AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I leapt into almost an en pointe on my toes for it but with Silas being so tall, he held it outside of my reach easily. I stumbled forward, and through instinct put out a hand to stop myself and ended up pushing into him. I let go quickly after I was stable. He jerked his chest forward, bending over a little, feigning being hurt. I stepped away from him, walking backward and laughing at the crazy face he was making. I backed up into something solid.
I turned and my heart dropped into my shoes in horror as I faced a bristled Mr. McCoy, the vice principal.
“You have a nasty habit of running into people, Miss Sorenson,” he said. He brushed at his brown suit coat as if I had soiled it. “You should watch where you’re going.” His chubby cheeks protruded and his watery eyes squinted at me.
My finger fluttered up to my lower lip. I receded. Silas came up behind me and I stopped so I wouldn’t bump into him, too. “I’m so sorry, Mr. McCoy.”
His small eyes slid down to my skirt. I snapped to attention, putting my hands to my thighs to show him my skirt was well within regulation. He scowled, looking back up at me. “Goofing off in the hallways is not permitted.”
“We were getting our IDs,” Silas said. “And now we’re heading to our next class.”
The bell rang and the hallway moved into action with students shuffling off in different directions.
Mr. McCoy cleared his throat. “Follow me, Miss Sorenson. I believe there’s a detention slip with your name on it in my office.”
“I don’t believe an accident is a cause for a detention, sir,” Silas replied.
I bit my lip, reaching back to touch Silas’s arm, silently pleading with him to not press the issue. I didn’t want him to get a detention, too.
Mr. McCoy turned to him, squinting into Silas’s face. “You’re one of Mr. Blackbourne’s kids, aren’t you?”
Silas glared back at him. “I’m from the Academy.”
“Not now you aren’t,” he said, his lips curling into a sneer. “Don’t think for one minute I won’t give you detention, too. Or worse.” He jerked is head back to me. “I’m going to let you go this time. The next time I see you, you better keep your head down. I’ll be watching.” He glanced once more at Silas and stalked down the hallway.
I let go of the breath I’d been holding. “Silas...”
He shook his head and grabbed my hand. “Come on,” he said. “We’re going to be late.”
We slid into class at the last minute and took two seats near the back. I collapsed into the chair, panting. Mr. McCoy was going to be a problem.
“That was the vice principal, right?” Silas asked, tilting over the top of his desk to talk to me.
“Yeah,” I said. “I can’t believe I ran into him twice.”
“I don’t think this was your fault. He was watching us from down the hall and when we got close, he leaned into you. He was waiting for this.”
My mouth fell open. “He was looking to give me detention?”
Silas’s lips pursed and he shook his head but didn’t say anything. Whatever it was, I was sure I wanted to keep clear of Mr. McCoy. What stopped him this time? Was it Silas or the lingering name of the Academy that made Mr. McCoy recant his promise of a detention? Was he afraid of the Academy?
F lirting
While the teacher was going over the agenda, I shifted my feet under my desk. I stopped short, hitting what I thought was my book bag. I checked so I could move it. Silas snapped his feet from under my chair, his knee knocking into his desk top. He covered his knee with his hands and he sucked through his teeth once.
“Sorry,” I whispered to him. “I didn’t mean to scare you. I thought I hit my book bag.”
“Don’t worry about it,” he said, and put his head to the desk. He let go of his knee, but I could tell he was uncomfortable. He had to tuck his legs in an odd angle. The desks weren’t made for someone so tall.
“Hey,” I said. “If you need to stretch your legs, go ahead and put them under my desk.”
He sat up, his cheeks tinted red. With his black locks against his face and his olive skin, it was really handsome. “I don’t want to be in your way.”
“Don’t sweat it. Stretch your legs out.”
He did, leaning back in his seat until his feet were sticking out from under my desk. I moved my feet until I had one on each side of his legs.
“There,” I said. “No big deal. I’ll just know it’s you down there. If I kick you, I’m sorry.”
The corner of his mouth curled up. “Ditto.”
We sat like that through class. On occasion I would rock my ankle, forgetting he was there. My heel would gently bump into his leg. He didn’t jump like before. At some point I was unconsciously leaning my foot against him. When I realized I was doing it, I froze, unsure if I should move it quickly. I didn’t want to spook him again.
