Jaidas took the seat beside Logan right away. They were already talking. Two obnoxious boys sitting by each other all year, not Aira’s idea of a good time especially because they fed off each other.
Aira looked to the desk at the back and made her way there trying not to make eye contact with him and sat down. She wouldn’t turn her head even once. The boy had his elbow on the desk rubbing his chin with the back of his fingers. He smiled, then opened his binder.
The teacher began to speak.
“Good morning class, I hope you all had a good summer. I’m Mr. Robinson, and I am your history teacher for the year.” Mr. Robinson was a great teacher, fun, exciting, enthusiastic, and quite a bit younger than the other teachers. The way he spoke made the students want to learn.
He began to hand out text books. They would be learning about the aftermath of World War I.
The hour was long. She couldn’t seem think of anything else, only that he was sitting right next to her. He kept looking at her like he wanted her to say something. She could sense that he was staring. It was obvious, but she wouldn’t look at him. Sitting with her own awkward tension started to feel uncomfortable, almost painful.
Jaidas, every once in a while, looked back at her, giving her a smile. Her head stayed straight forward.
As Mr. Robinson walked around the room, he noticed the new student.
“Oh, and we have a new student, Mr. Israel Shaylam, who moved from…” Pulling out a piece of paper Mr. Robinson looked to see where he was from.
Jaidas looked back at him almost instantly. There was only one time Aira had seen that same look in Jaidas’s eyes and that was the day he had gone and talked to Harlem’s dad. They looked cold, empty, and there was no expression on his face. It was almost like he was already waging war.
“We actually move around a lot,” Israel answered.
“Yes... right, okay,” Mr. Robinson replied still looking at the paper, “Well, let’s make sure we are all welcoming.” Mr. Robertson turned around, walked back to the front of the class and continued to talk.
Aira kept looking at Jaidas. His posture kept moving. He seemed uncomfortable, like he didn’t want to be there. He kept rubbing his forehead, then stretching, then rubbing the palm of his hands on his desk. He moved his hand to the back of his neck, and then repeated those movements in opposite order. Jaidas’s anxiousness actually made Aira feel more at rest. Maybe the tension she was feeling wasn’t even her own. Maybe it was his. Perhaps it was because another beautiful boy stepped into his territory. Either way, Jaidas didn’t look back again.
Most of the girls smiled at each other and looked at Israel.
Israel kept his head down, aware that the girls were making a fuss over him.
This must have pissed Aira off. She became irritated, and wasn’t a jealous person. She was used to girls falling all over themselves in front of Jaidas, but for some reason, for a split second, she felt an instant, absolute protectiveness over Israel.
He let out a slight smile as if he could feel what she was feeling. He moved his pen around on the page, then sat up a bit and began to write.
“Now let’s try and do our best this year,” Mr. Robinson spoke as the bell rang.
Jaidas was up and out of the class the very second the bell rang.
Aira grabbed her books off her desk, and stood up at the same time Israel had, and they sort of bumped into each other. He wasn’t overly tall but was taller than her. He was perfectly slender, svelte like. Aira looked up at him and his eyes, even though they had the look of beautiful blue, for a second were specks of all colors, like nothing she had ever seen before. It was like staring into the universe. She got lost in his eyes for what seemed to be forever, and yet it was only seconds. She had an overwhelming intense feeling of safety, familiarity, and a pull to him she had never felt with anyone before. His hand was gently cupping her elbow. Aira couldn’t seem to get any words out. He just smiled and then walked out of the classroom.
Aira stood still for a second, then sat back down at her desk, put her books down, and laid her head onto them.
Avery ran in and looked around.
“What are you doing?”
“I don’t know,” Aira smiled. She shook her head, pulled herself away from the desk and walked out with Avery.
It was only the first day of school and it already seemed to be dragging. Pre-calculus and social studies were back to back, two of her least favorite classes. Her math teacher, Mr. Anderson, was very on the ball, at least that’s how he acted. He was strict, irritated when someone asked a question he thought they should just know the answers to, he always seemed to be stressed out. Perhaps he was going through some kind of mid-life crisis.
Aira was never exceptional at math, so most of the class she spent wanting to bang her head against the wall and watching Jessie and Chelsey pass love notes to each other the whole time. It was the only class they had alone together, without Logan that is.
Her social studies teacher, Mrs. Bradford, wasn’t very tall, her hair was brown and always put in a messy bun that fell to the side. She wore black framed glasses as quirky as Joshua’s. She had the most drawn-out, monotone voice you could imagine. Someone was bound to fall asleep.
She took her time with everything she read. It was strange… the reactions most of the class had never failed to make Aira smile, mostly because Mrs. Bradford was too busy trying to make the class fall in love with even the most insignificant pieces of information to be aware of how actually boring and painful it could be. Despite that, everyone really loved her.
Finally the lunch bell rang.
Aira dropped her books off in her locker and walked to the loud and crowded cafeteria. She grabbed a tray and walked over to where the food was.
Jaidas walked in with Harlem and Sara. They stayed by the door and waited while Jaidas walked over to Aira.
