Soul Searcher by D.M. Richardson (novel24 .TXT) 📕

I turned to see Zeke staring at me intently. I didn’t say anything I just stood and followed everyone into the back room. The teacher was right behind me. He showed me where all of the safety equipment was and where he kept the materials. He told me I could make anything I wanted from whatever I wanted, and to just remember that I had to pay for it when I was finished. I nodded. That wasn’t a problem since I planned to have a job soon anyway.

I looked at the materials available to me. It took me a few minutes to decide what I wanted to make. I grabbed a pair of safety goggles and a slab of oak and set to work.

I was completely engrossed in my project to the point that I didn’t notice anything around me. About half an hour in someone tapped me on the shoulder. I jumped barely catching the router before it caused some irreparable damage. I turned to glare at the person who interrupted me. Surprise, surprise it was Zeke.

“What!” I snapped half irritated at him for interrupting me and half irritated at having been surprised. I saw a muscle twitch in his cheek like he was trying not to laugh. Which only made me glare harder. He nodded toward the door and went back to his work station. I looked over to see the teacher on the other side of the table. From the looks of him he had been trying to get my attention for awhile. I looked at the door and another student, a tall gangly guy with glasses and acne. He was holding a small pink piece of paper.

I walked over to him taking my goggles off. He handed me the paper awkwardly. I looked up at him and gave him a small smile to show that he wasn’t the source of my annoyance and thanked him.

I turned and walked back to my table before I bothered reading the message. I unfolded the paper and felt my eyes widen as I took in the words. I was to go to Koner’s shop right after school. I guess my test results came in.

Zeke

I watched as she read the note. I saw her eyes widen, and the small nervous smile that formed afterward. I don’t think I could ever forget the fire that lit up her eyes when she snapped at me. It was the most alive thing I’ve seen from her in the past two days of watching. It amazed me how unsettlingly happy I was to find out she had moved into a house that was just a few down from my own.

She went back to her work and completely tuned out the rest of the world again. I had wanted to shout for joy when she spoke her mind to Mr. Green. He was a self absorbed, obnoxious ass, and he needed to finally be put in his place. I was only grateful that I had been there and was the only one to witness it.

The more I watched her the more I wanted to get to know her. Now if only I could get her to talk to me. For real not just to tutor me.

Another town, another home, another school year in yet another school. If I had one realistic wish it would be for me to be able to stay in this school until I graduated. It was one month into the school year.

It wasn’t that unrealistic. It was my junior year I only had one year and eight months to go. I had just been transferred to this home two days ago over the weekend. I had lasted longer than usual in my home. A full year, then I had to go and ruin it by slipping up yet again. They were nicer than most about it though, and let me keep the car that they had given me when I got my license. It wasn’t new but it was reliable. For a 1990 Ford Taurus it ran great.

I gripped my steering wheel until my knuckles turned white. I took a deep breath and exhaled slowly before grabbing my bag and opening my door. I looked up at the three story building that was Dillon High School. Surprisingly it’s the only town in Green County that I haven’t lived in over the last eleven years.

I dropped my mostly smoked cigarette and stomped it out. I walked into the front door of the school and saw the office on the right. I had to knock on the glass window to get the secretaries attention. I told her my name and she wordlessly slid a packet through the slot in the window. Telling me rather rudely that I was five minutes late.

Of course it wouldn’t matter to her that my new foster mom was trying very hard to be nurturing to a teenager that had obviously had a hard past. She wouldn’t let me out of the house until I had eaten a three course breakfast. It was annoying but I didn’t fault her for it. My foster parents were young and I was their first foster child. From what I gathered they weren’t able to have children of their own and couldn’t afford to adopt, so they decided to become foster parents.

I opened my packet and found a student ID that they must have used a picture from my previous school. I also found my schedule and the traditional piece of paper that I had to have all of my new teachers sign to prove I had actually attended the class.

locker number 306

Calculus - room 207/ Mr. Holstein

Language Arts III - room 116/ Mrs. Hood

Physics II - room 320/ Mr. Holmes

American History - room 125/ Mr. Freibe

Lunch

Novels - room 102/ Mrs. Brown

Choir - room B1 / Mrs. Hollister

Shop - room 120/ Mr. Green

Great they had me all over the place. I’ve changed schools enough I wouldn’t have a hard time finding my way around, it was all pretty standard. The only thing I would have a problem with is finding my locker that was always difficult because it relied on the number of students not how many floors there were. I looked down both sides of the hallwayand spotted the stairs to my left.

