Chapter Two

"Seriously, why are you still wearing that crop-top sweater?" I asked Dani as we walked towards Chemistry class.

I was nice enough to go back to her Calculus class to check up on her, to make sure that she didn't get lost. But when I got there, she was leaning on the wall by the hallways, her earphones plugged in, and her books tucked in to her chest while she hugged them close.

She was waiting for me.

It made me smile. It was like she knew that I was nice enough to do that for her, so I can't help but feel appreciated.

The look that Dani gave me woke me up from my thoughts and she reminded me that my Grandpa came by her class again to let her know that I'll be assisting her again.

I rolled my eyes.

"Of course." I said, hating the fact that my Grandfather knows me far too well.

A part of me wanted to know Dani better, to know what her business is. I wanted to know the reason why she moved from Québec, to the most boring province, which was Saskatchewan. Out of all the cities she could move into SK, she picked the smallest one, she picked here, she picked Prince Albein.

I'm curious, or maybe I'm just weird.

I just think that it's unusual for someone to move in to Prince Albein because it's such a small town, and it's in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by canola fields. All in all, Prince Albein is not that interesting, whatsoever.

"The crop-top sweater." I said again, pointing at her top. "Why?"

"Because I can wear whatever I want." She replied, not even glancing at my direction, her gaze up front.

"Aren't you cold though?" I asked, and glanced out the window by the hallway. "It's freezing out. Light snow fall."

Dani shrugged.

"It's supposed to be below twenty degrees out later in the afternoon." I told her, checking my phone for forecast. "I bet you don't even own a jacket."

"I'm not stupid. I have one in my locker." She replied, rolling her eyes at me. "I'm Canadian too, so I understand the whole concept."

"Seriously though." I said. "No one's even handing you extra clothing...?"

"Why would they?" She asked. Again, not even looking at me.

"Because," I paused for a dramatic effect. "Dani, if you haven't noticed, you are wearing a very revealing piece of clothing."

And with that, I stared at her bare stomach, and Dani just happened to catch me staring. To my embarrassment, I quickly looked away and tried to act nonchalant even though I'm freaking out inside. She must've thought that I was checking her out.

Not that there wasn't anything to check her out about. I mean, she does have a nicely toned stomach...

I'm just going to stop right there.

"Huh." Dani said, more in observation as she finally turned her head to look at me. "Sure."

"You're in a Catholic school." I explained, pointing out our surroundings with my arms flailing around awkwardly. I even pointed at the statue of St. Francis of Assisi, St. Mary, St. John... etc. "Your clothes are considered... Inappropriate. It's on the student handbook." I added, now gripping the straps of my small backpack as we walk.

Again, Dani didn't respond. I frowned. Why the hell isn't she saying anything? Did she hear what I said?

"I said, your clothes are in-"

"I heard you." She spat out, with sass.

We turned a corner from the hallway, and climbed some steps up to the second floor of the school.

"Do you notice other students staring then?" I asked.

Dani nodded once.

"Wow, you must feel very self-conscious right now."

"I don't feel self-conscious." She replied.

As if on cue, we passed by a group of teenage boys who stared shamelessly at her. Then Dani pushed them out of the way like they're something gross.

I stood there for a second, very amused by her actions and laughed my ass off. Dani stopped and stared at me, looking rather annoyed. I shrugged my shoulders and caught up with her.

"Did a teacher offered you to..., ya know, change into something that can make you fully clothed?" I asked.

"I am already fully clothed, but yeah, the Calc. teacher offered me the

itchy-looking sweater."

"Then...?"

"I refused." She said, shrugging her shoulders.

"How did you even do that?" I asked, shaking my head at her. "One of the freshmen from last year wore a tank top and shorts, then the nuns of our school were like, Oh darling, the way you dress is sinful! This causes adultery!" I said, exaggerating my voice to be nasally and high pitched.

Dani looked at me, blinked, then a grin formed on her lips. She shook her head at me, as if what I said was something unbelievable.

"Then you'd be sent to my Grandpa's office with a bunch of nuns giving you a blessing." I added.

That was when Dani burst out laughing.

"I don't believe that." She said. "That's just ridiculous."

I broke into a smile, mostly because her laugh was contagious.

"It's true!" I told her, gesturing at her outfit. "You wouldn't want that to happen to you."

"You're just messing with me."

"Okay, okay, fine. It wasn't that big of a deal, but the girl was still sent to the office." I admitted. "She wore that itchy sweater the entire day."

"I am not changing my outfit, Maverick. I happen to like this shirt." Dani said, shaking her head at me.

"But-"

"Let whatever god you have judge me." She replied.

I gawked.

"You're badass." I breathed out, shaking my head in pure disbelief. "I guess that's why Dennis, the penis has his eyes on you."