“Babe, Sara forgot her gym stuff at home. I’m gonna take her and Harlem to get it.”
“Okay,” Aira replied, picking at things to put on her tray. She didn’t really give him much attention. Her back was still turned towards Jaidas.
“Hey...” Jaidas spoke softly, slowing turning her around to look at him. He removed the tray from her hands and put it down. He took both of his hands and placed them on each side of her hips giving her a look trying to get her to smile. “You look beautiful.” He moved his hand onto her cheek and then moved it behind her neck.
His look was intense. He leaned in, slowly kissed her cheek, moved to the corner of her mouth, and then her lips.
“Jaidas, let’s go!” Harlem hollered from the door.
He looked over at Harlem, then he looked back at Aira.
“We should do that more,” Jaidas smiled. Oh, that smile got him out of a lot of things.
He quickly gave her one more kiss then walked away.
“Hey,” she called to him.
“Ya babe?” Jaidas turned around.
“Is everything okay?”
Jaidas walked back towards her. “Of course, what do you mean?”
Aira didn’t want to seem overly obvious. “You seemed kind of different in class.”
Jaidas’s face turned serious only for a second. “I don’t know,” he lightly laughed, “I’m fine.”
He smiled then brushed her cheek with the back of his hand and walked away.
Aira could feel something from him, but he made it impossible for her to pry any more than she was already trying to.
Avery finally walked in, grabbed a tray and walked over to Aira.
“Sorry, I was fighting with my lock, again. I swear to God every year they give me the same damn one. It’s like a conspiracy or something.”
Aira smiled, grabbed an orange juice and waited for Avery to finish choosing her lunch. Aira’s attention quickly became very sharp as she turned around to look where th
ey could sit and saw Israel sitting at a table by himself, reading.
“Okay, I’m starving.” Avery walked over to a table across and a few tables away from Israel.
Aira followed her and sat down.
Her eyes wandered over his way. She didn’t want in any way to seem like it, but she was certainly very curious. Not only about Jaidas’s strange and out of character reaction towards him, but her own.
He seemed very involved in what he was reading, only taking a bite of his lunch every once in a while.
She twirled her fingers in her hair watching every one of his movements like they meant something, like they were important. He was fascinating to her.
“Aira,” Avery spoke, trying to get Aira’s attention.
“Ya?” she said looking back at Avery. She didn’t even know she had been staring.
“What do you think?”
“What do I think?” Aira had no idea what she was talking about.
“About going swimming this weekend? What is going on with you? You’re totally out of it.” Avery laughed.
“Nothing – I’m just tired, I guess. I haven’t really been sleeping very good lately.” Aira sat up a little more poised, then leaned back into her chair, pulling her hair over to one side and looked at Avery.
“Well, do you want to?”
“Ya… if it doesn’t rain.”
“I hope not.” Avery took a bite of her food.
Aira looked back over at Israel, her attention pulled to him like a magnet.
Joshua walked in and Avery became aware of him right away. She watched him diligently as he grabbed some food and walked over to where Israel was.
Israel lifted his head and offered him a chair to sit down. They had a few classes together and seemed to click, which is good because Joshua could never relate to Jaidas and his friends, or anyone really. He couldn’t seem to fit in anywhere. Jaidas and his friends irritated Joshua, and talking with the smart kids about the science fair for half a year before it would even arrive was completely out of the question. It was about time Joshua found a friend.
“He’s never gonna talk to me, is he?” Avery looked back at Aira frustrated.
“Why don’t you just ask him to do something?”
“Are you kidding me?” Avery answered like that was a far-fetched thing to say.
Aira laughed. “Avery… it’s been six years.”
“Exactly, and I can count on both my hands how many conversations I’ve had with him, if you could even call them that.”
“I’ve seen you try and talk to him, and he looks really happy when you do. You’re the one who gets awkward and ends the conversation, he’s just shy.”
“That’s ridiculous,” Avery scoffed.
“You’re ridiculous… and awkward.” Aira gave her a light smile.
“Speak for yourself.” She smiled back at Aira, then let out a small laugh and continued to eat her lunch.
Aira looked back only long enough to see Israel look over at her and notice she was looking. He started to talk to Joshua and must have said something to him because Joshua looked over at them.
Aira quickly turned her head.
The day went on. P.E. was her last class.
Finally the bell rang and she walked to her locker. As she started to open the lock, she could hear Avery coming up behind her talking about Joshua.
“Is it me? Is there something wrong with me or is he just completely clueless?” Avery instantly stopped talking when she seen Joshua walking with Israel towards them. They just finished biology. Avery was also in their class.
Aira looked to see why she had stopped talking and saw Israel. Aira froze just like Avery and they both just stood there.
“Confidence,” Israel nodded to Joshua, steering off in another direction.
“Ya, man,” Joshua laughed, “I’ll see ya later.” Israel walked the other way and out of the school.
Joshua walked towards Aira and Avery.
“Hi, Josh,” Avery smiled.
“Hi, Avery,” Joshua smiled and he walked past them.
“Ahhh, I give up.” Avery groaned with frustration.
