foreign // lrh (discontinued)

4

"Nice Guy"

--

IVY;

After Luke was sent out to the hall for his terrible joke, Mrs Ledger ordered her class into pairs for the first small biology project of the year. They needed to find out if their partners' body was right-dominant or left-dominant. It was pretty easy, but for Ivy, meeting the people she's never spoken to made her queasy.

Ivy loved meeting new people, seeing them talk and learning new things about them fascinated her; it's just the fact -- she simply doesn't know how to deal with people. She tries to look approachable, she tries to seem friendly, but as soon as someone speaks to her, she feels her palms get sweaty and her cheeks get warm. Ivy want to be able to start a conversation, to do something impulsive and introduce herself to someone she wants to know, but Ivy can't. Her mother and father have always told her she was great with people, but Ivy felt different. Ivy always felt cynical towards people, and Ivy knew they spoke words but those words always meant nothing of what they have in their hearts.

As Mrs Ledger announced the project, spite it being very simple, all the tired pupils groaned in unison. She explain how the partner system worked, as if her students did not know. She pairs her kids by last names, according to the alphabet.

Ivy hought to herself. Luke's last name; Hemmings, no where near mine. Calum's last name; Hood. Luke and Calum are possible partners. One of my only friends, Penny, didn't even attend this school.

Well, Ivy, I guess you're meeting someone new.

Mrs Ledger read the names.

As she dragged on down the list, she called out Calum and Michael, the person Ivy now sits beside in this class; Biology class. "You two, Calum and Michael, will work together for grade reasons. Michael, your grades as you have been telling everyone are great in every other subject you are attending this semester, except for Biology. I paired you with Calum to restore your grades." She stated, scooting them away into a corner to work together.

"Bye, Ivy." Ivy heard Michael say from near by. She smiled back.

She finally reached the 'M' section of the alphabet. Ivy sat attentively, listening to her name being called. "Ivy McClain, you will be working with Sam Milliner." She told her, looking at the back of the class.

Sam. That's a girl, right?

Wrong.

Ivy turned around in her seat, joining her sight with Mrs Ledgers, to the back of the class. A boy waved back at her. He had a welcoming smile, his teeth; pearly white. His cheeks were pink and his eyes were green, like the grass on the field Ivy  always visits. His hair looked soft, it was a medium brown and up in a messy quiff.

Ivy waves back, awkwardly standing up from her chair. Ivy's long arms bumped into everything and ger bones suddenly felt as if they stuck out from all around my body. Pointy knees and bony arms, her lungs felt like bone as Ivy's clammy hands rubbed together. Color spilled into her cheeks as she vigilantly walked between the counters.

"Hi, as you now know, I'm Sam. I guess we're lab partners, right?" He says.

Ivy uncomfortably nodds her head. She bites down on her lip. "I'm Ivy. So, we're supposed to decide whether our bodies are right-dominant or left-dominant, right?"

"Yeah, but I know a better way we could figure that out." He whispered, chuckling. He moved closer. "Sorry, I'm making you uncomfortable with my jokes. I get it. I'm a nice person, I swear." He put his hands up and shrugged.

She laughs a confound laugh, her views are changed. Ivy's cheeks were now sockets filled with red paint, about to burst from the pressure. She hid behind her hair, curtaining her shy brown eyes. Ivy took a closer look at him through her hair. She smiled at him as he pulled out a pair of glasses and put them on to read. Ivy changes the subject. "Okay, uh, I'm going to get my assignment sheet." She stutter, leaving.