Fallen (18 page)

“I’m sure we will,” I replied, under my breath
,
as he turned to face the whiteboard. “Mr. Moron.”

Students close enough heard me clearly and did their best to
muffle
their laughter. Still, Mr. Morow spun around
and marched to my desk
.

He
towered
over me,
with his
hands on his hips.

“Would you like to repeat what you just said?”

“I said
…
I’m sure we will,
” I
countered,
intentionally exclud
ing my new term of endearment for him
.

He didn’t move for
an exaggerated minute.
O
ther students in the class became uncomfortable
during this pause
, even though they weren’t the ones being pinned by Mr. Morow’s
unrelenting
stare. Finally, he turned
to
march back up the aisle.

“
Didn’t you
also
call him Mr. Moron?
”
someone
jeered
from behind
me.

Granted,
I’d only heard the voice a few times,
but still,
I instantly knew who it
belonged to
.

Achan was calling me out.

I turned to face him.
A
smile
was threatening to invade his face, hiding
beneath
his smug expression
.

“I think you heard wrong,” I challenged.

He lifted one eyebrow.
“
No, I don’t believe I did,” he replied, coolly.

It was the first time we spoke to each other
,
and
based on this
initial
conversation
,
it was evident that we
both
h
arbored
an unwavering dis
dain
for one another.
When o
ur eyes locked, s
parks of distrust and loathing
surged along
an
invisible
conduit
that somehow
connect
ed
us.

This was also the first time I
was given
a direct view of
Achan. Being this close to him,
it occurred to me that hidden beneath his boyish face and good looks, if
you chose to
look close enough, his age could
truly
be seen. I couldn’t put my finger on it
,
but I was certain
that
he was far
older than the average
teenager.

The bell rang
,
interrupting my realization,
but no one moved.

“Well,” Achan
finally
said. “I have another class to get to.”

When he stood, the rest of the students
mimicked him and walked
out of class
,
like mindless followers
,
to fervently discuss what had just happened.

Mr. Morow, the only one left besides me, suddenly appeared uncomfortable
in
my presence. I collected my books, zipped up my bag, and headed for the door.

“Ms. Tanner?” he called out.

“Yes, Mr. Morow,” I replied only slightly turning to look at him.

His face was grave
.
“Behave in my classroom. You were already on thin ice before the day even started.”

I wanted to ask him exactly what I had done to get there but realized no good would come
of
that
.
So I simply nodded and left
.
I managed to
avoid the cluster of students gathered around Achan in the hall
,
but
they
stopped gossiping long enough to stare at me as I passed.

I headed for
F
encing, glad it
was
my last
class
for the day.
It
was held in a musty,
archaic
gym the size of a single tennis court
. I
was accompanied by
twenty other
students
who all seemed to know each other and
showed
no interest in meeting me. Still, it was better than a classroom with Achan in it.
The class
seemed
long,
went by
slow, and
was
generally dull.

After
class
, I cut across the back lawn
in order to reach the parking lot. I was so eager to get to my bike
that
I had to fight the urge to strap
on
the helmet that I’d been carrying around all day.

If it
wasn’t
for the hair
suddenly
standing up on my neck again, I
may have done just that
.
In hindsight,
it was
probably
a good idea
.

The next few moments happened very slowly for me
;
though I’m sure in reality
,
everything else was moving at lightning fast speed.

I heard a commotion that I only vaguely registered as
screaming
in
the
distance.
I didn’t pay much attention
,
because something else had already caught my interest.

Someone was
now right beside me
.

I had walked across the field on my own,
after
let
ting
the rest of the class
go ahead
, so I couldn’t
figure out
how anyone could get close enough to me without my noticing
.
Yet, without a doubt,
I knew
someone
was near me. I could feel them
,
even if I didn’t immediately see anyone.

I spun around
,
search
ing
for
the person
,
but found
myself
standing
squarely in the middle of the field
;
a staggering distance,
no less than two
-
hundred yards
,
separating
me
from any structure.

In a split-second
, my body tensed
, bracing for an impact,
but
there was no logical reason for this
reaction
.
Maybe only a millisecond had
passed when
I felt a force hit me
;
firm, but not hard
. Simultaneously,
a
feverish voice
boomed
around me.

“Watch out!”

The
playing field’s
cold, hard ground met my spine with a
smack,
but
the contact had
far less impact than I would have expected. Something broke my fall.

My eyes fluttered open as I tried
to
comprehend what had just taken place
.
I was trying
to understand how I c
ould be standing one moment and
end up lying on the
hard
earth
in the blink of an eye
.
I spent the next few minutes focusing, trying to stop
my head from
perpetually
spinning. It took me a
considerable
amount of time – I’m not sure how long but a good amount – before I realized someone was on top of me.

I blinked, adjusting my eyesight, and found
Eran
staring down
within inches of me
. The entire length of his body
pinned
me to the ground
,
h
is arms propping him up slightly to avoid crushing the air from my lungs
.
I
appreciated
that
.

“Are you hurt?”
he asked, his usual irritated tone
had been
replaced with
genuine
concern.

“I-I don’t think so
…
No,” I said, mentally checking
random
part
s
of my body for pain.

“Are you sure?”
h
e insist
ed
. “Shock sometimes masks the symptoms of an injury.”

“Yes, I’m pretty sure,” I said
.

“
Good.” He seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. “T
hat was a close one.”