Joshua stopped, and he turned around.
“Hey, Avery!” he shouted.
Avery, with her back towards him, looked at Aira with widened eyes, then slowly turned around and looked at him.
“Can I give you a ride home?” Joshua smiled at her.
Avery turned back and looked at Aira. “Is he being serious?”
“Go!” Aira said, pushing her a bit.
Avery turned and walked towards Joshua as if she had been waiting for this since elementary school. She looked back at Aira one more time, smiled, and walked out with Joshua.
Aira smiled, happy for her.
Grabbing some books out of her locker she started putting them into her bag and Jaidas walked up and leaned against Avery’s locker.
“You should come watch us play hockey tonight.” Aira paused for a second, then continued putting things in her bag and shut her locker.
“I’d love to… but my mom and Barry want me to help do some cleaning outside or something, and I got a ton of homework.” There was an awkward silence.
“Okay,” he answered blankly. When Jaidas tried to sound disappointed, the emptiness in his voice was a sure sign of recurring patterns. She could feel it. “I’ll text you later,” Jaidas leaned over and kissed her on the cheek, staring at a girl down the hall who smiled back at him, then he walked away.
Aira looked down for a moment, then closed her locker and walked outside to her truck. She looked over to where Israel’s car had been, but it was gone.
She got into her truck and sat for a minute trying to sort out whatever it was she was feeling. What the hell was going on? Her thoughts were in short form. Her grandfather used to say, `Never underestimate the peculiar. There’s almost always something there`. But maybe this was her looking too deeply. Maybe it was her just hoping there was something there because she already wanted to know him. She kept remembering his eyes and the way he had looked at her. There had to be an explanation for what she had seen. She wanted to look into his eyes again.
She finally put her keys into the ignition and turned on her truck. She looked in her rear-view mirror to back out, and there was Israel standing outside his car parked right behind her.
Her heart started to pound. She looked down taking a breath and smiled. Nervous, she slowly took off her seat belt, opened the truck door and stepped onto the ground.
“I see one of your tires is kind of flat,” Israel smirked, looking at the back of her truck.
Aira walked over and looked. It was. Completely flat. She didn’t say anything, she felt embarrassed.
“Do you have a spare?” he asked, still smiling. He felt just as awkward.
“Um... ya, I do,” she answered, nodding her head lightly, feeling painfully shy and knowing she had no idea how to change a tire.
He smiled looking around for a second scratching his head. “Do you know how to change a tire?”
Aira lightly smiled. “Not really – I’ll just... call Barry or something.” She shook her head feeling stupid.
His eyes looked curious, of her more than anything. “I can change it, if you’d like. I have a jack and...” He looked back at her, then turned around and went to his trunk.
Aira walked to the back of her truck, opened the tailgate and awkwardly pulled out her spare tire. She stood there trying to compose all of the feelings that were flooding her brain.
He walked back over, smiled, put his tools on the ground and sank to his knees.
Aira quietly watched everything he did. He was concentrating, his movements like art to her. He was like art to her. The pull and the draw she had to him was so strong, and the more she watched him, the stronger it got. His arms moved
gracefully, the sleeve of his T-shirt kept pulling every time he moved his arm. She noticed he had two beauty marks on the back of his arm. They weren’t obvious, just to her. He lifted the back of his shirt just a bit to scratch his side. Never had she looked at anyone the way she was looking at him. He quietly smiled to himself. He could feel her. As nervous as he was he must have tightened those bolts a thousand times, making sure it was safe.
“Okay, I think you should be fine.” He spoke, stood up, then put her old tire into the back of her truck and closed the tail gate.
He was already done? she thought. She couldn’t believe how fast it was. It wasn’t that he did it in any speedy fashion, it just felt like that to her.
“Thanks,” she uttered softly. The feeling in her chest pulled at her, because she didn’t want him to leave.
“I wouldn’t want anything bad to happen.” His words were calm and went straight into her.
She looked down and took a small breath, holding back a smile.
He picked up his tools, threw them back into his trunk, then ran his hand along the top of his car, making his way to the driver’s seat. It was like he wanted to say something else, like he didn’t want to go either. He tapped his fingers on his car roof looking at her.
Aira put her hand onto her chest.
“History,” he spoke letting out a smile, then he got into his car and drove away.
Aira walked to the driver’s side of her truck, puzzled. She got in and put on her seat belt. She sat for a moment, then pulled out of the school parking lot and started to drive home.
The entire way she couldn’t think of anything other than how he made her feel. It was like nothing she had ever felt. Him leaving felt to her like she wouldn’t ever see him again, like being wakened from a dream she couldn’t get back into.
Eventually pulling up to her house, she saw her mother and her stepfather Barry hosing down the driveway. Barry was darker skinned, strong looking, muscular, handsome. Barry and Maddy have been together for about four years, married for three.
Aira pulled her truck to the side of her driveway and put it in park. She sat there for a minute watching them. They laughed and played with the water. Barry picked up Maddy and spun her around as the water from the hose sprayed all over. They looked so happy.
Forbidden: Book One of Wild Sky Saga Page 3
