The next week found Anna still in a daze. She just couldn’t stop thinking about Fredrick and Jacqueline – here, in her own school. It had taken her so long to put the people she knew in her hometown out of her mind, to move on. And now, they were back again. She caught herself constantly on the lookout for some sign that either of them was around, and they never failed to disappoint. Maybe it was just because she was looking for them, but it seemed like she’d see them everywhere she went. On more than one occasion Anna found herself wishing to be home, longing for the days when she lounged in isolation. At least then she didn’t have to worry about people from her past coming back into her life.
Now that Anna was keeping an eye out, she’d seen Fredrick almost every time she left her friends at lunch. So in order to avoid the knot that formed in the pit of her stomach every time she laid eyes on him, she’d started leaving for French a little later. The plan worked great in the sense that she no longer had to worry so much about seeing him in the halls. The downside, however, was that she now had to hurry to make it to class on time.
As Anna hurried around the corner, she looked back over her shoulder, thinking she’s spotted Fredrick after all. She was still staring somewhere behind her when she ran into someone. Literally.
The force of hitting a person so hard and so unexpectedly was enough to knock her back onto the linoleum-tiled floor with a thud. Anna lifted her eyes from the floor and saw a hand being offered to her. She took it and climbed unsteadily back to her feet.
As she stood up, her mind vaguely wondering why she had to be the one to fall, Anna found herself staring into the face of the person she’d just bumped into. It was a boy who looked about her age, with deep, rich brown hair. It was a little longer than most boys’ she’d seen lately, and was styled in a way that looked slightly unkempt. He had gorgeous eyes – brown with a trace of green around the edges, and he had the most amazing smile. Anna couldn’t help but stare – this boy was cute.
“Sorry about that.” he said, running a hand through his hair, his cheeks turning just the slightest shade of pink. Then, looking at her more closely, he said, “You’re Anna, aren’t you?”
Anna nodded.
The boy said something, but Anna didn’t hear it. She just stood there staring at him, not paying a lick of attention to whatever he was talking about. After a few seconds of silence, he shifted his weight slightly, beginning to look nervous.
“Luke – Lucas Volk? In Miss Molthop’s class?” he said to her.
Anna realized she’d just been staring blankly at him. She’d never seen him around before, but how could she have missed him? Surely she would have noticed someone so good-looking – especially if they were in her class. He was in her class, wasn’t he? How else would he know her? Is that what he’d been talking about? Realizing he was getting uncomfortable, she hurriedly replied.
“I’m sorry.” she said. Now it was her cheeks that were becoming rosy. “What did you say?”
He gave a short laugh, visibly relaxing. “I guess you must have fallen harder than I thought.” he said jokingly. “I’m Luke. You’re in my math class, right?”
“Oh, yes. I’m sorry. Lucas. Nice to meet you.” she said, regaining some of her composure. She held out her hand for him to shake.
“You can call me Luke.” he told her, falling into step beside her. “So where’re you headed?”
“Luke.” Anna repeated, making a mental note. “I’m going to French, and then math, and then art.” she yammered, wondering why she was so nervous around him.
“Art – nice to have a fun class after the worst subject of the day.” he told her.
“I like math.” Anna said truthfully. It was a lot simpler than most of her other classes; English had changed quite a bit over the centuries, and there were way more countries now than when she was brought up. It seemed that math was the only subject that hadn’t completely changed!
“You’ve got to be the only kid on campus to actually like math.” Luke told her, laughing.
“Really?” Anna asked, ever gullible.
“Well, no.” Luke conceded. “Actually, a couple of my friends like it. I just can’t get into it myself.”
“So what class do you like, then?” she asked him.
“Science.” he replied, grinning. “That’s where I just came from, actually. I love science – it’s nice to be able to have a class that’s facts, not like English where it’s all boring stories and stupid poems.”
“Well…math is facts, too.” Anna pointed out.
“Yeah, but science is at least interesting facts.” Luke countered.
