Twenty-One ~ A Dean Portman Fanfic

Two

Sitting in the back four desks of the English classroom, Evangeline tapped her pencil on the edge of her oak desk, staring at the teacher's back. The young, slim figured woman was recently hired that year and had done a quick ice breaker. The woman was pacing the front of the chalkboard wall, skimming through her worksheet as she explained to her students the basic grammar principles of 'there, they're and their'.

Evangeline already knew the difference between the three of them and she too found it annoying when high schoolers didn't know the difference of them. It wasn't that hard and she always cringed when proof reading friends' works as it was sometimes that terrible.

The girl's head tilted back as the taps continued on the edge of her desk, she could only bring herself to a trance. Thinking of what happened in the halls earlier before classes had started. She knew the boys from the hockey team, but didn't associate herself with them. Being aware of their victories and who they were, she didn't take much time to get to know any of them. They were different people as they were jocks and she was just a regular straight A student.

The only person who caught her mind is Dean Portman. She knew him a little better than the others because he found pleasure in taunting her every now and then.

She hated to admit it, but she used to have a crush on the boy. Since his first few months at Eden hall last year when he joined late, she never knew someone could catch her eye so quickly. Evangeline was dating someone else at the time, but she never gave up the opportunity to gawk over the enforcer. She found herself staring at him, trying to impress him every time they passed in the halls, or acted as if she didn't care who he was.

He made her swoon internally with never ending butterflies. The way he never paid attention to her made her want his attention even more. The way he was mean to most people in a funny way made her both laugh and annoyed. His showboating skills annoyed her most, finding his ego too big to handle. The silent crush inside had killed her for months until one day it all stopped. Evangeline had finally given up on it and proceeded on with life, but now as she saw him on her first day back at school, she questioned it all.

Through her annoying pencil tapping, Glory looked over to her brunette friend with creased brows. "Thinking hard or hardly thinking?" She laughed quietly.

The girl glanced over as the orange pencil lifted, suddenly stopping the taps. "Sorry."

"I don't mind."

"Yeah, but I do." Lily answered, their fourth friend spoke. "Something's on your mind, we all know it."

Evangeline inhaled deeply with a huff. "Seems like jocks get ruder and ruder every year."

"Some are nice." Glory answered.

"Not all, though." Julianna added. "Banks isn't so bad."

"Quiet down back there, girls." The woman at the front of the room told them.

With a shrug, Evangeline had looked down to her white sheet, pulling it down her desk. The girl began to gaze over the questions and distanced herself from the conversation. Her pencil went away answering easily without a second of thought as it was too easy for her. "Dean seemed to notice you." Glory whispered.

The brunette looked up slowly from her paper. "That's what has me confused."

Glory gulped, sitting back in her wooden chair. "Why?"

"He never bothered before, so why now?"

"New year, new you?" She rolled her shoulders, hearing a scoff from her best friend. "It's quite possible."

Evangeline leaned over from her desk, eyeing her friend in the eye. "I'm still the same as last year. Dorky and-"

"Hot." Glory had cut her off. "I even noticed the slightest change in you...You look more mature, especially since ditching those sweatpants."

A smile peaked at the corner of her mouth as she blushed, cheeks becoming red from her friend's compliment. "Guess I learned something from my brothers' girlfriends...Stuck with them most of the summer at the beach house."

"Ouu, sounds fun." Glory teased. "Don't sweat it. Take the year slow and don't bother with him."

When class finished, Evangeline left on her own to make her way to math class as her friends had math during a different period. She held her books close to her chest and ditched her schoolbag for the door, not wanting to lug it on her shoulder everywhere. It was better in the long run to bring what she needed instead of everything; it also prevented friends from asking her for pencils or markers, or notebooks if they forgot their own.

She looked back, thinking she heard her name from a friend, but hadn't and instead kept walking. She'd been pushed aside by someone who walked by her in a hurry, their face red with sweat coating their forehead and she raised her brows. The first day jitters got to some people more than others, but she didn't bother with the other students. Only worried about making it to her math class before earning an 'absent' or 'late' check next to her name when the bell rang.

Her blue eyes glanced around for an opening through the crowded halls as she gritted her teeth, sighing with an eye roll. She turned her body, squeezing between some taller kids and had been pushed into another person's backpack. Hands outstretched to block her from falling and she gagged at the smell of the student's bag. Never had seen smelt such a stench from a bookbag and wondered what the hell happened to it.

With an annoyed huff, standing in the middle of the hallway, she looked for a way out.

From behind, a jock came plowing through with a laugh as he voiced his opinion to his Bash Brother, the two of them over stimulated by a simple minded conversation. He bumped into Evangeline on accident, shoving her into the crowd of students and she stumbled back into a few backs.

Her books fell to her feet and she swallowed roughly, leaving her books to look up and see the perpetrator. With a slow nod, she began to shake her head and fold her arms over her chest with distaste.

Fulton glanced at her and picked up the books, messily stacking them and picked up a loose sheet of paper that wrinkled up. "Thanks." She mumbled before he continued to walk, not realizing Dean had shoved her on accident.

Evangeline's eyes followed the two boys down the hall until she could no longer see them. Part of her wanted to follow them and give Dean a taste of her own medicine, but she didn't want to be caught and possible be in trouble. She left it alone and instead hugged her books to her chest as she wandered down the hall again.

When she stepped into her math class, Evangeline found herself pausing at the door. Head fell as her jaw dropped merely and she stared blankly inside the filled room of students. Sitting by the window, lying back in the wooden chair with legs outstretched into the small walkway between desks, sat Dean Portman.

"You've got to be kidding me." She muttered.

"Nice of you to join us, Miss Sullivan. Please take your seat." The man spoke, walking up to her so he could close door.

All eyes fell upon her and she felt like a demon was piercing her soul, there were so many stares. Feeling small, like she shriveled up like an armadillo below it's shell, she slowly walked to the back of the class. Head bowed with her chin to her chest, she took her seat by sliding onto the chair in a hurry. Books hitting the desk with a clap and she sank in her chair, arms cross over her stomach.

From the corner of her eye, she could see Dean Portman looking in her direction. A smirk spiked her attention and she wondered why now.

Why did he suddenly find her amusing now and not then?