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  “Fight. Fight. Fight.” they began to chant.

  Everyone stopped what they were doing and began to stampede in Dean’s direction. It was obvious that he was targeting Shane. I hurriedly picked up my bag and rushed with the crowd. Dean pushed two girls standing in front of Shane aside and got himself within an inch from Shane’s delicate face. The muscles in Dean’s jaw were pronounced and he looked so vicious against Shane’s calmness. Dean was squeezing his fists so hard it looked like his knuckles were going to tear through his skin. Shane condescendingly smiled and leaned against the brick wall behind him. His confidence seemed to bug Dean and Dean’s handsome face filled with rage. I saw his lips moving, but I was much too far to hear what was being said. I didn’t think anyone close to them could hear either with all the chanting going on. Shane started talking, his brilliant smile growing broader. Whatever he was saying was making the situation worse.

  That’s when-for the slightest split of a second-Shane darted his eyes straight at me. It wasn’t like he just looked at any random person; his eyes intentionally landed right on me. It was as if he knew exactly where I had been standing amongst all the other fifty people in the ‘audience.’ I thought my mind was playing tricks on me or something. Dean was taking deep breaths. His ribs and massive chest were going in and out slowly as if he were trying hard to control himself. But he didn’t say anything back. Shane stood straight up and pulled a brunette that was fairly close to him by the arm. He wrapped his arm around her and strode past Dean, confidently walking off and leaving Dean standing there alone with his infuriation.

  Dean turned his head to glare at Shane striding into his classroom without a care. The bell rang. I had forgotten about class. The kids started swarming the halls and splitting up into their classrooms.

  Dean stood there, frozen as if he were still watching Shane. I ran along with the students. My book bag feeling lighter than before, I opened it up and found that my notebook was missing. It must have fallen out when Dean knocked it out of my hand. I searched the now empty floor for it and spotted it where all the commotion had taken place. There were no students in the hall except for Dean and myself so I quickly ran to my notebook right before I heard a cracking thud. I looked up at the only thing that could be responsible for this noise. Dean. His fist was in the brick wall. After a few moments, he slowly took his fist out of the broken surface. Rustic crumbs stuck to his skin while others dropped to the floor. He stared at his fist and loosened his tight grip, brushing off the wall crumbs with his other hand. Dean headed towards his class without giving my presence and heed. After waiting in a moment of disbelief, I walked up to the wall to feel it. I had to make sure that what I saw was real.

  There was clearly a dent in it. I made my hand into a fist and set it inside. The dent was about three times bigger. I thought to myself that maybe it wasn’t real brick, that for some reason the construction of this building was mostly clay? Dean looked strong, but to be able to do this? No, the wall was already cracked or something. That had to be it. I slowly brought my hand back down. The second bell rang. I ran in the direction I thought my classroom was in. Late again.

  My fifth hour teacher didn’t approve of me being late, even if it was just by a minute. This time-no distractions-I was going be on time for my last class.

  I swung the door open only to find the classroom empty. Well… almost. There was no teacher and only one student. Dean had a textbook open on his desk and a piece of paper that looked like the same assignment I had for Trig. There were name tags propped on each desktop. Mine was right next to him. I dragged my feet to the desk and dropped my bag to the floor. Without moving his head, he turned an eye to me. I paused for a moment…he never took the time to look my way. I wasn’t quite sure if it was a good thing or not. I quietly sat down next to him and Dean’s focus returned to his textbook. The room was uncomfortably silent. The humming of the air conditioning was the only thing brave enough to make a sound. I was afraid to breathe. My leg was pumping up and down and I couldn’t find a comfortable way to sit. It was such a simple thing. Just sit still. My allergies chose that moment to kick in. They had been bothering me all morning, but I never really paid any attention to them. Now though, my concentration was fixed on keeping quiet and not sneezing. I felt my nose begin to get stuffy. No! Not now! As softly as I could, I started breathing through my mouth to avoid sucking my boogers in. This couldn’t be more gross! I surveyed the teacher’s desk to see if there were any tissues. With my luck, there would be absolutely nothing I could blow my nose with. And, of course, I couldn’t see any tissues. I crossed my leg over the other and started shaking it. He glared at my leg and then he quickly looked back to his paper. When I looked at the time again, I couldn’t believe that only a couple of minutes had gone by. My nose situation was getting worse by the second. I then remembered that when I was a kid, I would jump up and down on the bed to clear it up. Walking around the room should do the trick. I slowly got up and made my way to the front of the class, then to the back. And even though my nose was semi-stuffy, I could still smell him. He definitely smelled way better than my coconut shampoo. Its alluring sensuality was magnetic. As I was clearing my nose, I glanced over at Dean to see if I was bugging him. He was still focused on his assignment; he had been on the same page for a while. I would have asked him if he needed help, but since I didn’t get help with the pop-tart and book bag he flung out of my hand, then he wasn’t getting help with his dumb assignment. His paper didn’t have any of the questions filled out. I couldn’t have been distracting him with my noise that much, could I?