I climbed to the second floor and started looking at the numbers on the doors. Each room I passed had a room full of students. I was not looking forward to being the new kid again. It was always the worst part of changing homes and schools.

I finally reached room 207 and I opened the door. The room wasn’t as full as the other rooms I had passed. I guess not many people wanted to take calculus. Everyone looked up as I walked in. I kept my eyes trained on the floor as I walked to the teachers desk. I handed him my slip of paper. He took it perching a pair of glassed on his nose. I looked at his mouth instead of his eyes. By this time I had had a lot of practice at averting eye contact while not seeming rude.

“Rayne Nyght. Okay glad to have you in the class just take a seat anywhere.” he instructed as he put his signature next to the class on the paper. I nodded taking the paper back. I lifted my eyes just long enough to scan the room for an empty seat away from everyone. I found the perfect back corner seat and dropped my eyes to the floor as I made my way to it.

I sat down dropping my bag to the floor just in time to catch a few girls on the other side of the room lean over to whisper. About me no doubt. The schools may change but standard teenage girl behavior rarely did.

The teacher brought me a text book and told me to turn to chapter six. I did as I was told and was relieved to see I had already learned the topic. I pulled my book out of my bag and got comfortable as I opened it to where I had left off.

The teacher only interrupted me once to ask a question about what they were learning. When I answered it correctly he let me go back to my reading. The hour passed quickly as I lived the life of the heroin in my book instead of suffering through my own.

When the bell rang I packed up my things and walked out the door without looking directly at anyone. I took the stairs down to the first floor and only had a little bit of trouble finding my next class. I arrived just before the second bell rang. It seemed there was only a three minute wait between bells instead of five minutes that I was used to. When I walked into the class room it was everyone was already there again. I repeated the process of handing over my paper. This time though the teacher didn’t say anything. She just signed her signature and waved me off. I found another corner seat and sat down.

I had kept my eyes on the floor but I felt eyes following me the whole time. I was used to the feeling of an entire class ogling the new girl. This was different. This was one set of eyes in particular. I glanced to my left to see a guy about three rows over leaning back in his chair with his arms crossed. He had on sunglasses but his head was turned so he’d be looking right at me. I didn’t have a problem looking directly at him, and it didn‘t occur to me that it was weird for someone to be wearing sunglasses inside a classroom. The sunglasses hid his eyes so I couldn’t see them. I didn’t have to worry about seeing his memories.

He had black hair that just reached his ears. His jaw was chiseled and he had a prominent, straight nose. His lips were full without being too big. He had his legs stretched out and I could tell he was tall. Over six feet. His shoulders were wide and I could see the slightest bit of a tattoo peeking out of the sleeve of his t-shirt.

He reached to pull his sunglasses off and I immediately turned my attention back to my own desk. Again I was one chapter ahead of the class so I opened my book back up to where I was. I felt his eyes on me periodically through out the hour. It was almost a physical feeling and it was more distracting than the rest of the class peeking looks at me.

The teacher didn’t bother me. She just let me read. She either had tenure and didn’t care or this was an English class so it was allowed. Either way from the way her voice droned on and on she wasn’t a very good teacher.

The hour ended quickly, and I was the last out of the room. I checked my schedule again and headed for the third floor for physics. Again I was the last to enter. This room was set up differently from the others I have seen before. Instead of individual desks the room was lined with large black tables. There were two people to every table.

I tried to hand my paper to the teacher but he wasn’t paying attention. He was looking all over his desk for something. I tapped his desk with my knuckle to get his attention. He jumped and looked at me startled. He seemed a bit scatter brained. He was young to be a teacher at least of physics. He couldn’t have been older than twenty four. He wasn’t unattractive. He was tall and lean like