Hear♀ and s♂ul: part two
I did basically nothing for the whole weekend since as
soon as Mary saw the slight swelling on my knee she insisted on taking care of
me; she even carried me from the car to the sofa, who knew she had it in her.
But her idea of taking care of me consisted of confining me to my bed and not
letting me get up for anything; it took both me and Allix to convince her to
let me go to the toilet alone. After two days of that I was glad to get to the
safe haven of school, my knee had recovered enough that I had a slight limp but
you would only notice it if you were looking for it, at least that was what I
was hoping.
A surprise was waiting for me as I entered my first lesson; science for those of you who are interested, Sam was sat at the table nearest the door. Each table in this class was made of four desks forming a square around the centre podium containing the gas and electric used for experiments. The only other people at his table were a boy his was in conversation with and a bored looking girl who was staring out the window at the clouds passing by. I was taking in far more detail than usual because my brain didn’t seem to be able to take in the fact that Sam, my souls mate, was sat right there in front of me. The other tables were crowded with people but his was just the three of them.
“So you must be the new girl then. Welcome to my classroom.” I turned and saw the teacher with his hand out stretched for me to shake. I did so and looked at him; he was dressed smartly but not too much so, it was as if he did just enough to not be fired for coming in looking like a trash heap. “You can call me Mr. Hummel. Sit where you want, I never cared for seating plans and I don’t care if halfway through you get up and move somewhere else just as long as you don’t disturb the class.”
Allix pulled my arm, again avoiding contact with those exposed fingertips, and whispered into my ear, “Sit next to me. You’ll like it; we’re right next to the front, among other things.” She didn’t elaborate but from the direction we were headed I knew exactly what those other things were. I found myself plonked opposite Sam, the podium was between us but that wasn’t high enough to hide us from each other. He looked up and our eyes met for the briefest of moments. It was wonderful and magic but it was all too soon over, I tried to catch his eye the rest of the lesson but it never repeated.
I found it odd that the class was so well behaved since Mr. Hummel was so lax on the rules. People got up and talked to friends throughout the lesson but it wasn’t until someone came to chat to the other girl on our table that I found out what it was they were talking about. It shocked me but they were discussing things about the lesson and helping each other understand so they didn’t disrupt Mr. Hummel’s flow as he covered what we would need to know to dissect a frog next lesson. I took a real look around at that moment and most people were taking notes, that or giving the teacher their full attention. It puzzled me but I could work on that problem later for now I went back to watching Sam.
After the class was over and I was following Allix to a second attempt at English I spoke up. “So, how come Mr. Hummel’s class isn’t a big riot?”
I could tell by her expression that the thought had never even crossed her mind. “I don’t really know. I guess it’s because he treats us like he expects us to behave and want to learn for ourselves. At the start of our first year there were lots of us who pushed him since he was so young and didn’t seem very strict.” I noticed that she used the word ‘us’ very deliberately but couldn’t see why. Allix seemed closed off and detached and I couldn’t see her acting up in anyway, had the incident with her power really hurt her that much? “When we misbehaved he just sighed and looked at us like we were letting ourselves down and that in turn was letting him down. He didn’t care we were being naughty exactly but more that we weren’t living up to our potential. He never punished us though; he didn’t need to. Eventually that look became punishment enough, even for the worst among us and we settled down. Once we did that we started to see just how fun his lessons were.”
It made sense to me. Even with the little attention I had paid myself I was hooked. Hell I even wanted to borrow Allix’s notes so that I could fully prepare for that frog dissection. Out of the teachers I had had so far Mr. Hummel was by far my favourite, but then the competition was not even close. Between the hook nosed and ancient English teacher, the pair of trying-to-be-one-of-us PE teachers and the monotone History teacher anyone would look good. Also it was then I noticed that Mr. Hummel was the only one who had even told me his name.
The rest of the day was rather uneventful other than Mary once again making a fuss about my knee. The next day was also a bit bland until third period Maths, my dance teacher was a woman who really tried to be a cute little girl it was rather sickeningly sweet and the other two I met in that time made so little impression it took an effort to even remember their gender. After that science lesson I had quizzed Allix on whether or not we had any other classes with Sam; she said no but she couldn’t vouch for Maths. I hated having to get changed into my PE/dance kit and then back into uniform and as I mentioned I wasn’t athletic so needless to say I was in a bit of a bad mood coming out dance and was not looking forward to my only lesson away from Allix. OK so I now knew people, like that girl on our table for science? Turns out her name is Lori and she’s a cheerleader. Doesn’t mean I would hang around with her. All in all not the best start.
