Huntress Claimed Page 5

  Chapter Six

  I was starting to see a pattern with the classroom numbers. If there was a one in front, the classroom was on the first floor. So, my Spanish III class was room 103; it was the third classroom on the first floor, which was past my Creative Writing class that I had had earlier in the day in room 115.

  Spanish III was very similar to most of my other classes; however, the teacher, Senora Greenwell, spoke nothing but Spanish. It was to be expected; after all, it was a level three class. She started out the class with a greeting in Spanish and then had us go around the room introducing ourselves and what we liked about our Spanish II class, of course in Spanish. It seemed rather difficult for most of the students, but again, I had excelled in Spanish, so I found this easy.

  After this, the lesson went back to what I had become accustomed to on the first day of school: expectations, rules, curriculum, etc., but of course, all in Spanish. And even though it was easy to follow along, Spanish III would be a concentration class for me, and I would not have the luxury to zone out. After my science class and engagement with Nate, this may have been a blessing. I would have to focus on the subject and turn my mind off to distracting boys or a certain boy in particular.

  With Spanish class done, there was one more period, one more class remaining for the day: German I. Because I had taken many of the requirements in my middle school, I was left with an empty period in my schedule, and I was not familiar with the term "study hall." So, I had decided to take German. It sounded fun, easy, and I had a love of languages that I couldn't make anyone understand.

  My German I classroom was the only classroom left at the end of the school, room 100. It seemed to be isolated by a cement wall and lockers. It felt a little eerie walking into the secluded classroom and being that it was only a couple rooms down from my Spanish III classroom, I was the first one in. And I indeed was the first one in. My teacher, Ms. Hollander, was not even in the room yet.

  Knowing what I had known from the rest of my classes, I assumed that the desks were in alphabetical order, so I headed to the back room. I would wait for Ms. Hollander to change them when the time came since I did not see a visual of the seating chart anywhere.

  Students started filing in, sitting wherever, and really, before I had a chance to get settled, I saw Ajax walk into the room. A mischievous glint caught his eye when he saw me, and he took the seat next to mine.

  "Well, if it isn't our little homewrecker," he teased, to which I scowled.

  "I don't want to wreck anything," I muttered, annoyed and partly exasperated.

  Ajax lightly punched me in the shoulder. "I believe you. Although I do have to hand it to Red, you might actually be the one to break Nate and Korina up. I have never seen Nate look at another girl like he looks at you. Not even his own girlfriend." He laughed at his joke, while I felt myself blush slightly.

  At the mentioning of "looking at another girl," it dawned on me that Ajax seemed to have a very similar look when he looked at Meredith.

  "You mean how you looked at Meredith when you thought no one was looking at you?"

  Ajax's face paled, and for the first time since I had met Ajax, he seemed speechless.

  "So you do like her."

  Even though his face was pale, his neck began to turn red.

  "You are too observant for your own good." Ajax looked away from me as if he was ending our conversation.

  "You should tell her."

  Ajax refused to look at me.

  "There's nothing wrong with telling a single girl that you like her. There's a good chance she may like you back."

  "It's complicated," Ajax said without humor or a glance in my direction. For once, I felt like I was seeing the real Ajax underneath the witty front that he seemed to put on.

  But regardless, I was annoyed with his word choice, which was similar to Nate's. "Why do all the boys say that? Do you have a girlfriend or something?"

  Ajax shook his head.

  "Then how is it complicated?"

  "Erie is not my permanent residence."

  "So you are planning to move?"

  Ajax gave a noncommittal shrug.

  "Or are you like me and your family moves around a lot too?"

  I didn't get any reaction from Ajax to verify my questions, but I felt like I might have been on to something.

  "I know the feeling of not wanting to get close to people, knowing they may not be around," I continued. "I'll keep your secret and not tell her."

  Ajax looked at me then, his eyes again twinkling with mischief. "And I promise to keep all of your secrets." A hint of a smirk tilted his lips.

