The Lost Ones

Chapter II

          The classroom was bigger than I expected but only had a few desks. Twenty I believe. I also realized I was the only person who was in the room. I guess no one was in a mood to rush to math. Which meant I got first pick at seats. I decided to sit on the last seat of the last row. It gave me a view of the entire room and I could see the front entrance from here. As a plus I didn't look like I was trying to hide. I was directly under the round light and the window let in enough light as well, unlike the other corner of the room.
          I noticed that the desk had a hook on the side so I put my backpack on it after taking out my iPad, stylus pen, pencil, and headphones. I put on some music, blocking the noises from the hallway.
          I took out my poetry notebook and opened it to a brand new page. Normally words came easy but for some reason I felt inspired. I looked out the window hoping to find something, anything interesting. I stared out for a bit but nothing came to me. Then all of sudden it clicked. Quickly, I started to write.
          Flying through the sky, soaring
          And then everything suddenly drops.
          You're falling but you don't feel the fear.
          Regardless that the ground is getting closer.
          But when you close your eyes, relax,
          That's when you see the truth.
          You're still on the ground, never left it.
          And the beautiful frightful reality is just a dream.
          I smoothed down the page and read my words. They felt very familiar but I couldn't remember from where. I kept staring at the words until I could remember and it fell into place. That's what woke me up this morning. That was my dream. I remembered how in my dream I was so scared at how I was flying but when I fell I relaxed.  When I woke up I only saw the ground.
          I looked around the room when I sensed someone there. I could tell he's been there for a few minutes. Page was wearing fingerless gloves as I was. He was sitting in the corner I had deemed to be a dark corner. He had been watching up until I glanced at him. I looked at him briefly again before looking down to put away my notebook. No way was I about to be caught staring.
          Although I did get a good look. Regardless that he was sitting, I could tell he was tell. I would guess somewhere between 5'9" and 5'11". Black hair that was just a bit long, nicely tanned skin, and muscles. He looked like...well a rock star. I made a mental note yo stay away. Some part of me told me something was off and that was  a good enough reason for me. More students began to file into the room the closer to the start of class came.
          I glanced at the guy again but he was no longer alone. He was with another guy and girl. Both your typical blonde white people. Not to be racist but it was true. Didn't help that they were both pretty good looking. I looked down at my iPad and pretended to look busy while my hair acted like a curtain, covering half my face.
          Now they can't see that I knew they were watching me. Just my luck that I have my first period with the Guardian of Caliber. I made a folder on my iPad for this class. It hardly mattered how we did in school but we still tried to do well. We didn't draw unnecessary attention. Besides, sometimes I could imagine I was a regular human. I couldn't help but wonder what would happen if I wasn't raised by scientist. If I was raised by my parents instead.
           A girl with bright red hair and a smile stood in front of me until I finally looked up to let her know I saw her. I couldn't help but be amused by her size. I wasn't tall by any means. Even though my height was pretty average I was called short but this girl couldn't be more than five feet tall. She motioned to my headphones and I slipped them off.
          "Hi! My name's Robyn sorry, but you looked a bit shy so I wanted to make you feel better." I gave her a smile but I kept expecting her to shrink at any minute into a tiny pixie. "Payout have really pretty hair by the way. It's so long! Mind if I sit in front of you?" I shook my head no. I thanked her for complementing my hair. I've only cut my hair really short twice but it always grew back.
         "My name is Jamie by the way." She sat down but turned in her chair so she could face me.
        "So you're a Sophomore then? I'm a Junior. You must be pretty smart to be in Honors Algebra II." I shrugged sheepishly. She continued to talk but she talked so fast that I couldn't keep up. I had to mostly nod and ask a few questions when I did catch something I understood so she knew I was listening. Her accent didn't help much. I believe it was Australian. While I tried to focus on her, I could feel Rocker Boy still looking at me but his other two friends had lost interest in me. I was tempted to turn to him and stare right back.
          I didn't, of course. I really was shy and could never fully stare at someone. I didn't notice I was lost in thought until Robyn looked at me as though waiting for an answer. "I'm sorry, what did you ask?" I gave her an apologetic smile.
         She grinned. "I asked if you have met my brother. He keeps looking at you so I'm guessing you have. Or maybe it's because I'm with you. Although, he didn't even look at me." This time I risked a glance at him. He was in fact looking at me and not at Robyn. He held my gaze for a split second before looking away. I looked back at Robyn and I couldn't see any similarities between them.
         "He's your brother?" Did this mean I befriended the sister of the friend of Jay's? The guy I'm supposed to not interfere with?
         If I looked uncomfortable, Robyn didn't notice. "Well, legally yes. Derek is my adoptive brother. He's a sophomore too. He's really smart too. Don't worry though. He's harmless." Somehow I doubted that but I stilled smiled anyway. The bell rang and as class started, she turned around in her seat.
         The teacher wasted no time getting into the lesson. She kept it short and simple and emailed us the assignment to our iPads. We were told to work on our own in silence for the first part and if we stayed silent we could work with others. I took the silent time to think. It was very difficult to think when everyone around me was talking.
          Something about Derek made me uneasy and I just befriended his sister. It could work out for the best. His sister could be an excuse to keep an eye on him. And Jay as well. Two birds, one stone. Wanting to make sure I was doing the right thing, I decided to tell Gavin about it. Using my telepathic abilities, I sent him a message, letting him know my observation.
          I glanced at my watch as I waited for him to answer. It took him three minutes to answer back. Trust your gut. Guard up.
          I let him know I understood and did exactly as he said. After a while Miss Rouse let us know we could work with others. Robyn instantly turned around and smiled at me. "Wanna work together? I got most of them and only need a few more."
