The Revealing

As I sat in my seat, I looked over and noticed that on my left sat Damian. Great. The jerk looked over, saw me looking at him and smirked in my direction. “Just can’t keep your eyes off me, can you, girlie?” he said.

He was so irritating. It wasn’t like me to reply rudely or even be rude in general, but I felt the need to defend myself. I opened my mouth to reply, but I shut it again. His eyes were glowing—actually giving off light. I felt as if I were going crazy. Car did not look pleased. He had a scowl on his face, but when he noticed I was looking at him, he smiled. It was a forced smile. I could tell his feud with Damian was something I should not get involved in. I had been missing a lot of sleep lately, so maybe I had just imagined everything. It was the only rational explanation, so I focused on the task. Mrs. Shire had no trouble jumping into assignments on the first day.

We had to make a dozen cupcakes in the flavor of our choice and one cake to match, all according to a theme we would choose. We had to decorate them and have them done by Friday, which was in a week. Lucky for me, baking was simple. I’d taken after my mother in that way; she was always the best at making cookies.

“What do you think we should do for our theme?” Car asked politely. All the tension from earlier was gone from his voice, and he was genuine.

“Um, I’m thinking maybe a sci-fi thing—like little alien heads or something would be cute.”

He laughed and raised an eyebrow. “Alien heads? I don’t quite think the decapitation of aliens is cute.”

His tone was playful but had a bit of an edge to it. Maybe he didn’t like aliens.

“How about a circus theme?” he said. He was convincing, so I decided to agree with him, even though I liked my alien idea better.

“Sure, that’s a good idea. We can make it shaped like a circus tent and make miniature animals and stuff on the cupcakes.” I was already picturing it in my head. His idea was pretty good now that I thought about it.

“That’s a great idea!” He smiled the kind of smile that reached into his eyes.

It amused me how often his mood would change. First, he would be upset with this Damian kid, and then he would throw the incident out the window as if it were nothing. This was a guy thing, I figured. I shook my head, and Car and I began our project for the class. We started by making the batter, which was always a messy situation for me, but Car, as with everything else he did, mixed his batter perfectly. Beginner’s luck. Every time I stirred, Car would laugh.

“What’s so funny?” I said, raising an eyebrow.

“When you concentrate on stirring really hard, your eyebrows pull together, and your tongue sticks out of the corner of your mouth. It’s quite amusing.” He smiled. That smile was always there.

“I’m glad I can entertain you,” I said sarcastically.

I was concentrating on making sure my tongue did not stick out again, and I wasn’t paying attention to the batter or how far I was tipping the bowl. Then, without warning, my cupcake mix spilled on the teacher’s shoes.

“Ms. Xanthis!”

I knew I was in deep trouble.

“Can you kindly explain to me what has happened here?” she said, pointing at her pointy-toed witch shoes with heels.

I responded without thinking, “Those heels are going to taste a whole lot better once you bake them.”

She frowned so hard I thought her face would permanently stay that way. Okay, so humour is not the way to go with this teacher. Wonderful. Just as I prepared for a verbal smack down, Damian burst out laughing. Even better. I’m already in enough trouble as it is. I don’t need a jerk’s help in proving my statement had humour.

Mrs. Shire’s head whipped around. Damian settled down just in time for her not to know he was the one laughing.

“Who laughed?” She spat the words into the air with so much force she probably could have knocked over a wall if she’d tried. Her face was so serious she looked like stone. What a weird effect on me she had. Her nasally voice alone gave me the chills.

“I did.” Car spoke from behind me. He sounded the most annoyed I’d ever heard him. I spun my head around to look at him. Why did he take the fall for Damian? It was clear he and Damian weren’t on good terms. Fortunately, the teacher did not believe him.

“It doesn’t seem like something you would do, Car. It seems like more of a Damian behavior. Yup, that’s right—I’d know your laugh anywhere, Damian.” She turned to look at him. “Are you really going to let him take the blame? Are you really that bad of a person?”

Damian smirked at her and said, “I don’t know. He is just so used to it. After all, he has taken the rap for me for my entire life. Why break tradition now? But just look at him. Isn’t he convincing?”

