Bella Notte (2 page)

I closed the door of
my little beast and slung my bag over my shoulder. The little bat pin
scraped my upper arm, leaving behind a scarlet line of blood.
Damn!
Oh well, best get going.

I wiped the red
beads away with my fingers and walked over to the sad two story
building that held all the senior classes.

It was the same
dreary brown as the rest of the buildings, but, somehow, it stood
apart from its cluster. Maybe the administration thought it was a
good idea to separate us from the rest of the student body.

The thick, heavy
doors were painted an ugly moss green- one of the school's colors,
the other was white. I pulled the huge dungeon-like door open and
took one last look at the smallish windows, praying they had grown as
I stepped inside.

The hot, stuffy air
hit me as I entered the white hallway. My eyes stung at the memory of
the fresh, cool morning air on the other side of the door. I had five
minutes to get upstairs and find a seat in room 2A, my English class.
I
only hope that this semester will have some interesting novels to
read.

Every year seemed to
crawl on with the most mundane amount of rubbish that a human could
stand to read. I wanted to read
Dracula,
Pride and Prejudice, Frankenstein,
something,
anything of substance. I would even settle for
Animal
Farm
and
we could talk of Communism.

My feet dragged
slightly as I walked up the rough concrete stairs. The door was open
to the room next to ours, which was where I would have to doodle my
way through math.
GAH,
I really hate math, why can't I just have two Art classes?

My feet made a small
scuffling sound as I walked to the next room. The rich aroma of fresh
brewed coffee wafted down the hall to greet me.
Mr.
Fitzgerald must be behind schedule this morning.

Arthur Fitzgerald,
the English teacher for both the juniors and seniors, was a coffee
addict. If a student was greeted with the smell of fresh brewed black
gold, then he was behind schedule and probably in a foul mood. Even
though the scent meant that Mr. Fitzgerald would not be happy if I
was late this morning, it was a nice change from the musty smell of
indoors.

I walked into the
room and smiled my best grin at Mr. Fitzgerald as I took my seat in
the back. It was a small room so all the faces looked up as I crossed
their path. I knew everyone, and said hello to them- even though this
year wouldn't change my desire to not be associated with any of the
cliques here.

Once I reached my
little desk and sat down, I glanced around the room. The walls were
painted the same humdrum white as the hallway and Mr. Fitzgerald had
everything arranged in the same manner as his classroom for the
juniors- drab and symmetrical. There was nothing on the walls, except
for the clock that was in the back of the room so we couldn't stare
at it. The chalk boards were well used and never seemed to get back
to their original shade of bright green. Nothing was written on the
boards yet so we had to wait until he organized himself.

I looked around at
the familiar faces once more, and that's when I noticed the new
student.

He was tall, and
wasn't really paying any attention to anyone in the class- some of
whom seemed to be trying to get his attention. His hair was auburn,
and spiked.
Odd
coincidence, his hair looks like the guy from my dreams.

His skin wasn't pale
like mine, but held a nice golden hue to it. It was as though he had
existed in his own tropical paradise that gave him the slightest tan
in this often overcast place. He was wearing black cargo pants, black
combat boots, and a tight scarlet shirt. I couldn't see what it said,
if anything, but I could see the definition of his toned upper torso.

“
You guys
match,” the girl next to me giggled as she noticed the
direction of my stare.

“
Eh? Oh, I
suppose we do, Kelly,” I managed to say with a remembering
smile to the little blonde that generally sat further away from me,
from fear of my vicious bite. Some wounds heal, but they are not
forgotten- like a five year old taking a chomp out of your hand.

“
His name is
Michael O'Shanold, in case you wanted to know,” she whispered
in my direction, “but it doesn't seem like he wants to talk to
anyone,” she added with a visible frown.

I wasn't listening
to her at this point, because, as soon as she said his name, he
turned his head and looked at me. The full intensity of his deep,
emerald green eyes were upon me in a second and I was lost to this
world. Sucked back into my horrible dream world.

This was different
though, I wasn't afraid, and I knew nothing bad would happen at the
end- I was simply drawn to him.

It was exactly as
every dream started- the cool night air shifted in the trees that
surrounded the grass circle, and the huge golden orb hung in the sky.
I wasn't standing alone in the clearing this time. He was standing
next to me instead of coming for me out of the trees. He was smiling,
and although neither of us said anything, it was as though we said a
million words of relief. His smile reached his beautiful eyes and I
could see the slight freckling across his nose. I smiled at him, and
he grabbed me in his arms. I knew at once it was him, and this was
where I was supposed to be. The entire experience was so pleasant, I
had completely forgotten about my English class and the way these
dreams normally end.

I was pulled
abruptly out of the daydream and back into the classroom as the kid
in front of me, Tommy, shoved a paper on my desk. My mind was working
in slow motion.
It's
him, it's him, it's him!

I looked from his
handsome familiar face down to the paper in front of me and finally
registered that it was a reading list for the semester.

“
Yes!”
The word was out of my mouth before my brain could catch up to it.
Everyone turned to look at me.

“
Is there
something you would like to share with the rest of the class, Miss
Hutchinson?” Mr. Fitzgerald asked with a curious tilt of his
head.

