Secret Academy - Deuteronomy

V: Finding Friends

“Hey!”

He was distracted from his thoughts when his seatmate leaned closer to him and whispered. Jasper looked to his left at the pretty blonde girl with teal-blue eyes. She looked like a regular Bonnie Blue from the sixties with her aristocratic nose.

“Hey…” he whispered back.

They were stealing glances at the teacher, who was doing a roll call in front.

“Kaitlin Odemeyer!”

“Here!”

Jasper looked at the red-haired beauty that had gone inside his room that morning. He noticed that she smiled a lot.

“She’s the friendliest in class. That’s why they made her class representative…” whispered the girl beside him.

He smiled weakly at her attempt at conversation. He didn’t feel like talking, but he couldn’t pass up friends. The place felt bare and bitter enough as it was.

There were forty students in the room, an aisle separating four rows of students. There were more boys than girls, with two students sharing one long wooden desk that had a shelf below it for their books and papers. Jasper and his seatmate were seated two desks away from the teacher’s table.

“Barbara Reynaldi!”

“Here!” shouted his seatmate.

Jasper absentmindedly smiled at her, and she gave him a playful wink.

“Mikael Slovasky?”

“Here”

A deep male voice came from the back of the room, and Jasper turned around to find the tall boy who had nodded at him in the cafeteria.

He had tidy, honey-blonde hair and eyes that stared anxiously out the window. Jasper thought he had the bluest eyes he’d ever seen on anyone – they were like the sky on a clear summer day. Mikael sat lazily on his desk, his arms folded across his strong chest. The place beside him was empty.

“Alice Molina?”

No answer.

“Mademoiselle Molina?” the teacher shouted again, much louder. This time, he looked up from his attendance sheet and searched the room of faces.

“Bien. Let’s begin…” he merely shrugged and turned his back to write something on the white board.

“Don’t worry, you might meet her tomorrow” Barbara was leaning close to him again. He could smell her perfume.

“Who?” when he looked puzzled, she chuckled.

“You were wondering who Alice is, weren’t you? I saw you looking next to Mikael when Monsieur Belgard called her name and there was no response…” she whispered.

“I was just wondering why it wasn’t a big deal that someone is absent, that’s all”

“It’s normal for her” she kept talking as she scribbled notes in her notebook.

“…but as for the rest of us, we can’t just skip class. Unless we’re on our deathbed” she suppressed a laugh.

The teacher coughed and looked behind him, narrowing his eyes at Barbara.

She ducked her head innocently and looked away, but continued copying notes. Jasper had his pen on paper, but sat motionless. Barbara took a quick glance his way, and nudged him a little.

“Quel est le problème? 

Jasper merely stared blankly at her.

“Don’t tell me you haven’t studied French before?” she asked, quite stunned.