Now Mrs. Shire looked so angry I expected steam to come out of her ears any moment. Hadn’t this entire thing started with me? Her voice raised in volume, and a vein in her neck pulsed visibly as if outside of her skin. “All right then! If you are so glad he has taken the rat, then you can join Ms. Xanthis and your brother, since he so desperately wants to take the fall for you, in detention for an hour after school!”

Brother? How could I have not noticed? It seemed blatantly obvious now. I could see the similarities. They were both tall, and they both had deep voices. Both of them had dark hair, and both had strange eye colours—maybe it ran in the family. What I didn’t understand was how much older Damian looked. They couldn’t possibly been twins. Could they? I thought. I turned to Car for answers, but he looked mad again, so I decided it was a bad time.

Mrs. Shire turned her attention back to me. “I hope you have fun in detention, Miss Xanthis. Not starting the year off quite well, I’m afraid”

She looked mad but also a little disappointed. I didn’t know why, so I did what I should have done in the first place. I said, “I am very sorry for allowing myself to get distracted and letting the batter spill onto your very pretty shoes. I hope you can forgive me.”

The teacher looked flabbergasted at my apology, and she seemed to like my compliment, because I thought I saw her slightly blush and smile, which seemed impossible. “Uh, yes, I forgive you. Just don’t let your mind wander in class—very dangerous, you know? Especially in a kitchen.” She smiled and went back to her seat.

Weird. Now it was Damian’s turn to be surprised. He stared at me with his mouth wide open like a fish. I smirked at him after the teacher left the scene. After about five seconds of surprised staring, I’d had enough of the attention, so I leaned over and said, “Just can’t keep your eyes off me, can you, boy?”

I put emphasis on the word boy on purpose. Car, who was just as surprised as everyone else, chuckled beside me. After the incident, I went straight back to work, concentrating on the batter and not caring how humorous my tongue sticking out was. I was going to finish this project with a bang and prove to Mrs. Shire that I was worth her time. After I took my completed cupcakes out of the oven, the bell rang. I’d have to finish the cake and the decorating on Monday.

I walked out of the room to go to third period after about five minutes of putting my things back in my backpack and cleaning up after Car and myself. I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned around, and there was Car with his shiny white teeth in his usual wide grin. I didn’t want to be late for my next class, so if he wanted to say something, he had to make it quick, and it looked as if he knew that as well.

“That was a very brave thing you did there.” He looked appreciative.

“Well, it was just a joke. I mean, yeah, she is a teacher and all, but in my—”

“No, I meant what you said to Damian.”

Seriously? “Well, he deserved it. Tripping me was a bad idea, and laughing at my joke didn’t help my situation at all.”

He looked at me, surprised. “People are usually scared of my brother. He doesn’t really take well to new people.”

“Well, maybe it was just what he needed to quit being the jerk that he is.”

“Jeez, you are nothing like I expected.”

I didn’t know how to respond to that comment, so I just nodded and smiled. The second warning bell rang. Crap, I’m going to be late! “Um, it’s been nice talking to you, but I’m going to be late to my next class. I should get going.”

I gave Car a parting smile, turned, left the room and headed left down the hallway. I rushed to my next class, which was easy to find because I had asked about it earlier, considering it was my favourite class: art. Art was my sanctuary. I loved losing myself in my paintings and letting my mind wander away to the worlds I painted. I walked into the class and felt at home.

The teacher sitting at the front desk looked beautiful. She had long, wavy strawberry blond hair that reached down to her lower back; she was tall and slim; and she had full red lips and brown doe eyes. Her smile was just as perfect as the rest of her, and she had an incredible sense of style.

“Good afternoon, Miss Xanthis.” She smiled and looked up from the class list on her desk. From what I could see, the list included pictures of people beside their names, and mine was the only name without a picture, so it was understandable that she would know my name, as I was the only new face. I was glad I had a nice teacher in my art class. Having a Mrs. Shire–type teacher would have ruined the class.

“Good afternoon, Mrs. Aubrey. I’m really excited to start,” I said giddily with excitement.