  I finally sat back down and tried to hold still. Ben walked into the room, someone I never really spoke to outside of class. He was well-known in the school, but I wouldn’t say he was popular in a good way. It was more like everyone knew him because they had a habit of knocking his books out of his hands, playing keep away with his bottle glasses, and other things that a normal person wouldn’t have to go through. I’ve never personally done anything to him, but I did just stand there while Ayden picked on him. Not a good thing to do either.

  “Ben!” I greeted with excitement. I jumped out of my seat and skipped to him.

  “It’s Benjamin, thank you.” he corrected. After noticing the smile on my face, he got a little cocky. Ben pressed his bottle glasses closer to his face and fixed his striped polo shirt.

  “So? What can I do for you Mindy?” Ben uttered.

  “I-uh…” I stuttered. I wasn’t really sure why I needed him. Of course I was glad to see him. Actually, I would have been glad to see just about anyone come through that door just to break the unbearable stillness of the room.

  “Speechless?” A wide smile grew on his face. Although that was not what got me to look at it. It was his buck teeth. They were calling out to me, telling my eyes to look. “Did you need help with homework? You know…I can do some private lessons.” He winked.

  “No!” I blurted out a little too quickly and loud. The thud of a textbook closing came from Dean’s desk. I gawked in disbelief. Dean threw his textbook in his backpack and shoved the papers in with it. He then leaned against the back of his chair and put his hands up behind his head. His eyes were closed or at least I thought they were. I examined them, his eyelashes were too thick for me to tell if they were slightly open or not. I couldn’t help looking down at his stomach. A strip of bare skin was showing from having his arms stretched up. I gulped. The V muscle from his waist was peeking through. Embarrassed with myself, I looked elsewhere. His arms looked well-defined, even when covered with sleeves. I hadn’t really stared at his face in years, it was somewhat boyish, not that he looked like a kid or anything. He would have perfect features if not for the dark mask around his eyes. It was as if he hadn’t slept in weeks. His eyebrows looked clean; they didn’t look plucked, just clean. His nose was adorable and little, flicking at it would most likely make it bleed. I squinted to get a better look…he had the tiniest freckles on his nose. Adorable. I just didn’t u
nderstand why he was so distant from everyone. If he just smiled at a girl, she would scream from sheer joy. Tanya was right, he could have any girl he wanted. My gaze averted back to his eyes. The lashes casted shadows below them and that’s when his eyes slit open slightly, already focused on me! My entire body tensed.

  “Ahem.” Ben interrupted the moment I knew I couldn’t handle very well.

  “Oh, sorry! Do you have…tissue?” I asked. There was nothing I wanted him for. I had to ask him for something or else I’d look like an even bigger fool.

  “Of course.” He set his books down and began patting down his pockets. “You never know when you’re going to get a runny nose.” He pulled out what looked to be a hankie. The colors were faded on it. The only things I could make out were thunder bolts and a blue background.

