Love Persists

Chapter 4

Mandie's POV:
"Erik, it was nice meeting you, I'll see you around," I smiled at my new classmate before leaving the English classroom.

He gave no response, ignoring me as he packed up his own stuff. I sighed and left the classroom, hoping that one day he would be willing to open up to me. It wasn't just that I just wanted a friend, it was because I could tell that he needed someone as well. It always pained me to see someone else in pain, perhaps because I was so used to the experience and wanted to save others from having to go through it as well. Regardless of the reasoning, I always wanted to help whenever I could.

I settled down in my French class, giving a greeting to our teacher before taking a seat. To my surprise, Erik walked into the classroom only seconds before the bell rang. I gave him a look as the teacher went to greet him, knowing that he must have had trouble finding the classroom otherwise he would have made it with plenty of time to spare.

As he went to sit down at his assigned desk I whispered to him, "so you can easily find your way around this tiny school, huh?"

He simply glared at me in response, allowing me to realize the shocking color of his eyes. I had not noticed it before, but they seemed to be a gorgeous shade of gold. Not wanting to believe that anyone could naturally have such beautiful eyes, I figured that they were contacts, although that didn't make me any less fascinated with them.

The professor, Monsieur Babineaux, began to introduce Erik to us in French, signaling the beginning of class. Immediately afterwards he then moved onto what he wished to teach us. Erik listened to Monsieur Babineaux, but I could tell that he wasn't really absorbing what was being said, if anything he seemed to just be listening to things that he already knew. Which would make sense if one of his previous schools had already taught him this material.

Monsieur Babineaux ended the class early, giving us some to time to talk amongst ourselves before the bell rang. Without anyone else to talk to, I usually despised when teachers did such things, but today I had found someone to talk to, so it didn't really matter to me. I knew Erik didn't like making conversation, but I chose not to care about that.

"You are quite presumptuous, I see," I spoke to Erik, stopping to stand beside his desk.

He raised his eyebrow, "I beg your pardon?"

"You didn't take a single note throughout Monsieur Babineaux's lecture, can you be any more sure of yourself? This is an AP level class, perhaps you should pay closer attention to the teacher," I explained, not truly concerned about his academics but merely needed something that he would respond to.

"Did you consider that perhaps it is not necessary for me to do such a thing?" He asked in response with an air of superiority surrounding him. "Je parle déjà couramment le français."

"Ooh, c'est très bien," I replied with a smile. "So why would you take this class if you already know the language?"

He shrugged, "perhaps it merely looks better on a college resume."

At that moment the bell rang, signaling his departure from the classroom. I usually left quickly, but it was nothing compared to Erik's desire to get away from me. But I knew no matter what he tried, I would get through to him and help him to understand that I was just the same as he.

As though fate had intervened, Erik ended up in every one of my classes, at least up until lunch. It was odd to keep seeing him everywhere, but it gave me hope that because we were in so many classes together that we would be able to know each other better and he would eventually warm up to me.