  "I don't really have any secrets. So I am not sure what ‘secrets' you are implying."

  Ajax paused to think and seemed to settle on something.

  "How about that you are secretly in love with Nate?" He questioned, teasing written on his face.

  I huffed. "I am not sure that is too much of a secret, Ajax. It seems everyone around here knows I like him. But fine, you don't tell anyone about my feelings for Nate, and I won't tell anyone your feelings for Meredith."

  The bell rang then, and Ms. Hollander finally entered the classroom. Red hair seemed to be the theme at Erie High School, as Ms. Hollander's hair was a vivid red as well. But unlike Meredith's brownish-red, and Korina's deep vibrant red, Ms. Hollander's was an orange-red with streaks of blonde and vibrant red. It was a lovely shade on her petite frame. Actually, everything about her was rather attractive. Even as she spoke to us, explaining to her students that she had never had any problems with her students in any of her classes, her voice seemed compelling and soothing.

  "So, feel free to sit wherever you feel most comfortable," she said in that entrancing voice, smiling kindly to us.

  I noticed in that moment that the classroom shuffled around, and all the students except Ajax and myself took seats in the front rows. Not only that, but I also noticed that the other students seemed wholly focused on Ms. Hollander. Their faces were captivated as if Ms. Hollander held their entire world. Even the girls were inspired by Ms. Hollander.

  And even though I thought Ms. Hollander was attractive, and her voice was melodious, I didn't feel as captivated at the rest of the students. In fact, part of me started to feel tense; as if, Ms. Hollander could be a scary ass bitch if she wanted to despite that external softness she was portraying to her students. I wasn't the only one who was not entranced by Ms. Hollander's beauty. I looked over at Ajax and saw that his face was drawn down, and his lips were tight and pulled down into a frown.

  Class proceeded like most of the others with a few conversational German phrases mentioned as an introduction to the course. Unlike the others, when Ms. Hollander said something like, "you might want to write this down," the students as if they were drones, scrambled to write down whatever it was; instead of normal teenagers, who would just look at the teacher as if he or she said something completely foreign. Even the seconds before the ending bell would ring, the students sat in their seats and didn't bother putting away their materials until Ms. Hollander told them it was time. It felt very unnerving. When the bell did finally ring, Ajax and I rushed out of the class together.

  "Okay… was it just me or did you think the class seemed a little….," I paused, not too sure how to articulate my concern, as we walked toward our lockers.

  "Enthralled?" Ajax finished for me.

  "Okay, so it wasn't just me then," I responded, looking at Ajax.

  He remained quiet, almost pensive, as we headed toward the staircase.

  "You didn't seem enraptured by Ms. Hollander," I pried, trying to get some sort of response as to what he was thinking.

  Ajax studied me for a moment, raising a tawny eyebrow. "Were you?"

  I thought for a moment. Even though Ms. Hollander's beauty was unusually attractive and her voice was almost hypnotic, I didn't feel the need to move my seat closer to her. I was also able to notice my surroundings and had my wits about me.

  "No," I replied.
"Although, it's silly to say she can enrapture people. Like there is something odd about Ms. Hollander." I glanced at Ajax again,, who was still pensive. "Is there something odd about Ms. Hollander?"

  Ajax studied me again, almost warring with himself on what to say to me. There was no mischievous glare in his eyes. He was very severe and stoic as he looked at me. I felt warning bells going off in the pit of my stomach.

  "Do you think there is?" He questioned me again.

  I wanted to say "yes," but what mentally healthy person would believe that there was something unexplainable about their teacher. Perhaps a child with a vivid imagination, but not someone trying to make friends and trying so hard to fit in. Worried that he would think that I was odd and start to ostracize me, I laughed it off and shook my head, to which, Ajax looked away.

