When she entered the school, she realized that the weapon-check at the gates weren’t the only thing the head prefect had done to stop the bullying.
The hallways were patrolled by tall, uniform prefects, their black coats sporting red and gold arm patches. There was at least one of them in every hallway, at least, it felt like that as Cecilia moved through the building.
Even with the "guards" lining the corridors, Cecilia could still hear the whispers following her through the school.
"Hey, is that Messy?"
"Didn't she get shot?"
"I thought they said she died."
She'd just rounded one of said corners when she crashed into a surprisingly muscled chest.
She probably would have fallen over, had not the person she'd crashed into gently grabbed her by the shoulders, keeping her upright as she regained her bearings.
"Careful."
The voice was deep and familiar.
Had she been anyone else, she'd probably frozen to the spot with overwhelming fear, but instead, the voice filled up her body with a sense of comforting warmth that Cecilia seriously couldn't understand why she felt that way. Especially, when she raised her head and saw Kenneth Hale's second in command and childhood friend.
Richard Knight.
She knew, she knew that she should be terrified of him, she knew that she should be terrified of both high ranking prefects, and yet, all she felt towards them was comfort.
It didn't really help when he looked at her with the softest gaze imaginable.
He recognized her, that much was apparent.
"You alright to be back at school Brandet?" the deputy head prefect asked her, slowly taking his hands away from her shoulders. "From what the chairman told me, you were hurt pretty bad."
There it was, that glint of concern in his eyes that made it absolutely impossible for Cecilia to feel any form of fear towards him, despite him almost literally tower over her.
She couldn't help the small smile that spread across her lips.
"Yeah." She nodded, keeping her voice low. "Yeah, I'm fine." She ran her fingers over the spot she knew the stitches were, even though she couldn't feel them. "They got me some bio-material, it's no big deal."
Richard followed where she ran her hand, a small frown forming before he seemed to realize what he was doing.
Clearing his throat, he straightened out his back.
Richard Knight was from a family of caretakers, caretakers in charge of the Hale family. Growing up with the head prefect, Richard had been raised alongside him, learning all of the well-bred traits that Cecilia had learned to distinguish as she observed the people around her. He was a proper young man, polite when the situation called for it and because of what his family did, he knew better than to act superior to the people around him, which was probably one of the reasons why Kenneth had seen it as a good idea to appoint him as his deputy.
He was seen as a frightening man because of the power he held over the student body and his closeness to the even more frightening and physically strong Kenneth Hale, but Richard would never raise a hand against anyone unless he felt the absolute need to do so.
Of everyone in the school, Richard was the only one capable of keeping Kenneth from beating someone up.
He was a good man, and Cecilia thought it was a shame that there were so few people that knew that.
"It's good to see you back," Richard stated, looking down at her.
Cecilia let out a brief sigh.
"I would like to say that it was good to be back, but…" she trailed off. Thankfully, it didn't look as though Richard was holding anything against her at that statement.
He loved the school, and he could obviously see why Cecilia didn't.
Taking a deep breath, Cecilia motioned with her hand around them.
"I see that the chairman's doing something about it though." She nodded towards the prefect that just entered their line of vision.
"Yeah." Richard agreed. "In the chairman's own words, the school should be safe for any and all students within the building." A small smile played at the corner of his mouth. "He spent the whole three days you were out organizing these patrol plans for the committee."
Cecilia found herself frowning again.
"How did he know I was out for three days?"
Richard stiffened for a second, then, he allowed himself to relax a little.
"The chairman checked up on you of course." He stated with apparent ease, though there was a small tense note to his voice as he spoke. "You know how he is with people dying because of something that happened on school property."
Cecilia felt herself nod, which was strange as most of the time someone came close to dying because of something that happened on school grounds, was caused by said chairman.
Taking a deep breath, Cecilia adjusted the strap of her bag on her shoulder.
"I should head to class."
"You should." Richard agreed, his eyes softening for a second before he put his hand on her shoulder. "Take it easy, okay?"
Again, Cecilia nodded and kept walking.
----------------------------------------
She'd closed her ears off to the whispers, knowing that they were only going to become louder after her conversation with the deputy chairman of the prefects, but right now, she needed to get to class.
She opened the door to the room as quietly as she could, hoping that she wouldn't attract too much attention by entering.
When was the last time her hopes came true?
The second she put one foot into the classroom, all eyes were on her.
She could feel herself freezing up, her fingers clutching at the straps of her bag so tightly her nails were digging into the palms of her hands, turning her knuckles white.
