Devil & The Angel

Chapter 7: More than meets the eye

         

I turned around and walked back towards the classroom. When I opened the door, I noticed a class of hungry eyes staring at me, the girls all circled around my desk with high pitched squeaks.

'Oh my god, did you know who that was?' One of the girls cried. Another interrupted.

'No-one, I mean no one has ever been able to get near him, he is nasty to people but everyone around him adores him, girls have tried but never succeeded. He is the ultimate man. Never have we ever experienced what has just happened, he was testing you. He's never done that with anyone before.' I must have appeared shocked judging by my acquaintance's faces.

'What is he like usually then?' I queried, nervous of the answer. The girls looked to one another before replying, they were all very pretty and seemed quite nice. It felt good to have attention from other people, I'd like to make some real friends, so here's my chance.

A brown-haired girl began speaking.

'He doesn't really talk to any girl, only his friends. Some people have wondered whether he was gay but judging by his persona there is no way in hell he is gay, his peers have also confirmed that he is most certainly straight. So obviously it's come as a surprise when those words were the most he has ever said to a girl.'

I was worried, maybe I had done something terrible for him to hate me.

'Does he hate me?' I questioned, feeling rather stupid.

'If that was hate, let me be you.' One of the girls joked. I figured I had better introduce myself otherwise I would seem a bit strange.

'By the way, my name is Georgie and I've just joined here, so it's nice to meet you.' They all seemed genuinely pleased to meet me, so I relaxed a little.

'I'm Alex,' A girl spoke

'Megan,' Another chirped.

'Sorry I didn't introduce myself earlier, when I showed you to your class but I'm Phoebe.'

It was nice having some people to talk to, these girls didn't even begin to match the description of what that other girl told me earlier, who knows, I will still be wary. I've read and watched many a time about the typical 'mean' girl in school.

I had a queasy feeling in the pit of my stomach about that boy, was this normal? Were you supposed to feel sick when you had an attraction to a boy? Most girls get butterflies. Phoebe touched my arm.

'Hey, if you don't have anyone to be with at lunch then you're welcome to sit with us.'

'That would be nice, thank you.'

As the lesson began I noticed how easy everything was, maybe I was in the wrong class. The teacher began by talking about iambic pentameter, a structure in Shakespearean poetry. I already knew this. The teacher asked the class whether they knew what she was talking about, everybody shook their heads, I rose my hand.

'Yes... Georgie, is it?' I nodded.

'Er, iambic pentameter is the structure of a poem, usually referred to in a poem. Popular in Shakespearian and Petrarchan, (Petrarchan is derived from the Renaissance era.)' The whole class looked gobsmacked, I wasn't sure why, what she asked was plain simple, everybody knew that.'

The teacher looked pleasantly surprised.

'Well-done Georgie, are you a lover of English? I grinned.

'Why, yes, I am, I love English.' She seemed satisfied and moved on to the rest of the lesson. I could hear whispers from the boys beside me, all staring at me rather precariously.

The bell went. As I was packing away my things, two boys approached me.

'Hey Georgie, Phoebe says you're the new girl, pretty smart I see. Anyway, tomorrow night I'm having a party/ball, it's very formal. You're welcome to come. Think of it as a way of getting to know new people.'

That was nice of him.

'Ah thanks, maybe I'll see you there. Nice to meet you, I didn't catch your name?'

'My name is Benjamin, hope to see you tomorrow!' He seemed nice, Phoebe walked over towards me.

'Did Ben invite you to his party? If so, then that's cool considering he never invites people he doesn't know, you're a lucky girl.'

I wasn't sure why I was lucky but I went along with it anyway.

'Yeah, I'm not sure whether to go or not, I don't know what I would wear either. It seems quite fancy.'

'You're welcome to come with me and the girls? We kind of go hard or go home around here with parties and things like that, there are constantly balls and fancy dinners etc. You have to wear a gown of course.'

I pondered for a moment or so, these girls were being incredibly nice to me, maybe I should give something back. I could invite them over to get ready with me and help me pick my outfit but maybe that's a bit much.

'This is just a suggestion, but did you want to come to my house tomorrow after school and get ready with me for the party?' I wasn't sure on how she would react.

'Yes of course! That sounds lovely, you seem so nice and smart, I wish I was more like you. It's so difficult sometimes because I feel so superficial and fake when I'm not like that, people around the school will say otherwise though. I hate the fact that people put labels on others, calling me the mean girl, it's such bull.'

She sighed and I could see the sadness in her brown eyes. I empathised with her and placed my hand on hers, she shivered and a slight glow embered around her small frame, I was comforting her. I could tell that there was much more to her than her looks, she had feelings too. I wondered what had happened in her past for her to have such a troubling glow.

'I'm sorry about my rant, it just gets to me sometimes. Anyway, sorry to seem personal. But how come you're so different? Did you transfer from another school, were you in some type of trouble?' She genuinely thought that, I laughed.

'No, I was home-schooled my whole life, this is my first school. Because of my father's business, it meant we had to travel the world constantly, but now his job doesn't have the travelling aspect anymore I could finally join a real school.' She looked so interested in what I had to say.

'Wow, I would love to travel the world, that sounds so fantastic. You are so lucky. School isn't what it's cracked up to be, trust me. I wish my life was like yours...'

If only you knew, I thought to myself.

'I guess... you don't know what goes on behind closed doors.' I replied. She looked at me knowingly and nodded her head, not questioning me any further.