Don't Promise Me

2- So, what's your name?

"And if you replace the x with the number you just got, which is 57, and multiply it by 4, you'll end up with"-

"Boooring!" Kyan exclaimed, earning laughter from most of the students. Some were too scared of Mrs. Kimura to laugh at that.
He held up his hand for me to high five, with a smug grin on his face. I didn't feel like doing it, so I just rolled my eyes at him, wearing a smile myself.

"Now, Mr. Atkins, do you know what is boring? Having to correct all of your sloppy homework and know after a few times seeing your unfinished worksheets and tests that the grades you'll get on my class will most likely always stay on the same level. And you and I both know what that is. Starts with a g and ends with arbage. So zip it and pay attention." Mrs. Kimura said, her slanted eyes, a feature of her Asian background, holding a blank expression. That's right. Blank. The woman doesn't show emotions at all.

Kyan's smile immediately dropped the same time as some people in the class said 'Ooh' and 'Ouch' to her sharp reply. I had other things in mind.

"Savage, are we?" I said loud and clear. I could see a lot of people tried to stifle a laugh, some failed miserably and others covered their mouths and pretended to yawn or whatever.

"Would you like to earn yourself a detention, Mr. Benson?"

"Nah, I'm good. Thanks for asking, though."

"Keep quiet." Again, she wore a blank expression. I don't like you. That's what I was thinking as she looked at me. Not glared, but just looked at me, showing how insignificant I was to her. What she was thinking, you could never tell.
After a couple of seconds of us just staring at each other, she turned back to the board to continue her explanation of the problem. I just rolled my eyes.

As I was about to proceed with doing my exercises, a noise caught my attention. It was the sound of plastic being crumpled. You know, that thing you do when you pretend that the line is breaking up and you can't hear the other person. Yeah, that's it. Only it was a much lower version of the sound.

I looked to my right and saw that Ella was the source of it. I watched as she opened up her snack bar cautiously, trying not to make any sound. She kept on glancing from the bar to Mrs. Kimura until she finally managed to rip it open and take a bite. I don't know if it's just me or she really is adorable. I smiled involuntarily at the scene. That's it, I'm talking to her now.

"Hey," I whispered, making her stop in mid-chew. "You're Ella, right? I'm Collin."

"I, uh... Yeah." She swallowed, "You can call me that."

Huh? Isn't that your name?

"What? What do you mean?"

"Um, never mind. Yeah, you can call me Ella." She said, well, whispered with a small smile.

"But that's not your name?" I asked her with a confused look. "I'm a little confused here." I chuckled a bit, showing her a nice smile.

"Well, it's-"

"Mr. Benson. What part of 'keep quiet' do you not understand?"

For God's sake. Can't you see I'm trying to have a conversation here? Some people are so rude.
I sighed and turned my gaze from Ella, who had instantly hidden her food, (if you can call it that) to her.

"Am I supposed to answer? Or do I keep quiet?" Kyan, who was sitting on my left, snorted at that. Of course he would, he doesn't like Mrs. Kimura at all. In fact, I'm yet to meet someone who does.

"No, just keep quiet." She turned back to the board once again.

Okay. I turned back to Ella, who was now working on a problem too, her snack lain on her lap this time.
I scribbled a note on a piece of paper I had torn from my notebook and placed it on her desk.