Forbidden: Book One of Wild Sky Saga (4 page)

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 they 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.