Her Guardian Angel

2. BEAU

I wake up the next morning in a daze. The paper work from school yesterday sits untouched on the kitchen table. I grab a bowl of cereal and then sit at the table. My mom always told me I would have to grow up eventually. I fill the paper work out quickly before throwing everything into my dark blue backpack. If I don’t leave now I will be late to school.

Arriving at school, I notice the girl from most of my classes. She has her reddish brownish hair in a high ponytail. She wears clothes similar to the ones from yesterday. From the girls I’ve dated in the past they go crazy trying to find the right outfits for the first week of school. This girl doesn’t seem to care at all.

I trudge up the staircase to my first class. The first bell rings as soon as I step through the threshold. “I’m glad to see you aren’t late today,” the teacher that I’ve already forgotten the name of says.

“I’m really sorry about that yesterday. I woke up late,” I say scratching the back of my neck. The teacher nods and goes back to her board.

I sit beside the strange redhead again. “You don’t have to sit next to me,” she says. She keeps her head down as if she is talking to the desk. Her voice is very sweet and feminine sounding.

“I’m fine where I’m at,” I say. It is true. I’m pretty sure this girl doesn’t even need to be taking this class. She is also the only one to seem willing to help me. Yesterday when I struggled with the assignment, I asked the girl on the other side of me. She practically scoffed at me and then continued her work.

“It seems that most of you are struggling with simple declining. So what I want you guys to do today is pair up or group up. That way if you are having trouble someone in your group should be able to help you,” the teacher says.

Everyone gets up and runs around the room. No one bother to look at me or the other girl. “Would you be my partner,” I ask the girl to my left.

She finally looks up at me. Her greyish, blue eyes were startled. Finally, she slowly nods her head. We start the assignment and immediately I fall behind her. “Um,” I start but then I realize I don’t know her name.

She looks over at me and I realize that she probably doesn’t know my name either. “I’m Emma,” she says.

“Beau,” I say holding my hand out to her. She looks around the classroom so I do the same. There are a few people staring at us. “You just have to shake my hand,” I say. Finally, she takes my hand and gives it a firm shake. It surprises me.

“Would you like some help Beau,” she asks in a soft whisper. I don’t understand this girl. I nod my head and we are able to finish the assignment before everyone else.

“Emma,” I say. She looks over at me with her arms crossed on the table. “Do you think you could help me more often? Somehow I ended up in Latin III when I’ve only taken Latin I in my 9th grade year.”

“Uh yeah I don’t see why I couldn’t help,” she says. When the bell rang, I try stopping Emma but she is fast in walking out the door. I was gonna see if she wanted to walk to class together.

I got lost twice on my way upstairs. Thankfully, I am not late to English either. Mr. Black wrote his name on the board, which I am thankful for. “Today we are going to work on grammar. I’m going to let you work with partners but I’m going to choose your partner.” This earns him a groan from the entire class.

As he puts names together, I hope my name is called with Emma’s. “Beau your partner is Brittany,” Mr. Black announces. I groan internally but nod on the outside.

Brittany stands up from the back of the room and walks up to sit next to me. I notice how pretty the girl is but somehow she can’t compare to Emma. Brittany sits beside me and immediately flips her hair over her shoulder. We work on the grammar packet Mr. Black handed out.