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Victor, North
Lunch
AP Biology - Room 107B - Mr. Gerald
Silas
Japanese - Room 212 - Dr. Green
Victor
Gym - Gymnasium - Mrs. French
Gabriel, Nathan
It seemed everyone was in each other’s classes, except for their special electives and Kota’s advanced science and math classes. I considered it unreal but I wondered if part of the reason was because they were from the Academy. Did Mr. Blackbourne and Dr. Green fix their schedules, too?
By the time we had it sorted out, I was sitting on the floor, leaning against the couch. Gabriel moved across the room and was talking to Luke. North stretched out on the couch. I was quietly reviewing my schedule again when out of the corner of my eye, I caught Victor scooting over to sit next to me.
“I already know a little Japanese,” Victor said. He sat with his legs crossed and his knee grazed mine. The fire in his eyes flickered. “It’s actually pretty easy to speak it.”
I tilted my head as I looked at him, trying to ignore his knee pressing against mine. “How did you get in this class? I thought it was for upperclassmen? I had to get special permission from Dr. Green.”
“Who do you think let me into his class?” He smiled at me. “He’d let anyone in if they asked, actually.”
That confirmed things. If Victor’ s schedule was altered, the others were most likely done as well. Did that mean Mr. Blackbourne and Dr. Green wanted me in the same classes as the boys? “Where did you learn Japanese?”
“My parents travel a lot. They like to stop in Japan.”
My eyes widened. “I’m jealous,” I said. “Can you say something in Japanese?” It wasn’t a challenge, but genuine curiosity in his ability.
A smile touched his lips. “Kirei-na hitomidane.” The way he said it in his baritone voice made it almost sound like a song lyric.
“Kirei...” My lips moved to try to mimic what he said but I lost it half way through. “What does it mean?”
That fire lit up in his eyes and his cheeks tinged red. “I’ll tell you later.”
I smoothed my fingers over the lower hem of my shorts in a nervous reflex. Did I ask something embarrassing? Did it sound like I didn’t believe him? I went with changing the topic since I didn’t want to say anything else wrong. “At least we’ve all got classes together or similar classes. Studying should be easy. Except for Kota.”
“Are you going to be okay, Kota?” North asked behind me. He was on his side, a cushion pillow propped up under his head. He looked half asleep. “There’s classes where we won’t see you for several hours.”
Kota shrugged and waved his hand in the air, dismissing his words. “Most of these classes are close together on the second floor. I won’t be in the hallways for very long.”
Silas had been completely quiet for a long time, concentrating on his schedule. While the others were busy talking about how to get from one class to another with the trailers being a problem, I crawled over to him. He caught my eye and he patted the spot next to him, indicating I could move in closer.
“We’ve only got one class together,” I said, sitting next to him, holding my paper near his.
He inched over, putting an arm behind me with his palm to the floor. He was close enough that his arm touched my back. “At least I get you to myself,” he said, the corner of his mouth lifted up.
My fingers shook because of his touch. I put my paper down so I could put my hands in my lap to hide them. “In a class full of people,” I said.
He put his paper in his lap and leaned back on his hands. “It won’t matter if they’re there. I don’t really talk much.”
“Why?”
“Not a lot to say.”
“You talk to me.”
He reached over, moving a lock of my hair that had slipped away from my clip and he tucked it behind my ear. His big fingers brushed across my cheek and against the lobe of my ear. “You talk to me, too.”
My heart did flips in my chest.
There was a knock at Kota’s door. All of us looked up at the same time toward one another.
“It can’t be the mailman,” Kota said, his brows creasing. He got up off the floor. As he walked around me toward the door, he dropped a palm on top of my head, pushing slightly to make my head bob down. I looked up just in time to catch his grin before he left the living room. I grinned back. It was nice to feel wanted. I tried to tell myself again that touching was normal among friends. They might be friends with a lot of secrets, but they were normal in their behavior, right? Having missed out on this for so long, I was simply unused to the attention. Did anyone ever get over this feeling or was this fluttering nervousness something they felt all the time?
It was only a minute before Kota returned, we all looked up at him expectantly. He looked pale.
“Kota?” Luke said. “What? Who was it?”
“It’s your sister,” Kota said and he turned to me. “Your older sister. She’s asking for you.”
