Shifters

Chapter 7

Our teacher flashed a smile, his electric blue eyes glowing with excitement. He wrote 'Mr. K.' on the board and turned to the class, "Good morning class, I'm your substitute teacher for the day, you can call me Mr. K." he said, smiling again. I glanced over to Gabriel who was staring up at him in shock, "What is Max doing here?" I asked Gabriel urgently. He looked at me and shrugged. Max was staring at me, then he said, "Ms. -- Whitly, is it?" I nodded, " alright, Ms. Whitly, would you please bring your shadow up after I have handed out the worksheet?" he asked, "Yes sir." I replied.  

Five minutes later the worksheets were handed out and Gabriel and I were making our way to Max's desk, "What are you doing here?" Gabriel hissed as soon as the students began talking. Max smiled, "To make sure you are doing your job and you are keeping miss Evelyn here from shifting." He replied evenly, "I can do my job." Gabriel said slowly, with a deadly assurance in his voice, "Just making sure." Max said with a hesitantly. "you may take your seats now." he said in a normal voice.  

I headed back to my seat, with Gabriel close behind. As soon as I sat down, Jade stood up and walked over to me, "Have you ever talked to your shadow before outside of school?" She asked as she glanced over at Gabriel, "No, he's just a social type of guy, makes friends very quickly." I replied with a smile, Jade glared at me, the said to Gabriel, "Then talk to me, Where are you from, what brings you here on your senior year. What do you want to do with your life?" Gabriel stared blankly at Jade, then down at his desk, "he doesn't like personal question, it makes him uncomfortable." I said to the fuming Jade. She threw her hands up in the air and exclaimed, "I give up! You can have him Ev!" with that she stood up and stormed out of the classroom. Max looked up from his book in surprise, then a hint of amusement shown in his eyes as he glanced over at Gabriel and I, "Is she usually this persistant?" Gabriel asked me quietly, "well no, because she would have had the guy when he first saw her, but you aren't affected by her unfailing charm and beauty. I guess it's just really frustrating to her, so she is trying to prove that she can get anyone. But obviously, she can't." I explained quietly, "Well she is pretty, but I've seen better." he said absently.  

The thought of how old Gabriel was crossed my mind, so I asked, "How old are you?" with and emphasis on the are. He looked at me curiously, "Well I'm your age, why else would I be shadowing here?" he replied sarcasticly. I glared at him a rolled my eyes. But I knew I wouldn't get a straight answer from him right now, seeing as we were surrounded by my fellow students. The bell rang and I stood up, motioning for Gabriel to follow me, "What do you have next?" he asked as we walked back to my locker, "Gym class, we're playing dodge ball. I kinda suck at it." I replied with a laugh. An evil smile crept onto his face, "I have an idea, if you are up for some trickery." he whispered so no one could hear, "What kind of idea?" I asked suspiciously. He laughed, "I will be you, and you will be me." Gabriel replied with a bright smile, "sounds like fun to me.  

We waited until the hall was clear, then shifted to look like each other. Please say we're not dressing out today. I chanted over and over in my mind. We walked into the gym and everyone was standing around talking, "Evelyn! And Evelyn's shadow! Hi!" someone excaimed, I was about to answer when I remembered that I was Gabriel, so I kept my mouth shut. Gabriel smiled and said, "Hey guys." I almost died from holding back laughter, but this was almost too much to bear, "Why are you just standing around? Let's play some dodge ball!" our pe instructor yelled across the gym, "Coach, we have a shadow, won't that mess up our teams?" one of the boys asked, "oh, I just want to watch, I don't really like dodge ball." I replied quickly. Coach turned to me and shrugged "Suit yourself, let's play ball!"