Scene 4: Eyes On Me
By: DropDeadThenDance
Megan was standing behind me, her hands resting on my shoulders, her chin resting on her left hand, right on the knuckles it felt like. I was staring down at the table, a few silver colored chains sitting in front of me while I picked at some tiny jade colored beads. Megan watched as I fitted the gems between the links, using the beads and some thin wire to connect them. “How did you even manage to break this?” I grumbled as I carefully twisted the wire into one of the links.
Megan was breathing right into my ear, but she knew well enough to lower her voice before she replied to my question. “I was helping my mom with some groceries and it got caught on something, I think,” she explained quietly, seeming slightly transfixed on what I was doing. “The chain snapped somewhere in the middle,” she murmured and I sighed.
I’d made the bracelet for Megan at the beginning of the first school year we met, not long after we’d become friends. She was pretty much the only female I talked to, and it gave me an excuse to make something. The bracelet itself was made out of some little silver chains I’d gotten at the thrift store; I’d taken them apart and then put a bead in between every fifth link, wire inside of the beads keeping the whole thing together.
She was ecstatic when I gave it to her, but she made me kind of nervous when she said the beads looked like diamonds. Of course, she didn’t say much else about it, and as usual my worries were for nothing. Even when she asked where I got them, I wasn’t too worried because Megan was such a ditz; I told her I got them at the Beaded Frame craft store on Main Street. She dropped it after that and nobody else really asked about it… Probably because I didn’t make them for anybody else.
I finally twisted the last wire closed and sighed slowly. I set the tweezers down and then held the bracelet up, letting Megan examine it. She gasped loudly, her arms coming suddenly around my neck, and she pulled me against her chest. “You’re a ninja magician, Hannah!” she squealed and I flailed a bit, losing my balance and falling against her, my head resting against her chest.
“Ok, you’re welcome,” I wheezed. “Let go, please!” I groaned and struggled to get loose, my fingers entangled in the bracelet. Megan pushed me forward a bit so I wouldn’t fall back when she let me go, but the kiss on my cheek wasn’t at all necessary. I whipped my face while she giggled at me, taking the bracelet and quickly fitting it back to her wrist. “I had to take a link out, by the way, so if it fits weird let me know,” I murmured as I held my hand to my cheek, rubbing the spot a bit.
“No no, it’s fine. I think it fits better even,” her lips curled a bit, a catty smile spreading across her face as she said this, and I rolled my eyes. I pulled a small, plastic box from my bag and popped it open, dropping the tweezers and extra chains into it. I’d hoped that I had a link that matched what I’d used on Megan’s, but I hadn’t. I figured I better head to the thrift store again soon and raid them of all their costume jewelry.
As I dropped my kit back in my bag, the bell rang, and Megan groaned loudly. “Aw, I don’t want lunch to be over yet!” she whined as I stood, slinging my messenger bag over my left shoulder; no, my backpack hadn’t been replaced. Anyway, Megan followed me out of the cafeteria, her hands resting on her stomach. “I was so distracted by your miss fix it skills that I totally forgot to eat!” her head drooped even further down as she said this, and I sighed.
“You’re such a space cadet Megan,” I grumbled as I dug in my bag. I produced a Rice Krispy Treat, Megan’s eyes growing impossibly large as I held it out to her. She snatched it up and ripped it open with her teeth, biting into it with a large smile on her face. I sighed again, debating on why I’d become Megan’s care taker over the last year. “Yuck,” I murmured, seeing Mr. Anderson standing outside his class room.
Megan glanced up from her dorky stride, her eyes having been completely transfixed on her feet just moments ago. “Oh,” she said slowly, realizing what I’d been talking about. “Yeah, I see how that could warrant a yuck,” she giggled a little then glanced at me. “Lucky me, my parents let me transfer out of his class,” she said with a cheeky little grin, then she stuck her tongue out at me. “Good luck Miss Fix It!” she teased then turned sharply on her heel and skipped away.
I could feel my brow twitch a little, a habit that had formed from too much anime. I placed two fingers against it, inhaling slowly as I watched Megan disappear around a corner. After settling myself down over Megan’s little comment, I turned and headed for Mr. Anderson’s classroom, his class not starting for a good five minutes.
