Thrill of the Fall

Astin called after the boy who’d so graciously opened her locker but he was too far down the hallway to hear her. Even if he had heard her, she wasn’t sure he’d turn around to acknowledge it. People had a tendency to shy away from her. Being seen talking to her was almost like getting caught red-handed for a crime you didn’t commit: even if you were innocent you were still in the wrong place at the wrong time. All Astin wanted to do was thank him. It wasn’t everyday that someone did something nice for her willingly. It was actually quite rare.

With a quick glance at the time on her cell phone, she slammed her locker shut and rushed toward her final class. Luckily for her, she had it with Alex. What wasn’t so lucky, however, was that they weren’t seated anywhere near one another. Astin didn’t understand the dynamics behind alphabetical seating. In her opinion, it took away from the learning experience when you had to sit near someone you absolutely loathed. To her, that meant 95% of her classmates. She couldn’t remember the last time she sat through a class and was completely at ease.

Once she reached the classroom she took her usual seat and dug her textbook out of her bag. History had never been Astin’s strong suit. Subjects like science and math held her attention much better. Dates, battles, names -- none of them clicked, especially combined. On top of that, Mr. Burgan had a reputation for being the worst teacher in their high school. Because of this, she never paid much attention. She passed her exams because of common knowledge and even then it was by the skin of her teeth.

Astin sighed once Mr. Burgan shut the door to the classroom and made his way to the front. He immediately enlisted the help of an oversized map and started pointing to a location somewhere off the coast of Greece. As if on cue, her eyelids felt heavy and it was all she could do to stay awake. The sudden sound of someone opening the classroom door and rushing to their seat startled her. However, once she registered who’d just walked through the door, she smiled.

“Hey, aren’t you the one who opened my locker for me?”

The boy glanced over at her momentarily. There was a flash of panic like he couldn’t decide whether to answer her or act like he didn’t hear the question. In lieu of actually speaking, he just nodded his head before turning his attention to the lecture. Astin tried to hide her disappointment but failed. The corners of her lips turned downward into a frown and she made a pathetic sort of huffing noise. The boy still ignored her which was fine because she wasn’t doing those things to regain his attention.

With her eyes glued to the chalkboard, Astin spoke out of the corner of her mouth. “All I wanted to do was say thank you.”

Out of the corner of her eye she saw the boy turn to her. The panic previously painted across his face had been replaced with sympathy. For a brief moment, Astin thought he was going to answer her, but he was cut off by the monotone, boring sound of Mr. Burgan’s voice.

“As you all know, you have a project due the last day of class which will count as your final grade.” He paused momentarily to relish in the sound of twenty-five groans. “But I’ve made a small change to the syllabus. Instead of making you all do the project on your own, you may pick a partner.”

It didn’t take Astin long to find Alex’s stare. They both nodded at one another, confirming that they’d be partners, and Astin felt a weight lift from her shoulders. She’d dealt with group projects before; ones where she was either excluded because no one wanted to associate with her, or ones where she was stuck doing all the work because she got nearly perfect grades. At least with Alex the work would be split evenly and she wouldn’t have anything to worry about.

“When I call your name, please tell me who your partner is going to be,” Mr. Burgan instructed and Astin waited patiently for her name to be called. “Miss Caignon?”

“Alex Lawson.”

She saw Mr. Burgan nod and jot something down in his roll book before continuing down the list of names. Once he was finished he instructed everyone to sit near their partners so they could discuss the project. As Astin took the seat next to Alex, she saw the boy take one right next to her. He must’ve realized it as well because he turned a deep shade of crimson and turned his back to her almost immediately. Alex noticed and chuckled.

“It’s not funny,” Astin whispered harshly.

Alex chose to ignore this comment because he already knew why it was happening. He’d pegged this boy from the beginning as the author of Astin’s letters; it was no shock to him that he was acting so strangely around her. “What are we going to do for this project?”

“I don’t know.” Truth be told, Astin hadn’t paid enough attention to know what the project even entailed.

“Well, it has to be a timeline, so what period do you want to do it on?”

“A timeline? What are we, sixth graders?”

Mr. Burgan laughed from his place at the podium. “Would you rather write a research paper, Miss Caignon?”

It was Astin’s turn to adapt the color of a tomato. She shook her head and looked to Alex for some sort of assistance. “Let’s just do the Roman Empire and get it over with.”

Astin nodded, temporarily getting the teacher off her back while he went around the classroom, asking each group what their timeline was going to consist of. Most of them gave generic answers, much like she and Alex did, but one answered caught her by surprise.

“And what are you two going to be doing?” Mr. Burgan asked the boy next to her. Astin didn’t know who his partner was, but judging by the way Alex eyed them both, he knew them quite well.

“The British Invasion,” they answered simultaneously.

She wanted to turn around and gush about how the Rolling Stones were her favorite band of all-time but she didn’t. Not many people knew about her deep appreciation of classic rock. Then again, most people couldn’t have cared less. The way Alex’s face was frozen in some sort of jealous scowl took her mind off the situation as she burst into a fit of giggles.

“Stop laughing,” he snapped. “I should’ve thought of that.”

“But you didn’t,” Astin pointed out, “so there’s no point in being jealous. They’re obviously smarter than you.”

Alex wished she could’ve seen the way the boy turned around and looked at her, with the utmost adoration in his eyes. He also wished he could’ve ignored the look his friend was giving him. Astin was not the kind of girl you’d want your best friend to date, but that was only because no one knew the real her. The Astin that Alex knew wasn’t like the ones in the rumors. It was kind of like she was an actress, stuck with a terrible script. The people watching the performance don’t know who she is so the judge her based solely on her character, not realizing what they’re doing. Everyone else was doing it, though, so it must be okay.

However, Alex knew this boy didn’t care about her reputation. She could’ve been an axe murderer and he was positive this boy would still be head over heels for her. That was the kind of boy Astin deserved, he was sure of that. The only problem was getting her to realize it.