This all turned around when I saw a boy sat near the back bobbing his head to the sounds in his headphones, not those earbud things but proper headphones. It was the boy and there was an empty seat next to him so there was the odd chance that...but I didn’t dare even think it in case I jinxed it. Ducking out the doorway and back into the hall I pulled my timetable out. The school worked on rotating weeks with slightly different timetables so with Science and Maths that meant I would see him every Monday, Tuesday and Thursday plus every other Wednesday at the very least. It took all my self control not to squeal in joy right there in the crowded hall. This was more than I ever hoped for, it didn’t matter that he was going out with Cassandra I had enough time to make him fall for me.
Time.
I suddenly thought of something that had been hovering at the edge of my consciousness since I had been summoned; how long did I have? We were never told and since no one ever came back from this world there was no one to ask other than our teachers and they were fairly tight lipped about the whole affair. Maybe I didn’t have time after all.
I stood up straight and squared my shoulders; if I didn’t have time I would just have to make good use of what I did have. I matched into the room and went back to his desk before speaking up, “Is any one sitting here?” Without looking up he stopped following the music and shook his head so I sat down and then lost my nerve entirely.
When the teacher came in he seemed to be in a rush but then he was five minutes late so that was understandable. “Sam, take those headphones off and Skye, put that note away because I really don’t want to have to take it and read it.” He looked around and spotted me, “Ah the new girl, good you’ve seated yourself. Now onto algebra.” Once again no name given, this time he hadn’t even acknowledged mine.
Partway through the lesson I felt a single tap on the back of my hand and a piece of paper was slid under my hand but by the time I looked back Sam was determinedly looking the other way. On the scrap of paper was scrawled I missed your name in Science and baldy over there didn’t say it no punctuation so I wasn’t sure if it was a statement or a question so taking the chance I wrote back Laura Stone, what were you listening to? and then slid it over to him. His reply was no more than four letters RTRZ and they meant nothing to me but that was enough. Our conversation was started and it continued right the way up to the bell signalling the end of lesson.
As we stood up and gathered our things we used our voices to communicate for the first time and, it dawned on me later, this was the first time he had heard my voice at all. “So yeah then he kills the bad guy and brings the statue head back to his village, if you want to borrow it I have the DVD.”
He had been talking about a martial art film I had never heard of and I wasn’t sure how to reply but was saved by Cassandra enveloping Sam in a bear hug. “My God was English boring as all hell. It was just one long ass slide show. I am so verily tempted to one day hack the teach’s comp and replace one of the slides with a picture of CATS and an audio file that says ‘ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONGING TO US’ it would be mythic.” It wasn’t until then that she even acknowledged my existence let alone the fact that she had interrupted our conversation. “Oh hey hop along. I see you made a sterling recovery there, good on you.” It wasn’t a compliment.
A slightly muffled voice came out from under Cassandra’s arms. “You two know each other then?” Cassandra released him but made sure they were stood as close together as possible just to show me that they were together. If I got in her way a wounded knee would be the least of my worries but then I would have Sam so I wouldn’t care what she did.
I spoke up and broke the silence that was descending on us, I was the only one who had to worry since they seemed happy just stood together quietly. “Erm y-yeah, we have PE together. Only o-o-one lesson s-s-so far though since I’m so new.”
Cassandra burst out laughing and almost bent double; gripping her knees for support. “Nice stutter! From your attitude I never would have tagged you as that kind of girl!” She tried to continue but whatever she said was lost in laughter.
Sam gave me a week little smile of apology but at that moment I was saved by Allix. “At least she didn’t spend the whole of year five without talking.” Cassandra’s face went from one of joy and merriment to an expression of pure, barely contained anger. “Come on Laura let’s get out of here, we’ll see you tomorrow Sam.”
I let Allix drag me to the next classroom on my list silently. It wasn’t till we were halfway up a flight of stairs before I spoke up again. “So did you go to school with her then?” How else would she have known about that?
Allix surprised me and shook her head. “Don’t worry about her, she’s just insecure and I would know.” She wiggled her fingers in my line of sight and it all clicked. “When she got you in PE I pushed past her so I had an excuse to touch her arm, I just wanted to see how maliciously she meant that throw. The thing is the more someone dwells on something the easier it is for me to read. That year of silence was like a whole orchestra in my head with flashing lights and pyrotechnics and that was just from a glancing touch. I’m sure it was the worst time of her life and I really hurt her just by bringing it up. At the very least it should stop her making fun of your stutter.”