They were studying her. Their eyes moving all over her body, looking for something that Cecilia didn't really feel like she wanted to know what it was.
Unconsciously, she took a step back.
She hadn't expected that she would back right into something hard, yet soft, warm, and very living, at the same time. Something that put something feeling very similar to hands on her shoulders to keep her from moving any further than she'd already done.
Turning her head around, she found herself staring up at the face of Ben Tanaka, his hazel eyes warmly twinkling down at her.
He smiled widely down at her.
"Good to see you back Brandet."
The effect those words had on her… the feeling of someone of her own class actually being glad that she was there was kind of overwhelming. Her heart ached a little and she was forced to look away from the athlete, face heating up as she desperately tried to calm herself down.
This whole morning was to her nerves like an ancient laptop trying to process too much data.
Taking the situation into his own hands, Ben began to push Cecilia into the classroom, gently guiding her through the rows of desks before he stopped in front of hers. There, he spun her around, knowing that she would handle it now and pushed her down onto the chair.
"There." He said, shining up like a two-year-old that had just managed to put a block in the right hole. "Now the balance has been restored."
Then, with a pat on her shoulder, he turned towards his own desk, sat down, and the previous moment was forgotten.
Feeling a bit miffed, Cecilia shook her head before she let her bag slide down her arm, allowing it to rest on her lap as she dug through the content for her memory stick, plugging it into the screen surface of her desk before she pulled out her pencil-case and notebook as well.
There was still at least fifteen minutes until class started, she wanted to do some doodling whilst she still could, ignoring the looks of the students surrounding her.
Sadly, her classmates did not want to give her the privilege of that.
A gently, calloused hand landed on her shoulder, forcing her to turn around towards the athlete sitting behind her, his eyes gentle as he looked her over.
“You healing up alright?” he asked, even though he’d visited her almost every day in the hospital to check up on her, but he hadn’t seen her for a few days so she could understand just why he was asking her that now.
“Yes,” she answered easily with a short nod. “I’m banned from physical education until after summer break, but I’m fine.”
The smile she was given at those words filled her with the strangest sense of tranquility, relief, something that she was not used to feeling. His hand still resting on her shoulder.
----------------------------------------
From a few desks away, Donovan looked at the ballet dancer and the baseball player, a dark emotion boiling in the pit of his stomach.
He had shared the same dance class as that girls for those two weeks she was there for, and never had she even thrown him a second glace.
He didn’t notice his childhood friend looking at him from beside him, sadness in her eyes.
----------------------------------------
A few minutes late, their homeroom teacher stepped into the classroom, looking at each and every one of the students. Then his eyes fell on the face that he hadn’t seen for quite a long time now.
“Brandet, you’re back!” Mr. Blanchet called out in obvious happiness.
Immediately, Cecilia noticed how the mood of everyone around her turned dark, all thoughts about her returning from being shot leaving their minds as they recalled one of the reasons why they hated her so much.
The teachers loved her.
She didn’t answer the teacher, instead, she reached into her bag and pulled out a piece of paper, holding it up in the air towards the middle-aged man. He looked a little confused as he walked over towards her, plucking the paper from her hand.
The class all watched as the teacher unfolded the paper and read it’s content.
The look that spread across the teacher's face was almost deliriously happy as he looked down at the girl at the desk.
“That’s great news,” he said in great joy.
It didn’t exactly help the class’s mood, if anything, they immediately began to make up rumors as to why the teacher would be so happy for her. Some even going so far as to speculate that she was sleeping with the man and had just discovered that she actually wasn’t pregnant.
They watched as Mr. Blanchet went and fetched the memory stick of everything they had gone through while she was gone, some even openly frowning as the teacher returned to the front of the classroom.
“Brandet.” a voice piped up from a few desks down, forcing Cecilia to turn around and face the speaker, slightly bewildered as it wasn’t exactly a voice that spoke to her all that often. She’d heard it, but she couldn’t recall a time she’d heard it directed to her.
It was Abbigale.
The adorable, frilly angel of the class. Her long loose curls of bright red hair put up stylishly around her pale, freckled face, framing her jade colored eyes.
“What was that note?” she asked gently, blinking adorably.
Cecilia was almost overwhelmed.
Not because of how unusual it was for her to receive a gentle question of genuine concern with no hostility hidden in the wording, although that was part of the reason, but also because of the overwhelming sense of off she got from the girl.
She was not comfortable.
She looked like the perfect little angel, and she did not look comfortable with her appearance at all.
Cecilia blinked back at the girl for a moment before she remembered the question.
