My Bae from Maine

Chapter 5

"Students, we have a new student by the name of Cassidy in here. Cassidy?"

Shyly, I looked over the faces of my new classmates; no Kyra.

"Cassidy, tell your new classmates where you were from," the teacher was a man, looked to be about in his early forties with a short gray stubble on his chin and a gray mustache.

"I'm from Sacramento, California and had lived there all my life. You could say this place is sort of like Sacramento..." I looked out of the windows and heard the blaring of car horns on the highway. I smiled, "It reminds me of home."

"Well, welcome to Maine," he grabbed a clipboard, which I assumed was the seating chart, "Go sit over by Melvin. Melvin, raise your hand."

A tall blonde haired guy raised his hand from the back row, and lowered as soon as the teacher turned back to me.

"That's Melvin, I am assigning you two as partners because Melvin had no partner and you just came in."

As I gradually walked to the back of the room, I noticed his eyes, the exact eyes from the man in my dreams every night. I had to keep telling my self, "It's a coincidence," and he couldn't be that person in my dreams.

As I sat down, an odor of sweat and lack of body soap overwhelmed me.

Now I knew why Melvin was left without a partner: his stink.

"Hi," he said, in a deep voice.

Forgetting the terrible odor, I smiled politely, "Hi, I'm Cassidy," I looked down at my desk again.

"I know, you introduced yourself less that three minutes ago. Nice meeting you."

I nodded, there was one thing worse than his B.O., his breath.

I held my mouth so I wouldn't puke, in the politest way I could think of. He seemed nice, it was just, he smelled kind of like a wet farm. Manure and all.

I already knew the next act of kindness I was going to perform, bringing this guy some spray, some soap, and some of those extreme breath mints.

Kyra walked into the room, and with a smile, sat at the table across from me.

"I'm so happy you were placed in here!" She smoothed down her dress, "With me! And... To block out his 'unique' aroma."

She took a whiff of air, "I think we need more people," she began to cough.

Melvin turned to me, to see if I would back him up, or join in with the coughing.

"Kyra, that was rude, what if you smelled... Different?" I tried to word that as best I could, "What if you wore filthy clothing?"

He cupped his hands over his face.

I felt bad, and wanted to change the subject, but couldn't, "I'm sorry. I guess everything I say ends up being awkward in the long run." I laughed, in hope he would laugh too. Just my luck, he did.

"Anyway," Kyra said, "Maybe we could get together after school. I show you some of Maine, you react. Like that."

I looked at her, "I actually am going to go sight seeing with my family, maybe another time."

The bell rang, and I sat up from my seat, planning to run out of the door when I was stopped.

"Hey," Melvin smiled, "I'm happy you kind of tried to back me up back there. Whether you were good at it or not."

I smiled, "You're welcome. I never was actually good at that kind of stuff, anyway."

He smiled, "Well, thanks."

I smiled, "You're welcome."

I watched him walk out of the door, kids covering their noses behind him.

I'm happy I was nice, and that will continue. I'm gonna save up a few bucks to buy him some soap, tooth paste, and mints. I'm saving all the lives of my fellow classmates right there!