The Angel Awakens

Chapter 7: The New Guy

Catherine's week started getting weird ever since she saw that new guy across the street, immediately after she saw a figure jump off the roof behind him and fly away. At the time she thought it was just her tired eyes playing tricks on her. But then, when she was going to sleep, she started hearing voices in her head and the sound of wolves howling, which was weird since she lived miles away from the nature preserve.

Maybe Catherine shouldn't be so fast to accuse the guy, it could've been the tequila her sister gave her at the party. It was probably the tequila that made him glow too.

Now, Catherine was in school, in the first class of the day, and guess who shows up?
The new guy.

Catherine passed him in the hallway a few minutes ago and gave him smile, but it was mostly because they were neighbors and she wanted to be nice, she hoped he didn't get any second intentions.

He sat on an empty seat next to Owen, who's been in Catherine's class since third grade, and in front of Freya, her best friend who she would die for.
All the while he went to his seat he seemed to not want the teacher to see him.

The teacher was new. The whole class knew that they would have a new teacher this semester since Mr.Robles, their old math teacher, retired.
The new teacher had dark skin, coffee brown hair and brown eyes that fit well with his wise look.

Suddenly he got up from his desk and cleared his throat, trying to get the class's attention. But the class was too noisy and no one heard him.
After a few failed attempts the new teacher picked up his ruler and smacked it on the desk, making a loud sound that got the class's attention.
The whole room was quiet, no one dared make a sound.

Catherine gulped, scared that they would get a mean teacher, and started looking at the other students. Some stared at the new teacher in fear, others in horror, some of them even trembled. The only different reaction was from the new guy, he only slumped down on his seat and tried to cover his face with his hand.

"I'm sorry to have startled you," the new teacher said to the whole class, "But I needed to get your attention." His voice was calming and it made Catherine attentive, like she wanted to remember everything he'd say.
"My name is Mr. Crawford and I'll be your new math teacher."

Mr, Crawford's name piqued Catherine's intreat. Was her new teacher related to her old neighbors?

"By the looks on some of your faces I believe you've recognized my last name." Mr. Crawford said, twirling the ruler between his hands and occasionally tapping the satchel that was on top of his desk.
"Who here knows who the Crawfords are? I believe they've kept their reputation as the 'Creepy Crawfords'."

Catherine raised her hand as did Freya, Owen and a couple others.
The Crawfords were this old married couple that lived across the street from Catherine. They were nice people, good friends with Catherine's parents, always brought something to the block party, the sorts. What earned them the name 'Creepy Crawfords' were the noises that sometimes came from their house and how some people would say they saw things after speaking to them for a while.
Catherine didn't believe the rumors, they were always nice to her.

"They're my parents," Mr. Crawford said, waking Catherine up from memory lane, "Or were, since they recently died." Mr. Crawford looked sad, but quickly hid it.

The day the Croawfords died their house was filled with their friends, most were from the block; people who wanted to say their last goodbyes and even some people who just wanted to check out their house.
But after that no one entered it, leaving an empty house across the street from Catherine and reminding her of all the rumors about them.

"So," Mr. Crawford said after a moment of silence, "If this was the beginning of the year I would ask everyone to tell me their names so everyone would know, but, since everyone most likely already knows each other, I won't do that."

I was about to tell him about the new guy when he looked directly at him and his mouth turned into a smile.
"Although, it seems you do have a new student."
At that the new guy slumped even more and seemed to mutter something under his breath.
Catherine wondered how Mr. Crawford knew they had a new student, not even looking at the attendance sheet would he know that.

"Would you please stand up and tell us your name and where your from?" Mr. Crawford asked, although it seemed more like an order.
The new guy stood up, rather reluctantly, and said "I'm Daryl. I'm from New Orleans."
Whispering could be heard, but Catherine couldn't make out what most of them were saying, although she heard someone call him cute.

With the new guy, Daryl, standing up she could see more of his features; Aquiline nose, round jaw and bright hazel eyes.

Daryl started to sit down but
Mr. Crawford stopped him.
"Your full name please."
Daryl looked at him with a mixed face of anger and pleading. Mr. Crawford held his gaze and slightly tilted his head.
Daryl sighed and said "Crawford, my name is Daryl Crawford."

The whispering got louder and Catherine could hear them this time.
"Oh my God is he the teacher's son."
"Maybe they're related."
"I wonder if he's a teacher's pet."
And other similar things, many of which Catherine wondered herself, although that did answer how he knew they had a new student.

She started to look for similarities between her new teacher and Daryl and was surprised by how much she found. The same round head, the same round jaw and, surprisingly enough, the same wise look.
That's not to say that she didn't find differences. Mr. Crawford's skin was darker, his hair was a coffee brown color while Daryl's was more of a gingerbready color.

Daryl quickly sat down, face red, crossed his arms on his desk and laid his head on them. He seemed to be muttering something under his breath.
Freya started laughing quietly.
"What?" Catherine asked.
"He keeps repeating 'Someone kill me.'" Freya said while laughing.
Catherine stared laughing too.

Catherine understood his embarrassment, just by looking at him she could tell he was shy, and having your dad as your teacher was bound to produce embarrassing moments.

Suddenly there was a smack. Everyone turned their heads to the source of the noise.
It was, once again, Mr. Crawford hitting his ruler against the desk.
"I hope this doesn't become a habit." He said with a stern look on his face.
"Now then," he continued, "Introductions are over and I believe we should get back to math. I believe Mr. Robles was teaching algebra, correct?"
Everyone nodded, not wanting for him to smack the ruler again.

The rest of the class passed quickly, without any noise or outburst. Whenever Mr. Crawford asked if anyone had any questions no one did. Catherine wasn't sure about the rest of the class, but for her Mr. Crawford was a great teacher. He explained everything clearly and in a way that she understood everything.
Catherine's attention didn't sway away from the board, his voice making her not want to pay attention on anything else.

If she was Daryl, she would be proud to have Mr. Crawford as her father, even if he did sometimes told corny math jokes.

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