Study Buddies

Chapter 11

~~ Study Buddies ~~

It was Monday the next week, and Ian was late for school.

Clad in a big jean jacket, with a brown top within, black trousers and white sneakers, Ian hopped off his bike and rushed into the school building. He dashed across the hallway and sled on the tiles as he turned left and proceeded forward. Almost reaching the end of the hallway, he stopped with a slide. He comported himself, adjusting his backpack hung behind him and stood in front of a door.

His eyelids slowly closed as he let out a sigh. He could hear random chatter from within the classroom. Oof… He sighed again before opening his eyes and pushed the door open.

He froze upon entry, the whole class became silent all of a sudden, all eyes on him. But the place was so noisy just some seconds ago. Damn… For them to draw this much attention to someone as socially awkward like him, he must have been really late to class. Ian gulped as the thought ran through his mind.

From where he stood, he had a good view of the classroom. It was a lab this time around. Tall and wide tables were lined in three columns from left to right. Each table had two students seated by it, their notes and a few needed chemical apparatuses on them.

Ian tilted his head right to see a man standing by his office table and chair. The man was just about his height. He had brownish hair on his oblong face and beards to match. He had a striped shirt and brown trousers worn beneath his white and spotless lab coat. He was non other than Mr. Humphrey, the science teacher.

Mr. Humphrey dropped the chalk on the table and tucked both his hands into the side pockets of his lab coat.

“Welcome to class, Mr. Whitefield. You arrived really early today.”

“Hehe…” Ian could only chuckle sheepishly after regaining from his shock. He knew Mr. Humphrey to be a very sarcastic man.

“Sorry, I’m late. I--”, Ian was about to drop an alibi he’d just thought of, when Mr. Humphrey cut him off.

Mr. Humphrey drew out his left hand from his side pocket and raised his palm at Ian, “No need for that. Just get yourself a seat…”

Phew… Ian nodded and walked to the back of the class.

“…If there’s one,” he heard Mr. Humphrey chuckle from behind him.

He wished he could just disappear to the only empty seat he spotted at the far end of the class, the gazes were driving him crazy. As an introvert and low ranked member of the class, his self esteem was quite low and he always felt oppressed, especially in front of Ace Leather.

“Psst. Hey… Did you bring it?” Chase waved from the other end of the class.

Chase had left his phone at Ian’s house the previous day. He spent the weekend with Ian and his family, and left last night. He was in a hurry to get home before his parents, who were out of town for the weekend. All the ruckus made him forget his phone. He would have come back for it if not for his parents. He almost cried that night – his phone was too essential to him.

“Hm-hmm,” Ian nodded his head without making eyes contact. The gazes were too much and made him nervous.

“Thank God,” Chase muttered with a sigh and relaxed on his stool.

Ian finally got the back of the class and sat at the last table in the middle row and column. He grudgingly dropped his bag to bring out his chemistry textbook, note and pen. It took him some seconds to rummage through his back and get the learning items out.

As he dropped the books and pen on the table, “G-Good morning.” He heard a calm and tender voice say from his side. If he wasn’t silent, he might have not heard the voice as it almost sounded like a whisper to his ears.

He first shifted his butt to sit perfectly on the stool, before tilting his head to the right to see who just spoke to him.

It was a fair teenage girl with long dark hair and peculiar dark eyes, her lips pink and full. The structure of her impeccably gorgeous face made it clear that she was Asian.

He instantly knew who she was. Kira Hashimoto — the new girl he liked and had always dodged. But here they were, seated together on the same table.

‘Crap!’ he instantly tensed up. Being so close to her made the hair on his skin poke out like needles as he had goosebumps. He was anxious and happy at the same time. Not that he had a reason, but he just liked her and felt lucky to be her seat partner.

“T-Thank you… For the other time,” Kira said again, incase he didn’t hear her the first time, since he was so silent. She didn’t make eye contact though.

“Oh…” Ian realized he had been staring at her all these while. He chuckled, “That was nothing.”

And that was it, silence hung between them. And to avoid an awkward situation, they simultaneously opened their books and listened to Mr. Humphrey’s lecture. It was as though they had a psychic connection, sharing the same thoughts.

As the lecture went deeper, Ian could no longer concentrate as his mind would wander to Kira’s face and nervous smile. This lack of focus had made him unconsciously rub his forearm on hers, while writing. He quickly apologized, but she only smiled back.

‘There it is again! That smile…’ he dissolved into a smile as he thought about it.

