The Forgotten One

Chapter Seven

              After the eventful day that I had been through, stepping into Creative Writing class wasn’t as difficult as I had expected it to be. I immediately set my noteook in the basket on Trystan’s desk and took my seat, waiting for the rest of the class to arrive. Amanda took her seat next to me and looked at me, barely able to contain herself. She couldn’t hold back any longer and she nearly fell on the floor in her fit of giggles. Trystan looked up from his desk and gave us both a stern look, but I could see the question in his eyes, directed at me. I shrugged helplessly and watched my friend in her fit.

              “Oh look, it’s a cackling hyena.” Harmony made her presence known when she walked through the doors. She didn’t even glance in my direction.

              “That was epic. You would not believe the looks on everyone’s face when you stomped off. Oh my God. I tried to find you, where did you go?” Amanda finally stopped laughing enough to speak to me.

              “Out to the courtyard with Chase. We have a date on Saturday.” I hoped to get her to change the subject.

              “Oh great. Jimmy and I will go with you. We’ll make it a double, just in case you need wingman. You know, Adam was really glad you did that, right? He was trying to find a way to tell Harmony that he didn’t want to be with her anymore, but I think he was afraid to do it. After all that went down and you left, he basically broke up with her. She’s still in denial, trying to act like he never said anything to her, but he’s avoiding her like the plague. I think he wants to ask you to homecoming, you know.”

              “I already have a date for homecoming. Chase asked me.”

              “What? Are you serious? Wow. There’s gonna be a lot of disappointed guys in this school, my brother included. He hasn’t stopped talking about you since yesterday. I think he has a crush on you.”

              “All right class. Let’s get to work.” Trystan stood and addressed the class. He was dressed in another pair of casual jeans with a white button up shirt and a pinstripe tie. He looked older, more mature, and sexier than I had ever seen him. All the girls were rapt in attention toward him and it made me giggle, which earned me a stern look.

          For the next hour Trystan stood at the front of the class and lectured about different writing styles and points of view. We read out of the dry text material in our books only a few times, and the rest of the time he talked to us as if we were having a conversation. The students were all attentive and participating in the conversation until the bell sounded and startled us all.

          “That’s it for today. I’ll have your journals back for you tomorrow. No homework tonight, but don’t worry. I’ll get you guys later this week. Have a good day guys!” Trystan called out over the sound of students packing up their bags. “Madison, can you stay after, please? I have something I’d like to talk to you about.”

          As soon as all the students were gone and Trystan and I were left standing alone in the classroom, he pulled open his desk drawer and pulled out a small box. He handed it across the desk to me and I stood there and stared at it. Neither of us made a move.