“True,” Anna replied, not being able to think of anything else to say around him. She thought math was interesting too – why hadn’t she said that?
They continued walking down the hall together. Luke told Anna all about the merits of science class, and Anna tried desperately to focus enough to maintain a conversation with him – if only her heart would stop pounding so much. Fortunately for her, she didn’t have to try too long. In only a few short minutes, they were standing outside of her door.
“This is my class.” she told him with some regret. She smiled at him and started to turn towards the classroom, but Luke grabbed her arm, stopping her.
“Hey, listen,” he said. “You know how we don’t really have a seating chart or anything in math?”
Anna nodded. Even though there wasn’t a seating chart, everyone always seemed to sit in the same spots day in and day out. Anna had always thought it was a rather amusing testament to just how predictable humans could be.
“Well, I was thinking,” Luke said, interrupting her train of thought before she got carried away. “Why don’t you sit next to me today? I’ll save you a seat, ok?”
And before she could reply, he turned and started walking down the hall, nodding goodbye to her over his shoulder. Anna just stood there in surprise, her face flushing.
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An hour later, Anna walked into her math class, scanning the faces of those already seated. Part of her wondered if Luke was playing some sort of joke on her. She’d never seen him before that she could remember – maybe he wasn’t really in her class. Or maybe he was, and he was just teasing her, pretending he’d leave a seat for her.
Anna searched for a moment or two before she found Luke in the back corner farthest away from the door. No wonder she’d never noticed him; she usually sat at the opposite side of the room – at the front, ready to learn. As she cautiously approached, she saw an empty desk in front of him. When he saw her, he smiled knowingly, making Anna feel slightly annoyed. What did he know, anyway?
“Ah.” he said. “I knew you’d come over here.”
So that was it. He thought she was predictable. If there was one thing Anna hated above all else, it was someone thinking they could read her. She didn’t even try to hide her mild annoyance as she greeted him. Of course, Luke picked up on it.
“Hey, I didn’t mean anything by that.” he said quickly. “I just meant that…well…” he trailed off.
It seemed as though Anna had made him uncomfortable for a second time today. Looked like she wasn’t the only one getting nervous whenever the two spoke. Suddenly feeling guilty, Anna spoke up.
“No, I’m sorry. I know you weren’t trying to be rude.” Anna decided to change the subject. “So how was science?”
It was the only thing she could think to say. Luke seemed glad for the change in topic.
“It was good.” he replied. “We’re doing taxonomy. I love categorizing all the animals and plants – especially the animals.”
“Why?” Anna asked him, bewildered. It had always seemed so pointless to her. Just because you called something a plant or an animal didn’t mean anything. Did it tell you any more about that species than you knew before? No. But when she told Luke so, he vehemently disagreed.
“No way. It’s interesting how they come up with these categories. I mean, yeah, a lot of them are just arbitrary groups. But I like seeing how people think different animals are related. Especially the ones that aren’t easy to categorize.”
“How can it be hard to categorize them? It’s either a plant, or it’s not, right?” she asked.
“Well, not always.” he told her. “Take the Euglena for example.” he said brightening, and Anna could see just how interested in science he really was. “I mean, it’s got chloroplasts, so it does photosynthesis. So, it’s a plant, right? But it can move on its own and can sense light. So it’s an animal, right? But it can’t be both. So what is it?”
Anna was at a loss, and told him so.
Leaning forward in his chair, Luke explained. “Well…it’s neither. It’s in a different category altogether. But if you only had two kingdoms – animal and plant – you’d never be able to classify it. I like the tricky things like that – where it’s got things from two categories that you wouldn’t think could exist together.”
Anna nodded, mulling it over. Even though she didn’t say anything right away, Luke was still grinning at her, a gleam in his eye. Anna couldn’t tell if it was from the joy of talking about something he loved, or from stumping her on something she was so sure she knew.
As she continued to stare at him, Luke pointed casually to the front of the classroom with the tip of his pencil. Miss Molthrop was already at the front of the classroom, writing problems from last night’s homework on the board for the class to go over together.
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