‘Then talk to her, damn it!’ his inner self spoke to him. Weirdly, he could hear it in Chase’s voice.

‘I want to, but—’

‘No buts. This is the perfect chance!’

‘But what do I say?’

‘How am I suppose to know? You’re me, I’m you.’

‘Heh…’, Ian could only laugh at himself. Ever since he was mature, he’d always mimicked voices in his head to help him make decisions.

‘Oof… Here goes.’

He tapped his fingers on the white table a couple of times in anxiousness.

“So… Uhm… I’ve been wondering…” Ian began a conversation by looking at her inconspicuously, so as to avoid getting caught by the sarcastic teacher. “Did you just move to America… Or it’s just Huntsville? ‘Cause you’re Chinese… Wait, you’re Chinese right?”

Kira’s smile widened and she chuckled, her head dropped and her black hair covering her face.

“No, it’s just Huntsville. I was born in the country…” she paused and, using two of her fingers, she swept a portion of hair over her ear. Ian could now get a good side view of her face. “I’m actually Japanese.”

“Oh…” Ian felt embarrassed. It was a dumb question to ask anyway, and his predictions were wrong. “Japanese. The samurai and swordsmen, right?”

She still held her smile, “Yes. But those are mostly stories now. We no longer need that.”

Ian’s face flushed red again. This was the twenty first century and he was talking about swordsmen. Japan was way civilized beyond that. Probably much more civilized than the U.S.

“Heh… Yeah, it’d be weird seeing a man in a gown walking down the street with a sword hung on his back or placed at his side. The cops would probably arrest him as a suspect or something,” Ian said, rubbing the back of his neck.

Again, Kira chuckled. Something he had never seen her do before and now he was opportune to experience it twice.

‘Maybe today won’t be so bad after all.’

He was amid thinking of another topic to throw at her, when he heard the chemistry teacher call his name.

“Ian, and Kira!” Mr. Humphrey said and went on calling the names of other students in pairs.

Ian would have jerked and prepared an excuse for not listening, if Mr. Humphrey hadn’t called the names of other students.

“Mia and Chase!” Mr. Humphrey said and remained silent. Those were the last two.

“Oh, come on! With her?” Chase complained, throwing his arms in the air. He looked exasperated.

Mia Whitmore, the girl paired with him, was someone he never got along with. She had always picked on him ever since first grade, even till now, just that it had drastically reduced. But he still feared her, even though he was clearly taller than her.

Ian had always told him that maybe she liked him and didn’t know how to say it. Chase would just debunk it, saying it was stupid.

“Oh… Do you wanna change partners?” Mr. Humphrey replied with the same tone as Chase, his eyes widened.

“Really? I can do that?” Chase asked with optimism.

‘Dude, no. He’s clearly being sarcastic right now,’ Ian muttered in his mind, rolling his eyes.

“Yeah, sure. You can even pair with me if you want, or the principal…” Mr. Humphrey began to list high and prestigious names in the school, a mocking grin plastered on his face. Everyone just laughed at Chase. Ian sighed.

Chase’s optimism dwindled when he heard Mr. Humphrey call the principal’s name, then the whole class laughed and he just sighed in shame.

“I’ll just stick with Mia,” he whispered dropping his head on the table.

“Ouch” he couldn’t help but mutter, his forehead kissing the hard wooden table.

Mia only laughed in mockery. She had short brown hair and was clad in a black top that had no sleeve, white cargo pants and white Jordan’s. One could sometimes mistake her as a guy if not for the two moderate protrusions on her chest.

“Do you always have to be so dumb?” she asked nonchalantly.

Chase just sighed and muttered, “Hm-hmm.”

Mia placed her palm on his back and rubbed it, “Chill. It’d be fun.”

Chase felt a sizzle as her hand touched him. He had goosebumps instantly. This made him jolt up and stare at her deep sea blue eyes.

She laughed, “I’ll try not to hit you while we study. Not a promise though.”

“Ahem…”, Mr. Humphrey cleared his throat. “As you’ve heard your names, you’d become Lab partners from today. Your assignments, practicals. Anything cornering chemistry, would be a joint effort between you and your partner,” he took a glance at Chase while saying the last sentence. The latter only rolled his eyes.

“For your first week's assignment. You’re going to make a colorful, and illuminating fluorescence,” Mr. Humphrey said and clapped his hands.

Ring!

Like on cue, the school bell rang, closing the lecture period and students began to stroll out.

Ian was just dazed from what he heard. He and Kira were going to be study buddies!