“Well what if you apologise to her next time you see her?” Allix nodded and the shadow of a sad expression fluttered over her face. It suddenly dawned on me that she was so busy reading others that she never got the chance to read herself, always hiding her own emotions to make up for others. I wasn’t sure if I was up to the task of drawing her out of herself but maybe I could at least find someone who was.
Part three
A surprise was waiting for me as I entered my first lesson; science for those of you who are interested, Sam was sat at the table nearest the door. Each table in this class was made of four desks forming a square around the centre podium containing the gas and electric used for experiments. The only other people at his table were a boy his was in conversation with and a bored looking girl who was staring out the window at the clouds passing by. I was taking in far more detail than usual because my brain didn’t seem to be able to take in the fact that Sam, my souls mate, was sat right there in front of me. The other tables were crowded with people but his was just the three of them.
“So you must be the new girl then. Welcome to my classroom.” I turned and saw the teacher with his hand out stretched for me to shake. I did so and looked at him; he was dressed smartly but not too much so, it was as if he did just enough to not be fired for coming in looking like a trash heap. “You can call me Mr. Hummel. Sit where you want, I never cared for seating plans and I don’t care if halfway through you get up and move somewhere else just as long as you don’t disturb the class.”
Allix pulled my arm, again avoiding contact with those exposed fingertips, and whispered into my ear, “Sit next to me. You’ll like it; we’re right next to the front, among other things.” She didn’t elaborate but from the direction we were headed I knew exactly what those other things were. I found myself plonked opposite Sam, the podium was between us but that wasn’t high enough to hide us from each other. He looked up and our eyes met for the briefest of moments. It was wonderful and magic but it was all too soon over, I tried to catch his eye the rest of the lesson but it never repeated.
I found it odd that the class was so well behaved since Mr. Hummel was so lax on the rules. People got up and talked to friends throughout the lesson but it wasn’t until someone came to chat to the other girl on our table that I found out what it was they were talking about. It shocked me but they were discussing things about the lesson and helping each other understand so they didn’t disrupt Mr. Hummel’s flow as he covered what we would need to know to dissect a frog next lesson. I took a real look around at that moment and most people were taking notes, that or giving the teacher their full attention. It puzzled me but I could work on that problem later for now I went back to watching Sam.
After the class was over and I was following Allix to a second attempt at English I spoke up. “So, how come Mr. Hummel’s class isn’t a big riot?”
I could tell by her expression that the thought had never even crossed her mind. “I don’t really know. I guess it’s because he treats us like he expects us to behave and want to learn for ourselves. At the start of our first year there were lots of us who pushed him since he was so young and didn’t seem very strict.” I noticed that she used the word ‘us’ very deliberately but couldn’t see why. Allix seemed closed off and detached and I couldn’t see her acting up in anyway, had the incident with her power really hurt her that much? “When we misbehaved he just sighed and looked at us like we were letting ourselves down and that in turn was letting him down. He didn’t care we were being naughty exactly but more that we weren’t living up to our potential. He never punished us though; he didn’t need to. Eventually that look became punishment enough, even for the worst among us and we settled down. Once we did that we started to see just how fun his lessons were.”
It made sense to me. Even with the little attention I had paid myself I was hooked. Hell I even wanted to borrow Allix’s notes so that I could fully prepare for that frog dissection. Out of the teachers I had had so far Mr. Hummel was by far my favourite, but then the competition was not even close. Between the hook nosed and ancient English teacher, the pair of trying-to-be-one-of-us PE teachers and the monotone History teacher anyone would look good. Also it was then I noticed that Mr. Hummel was the only one who had even told me his name.
The rest of the day was rather uneventful other than Mary once again making a fuss about my knee. The next day was also a bit bland until third period Maths, my dance teacher was a woman who really tried to be a cute little girl it was rather sickeningly sweet and the other two I met in that time made so little impression it took an effort to even remember their gender. After that science lesson I had quizzed Allix on whether or not we had any other classes with Sam; she said no but she couldn’t vouch for Maths. I hated having to get changed into my PE/dance kit and then back into uniform and as I mentioned I wasn’t athletic so needless to say I was in a bit of a bad mood coming out dance and was not looking forward to my only lesson away from Allix. OK so I now knew people, like that girl on our table for science? Turns out her name is Lori and she’s a cheerleader. Doesn’t mean I would hang around with her. All in all not the best start.
