UPDATE TIME! CHAPTER 9 Once the math class was over, Kris walked out among the other students, despite the rage he felt towards the math teacher. Before he got out of the room, however, a hand gently stopped him, lightly resting on his shoulder. He turned around to see Taylor Summers looking at him. "What?" he asked shortly. "There's something I need to tell you afterwards. Privately." she turned and walked away, leaving Kris very confused. What the hell was that about? His next class was English. They'd had a presentation they'd been assigned a few weeks ago, to choose a book and give a general summary of it, it's author, and the way it's presented. Kris had chosen the book Labrynth by Kate Mosse, and had brought the book, spine very broken and the pages very dog-eared from use, along with him and set it down next to him. The idea was to just look at the book's cover if he forgot anything, as he knew the book almost by heart. After his lengthy presentation, some of the other students attempted to escape by asking to use the toilet. The teacher pierced them with her emerald green eyes and had those students present next. As expected, the students least enthusiastic to present were the students who had chosen a 30-page book that they put little to no effort into reading, and therfore failed the assignment. The English class went by very slowly, though, as the majority of the reports were horrible and poorly made. Then the teacher called out, "Bridget Masters?" and the brunette Kris knew so well appeared, bringing out an equally worn-out copy of Ender's Game. She presented the book in a way that blew everybody else's reports out of the water, with the exception of Kris's, and when she was done, most of the class sunk to the bottom of their seats, realizing that in comparison to the reports from Kris and Bridget, they'd be lucky if they got a C on the assignment. It turned out that Kris's report was worthy of an A, but since Bridget had chosen such a classic, she got an A , and Bridget stuck her tounge out playfully at Kris. Kris grinned back. English finished almost immediately after the grades wer given out, and Kris walked over to Bridget, trying to talk to her. Before he got that chance, however, another guy walked over and she hugged him. The guy was buff, popular, dirty blonde haired, deep blue eyed, the cool guy. And of course, Kris couldn't help but feel jealous. But he walked past them, just as they started to kiss. Kris looked down and without making eye contact with anybody he went to his next class, French. As Kris and the others in his French class began to fill in, the seat next to Kris stayed empty. Then, just as the teacher began to start the lesson, a girl opened the door. "Room 17?" she asked. "Oui." the teacher replied. "Entréz, s'il vous plâit." Taylor hurried into the room and sat again next to Kris. The lesson was just a repitition of how to present oneself and how to ask another to present themselves. Kris was able to speak French exceptionally well, so this class was an utter bore for him, until they were told to work in pairs with the person next to them. Taylor turned to him and asked him in French, "What did you see during Math class?" Kris was confused, "Que? What are you talking about?" he asked, also in French. "You had a vision during math, I could see it in your eyes. To everyone else it may have looked like you were just daydreaming, but I know... Did you see the lake?"
Another update! CHAPTER 10 Kris was totally baffled. "The- the lake?! You know about the lake?!" "Shhh, keep it in French, the others here can't learn about what's going on... Rumors spread like wildfire here..." Taylor whispered. "Fine, but I want to know how you know about the dreams I've been having, and anything else you know... What is that place? Is it real? Why do I keep going there? How-" Taylor shushed him. "Not here. Later, in private." she looked at the teacher, who had just now turned her attention to the pair of them. "Kris, I hope you're not going to fast for our new student." She smiled, "After all, you do speak French fluently." "Not at all, madam, I speak it as well." Taylor replied in perfect French. The teacher's eyebrows went up. "In that case, how about you two come present for us?" She motioned towards the front of the classroom. Kris glanced at Taylor, then stood up and walked to the teacher's desk with her. They easily asked and answered the questions they were supposed to, almost as if they were natives. The teacher applauded when they finished, and they went back to their seats. The teacher began explaining to the other students on why Kris and Taylor did so well and those things, most of the students just glared at the two teacher's pets, mostly at Taylor. "Some of these kids have powerful friends in the school, Taylor. Watch yourself today." Kris whispered to her, noticing several popular faces in the class. "I can handle myself, thank you very much." Taylor replied. "I'm serious, some of the students here can be real a**holes." "I'm serious, I can take care of them." Taylor looked straight into his eyes, and as Kris looked back, he saw something in them, a fire that could truely prove disaterous if unleashed. "Ok, I believe you..." Kris said, looking back towards the teacher. She was still going on about the reasons of why Kris's and Taylor's grades were so good, and what the other students clearly needed to work on. After about 20 minutes of her talking to a very annoyed class, the bell rang out