HER

Part 3

Mark was seated comfortably on my right while Mary was behind him.

"Class, we got a new student." The teacher called out from his line of sight.

As if on cue, the new student came in through the entrance. He was wearing glasses with a laptop by his side. They were hooded, his eyes covered by his top head jacket and his pants were wrinkled past his sneakers.

The guy was sullen and dull but composed. He spoke, nonetheless, "Good morning. I'm Xavier Dawn."

The class was silent. I expected people to laugh or make a joke. Jerald Watkins to make a silly comment or Gabby Darleifh's girls woo the new guy. But everyone is so quiet. I can almost count every tick of the clock hanging above the whiteboard from the back row.

It is probably because of his get-up since he was very much loose, messy and well, truthfully speaking quite dull. He never looked up, always with his head hung low, probably too shy to look at us.

I can remember Tria's excitement over Holland the new guy she talked about when I was in high school. She was in sophomore year of college that she decided to tell me the tale of her first crush of the year. It was last year that she would make a huge nonstop fuss over the new guy, telling me how pretty his eyes were or simply how cool he was as an athlete. Tria had a huge heart.

"That's odd." Ms. Addison, our subject teacher in philosophy, said in the questionable tone of hers where no one wants to answer in her philosophical lesson about Kant's influence, "so no one wants to welcome the new classmate?"

Thoughtlessly, my hands rose.

Mary giggled at what Mark did.

Yep, you got it right. He forcefully brought my hand up unconsciously. I gave him the 'what the hell' look.

Mary giggled then shrugged as Mark did the same.

Finally, Ms. Addison's tight lip broadened into a smile. She cocked her head saying, "Cassy Lavern, what a delightful surprise please, stand up and introduce yourself."

"Well, umm" my hands shook at the phobia with facing the crowd. However, my quite stiff shoulders straightened with unknown confidence and my throaty voice spoke to the best of its ability. I hope I wouldn't be the class clown after this. If so, first target: Screw Mark Moose. We will see if he can survive Cassy Lavern's blend of never-ending torture.

Before anything, I made it quite sure to give Mark the eye before welcoming the new kid in the class."Hi, I'm Cassy Lavern, you are in the philosophy class with Ms. Addison. Welcome to the class."

"Thanks, nice to meet you too." The reply was clipped and short. He didn't make any eye contact and neither did I. I was looking straight at his broad shoulders and found out his t-shirt is blue instead of gray.

Wow, Cassy didn't know you were somewhat knowledgeable in that field of color expertise. What a great hidden talent you have!

Two students giggled when the hooded guy passed by their seat.

"Now, now, take a seat, Mr. Dawn." The new student managed to take a seat next to me, right there and then, I noticed, he was the same guy who took me home just the other night! The hot smoky emerald eyes flashed with surprise.

Something in my throat clogged. I couldn't speak.

I am too shocked by the uneventful meeting. Who would have thought the rider was the same guy in the nerd suit. I was shocked for a moment only to mask my curiosity and give him a tip smile and looked elsewhere.

The classroom was still. Probably because Ms. Addison supposedly has a test or the guys are too busy studying. The nerds are reading their books before their faces, the jocks preoccupied with the chicks, the rejects which Mark so-called "the stereotypes" glued their eyes to the board as if something was written there. The rest were doing their own thing doing, stare, talk, sleep.