  We had reached the staircase that I had been using all day and needed to use to get to my locker. Unlike departing with Meredith and Nate, both of whom I had paused and said goodbye, Ajax waved at me, said "See ya, Walker," and continued down the hallway on the first floor toward his locker. I shrugged as I went up the stairs.

  I didn't feel as close of a connection to Ajax as I had with Meredith and Nate, and I think he had probably felt the same with me. It wasn't that he was unfriendly, but it appeared that he had too many mood swings. Most of the time he was goofy, but sometimes he was too brooding, or serious and closed off. Perhaps his life was not too different from mine, moving from place to place. It made it difficult to want to open up to anyone. Somehow though, Meredith and Nate had gotten under my wall, and I wanted to share everything with them.

  Chapter Seven

  I knew Erie was going to be different from the other schools, and for the first time ever, I felt like I was in a place that I could belong. And that happiness seemed to spark something in me as I started packing my bag from my locker with the school materials that I would need to complete any homework I had for the night, which was very little considering it was the first day of school.

  True to her word, Meredith approached my locker, as I was finishing up, her own bookbag, a brown suede satchel, on her back, all ready to go.

  "So, how did you like your first day of Erie?" She asked as I pulled my bag out of my locker.

  "I liked it. Even with its down moments," I replied, putting my bookbag on my back.

  "What? You never had drama moments like these at your other schools," she looked at me quizzically as we stood in front of my locker.

  "Actually, no," I laughed. "I kept to myself."

  The look on her face told me that she really wasn't sure she was buying what I had to say.

  "We moved around a lot," I tried to clarify. "I didn't really have time to make too many friends. No friends, no drama."

  "Well, that's kinda sad," she remarked to which I shrugged. I didn't really feel like getting into it at the end of such a fascinating day.

  "Come on," she continued, happily ignoring my comment. "Let's meet up with the guys at Nate's locker and make sure we are still on for practice."

  I let Meredith lead the way to Nate's locker. It was on the first floor by the other end of the cafeteria, next to the staircase. The school by this time was becoming rather empty as we walked against the traffic of the students, who were heading out the front doors and the doors that lead outside from the cafeteria. With most of the students exiting the building, it actually wasn't that difficult going down the stairs to meet up with Nate and the guys, which was a blessing when I paused in the middle of the steps as I saw Nate and Korina making out by Nate's locker. Meredith, who was in front of me, stopped for a second too. My heart ached at that moment, and I saw Nate pull away from Korina immediately. He was looking around as if looking for something but couldn't find it.

  I tried to bury heart, and feign a calm that wasn't coming to me right that second as I found myself picking back up and continuing down the steps behind Meredith who looked as disappointed as I felt.

  Apparently, I wasn't the only one disappointed. I saw Jesse and Ajax walking toward Nate's locker from the other end of the school with frowns on their faces.

  I had promised myself and Nate that we would only be friends, and I had to keep telling myself this as we approached them. I wasn't going to blow this.

  It was Korina's turn to frown as she looked around to see why Nate had pulled away from her so abruptly, and both had finally noticed the four of us approaching them.

  "You ready?" Ajax asked Nate, not even bothering to look at Korina. The seriousness was back in Ajax' face.

  Nate looked sheepish as he took in the fact that we were all waiting for him.

  "Getting there." Nate turned away from us, digging into his locker, and getting his bookbag ready to go.

  "So, I forgot to ask you, Caden, when we were at your locker but did you decide if you were joining us?" Meredith asked me in front of the group. From her wording, it sounded as if she meant to stir up drama, which of course it did when Korina's face became enraged once again that day in my presence.

  "She can't come!" Korina exclaimed.

  "And why not?" Meredith questioned,

  "She's not in the band."

  "Neither are you," Meredith deadpanned.

  "I'm Nate's girlfriend."

  "When you want to be," Ajax muttered under his breath to which Nate glared at him. "What?" he questioned to Nate quietly.

  "Well, she's my friend. So I am inviting her," Meredith snapped back, her hands going to her hips.