“Just an update on pre-existing problems,” she answered, not elaborating as she quickly spun back around towards the front of the class, ignoring the confused looks of the people surrounding her. The only one understanding her, sitting behind her.
Ben found himself smirking a little, almost relishing in the fact that he was the only one who knew about Cecilia’s brain problems.
He would hold it over the class for a while, just to see their faces when he crashes their realities over their heads.
----------------------------------------
May 6
Wednesday 2215
They were in the middle of class, in the middle of a lecture when there was a sudden knock on the door.
All eyes turned to the entrance, just in time to see a (to Cecilia) familiar face slide the slab of wood open and step inside. Immediately, excited whispers could be heard from the female population and even a few of the boys.
“Oh, sweet sunlight, who is that?”
“He’s so hot!”
Cecilia desperately tried to block the whispers from her mind.
Yes, she knew he was hot, she knew he could probably get any woman he wanted with a well-placed smirk and a longer stare. With his looks, he could just say he was interested in them and they would quite willingly drop all their clothes. But he was a probable early thirty-year-old living under her mother’s roof for heaven's sake! EW!
“Mr. Salafay?” the teacher, who just so happened to be a woman in her tale thirties, blushed furiously as she allowed herself to address the man. “W-what are you doing here?”
Miss Richmond was obviously crushing on him...
How long had he been employed at the school?
From the look on Salafay’s face, he was well aware of the teacher's affections, as well as the reaction he had on the class. It wasn’t easy to miss.
What annoyed Cecilia, was the smirk that formed on his mouth.
How cocky can a person get?
“I’m just promoting my class Linea, not to worry,” Salafay stated with a casual wave of his hand, stepping into the room as another wave of whispers swept through the room.
“Fuck, he’s a teacher.”
“Damn it all...”
“Why are all the hot one’s unavailable?”
Miss Richmond looked a little taken aback for a few seconds before she shook her head, sending her black hair flying. Taking a deep breath and clearing her throat, she forced her throat to work, her hands clenching nervously at her sides.
“Go right ahead.” she managed to keep herself from stuttering as she motioned with her hand towards the students blinking at the two teachers.
Cecilia could see the smirk on Salafay’s face as he stepped up towards the front of the class, though he made sure that it had been replaced by a somewhat genuine, friendly smile by the time he turned towards the class. His eyes locking with Cecilia’s for a bit longer than she was comfortable with before he finally started talking.
“Good morning students,” he said, his dark voice booming over the whole room, successfully shutting up any remaining whispering, making sure that everyone’s eyes were firmly locked on him. “I’m Mr. Salafay and I’m the teacher of the new A.A class.” Cecilia could practically feel how badly her classmates wanted to start whispering again, but it was as if Salafay had stolen each and even one of their voices. “I’ve heard that there are a few questions about my class and so I’m visiting each classroom to answer a few of them.” immediately, hands shot up into the air, much to the teacher's obvious amusement. “Ah, yes?” he said, pointing towards a guy.
“What is the class about?” the young man who’s name Cecilia had never bothered to learn shot out.
Salafay chuckled at the student’s enthusiasm.
“That I am choosing not to answer,” he answered. It wasn’t a satisfactory answer, he knew that, and he immediately kept talking to quell and complaints before they came. “Only those who take the class will know exactly what it is about.” he waved his hands as he spoke, almost like a conductor, it almost served to distract Cecilia from the obvious manipulation no one else was catching onto, and it worried her. “What I can say is that it has a lot to do with internal learning.”
Internal learning.
His class was about internal learning, and he wanted her to join it?
Just what kind of internal learning was he talking about?
“What brought you to this school?” another student piped up, knocking Cecilia out of her thoughts.
“I heard Fairgarden was one of the most beautiful towns in New-America.” came Salafay’s simple answer. “So far, I have not been disappointed.”
A standard reply.
Fairgarden was known for being one of the few towns that have more vegetation than buildings. The town relished in their trees, bushes, floral beds. Anything that brought pure oxygen to the town, the town always put in additional money for gardeners to make sure that there are no dying or dead plants on public ground.
It was the main tourist attraction in this world of atmosphere and ocean cleaning stations.
“Why are you bringing the course to our school?” a female asked after having been pointed out by the man.
Immediately, the man’s eyes locked with Cecilia. His mere presence had everyone’s eyes locked on him, so he didn’t have to worry about anyone questioning him about why he singled out her specifically.
She, on the other hand, found herself feeling very, very uncomfortable.
“I think some of you students will benefit… greatly, from my teachings,” he said, and Cecilia knew, without a doubt, that he was speaking to her.
