Secret Secrets

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"Happy Birthday, Eliza!" I was pracitcally draining the life out of my best friend I was hugging her so hard. "How does it feel to be sixteen?"

"I can't really feel anything right now to be honest." Eliza whimpered between breaths.

I released my grip. "Sorry! I'm just so excited for you! What do you want to do today?"

Eliza tapped her chin, thinking. "Well I don't know about during the daytime, but I know Chris Locker is hosting a party tonight."

"You seriously want to go to that? Chris is such a dick."

Eliza shrugged. "It's a party...on my birthday...I don't see why not."

I held my hands up in defense. "Okay, okay we'll go. But first...let's go shopping!"

"Venice?" Della was waving a hand in front of my eyes. I blinked and she sighed in relief. "Jesus, you were staring blankly for like, two minutes! Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just didn't sleep well last night."

Della didn't wavier. "Are you ready for your first day of classes?" We were sitting on a bench outside of Willow Hall, the building that held the science, math, and mechanic classes. My first class of the day was math in room 323. With Mr. Thyme. Della had science and we were both waiting for the first bell to toll. We had been killing time talking when I apparently had zoned out, drifting back to Eliza's final birthday. But before I could answer Della's question, she had moved on to another topic. "Hottie alert!"

I turned my head to see who she was talking about. It was Gabriel Foxglove, striding towards us, and he was still wearing those sunglasses. "Venice." He called to me. Hearing him say my name was like heaven.

"You two know each other?" Della whispered. I nodded.

Gabriel took his spot standing in front of our bench. I took the liberty of introducing him to Della. "Gabriel Foxglove, this is my room mate, Della Marshal. Della, this is Gabriel." The two shook hands and exchanged pleasant "pleased to meet you"s. "What's your first class?" I asked him.

"Math with Mr. Thyme." He said. I smiled. "I have a feeling that's your first class, too Venice?" Before I could even say yes, the sound of a bell rang into my ears. Gabriel stuck out his hand and helped me up. "I'd be happy to escort you." Fireworks seemed to explode in my stomach as my arm linked through his. It felt like it fit there. Like Gabriel and I were meant to stand side by side. Quickly I shook the thought from my head. I'd known this guy for only a day and I was already day dreaming about him?

"Why do you wear those sun glasses all the time?" I asked, wanting to fill my brain up with something other than his grand looks.

He opened the door of Willow Hall for me and held it open until I walked all the way through. "My eyes are quite...unique."

"Wha-" But I didn't get to finish my sentence. I had turned around to face Gabriel. Gabriel's sun glasses were off. Gabriel's eyes were red. Not bring red, more like a rusty red. Still, they were red. "Your eyes..."

"That's genetics for you." Gabriel said in a no-big-deal kind of way.

"...red." I muttered mindlessly. We started walking up the stairs.

Gabriel laughed lightly. "Yes, Venice. They're red. Now you know the reason I was wearing those glasses. They tend to freak people out."

I took another look at the strange eyes. Sure they were a little freaky, but I was starting to get used to them. They completed his face, made him more intriguing. "I like them."We were at the top of the staircase now, heading down the packed hallway.

Gabriel raised his eyebrows in pleasure to my statement. "I haven't heard that in a long time."

"Venice Thornbe. Long time no see, eh?" Dax Thyme's voice filled my ears, snapping me out of my Gabriel wonderland. I hadn't even realized we were standing in front of his room.

"Nice sarcasm, Dax." I spat, my eyes still on Gabriel.

Gabriel grew a worried look. "You two...know each other?"

My face became red. "Uh, yeah. He was a student teacher at my school last year." Gabriel took that as an acceptable answer and went into the classroom. Once he was out of ear shot, I groaned. "C'mon Dax, seriously?"

Dax stuffed his hands in his jean pockets and smiled. "I"m just playing with you, Venice."

"What so one second you're all lovey-dovey for me and now you're 'just playing'?"

Dax became uncomfortable. "Well, I can't exactly be lovey-dovey in a school environment. Just come into class, please Miss Thornbe." I rolled my eyes and huffed into class. Everyone was crowded around a small sheet of paper taped to the dirty chalk board at the front of the room: the seating chart. I made way over to the small mob and gently pushed through. Upon reaching the paper, my eyes went on a wild search for my name. I found it in the back row, looking comfortable next to Gabriel Foxglove. I broke out in smile and rushed over to my desk, which was near the big classroom window, and took a seat.

"We just can't seem to seperate, can we?" Gabriel chuckled.

I smiled at him, his red eyes drilling into mine. "I guess not." The second bell chimed and Dax appeared in the front of the room. He ripped the seating chart off the board, gave the room a once over, and then crumpled it into a ball and gave it a perfect toss into the green recycling bin. A few boys in the class, not including Gabriel, let out a respectful "whoot." Dax waved his hands and gave a short bow.

He then turned around and picked up a tiny piece of chalk. In one swift movement, he wrote "Mr. Thyme" across the board in messy cursive. "Welcome to Algebra 2, kids. My name is Mr. Dax Thyme. You can call me Mr. Thyme or Mr. T or Mr. Whatever." He got a few laughs. "Well, why don't we get started?"

We spent the rest of the class working as a class on some equations to help brush us up on the math we learned the previous year. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.