Tompkin's School (For The Extraordinarily Talented Book 1) (8 page)

I shrugged and I focused on my food, allowing the conversation to buzz into the background. I tried to ignore the tugging sensation I felt to glance in Amadeus’ direction. I knew what would happen if I did so I concentrated harder on my food. I didn’t even notice that most of the students had already left until Kain punched me in the shoulder.

“Ouch!” I exclaimed.

“That didn’t hurt” he said, rolling his eyes.

“What was that for?” I asked, then looked around the empty room, “Oh.”

“Your practice is going to start in like ten minutes,” he said.

“Where’s Kia?” I asked.

“She said she’d meet you there like twenty minutes ago,” he replied.

“Why didn’t you go, too?” I asked.

“I forgot my bag,” he said, “now go. Seriously, you’re going to be late.”

I had no idea how I could’ve blanked out so bad! I grabbed my things and sprinted across the cafeteria, not bothering to throw away my plate. I just barely opened the doors to leave in time, thankful that I hadn’t run straight into it, and flew down the path towards the auditorium.

Suddenly, I ran into something and fell, the soggy trail breaking my fall.

“Oh, sorry,” a voice I so loathed said.

“No problem,” I snapped, picking myself up as I brushed off the moss and dirt off my backside, “don’t sweat it.”

“Let me help you,” Amadeus said, as he reached for my backpack.

“Really,” I said, trying to avoid any eye contact, “don’t worry about it.”

“Hey,” he said.

A jolt of pain punched my skull as my disobeying eyes met his. The steaming heat of it spread across my entire body as I experienced indescribable torture.

“Are you okay?” He asked, his eyes forming into a look of concern that only made me double over in pain.

“Do you have any idea what
you’re doing
?” I cried, tears swelling in my eyes.

“I did apologize,” he replied, politely.

I finally tore my eyes from his gaze and focused on catching my breath. It was getting worse. His eyes were poison to me and I couldn’t figure out how he was doing it! It seemed like he had no idea, but how could he
not know
?

“It’s okay,” I gasped, “I⎼I haven’t really been feeling good lately.”

He just nodded as he handed me my bag. I quickly took it and rushed to practice, not mentioning anything to anyone about what had happened. As if anyone would believe me.

‡‡‡

The weekend seemed to go by slowly and I was definitely thankful when Monday came around, which was weird because that usually wasn’t the case. I had been having the weirdest dreams all weekend and I was getting pretty tired of all the sleepless nights I was having. Maybe I needed to go and see a doctor? I was probably overreacting. Unless I was coming down with some untreatable disease.

“Happy sixteenth,” a voice said behind me.

I turned around to find Lee holding a huge plastic jar of my favorite candy with a giant pink bow tied around it.

“What’s this?” I exclaimed, a smile spreading across my face.

“It’s September 20, your birthday,” he replied, nonchalantly, “I thought I’d get you a present.”

“Wow!” I laughed, “I love twizzlers. Thank you!”

“It was nothing,” he shrugged.

“How am I ever going to fit this in my locker?” I wondered out loud.

“Oops,” he said, “didn’t really think about that.”

“It’s okay,” I replied, “I’ll make room. Thanks again!”

“Here, I’ll help you,” he offered.

“Why not,” I laughed as we headed in the general direction of my locker.

“So, how’ve you been?" He asked.

I shrugged.

“I’m fine,” I replied, “and you?”

“Coach has been riding us kinda hard,” he said, “but all’s good.”

“Good,” I smiled, as I opened my locker.

“Very organized,” he commented, eyeing my immaculate locker, “there shouldn’t be any problem fitting this in there.”

“Guess not,” I said, as he placed the jar carefully inside.

“What class you got now?” He asked.

“Art,” I replied.

“Have fun,” he said.

I waived my goodbye as I shut my locker and headed towards my class. I could not believe this! Lee got me a present! I suddenly was ecstatic because all the signs that he liked me were there! I definitely had not seen this one coming.

“Happy birthday, roomie!” Kia said, linking arms beside me as we headed for our class.

“Thanks, Kia!” I replied, “So, you’ll never believe what just happened.”

“What?” She asked.

“Well,” I began, “Lee totally surprised me just now by bringing me a birthday present!”

“Are you serious?” She squealed in excitement, “That’s so
sweet
!”

“I know!” I agreed, “He brought me this huge jar of twizzlers and then walked me to my locker!”

“Wow,” she laughed, “he must like you.”

“I hope so!” I replied, struggling to reign in my excitement as we entered the classroom.

It was very difficult to focus on what Ms. Cotillard was saying and several times I found myself daydreaming about one thing or another, mostly about Lee and the surprise birthday gift. Suddenly, I couldn’t wait for the weekend trip to the lake.

“Ms. Torvik!” Ms. Cotillard’s shrilling voice startled me from my thoughts.

“Yes, ma’am?” I answered, jolting upright.

“Please pay attention,” she scolded.

“Yes, ma’am,” I smiled.

“And so, as I was saying,” the teacher continued, “you all will be presenting your artwork at our school’s art exhibit at the end of the semester.”

“Pssst,” I whispered, getting Kia’s attention, “did she just say an
exhibit
?”

“Yeah,” Kia whispered back, “apparently we
all
have to submit one of our art pieces for it.”

“Huh,” I replied, “that should be fun.”

“Yeah,” she agreed.

“Hopefully it’s not too big of a to-do,” I laughed.

“Knowing Ms. Cotillard, it probably is,” Kia said.

