Love Persists

Chapter 9

Erik's POV:
Once I had arrived home from school, I searched the house to find Nadir, who was sitting on the couch as he watched TV. I rolled my eyes at him, his behavior far too predictable.

"Erik, you must watch this with me, it is ingenious, not even you could have thought up something like this!" He exclaimed when he saw me, his eyes remaining fixated on the moving pictures.

"I have more important things to do than enjoy cheap entertainment from this century, Nadir," I growled, not sending a second glance towards the screen. "I have to complete work for tomorrow's classes and then try to find us a way back to our time. Or perhaps you have forgotten our little dilemma or the fact that I actually have to do something in this new world!"

"Oh, come on Erik, it really is not all that bad here, you do not have to immediately start searching for a way home. Besides, I just got home myself, apparently I have to work here as well, except I actually have a job whilst you are in school," he replied, only enraging me further.

"You do not wish to go home, then? How could you want to stay here, in a place we clearly do not belong?!"

"And do we belong back there either? Tell me one thing that is waiting for us back in our own century? Erik, here you are able to integrate yourself in society, back in our time you had to hide yourself in a cellar! How can you honestly prefer back then to where we are now?"

I laughed lightly, "do you really think that I have been accepted into society here? For the most part, the teachers tried not to judge my mask, but only one student seemed able to look past it. I do not belong anywhere and honestly I would much rather hide from society in my cellars than be scoffed at in the school hallways."

"Then what is it that will make your return to school tomorrow if you despise it so much?"

I shrugged, "perhaps it is interesting, despite my inconsiderate peers. Besides, perhaps I will learn something from these lessons that will aid us in returning home."

"There has to be more to it than that, otherwise you would not attend the classes as a student, but instead sneak around the school, watching the classes from the shadows. Tell me, who did you meet?"

"And why would you assume that I met someone?"

"Because, contrary to what you may believe, I do know you Erik. I may not understand all of your bizarre actions, but I can tell that there must be another person involved. Is this the one student who did not judge you by your mask?"

"That one student was a pesky young woman with whom I share nothing with, I certainly do not wish to see her again," I replied, although I knew that it was a lie as soon as the words left my lips. I wanted to see her again, I wanted to know why she treated me as an equal when no one else did.

"Mhm," Nadir replied, clearly not believing me lie. "I am sure this 'pesky young woman' is definitely not the reason you are prepared to put yourself through public display and endure the odd looks of your fellow classmates."

"If I am to return to school for her, then it would merely be to prove to her that I am academically superior to her. I am sure that she is the current valedictorian and I would be more than willing to knock her off her pedestal," I spoke in response as I retreated to my room, where I would no longer have to endure Nadir's inquiries.