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
Why he did though, she had no idea, and it freaked her out.
“Are you single!” a boy called out. He hadn’t been pointed out, he obviously just thought the question needed to be asked.
Thankfully though, immature question or not, it made the teacher look away from Cecilia.
“I think that’s enough questions.” he immediately replied with a deep chuckle that washed over everyone in the room. Of course, the comment sent waves of objections his way but he silenced them all with a raised hand. “I shouldn’t keep you from your actual lessons.” he turned towards Miss Richmond, who had been standing there almost in a trance the whole time, giving her a quick bow. “Thank you, Linea.”
“No problem...” Miss Richmond breathed her reply.
Cecilia allowed her eyes to follow the man as he exited the room, their eyes once again locking before the sliding door shut.
He just became more and more suspicious, making her more and more uncomfortable, with every passing moment she spent even within that man’s mere presence. He had motives, strange motives for being in Fairgarden.
Reasons that… obviously involved her.
She did not like knowing that...
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Physical class.
Each student was actually required to sign up for some sort of physical activity whilst in school, it didn't matter if you were in the Academic or Artistic division, you were still expected to sign up for some sort of sport, weapons training or even dance. Like Cecilia had ballet.
But, even with this, the students still had physical class once a week.
Cecilia was sitting in the bleachers of the gym, watching as her classmates picked teams for the round of dodgeball that was about to fill the room. If she'd been allowed to actually participate, she knew she would have been picked last, but as she was banned from physical activity until after summer vacation, she was on the sidelines, her head resting in her hands as she watched her classmates fighting over who was going to get Ben on their team.
Seriously, sometimes Cecilia was baffled at how Ben was able to handle that much pressure.
Just like Cecilia always got the blame whenever her team lost, Ben got all the praise whenever his team won.
To most of the school, it was like there were no other members of the team whenever they were on the team and thus, none of them actually put any effort in playing, supposedly knowing exactly what the end result was going to become simply by having either Cecilia or Ben on their side.
And of course, because they never make any effort, of course, they find themselves correct in their assumptions.
At the moment, however, Cecilia wasn't thinking about the upcoming game at all, her mind was focused on what was circling around the school's rumor mill at the moment.
Specifically, the A.A application test.
It was only the third day in which the A.A. has actually been a thing, and it has already marked its spot as the hardest course to get accepted into. Despite the stunt, the teacher had pulled that very morning.
Apparently, if you want to apply for the course, Mr. Salafay brings you into the classroom one by one and sits you down to answer a few questions on the desk screen, only as you do this, the teacher sits at the front of the room and spend the few minutes you answer the questions staring at you, not even blinking.
When you're done with the test, the teacher barely even glances at the answers before telling you that you are not suited for the course and sends you away.
Picky about his students, that man.
This just made Cecilia wonder…
Why did Salafay want her in the class?
Sure, she was rather confident that she'd be able to answer the questions without being bothered by his staring as she's gotten more than used to it over the few days he's lived in her house, but who is to say she would even answer the questions right? According to the students he never gives the same questions to the same students and they are each one more confusing than the other.
A presence at her side snapped her out of her thoughts.
"Brandet?" a soft, baritone voice asked, making Cecilia turn around to the sound.
It was a boy in her class, with soft wavy locks of chestnut hair sitting on top of an androgynous head. His build was one she knew though, she'd be pretty stupid if she didn't.
A ballet built.
"Can I help you?" Cecilia asked, brushing a few hairs behind her ears as she took in her classmates pale blue eyes staring down at her.
It was quite unnerving, to say the least.
There was no layer of ill will in it, like the majority of her classmates that were obviously straining themselves to be nice to her, even though they did slip up every once in a while when calling out to her.
Messy.
Cecilia could have sworn she saw a light blush forming on the boy's surprisingly sharp cheekbones.
"I-I was just wondering." The boy stuttered, almost collapsing on the bench next to her, making her flinch a little. "When are you returning to ballet class?"
The question seemed to be so out of the blue that Cecilia found herself blinking in shock.
"Why are you wondering?" she asked after a moment of silence.
"It's just…" the boy said, eyes locked onto his hands where he appeared to be in the middle of wringing his finger-bones out of their joints. "I like seeing you dance."
Cecilia felt thrown out of the loop.
"What?" she asked, voice barely more than a whisper.
Thankfully, the boy seemed to have caught it.
"Brandet… I've seen a lot of dancers over the years, and not a lot of them have what you do."
