12 Chapter 3C (1/2)

”Just pair up,” Mr. Darwin, a short man with glasses perched at the tip of his nose and a bald patch in the middle of his head, said with a frustrated sigh.

He was wearing a brown checkered shirt that looked like it had been recently plucked out of a bird's nest, and a pair of oversized trousers that seemed right out of the 1920s.

He shook his head at the rowdy bunch of students in front of him and sat at his desk, bringing out a stained handkerchief from his pocket and wiping down the sweat on his forehead and neck.

I sat in the back of my biology class, not interested in whatever the teacher had asked us to do.

Everyone else didn't seem to share my lack of enthusiasm though.

They all shuffled around; dragging chairs towards the people they had decided to pair up with.

Bored with the scenario in front of me, I glanced out the window, just in time to see a flock of majestic white birds sail past the building, over the sparsely populated parking lot. Even though the rain was still falling lightly around them, they flapped their wings and pushed themselves forward.

They were beautiful.

If only being a human being was as easy as being a bird.

If you weren't feeling something, or weren't interested in your current surroundings, all you had was spread your wings and fly away; simple as that.

They also seemed to have this constant drive, which would do me good right about now.

”Miss Hunter?” I heard my name and dragged my attention from the birds back into the classroom.

Everyone else had settled with partners and they were all patiently waiting for Mr. Darwin to give out instructions.

”You and Mr. Carter are the only ones left so would you mind partnering up?” he said, more as a statement than a question.

I lifted my gaze from Mr. Darwin, slowly giving the classroom we sat in a once over.

My eyes stopped on a dark-haired boy, who reclined in a chair two feet away from me, with his feet up on the table and his head rolled back lifelessly.

He was snoring slightly, his mouth hanging wide open and the contents of his unzipped backpack were on the verge of spilling out. I smiled.

”Mr. Carter!” Mr. Darwin said sharply, causing said Carter to react in shock.

His head snapped up and his chair fell back taking him with it and completely emptying the contents of his bag.

The whole class burst into laughter as he hastily gathered his belongings and stood, completely oblivious to what was going on.

Mr. Darwin shook his head in dismay and ran a hand across his face.

”Would you please move your chair over to Miss Hunter so I can teach my class?”

He stared in confusion at Mr. Darwin, who sighed and pointed at me, then walked around his desk and wrote the topic of the day on the board.

He looked at me then, as though trying to figure out who I was. Giving up, he shrugged nonchalantly, picked up his chair and backpack then sauntered over to me.

”The rest of the class will be valuable to you for midterms, so I suggest that you pay attention” Mr. Darwin smirked at the round of groans he received then, before turning and writing some notes on the board.

I sighed and ran my tongue over the back of my teeth, completely annoyed with the fact that it was required of me to pay attention to the twenty minutes left in the period and extremely uncomfortable with this boy that weirdly, had me feeling nervous.

I removed my things when he brought his chair over to my table, so he could place his chair next to mine, then I dragged my attention back to Mr. Darwin.

”Name's Avian,” he said to me after a while.

Completely shocked, as I had not been expecting him to speak to me so suddenly, I jumped slightly, dropping my pen in the process.

”Shit” I muttered to myself, pushing my chair back to grab my pen off the floor. I heard soft chuckling then, and I rolled my eyes before retrieving the pen and taking my seat quietly.

I removed my gaze angrily from Mr. Darwin to glare at the profoundly annoying human being sitting next to me.

He was wearing a red polo t-shirt and a pair of black jeans, with white expensive-looking trainers. The strong scent of perfume wafted off of him and caused me to hold my breath briefly.

”I'm Avian” he said with a toothy grin. I stared at the boy, reminding myself that I was mad at the rest of the world, not some innocent kid who was simply trying to be friendly.

Slowly, I nodded at him and turned my attention back to the teacher.

It was quiet for a couple of minutes, until Avian started tapping his pen on the table in sync to the quiet beat-boxing coming out of his mouth; loud enough for only me to hear.

I gritted my teeth, and turned my head to look at him with a raised brow. He stopped, opening his mouth to say something but seemed to change his mind almost immediately when he took in my irritated expression.

I sighed, and turned back to Mr. Darwin who was now writing some notes on the board. I reached for my notepad and turned to a fresh page.

”I didn't know you were into that kind of music.”

I followed Avian's gaze to my t-shirt, struggling slightly to read the words upside down, and wondering who this band was.

”Walk On The Moon” I muttered to myself, a scoff threatening to burst from me.

Who names a band ”Walk On The Moon?”

I tried to think of how this shirt had come to my possession.

”They're a cool band” Avian muttered with a smile, before resuming the tapping and beatboxing that was slowly driving me crazy.

I remembered then where I had gotten this shirt: Alexander Morris had given it to me at his party last year when I had been too drunk and intoxicated to drive home.

Alexander.

I hadn't spoken to him since the first week of June, after the accident.

Flinching, his broken and thoroughly confused expression flashed through my mind when I had told him to fuck off and leave me alone.

In my defense, I had been in a completely broken state; I was to broken to even deal with the problems of paying anyone any attention that required me to actually have the person around, so I might have been a tad bit too harsh on him.

And I still hadn't spoken to him; along with every other guy on his best friend's football team, Justin Hall. Justin wasn't a friend of mine; in fact, he had no real friends. Everyone just kind of tolerated him.

When I had dragged my attention back to the present, Avian was looking at me, as if expecting me to say something in regard to his 'cool band' comment.

”Sure,” I muttered, pursing my lips and staring at the boy sitting before me.

Why didn't I know who he was?

I mean, I knew everyone at this school, because after all, it was really small, so why hadn't I at least run into him or something?

Was he a new student? A transfer maybe?

I stared at him and realized that I had never seen him before. I also realized that he also happened to be the only one I had seen all morning, that was not looking at me with pity and remorse.

Did he not know what had happened this summer?

Frankly, as I stared at Avian, I began to grow extremely interested in who he was, especially since he was treating me like an actual person, not a sick dog or something.

I mean, he had to know what had happened right?

It was the only thing that the students of the school had been whispering about all morning, but then, he didn't seem like someone who gave a crap about what people said.

It still didn't answer who he was though.

Giving up, I sighed and glanced back at Mr. Darwin, trying to ignore the distracting noises that Avian had started up again.

By the time class was over, I was completely exhausted and ready to sleep through to next week. Just as the bell rang, Mr. Darwin handed each group their assignment, landing Avian and I with the growth of bacteria.

Brilliant.

I seethed as I gathered my stuff and tucked my chair in. Sighing, I walked around my table and out of the classroom.

How the hell were we supposed to present the growth of bacteria?

Why was it even important to learn that kind of stuff?

Stepping into the hallway, I put my bag on my shoulder and pulled my t-shirt down as I thought about how soft my bed would feel at that moment.

”So the growth of bacteria, huh?” someone said suddenly, the voice booming from behind me.

In reply I jumped, completely startled at the sudden statement, and turned around to face…Avian.

He stood in front of me with a half-smile, half-smirk on his face, and his bag hung loosely over his right shoulder.

I stared at him and he stared right back.