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The Dreamer: Chapter 4

Warm Center of the World

By Theodore DembowskiPublished 3 years ago 8 min read
2

Jeff and Marc usually walked to class together because they had many of the same classes. As they walked to class today they walked in silence. Usually they were chattering on about whatever drivel came to mind at the time, but today Marc was too distracted. Of course they were headed to Ms. Laurel's class so he wasn't in any rush. They walked in just as the bell was ringing.

"You're late!" exclaimed Ms. Laurel as she was penciling in her attendance to her grade book.

"N..." Marc started but decided it was better to bite his tongue and take his seat.

Ms. Laurel glared at the boys for a few moments and started class by saying, "Have your homework out while I come around."

Ms. Laurel's HW policy was simple, done is 5 points, not done is 0 points. Late homework was not accepted. She was quite strict about it too, NO excuses. She would come check and examine everyone's assignment to make sure all of the problems had work and answers and write down who didn't do it. Then she would torture the class by asking them all at random to give an answer, even if you didn't do it. Not answering would make her call home and give you a detention. No one messed with Ms. Laurel. When she got to Marc's desk she really took time to study his work. She didn't trust him. "You did this yourself?" she asked.

"Yes ma'am," replied Marc.

Ms. Laurel glared at him for a moment and studied his face. It was like she was looking for a wrinkle that said "I'm lying, give me detention."

She moved on to Sarah Simpleton next. Sarah does her homework probably half of the time. Ever since her accident, she hasn't been the same. The doctor said she was lucky to be alive. Lucky, but with permanent brain damage. Not quite sure what it means to be lucky after something like that.

"Where's your homework young lady!?" Ms. Laurel complained.

"Umm...," uttered Sarah.

"That's your third assignment that you missed. I will be calling home," Ms. Laurel continued.

Just then the evil teacher picked up her phone and dialed poor Sarah's parents to tell them. All the while Sarah sat there with tears welling up in her eyes. How embarrassing! Imagine your teacher calling your parents in the middle of class in front of everyone else!

"Mrs. Simpleton?" asked Ms. Laurel.

After a brief pause Ms. Laurel stated, "This is Cynthia Laurel, Sarah's math teacher. The reason why I'm calling is to tell you that Sarah just missed her third assignment this marking period."

Another brief pause.

"Yes I understand that, but that is not an excuse to miss assignments and she is graded and treated like everyone else."

Brief pause.

"She is sitting right here, would you like to speak with her?"

At this point Sarah was beet red and crying. Marc just couldn't bear to look at her, afraid to lash out at Ms. Laurel. His ears were turning red as his blood boiled as he refrained from giving it to her.

Ms. Laurel handed Sarah the phone. "H...h...hello," Sarah stammered.

Brief pause.

"Okay mom, I will," she said as she handed the phone back to Ms. Laurel.

"Have a nice day Mrs. Simpleton," said Ms. Laurel and she hung up the phone.

The rest of the class went as normal. Ms. Laurel droned on about prime numbers for a bit and her students all prayed for the bell to ring. She of course asked them all to answer a homework question including Sarah although she embarrassed her enough for one day. When the bell rang Marc was the first to bolt out of the classroom.

"She's incredibly ridiculous!" Marc stated to Jeff as he stormed off with his friend in tow.

"She does come across as evil," Jeff added.

Just then Jonathan came running over to them. He was in a different math class but their next class, English, they all shared. "Hey guys!" he exclaimed.

"Hi Jonathan," Marc sighed.

"What's the matter man?" questioned Jonathan.

Together Marc and Jeff explained what happened in math class and filled him in on Marc's run in with Ms. Laurel in the morning as well. They walked and talked all the way to English class. As they entered the room Marc froze for a second blushing slightly as he saw her sitting in her seat. She was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen and she was looking right at him as he entered the room.

Since 3rd grade Marc always found her to be attractive. It was quite interesting to run into her in the video store. The problem was her mother was going to be his counselor if he couldn't figure out a way to save his parents.

"Go for it," whispered Jeff, as if he was reading his friend's mind.

Marc thought for a second, looked at Jeff, then back at the girl. Suddenly he did something even he didn't expect. Marc took long strides and ended up walking right up to her.

"Hi," he started.

Blushing she returned the gesture, "H...h...hello."

"How was the movie?" Marc asked.

"What movie?" she replied.

"Ya know, the one you got with your mom at the video store the other day," Marc explained.

"Oh, yea. It was good I guess," she answered.

"That's great," Marc said.

Then there was an awkward silence between them for a few moments where Marc stood there smiling nervously and Natalie just stared up at him in wonder before he slowly backed away and took his seat.

Sighing as he plopped down at his desk he couldn't help to think how beautiful she looked today. The way her dark brown hair fell onto her shoulders, the way she smiled, and the color of her beautiful blue eyes were all mesmerizing. As Marc was thinking of how beautiful she was and how badly he wanted to hold her and kiss her he was so rudely interrupted by Jeff, "Way to go man! She keeps looking over at you."

Just as Marc looked back to see he saw Natalie turn away. He smiled and then went to go reply to his friend as he was just then rudely interrupted by the bell. He knew it would be a bad idea to say anything because although "Dog" was the coolest teacher in the school, Mr. Dogwood was also very serious about English and didn't tolerate talking out of turn.

"Good morning everyone!" Mr. Dogwood exclaimed. "I have the most interesting story to share with you all today." It is a story about a young man, around your age, who loves to play baseball. He suddenly finds himself in love with a beautiful girl in class and wants to get to know her better. Using his knowledge of baseball he decides that he will pursue the love of this girl by turning it into a game for him. The book is entitled 'Getting to First Base With Danalda Chase'. We will begin today by assigning you all a book."

As "Dog" was describing this book to the class Marc could not help to think about Natalie. His left ear began to feel hot and he felt a sensation that someone was staring at the back left side of his head. Afraid to turn and look Marc just sat there blushing and facing forward. He felt himself getting hotter and felt beads of sweat forming on his face. He couldn't control it, he couldn't stop it, he just simply felt embarrassed. He wanted to run out of the classroom and hide.

"Dog" finished passing the books out and gave instructions to read the first chapter quietly in their seats. Obeying command partially and wanting to try to hide in the book partially, Marc jumped at the opportunity to get started. As he began to read his mind drifted a little thinking, 'maybe I can get some ideas from this book'. Seemingly one of the most crazy ideas he had all day, Marc really focused on the words on the page.

Time seemed to pass quickly with Marc deep within the book. It seemed like only minutes before the bell was ringing and "Dog" said "Finish reading for homework for our discussion tomorrow."

"Man that was interesting wasn't it," Jeff said as he walked beside Marc out of the room putting their essays in "Dog's" inbox.

"What was?" replied Marc.

"Duh, I'm talking about how Natalie couldn't keep her eyes off of you!" "Didn't you notice how she was looking at you more than that stupid book "Dog" gave us all period?" stated Jeff.

"Actually no. I was too into the 'stupid' book we were supposed to be reading. It was actually getting quite good before the stupid bell rang," answered Marc.

"Well I noticed. She wants you man!" joked Jeff as he punched Marc in the arm.

Marc just laughed when his friend said this although he was thinking 'I hope so'. As they continued to walk down the hall Marc couldn't stop thinking about Natalie's smile. He was finally truly happy after such a long, exhausting, and depressing few days. Natalie was now the warm center of his world where all around him things were cold and miserable. As Marc thought about these things he smiled and thought seriously that he needed her in his life and he needed to do something about it.

fantasy
2

About the Creator

Theodore Dembowski

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