, but a split second later I remembered the detention I had with Mr. Fern. Just thinking about that man would drain my happiness away.

Nothing was worse than a detention with a grumpy teacher.

Except maybe a detention with a grumpy teacher, a new kid who's insanely good-looking and makes your heart beat hysterically, and a best friend who's jealous of your detention.

I sighed and walked reluctantly towards my homeroom classroom

"Put your bags on my desk. Yes, right there. Now go to your seats and sit there for the entire lunch period. Yes, Eliza, you can eat you lunch. And no, you can't talk. I have to go to a school meeting so Mrs. Reynolds next door will be listening in. She'll tell me if you two do any funny business. So if you do, I'll know and you'll get another detention. Maybe even a talk with the principal too," Mr. Fern warned, directing a final glare at Charles before leaving the room.

The room was silent.

...And Karin was jealous of this? I thought incredulously, wincing when I opened my paper bag and it made an awkwardly loud crinkling sound.

Charles was silent behind me.