  “Umm…no thanks. You know what? I don’t even need it anymore.” I smiled. The rest of my face was in disgust.

  “It’s okay. I’ve only used it once today.” He insistently held it up to me.

  Students started pouring in the seemingly claustrophobic room. I heard Markus amongst them. Relief washed over me, but I wasn’t in the clear yet. I took a glance at him and clasped my hands behind my back. Luckily, he caught my distress signal and hurried towards me.

  “Hey, germ!” Markus called out to Ben and blasted through us, blocking me from Ben. “Let people through.” Markus swiveled around and grabbed me above the waist, pulling me along with him and leaving Ben yelling behind us.

  “It’s Benjamin!” he hollered. “Ben-ja-min!”

  “You should try staying out of situations dude.” Markus suggested. He smiled and shook his head after stopping beside my desk. “First, there was that incident with you and Shane…” he started to point out.

  In that instant, Dean snapped his pencil in his bunched hand. His face hardened and the muscles on his jaw popped out as he bit down. I could feel the waves of anger emanating from him. Markus also observed Dean’s behavior, but then turned back to me after a few seconds. He raised his eyebrow and tilted his head towards Dean as if he were pointing at him. I shrugged my shoulders and sat down. I was so happy that it wasn’t just me alone with Dean anymore as he gave off an awkward, yet frightening feeling. Everything seemed to frustrate him. He belonged in a private school. Population: Dean.

  Jennifer walked in then. Why is it that I always have to bump into one of them? They were everywhere. Jennifer grabbed her nametag from her desk a few seats over and switched it with the one in front of Dean’s desk. She sat proudly like she owned it and turned to Dean to ask him something. I couldn’t tell what it was because the class was already getting pretty loud. But I saw no reaction from Dean.

  “What are you doing this weekend?” Jennifer raised her voice. She smiled and exaggerated the batting of her eyelashes. Or I should say fake lashes. No mascara can leave them that long-I didn’t care what the commercials said.

  Still no response from Dean. He did look like he had calmed down from his pencil tantrum.

  “Hello?” Jennifer raised her voice.

  Dean looked up at her with a stony expression. She smiled, pleased that he looked. But he just turned away from her and grabbed his notebook from his backpack, setting it on his desk and leaning back on his seat, looking away from her.

  “So, I was thinking you and I could go out together this weekend,” Jennifer suggested. She leaned closer to him while pushing out her bust. This situation really started to bother me. I wasn’t sure if it was because it involved Jennifer, but everything that had to do with her bothered me. Her very existence even. But something was different this time.

  And that’s when Jennifer noticed me eavesdropping. She quickly turned her attention towards me. “Can I help you?” she hissed.

  My eyes widened. I was caught. Dean slightly tilted his head in my direction without looking directly at me. I usually had something to say right back at her, but my voice was stuck in my throat. Dean noticed me eavesdropping. Crap! I was frozen with wide eyes like a deer caught in the headlights.

  “You need some hair tips or something?” Jennifer lashed out. “Mind your business!” She turned back to Dean and went back to her flirtatious behavior. “So, where was I?” she eased with a smile.

  I reached up to pat my hair and felt frizzes popping out here and there. I couldn’t believe I had forgotten to do my hair today! Dean said nothing. His scorching look stayed locked onto her, telling her to ‘F’ off, until she finally exhaled and turned around.

  I could see the failure on her face. It was awesome. I felt victory sweep through me as if I were the one that did this to her. I was glad I was there to witness her getting rejected. I turned to see if Markus was also watching, but he was messing with his new mp3 player. I had to celebrate alone. The teacher finally walked in, a very petite woman with short black hair and narrow eyes.

  “Hello, class. Your teacher couldn’t make it in today so I will be taking his place.” She continued, “You may call me Mrs. Le. There aren’t any notes for this class so I’ll be starting you off with the poetry unit.” She grabbed a stack of packets from her desk and passed them out at the front of each row so the students could pass them back. I grabbed the packets from the person in front of me, took mine, then handed the rest to the person behind me.

