5. Mina
Chapter five
A s we near the classroom, my steps falter, and a familiar weight of anxiety presses on my chest. I stiffen without meaning to, and Max stops beside me, his towering frame turning slightly as he looks down at me. My teeth worry at my lip as my gaze darts to the doorway. The sounds of voices and laughter filtering out of the room make my stomach twist in fear.
“Sweetheart? Are you okay?” he asks gently, his voice low and soothing. His hand gives mine a small tug, pulling my attention to him. I meet his gaze, and his bright green eyes hold nothing but concern. For a moment, it calms the storm in my chest.
I glance back at the classroom, unsure how to answer. “If you come into class with me, you can sit right beside me. I’ll make sure nobody bothers you,” he says, his tone confident but kind. “But if you don’t like it or feel uncomfortable, you just tap my hand twice, and I’ll get you out of there straight away and take you to the library, okay?”
I’m not sure how he knows I want to go to the library, but my heart stutters at his words, the kindness in them unexpected. His sincerity pulls my focus, and I find myself staring at him. Why is he being so nice to me? I bite my lip again as I glance toward the noisy classroom, then back at him. Slowly, I squeeze his hand—a brief, uncertain gesture—and nod once.
His face lights up with a smile so big and genuine that it catches me off guard. “Good girl,” he says softly, and something in his tone warms me even as the nerves linger. What is with these guys saying that to me? And why am I having such a strong reaction to it?
I try to swallow the lump in my throat and turn with him as he leads me into the class. There are already a handful of students here, and they all stare and whisper as we enter.
I grip Max’s hand harder for comfort, making him smile down at me. “Don’t worry, they’re interested in anything new. You’ll be old news soon enough.” I hope so. I hate being watched. I keep my eyes down as he leads me to the back corner. He surprises me by pushing two desks together, then takes my bag from my back and places it on one of the desks, positioning himself between me and the rest of the class.
He tells me to sit, and I silently obey, watching as he pulls out his books. I notice he has the same Calculus textbook I was reading yesterday. I thought it was a freshman book. I pull out my coloring books, knowing I had an image to uphold, and start doodling in them.
Even without my mother here, her warnings constantly echo in my mind, telling me to shut up and not draw attention to myself. If you ask me, playing dumb would bring more attention to myself than being an average student, but I knew I could never question her on it.
“Hey, Sweetheart?” My heart jumps in my chest as Max uses that nickname again. “I’m really glad you’re in my class.” I risk a glance at his face and see him smiling at me. Not wanting to be rude, I smile back.
“But... are you ever going to tell me your name?” He quirks an eyebrow at me. I’m not sure what to do. I could write it down, but my mother didn’t know I could write, and if she found out, I don’t think she’d let me leave the house ever again.
He watches me, looking concerned the longer I stare at him silently. Then his expression changes into something more relaxed and he raises his eyebrows as he speaks. “Ah! I know why you’re not telling me! You want me to keep calling you Sweetheart!” Now it’s my turn to raise my eyebrows. I open my mouth in shock, but nothing comes out.
“I’m on to you now!” he chuckles while my face heats up from embarrassment. I can’t even correct him. Instead, I stare down at my desk. Why didn’t I just shake my head? Stupid! Now he probably thinks I’m like all the other girls who are crazy about him. That’s because you are.
“Hey, Max, who’s your friend?” I hear a feminine voice ask, unaware of my internal struggle. I briefly glance up and see a beautiful girl with perfect straight brown hair and perfect teeth smiling down at Max.
“This is Mina, she’s new here.” I look at him in shock, how did he suddenly know my name? He gives me a quick wink, making my heart pitter patter in my chest. “Mina, this is Rachel.” I look up at her and gave her a tight-lipped smile.
“Hi Mina. Nice coloring book.” I can hear the laughter in her voice. She’s making fun of me.
“You can go now, Rachel,” Max says bluntly as I stare at my desk in embarrassment, hoping she’ll leave quickly.
“Excuse me?! I was trying to be polite,” Rachel says angrily.
“We both know you weren’t. Now leave,” he says without even looking at her.
“Max, why are you being such an ass? Did she already suck your dick or something?” My jaw drops open, and I know I must resemble a tomato right now. Why would she say that? Is that a thing girls do? I didn’t expect a high school student to talk like that.
She bursts out laughing at my reaction, and as Max goes to say something, looking angry, I hear the teacher, Mrs. Pinkins, greet the class. I take deep breaths and try to focus on my coloring to calm myself down.
Max grips my thigh lightly under the desk as he whispers, “good girl”. I take another deep breath and relax as I place my hand on top of his and squeeze. He flips his hand over and interlocks our fingers, holding my hand firmly so I can’t let go. I try to hide the tiny smile I know is on the corner of my mouth.
Maybe I could keep him just a little bit longer.
As Mrs. Pinkins teaches the lesson, Max eventually has to let go of my hand to work on the problems she writes on the board. I notice him pull out his phone at one point and he starts typing away on it for a few minutes before he puts it away, looking at me with a soft smile.
As he turns back to the teacher, I start paying attention to her lesson as well and am surprised that it’s all math I learned yesterday. I start reading the equations she writes out, wishing I could try to solve them. I only have my coloring books to write in, plus I’m not supposed to be able to do this work. My mother made it quite clear that I was supposed to color and keep my head down. But would it be breaking the rules if nobody sees me do it?
I reread the first question on the board, and when I figure out the solution in my head, I write the answer as small as I can, in pencil crayon, inside the dragon’s wing I’ve been coloring. It kind of looks like a swirling pattern.
