The Rhythm of Love

Chapter Seven

Big thanks to Katykat101 for the A-MAZ-ING banner that I've posted on the side. Thank you so much!

Even though I hadn't been in a classroom of any kind in years, I still remembered my fourth, fifth and sixth grade classrooms like I'd been there yesterday. It probably helped that I'd had the same classroom three years in a row, but that was beside the point. I remembered everything about it, from the smell of construction paper, glue and color pencils to the Mickey Mouse shaped stain on the floor under my navy blue plastic seat.

 I had lucked out that year, because the teacher we'd had for fourth and fifth grade had passed away during the summer break, leaving us with a new teacher for our first year of junior high. As terrible as that sounded, it wasn't actually her death that made me lucky, but the seating chart the new teacher had allowed that excited me.

 For the first time since Kindergarten, Sam and I got to sit in the same general vicinity. The only two teachers we'd ever had, had known better than to sit us together because we talked too much.

 Mr. Berlin introduced himself as a 24 year old lover of history straight out of the university. Instead of separating friends, he encouraged us to sit next to them saying, "I know it sucks when the new guy separates you from your friends, and I refuse to be 'that guy'."

 There were 'yes's all around, but Mr. Berlin gave us our warning. "Now just because I'm the new teacher on the block doesn't mean you get to goof around. I want to make learning fun, but it's only as fun as you let me make it. If I have to separate one of you, I will separate all of you, so keep that in mind."

 The classroom was abuzz with excitement as we rushed to claim the seats in the back or near our friends. Sam sat behind me while our pal Jordan sat to my left. I was already turned around in my seat talking to Sam when the most amazing thing happened.

Violet sat next to me.

 Her little gal pal, Stacey, had chosen a seat two chairs away from me, and Violet had chosen the seat between us. My heart sped up, because by then I knew exactly what it felt like to like a girl. She glanced at me briefly and when she opened her mouth I thought for sure she'd say something to me. Instead she called out to a girl I hadn't even noticed and pointed to the vacant seat behind her and next to Sam.

 While I had been disappointed that she hadn't said anything to me, I could hardly blame her. It was my own fault that I'd avoided her after my mother's teasing, a mistake I regretted every day because I longed to talk to her.

 I tore my eyes away from the back of her head and inspected the new girl. She had tan skin, long brown hair and big brown eyes.

 New people were still somewhat of a rare commodity in Serenity, but by the sixth grade a division of labor in the greeting task force had been established. Boys welcomed boys and girls welcomed girls. That was just the way things were. So when Sam turned to her and said, "Hi, I'm Sam. What's your name?" I couldn't have been more surprised.

 The newcomer looked at Sam, but didn't reply. Her eyes got all big and round before she blushed and looked away. "It's nice to meet you. My name's Trinity."

 I looked at Violet one last time and decided if Sam was going to greet the new girl, so would I.

 "That's a cool name, mine's Brad."

 Violet whipped her head around so fast; it reminded me of The Exorcist. Trying my hardest to pretend I couldn't feel her eyes on me, I kept mine trained on Trinity as I awaited her acknowledgement.

 "Nice to meet you." She sent me a small smile, but glanced at Sam who was too busy watching Violet watching me to notice.

 I finally looked at Violet, who was still staring at me, and raised an eyebrow at her. Her cheeks turned pink and she quickly looked away.