The Ruler of Hearts

III. The Unexpected

Part III: The Unexpected

Phoebe McCarthy's violent coughing fit broke through the thick silence like a machete. The poor girl had been drinking from her water bottle when she had the mishaps of laying her eyes on Flynn. Honestly, you did not even need to be drinking water to get your breath stuck in your throat when you looked at him. You would just as easily choke on your own saliva. That would explain why ninety nine percent of the female population in class looked like fishes out of the sea.

Forget the girls. Even the guys looked a little starstruck.

"Damn, would you look at that jaw line..." Gina Bleeker remarked rather breathlessly.

"Uh-huh," Rose, her bench mate, agreed distractedly. Her eyes were beginning to glaze over.

Miranda couldn't stop wringing her hands. She'd been waiting for Flynn to occupy the seat beside Mack when she saw him walk past them to sit near the harebrained loner girl she had to put up with every day in the Editor room. What a shame it was –to see such an extraordinarily handsome guy sit beside the ugliest girl in school.

Eleanor was too busy checking him out to notice her friend's anxiety. How come she hadn't paid attention to him earlier? Damn boy... This guy must be an Abercrombie & Fitch model.

Mack, on the other hand, was extremely confused. He hadn't even seen Flynn return to class. He had been thinking about where he disappeared to so suddenly for the better half of the period. And now he saw him emerging from the most innocuous seat of the back row. Was he shy or something? But he'd seemed so unreserved this morning when they talked... Did he not like his company or what? This was definitely weird.

Meanwhile, Flynn was having a hard time putting on a nonchalant expression.

"Um, hi guys! I'm Flynn Calder."

"I moved to Castlemont a week ago from Woodrow, Michigan. I've heard quite a lot about this place and I hope to have a great learning experience here," he finished, wondering if he'd made a fool of himself. He hated the spotlight he'd been put in right then. Everybody was eyeing him as if he were an alien.

The teacher, Mr. Daniel Lynch (his name was written on the register in his hand), then said something about helping Flynn out with his class work to the other students, after which he retired to his chair to sort out the mess of papers on his table.

People began getting up and exiting the class with their books and supplies. The sound of murmurs and chit-chatting filled the room and Flynn was relieved to see that everyone now had other stuff to focus on.

He waded through the groups of kids to get his own books from his desk when he noticed 'mannequin girl'. The classroom was almost empty and she still sat with her head weighed down.

What is even the matter with her? He mused, even going so far as to stalling at the table by taking longer to pick up his stuff.

Just like he'd expected, she did not lift her head, not once. She didn't even move.

Strangely, Flynn relished the fact that there was somebody ignoring him out here. It gave him some room to believe that all his nightmares and unusual experiences were just occasional bad luck cases. Still, this girl was taking 'ignoring' to a whole new level.

Finally, he got tired of her queer behavior and shrugged, as if to say, 'well then...' before turning around to move out. It wasn't until the sound of his footsteps had faded that the girl stirred in her seat.

"Seriously dude! Out of all places, why did you have to sit with that lunatic!?" Mack began as soon as Flynn joined him and Eleanor by the second floor staircase.