This all turned around when I saw a boy sat near the back bobbing his head to the sounds in his headphones, not those earbud things but proper headphones. It was the boy and there was an empty seat next to him so there was the odd chance that...but I didn’t dare even think it in case I jinxed it. Ducking out the doorway and back into the hall I pulled my timetable out. The school worked on rotating weeks with slightly different timetables so with Science and Maths that meant I would see him every Monday, Tuesday and Thursday plus every other Wednesday at the very least. It took all my self control not to squeal in joy right there in the crowded hall. This was more than I ever hoped for, it didn’t matter that he was going out with Cassandra I had enough time to make him fall for me.
Time.
I suddenly thought of something that had been hovering at the edge of my consciousness since I had been summoned; how long did I have? We were never told and since no one ever came back from this world there was no one to ask other than our teachers and they were fairly tight lipped about the whole affair. Maybe I didn’t have time after all.
I stood up straight and squared my shoulders; if I didn’t have time I would just have to make good use of what I did have. I matched into the room and went back to his desk before speaking up, “Is any one sitting here?” Without looking up he stopped following the music and shook his head so I sat down and then lost my nerve entirely.
When the teacher came in he seemed to be in a rush but then he was five minutes late so that was understandable. “Sam, take those headphones off and Skye, put that note away because I really don’t want to have to take it and read it.” He looked around and spotted me, “Ah the new girl, good you’ve seated yourself. Now onto algebra.” Once again no name given, this time he hadn’t even acknowledged mine.
Partway through the lesson I felt a single tap on the back of my hand and a piece of paper was slid under my hand but by the time I looked back Sam was determinedly looking the other way. On the scrap of paper was scrawled I missed your name in Science and baldy over there didn’t say it no punctuation so I wasn’t sure if it was a statement or a question so taking the chance I wrote back Laura Stone, what were you listening to? and then slid it over to him. His reply was no more than four letters RTRZ and they meant nothing to me but that was enough. Our conversation was started and it continued right the way up to the bell signalling the end of lesson.
As we stood up and gathered our things we used our voices to communicate for the first time and, it dawned on me later, this was the first time he had heard my voice at all. “So yeah then he kills the bad guy and brings the statue head back to his village, if you want to borrow it I have the DVD.”
He had been talking about a martial art film I had never heard of and I wasn’t sure how to reply but was saved by Cassandra enveloping Sam in a bear hug. “My God was English boring as all hell. It was just one long ass slide show. I am so verily tempted to one day hack the teach’s comp and replace one of the slides with a picture of CATS and an audio file that says ‘ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONGING TO US’ it would be mythic.” It wasn’t until then that she even acknowledged my existence let alone the fact that she had interrupted our conversation. “Oh hey hop along. I see you made a sterling recovery there, good on you.” It wasn’t a compliment.
A slightly muffled voice came out from under Cassandra’s arms. “You two know each other then?” Cassandra released him but made sure they were stood as close together as possible just to show me that they were together. If I got in her way a wounded knee would be the least of my worries but then I would have Sam so I wouldn’t care what she did.
I spoke up and broke the silence that was descending on us, I was the only one who had to worry since they seemed happy just stood together quietly. “Erm y-yeah, we have PE together. Only o-o-one lesson s-s-so far though since I’m so new.”
Cassandra burst out laughing and almost bent double; gripping her knees for support. “Nice stutter! From your attitude I never would have tagged you as that kind of girl!” She tried to continue but whatever she said was lost in laughter.
Sam gave me a week little smile of apology but at that moment I was saved by Allix. “At least she didn’t spend the whole of year five without talking.” Cassandra’s face went from one of joy and merriment to an expression of pure, barely contained anger. “Come on Laura let’s get out of here, we’ll see you tomorrow Sam.”
I let Allix drag me to the next classroom on my list silently. It wasn’t till we were halfway up a flight of stairs before I spoke up again. “So did you go to school with her then?” How else would she have known about that?
Allix surprised me and shook her head. “Don’t worry about her, she’s just insecure and I would know.” She wiggled her fingers in my line of sight and it all clicked. “When she got you in PE I pushed past her so I had an excuse to touch her arm, I just wanted to see how maliciously she meant that throw. The thing is the more someone dwells on something the easier it is for me to read. That year of silence was like a whole orchestra in my head with flashing lights and pyrotechnics and that was just from a glancing touch. I’m sure it was the worst time of her life and I really hurt her just by bringing it up. At the very least it should stop her making fun of your stutter.”
“Well what if you apologise to her next time you see her?” Allix nodded and the shadow of a sad expression fluttered over her face. It suddenly dawned on me that she was so busy reading others that she never got the chance to read herself, always hiding her own emotions to make up for others. I wasn’t sure if I was up to the task of drawing her out of herself but maybe I could at least find someone who was.
Part three