Incidentals

Telling my story to the stranger

When I walk into the L.A. classroom, a nice smell hits my nose. I sniff the air deeply and realize it's a mixture of mint and pine, bringing me back to when my Dad and I would go on Father-Daughter camping trips. I look around to find where the source of the smell was coming from.

My eyes then land on... him. Oh no. He is in this class? He must of gone in the farther door when I wasn't looking. He looks at me again, but this time with more curiosity than anger. I then look to the brown mahogany desk and see a petite woman typing away on her computer. I'd never seen her before. She must be the new teacher.

I walk to her desk and clear my throat to get her attention. I've always been nice to teachers. Don't ask me why. I just have. She looks up startled. I then proceed to stick out my hand. She puts out hers and we shake.

"Hi, you must be the new teacher, right?" I ask, my hand retracting. I can still feel the boys eyes on me, but I shrug it off. What is the dude's problem?

"Yes I'm Ms.Stone. I'm very excited to be teaching here!" She says excitingly.

"And I'm sure you'll like it here." I say warmly. There's something about her that's extremely likable. She reminds me of my mother. Warm and kind. My heart pangs at the thought of my mother, but I push it away like the rest of my feelings lately.

"I just moved here from Fort Worth. I used to be a student teacher in the middle school." she says.

"I know some people that live in Fort Worth. I don't visit much though." I tell her. I'm usually not this open with teachers. Yeah, this is open for me. Pathetic right?

" You've been going to this school since freshman year?" She asks. I nod in reply as she continues."Could you tell me the student that had the...incident with the previous teacher, Mr. Solt?" She asks with worry in her eyes. My shoulders and body go stiff at the sound of his name. That dreaded name. The name that ruined me.

"Her name is Cole. Cole Moriarti." I say coldly. I turn around and scan the now filling room for a free space, trying to avoid any questions if she doesn't know what exactly happened. The only space is next to the hot guy. Oh kill me now.

I walk towards the empty desk, but I'm stopped by the teacher.

"I never caught your name." She says. I turn on my heel to face her.

"My name's Cole." I turn around again and go for my new desk next the hot guy. I need to learn this guys name. He's seated in the farthest back row, closest to the windows. Well, at least if it gets bad, I can escape. The guy isn't looking at me anymore, but rifling through his backpack.

I sit and set my stuff down, my backpack going under the desk. I cross my skinny jean covered legs and sit back. My eyes going cold as I stare straight ahead. The now shaky teacher walks to the white board. She glances at me with sorry written all over her face. My eyes soften a bit, immediately feeling guilty for being so hard. This woman didn't know, so I shouldn't be so mean. It wasn't her fault the whole school hated me. It was his.

"O.K class. These will be your permanent seats for the rest of the year. So I hope you like who you're sitting with." Ok I take it back, I hate her.

"You should get to know the person next to you. Every project this year is going to be a partner project." Of course they are." I expect you should get each other's phone numbers, so you can contact each other when working on a project." I can't give the hot guy my phone number! I don't know him at all! What if he's a psycho killer or something. ‘He has the look and the act’ my subconscious adds in as I look at him uneasily.

"Now for the rest of the period, I want you to get to know your partner." Well, I guess now I'll know him. At least I won't have to refer to him as "Hot Guy".