Hey Stranger

• Two •

About half way through the lesson someone drops something loudly. I jump and everyone looks over to him. Garret smiles and apologizes and picks his ruler back up. Danielle whispers to me.

"I think your friend is upset." I turn my head quickly and they pull Taco up onto their lap for deep pressure therapy. By the way they're cuddling Tacos head and hiding their face I guess it's Olive. I look up to Mr Daniel and he nods his head in their direction.

"I i uh. I'll be right back." I slip out of my seat and walk quickly to the back sitting beside them. "Who am I talking to?" I whisper. They look over to me and blush, hiding their face in Tacos fur confirming my assumption.

"Am I talking to Olive?" I ask softly and she nods shyly. I move my hands very slowly to Tacos vest. She watches my hands carefully and I smile to her reassuringly. I pull out a white board and two markers from the pocket and look to her happily. "Want to practice numbers or letters?" She puts up one finger and I confirm it. "Numbers?" I whisper quietly, looking up as I feel Danielles eyes on me. I turn back to Olive and she nods.

"Well Olive," I say as I scribble down numbers from 1 to 20 "If you trace all of these and let Samantha back out, you can come back out again after school. Hows that?"

She nods happily, one of her thumbs in her mouth the other hand gently reaching out to take the marker. She takes off the lid and starts tracing and I smile.

"I've got to go back to my seat okay? You stay here and trace." She nods again and I get out of my chair slowly. Walking back to my seat I slip into it and start listening to class again.

"What happened? Is she okay?"

"Yeah she's fine." I smile. Not fully answering the question. She opens her mouth but closes it again, turning back to the front of the class.

I continue writing down the text from the board, glancing back every now and then to check on them. Who knew the periodic table could be so boring. I wish this was a single lesson instead of a double. Danielle is paying far more attention than me, and I notice that she dots her i's with a heart instead of a dot. Cute.

"So, I know everyone is probably beginning to fall asleep. Go have a ten minute break then when you get back we'll listen to that awful periodic table song you keep suggesting."

Cheers explode from all the students and everyone sprints out of the room, eager to make use of their entire time.

"Are you coming?" Danielle smiles sweetly. I return her smile but shake my head a little.

"I'm just going to check on them." I explain and she nods. Her eyes trailing off me as she slowly walks out of the room.

I walk toward them at the back of the room and they unzip Tacos vest, putting the whiteboard and markers back in. I smile to them and they smile back a little.

"It's Samantha." She says before I can ask.

"Hey Sammy." I say softly, wrapping my arms around her. She relaxes against my touch and takes a deep breath and sits back. "What got Olive to come out?" She scratches the back of her neck.

"Just the kid dropping their ruler." She smiles softly. I nod sympathetically.

"It made me jump too." I look into her eyes and notice her eyes not fully focused. I take her hand and squeeze it gently until she shakes out of it and smiles back to me. "Want to take a walk? We're having a break."

She nods silently and stands up, following me out of the room. I lead through the halls and open the door for her. We start walking on the grass and Sammy takes of Tacos vest. He instantly goes into puppy mode and bounces around. I smile and watch him prance.

"Danielle is a lot smarter than I thought she was." I muse to myself. "She knew everything on the board. I didn't know half of it." I smile and Sammy chuckles at me. "I was thinking of maybe bringing her over to my house some time?" I look at the sky as I walk. It may rain. I notice the silence and turn to her. Shes a few steps back. I walk back to her and hold her hand. Squeezing it a little as we keep walking.

"Sorry, what were you saying?" She asks politely and I smile, still squeezing her hand every now and then.

"I just mentioned having Danielle over to my house. Maybe the three of us could swim in the pool? Oh and Taco of course." She nods and smiles.

"Yeah that sounds cool. I mean she seems fairly nice." She bite her lip a little.

"She's gonna love you." I see Danielle trotting towards us on the grass. Her eyes go towards our intertwined hands but she doesn't say anything, smiling instead.

"Hey Samantha! Hey Jack!" She bubbles happily. "Mind if I walk with you?" She looks to me hopefully. I check with Sammy then nod.

"Yeah sure." I smile. Taco comes over to the group and we watch him bounce around a little.

"Are you okay from class Samantha?" Danielle asks sweetly and Samantha nods softly.

"Yeah. The ruler dropping scared me is all." She says quickly.

Danielle slips her hand into my other hand but I pull my hand away. She looks hurt for a second before I wrap my arm around her shoulder and kiss her forehead. Her cheeks turn a light pink, something I've noticed happens very often. Danielle takes the conversation from there leading it back towards class and the lessons she has after lunch. A small drop of rain hits my arm and I take my arm off her shoulder to wipe it off.

"It's going to rain and Mr Daniel is going to call us back any second. Shall we head back?" I turn to Sammy and just as she opens her mouth Danielle answers.

"We probably should, wouldn't want to miss out on any learning.." She says, clearly worried about losing class time. I smile and we walk back.

"Heel." Sammy says and Taco immediately leaves behind the leaf he was playing with and goes into a heel beside her. She slips his vest back on and clips it up. Continuing to walk while she figures out his tangled lead.

"Wow! He's so well trained! I wouldn't even notice he wasn't on a leash if I didnt see you untangling it." She gapes, clearly impressed.

"Thanks." Sammy says shyly. "I trained him." Danielle gasps and goes to speak when we hear Mr Daniel shout for everyone to come inside.

"I'll see you in there!" She runs quickly, eager to learn as everyone drags their feet. I squeeze Samanthas hand softly and she looks up to me with a smile.

"You ready?" I question her gently.

"As I'll ever be." She nods and we walk back to class.