The Drumbeat Years (girlxgirl)

2

2

11th. October 1988

Kyle was as good as his word, about joining Tina's English class, and the faculty were surprisingly accommodating, but that probably had something to do with it being the start of the college year. She, in turn, had signed up for General Studies and she, like Kyle, had no idea what to do in the class. It was a, sort of, open class that allowed students to make a study of whatever they wanted to, so long as they presented a detailed, very detailed, study at the end of the year. It felt strange to have so much freedom.

Meanwhile, Kyle settled into the English class, struggling through some of it, but coming alive any time he could write poetry. Or lyrics. He never called it poetry, it was always lyrics. Although, Tina had to admit, her new friend had a talent for it.

She, however, had started to drift away, as she always did. None of it felt fresh to her anymore, even after only a few weeks and even with Kyle doing his best to keep her motivated. It helped, but not enough, and she began to fall behind with assignments. It was even worse in her main course, where she had simply not turned up more often than not.

Twiddling her pen, slouched upon her seat, she knew she was about to let her parents down again. This was her last chance. If she didn't pass her main course, she would have no future to look forward to, other than taking on whatever job she could find that would bother having her.

She knew her tutors were already becoming irritated with her. It was always the same. The same talk of wasting her intelligence, of needing to take some responsibility, of bucking her ideas up or she would fail. With the added detail that she was eighteen, now. This wasn't school and that they wouldn't coddle her. None of that helped. She wanted to learn, to become better and make something of herself, she simply couldn't find the strength within her. The inertia clamped her down.

Even the door slamming and something dropping onto a desk failed to make her raise her head. She heard the murmurs from the other students, but she continued to stare at her pen as it twirled from one finger to the other. A prod in her back caused her to turn to Kyle and his wide eyes and pointing finger made her look towards the front of the class.

"Right, you horrible lot!" The person that stood, leaning against the tutor's desk, arms crossed over her chest, was not their normal tutor. "Mrs Baines has taken ill. She's fine, nothing life threatening, but it's doubtful she'll be back before New Year. So, you have me instead. You lucky, lucky people!"

Tina's breath caught in her throat. The woman didn't seem much older than the students in the class. Tall, thin, wearing a simple black t-shirt and jeans, the woman had an easy-going air about her. A slight, amused smile crept over her face as she surveyed the students before her. With a snap of a finger, she turned, brushing her short hair, that had fallen across one beautiful, dark eye, to the side. Picking up a dry marker, she began to write on the white board.

"My name is Dawn. Dawn Lark and, yes, I've heard all the jokes about dawn coming early, waking up with the larks and every other one you could possibly think of." Writing her name, the tutor made a circle in front of the 'Dawn' part of her name. "I'm not Miss, Mrs or Ms Lark. I'm not 'Larky', or 'Larkster'. I'm Dawn. If you try to call me anything else, I'll only stare at you, like this ..."

Turning back around, she gave the most adorable, disinterested face. Emotionless. Staring at everyone. Then that smile reappeared and Tina thought she could choke. She had only ever felt this way about someone once before, back in school. An unrequited crush that had ended badly. Since then, she had forsworn any chance of finding someone attractive. Her heart felt as though it could crawl from her chest and flutter away.