Forsaken (2 page)

“You and Mr. Geralds can come in after school today and begin your new assignment together. I want to see you every day this week. That should give you enough time to help him catch up.”

Nora wanted desperately to protest. She hadn’t done anything to warrant the punishment! “But, Mrs. Millburn—”

Mrs. Millburn smacked a ruler on Nora’s desk, causing Nora to jump.

“
Every
day this week,” Mrs. Millburn repeated, precisely emphasizing each word. “I will see you and Mr. Geralds, in this classroom, at exactly 3:15 PM. Every. Day. This. Week.”

Satisfied, Mrs. Millburn turned and strutted to the front of the room. Nora slumped in her seat. What a horrible way to start the week.

When class ended ninety minutes later, she could still hear the giggles from her classmates in her head.

Chapter Three

~
Punishment~

Riiiing! Riiiing! Riiiing!

Nora glanced at the clock. It couldn’t possibly be 3:10 already. The sound of books being packed together and her classmates chatting about their after school plans propelled her into action. She started putting her books in her bag. By the time she wrapped up, she was the only one left.

Nora dragged her feet as she made her way through the hallway to the math classroom. Thankfully, she hadn’t had any classes after math with
Mr. Geralds
, so there hadn’t been any awkwardness between them.

Not yet, anyway.

She sighed. This was
totally
unfair. All she did was look back for a second! The punishment Mrs. Millburn doled out was completely disproportionate to the crime. After school detention-slash-tutoring, for a
week
? God, Mrs. Millburn was such a freaking…
bitch
!

A quick glimpse of blond hair in the crowd stopped her internal tirade.
Brady?
she thought, excited. Disappointment surged through her when the boy emerged from the crowd, decidedly
not
Brady.

She hadn’t seen Brady even once today, which only worsened her mood.

As if that wasn’t enough, she had to endure her friends’ ominous projections of what being forced to spend time with the new kid would be like. They’d picked up all sorts of new, swirling rumors about him. Now that some of them had put a face to him, it only made them exaggerate the tales even more.

“Have you
seen
him?” Molly asked Nora at lunch, before backtracking quickly. “Of course you have. You had class with him this morning. He’s scary, isn’t he? Looks like an axe murderer to me. Like those creepy guys you see in the movies. And he’s quiet, too. Secretive. Like he’s hiding something.” She laughed uneasily. “I’m sure you’ll be fine, though.”

“I heard he started a massive fire at his old school.” Kelly shivered. “And it nearly killed half the students, because he jammed the doors so they couldn’t get out. Luckily, the sprinkler system kicked in to stop it. He looks like the type to do something like that, don’t you think, Nora?”

Before Nora could reply, her friend, Stacy, jumped in, adding all the bits and pieces she’d heard.

And on and on it went, despite Nora’s repeated attempts to assure her friends that it wouldn’t be that bad, that
he
couldn’t possibly have done all those things. The simple fact was, everybody was excited by the arrival of a new student at the small school. And because of that, rumors spread like wildfire.

In the end, Nora just gave up and did her best to ignore the more disturbing pieces of gossip But despite being absolutely certain there was no truth in the rumors, she still found her nerves kicking in as the clock ticked closer and closer to 3:15.

That was exactly the time her cell phone showed as she looked down at it.

Nora sighed and pushed open the door to the classroom. It was empty, except for Mrs. Millburn seated at her desk.

“You’re early, Miss Colburn.” Mrs. Millburn noted, not even bothering to look up. “Take your seat, please, and wait quietly for Mr. Geralds to arrive.”

“Yes, Mrs. Millburn.” Nora sighed again and walked over to a seat at the back of the classroom. If she was going to be spending time with this new kid, she wanted to at least be able to
talk
to him without Mrs. Millburn overhearing every word.

Nora didn’t have to wait long before he burst through the door, hair frazzled as if he’d been running. Nora lifted her gaze and saw his face for the first time.

His skin was pure white and reflected the light strongly. It wasn’t a sickly white. It reminded her more of the strong, clean white she could imagine on a magnificent steed. His eyes were sharp and dark and set deeply into a strong, lean face. If Nora hadn’t known he was her age, she would have guessed him to be in his early twenties. He looked more a man than a boy.

His face seemed strong—proud—and yet, a sense of vulnerability surrounded him, as if all that strength and pride had drained away, leaving him feeling every bit the young boy of sixteen or seventeen in an unfamiliar school.

“You’re late,” Mrs. Millburn said sharply. The boy dropped his head, lowering his gaze the floor. He mumbled something that Nora couldn’t make out.

“What? Speak up, boy! There’s no shame in being loud enough to be heard.”

“I said, I’m sorry,” he repeated, louder. “I got lost in the hallways on my way.”

“Yes, yes, that’s perfectly understandable.” Mrs. Millburn waved him away with one hand. “The only one you’re harming by being late is your friend over there, sitting at the back. Every minute you’re late is an extra minute she’ll have to stay.”

“I’m sorry,” he said again.

“Bah! Don’t apologize to me, boy. It’s her you should be saying sorry to. But that’s neither here nor there. Miss Colburn?”

“Yes, Mrs. Millburn?” Nora looked up.

“For your first day as Mr. Geralds’s personal tutor, I want you to go over all the chapters we’ve completed so far. Take note of anything he may have not seen before, and make sure he learns it well.”

“Yes, Mrs. Millburn.”

“Hmph. Good, then. Well, Mr. Geralds? You’re not going to learn anything standing up here. Go say hi to the nice girl and get started.” Nora groaned inwardly, hating how awkward Mrs. Millburn was making this for her. “Go on, she won’t bite. Although I’m not sure how good her attention span is.” With that, Mrs. Millburn focused on her papers again.