This brought a frown to Cecilia's face, shifting her gaze back and forth between the young man and the crowd in front of them.
"A lack of balance?" she asked hesitantly, wondering what in the world this person could be talking about.
To his credit, the man only let out one small chuckle, one that actually sounded surprisingly nice from where Cecilia was sitting.
Finally, he raised his head, looking directly at her.
"Determination."
Once again, Cecilia found herself a little thrown off.
She hadn't been able to become determined about anything before, it always screwed up her brain. What had willed her to continue before had been just that, a strong will? And, maybe stubbornness and perseverance that may have made it appear as though she was determined…
It was still strange to have someone say that about her dancing!
The man hadn't stopped talking.
"I suppose that comes with your… lack of balance, but I have always admired the amount of work you put into every step in every choreography handed to you." He was looking back at his hands again, wringing his fingers in what Cecilia suspected was a nervous habit of his, though why he would be nervous around her… she didn't want to believe that. "You may not think it, but…" the man continued, swallowing slightly before he raised his head again, looking her right in the eyes. "You're a great dancer, and I personally want to see you back in the studio."
Oh no…
He was.
Cecilia watched, wide-eyed as the young man stood up, the coach having blown his whistle for everyone to take their place with the team they had been picked for. Blinking, Cecilia decided to take the chance.
Nothing would change if she didn't try it.
"Hey!" she called out, making the young man pause and look back to her, his own eyes wide now. "I'm sorry…" she said, looking rather sheepish as she brushed some hair behind her ear. "I've never really seen a purpose to learning all my classmate's names."
For a moment, the man looked a little hurt, but Cecilia could clearly see the gentle understanding in his eyes.
"Donovan Picket." He answered her unasked question.
The name made Cecilia's eyes widen a little bit more.
She knew that name. She'd heard it when she was locked up in that white-painted prison.
The second person to try and save her life, according to Ben.
"You sent me roses in the hospital?" she asked, not really knowing where the question came from, but she just got the feeling that she already knew the answer.
Donovan just gave her the gentlest, most genuine smile anyone outside of her family has ever given.
"You deserve them."
And with that, he turned back around, and joined the rest of the class for the game, leaving Cecilia sitting there, dumbfounded.
----------------------------------------
It was the break before the last class of the day, and apparently, one of her classmates had had something on his mind that he finally decided to get off his chest.
“Brandet.” Will Stryder said as he settled down on the desk in front of the girl. A girl that had spent the last handful of minutes with her face buried in a very expensive looking sketchbook clad in black leather. As he had expected, she did little more than glance at him from above the edge of the books before she looked down again.
It was something that Brandet had done for the short time he’d known her.
Very few in their class had shared a classroom with her for longer than two years, having shared at least one year with her in middle-school, but all of them had known Brandet to be the kind of girl to just look at you long enough to know that she was listening, and then ignore you for whatever it was they wanted to tell her.
Talk about rude.
Still, Will wouldn’t allow that to stop him right now, taking a deep breath to gather his words as he watched Brandet move her pen over the page she had open in her hands.
“I have wanted to ask this for a while now...” he started slowly, watching as Brandet apparently ignored his very existence. He sighed, but he continued with a level of determination. “Why do you never talk to anyone?”
He didn’t know why he bothered asking her that.
The pen stopped moving, but she still didn’t look at him. It was the only sign he got that she was even listening.
“Forget it-” he breathed, but to his surprise, he didn’t get to finish his sentence.
“Why should I?” Brandet suddenly asked, still not looking up from her sketchbook, but the effect of her voice was enough to suddenly make the classroom go deathly quiet. All eyes pinned on the messy-haired classmate.
It took a moment for Will to get his voice back.
“What do you mean?” he asked, leaning forward on the desk.
Sighing, Brandet lowered her sketchbook, allowing Will to see the light brown eyes peeking through her bangs, not bothering to acknowledge the looks of their classmates around them. To her, it was like they weren’t even there.
Carefully, Brandet bookmarked the page she’d been drawing on and allowed it to lay on her desk as she looked at her classmate.
“For as long as I can remember...” she started with a deep sigh, brushing the hair behind her ear. “No one has actually wanted to talk to me other than to demean me one way or another.” her voice carried out over the class with a surprising steadiness, her voice clear and having this natural tone that simply demanded everyone to listen to her. It was something that shocked most of their classmates. “If you have nothing of meaning to tell me, I don’t want to talk to you.” she shrugged her tiny shoulders, her head tilting with the movement. “It’s as simple as that.”
Will felt as though his voice had been locked up in his throat, having to clear it before he managed to reply to the girl.
