I duck into an empty restroom and wash my face. The tap water is lukewarm and comes out in spurts. I try to temper my breathing, to calm my heaving chest. Even though I wipe each tear as it comes, more fall to take their place. The sting of betrayal fills my body, making my hands shake and my head hurt. My mind endlessly replays the scene of Teagan and the other girls and the way that they laughed as they walked away from me.
My cheeks flush with heat as my thoughts turn to Ren Takeshima and the way that I had run into him. The brief moment that I was in his arms was almost unreal. His brown eyes had been cautious and then sharp as they stared into me. His hands had been so soft and then suddenly rough when he threw me from his embrace. I had heard his voice before, with its lazy intonation but it was different, even better, because it had been directed at me. His words and tone had been harsh but for some reason, my cheeks still burned and this time it wasn’t with embarrassment.
I put my hands up to my dripping face. My cheeks are hot even under the touch of my sweaty hands. His face, his voice, fills me, warms me.
I rip my hands from my face as the door unexpectedly opens. Standing in the doorway are a few girls that I haven’t seen before. I hurriedly look away and pretend as if I’m washing my hands. They enter the restroom and begin to talk in the corner, glancing over at me. I get the vibe that I’m not wanted in here and walk over to the hand dryer. Since this is one of the older restrooms in a section of the school that hasn’t been renovated, the air is lukewarm and weak. I finally give up under the gaze of the younger girls and wipe my hands on my skirt before leaving the restroom.
I pull the folded piece of paper out of my jacket pocket and look down at my schedule.
10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAag0DYkeOO
English 4
AP Calculus
AP Government and Economics
Lunch
Human Biology
Dual Credit Program/ Statistics
Library Aide
10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuczn2GUlxU
I look at the names and the room numbers of each class. I smile once again at the name “Ramirez” next to my Human Biology class. I had taken a class with her last year and I was happy that I would see at least one familiar face. Ms. Ramirez was funny and real. She was kind but she wasn’t afraid to speak her mind. In my opinion that made her even greater. I didn’t like teachers who sugarcoated things or teachers who were too apathetic. Calculus, Government and Economics, and Statistics were all AP or dual credit classes that were supposed to give me a leg up on my college coursework. I wanted to major in finance whenever I graduated and work in whatever career made the most money which would probably be in the fields of Equity Analysis, Tax Director, or something in Risk Management. I was good with numbers. They all followed a predetermined formula that made sense. Risk management would be a little more abstract but I was confident in my ability to make predictions based on my future clients’ past finances and growth patterns.
A career in finance could earn me a six-figure salary which would be more than enough to take care of my mom and older brother. It would save my mom from double shifts at the restaurant and my brother from being laughed at by the rich pricks who attended this school. I just needed to get through this last year at Our Lady of Grace Academy and then four years of college.
I take note of the location of my English class and begin walking there. The classroom is a little far but it will give me the time I need to shake off the nerves from my already terrible morning. I walk through Our Lady of Grace Academy’s halls, which are quickly filling with students. I keep my head down and focus on getting through the crowd without incident.
I finally reach my English class. I walk through the open door and get my first glimpse of Mr. Doyle. He’s an older man, most likely only a couple of years away from retirement. His hair has gone gray, but his long beard is still tinged with ginger. I take a seat near the back of the class. English and Human Biology are my only two classes that are not AP or Dual Credit. I don’t really care about anything other than passing in order to keep my GPA above 3.5. Since I plan to go into Finance after graduating, all of my classes for the last three years have emphasized math and have been AP classes or Dual Credit whenever possible. The faster I graduate high school and college, the faster I can make the big bucks. I open my backpack, pull out a college-ruled blue spiral, and sit it on my desk along with a pen. I then zip up my backpack and tuck it under my desk. It rests between my feet.
The bell rings, a terrible shrill sound, and Mr. Doyle jumps at the unexpected noise. He grumbles as he rises from his chair and walks over to close the door. Just as he begins pushing the door shut, a foot jams itself into the space left and Mr. Doyle releases the door and steps back.
Ren Takeshima pushes the door open the rest of the way and gives Mr. Doyle a smirk, “Sorry bout that, Teach. Lost track of time.”
Mr. Doyle gives Ren a look but then turns and begins walking back to his desk.
“Close the door after you,” Mr. Doyle says over his shoulder.
“You got it,” Ren says and allows the door to fall shut.
I watch Ren as he looks around the room for a seat. My cheeks begin to fill with heat again as I remember the events of this morning. I want to look away but something about him is so magnetic. His entire aura draws me in.
Suddenly our eyes meet and it's like a current of electricity shoots through me. I still can’t look away. Ren smirks and begins walking towards me. He stops at my desk and looks down at me.
“Is this seat taken?”
My mouth opens and closes, “Umm, the one I’m sitting in?”
Ren rolls his eyes, “Are ya dumb? I’m talking about the one behind you.”
My cheeks fill with heat again and I look down at my desk. I shake my head, unable to speak for fear of my voice coming out as a mere squeak.
“Perfect,” Ren says as he sets his stuff down on the desk and takes a seat.
Mr. Doyle begins to introduce himself before picking up his clipboard to take attendance. My last name is Caldwell and I get called fairly soon. I raise my hand and squeak out “Present.”
“Octavia Caldwell, huh?” I hear Ren’s voice behind me mutter but I ignore him.
