I breathed a sigh of relief as the teacher took his place at the front of the class and with no more than a welcome to Havenhurst Ms. Tanning proceeded to carry on with his lesson.
I itched to raise my hand each time there was a question asked that no one seemed capable of answering, but cautioned myself against it.
No sense in pissing people off my first day was it? Some of the kids didn’t even seem to be paying attention, and some were outright ignoring the seemingly frustrated man at the front of the room.
“Alright class we’ve covered this and you were supposed to brush up on it for homework. Who here can tell me what is Polynomial?” He looked around the class as people started fishing through their books for the answer.
My tongue burned as I bit into it to no avail. Don’t do it Jazz, it’s teenage suicide.
My traitorous limb, which I was going to remove at the soonest opportunity lifted itself of its own accord, throwing me under the proverbial bus.
Mr. Varner looked at me but not surprisingly, as I’m sure he’d read my file and knew my dirty little secret.
“Ms. Tanning.” He inclined his head indicating I should answer.
“A polynomial is an expression that is the sum of a finite number of non zero terms.”
You could hear a pin drop; crap I knew I should’ve kept my stupid mouth shut.
“Very good Ms. Tanning it’s rather nice to actually have someone paying attention after all the time and money I spent on achieving my education.”
That lip was really getting a work out now as I could feel the stares and glares from the people around me. I didn’t even flinch when I felt the ball of paper connect with the back of my head.
I fought back the old treacherous tears I’d been fighting since kindergarten and my first encounter with a bully.
“Azarov!”
The harsh retort from the teacher had me picking my head up with speed, just in time to see a body go by me and grab a kid from his chair. I’m not sure what was being said but whatever it was, it put fear in the one being grabbed.
He was dropped back in his chair none too gently, and as his attacker turned back towards me, I felt the air leave my body. Oh merciful heavens I’d come to Havenhurst to die.
Chapter 4
Oh holy night, it’s him, but how? That wasn’t possible was it? Oh crap he’s looking right at me.
The golden Adonis had turned from his victim, who was still clutching his throat trying to get air, and now his attention was completely focused on me.
I had no time to react, as I found myself practically being dragged from my chair with a stern “Come.”
The teacher’s repeated calls of stop, and release her at once, went totally ignored.
Poor me, I just followed where I was led like a lamb to the slaughter. I had no time to notice what the rest of the class was doing if anything, or if anyone was going to come to my rescue.
He pulled me halfway down the hallway and around the corner. Of course the hallway was empty; everyone was in class.
My breathing was choppy and erratic and man was my dad going to be mad that he brought me here to die. I was starting to go into full panic attack mode.
My heart knocked against the wall of my chest and I couldn’t seem to hold a thought. There was a mixture of dread and excitement building in the pit of my stomach, but I didn’t know which one to hold onto. Dread won out and I opened my mouth to scream.
“Stop it Jasmine.” That voice, holy crapoli, my knees started to shake even harder as I stupidly stared up into his eyes.
There was a ringing in my ears and I felt close to fainting. There was something oddly familiar about his touch that had noting to do with my dreams.
The whole thing seemed too surreal, like it was happening in another place and another time.
“Breathe baby.”
I was breathing, wasn’t I? Shoot who cares, what good was breathing when you were about to die? Just my luck the hottest guy ever created was going to be the one to finish me off. This was so unfair, why couldn’t I ever catch a break in my stupid life?
He was studying me in a very odd way, his head moving this way and that, a far away look on his face, as if he wasn’t really there. It reminded me of an owl for some stupid reason.
Why didn’t he just get it over with if he was going to finish me off? Or was he one of those predatory beings that liked to play with their prey first? And why was no one coming to my rescue here dammit? I was about to tell him to get on with it already when he finally spoke.