“So...” he started slowly, raising his hands to move them around in the air. “If we were to genuinely want to start a conversation with you...” he trailed off, not really wanting to finish his line of thoughts.
Brandet finished it for him.
“I’d have no problem talking,” she answered with a short nod.
This got Will thinking, his eyebrows coming together in a frown.
“But...” he started, leaning over the desk towards her in curiosity. “How can you tell?”
“I’ve learned how to read the signs,” Brandet answered easily, brushing her hair behind her ear again as she fingered the strange crest on the cover of her sketchbook.
She can read the signs?
She can read a person by their voice and behavior?
That was a scary thought, and not just because she can do that at all.
“How long has this been going on?” Will asked, almost dreading the answer.
“How long have I been treated like shit by my classmates?” Brandet elaborated, leaning back in her chair as she answered easily, an answer that she’d obviously known for a long time. “Just over a decade.”
The whole room fell silent.
“A decade?” Will repeated, eyes wide open.
“A decade,” Brandet confirmed with a nod.
She’s been bullied for a decade? There is no way that is possible, is it?
How could someone be bullied for a decade of constantly changing classes, did someone make it a tradition to treat Brandet like shit? Or did they make it an unspoken rule somewhere?
Those were the only reasons Will could think of, and both were just as illogical.
“I can vouch for that...” Ben piped up from behind Cecilia’s back, stepping up to put a gentle hand on said girl’s shoulder, his whole body showing off the shame he was feeling at what he was now revealing to them all. “We’ve shared a class since preschool.” he gave Cecilia a gentle squeeze on the shoulder.
Sighing, she reached up her own hand to gently pat the one on her, hoping that it would calm the usually smiling young man down a little.
Will looked between the both of them, and for the first time, he must have seen the complete lack of sexual tension or even romantic chemistry between them. Things that would have had to have been there should any of the rumors about them have been true.
He swallowed heavily before he forced himself to speak.
“I’m… I’m so sorry,” he said, once again gaining the girl’s attention.
For a long moment, Cecilia just sat there, staring into Will’s coffee-colored eyes, under the watchful gaze of the students around them.
Finally, she let out a long sigh, breaking eye-contact.
“I believe you.”
----------------------------------------
Cecilia was sitting in her room, taking a moment to flick through her old sketchbooks for a moment of assurance that she had gotten better over the years. Also, her imagination was better in her younger years
“You don’t like me.” the voice suddenly asked, coming from the top of the staircase.
It had come so out of nowhere that the sound almost tore a scream out of Cecilia’s throat, the sketchbook falling from her hands as she spun around to face the intruder.
There stood the great teacher himself, Mr. Salafay, leaning against the railing cutting off her room from the staircase with his hands stuffed into his pockets, looking at her with those strange, dark, dead eyes.
“Really, do you know how to knock!?” it was probably the loudest Cecilia had ever spoken to anyone in a long time, her hands quickly flipping her sketchbook closed before the manipulative man had the chance to see her old drawings.
“I do.” the teacher chuckled, watching her as he crossed his arms in front of his chest. “I just choose not to.”
Cecilia let out a long sigh, bending down to put the sketchbook down on top of the pile she had standing next to her bed, straightening it out under the almost unblinking gaze of the teacher. It was more than unnerving.
“What exactly don’t you like about me?” he asked, stepping away from the railing, making her look at him with each slow step. The look on his face was borderline sultry.
“Well for one, I don’t like the implication that you’re trying to seduce me right now.” she immediately shot at him, straightening herself out, as well as wrapping her open cardigan around her torso, covering up as much skin as possible.
Immediately, the look was gone, replaced with amusement.
“You can’t take a joke, can you?” he chuckled.
“Not when they’re not funny,” Cecilia replied seriously, pushing herself against the wall, bringing her legs against her chest. “And to answer your statement...” she let out a long, deep breath as she brushed her hair behind her ear, shaking her head as she licked her lips. She did this intentionally, wanting to see if she could annoy the man with her body language as much as he annoyed hers with his.
She wondered if she should give the man her reply, but she eventually decided to just go for it, wanting to get it over it.
“I’ve got nothing against you, it’s your motivations that put me off.”
Salafay put his hands back into his pockets, chuckling as he shook his head.
“I’m just a teacher,” he responded, almost not getting to finish his sentence before Cecilia spoke up once again.
“No, you’re not.”
The teacher fell silent, his whole towering frame freezing up.
Slowly, he turned towards her again, his whole demeanor losing the humor he’d carried since he arrived at the house, looking almost like a prowling predator as he looked at her.
