The Love You Give

The Devil is in the Details

"You're going to love this class and the teacher," Mason said sitting beside Ezra. They discovered that they had three classes together and Ezra was glad that so far, she had a friend in every course. As students started piling in, Ezra noticed Lucy Jane. "LJ!" She exclaimed happy to see her friend. "Ezra! Yes! I knew we had to have a class together," she smiled sitting on the other side of her. "Lucy Jane this is Mason." Her brunette friend laughed at her. "Girl, everyone knows who Mason Dixon is. He's one of the top 5 hottest guys in this school." Ezra watched as Mason's cheeks reddened and smiled. Ezra thought this class might be her favorite with her two friends around. She enjoyed having classes with the boys, but Jace and Jacob proved to be jealous messes.

As the final bell rang, Ezra's heart fell into her butt. Not one, not two, but all three Scott brothers walked into the classroom. Their eyes scanned the room and she knew what they were looking for. When they found her, you could see them sigh until they saw the boy sitting next to her. Mason couldn't help but smirk and shoot them a wink. Jace made a move toward him, but Jackson grabbed him and led them all to the back. Ezra shook her head in her hands. The teacher still hadn't shown and Ezra was hoping this wouldn't turn into a brawl. Right as another minute flew by a beautiful older dark-skinned Black woman with a pixie haircut in bright colors walked in. She couldn't be more than 5' and had the most vivacious smile.

"Sorry ladies and gents, I just got in from Paris!" She announced animatedly with her carryon luggage in tow. "Ms. Gatlin, you went to see one of your little boyfriends?" A Hispanic boy asked with a smile on his face. "Si, Emilio, and it was wonderful." The students laughed at her happily. Her aura was contagious. "Now, while I get my life together, we have a new student. Ezra, dear, come up here and introduce yourself, so it looks like I'm being a model teacher." Ezra laughed as she made her way up. It was the first time she did so happily as the teacher did not assume her gender and asked her kindly.

"Hi, I'm Ezra Cole. I moved here from Rhode Island by way of Texas. I can speak three languages and I play the piano and guitar." Mrs. Gatlin was sitting behind her desk at this point smiling at her. "Who is your favorite author, Ezra?" The question caught her off guard because she had a few favorites. "I love to read, so I have a lot of favorites, but right now the author that comes to mind is Isabelle Watson." Mrs. Gatlin nodded her head with a smile aware of her work. "Long, Hot Texas Summer was a brilliant book and I'm biased because I'm from Texas." She giggled looking away from the teacher and back at the class before taking her seat. "Thank you, Ezra." The teacher smiled before turning her attention to her class. "I let you all know last week that I'm not like the average teacher. I'm made up of 50% Ms. Frizzle and 50% Joe Clark. You test me and you'll find out who you're going to get." Ezra smiled widely at her. This was going to be her favorite class despite her knowing that Mason and the boys were going to start something. She adored Ms. Gatlin already and knew she'd have a lot to learn.

The class seemed to zoom by, which angered Ezra because she could sit there listening to Ms. Gatlin for hours. Their homework assignment was to find an author outside of the United States and read a chapter of one of their works and be ready to present an excerpt from it. Ezra was already done with the assignment before even beginning. She had read 'Things Fall Apart' by Nigerian author Chinua Achebe countless times and already knew the excerpt she was going to present if called. As the bell rang out Ezra's stomach growled loudly. "Let's get some food in you, huh?" Lucy Jane smiled as Ezra nodded. "See you, Mase." She waved at him before looking at the boys who just glared at them both at this point. "Come on," Ezra grabbed LJ and walked her out of the class.

The class was pretty empty, so Mason wasn't surprised that the Scott brothers would choose this time to confront him. "To what do I owe the pleasure?" Jace wanted to punch him. His brothers knew he wanted to punch him and yet they wouldn't let him. "Stay away from her," Jacob warned. Mason looked at him and scoffed. "I don't listen to you, theater freak. I don't listen to any of you. Ezra wants to be my friend, so be it." He said pushing past them. "Remember what happened to the last friend we all had in common." Jackson spoke up angrily. Mason turned back to them quickly. "That was an accident and I would never hurt Ezra like that." It was Jace's turn to scoff. "I'm sure you told yourself the same thing about Eliana. Stay the fuck away from her, Mason or else." The brothers all left him there to stew. They were oblivious to Ms. Gatlin still in the room eating her burrito bowl.

LJ and Ezra had gotten their salads and made their way to a table filled with people Ezra knew. "Sean! Zoe! Kathy! Henry?!" Lucy Jane laughed at her. "So, I see you've met my people." Ezra nodded happily as she took a seat in between Henry and Lucy Jane. They all began talking as they filled Ezra on things she missed from the first week of school, such as, why Charlotte St. Germain picks on Kathy. "I corrected her in Pre-Calculus and she's got it out for me ever since." Ezra shook her head. "Basura! That is the stupidest thing I've ever heard. She's just allowed to get away with bullying whoever?" They all seemed to shrug and nod. "She's the Queen Bee and has that status cause her man is the King of the Jocks." Zoe said pointing at Charlotte who was walking up to Jace.

Ezra felt her heart beating triple time. "They're together?" Heads nodded all around. "They have been for a little over a year now. It's disgusting." Kathy rolled her eyes. Ezra told herself to calm down and wait for Jace to explain. She knew he had a life before her, but why did it have to be with a mean girl like Charlotte. I mean yes, he was a douche to her when she first arrived, but he explained that. He wasn't this stereotypical guy he portrayed, or was he? Ezra listened to their conversations and tried to engage, but she couldn't help but watch as Charlotte hung all over Jace. Her hands in his hair and arms around his neck. She wanted to cry. "Clarkson High's other power couple." Ezra blinked away her tears to look where LJ was staring and found Jacob with a handsome brunette guy a little shorter than him. "Jacob Scott and Owen Smith. I really liked them together," Zoe said with a pout. "What happened?" Ezra asked clearing her throat.

Sean watched Ezra the entire time. From the moment he met her at the creek he knew something was up between her and Jacob. Jacob didn't hang out with girls like that regardless of them being forced to live together due to her placement. The creek was a special place for the theatre kids and if he was sharing that with Ezra then it meant she was special too. When he got her to not only admit that she liked Jacob but also Jackson, he knew things were going to get interesting. Judging by the forlorn look on her face as they talked about Jace and Charlotte, he knew he could lump Jace in the group as well.

"They broke up a few months ago. Owen cheated on him with a guy from our rival school and it devastated Jacob. Everyone knew he really loved Owen and we all thought Owen loved him." LJ offered taking a bite of her salad. "It looks like maybe they'll get back together," Kathy said as they all looked to see Owen brush Jacob's hair to the side with a smile. Ezra watched the interaction and sighed inwardly. Just then, Jacob saw her. He took in her sad eyes and dejected demeanor before she turned around.

He took a step away from Owen and sighed. "We're not together. You don't get to do that anymore." Jacob walked out of the cafeteria with his sandwich and carton of milk. Owen followed him into the hall. "I wanted to talk, Jake. I had a lot of time to think in Monaco and just wanted to get back to us." Jacob looked at the boy he once loved and sighed. If he was being honest, he wanted to know what Owen could possibly say that would remove the image of him being pounded into the mattress by Kyle O'Neil. "Just give me a few minutes to say what I need to say." Jacob looked down and eventually nodded. "Before practice...we can talk outside of the auditorium." Owen smiled at him and nodded. "I'll see you next period." With that Owen was headed back into the cafeteria, while Jacob made his way to his previous class. He didn't feel like being in the cafeteria and Ms. Gatlin never minded company.