  This seemed to stump Korina for a moment as she pursed her lips, trying to come up with some other reason why I couldn't hang out with the group. Her eyes lit up, and she started to smirk.

  "It's Nate's say. It's his garage."

  I felt my stomach dive. This was going to be a tricky situation. Nate's girlfriend or me? Nate looked around at the others as if he was assessing something. Then he looked at me with searching eyes. Even though I was already in the middle, I didn't want Nate to have to choose. Feeling my chest hurt a little, I opened my mouth ready to decline the offer, but Nate spoke before I could get anything out.

  "She can come."

  Korina opened her mouth in shock as my heart skipped a beat. I could sense that there was about to be another fight between those two. I started backing away from the group slowly.

  "Um, I have to talk to my sister, Sera, anyway to see if I can come over. I'll just let you two discuss it," I replied.

  "I'm coming with you," Meredith responded, joining my departure from the angry couple.

  "We'll meet you at Nate's. Come on, Ajax. Let's get going," Jesse replied.

  "But I am going to miss the show," Ajax whined.

  Jesse pulled on Ajax's arm, trying to get his friend to move. "Come on."

  Chapter Eight

  "So why do you have to ask permission from your sister?" Meredith asked me while we were a little way from the group, heading back toward the fishbowl, which was the library.

  "She's my guardian," I responded nonchalantly.

  Meredith paused a moment in her step, looking shocked. I hadn't had to really explain to anyone about my family situation before. It didn't bother me as much as what it had in the past, but it was still awkward.

  "Our parents died a couple years ago, and Sera is my guardian," I clarified.

  "Is she old enough to be your guardian? Is she a student here?" Meredith looked a little confused.

  I grinned a little at the silliness of Sera being a high school student.

  "She's twenty-three. And no, she's not a student here. She works here as an assistant to the librarian."

  "Wow! That's a huge age difference."

  Awkwardly, again, I began, "Yeah, well…Sera is not my biological sister. I was adopted by her parents when I was a baby, and she was nine. My parents…died."

  Meredith's face became sympathetic. "I know about the death thing. My dad died when I was four. I barely remember him anymore. I vaguely remember what he looks like, but I don't really have any fond m
emories of him. My parents divorced when I was two. I didn't spend a lot of time with him. But death still sucks."

  I met her comment with silence. There really wasn't much to say, and we had arrived at the library. I pulled open the glass doors and headed straight to Sera's office, pointing to her door as we passed the librarian secretary, who really didn't look up from her computer anyway.

  Sera's office was on the left behind the circulation desk. Her door wasn't closed all the way, leaving a small crack open. It was ajar enough that we could hear two voices conversing inside, one Sera's and the other was a guy's. And I could see glimpses of movement and dirty blonde hair.

  "So are we on for this weekend then?" The male voice asked.

  There was a pause before Sera answered.

  "I already told you that I have responsibilities," Sera responded, but she didn't sound exasperated like I had expected her to.

  "The rugrat is old enough to stay at home, right?" Although he didn't make the question sound demeaning but rather light-hearted as if he was joking around, I still narrowed my eyes at the door.

  "I really need to talk it over with my sister."

  "Well, you know where to find me."

  I heard some shuffling before a hand pulled back on the door. The door opened, revealing the beach boy, Abercrombie and Fitch, college, jock model with wavy dirty blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes from earlier. He even had dimples in his cheeks when he smiled at us with his perfect white teeth.

  I narrowed my eyes again at him. Sure he was good looking, but I could tell he knew that.

  "Excuse me. This rugrat needs to see her sister," I commented as I walked past him, entering Sera's office with Meredith following behind me.

  Sera smiled sheepishly at the man behind me.

  "I'll talk to you later, Daniel," she said as I plopped down into a chair across from her and her desk. Meredith slid into the chair to my left. I looked behind me, making sure Mr. All-Star had left before I opened my mouth. I saw his form retreating from the library