Those Among Us

Devin

As I walk to Earth Science, I have this strange feeling like someone is watching me. Paranoia is just getting the best of me, I guess. As I walk up the stairs to the science hallway. I look at every room number until I see 310, then I walk in the doorway. A man with a long, grey beard stands at a chalk board, writing something. Smiling, I look around the room. Chills run down my spine as I spot Devin sitting in a two seat lab table on the furthest row near the window, the second row from the front of the class. There is an open seat beside him. Quickly, I look around to see if there is another open seat, spotting one next to a girl with glasses and an oval face. I make my way over and just as I start to sit my backpack down, she sits hers on the open barstool chair.
Her dark eyes glare up at me. "Seats taken."
As I start to look around, the only one left standing, like an idiot.
"You can take a seat next to Devin, new girl." The teacher says, slightly offending me by calling me new girl instead of asking my name.
The girl who said the seat beside her was taken smirks up at me evilly. Mentally, I've killed her at least twice now. Quickly but quietly, I walk over to the open seat next to the mysterious boy. I don't even take off my backpack, I'm so full of dread. To distract myself, I look on the board at what the mean teacher was writing. Chemical Reaction: Sugar Crystals is written in cursive on the board so neatly, I'm jealous.
"Today, class, we will be making a chemical reaction. You'll be able to eat this project." A few of the students smirk, he does as well. "And you'll be working in partners of two."
The people around me groan at the teachers assignment. He looks over in my direction, looking unamused and annoyed.
"You can take your backpack off, new girl. We've got all hour." He says tauntingly, a few of the others start to laugh, making me cringe in embarrassment.
I can feel Devin's stares burn through me, then he looks over his shoulder at them. Suddenly, they all stop. They all look at the board confused. I slip off my backpack and put it by my feet. The teacher takes out supplies to make the edible crystals: 1 cup water, 3 cups table sugar, glass jar, pencil, string, pan for boiling water and making solution, spoon for stirring, and (optional) food coloring.
"One partner at every table will come up and get one of each of the supplies on the table. One of you will mix the chemicals while the other will take notes." People already start to hurry to the table.
I go to turn to look at Devin but is gone. I look up to see him grabbing the supplies. I guess I'm taking notes then. As he walks back, he does not make eye contact with me, making it obvious. He sits the supplies down and begins with tying the string of yard to the pencil. I take out my notepad and pencil, ready to take notes. Devin turn on the stove near him, pouring the water in the pan. Then he pours the sugar in the pan, stirring it in. He drops a few drops of the dark blue dye in the water, the beautiful pattern growing.
        "So, your the new girl?" His voice is like ocean deep, you could get lost in the calmness.
        I shyly look ever at Devin, his eyes never leave the project.
        "Yeah, as you and everyone in the room heard." I say awkwardly.
      Devin carefully pours the boiling pan into the mason jar, he balances the pencil on the lip of the jar, and let the string dangle into the solution. I write down what I had just observed.
The pencil in my hand flips out of my hand, rolling towards the edge of the desk. I quickly reach for it, my hands brush against piercing cold ones. I look up to meet Devin's rustic brown eyes, their so intense and focused. There is a dark shade behind his eyelids, making him look dead tired. His cute nose curved up, his slim lips. A trail of moles across one side of his face, a few on the other side. His dark, messy hair. He's so mesmerizing, it's so entrancing, like he could put me under his spell if he wanted to. I shyly look away as I grab my pencil and set it down on my notepad.
       "Scribes, you may label your projects and take it over near the sink." The teacher says.
       I reach for the Manson jar when Devin says, "So why did you move here?"
"Um...why do you care?" I say
"I don't," he says
"Then why did you ask?" I finally look at him, his eyes pierce mine. Chills run up and down my spine as he gives me his stare.
"Just Curious," he says lightly.
"Well, maybe you care just a little bit then." I grab the Mason jar and walk over to the side of the sink and place it down on a blue flash card, writing our first names and the hour. The bell rings. Devin hurries out of the classroom quickly, I grab my backpack and walk to my next hour.