Nora switched her gaze to
Mr. Geralds
, who still stood at the front of the room, studying his feet. A bag – the same one he’d hit her with this morning – hung slumped over one shoulder. Finally, he shook his head and started to make his way over to her.

He walked slowly, and every step he took looked like it was one step closer to agony.

In spite of herself, Nora’s nerves got the best of her. Her heart started beating faster, and her palms started to clam up. He sure was taking his time coming over.
Was he always like this? Was there something wrong with her that he didn’t like? What was it
? A quick look at the reflective surface on the back of her phone told her all her makeup was in place.

Questions raced through her mind as the distance between them ever-so-slowly closed.

When he finally reached her desk, he pulled out a nearby chair and collapsed into it. He still hadn’t made eye contact with her.

“So,” Nora began unsteadily, after a moment’s silence, not sure of what to say. “Are you, umm, any good at math?”

He shrugged his shoulders.

“Do you know what we’re doing in class?”

He shrugged again, eyes glued to the floor. Nora swallowed. This was like talking to a wall! She didn’t know what else to say.

The silence stretched, growing awkward.

“Thanks for dragging me into this,” he finally mumbled.

Nora could barely make out the words, but when they registered, she had to blink. Was he being
serious
? “What?”

“I said,
thanks for dragging me into this
.” He emphasized the words and lifted his gaze to meet hers. His eyes were fiery, ablaze with untold emotion, appearing to pulse with supernatural power.

A chill ran down Nora’s spine leaving her cold, lost, and alone. For a long second, she was isolated from everyone else in this world, stuck in his unnatural gaze, helpless to ever escape.

And then he blinked, and all that fire died, and her fear disappeared. His eyes were normal now. He looked at her with his head tilted to one side. “What’s wrong?” he asked.

“Wrong? Nothing. I just… I…” What could she say? That his eyes had appeared to be on fire? “Just now, when you looked at me…I could swear I imagined a strange reflection in your eyes. They appeared to be…” she swallowed the lump in her throat, “…raging.”

“Raging?” The boy laughed. “I’ve never heard
that
one before.”

Nora’s eyes widened. “You know what I’m talking about?”

“No,” he said coyly. “I’ve got no idea.”

“But you said
that one
, like you’ve heard things before?” Nora clarified. It had to be imagination, and yet, she couldn’t shake the feeling he knew exactly what she meant.

“Did I?” he mused, smiling at her. “No, I promise you, I’ve got no idea.”

“Then why’d you say it?”

“Say what?”

“That you’ve never heard
that
one before.”

A wide smile slowly spread across his face, and Nora suddenly understood:
He was teasing her!

“Very funny,” she told him sardonically.

He spread his arms in response. “So, Mr. Funny-man,” Nora continued, “it looks like we’re stuck here for the rest of the week. Maybe the whole semester. I think we’d better start by exchanging names.”

“Hunter,” he told her.

“Hunter?”

He nodded.

She tilted her head and studied him closely. “That’s a pretty unique name. You strike me more as a Jonathan or a Steve. I’ve never met a Hunter before. I’m Nora.”

“Nice to meet you, then.” His lips curved up in a smile. “I’ve never met a Nora before, either.”

“So it’s something new for both of us.”

“Looks like it is.”

“Ahem!” An angry voice at the front of the room interrupted the conversation causing both of them to look up. Mrs. Millburn stood behind her desk, frowning. “You two lovebirds are here for a reason, and that reason is to learn math, is it
not
? Nora, why do I not see your textbook, or a single worksheet, on your desk?”

“Sorry, Mrs. Millburn,” Nora apologized. She hated how often she found herself saying those words recently. “I was just, um, asking Hunter about how much math he’s done in the past.”

“Well, you’d better focus on
showing
him what
we’ve
done in the past,” Mrs. Millburn warned. “Unless you want me to extend your stay here?”

“No, Mrs. Millburn. I will, Mrs. Millburn.” Nora reached down into her bag, pulled out her math textbook, and put it on the table.

“She’s a bit of a hag, isn’t she?” Hunter whispered, eyeing the desk where Mrs. Millburn stood. “What’s up with you two? Did she always hate you, or did that only start today?”

Nora sighed. She didn’t want to explain all of that to Hunter right now. “Doesn’t matter. We need to at least start looking through this math book, or she’s going to yell at us again.”

“Yeah, all right.” Hunter looked down again, and for a second Nora found herself admiring him. There was something about him, something…
different
. Something mysterious, maybe. The way he walked around, shoulders slumped, was a stark contrast to the way he had just teased her. He was probably like most kids: shy, at first, but more comfortable as he got to know someone. He
was
coming to a new school in the middle of the year, after all.

And now that she’d talked to him, Nora thought it even less likely he could have been responsible for any of the horrible things that were being said about him. He seemed like the most peaceful kid ever.

In any case, Nora didn’t think she would dread her new extra-curricular activity anymore. Who knows? Maybe Hunter could even become a friend.

Chapter Four

~Brady Lowe~

By Thursday, Nora and Hunter had developed a tentative friendship. Their afternoon detentions were becoming more enjoyable. However, Mrs. Millburn had cancelled today’s session on account of her grandson’s birthday.

Nora was ambivalent about that. On the one hand, it’d be nice to get home earlier. Maybe she’d even run into Brady. She hadn’t seen him all week. On the other hand, Nora found herself looking forward to spending time with Hunter. She didn’t have many male friends, and something about Hunter made her feel naturally at ease.

Nora spun the dial on her locker and lifted the lever. It didn’t budge.
What the…?
She focused on the dial and tried the combination again. She pulled…and nothing happened.