  “William Shakespeare.” Mrs. Le read the cover out loud. “Now, can anyone tell me a little bit about him?” she asked. No one raised their hand. “Well, since no one in this class knows about him, I’ll let you all read the entire packet.”

  The class awed in disapproval but I was ok on the idea. It wouldn’t hurt to read; it could be worse.

  “Since you’re all so excited about it, we can also have a quiz at the end of class,” Mrs. Le more than threatened, “Ok, let’s get started. Thank you.” she sang out.

  The sound of papers shuffling filled the room. The packet was about twenty pages thick and I was already bored. Regretting the fact that I was okay with this at first, I began to skim through it. I was almost half-way through when my eyes began to get heavy. To prevent myself from falling asleep in my seat, I lifted my head and looked around the room. Most everyone in the class had their faces buried in their packets. One person had her head down and I wanted to do the same desperately. Time was really dragging. When I began to read again, I did so without really taking any information in.

  Flashes of Dean and Shane’s confrontation starting running through my mind. Was Shane someone from Dean’s past? He looked new to me. Brand spanking new. Maybe they had a run-in before. Maybe one of them stole the other’s girlfriend in the past. No. Dean hadn’t had any and he seemed to be the one that hated Shane, not the other way around. I wondered if the girls standing next to them heard what they had said.

  The pencil I was absent-mindedly playing with accidentally slipped out of my hands and landed on the floor between Dean and I. Without looking, I lowered my hand and felt around for it. I felt a hand already down there. I directed my attention to it and as I glanced up the muscular arm, an uncomfortable chill ran through me. There I was, face to face with Dean. My eyes landed on his, and they were penetrating mine with an extreme intensity. His lagoon green eyes were dark and widening as if he was witnessing something spectacular. I couldn’t look away from him. I had never seen him with any expression on his face other than coldness. My eyes traveled across his face. Yup…freckles. But they were faint. I saw that he had a large scar on his cheekbone, the kind of scar that didn’t even remotely diminish his appearance. In my opinion, it made him more attractive. His eyes sparkled and were somehow a brighter shade of green. I felt a tide of joy wash over me. An electrifying force surged through me, and it wasn’t painful at all. In fact, it felt amazing! Like nothing I had ever experienced before. But, why? I tore my eyes from his and looked down at my hand. It was set on top of his. He left it there, touching mine, and it made my heart soar.

  The bell rang. I quickly grabbed my pencil from beneath Dean’s hand and slipped it in my book b
ag. I still felt his eyes boring into me. I hesitated to look as I stood up and headed towards the door. But from the corner of my eye, I saw him staring at me still. Summoning up some bravery, I turned my face completely at him to let him know I was aware. Usually, guys turned away quickly when caught, but not Dean. His face was etched in desperation.

  I met up with Markus at the door. Once again, I glanced back. Dean was standing this time, still looking my way and his eyes were pleading as if he didn’t want me to leave.

  What was more unbelievable to me, was that the second I moved my hand away from his…an emptiness crept inside me.

  The next day, Tanya and I walked into first hour just as the bell sounded. Mr. Shapiro had switched everyone’s desk around to avoid as much chatter as possible, as a result, putting me towards the back. In my opinion, the chatter got even louder. Friends he separated had to raise their voices to hear each other.

  “Good morning.” Mr. Shapiro stood in front of the class with his hands inside his pant pockets. He glanced over at the time and looked at the door. A moment later, Shane strolled in.

  “Late as usual, Shane.” Mr. Shapiro announced. He huffed out and gave Shane an aggravated glare.

  “But always here for you, sir,” Shane retorted. He threw the teacher a crooked smile and leaned back in his seat. He quickly noticed me and winked. I rolled my eyes at him while turning away.

  After what seemed like hours of Mr. Shapiro going over problems on the board, a crumpled paper landed on my desk. I quickly grabbed it and held it in my fist so Mr. Shapiro wouldn’t see it. I carefully opened it on my lap when the coast was clear. The note read…