Her nerves stood on edge as her eyes met his.
“How are you so sure about that?” he asked, lowering his head.
“There’s something about you that makes me feel really, really weird.”
Salafay blinked a few times before chuckling, tilting his head so that his fedora shadowed his eyes, his fingers pinching the brim.
“It’s frowned upon to have feelings for a teacher, Cecilia,” he said, obviously trying to revert back to the rather humorous persona he’d taken on before, but the young woman sitting in front of him simply would not have it.
The expression on Cecilia’s face made it clear that she did not find the teacher’s comment to be at all amusing. Her head tilted to the side as she looked at him.
“Come off it,” she said, shaking her head. “You’re a manipulative mystery who have way too much interest in me joining you little course for me to feel comfortable.” she let out a long sigh, brushing her hair behind her ear. “You give me strange feelings.” her eyes narrowed at the man, paying attention to every subtle movement underneath his dress-shirt, not putting her guard down for even a second. “The kind of feeling I always, always, pay attention to.”
She shouldn’t have said that.
She regretted it the second the words were out of her mouth.
The look the teacher was giving her now, only made her suspicions about him worse.
“Oh really?” he asked, taking a few steps closer to her. “And what kind of feeling is that?”
Cecilia didn’t know if she should, but she didn’t like leaving genuine questions unanswered, even if she didn’t like the manipulative look he was giving her.
“A tugging at my mind.” she described slowly, shrinking back against the wall whilst still sitting on the bed, wrapping her arms around her whilst she kept her eyes pinned on the man. “That’s the best way I can describe it.”
There was one thing that Cecilia really couldn’t describe no matter how much she thought, but there was something happening inside the teacher’s dark eyes with every additional work that made its way out of her mouth.
“You should really consider joining my class, Cecilia.” Salafay once again insisted, now standing close enough to her bed that he would be sitting on it if he took one more step.
She wasn’t particularly fond of that thought.
“With everything inside me telling me to be wary of you?” she narrowed her eyes at the man, her fingers clenching around her cardigan. “Forget it.” seeing the muscles in the teacher’s jaw working, she decided to cut him off before he had the chance to manipulate her into telling him yes. “Now get out of my room.”
She was adamant about him leaving her room, and with him paying her mother to stay under their roof, the teacher had no choice but to do what she asked.
Although… when he turned around to the stairs, Cecilia could have sworn she saw the man smirking.
Why would he smirk?
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May 7
Thursday 2215
Walking to school had been a lot easier as of late.
Cecilia couldn’t remember the last time she’d gone to the building without feeling a sense of foreboding dread. Without feeling as though she would get shoved into a wall when walking through the hallway, without walking with the thought at the back of her head that at least one of her belongings would get destroyed.
She was walking through the hallway towards homeroom when a voice called out to her.
It was starting to become something of a routine.
”Hey, Brandet!” Ben Tanaka called as he ran up to her, throwing an arm around her shoulder once he finally reached her side. It was strange to everyone that saw it, just how little romantic tension that came with that action.
“Tanaka.” Cecilia greeted right back, glancing at the man from the corner of her eye in mind annoyance. “Good morning.”
“Looking splendid.” he laughed his response.
“Really?” she asked, raising an eyebrow at the athlete. “I thought it looked cloudy.”
Ben had to keep himself from staring at Cecilia in absolute shock. That was the first time he’d heard her give any form of a joke, even if it was a sarcastic one. Instead, he allowed himself to laugh lightly at her words, mentally patting himself on his back at the light smile that spread across the tiny girl’s face.
“It will always be splendid with good company,” he said, tightening his arm around her neck in a one-arm hug of sorts before he allowed himself to let go.
“Well.” Cecilia sighed, brushing her hair behind her ear. “I don’t usually have good company.”
Ben had to fight the frown off of his face.
“Oh, don’t worry,” Ben replied with a large smile, his hand shooting out to roughly ruffle the top of her head. “You will.”
The two long-term classmates were too caught up in their own conversation, that they failed to notice the heated, angered glares sent their way. Or to be more specific, sent at Cecilia.
Three jocks from the athletic division stood not far away from where the two slowly walked through the hallway, arms crossed over their chests as they looked at them, not even bothering to hide the absolute hatred in their eyes.
Really, it was amazing how Cecilia couldn’t feel it.
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The class watched in shock as Cecilia gracefully moved her hand over the smart-board, answering the question she'd been asked, and as she continued with the equation, the smarter people in the class realized that she was solving it using the correct method, as well as reaching the right answers using the method.
