Chapter Two
~An Unexpected Encounter~
The following Monday, Laura walked sleepily into her early morning Math class. She covered her mouth with one hand to prevent too big a yawn from escaping. She had walked to school by herself this morning, and while her house wasn’t too far away – maybe ten or eleven blocks – the morning mist so representative of west coast weather had made her feel damp and clammy. Which was odd, because usually she felt refreshed walking through the pristine, early morning mountain fog. She blamed it on the sun, which had decided not to come out today, making the start of a new week all the more miserable under cover of gray cloud.
She was also frustrated with herself by a lack of progress on the Brady front. Try as she did, she never managed to have that serendipitous encounter with him the previous week. They didn’t have any classes together, so her only hope had been running into him sometime before or after school, or between classes, in a neutral environment like the library or cafeteria or hallway. Or anything, really. She’d even planned out what she was going to say:
‘Hey you,’ she’d call out to him with a smile. He’d smile back, melting her heart, and walk over to greet her for the first time in years.
‘Hey,’ he’d say shyly, looking down at his feet.
‘I haven’t seen you in ages, you know,’ she’d tell him. ‘You know, it’s too bad we drifted apart the way we did. I always cherished our friendship, and—”
“Miss Cubus?” the voice was harsh, uncompromising. “If you’d take your seat, please, class can begin?”
Laura came to with a start, and realized that she stood right in the doorway, blocking the entrance to the classroom from all the late arrivals behind her. Her teacher, Mrs. Millburn, examined her harshly, frowning hard enough to make the white bun on top of her head start to quiver. Laura blushed, ducking her head, and hurried to take her seat in the middle of the room.
She sat down, placing her bag underneath the desk, and pulled out a binder with all her math notes. Mrs. Millburn didn’t take kindly to students who weren’t paying attention in class, and after the blunder just now, Laura didn’t want to draw any more of her wrath.
Almost everybody around her was already seated and looking to Mrs. Millburn at the head of the class.
Laura pulled her jacket tighter around her, and looked to the front of the class, pen in hand, mimicking like she was paying attention. Mrs. Millburn started talking about last week’s lessons, and the plan for the day, and other such things that Laura couldn’t force herself to become interested in.
Instead, in her mind, she was chastising herself for the ridiculous interaction she just daydreamed about. ‘Hey you’ was the best she could come up with? After an entire week in which she could have thought of something better? She shook her head roughly. She wasn’t going to win Brady over like that. In fact, she wasn’t going to win anybody over like that.
She wished she could know what he thought of her. If he thought anything of her. Brady had the attention of nearly every girl in the school. What were the odds that he was going to pick her? Especially when their paths seemed almost destined to never cross.
Her thoughts were rudely interrupted when something large and heavy slammed into her shoulder. She looked up, and saw that it was a backpack, carried precariously by someone she didn’t recognize. Then her heart froze. The new kid!
“Sorry,” he muttered half-heartedly, before continuing to walk down the aisle. He didn’t even look at her when he apologized! Laura twisted back in her seat to look at him. He was taller than average, maybe 6-foot-3 or 6-foot-4, and skinny. He wore the most inconspicuous clothing she thought possible: dark jeans, a hooded black sweatshirt, and plain but well-worn Chuck Taylors. His hood was down, and she saw that he had long, straight black hair. She couldn’t tell from where she sat, but she guessed it was cut in the vintage Justin Bieber style, or maybe a touch longer. Not long enough to be considered emo, though.
He was making his way towards the very back, where a single empty desk awaited him. Laura kept her eyes on him. She was curious what he looked like – what his face looked like. He kept walking, slowly, his head tilted down.
Something about the way his shoulders slumped told her he wasn’t particularly thrilled to be here. She could sympathize with that: he was the most novel thing this school had seen in years, and she doubted he would feel anything less than an oddity among her peers until that initial interest wore off.
“Daydreaming again, Miss Cubus?”
Laura spun around, and found Mrs. Millburn standing right in front of her desk, staring daggers at her. For a second, Laura felt like Mrs. Millburn could see right through to her soul, see the very essence of her being. And her stomach clutched up in response.
“Or perhaps Mr. Sutherby over there has caught your attention?” She paused, just long enough for the snickers in the classroom to be heard. Laura could feel her cheeks grow hot. “Well, since you seem to have taken such a personal interest in him, perhaps I should task you with getting him caught up in this class, hmm?” Oh God, no. “Yes, that sounds like a good idea to me. You can be the person responsible for his academic development in this course. Mathematics is a strong point of yours, is it not?” Both she and Mrs. Millburn knew it was not, and Laura felt her cheeks grow warmer and warmer by the second. “Of course it is, since you so very clearly have little enough regard for the course to pay attention to my lecture, which obviously means you can cruise through the material without any problems.” Laura cursed herself for failing to pay attention earlier. “So I’ll tell you what,” Mrs. Millburn continued, “you and Mr. Sutherby can come in afterschool today, to this very classroom, in order to begin your new assignment together. You’ll come in every day after school this week, and you’ll be getting him caught up.”
“But Mrs. Millburn,” Laura began, desperately trying to protest, to say that she didn’t do anything to warrant the punishment. She was cut off as Mrs. Millburn loudly smacked a ruler on her desk, causing her and nearly everyone around her to jump.
“Every day this week,” Mrs. Millburn said precisely, emphasizing each word. “I will see you, and Mr. Sutherby, in this classroom at exactly 3:15PM every day this week.” Satisfied, Mrs. Millburn turned around, head held high. Laura slumped in her seat. What a horrible way to start the week.
Just then Mrs. Millburn turned around, a kind smile on her face. “Oh, I just thought of something,” she said sweetly, “that will ensure your compliance. The lowest mark between the two of you in my class at semester’s end will be the mark that goes on both your report cards.” Mrs. Millburn nodded happily to herself, and returned to her position at the front of the classroom.
Laura groaned. By the time class ended 90 minutes later, she could still hear the giggles from her classmates in her head.