ASHWOOD ACADEMY

Chapter 3: IN THE CIRCLE

All six students sat in their quiet corner of the library. They had arrived at a quarter til' the hour.

Anita told Miss Grace about Nathan, so she wouldn't be suspicious when the white kid showed up to study with them.

"Let's see, here."  She looked over his student identification card and let him in.

When he arrived at the table, everyone was already deep in their studies.

"Nathan." Anita said, standing up... "This is Jasmine and Janine. And you know Thomas and Fred."

"Hi."

Janine didn't bother to hide her look of approval, boldly eyeing him up and raising her eyebrows.

Jasmine, looked away, blushing.

"I still don't think this is a good idea." Fred mumbled.

"Fred.-" Anita, said.

"No, Nita. He's going to get us into trouble," but of course, he was only referring to Nita.

"I don't know..." Janine said, boldly. "I don't get any off-putting vibes from him."

"What are you, some kind of beatnik?" Thomas asked, laughing.

Jasmine added, "He seems alright."

"I'm standing right here." Nathan added, quietly.

Fred threw up his hands.

"His ofay white brothers gave me a black eye. Remember?!"

Everyone gave him the 'you're being difficult, Fred', look.

"Fine. He stays." Fred continued, getting up. "...but I'm staying down here." 

He slid his stuff to the other end of the table.

Anita sighed and sat down. Nathan sat down in the chair Fred just vacated, opposite of her and next to Thomas.

He discovered that they were all far ahead of the curve. Anita had not only read just about every great book ever published, she also had them memorized. He learned that she had a photographic memory.

The rest were no slouches either. In fact, Thomas, the youngest and the brightest of them all, could have taught many of the classes, himself.

It was a pleasurable challenge keeping up with them.

Much to Fred's discomfort, he noted that Nathan was getting along well with the others, but he stubbornly kept his nose in his books.

Meanwhile, Ben had noticed that Nathan had gotten up early on Saturday, but he assumed it was for track.

Fred joined them again the following week and against his better judgement even found himself warming to Nathan, too.

~~~

This time, Nathan had wanted to arrive at the same time as they did. So, he got to the library at a quarter 'til the hour, like they had, last time.

Fred arrived at the same time, rolling his eyes.

"Morning, Fred." Nathan said.

Fred didn't reply.

Grace greeted them both and let them in. Fred sat at the opposite end of the table, once again.

"Look, I know that you don't like me-"

"-Good."

"Come on, Fred what have I ever done to you?"