Freedom, Flowers, Books, and the Moon

Chapter 7

Aurie woke up the next morning, stretching dramatically before staggering out of bed. She pulled on a pair of distressed mom jeans and a plain black shirt before quickly brushing her hair. I'm not putting on makeup; I don't have the energy for that, she thought to herself. She shoved her feet into her pair of Converse, not bothering to untie them. She slogged her way across campus, struggling to find the energy she knew she would need to make it through her day. When she sat down in Professor Angevin's classroom, once again being the only student in the room, she found the man's eyes already trained on her. Aurie looked down, beginning to regret her decision to not put any work into her appearance that morning.

She avoided eye contact with King the rest of the class, embarrassed by her looks, and slinked out of the room. King pulled out his phone when the girl left his sight and immediately began to text his two friends.

"Something is up with Aurelia; be gentle with her."

"What do you mean? Is she ok?" Cielo responded quickly.

"She seems fine. She just avoided me like the plague the whole period."

"I'll keep an eye on her." Beau sent his text before sighing, watching as students poured into his room.

Aurie was the last one in the room, and she glanced around quickly before sighing in relief when she realized her two friends were there. She sat down, and Harley immediately began speaking, "Do you think he's gonna make us read our responses to the prompt in front of the whole class?"

Aurelia's eyes widened in fear, and she quickly turned to look at her professor, as if she would be able to communicate with him silently. Beau read the panic on the girl's face quickly. Thinking of the text that he had received from King, he swiftly decided that he would leave the ginger for last, and hopefully they wouldn't have enough time and he could keep her temporarily after class. Beau looked around at his students before speaking, "Is there anyone that would like to go first?"

The whole room seemed tense, understanding that they would, in fact, have to read what they wrote for the whole class to hear and judge. The small class sat in silence for a moment before Harley was the one to break it: "I'll go."

She quickly opened her computer and pulled up her writing before beginning to speak. A few minutes later, she was done, and the class politely clapped.

"Very good, Ms.?"

"Pierce, sir,"

"Very good, Ms. Pierce. I love your use of dialogue," Beau smiles gently.

Harley seemed to deflate in relief and relaxed against the back of her chair. The professor looked at the students that were left, avoiding eye contact with Aurie.

"How about you here in the front row, Mr.?"

A timid boy with white blonde hair answered, "Bell."

"Yes, Mr. Bell, please, let's see what you have,"

The boy shakily made his way through his writing, clearly intimidated by speaking out loud and the man who asked him to do so. Aurie felt bad for the boy as she watched him, clearly uncomfortable. She grimaced every time he stuttered, feeling as though she was the one doing it. Glancing at Beau, the girl bit the inside of her cheek, anxious to see how the man would respond. When the boy was done, the professor cleared his throat and nodded at the boy, "Thank you, Mr. Bell. I very much look forward to reading back over what you have written."

The boy blushed bright red and nodded, happy that the attention was moving away from him. Beau continued to call on people throughout the room, always politely commenting on their work at the end. Eventually, Professor McBride looked at his watch before announcing. "I think we only have time for one more. Mr. Moore, what do you have?"