He never said a word about it.
When the bell rang, he walked with me through the hallway. “My next class is near yours,” he said. “Victor’s on his way, right?”
I nodded. “He should be.”
We ended up pushed together on our way up the main stairs. Silas moved me until I was standing in front of him. I didn’t understand why until I noticed how squished we ended up being. I was standing so close to the girl in front of me that I could smell the shampoo in her hair. Silas kept himself so close, that when I had to stop suddenly, his chest bumped into my head.
The stairwell was going to be a problem. Too many students needed to get around it and everyone was in a hurry. Silas kept a hand on my shoulder the entire time and I was grateful for it as I felt unstable. I thought for sure at some point I’d trip and get trampled.
When we were on the second floor and close to my next class, Dr. Green appeared in the hallway right outside the door. “Oh!” he said, looking up and smiling. I relaxed as his gentle gaze caught my eyes. Out of all the teachers I had come across that day, I knew Dr. Green would be my favorite. I remembered how kind he was with me at registration. It seemed strange he would teach a class. He looked the same age as Mr. Blackbourne, nineteen at the most. His soft green eyes lit up with recognition. “Hello, Miss Sorenson. And Silas, you’re not in my class, are you?”
Silas shook his head. “Not this time, doc.”
“It’s a shame,” Dr. Green said. “Learning a third language would look good on a resume.”
“What's the other language you know?” I asked Silas.
“Greek,” he said, his dark eyes sparking.
“You’ve not said one word to me in Greek,” I teased. I was embarrassed that I didn’t know this. I knew he was from Europe but I never got the chance to ask where he was from and while on occasion he did carry an accent, his English was so fluent that I often forgot.
“M'aresei o tropos pos gelas,” he said, and he waved goodbye as he walked on toward his class.
I looked to Dr. Green. “Do you know what he said?”
“I’m afraid I don’t know Greek,” he said, a slight smile on his lips. “But it sounded romantic. Are you two dating?”
I flinched out of surprise. Are teachers supposed to take an interest in students like that? I blushed but shook my head. “Oh no, we’re friends,” I said.
He nodded and adjusted the green tie at his neck. “Ah well.” Was he disappointed or pleased? It was difficult to tell.
I found a couple of desks near the back and took one, putting my bag in the seat behind me for Victor. I was tempted to take the back but the guys seemed to enjoy sitting behind me. I wasn’t sure why but I didn’t mind.
He slipped in at the last minute. “I hate the trailers,” he said, moving my book bag out of the seat and to the floor for me.
“Me, too,” I whispered to him.
Dr. Green s
tood at the front of the class, writing his name in Japanese on the board and wrote it in English below that. “Good afternoon, class,” he said.
I said a soft good afternoon, but no one else in the class joined me.
Dr. Green laughed. “I think my class is missing. Did no one show up today? I’ll have to mark everyone as absent. I believe I said good afternoon.”
The room chorused a low murmuring ‘good afternoon’ in reply.
“This won’t do,” Dr. Green said. “I’m here to teach you Japanese. I can’t very well teach you English, too.” He folded his arms behind his back and walked up through an aisle between two rows of desks. “We’ll be taking a lot of time to discuss Japan and the culture and of course, the language. You’ll be practicing with your classmates.” He made a loop around behind the back row of desks and strolled toward the front of the class. “As such, I think right now is the time to select a partner. I want you to work on a project for me.”
There was a collective groan. I glanced back at Victor, his fire eyes flickered at me. We already had our partners.
“Groaning is not a word,” Dr. Green said. “In this class, we use our words to express ourselves. And get ready for it. A month from now, we won’t be using English at all. If you can’t say it in formal Japanese, you won’t be able to do anything. That includes permission to leave my classroom.” Dr. Green rocked on his feet in front of the room, a soft smile on his face. “Let’s hope I remember to tell you what the phrase is first...” He shook his head. “But for now, pick a partner. I want you to prepare a list of things you both already know about Japan. I want to see how much my students know about the place we will be studying.”
“What do you know about Japan?” I asked Victor, turning in the seat to face him.
He shook his head, a slight smile on his face. “They grow rice.”
