Taking What's His

Chapter Two

I was one of the first students in the class, the others lingering in the hallway until the warning bell. The teacher, Mr. Richardson, was sitting at his desk when I walked in, hunched over a precariously stacked pile of papers he was marking with a red pen. I shuffled over, standing quietly until he raised his head from his work and his eyes lit up with recognition. Quickly, he stood from his chair, "Ms. Farrell, I presume?" he asked with a bright smile, extending his hand. I grasped his hand lightly with my own, giving a firm shake with a nod of my head.

"Yes, that's me. It's nice to meet you," I responded with a smile.

"Excellent! Well, once everyone's in class I'll let you introduce yourself." Oh, joy. "I'm sure it must be hard transferring at such an awkward time in the school year, and all the way from California no less. But I don't doubt you'll make friends and settle in very quickly here," he said kindly, and I had to force a polite half-hearted smile.

"Hopefully. I'm trying to keep an open mind about the whole thing," I lied, earning another beaming smile from him.

"Well, at least you're trying your best to be positive about it, hm?"

I wasn't.

"Anyway, there's no assigned seating in my class so go ahead and sit wherever you'd like. Today we're starting on Macbeth. One of my all-time favorites to teach," he stated with enthusiasm as he gestured to the rows of desks. I nodded, and with a smile said my thanks before going to sit down.

The kids that were already in class kept glancing in my direction, but I decided to ignore them as I sat my backpack down and pulled out a fresh notebook and pencil and sat them on my desk. Pulling out my phone, I leaned back and began to scroll through my texts. There were multiple messages from my friends, all of them wishing me good luck, and my chest tightened as I read through and replied to each one.

Get it together Delilah! It's gonna be fine, I mentally assured myself with a scowl, making sure my phone was on vibrate before I clicked the screen off and shoved it in my pocket. The warning bell rang and I sat up straight as students began to stream into the room, my gaze sliding past them all to look out the window. It had begun to rain, but the sound of raindrops against the window was drowned out by the deafening chatter of the class, and I closed my eyes as I tried to imagine myself back at my old school with my friends.

"Alright, alright now, settle down everyone. Take your seats," Mr.Richardson called, clapping his hands to get everyone's attention. "We have a new student in our class today, which is a very, very rare event. Miss Farrell, will you please come up and introduce yourself?" Mr.Richardson asked, giving me an encouraging smile. I'd rather evaporate than introduce myself in front of a class in the middle of the school year, but I had no choice here it seemed. Letting out a soft sigh, I slipped out of my chair and walked to the front of the room. I stood next to my new teacher, waiting a moment so my peers could whisper and talk among themselves before I spoke.

"Hey, my name is—,"

I stopped abruptly and paled as the classroom door swung open and in stepped the same breathtaking boy from this morning, a scowl on his handsome face. The memory of his lips pressed against my wrist flashed vividly in my mind and I suddenly felt my cheeks grow warm as my heartbeat picked up its pace.

"Welcome back, Ashton!" a pretty faced brunette called out, waving enthusiastically from her seat and bringing my attention back to the boy who strolled confidently into the class.

"Blaire, please quiet down," Mr.Richardson sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. Obviously, this wasn't anything new to him. "Mr. Riddle, late again and on your first day back. Go take a seat, but first, apologize for interrupting Ms. Farrell." Mr.Richardson said as he gestured to me. I stood embarrassed, taking a very noticeable, large step away from Ashton to allow him room to go to his seat. The boy named Ashton cocked a brow at me and I looked away, suddenly very interested in the poster of Beowulf on the classroom wall.