Knowing Me, Knowing You | (S/P)

Chapter 12

September 10th.

I walk into the lecture hall for Nathaniel's class feeling lighter than ever, like a weight has been lifted from my shoulders. I spent the first weeks hating coming here and stressing over it, which sucked considering it's my favorite class. I just didn't know what to expect from Nathaniel concerning his attitude, and my mine to be honest. 

Whatever tension was going on between us, it's past gone after our little chat last Saturday.

He told me on our way back from Promontory Point that his sister is staying a bit longer than expected and I offered some suggestions regarding places they could visit and things to see together. For what I gathered he follows the over-protective, caring big brother role to perfection.

Before taking my seat, I walk towards his desk where he is scribbling away on a notepad.

"Good morning, Nathaniel. I just wanted to let you know that my car is ready. They should send you the receipt via e-mail in the next 24 hours." 

"Okay." He says without looking at me. I hesitate if whether I should say something else. "Is there something else you need?" He barks, finally looking at me. Both his voice and eyes are sharp, severe. 

Professor Rowlins woke up on the wrong side of the bed.

Not wanting to let it affect my mood, I turn on my heels right away and walk to my seat.

I laugh when I see Josh hunched over his desk, an oversized hoodie hiding most of him and bags under his eyes the size of a baseball. "Joshington, are you hungover?" My tone is coated with mockery, my mirth accentuating when I see him roll his eyes.

"Shut up Alex, your voice is too high pitched."

"That's not true."

"It's still giving me a headache." He groans, pressing two fingers against his temple. He truly looks miserable.

"Karma for bailing on me." I won't tell him that I'm glad he did, though. 

"Okay, people, let's start the class." Nathaniel's authoritative voice resonates from the front. "I was slightly disappointed half of you didn't send it the only assignment I asked of you for this class. However, the ones of you who did, did a pretty decent job."

Some of my classmates were complaining about not having enough creative writing practices, following Nathaniel's high demands for his class project regarding originality and creativity. Last week he assigned us a piece of written material using the literary devices that we've been addressing the past few weeks. It could be anything, but I decided to write a short poem –something out of my comfort zone.

"Actually, I'd like to show you some of the pieces I liked the most."

What? He wasn't supposed to do this. He never said that he would.

I don't want anyone to see what I wrote. It's too personal. Deep breaths, happy thoughts.

What are the chances that he's going to show mine, anyway? I'm barely decent when it comes to poetry. 

Nathaniel turns on the projector, which is connected to his laptop, and the image becomes visible on the board. The first text is a short story. Nathaniel asks for volunteers to read it, and then we proceed to give our opinion and discuss the way the author made use of the devices.

When the next text appears on the screen, I have to blink a few times to assimilate what I'm seeing. It takes me a few seconds to realize that it is, indeed, mine.