The Quiet People and the Ones That Love Them

Chapter 1: The Beginning of the End

"Zachariah Hershey," the teacher scolded, as she marched up to Nathan and I's desk. "You should know better than to play around in biology. This stuff can hurt you." She picked the scalpel off the desk and walked away, tutting as she pleased.

I rolled my eyes as we looked back at the front where Ms. Peterson was teaching. Today was one of the first days that we were getting close to dissecting something. This is biology class though. I don't see why we don't always dissect stuff.

After a minute or so, my eyes began drifting. They first landed on Rayna Earle, one of the most popular girls in school; everyone knew her. Rumour has it that within a week, the freshmen were already bowing at her feet. Rumour also has it that she spent her entire senior year partying and she failed all her classes, causing her to be pushed back a grade with this year's senior year, us. Most of the grade feels like it's a blessing to graduate with the Rayna Earle. She rejected me twice last year after the guys kept telling me to attempt to ask her to the semi-formal. Turns out she had already been asked out... three times that first day. Guy DePra went with her, but he graduated last year. This is a double chance for me to get in. I've had the biggest crush on Rayna since elementary school. Even though she was in the grade above me, I would always talk to her at recess. She called it border-line stalking. I called it love's trance.

I felt a nudging on my arm, and I turned to see Nathan looking at me. He motioned to the front where Ms. Peterson was looking at me.

"Zachariah, please pay attention, this will be on the final exam."

"Yes Ma'am," I answered with a quick nod. As if.

As she turned back to the board, my eyes drifted again to another girl, Luella Horton, the slut of the grade. There isn't one guy in the school she hadn't made out with or slept with. Nathan got lucky one night at a party; I, on the other hand, only got to second base before the police showed up. No one knew what attracted them to her. Maybe it was the ginger hair? Or maybe the supermodel body that she consistently maintained since freshman year. It's hard to tell.

My eyes then drifted to the girl in front of me, Bo Lee. She was a mystery. No one knew much about her; she was quiet and rarely spoke. Nathan tried asking her out last year but she looked at him blankly and walked away. She had made a huge dent in Nathan's ego, but truth be told, he needed that. Rumour had it that she didn't know how to speak English so she didn't speak. The chances of anyone knowing the truth was slim to none.

"... and the assignment will be due at the end of the semester, so you can't tell me that you didn't have time to do this. I'll write the partners on the board after I hand out the sheet."

I looked at Nathan, raising an eyebrow. He chuckled and shook his head, handing me the paper with the assignment on it. Reading through it, I knew there would be a lot of research that would have to be done. A lot of the terminology wasn't something we always used, so it would take a while to get through this.

"Ms. Peterson?" Luella asked, "Do we need to be in partners? I don't want to work with a guy."

"Why not?" Ms. Peterson asked, writing names on the board.

"Because they may want to have sex with me or something," she said, almost boasting.

Ms. Peterson sighed. "Fine. Then I'll pair you up with a girl."

"But what if she's an in-closet lesbian? I don't want to be paired up with someone who is attracted to me."

Ms. Peterson looked over at her, eyes narrowed. "Miss Horton, I suggest you get over yourself and accept whoever I partner you up with. I am not going to negotiate any further; if you want to file a complaint, be my guest. The main office is just around the corner."

A few of the students in the class giggled as Luella slid back in her seat, obviously upset.

As soon as Ms. Peterson finished, I scanned the board for my name. After finding it, I looked to see who I had been partnered with. Bo. Bo Lee was my partner. She didn't even talk, never the less. Looking over at Nathan, I could see that he was in more peril than I was.

"Who'd you get?" I asked, turning to him.

Nathan opened his mouth to speak, but a shrill voice cut through the air. "Who's Nathan?!" Luella exclaimed, loudly.

Nathan winced, raising his hand. Luella marched over to us, her heels clicking against the hard floor.

"Are you smart?" she asked, giving him a once over. "You don't look smart."

It was true. Nathan didn't look like the typical nerd. Well he would, if he didn't hide it so well. He wore contacts everyday, would only wear button ups to a formal event, and he hasn't sniffled snot since his fit of influenza in eighth grade. It was a clean fit. It was almost impossible to comprehend that he was on honour roll every year since freshman year.

"I'm pretty smart," Nathan chuckled, tapping his pencil on the desk.

"Okay," Luelle said unsure, "I don't know much about this anatomy stuff, so don't expect me to do all the work."

Nathan scoffed. "Didn't think you would."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

The bell rang just as the two began to argue, giving me a break from having to listen to the two bicker.

Making my way to the door, I saw Bo step out. This would probably be a good time to introduce myself as her partner; I think she goes the same way as me to English anyway. Pushing my way through the door, I looked around for Bo. She was quite short, but I was also quite tall.

A small push on my lower back made me spin around.

"Sorry," a small freshman muttered, her head down. I remember when I was like that.

"No problem. Try looking up though, it helps."

She giggled. "I'm Emily," she introduced.

"Zach," I answered back. Looking around, I saw Nathan walk past me. "I'll see you around," I told Emily before jogging to catch up with Nathan.

"I hate my partner," Nathan moped, texting someone on his phone.

I scoffed as we pushed the doors open to the stairwell. "Better than mine."

"Who'd you get?" Nathan asked, looking up from his phone for the first time.

"Bo Lee," I sighed as we made it to the second floor.

"The psycho?" Nathan asked, failing to conceal his laughter. "Man, I feel really bad for you."

I chuckled as we walked down to English. Down the hallway, I could see Bo's unmistakable green hair, but she vanished within the room. Room 203.

"Nathan, what's in room 203 this period?" I asked as we took a seat within our classroom.

"AP English."

Well, then. I wonder what else rumour has to be "true" about Bo. But, who am I kidding, no one needs to get personal with the psycho.