I continue, aligning the numbers along the inside of the wing, so if you don’t look too close, it just looks like a pretty pattern. It lets me follow along as Mrs. Pinkins has students come up to write out the answers on the board. I’m not sure why they have to write out all the work to get to the answer. Couldn’t they do that in their head like me? I’m pleased when the class ends, and I had got every one correct.
We pack up our bags and Max gives me a wink, making my cheeks heat again. Why did I keep reacting to him like that? He gently takes my backpack from me as I try to put it on. I try to pull it back, but he throws it on his shoulder, along with his own, and grabs my hand.
“Nope. New girl privilege. You get your bags carried for you until I deem otherwise,” he says with a nod. I give up my attempt to reclaim my bag and shake my head at him. If he wants to help me, who am I to complain? Besides, I’m happy to give my arm some relief.
As we exit the class, Max starts to pull me to the side of the hall as he speaks. “So I hear you met my brother, Jasper, yesterday. He’s in your science class, so he’s going to meet us and take you there next. Oh, here he is. Hey, Jasper.”
I glance up and see Jasper standing there, waiting for us. He sees me and a warm smile crosses his face. “Good morning, Angel. It’s good to see you in class today. Are you ready to come to science with me?” He holds out his hand to me. I glance up at Max, and he smiles and nods.
“Same thing goes with Jasp. If you feel like you need to get out of there, just tap his hand twice and he’ll get you somewhere quiet as quickly as he can, okay?” His eyes bounce between me and Jasper while he speaks, making sure Jasper knows my signal. I nod and give his hand a squeeze in thanks before letting go to grasp his twin’s hand, letting him pull me close while Max passes him my bag .
Max places his palm on my cheek as he speaks. “Alright, Sweetheart, I’ll see you at lunch, alright?” I nod and he turns to leave in the opposite direction.
As Jasper leads me down the hall by my hand, I notice all the staring and murmurs again. I try gently pulling my hand free, but Jasper just turns his head to me and gently smiles. “I don’t want you getting lost, you’re so tiny it’d be easy to lose sight of you,” he says with a small chuckle. I did not think I was little. I mean, compared to him, I was short, and I often felt like I was too thin. But my mother constantly reminded me that I was too big. And compared to the girls in this high school, I did feel like my proportions were too extreme.
Jasper leads me into a classroom. It’s set up just like the math class, with individual desks all facing the front. He silently directs me to the back corner, where he drops my hand then drags the desk so it’s pressed against the corner one. I bite my lip when a small smile tries to break free, realizing he’s doing the same thing Max did.
My eyes widen as I look around the class. None of the other desks are set up like this. I look at the teacher standing at the front and he gives me a small smile. Okay, so I guess this is allowed then. But why did Jasper do that?
“Alright, Angel, take a seat here.” Jasper motions to the corner desk. It meant he’d be between me and the rest of the class, like Max did. They really were twins. I liked that, it felt like he was protecting me from their comments and eyes. I sit down and get out my coloring book.
I notice the teacher walking towards us and glance up, worried we were going to get in trouble for moving the desks. “Hello, you must be Mina. I’m Mr. Yang, your chemistry teacher. Looks like you are settled in there. You can let me or Jasper know if you need anything, alright?” I nod my head, relieved I wasn’t in trouble. Mr. Yang smiles, then moves back to his desk at the front of the class.
“Your name is beautiful. Mina...” Jasper whispers my name quietly, almost to himself. I can’t look at him with the blush on my face, so I start to color. I sense him turn his focus to the lesson Mr. Yang was teaching, so I do the same.
I don’t know anything about chemistry, so I listen intently. It’s fascinating. As he starts referring to pages in a text book, Jasper pushes his so it’s between us. When I glance up at him, he smiles down at me with those beautiful green eyes. He doesn’t say anything and instead points to the part Mr. Yang was speaking about.
Unable to resist the chance to learn, I follow along, silently reading and glancing up as he teaches the lesson. I feel like this is my first real school experience. I’m actually learning something! I can’t stop the smile that covers my face as I answer his questions in my head and get them all right. I wish I’d been in school for years, I’d be so smart if I had. Maybe I’d have been smart enough to figure out a way to leave home by now.
I just didn’t know enough about the world right now to do it. I knew I’d starve and freeze to death pretty fast without my mother. She reminded me of that enough. Not that I ever had the chance to run away, being locked in the basement all the time. Going to school was the first time I’ve been allowed to leave the house since I was young. And I’m still not sure why it’s happening now.
Those thoughts remind me of my mother’s warnings and I suddenly come to my senses, realizing what I’ve been doing. I was making eye contact and reading the textbook. If she found out, she would punish me… Badly. But I’m not sure I’d be able to sit in this class and not pay attention. What do I do? I want to learn, but the thought of punishment was terrifying. Jasper must have picked up on my unease, when my breathing starts to become labored.
“Hey, Angel?” I hear Jasper whisper and turn to him. His green eyes look at me with worry. “Are you okay?” I reach up with my shaking hand and tap his hand twice. He gives me a quick nod, then immediately stands up, grabbing my hand gently and dragging me out of the classroom. He leaves all our stuff behind, but right now I’m just happy to get out of there. I’m surprised Mr. Yang doesn’t even pause his lesson as we make our exit.
“Don’t worry, Angel. I’m gonna take care of you. I’ll get Max to grab our stuff and meet us in the library.” He gives my hand a little squeeze as he pulls out his phone and starts typing while he leads me down the hall.