Once class was over we went our separate ways as we headed for third period. For me, this meant that for the next hour and half I would be listening to Professor Veal (a nickname given to the creepiest science teacher known to man) drone on and on about something or another that I couldn’t understand and quite frankly made me sick to my stomach. I was definitely not headed for a career in the medical world, so I was kinda missing the point of why I needed to take his class.

“Hey, Kain,” I said, taking my usual seat next him in the back of the classroom.

“What’s up,” he greeted.

“Happy⎼”

“Ugh, jeez, could you be any louder?" He complained.

“Actually, I could,” I smirked, tossing my bag on the ground, “honestly, I really don’t understand why you hate your birthday
so much
.”

“I don’t hate it,” he replied, “I just hate people making it a big deal. And when people find out it’s your birthday they get all…happy or what not like they’ve just made your day.”

“Technically, our mother made our day today,” I corrected.

Kain just rolled his eyes sarcastically.

“Fine, fine, enough about the b-day,” I said, holding my hands up in peace.

“Happy birthday, man!" A kid called to Kain, waving at us from a couple of seats away.

I put my hand over my mouth as I tried to keep from doubling over in laughter. Kain’s face was swelling with irritation as he nodded his thanks to our classmate.

“I don’t even wanna hear it, sis,” he said, gritting his teeth.

“You gotta admire his impeccable timing, though,” I snickered.

“What
ever
,” he muttered.

Professor Valkyrien finally made his appearance as he slithered ever so slowly to the front of the class. It took him even longer to form a complete sentence.

“Veelcome to class,” he shrilled, “m-m-m-my s-s-s-stud-dents.”

Was it just me, or was his stutter even worse today?

“T-t-to-d-day we sh-sh-shall b-b-b-be…” he stammered.

It was definitely worse. How could they let this guy teach? Not one student could understand anything he ever said and so his lectures were completely useless. I tried to take notes for the first twenty minutes or so, but then stopped when I realized that I’d been writing in his stutter as well. My first whole sentence consisted of a bunch of T’s.

The day was soon over and Kia and I wound up sitting in the lounge of the girls dorms watching a reality TV show with the girls, including Leslie, Raquel and Tiffany.

“What are we
watching
?” I asked, as some cowboy explained the procedure of turning a rope into a lasso.

“Seriously,” Kia agreed, “I mean, who knew there was a reality TV show on cowboys and cowgirls.”

“Honey, they can make reality TV about anything,” Raquel laughed.

“They just have to get people to watch it,” Tiffany replied.

I smirked.

“Oooh! My soap opera is on!” Leslie squealed in excitement, “Please change it!”

“Is it me, or does she sound way too excited for a soap opera?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

“You just
don’t
understand,” Leslie chided, “this isn’t just any soap opera!”

“Okay, okay, chill,” I laughed.

I sat through the opening theme, but then got up because I felt the beginnings of a headache. I was getting a lot of them lately and I was starting to think that I should see the nurse.

I slowly made my way up the stairs, feeling the weight of sleep and the stress of all that had happened. Ever since I got here, weirdness seemed to be a constant occurrence.

I finally made it to my room and toppled onto the bed, allowing everything to drift away. I didn’t want to think about life anymore. I missed home! As messed up as it was, I knew the atmosphere and, unlike here, it fit me perfectly. Yeah, I was getting to know people, but it wasn’t the same at all. At my old school I knew exactly what I was doing and I knew where I was going.

Nothing made sense here and I had never felt so horrible in my entire life. Something was happening to me. I didn’t know what it could be, but I had this strange feeling that my life was about to change even more and not for the better. I wondered if Kain felt it, too. He was acting a little bit on edge, so maybe he felt the same way.

‡‡‡

The next day I woke up much earlier than usual and took a long hot shower. I had definitely slept better last night and so I was determined to make the best out today. Maybe this funk was just me being homesick, mixed in with a bit of culture shock. That’s most likely what it was and it probably was the same for Kain. Who wouldn’t be a little shaken after moving to the middle of nowhere?

I jumped out of the shower and quickly wrapped a towel around myself as I headed back to my room.

“Good morning, sleepyhead,” I greeted as I sauntered into the room.

“It’s too early!” Kia complained as she covered her head with a pillow.

“Wow, grumpy Kia,” I laughed, putting away my things and contemplating my outfit choices for the day.

“Cute,” she grimaced.

“You know,“ I said, “this is a first. You’re usually the first one up and I’m the grouchy one.”

“Uh-uh,” she said, pulling herself off the comfy mattress, "It’s Friday, right?”

“Tuesday,” I replied, rolling my eyes, “but what’s up with you?”

“Didn’t get to sleep until late," she replied.

“Like how late?” I asked.

“Like three,” she said, grabbing her toiletries.

“Three in the
morning
?” I gasped, “Doing what?”

She shrugged, grabbing a towel as she turned to leave.

“Hold it,” I said, beating her to the door, “that look on your face was
way
too suspicious. What’s going on?”

“Nothing,” she said, her face straining as she tried not to smile too much.

“You’re actually a horrible liar,” I laughed.

“What?" She asked, “So, maybe I
was
up so late for a particular reason. It’s not a crime.”

“What particular reason, missy?” I asked.

“Well…” she began.

“Oh⎼” I gasped as it suddenly clicked.

“Don’t be mad!" She replied.

“Mad? Why would I be mad?” I asked, going back to the closet.

“I mean,” she said, “it’s not like there’s much to tell.”

“
Sure,“
I jokingly rolled my eyes, “you spend the entire night talking to my brother and not a lot to tell about it?”