The Low Notes (8 page)

“
I did my book report on
Lolita
by Vladimir Nabokov,” she giggled, looking at him again. Each student turned to stare at him simultaneously and he felt his face grow red. Nina walked back to her seat in the back row on the far right side and fixed her eyes to him as well, letting the pencil she was holding sit delicately between her lips. Booming laughter came from the gallery of students before him.

Kevin sat straight up, covered in sweat. He glanced at the clock just as it flipped to 6:00 am and his alarm began to buzz horribly. Sasha sat up slowly from her pillow bed on the floor and looked at him sweetly. Kevin swung his legs over the edge of the bed, feeling his body trembling. Drawing in deep breaths, he settled his nerves before throwing on his clothes and heading downstairs to hook Sasha onto her leash for their ritualistic walk.

The breeze was cool and dewy as the pair took a trip around the block, waking them both for the day. Kevin tried to push the memory of his dream out of his head. All he wanted was to see Nina again, no matter what his dream implied.

Chapter Sixteen

After slamming her locker shut, Nina began walking briskly toward her first class. She’d been up too late waiting on a response from Kevin. She’d finally fallen asleep with her math book splayed across her chest and very little of her homework done.

The bell rang as she scooted into room B100 just in the nick of time then she saw him. She held back a laugh as she realized they had matching dark circles under their eyes. Clearly he'd suffered a long night as well. Class started and Nina listened intently to Kevin’s voice as he lectured them on the tools of poetry. Nina felt herself sigh each time his eyes met hers. She was truly a schoolgirl with a crush. When Kevin made a joke the whole class thought was funny, he laughed with a beaming smile and looked right at Nina. For the briefest of moments, neither of them broke the gaze.

“
Here's the list of terms that will be on an upcoming poetry quiz. Keep this paper. You can have the rest of class to work on your assignment for tomorrow,” Kevin said as he began sending around the stack of papers.

The girl who sat in front of Nina took a paper then turned to Nina. “That was the last one. He forgot you,” she said before turning back to the front of the class. Nina caught Kevin’s eye as he finished a soapbox speech to a boy in the front row about the romance of language. She knew he hadn’t forgotten her. In fact, she figured he’d been quite deliberate in his paper count. She slowly raised her hand and waited to be called on.

“
Yes Nina,” he said.

“
I didn’t get a worksheet,” she replied.

His head cocked to one side. “My mistake. Here,” he said as he grabbed a paper from the stack on the podium and began walking back to her. Nina’s hands were lying on the top of her desk as he reached her. Kevin slowly set the paper down and without hesitation let his index finger slide off the page and up into the curve of her thumb before heading to his desk.

Nina’s skin tingled where he touched her so much that she'd yet to move her hand from that place, feeling the energy of his touch. The bell rang, causing her to jump slightly then she peered over at Kevin, leaning back comfortably. Again she made the effort to look as though she was packing up her things until the last student was out the door.

Standing and slinging her bag over her shoulder, Nina stopped in her tracks, overtaken by a huge yawn escaping her lips.

Kevin chuckled. “Let me guess, bad dreams?”

Nina looked at him starkly. “No. Waiting by the phone.”

She smirked before walking out, intentionally glancing over her shoulder at him as she reached the hall.

****

For the first time since seeing her on stage at The Black Jewel, Kevin took in the glorious sight of her legs. Covered in dark blue jeans, the curves didn’t lie and he imagined her creamy white skin underneath. A chill ran up his spine seeing her pass by his door and out of sight. He couldn't believe he’d been so bold. Letting the simplest touch happen between them was electrifying. It could've been an accident and he wondered if she thought it had been.

The mystery of Nina was part of what gave him chills. He wanted to know more about her. He wanted to know how she’d gotten to be the way she was. Mature but still full of youth and seemingly self aware.
Seventeen.