I looked at Michael
and realized that he seemed to be staring at me with the same
intensity that I had at him, the recognition was clear, but I wasn't
sure why.

“
Sorry, Mr.
Fitzgerald, I am just excited about this semester's reading list is
all, it has some of my favorite classics on it,” I finally
managed to say as my cheeks tinted red with blood.
G
reat
way to start the semester.

“
Well, I
appreciate your enthusiasm, but if you wouldn't mind keeping it a
little less audible … so I can start this morning's lecture.”
He finished with a raised eyebrow.

“
Yes, Mr.
Fitzgerald, sorry about that,” I replied and slunk further down
into my desk.

Michael looked away
and was back to doing whatever it was that he was doing before he
noticed me, but his ears gave away the smile that was now on his
face.
I
am such an ogre, what was I thinking? Surely he can't be the guy from
my dreams, and even if he is- it's not like he knows who I am. Idiot,
idiot, idiot!

My mind circled back
to this train of thought throughout the entire hour that was filled
with Mr. Fitzgerald explaining the importance of knowing the classic
works in literature, and why we were reading each one.

By the end of the
class my head hurt from coming in and out of his discussion, and from
the last question my mind came up with;
why
did he look like he recognized me?

The bell rang and
everyone was out of their seat and crowded toward the only door that
would let them have a minute of freedom between their classes. Most
of us would be together in our classes- there were only so many ways
that they could shuffle around our schedules. So, I slowly gathered
up my things, and shoved them into my bag. I didn't want to look over
to see if he was still there, or if I'd merely imagined him, so I
slung my bag over my shoulder and headed out of the room.

I had gotten to the
door when I heard him behind me. My heart sped up and my breathing
accelerated. I turned to look at him.

“
Hi. My name's
Mike,” he said and blushed a beautiful shade of crimson.

“
Hey, Mike,
welcome to our high school, it's pretty dull, but it's what we got.
Where's your next class, maybe I could show you how to get there?”
I asked, trying to be a good welcoming committee.

“
I have
Science with Mrs. Roberts,” he said as he looked at his
schedule. I think he was thankful to have something to talk about.

“
Well, today's
your lucky day- I have the same class. Let's walk together.” I
smiled at him and grabbed his arm. He felt the normal body
temperature of everyone around us.
Strange,
he was so much warmer in my dreams.

“
Thanks, I've
got to tell you something though; your face is really familiar to me.
Have I seen you somewhere before?” Mike asked as we walked down
the short hall to the stairs.

“
How funny, I
was going to ask you that as well. I know that I've never seen you
before, but my mind insists that I know you. Odd, huh?” I was
trying desperately not to sound like a complete loony. I so wanted
him to stay around, it was as though he was a flame and I was a moth.

“
Yup. So,
what's high school like? I've been home schooled the entire time that
we've lived here, and I don't know anyone or anything.” His
face flushed again, and he looked quickly away.

“
Well,”
I didn't want to stop talking and the sound of our shoes echoing down
the stairs made me nervous, “high school is, eh, busy. There
are a lot of things that happen. You were home schooled? How long
have you lived here?”

“
Busy- that
sounds … nice. Um, we moved here when I was like four, so it's
been fourteen years now. I got a tutor around then as well.”
His smile must have been in response to my look of utter shock.
A
four year old with a tutor?! Oh my God, he must be really smart!

I closed my mouth,
“So, you know a lot of stuff, huh?” I looked down at my
boots, I was embarrassed and the boots were a nice contrast to the
black and white checkered tiles.

“
I don't know
if I would say I know a lot of stuff, but I do know enough,” he
replied, obviously aware of my discomfort.

“
Well, this is
it. Mrs. Roberts is a little nutty, but I suppose all scientists are
a little
mad
,
muaw ha ha!” I said as a rubbed my hands together in a menacing
manner, he laughed and then I did too.

We walked into the
light blue room- nothing was ever plain with Mrs. Roberts. I led him
to the lab table in the back that was empty.

“
So, we'll be
lab partners, kay?” I whispered at him as the bell rang and we
slid down onto the hard wooden stools. He merely smiled in return.

The lecture wasn't
anything special- because it was the first day- and Mrs. Roberts was
going over safety rules and what she expected of us. Her little white
bun on top of her head bobbed back and forth as she shifted in front
of the room. Her white lab coat had bright blue buttons on it, and a
little pin that said, “Science breeds dangerous lives.”

She must be close to
eighty by now, but she moved as though she was twenty and her
enthusiasm for her work was unmatched by any other faculty member.

Even though her lab
coat was buttoned all the way down, you could see her striped pink
and blue stockings going into her black high-tops.
Eccentric,
that's the only word for her.

I glanced around the
room at the shelves that were overflowing with strange liquids in
jars- with even stranger unknown items inside them.

Each desk had a
burner and some beakers on it, along with the text book for the
class. There was also a small pile of yellow papers on each desk-
these were the safety rules and syllabuses. I looked over at Mike to
see what he was doing, and he was looking back at me. He smiled and I
looked down and blushed.

He slid me a piece
of paper, “She's an odd duck, isn't she?” is all it said
in red ink.