         Looking at her screen I could see that she needed more than just a few. I, on the other hand, already finished. It was only review after all. "I'm done so you can just copy. I don't mind." I may not approve of cheating but again, it was just review and I wasn't on the mood to talk her through the problems. I would if I thought she didn't understand but she did. It was just taking her longer.
          "Thanks!" She said, gratefully. I turned the screen for her to see and her eyes widened a little. "You're handwriting us do small and neat. Fast and neat? Impressive, Jamie." I thanked her plainly and listened as she talked and copied. This time I paid more attention.
          I learned that both her and Derek were raised in Australia after they were adopted. Derek before Robyn but Robyn was older. They were born American however. She mostly told me about what it was like to grow up in Australia and she didn't mention Derek any further.
         When the bell rang, I packed up. Robyn looked like she wanted to wait for me but she ended up leaving with her brother and the Blondes. I pulled up my schedule on my iPad, put my headphones back on and made my way to my next class.
         Luckily my next class was orchestra with Celest. We didn't do much except for music hand out and instrument rentals. Celeste and I actually had our own instruments that would be arriving tomorrow.
         Orchestra was then followed by lunch and Celeste got us a table with some of her new friends. One was from her English class and one was from orchestra. She ,add more apparently but the table wasn't meant for more than four. No doubt she would try to get a bigger table tomorrow. I've made exactly one friend if Robyn counted. Still her friends were nice and j made polite information. Mostly teased  Celeste about how she kept getting lost when she took a bathroom break.
         Third period with AP European History was uneventful and dreadfully boring as we weren't over the topics we would be discussing over the year. Hopefully I wouldn't have to stay to learn all of his lesson plans. This school operated on a block scheduling and it was finally time for my last class. Which was all the way on the other side of the school from where I was, on the top floor
          I was the last person to arrive to class and as a result all the seats were taken. Except for one. Right next to Derek. He had his black headphones -which made me self-cautious of my purple bedazzled ones- on and his head down on the counter. Apparently, I wasn't the only one who was ready to head home.
          I carefully pulled out the stool from under the tall lab table and sad down. When the bell rang, everyone looked at the teacher, except for Derek who still had his head down. Deciding it would only be the rig thing to do, I reached out to tap his shoulder. Just before I could touch him, he sat up abruptly and I jerked my hand back like I had been reaching for fire and suddenly realized it was a bad idea to touch.
          He looked at me as he took off his headphones, putting the, on his neck like I had earlier. I quickly looked away from him, heat rising to my cheeks. I hadn't done anything wrong but I felt the same embarrassment if I had. I focused on the teacher as though my life depended on it.
          "Okay class. Today we will take notes on some terms we will be using through out the year. Then when we finish we will do an activity." Sounded easy enough and I opened a new folder for this set of notes. The terms were very simple, just the scientific names for the body parts, and it didn't take long. Body Systems wasn't exactly a hard class but it was starting to become one of my favorite classes. Until the activity came along.
          "This activity is easy. If you pull out the drawer under your lab table, you will find seven different colored stickers. On the board I will color code each of the terms. Your job is to place the stickers on your partner in the right color on the correct body part. Then you will check with me. I will be asking you to name the body parts scientifically so keep that in mind. Stickers go on whoever is sitting on the right and whoever is on the left put the stickers on them."
          I blushed. I would have to physically touch him. He seemed unfazed though. We were told to start and I grabbed the stickers. Derek stood perfectly still as I started to put stickers on him. It wasn't do awkward at first. One went on his head- the cephalic, his shoulder - the deltoid. Then I had to put one on his cheek - the buccal, his breastbone - stern all, and his stomach - abdominal. It got really awkward when it came to the genitals - the pubic, the butt - the gluteal, and the groin - the inguinal.
          "Do you umm...want to umm...put them on yourself." I blushed deeply as I spoke but he simply nodded and put them on. I looked away subtly. When he finished we went to go check with the teacher and he asked us questions where I mostly responded.
          "What's the shoulder blade?" I thought for a bit before answering the scapular. "The front knee?" I answered the patellar. He asked a few more until he was satisfied that we -or I- knew the terms well. We returned to our lab table where he took off the stickers that made him look like a clown.
          I noticed one of the stickers on his head that he forgotten and out of instincts I reached out to take it off, getting on my tip toes. I caught him off guard and he moved slightly causing me to trip. Which caused me to end up against him. I was definitely blushing deeply now. I quickly took off the sticker and moved back as fast as possible to get away.
          I wasn't really all that clumsy to be honest but I almost tripped backward and Derek had to grab me to keep me from falling. I was staring to get redder than a tomato I thanked him quickly and took my seat, putting my headphones on so I could block everything out. There's no way I could have looked like a bigger idiot then at that moment. When the bell rang I was out in two seconds flat. I practically pushed through the crowd and went to the student parking lot to the truck. I got on the truck bed and just enjoyed the nice air while I waited for the others.
           The song and the air soothed me and I felt myself getting over my blushing. My eyes were closed so I could just...fade away. Then someone touched my thigh, making me jump. I hadn't sensed them and when I opened my eyes I froze. It was Derek. He held up my purple stylus pen. "You left this in the classroom." He said when I slipped off my headphones. I gave him a shy smile and thanked him but I studied him carefully. Had he been following me?
           "Come on, Derek. Let's go already!" Robyn then noticed that I was there and looked surprised. "Oh! Hey Jamie. Sorry but we have to go. We'll see you tomorrow." She all but dragged him away. I would definitely have to keep my eyes on them. Maybe the Order finally did find the right place. This was definitely a strange place.