Kevin’s second period students were starting to arrive when something caught his eye. Against the royal blue carpeting near the desk he’d come to consider Nina’s, there was a glint of light bouncing off something. He squinted as he neared the tiny object on the floor. Reaching down to pick up the glittering bauble, he smiled realizing who the earring belonged to. His smiled lingered as he thought about seeing her again to return it. It was the gentlemanly thing to do.

Chapter Seventeen

The lunchroom was crowded as Nina made her way to the salad bar, fixing herself a bowl. James was close behind, indulging in the standard rectangle pizza. He slid his tray next to hers on the steel tracks of the buffet and peered at her through her thick wall of dark hair that hung next to her face.

“
Are you
smiling
to yourself?” James asked, craning his head to get a better look at her. Nina whipped her head around and grinned coyly.

“
Maybe,” she said, letting her eyebrows rise.

She saw James roll his eyes. He knew he wouldn’t get an explanation from her. They made their way to an empty table but when James glanced at Nina again, the same absent smile.

“
I’ve been meaning to ask you something--” James’ voice trailed off as he took his first bite of the plastic looking pizza.

“
Oh my God, this is so good,” he said interrupting himself, joyfully.

Nina laughed. “What do you need to ask me?”

James’ face fell a bit and he took a deep breath. “Don’t get mad, but have you talked to Todd recently? I mean, I know you said you went out with that guy over the summer so I’m assuming you and Todd aren’t really together but, like, what the hell is going on? I can’t believe we haven't talked about this. It’s like we haven’t said more than two words to each other since school started.” James rambled on until Nina put her hands up in effort to stop his monologue.

He was right. Nina’s mind had been so preoccupied with thoughts of Kevin she had little else to talk about. She contemplated telling James the truth so many times but she was still so unsure exactly what it was she and Kevin were. How could she put that into words? For now, Kevin was her secret to keep. It didn’t feel like a lie.

Todd. Now that was a subject she’d left untouched for quite some time. If not for James and his grilling, she might have forgotten about Todd altogether.

Nina sighed, tucking a few strands of her hair behind her ear. When she opened her mouth to speak but was hushed by James quickly.

“
Oh honey, you lost an earring. I like it though. It’s very 80’s--,” James clearly saw the annoyed look in Nina’s eye as she stared at him, absently reaching up to feel her naked earlobe. “Carry on,” James added before continuing to eat his lunch.

“
I haven’t talked to Todd since he left. Since the first of June,” she said casually, biting off a fork-full of her salad. James’ eyes went wide and his hands slapped the table.

“
What?” he exclaimed.

Nina shrugged. “We didn’t exactly break up before he left but I’m certainly not going to be dating someone who hasn’t made the time to call or write me for three months. You know how he is. Selfish,” Nina said as she stabbed at her pile of lettuce and vegetables mindlessly.

She was avoiding James’ eyes, knowing he found her reaction suspect. Finally she spoke again, after mulling over her feelings about what happened with Todd for the first time.

“
We had an alright relationship but it’s over and who’s to say I won’t find some other guy?” Nina said, smiling to herself again, letting Kevin’s face creep back into her mind.

“
It’s pretty clear you already have a guy, Nina.” Her head snapped up to see James eyeing her blankly. The irrational paranoia filled her once again as she ran through her actions of the previous night in a split second.

A smile spread on James’ face, “Me. Duh. You’ve got me. Now that I know you two are Splitsville, I can say this. Todd Dawson is a complete tool.”

Nina burst out laughing. Relief swept over her hearing his joke instead of an accusation.

“
Not that I entirely disagree with you, but why do you say that?” she asked through fits of giggles.

James rolled his eyes at her. “Oh, you know! Todd thought he was better than the entire town of Wexley Falls. And you and I both know that's not the case. He was an okay guy for a starter boyfriend. But you need someone who's more mature and genuinely nice. And hotter. Too bad things with that other guy didn’t work out. I can see you with someone older.” James washed down his rant with a gulp of soda and smiled sweetly at Nina before they were interrupted by the bell.