He glanced down at me for a moment then looked out into the hallway again. “Hannah,” he said simply and I raised my hand in a pathetic little wave. I passed through the door frame slowly, feeling lazy, and was about to head over to the back table where Karl was sitting, but a voice caught me by the door. “Hannah, I’d like to talk to you after class,” he said suddenly, glancing over his shoulder at me.
“I have art after this,” I hadn’t intended for it to come out sounding so whiny. His eyes hardened on me and I felt my spine straighten up, an odd, unfamiliar chill running down my spine. “Eh… But, I guess Mrs. Harlan won’t care too much,” I traded off quickly, feeling those eyes bore into me.
He turned away again, leaning back against the doorframe. “If you got to school on time you’d know Mrs. Harlan isn’t here today, you’ve have study hall seventh hour today,” he said simply and I paused, my back having turned to him as soon as his eyes moved away from me. I stuffed my hands in my pockets and then made my way over to where Karl was sitting, his headphones in and his head bopping to something.
I was amazed I couldn’t hear it from across the room, hell, I didn’t even notice he was listening to music till I got close. He took notice of me when I sat down in my usual spot, dropping my bag beside me. “Afternoon babe,” he said as he pulled a bud out of his ear. He glanced forward, seeing Mr. Anderson’s back still turned, then he turned his head in my direction. “So what’d he want?”
“He wants to talk to me after class,” I murmured quietly, trying not to draw his attention.
I watched the furrow of Karl’s brow, his eyes narrowed slightly. “Yeah?” he asked then leaned back against his chair, his finger flicking across the screen of his iPod. “Yeah… Ok,” he practically whispered. He shot me a look then. “Hey, you want to see something really wicked?” he asked then and I felt a little surprised, having never seen him so animated. He flicked his iPod screen again, the light coming on, and he flipped through some things.
He made it look like he was looking for something, but really he was writing something down. He then held it in front of my face. “Popped up on Facebook last night,” he said simply and I stared at the message he was showing me. I decide how I felt about what was written across the screen, whether I wanted to puke or go hide under my bed.
“Mr. Anderson’s got it for you!”
“Facebook,” I said sarcastically, acting like I was looking at some stupid post on the web. In truth, I felt an odd sensation in my stomach. “Hey, I saw something last night, can I show you?” I asked and he nodded, passing me his iPod across the surface of the table and I quickly jotted something down for him.
“WTF!? Why do you think that??”
Karl glanced at me and laughed a little. “Heh, I hate super obvious memes,” he said and I nodded, playing along even though I had no idea what he meant. He gestured to his iPod, acting like he was showing me the picture I had been showing him. “See his eyes?” he asked. “He’s staring at that chick, in every frame, right?” he pointed to the nonexistent picture and picked apart what he meant.
“Wow… I never noticed,” I murmured, my head spinning. Was he staring at me? When?
The bell rang and I glanced up, realizing then that the classroom was full and Mr. Anderson was walking up to his desk. “Phones, iPods, and whatever else better be in your packs or in your pockets,” he said simply and I felt an anxious twitch in my knees, making me feel like I should jump up and run from the room. I didn’t feel threatened, per say, more confused than anything else. Why hadn’t I noticed him looking at me?
Maybe it was Karl’s imagination?
I tried to push the thought from my mind, putting all my focus on the board, but the more Mr. Anderson talked about the problems on the wipe board I found myself more and more transfixed on the teacher, not the problem. He glanced back and my fists clenched painfully tight, his eyes meeting mine dead on, like he’d looked right at my head a million times. He turned away again, looking at the board. “Hannah,” he said suddenly and I jumped. “Come on up here,” he said.
Karl glanced at me, his eyes narrowed, and I shrugged casually. I walked up slowly, trying not to seem out of sorts as the teacher handed me a green marker. “Solve this problem,” he said simply and I blinked, my eyes moving from the marker, up his arm, and finally to his face. When he looked down at me I felt a deep chill in the pit of my stomach, something like being stared down by an angry dog.
I swiped the marker from him, not thinking, and quickly scribbled on the board. He stood a little ways away, watching as I wrote down the last digit of the problem. I capped the marker and handed it back to him. “Good job,” he said simply and I blinked, looking back at the board. I realized what had just happened as I looked up, the problem solved. I’d been played, he knew my secret, and that was probably the topic of our talk after class.
I couldn’t help walking briskly back to my seat, a few people giving me odd looks; I made it my business too fail… This was something new for everyone.
Scene End
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Chapter notes:Okay, double update for the day!!