4| Redeem
Creative Writing is my first period almost every single day of the week. I don't know why I take this class, I don't have much creativity within me but it seemed easier than my other choices which were biology, history, music, and art.
She walked into class with Kendall and hesitated but took her seat beside me nonetheless, it's not like she's got much of a choice.
"Hi," she mumbled. I pretended to not hear her and continued, staring at the pencil that I was tapping against the table.
She took a deep breath before laughing humorlessly.
"That's annoying, will you please stop?"
I don't know why, but I actually listened to her and I stopped. I glanced at her, catching her smile.
She put her arms down on the table and her head in her arms, facing me. "Hi, Nathan," she sang, "How are you today?"
"Are you insane?" I asked. I was genuinely curious. She cursed at me like a thousand different times yesterday and now she's acting all sweet?
"I'm the new girl, so I'm trying not to make too many enemies. I don't want to start the list off with you. So, friends?" she asked, sticking her hand out.
"What the hell are you doing?" Kendall asked her, going as far as to stand up and stand in front of our tables.
"Trying to redeem myself," she answered.
That's what it is? She doesn't wanna come off as the new girl who is also a bitch?
"I don't want him to hate me for no solid reason, nor do I wanna hate him without a solid reason. So, friends?" she asked me again.
"I don't make friends," I answered, looking around the room.
"Please? Consider it a favor," she shrugged.
"No," I deadpanned.
"At least I tried," she sighed, shrugging as Mr. Cole walked in. Kendall went back to her seat and I caught Brandon's eye.
'What the fuck?' I mouthed at him.
He simply shrugged, smiling to himself.
Did he put her up to this? Because she looks like Chloe?
"Brandon, that's not funny," I glared at him.
"I didn't ask her to do that," he chuckled.
"All right, everybody. Listen up, I'm only gonna give these instructions once.
Find a partner, one boy, and one girl, please.
Both of you will write a detailed description of each other, this is meant to help expand your vocabulary, you can use the dictionary and thesauruses in the room or on your phones. "
The class went into a frenzy, eager to pick partners.
"Nevermind, I'm picking your partners, sit down!" He clapped loudly, silencing everyone. "Abigail, you go with Jordan..." and this went on until, "The final four. Nathan, Brandon, Kendall, and Emma. Hmm," he fell into thought.
I swear to god, this man thinks a lot.
"Brandon, you go with Kendall. Nathan and Emma, pair up," he ordered.
"Sir, maybe I could go with Emma," Brandon cleared his throat.
"No," he said slowly, "I see the two of them working better together.
Go on now, take your seat beside Kendall please, Brandon.
" Brandon sighed, standing up and walking over to Kendall.
I don't know if he was trying to do that because he didn't wanna work with Kendall, or because he knows I don't wanna work with Emma.
"Discussion isn't necessary for this, is it Mr. Cole?" I asked.
"Ouch," she mumbled under her breath.
"I would highly recommend it, Mr. Sterling," he replied.
"That means it's not necessary," I concluded.
"You don't have to be so rude, you know," she said, grabbing a pen and her notebook from her bag.
"To start off, sit facing each other. All of you. And make a quick list of key features. You can use that to write at least a paragraph. This is just a starter task so make it quick. 20 minutes," Mr. Cole instructed.
We both groaned, turning to face each other. She crossed her legs as she stared at me, her pencil in between her lips as her eyes traveled across my face. I did the same.
Taking note of the way her hair curtained her face, the way she had a faint cut on her left eyebrow, the way her eyes were hazel, a little on the brown side, the way her nose had a small bump, she probably ran into a door as a kid, I wouldn't put it past her, the way freckles hopped across her nose and spread out onto her cheeks, the way she had a habit of biting onto her bottom lip and the inside of her cheek.
The way her eyes narrowed down when she was focused on something.
"What is that?" she asked.
"What is what?" I huffed.
"That," she said, touching my chin with her pencil.
"It's a scar, I fell down when I was a kid," I said, pushing her pencil off.
"How?"
I also took note of the way her nose scrunched up when she was confused. I know that also happened when she laughs because she did when I said, "I fell into the pool and hit my chin on the edge."
"How did you fall?"
"My flip flop broke."
She laughed, catching everyone's attention. She clamped her hand over her mouth and hid under her arms, her face in her knees as she hugged them. "Sorry," she chuckled.
"He made her laugh?" someone whispered.
"I didn't think you had it in you," she said, watching me.
"To do what?" I rolled my eyes.
"To make me laugh," she smiled before sitting upright, facing the front as she got down to writing. I shook my head and started writing as well. I pulled out my phone along with half the class almost halfway through but I noticed that she didn't. Writing must be her forte.
"All right, time's up. Switch. Let them read what you wrote of them. Mark it out of 10. Adding up accuracy and vocabulary please," Mr. Cole said.
"Okay, there you go," she said, handing me her notebook and I handed her mine.
Nathan Sterling-
His eyes were the glimmering color of emerald, sparkling in the light of the morning sun like a fresh sheen of morning dew.
When he turned his head, this way and that, they caught the light and played tricks with anything and everything that screamed 'spring.
' And when he lifted his pale face to the sky, the emerald shifted into the color of deep ocean shimmering in the moonlight, gold flakes pooling in them.
I glanced at her. "I didn't know my eyes were that green," I said.
"Your eyes are the greenest eyes I've ever seen but they get kind of blue under the lighting, keep reading," she said without lifting her eyes from her paper.
With a faint scar peeking through his eyebrow, and a dimple embedded into both his cheeks that shone through under the shadows of his bones.
.. He has tousled dark brown hair, which was thick and lustrous.
His face was strong and defined, his features molded from granite.
To go along with that, he's cold.He looks cold.
Almost inhospitable yet there is something inviting about him.
Ultimately, he seems sad, somber, almost heartbroken, and defeated.
- The description.
I flipped the page, just to see what else she had in the notebook and there were just two lines.
I wonder what did that to him. I wonder who did that to him.
I turned it back to the page where she wrote the description and slid the notebook back over to her. No one has ever made such an accurate description of me before or figured me out so easily. It was very confusing and very... drawing to say the least. It made me wonder how she did it.
"Did you like it?" she asked, turning to me, "Sorry about the last part, it's fine if you don't like it, it's just what I felt," she shrugged, "But did you like it?" The class only had faint voices going around as they discussed and gave each other feedback.
I then said something even I didn't expect myself to say. "I loved it."
"You did?" Her eyes lit up and she grinned. "Really? Cause- whoa, are you okay?" she asked as I shot up out of my seat.
"I really have to go," I said, more to myself as I was already halfway out the door.
I got to the back of the school, after sprinting the whole time.
I was panting and out of air for my lungs when I sat down against the floor, pulling out a cigarette.
I let out a breath with the smoke, feeling the air that was suffocating me evaporate from my lungs.
I panicked. I panicked because reading that description, even if it described me as sad, heartbroken, and cold.
For those few minutes that I was reading that, I didn't hate myself.
Not one bit. I actually thought I wasn't half bad.
It was just a description of what I looked like, nothing more, nothing less, but she read me better than anyone ever has.
Better than...
The weird part is, even if it was just for a split second, she did something that made me not hate myself. In fact, I actually really liked myself.
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