The pair hopped up and headed for their lockers in the next hall over where Nina opened her locker and exchanged a few books from her bag, grabbing the notebooks and folders she needed for the second half of her day. Before she was finished, James was done at his locker and back at her side. He leaned his shoulders against the pale blue metal next to Nina’s, watching her impatiently as she primped in the mirror. Her fingers ran through her already smooth, dark hair. She checked her face for any imperfection as James continued to huff. He glared at Nina until he saw something that pulled his interest from her.

“
Nina!” he said in an excited whisper. Nina groaned, her lips currently being coated with shimmering gloss.

“
Hottie English teacher alert and he’s coming right for us,” he exclaimed, his tone still hushed. Nina’s ears perked at that. She gave herself one more examination before closing her locker, seeing Kevin in the distance.

The hall seemed to go dim and each student slowly disappeared from her view, their voices diminished. She saw only Kevin walking to a soundtrack in her mind. He walked toward her in slow motion, his hand rising to push through his thick chestnut hair. Their eyes locked and as he got closer, a smile crept onto his lips.

She heard James’ voice, sounding miles away in her ears, muttering a sentence containing the words
Jesus
and
gorgeous
. He approached and the lights went back up and the thunderous voices of the halls grew loud again. She stood before him stunned, a blank look painting her face.

“
Hey Nina,” Kevin said. She breathed in the intoxicating scent of him, knowing James no doubt was doing the same.

“
Hi,” the single word fell out of her. His smile was as bright as it was the night he stumbled over his own words, trying to make her acquaintance. She hadn’t been this weak in his class or even on their date. But just minutes prior, as James unknowingly mentioned his positive thoughts of her with an older man, she felt a truth sink in to her heart. She was ready to fall for Kevin Reed.

His hand jutted out in front of her, fist closed, palm facing up. She and James both gave him puzzling looks and his smile spread wider. He chuckled as his hand opened to Nina slowly. James let out a quiet gasp as he recognized the sparkling jewel sitting in Kevin’s palm.

“
This was under your desk,” Kevin said, his voice hushed and raspy. Silently and unabashed, she let her fingers dip into the cup his hand had formed to retrieve her earring. Her fingertips grazed his skin deliberately. Nina teased and figured Kevin was enjoying her skin against his. She pulled away and pinned the earring back on before smiling at him.

“
Mr. Reed, that was really sweet of you. Thank you,” Nina gushed, putting her hand on his arm for only a second.

His fingers repeated the motion of running through his dark brown hair. Nina suspected he was nervous and it filled her with a blissful sense of excitement, a tingling tremor low in her abdomen. Kevin glanced at James who was staring at him, nearly drooling. Kevin nodded at both of them and timidly smiled before walking away without so much as a goodbye.

Nina felt her heart beating wildly in her chest and tried to control her breathing. Kevin had most certainly put a spell on her that wouldn't be easily broken if they kept playing this game. Nina adjusted her bag on her shoulder and looked at James to see if he was ready.

“
You've
got
to be kidding me,” James said, his face still looking stunned.

“
What?” Nina asked naively.

“
He is so in love with you. And it’s hilarious because you barely know he exists. You said he was
just
kinda
cute? What planet are you living on?” James was spewing his words out between scoffs as they walked through the halls, seemingly baffled by her, thinking she was clueless about Kevin’s affections. Keeping James in the dark would be easier than she thought.

“
He’s not in love with me, James. He’s my teacher,” Nina said, smiling to herself once more, careful not to let James see the truth.

Chapter Eighteen

The muted thud her Physics book made as it shut was music to Nina’s ears. Her homework was finished and now she was free to do as she pleased. As she wrote out her assignments and read her textbooks, her eyes shifted every few minutes to her cell phone. It sat on her white wooden desk on silent mode so as to not be too tempting, but she knew what might be waiting for her. She was hopeful Kevin would contact her after what happened between them in the hall. She let her lips curl into a grin thinking dreamily about the simplicity of her fingertips smoothing the curve of his palm.