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I reached for a notebook and a pen in my bag. “Do you want to write it down?”
“You write,” he said. “Your handwriting is nicer.”
“How would you know?”
“Girls always have nice handwriting.”
I smirked at him, plopping the notebook on his desk. “I want to see yours.”
He took the pen from my hand and wrote something in the notebook. He flipped over the notebook so I could read it.
Japan grows rice.
“It’s not bad,” I said, being honest. I’d read worse. His was legible.
“But you probably write all swirly and with hearts and stuff,” he said, fiddling with the medallion at his neck.
“I don’t use hearts,” I said. “Unless you want me to.” I took the notebook and wrote our names at the top of the page. I used my plainest writing for my own name and wrote his in a girly script, using a heart over the “i”.
“He’s going to know you did that,” he said. “He knows my handwriting.”
“Yeah but no one else will,” I said. “And we have to pass it up at the end of class, right?”
His eyes went wide. “You wouldn’t.”
“I already did.”
He rolled his eyes, reaching for the pen in my hands but I put it behind my back.
“What’s wrong? I like your name in hearts.” I was feeling good. I thought I would like this class and I was happy Victor was there with me to share it. It was the first time I wasn’t feeling so nervous that day.
He smiled but his cheeks tinted red. He shook his head and crossed his arms over his chest. “Stop being so damn cute.”
“Victor?” Dr. Green said.
Dr. Green approached my desk. I spun around to sit properly.
“Dr. Green.” Victor sat up, pulling his shoulders back to face him.
“If you’re going to flirt with Miss Sang in my class, it must be done in Japanese.” Dr. Green brushed a lock of his sandy-colored hair from his forehead. “I believe you were saying she is cute? In Japanese, you say kawa...”
“I’m not doing that,” Victor said, interrupting him, blushing again and turning his head away.
Other students listening in started to giggle.
“No?” Dr. Green looked at me. “Well in that case...” He picked up my hand. His warm fingers wrapped around mine delicately. “Kimi ga ite shiawase. Koi ni ochite shimatta.” He bowed his head, puckered his lips and hovered at the crest of my knuckles as if he were about to kiss my hand.
The whole class around us started to gasp.
He stopped a millimeter away and his breath teased the back of my hand. He gazed up, smiled at me and winked. “That is how you talk to a lady.”
I felt my cheeks and ears getting hot. “What does it mean?” I asked, my voice catching.
“When you figure it out, I’ll give you a free A on your next test.” He let go of my hand. He stood fully, putting his hands behind his back again and headed to the front of the room. “Are we finished? I don’t see pens and pencils moving. Please don’t turn in a paper with just two or three things. I am hoping my class is brighter than the average student population.”
Whispers filled the room. Eyes focused on me and I slid further into my seat, unsure how to respond. So many questions popped into my mind.
Academy teachers were very different.
Victor escorted me to the gym for my next class. He was quiet, gazing at the floor and he bumped into other students as he walked.
“Victor?”
“Hm?”
“Is Dr. Green normally like that?”
His fire eyes met mine. He considered me, an eyebrow raised. “You mean kissing girls in the middle of the classroom?”
My cheeks warmed again. “He never did kiss my hand.”
“He would have,” Victor said, gazing down at his toes again. “And yes, he’s like that.”
“Do you know what he said to me? The kimi ga--”
“No,” he said, his tone rising. His cheeks turned red. “I have no idea what he said.”
Was he being honest or did he not want to tell me? And why was he snappy with me? I stopped walking, rewrapping my fingers around the straps of my bag. “Hey,” I said. “I was just asking.”
“Well stop asking me about him. Who the hell cares what he said?” he scoffed. His face changed and he reached into his pocket, pulling out his cell phone. He glanced at the messages and frowned. “I’ve got to go.”
“Victor?” I asked but he was already walking away. He wandered off into the crowd and I lost sight of him.
I couldn’t understand him. Why would he be so angry with me? Was it because I basically started it and embarrassed us both in class? I sighed. Sometime later I needed to remind myself to apologize to him for it.
And where was he going?
Since it was the first day of gym class, all of the students for that period collected in the large gymnasium. The bleachers were closed and there was a wide area of the floor in front of the basketball court. The girls were directed to one half of the area and the guys to the other. We were told to sit on the ground. I knelt in my skirt, the wood felt rough against my already bruised knees. I slid onto my butt quickly for relief. It was awkward but my knees didn’t hurt.
I found Gabriel right away across the room. I waved to him to catch his eye. His eyes brightened when he noticed and he waved back. I moved so I was sitting close to the outside of the group of girls and he did the same on his side, sitting on the edge of the boy’s group. The gym teachers were clustered together under one of the basketball goals. They talked to themselves, hovering over their clipboards.
“Where’s Nathan?” I asked him.
“I don’t know,” he said. He tucked fingers through his hair, combing the locks of blonde behind his ear to blend in with the brown. “I thought he would be here.”
I twisted my lips. “You know, Victor got a message on his phone and ran off. Would they be together? Did something happen?”
Gabriel’s eyebrows arched and his mouth opened in surprised. He fixed himself quickly, shrugged and shook his head. “It’s probably nothing to worry about.”
I couldn’t be sure but it seemed like Gabriel knew more than he was letting on. What were the boys doing that was so important that they would miss a class on the first day of school? Kota would be furious. So would Mr. Blackbourne and Dr. Green. I hoped whatever was going on, they wouldn’t find themselves in trouble.
The gym instructors started to talk to all of us as a group, informing us about where to pay for gym uniforms, giving us sheets of paper as an insurance waiver for our parents to sign and a gym locker number with a lock combo. We would be given five minutes to be dressed and in the gym every day. Our grade depended on us being there on time and daily participation.
Coach French, the girl’s instructor, barked at us. “We will also be requiring everyone to pass the physical exam. We’re going to do that soon to get it out of the way. This includes the mile run, sit ups, push-ups... everything.”
I made a face, squirming to find a comfortable way to sit that was modest in a skirt without sitting on my knees.
“Don’t like the sound of exercising?” Gabriel asked.
I swallowed, trying to find a good distraction so he wouldn’t notice. “I hate running.”
He laughed. “You know what’s the best part about running?”
“What?”
“The stopping.”
I laughed with him. “Yes. I agree.”
After this, there was nothing for us to do but wait until the end of class. They allowed us to talk together and the gym seemed to vibrate with the voices of our chatter echoing in the room.
The door of the gym opened and from the hallway walked in Mr. McCoy and Principal Hendricks. They crossed the basketball court together, talking to each other. Principal Hendricks folded his arms over his chest, his gaze searching the students. Mr. McCoy instantly spotted me, leaned in and whispered something
to the Principal. My heart thudded. Was he going to give me detention for sitting incorrectly?
“Who are they?” Gabriel asked, catching where I was looking and my expression.
“It’s the principal and the vice principal.”
“Why do you look like you’re about to run out the door?” He smirked, poking at my arm. “Are you in trouble already?”
“I don’t know yet,” I said.
Gabriel’s face turned solemn and he twisted around to watch with me. Mr. McCoy and Principal Hendricks crossed the gym toward us.
“Excuse me, kids. We’d hate to interrupt,” Hendricks spoke to both of us. Gabriel and I stood up so we could address him. “You’re one of Mr. Blackbourne’s kids? Mr. Coleman, right?” he asked Gabriel.