for lunch, and the entire class bolted out straight away. Taylor told Kris she's wait for him in the cafeteria, and left as well, while Kris was still picking up his stuff. "Kris? Bridget?" the teacher asked the two remaining students, as they were about to leave. "Yes?" Bridget stopped and looked at the teacher, Kris did as well. "There's a student here who seems to be struggling in English, and I was wondering if, with your great grades, you two could tutor her a bit?" the teacher left the request open, they could say no if they wanted. "Of course!" Kris answered quickly, Bridget remaining silent. "That's not a problem at all! Who is the student?" "Wonderful, it's the new girl, Taylor. She doesn't seem to be picking up very well on English, and she specifically asked for a tutor." the teacher looked at Kris's shocked expression, "Is there something wrong, Mr. Anderson?" "What? No, nothig wrong, I'm just suprised she's struggling in English... She seemed rather articulate while we were in math class. But I'll meet with her later." Kris lowered his eyebrows and closed his half-open mouth and turned towards Bridget, "You'll come as well?" Bridget looked at him silently for a few seconds, and Kris began to think she wasn't going to answer, when she said quietly, "Very well, I'll help out the new girl." "Excellent, I had hoped you two would agree. I don't like seeing a student fail." the teacher seemed relieved, and smiled. "You may leave now." Kris left and headed towards the cafeteria, but was grabbed by Bridget before he got there. "What were you thinking, pressuring me into tutoring with you?" Bridget snapped at him, eyes firey. "Not much, just thought maybe you'd help out the new girl. But I know you have a boyfriend, and I'm telling you, that's not the reason I asked." Kris calmly stared back at her. He pulls his arm from hers, and she looks a little less pissed. "Remember that you're the one that asked us to take a break. Don't blame me if I look for somebody else..." Bridget turned away, taking a different route towards the cafeteria. Kris watched her leave, and as he turned around, he saw the guy she was kissing earlier walking towards him. He wasn't quite as tall as Kris, just by a couple inches, but the muscles tensing in his arm showed he didn't need to be. "So who the hell do you think you are?! You let her go, and she came to me, fair and square, bro." the guy stood in frot of Kris, looking a little miffed at the scene he thought he just witnessed. "Look Johnny-" "JJ, it's JJ, man, get it right." "Fine, JJ. I was just talking to her, since we both were just asked to tutor the new girl, Taylor. Go ahead and ask her next time you see her, she's not gonna say anything different." Kris sighed at JJ's jealousy, knowing full well what JJ was going to think. "You look, pal," JJ said, getting right up in Kris's face, "If you try anything on my girl, you're in for a world of hurt." "I know, and unlike some people, I keep my promises, so I promise that I'm not making any moves on Bridget unless you two break up. Until then, good luck." Kris walks around JJ, heading for the cafeteria, but is again stopped, just outside of the Spanish classroom, by Taylor herself. "So did Ms. Wolfe ask you?" Taylor looked a bit tense. "To tutor you? Yeah." Kris looked at her, "Why would you need tutoring? You're at least as good as me in English, so why does Wolfe think you're failing?" "I purposely failed every assignment she gave me, and asked her if any really good students could tutor me. It lets me have a bit more private time to discuss the things you need to know." Taylor whispered the last part, and looked around, "You have no idea what your "dreams" are about, right?" Kris shook his head, "In that case, I'll need to start from scratch. I'll fill you in later." She let go of him and walked into the cafeteria like nothing had happened. Kris was very confused. This girl seemed to know more about him than most everybody, and she had just started here today. He thought hard about this as he grabbed a lunch and sat down alone. Angie came by and sat next to him. "So, what's the new girl like?" she asked, ignoring his obvious 'I want to be alone' aura. "She's... confusing, like she knows about my dreams, which is weird, since I haven't even thought much about them, or even said anything about them to anyone, including you, and she purposely failed English to get me as her tutor, despite her extraordinary grasp of the language. And she speaks French fluently." Angie stared. "Wow. What kind of dreams did you have?" Angie always chose one subject and ruthlessly pursued it in a conversation, until she was satisfied with what she had learned. "Ummm, I was sort of... standing on a lake, then I fell into it and I could feel the chill of the water, and I drowned. And I felt everything, the pain, the loss of conciousness, and I reached a bubble or something, and I was able to breathe inside it, but I wasn't able to get out. Then it reached some sort of dome... And I think it crashed into it or something..." Angie listened, her eyes growing bigger and bigger. "No way... I had that same dream last night!"
Also: A MASSIVE thanks to the readers here, especially Katie, Bridget and Mordici, for their huge support in this! The fic wouldn't have gone anywhere without the constant bumps you guys gave, showing me that you didn't just give it up! It's so emotional! But really, thank you all, I really needed the support to re-start my imagination on this.