Finally, she set down the board pen, turning around towards the teacher, who looked at Cecilia with a kind smile.
"That is correct." She stated, gesturing for Cecilia to return to her desk.
As luck would have it, Cecilia misjudged the distance between the small platform and ended up losing her balance.
Everyone watched with little interest, used to Cecilia tripping, but then… Cecilia expertly twisted the foot still connected to the floor, forcing her falling body to spin around, making her back face the ground. Then, with confidence that they didn't know she had, she put her other foot down behind her, forcing her body back up into an elegant arch.
For a long moment, even after Cecilia had collapsed, blushing, back in her desk, the class remained in a state of shocked silence.
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May 11
Monday 2215
“Hey.” Ben caught Cecilia’s attention with a tap on her shoulder during lunch, making the girl turn around towards him, chopsticks still lodged between her lips. “What are you doing after school?” he asked with a smile, leaning his head onto his arms, lying down on the desk as his hazel eyes blinked up at her.
“Why are you asking?” she asked right back, removing the chopsticks from her mouth.
“Don’t do that to me Brandet.” Ben playfully whined, raising his head a little as he reached out his hands to drip the front of his desk. “I wanna know.”
Cecilia popped a piece of chicken into her mouth, chewing slowly to drag out the athlete’s waiting time.
He playfully glared at her when he realized what she was doing.
“I’m going to the therapist,” she answered after swallowing, blinking innocently at him.
Ben slowly raised himself into a sitting position, his expression becoming a lot more serious.
“First visit?” he asked, bringing his arms closer to him, his hands intertwining on top of the desk as he looked at her.
Cecilia nodded.
“You already went?” it was only logical that their classmates would need some form of therapy after what they witnessed that day. But she hadn’t heard anything along those lines from the gossip in between classes.
Then again, therapy wasn’t that nice a subject to converse about.
Ben’s mood darkened slightly, still leaning his weight on the desk, fingers fiddling.
“Everyone in our class went while you were gone,” he explained, his fingers starting to fiddle as he looked at her. “They brought a psychiatrist to stay in the building for a week just for that purpose.” he motioned with his finger around the room. “Some are still going, depending on how traumatized they were.”
Cecilia blinked at him, tilting her head to the side.
“Do you still go?” she asked, curious.
To her surprise, Ben smiled at her.
“I cleared myself by visiting you in the hospital.”
For a long moment, the two classmates just looked at one another. Then, Ben’s face broke into a wide smile, his hand shooting out to gently put his hand on her shoulder.
“You know what,” he said. “I’m walking you to the office.”
She blinked, momentarily thrown off at his sudden statement.
“Tanaka.” Cecilia tried, thinking about how she could persuade the man that he didn’t have to do that. The thought of anyone taking away from their off-time to be with her made her slightly uncomfortable.
Okay, very uncomfortable.
“No.” “I’m not going to let you talk me out of it.” “I’m walking you to the office.”
Ben was a stubborn young man, she knew that, it was part of the reason why they were sitting there, talking, in the first place.
Shaking her head, she let out a long breath.
“Just do what you want...” she said, turning back around to her lunch, picking up another piece of chicken and shoved it into her mouth.
“You know I will.” Ben laughed, leaning back in his chair.
Cecilia found herself with a small smile on her face despite her rolling her eyes.
Once again, she failed to notice the group of three jocks from the athletic division. Why they were standing in the doorway to the classroom, no one knew. They speculated it was because of the angelic red-head sharing a pleasant meal with her much more mature, dark chocolate haired friend at the center of the classroom but they didn’t have to remain there.
Once again, they were looking at Cecilia with the most heated, hate-filled glares, and she was completely oblivious to it.
She usually weren’t.
There was just something about Ben that made her calm.
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"I can’t believe you actually went with me..." Cecilia asked, throwing a glance towards Ben as she stopped in front of the therapist's house.
"Of course I did." Ben insisted, patting Cecilia on the head. "I need to make sure you actually went here."
Cecilia frowned, knocking his hand away.
"I would have gone even if you didn't walk me you know." She said, giving Ben a look.
"Alright." Ben laughed, putting a hand on her shoulder. "You take care of that trauma." He said, stepping away from her whilst pointing a humoring finger at her.
Cecilia gave him a look of slight annoyance, watching him disappear down the road before she turned her attention back towards the door.
Taking a deep breath, she opened the door, only to freeze in place once the sight of what was on the other side of the door registered into her brain.
Terry was standing in the middle of the waiting room.