She looked glad. “I’m glad to hear that. The first assignment is to paint your dream world, but first, we need to do some simple starting assignments, like learning about all the elements and departments of design.”

No! I did not want to repeat those stupid lessons all over again. Every year it’s the same! This was my last chance to get out of the petty art lessons each student would get.

“Would it be all right if I move ahead? I already had all those lessons in my last semester at my old school.”

She smiled and nodded. “All right, I will give you an extra assignment to do on the side, but in the meantime, you have to finish these other tasks along with the rest of the class. If you can handle it all, I will give you extra projects more often. Do we have a deal?”

I nodded frantically. I couldn’t wait to get my hands on those brushes. “Thanks so much, Mrs. Aubrey.”

I went straight to the canvas she had prepared for me and got all the paints I needed to set up, and then, as my amazing luck would have it, Damian strolled into the classroom, ruining my one beacon of hope for the day in a split second. Why did he have to ruin my favourite class? I already had him in my first two periods. I swore that if he were in my music class, I would hate my life for the rest of the year.

He looked over, saw me with the paintbrush in my hand and smiled. The smile was not one of his crazy, villainous smirks that made me shudder; it was more like how Car had smiled—but with less enthusiasm. It was far less strained and was a lot gentler. This was odd.

He walked over to me and said, “I bet those shoes are going to be delicious. Let’s see how funny you are after school.”

I knew it. He was still a jerk—a jerk with a nice smile but still a jerk.

“If you hadn’t laughed, she wouldn’t have given you detention,” I said. I couldn’t believe I cared if she gave him detention, but I was mad that he was going to be there with me.

“You don’t know what she would have done if I hadn’t done that. Let’s just say that being suspended on your first day isn’t exactly something you want to put on your résumé, Bambi.”

I stared at him. “First of all, I honestly don’t think she would have sus—”

He laughed, interrupting what I was about to say. He couldn’t have been any ruder if he’d tried.

“Then you don’t know Mrs. Shire,” he said. “She jumps at the chance to break down the fresh meat, and in that class, you’re it, Bambi.”

If he interrupted me one more time, I would stick the paintbrush in an unpleasant place for him. “Second of all, don’t call me Bambi!” I was leaning in for emphasis. What was this kid’s problem?

“Would you rather I call you Bunny?” he said, his eyebrows raising. It was a challenge.

“I would rather you not call me at all.”

“Not going to happen, Bunny.”

Perfect. “Don’t call me Bunny either.”

“Aw, why not? You look just like one—heart racing, nose crinkled up and even little baby bunny eyes. You completely give off that look. Sorry, but it’s just something that you’re going to have to take up with me later. I have a class to attend.” He leaned over and pinched my cheek.

What the heck was his problem? This guy needed a reality check. I stared at his back, this time with my mouth wide open in surprise.

“Damian, please leave my most enthusiastic student alone. She is starting a new project for me, and I do not appreciate you bothering her. I’m also pretty positive that she is not so fond of it either.”

He put his hands up in surrender. “I was just welcoming her to my favourite class.”

I doubt it. Just sucking up to the teacher, I believe. Mrs. Aubrey then did something that left me stunned. She gave him a lethal smile, one that could have knocked out any man’s heart with lust. She had an impact on him, because he sat down right away—but not before he gave her one of his condescending smiles as he accepted her challenge. She gave her attention to the class.

“All right, class, we have a new student in our small-town school. Her name is Obseydian. Oh, did I fumble that?” She looked at me for reassurance.

I smiled lightly and replied, “It was a good first try. It’s actually—”

“Obsidian.” Damian cut me off before I could finish.

I narrowed my eyes at him, and he smiled back at me, laughing in silence. If he and Car were twins, I figured he must be the evil one. “I know my own name. Thanks.”

“And it’s a lovely one at that. Thank you for correcting me, Damian, but please don’t take her spotlight.” Mrs. Aubrey grinned and nodded at me, pointing out that I could start on the little project we’d agreed on earlier. As long as I paid attention, I could paint till my heart’s end, which was just the way I liked it. I was free to paint whatever I wanted. So as she began to teach the class, I began my work of art.