        When I step into my eighth hour class, my heart drops. Devin sits at a desk near the window. Allison waves at me to come over to where she and Emma are sitting. Emma puckers out her lips and looks me up and down again, lingering on my shoes. I ignore her and whisper into Allison's ear.
        "He is in here," She quickly looks behind her, he's too caught up in his book to notice.
        I can't help but think about his cold hands. They were so cold, like touching a block of ice. And not to mention that everyone stopped laughing when he turned around. They acted as if they couldn't understand why they had stopped laughing. Maybe I'm just being paranoid. Yeah, I am being paranoid.
I sit down in the chair behind Allison. Emma twirls her hair in a flirty way as she smiles at the guys that comes in. A few wink at me as they take their seats, making me blush madly. Even though she tries to hide it, I can see Emma glaring at me in the corner of her eye. Allison turns around, her huge smile is hard to resist. I smile back.
           "You've already been here a day and your already getting googly eyes from the guys." She whispers, giggling after. "Your a bombshell, Camille."
           "Not so bad yourself there, Allison." Emma makes a groan like sound.
           Emma turns to us with red cheeks, her green eyes wide and angry.
           "Some of us need to concentrate, if you don't mind." She says to me, she looks at Allison. "You are the second prettiest girl in school, Allison. Next to muah."
         Allison looks at me and rolls her eyes, I look down at my desk and try not to take Emma's words so hard. She is a very pretty girl indeed, but her attitude makes her ugly. A skinny woman with big hair and big hips walks in, her red lipstick stands out on her pale face. She closes the classroom door, her heels clicking on the floor. She searches the classroom until her eyes stop on me, her plump lips stretch into a smile and she walks over to me.
         "You must be Camille Prepon," she says "I'm Mrs. Waite. Nice to meet you."
         "Thanks" I say shyly, I can feel his eyes on me. I shift in my seat uncomfortably.
         "Well, welcome to my eighth hour English class." She walks up to the board and grabs a marker. She writes out vocab words. "Get our a pice of paper and your textbooks and write down all these vocab words. They must be done by the end of class tomorrow or it will be a zero."
          I reach inside my backpack and grab a piece of paper, noticing how everyone reaches below their desk to get the textbook. I reach down to grab the one under mine when I feel cool metal. There's no textbook under my desk. I raise my hand awkwardly, hoping she has more. It takes her a while before she turns around to see that I have my hand raised. She gives me an annoyed look, so fake. Her and Emma could be twins.
           "Yes, Miss Prepon?" She says
           "I don't have a textbook," I say
           "Here, you can have mine." A boy with blue eyes and a dumb smile says, he gawks at me as he holds out his textbook.
           "No, you need that Mr. Dawson. You need to get on your work so you can bring up that D minus you made on midquarters." Her heels click as she walks over to a cabinet, looking inside. "Well, I don't see anymore I'm afraid. Everybody check and see if they have an extra textbook. Hopefully no one else stole another one again."
           As everyone checks underneath their chairs, I feel like I've caused a ruckus and it bothers me. Being shy has its disadvantages. My cheeks turn pink in embarrassment.
           "I have an extra one," every hair on my body stands up and my eyes meet Allison's arched brow.
            I turn and look over my shoulder to see Devin walking my way with a book in his hand. I take it, thanking him. His rustic amber brown eyes stare at me like he's entranced.
            "Welcomed," he nods his head, suddenly giving me a dark look, and then turns around.
            I turn and look at Allison, whose eyes are fixed on Devin. Emma continues to write the vocab, as if I were not important enough for this kind of attention. Mrs. Waite goes back to writing vocab on the board, I open the textbook back back to the glossary. Feeling paranoid again, I glance over my shoulder to see Devin's eyes fixed me. I give him a questionable look as he continues to stare at me. I turn around and continue on with my vocabulary uncomfortably.