A minute later, Mr. Doyle calls out Ren’s name. Ren drawls out a “here”. Mr. Doyle calls out the last few names before he takes a stack of papers from his desk. He licks his fingers before counting several pages out and placing them on the first desk in the row closest to him.
“Take one and pass it back.”
Mr. Doyle’s simple command sends a rush of nervousness through me. I’d have to face Ren.
I watch as Mr. Doyle approaches each row of desks. My hands start sweating.
Finally, Mr. Doyle comes to a stop in front of the row I am sitting in. I watch as he looks down the row, counting in his head. I watch as Mr. Doyle places the stack of papers on the first desk. The girl sitting there keeps one and passes it back, a blank expression on her face as if this was such a simple practice and I was almost foolish for getting worked up over it. Dread continues to build in me as the papers get closer and closer. The guy sitting in front of me doesn’t even bother turning around, he just holds the last two remaining papers over his shoulder. I take them from his hand and slowly separate the two pages, setting one down on my desk. I hold the last paper in my hand and slightly twist in my seat to hand it to Ren.
Ren’s eyes light up as we make eye contact. He smirks as he takes the paper from my hand, “Are ya finally done crying, dollface?”
My jaw drops. I quickly swivel in my chair to face the front. Mr. Doyle has begun going over the syllabus for the year.
Ren grabs one of my curls and pulls it, “Hey, it wasn’t a bad thing. You looked kinda hot with those tears streaming down your chubby little chipmunk cheeks. You did piss me off when you ran off without picking up my shit, though.”
I don’t make any indication that I heard him.
He grabs another one of my curls and pulls on it harder than he did the first time, “Hey, I’m fucking talking to you.”
The feeling of each individual strand pulling against my scalp sends involuntary shivers down my spine.
“Don’t tell me you fucking like this shit,” Ren chuckles as he pulls my hair again.
My cheeks flush with color. No, I don’t like it! I want to shout at Ren but Mr. Doyle is talking and I don’t want to draw so much attention to myself.
Ren pulls my hair again when I don’t answer.
Mr. Doyle finally comes to a pause in his discussion of the syllabus, apparently expecting questions. I raise my hand and he points to me.
“May I change seats, please?”
Mr. Doyle gives me a tired look, “I meant any questions about the syllabus and the expectations for this school year.”
I slowly lower my hand back down. Mr. Doyle looks away as another student raises their hand and asks a question about the books we’re going to read this semester.
Ren quietly snickers behind me and sharply pulls my hair. I have to bite my lip to hold back a gasp of surprise.
“What? You don’t want to sit next to me? Am I bothering you?” Ren asks.
I ignore him once again and remove my scrunchie from my wrist. I pull up my curly hair into a half-assed bun.
The rest of English class passes uneventfully. Ren keeps his hands to himself and doesn’t say anything else. Since it's only the first day of Senior year, the class is mostly Mr. Doyle rambling on about the syllabus, his expectations for us as a class, and introducing the various books that we will be reading throughout the year. I am beyond relieved when the bell rings to signal the end of class. I love reading but I hate reading for a grade, it takes the fun and entertainment value out of the books. I bend down and grab my backpack from under my desk but then it's suddenly kicked out of my hand. The backpack goes sailing up the aisle between the two rows of desks. I look up in annoyance to see Ren staring down at me.
He shrugs, “It's your punishment for not picking up my shit when I told you to.”
He leaves me staring up at him in shock and walks down the aisle. He makes a point to step on my backpack as he passes it. I’m thankful that I don’t have anything fragile or of value in there, but I’m pissed that he thinks he can just do that to me.
I’ve seen Ren Takeshima around campus. Everyone knows him, or at least they know of him. He keeps an extremely small circle that includes two other guys from our grade as well as his sister who’s in the grade under us. I’ve never seen him treat anyone else like this and so I wonder why he’s suddenly targeting me. What did I really do to him? Was it really that terrible that I had run into him this morning? It was an accident, did he not understand that?
I pick up my backpack and catch up to him in the hallway. I tap his shoulder and he turns to me. He smirks when he sees that it's me.
“What’s up, crybaby?”
I bristle but then take a breath to calm myself, “I’m not a crybaby. At least not usually. I was just dealing with something this morning.”
He rolls his eyes and keeps walking. I take several steps to match his long stride. While I’m not short by any means, Ren Takeyama easily clears six feet and is purposely lengthening his strides.
“Hey, I just wanted to apologize for this morning. I really didn’t mean to run into you. I don’t know if that's why you’re doing this or what, but I just wanted to say sorry and clear the air between us.”
I know I shouldn’t be apologizing when I’ve literally done nothing wrong but I just want to ensure that this is not going to be a recurring thing. I’ve literally prayed to God for Ren Takeshima to show interest in me, but this was not the kind of interest I was talking about.
Ren stops walking and turns to me. His eyes are hard and the smirk on his lips looks closer to sadistic than amused. He leans down until our faces are mere inches apart.
“I’m not doing this just because you ran into me, dollface. I’m doing it because I can.” He reaches up and pats my cheek twice before walking away.
I stare after him with a dumbfounded expression before someone bumps into me from behind and I remember that I am standing in a busy hallway during passing period. I snap out of it and head towards my next class, AP Calculus. Hopefully solving some equations would distract me from the memory of the glint in Ren’s eyes as he stared down at me10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzZmoUHHePf
