Hidden In The Dark (IN EDITING)

The Most Difficult Unit

"MANEATER! MAKE YAH WORK HARD, MAKE YAH SPEND HARD! MAKE YAH WANT MORE OF HER LOVE!" My hips swing in rhythm to the beat while I walk towards the front office. I gain a stare or two from the students that I pass but I feel to on top of the world to care, this song makes me feel powerful and you can tell. The heels of my thigh high boots clicking against the cold school floors as I sing out the lyrics more loudly than allowed by the staff, for some reason though, they don't make a move to bother me.

That's probably the best for them anyways. They don't want to meet me if they interrupt my music, I turn into a completely different person. My mother calls it a beautiful curse because of my strong love for it but the distaste against my college transript because of it. Music motivates, passes time, keeps your moods up...unless you're listening to a deep heartbreak song that leaves you in a depressive state.

A swinging door smacks in my face, completely halting all of my movement and leaving me completely stunned in pain. A warm feeling tingles beneath my nostril making me think its bleeding but when I reach up to touch it there is no trace of liquid. After rubbing my forehead and letting out a sneeze I finally look up to the person holding the side of the door.

His eyes are almost dark as midnight but I'm pretty sure if he stood in lighting other than the school hallways then they would be a bright brown. His hair is also brown and on the longer side, ending right below the tips of his ears. It looks like he just came in from a windy day but for some reason it doesn't look messy.

Light brown freckles line the bridge of his nose to the skin under his eyes, complementing his long eyelashes and plump lips. He's hot, I'll give him that, but my oogling turns stoic when I realize he's the one from my dream. When I was in the coma I experienced a perspective of what my birthday would be like just to scare me. This is the same one I supposedly danced with and one the competition, the one who said he loved me. Damen Parere.

"Sorry I didn't know you were...dancing?" I snap out of my daze, locking eyes with his and that sour feeling returns to the pit of my stomach. I'd be better off if I didn't remember how he just disappeared into thin air and went flying, the sounds of his screams more haunting than my own. Steeping around the office door I give Mrs. Teresa a questioning glance and she nods, this must be the wonderful new student I'm supposed to show around. "Nice to meet you I'm Leaigh, you must be the new kid." Giving him a nod I shut the door and pick the paper from his hands, his eyebrows shoot up confused by my gesture.

"Uh yeah, Damen."

"Come on I'll show you to your classes." Giving the paper a good scan I realize he has the same classes as me except for World History, there is something so sneaky about fate that you usually don't notice it's schemes until it's right in your face. I know everything now, but theres this slight unsettling feeling in the back of my mind that screams deceit. That fear though, makes me shake it away or use the Hoodie man as an excuse. He could very well be the rotten bits of my head, slight dark thoughts that try to spread like a disease.

Plus, it's easier to place blame on something I'm already aware of instead of keeping an uknown possibility in the back of my head. The next song plays on my playlist while we walk, I have to fight the urge to slam myself against the wall and act dramatic like I'm in a music video. My hips find themselves moving on their own as I walk ignoring the curious but amused gaze from Damen. He probably thinks there is something wrong with me, most people do anyways, but what do I care?

When we finally get to the overdecorated door of Algebra II I turn the knob and lead both of us in. It seems there is a reoccuring theme with me and new kids, always showing them around as they have the same schedule as me. Although the last new kid did everything on purpose so he could keep an eye on me. I remeber everyones reaction to Vali while we walked, every stuck up cheerleader shut up...he even managed to shut the jocks up. Not to mention how flustered he made the grown staff members we had talked to, quivers in their voice and shaking hands. I almost burst out laughing at the memory.

I wonder what excuse Vali used to stop attending school, because he no longer attends and hasn't since I fell into the coma. He probably just told them he was moving schools again, using those cliche stories to get by because of the foolish staff. No one would suspect anything he said, especially when they're too distracted by his appearance. There is no doubt he left an imprint on everyones mind, I'm pretty sure some of the girls still fall into day dreams about the giant that once walked the halls.

"I have another new student for you, Ms. Winters." She draws away from the board and caps her marker, the one she was using to update the assignments and date that displayed. With a warm smile on her face she hands him the textbook he'll need for the class, "Hopefully this one stays longer than the last, welcome...?"

"Damen Parere."

"Ah, I'm Ms. Winters, your Algerba II teacher." He gives her a smile before I guide him to the desk Vali sat in as I take my usual seat. We don't have assigned seats but everyone still sits in the same chairs everyday, we're all comfortable in our places so we don't complain or try to switch. Luckily the class never acts out so the teacher hasn't been forced to rearrange us like we're little kids, I guess everyone is maturing for once. I just wish by maturing that included the need for privacy when kissing, then I wouldn't have to see them in the hallways.

Damen pulls out a notebook and freshly sharpened wooden pencils, weird being that most of the kids prefer mechanical pencils to write. I know I do. He also seems to be very organized, placing his journal perfectly in the corner and a brand new pencil right beside in with the eraser facing him. I pull out my binder and slap it onto my desk, grabbing my pencil and scribbling over the top of the page. "Okay class, last week we started on the unit of Logarithms and evaluating them. This week we will finalize the study and complete a project on it being that Log is one of the most difficult units in Algebra. To ensure that everyone is on the same page and we can move forward, everyone must conclude the project with an 80 or above average." The reminder of Logarithms makes me groan, smacking my head on the desk out of annoyance. I already got into an argument with one of the kids because they were yelling at me for not understanding. Usually I'm good at math but this is not it.

"Today I'll assign partners where you will work together to properly explain what Logarithms are and how to complete them. It will be like making a powerpoint for a teacher to use to teach their own class, I'll take notes on what is accurate and what is inaccurate, what information is missing. Taking all of the information into mind I will use the basis of my knowledge on this topic to see if you truly understand this unit." She passes out sheets of papers to everyone before returning to the front and pulling up her own personal powerpoint on the new smartboard that looks like a huge tv.

Names of partners display on the board, our number of kids would have been odd but now that Damen is here its an even 26. "Leaigh since you're already aquainted I'd like if you partnered with Mr. Parere. You can get him caught up on anything if needed." I give her a nod trying not to roll my eyes, funny how you pair the new students with the struggling student. This will be extremely interesting, and awkward because he'll have to come over to my house and I barely know him.

If he tries anything weird I'll shove my foot where the sun don't shine.

"Everyone note down your partners, I don't want to hear any complaining either. I put you in these groups for a reason." Eyeing the paper in front of me, I note the standards of the rubric for the project. It requires 15 slides at minimum and is due next Wednesday, it's already Thursday, tomorrow I train with Vali. Hopefully this training session won't be as tense ast the last, I was sure Vali wanted to slam my head into the concrete with my complaining and bickering. I felt the same way, he acted like there was a stick lodged up his rear end and I am not the one for attitude.

This is all going to be so fun.

That was sarcastic.