Dani gave me a look of confusion, and puzzlement.

"Dennis?" She asked, not knowing what I'm talking about.

"My friend, Dennis, the tall guy who talked to you before your Calc. Class." I reminded her. "You two are in the same class together?"

She continued to give me that same expression.

"Gentleman, polite, with short poofy hair...?" I suggested.

But Dani shook her head.

"I don't think he's got his eyes on me." She said, smirking.

"Well I think so." I said honestly. She snorted like I said something funny.

"Trust me, he's not interested in me like you think he is."

"Why not?"

"Because I said so." She reasoned, rolling her eyes.

"Well that's a nice argument." I replied sarcastically.

"Why am I even talking about this with you? It's certainly none of your business." Dani said, her tone getting defensive and annoyed. "Besides, I don't know you that well. I just met you."

I shrugged.

"Maybe we should get to know each other better."

Then I paused. I thought about what I said. Oh god, that's not weird is it?

The corner of Dani's lips twitched upwards, a smile threatening to spill.

"You can try." I heard her say, and we stopped in front of our Chemistry class.

Dani being a little bit behind, bumped into me. She looked at the door and at her schedule. Meanwhile, I was preoccupied to the little space in between us. I can smell flowers, I can see soft and flawless skin, and the light brown eyes that stared at me made me take a step back.

"Is this it?" She asked, checking her schedule again.

I nodded, feeling overwhelmed and intimidated all of a sudden.

Dani gave me an odd look before turning the knob, then she peeked inside. She closed the door again, and sighed as she faced me.

"Gross, people are inside." She said sadly.

I grinned at her.

"They're not so bad." I said truthfully. "They're really nice people."

"You say that now." She muttered to herself, frowning, and looking like she's remembering something unpleasant. I was going to ask what she meant by that, but she quickly brushed it off. "Anyways, should we go in?"

"I guess we should." I said, shrugging my shoulders. "Unless you're thinking about skipping class."

"I am, actually." She admitted.

"Then I would have to report you." I told her, acting serious. Her eyes narrowed, then she crossed her arms, making her crop top move up a little. I almost stared again, but I looked away by staring at the door of our class.

"No you won't." She said, surely.

"Trust me, I will." I told her. "I happen to have an authoritive reputation in this school."

"I don't trust you." She said, now looking amused. "Yes, you might report me, but I honestly think you don't care."

"How would you know?" I asked, because she was right. I don't really care.

Dani didn't say anything, just a sly smile on her face.

"Fine." I confessed. "I don't really care."

"I guess you're bad with people like me." She said.

"Oh totally," I said. "I'm rude. I was going to kick you out of my seat in English class this morning, like, who the hell are you?"

"Apparently, she's someone important." She said, recalling what I said this morning.

Her sly smile turned into a grin.

I pointed at her face.

"Who the hell are you?" I asked.

"It's rude to point."

"I told you, I'm rude." I replied, dropping my hand. "I'm not even doing it on purpose."

"Hm."

"Who are you, really?" I asked again.

"A vampire." She deadpanned.

I must've looked like I believed her, because next thing I knew, Dani was laughing at my face.

"No seriously," I said, crossing my arms. "I'm curious."

"Curious?" She repeated, looking at me, and holding my gaze.

I thought it was a test, some trust test. So I held her gaze also, and we stood there, probably staring at each other for who knows how long until she glanced downwards and she looked away quickly.

Dani cleared her throat, and held the door knob again.

"We should probably go in now." She said.

I nodded and looked at Dani in confusion, before following behind her.

When I went to my usual seating spot, I noticed that Dani followed me.

"You can't have this spot." I told her. "It's mine."

"I know." She said, sitting beside me.

"That's someone else's spot, you know."

"So?"

"So," I explained, "they're going to be miserable."

"Let them." She said, shrugging her shoulders. She opened her books, and plugged her earphones in, ignoring everyone who stared at her.

Yes, everyone is staring.

I shook my head in disbelief and gave our fellow classmates a serious look. Then I waved them off, and telling them to get back to whatever they're doing. Then I opened my books as well, trying to flip to the page on today's lesson.

When I looked up, I saw Dani staring at me.

Again, I stared back. I held her gaze for a few seconds, wondering what she's doing and looked away because I suddenly felt too embarrassed to continue.

And so I ignored her for a while, pretending to busy myself with notes, and organizing stuff, and somewhat felt ridiculous because I was mostly just staring at the same word and scribbling lines on my loose-leaf.

Then our Chemistry teacher, Mrs. Thurber, arrived and made Dani go to the front of the class to introduce herself.

I watched her shake her head in rejection.

"No thank you." She said, still glued to her desk.

"Come on, just an introduction." Our teacher said, not taking no for an answer.

I watched Dani play with the edges of her papers, curling them, and hesitated.

I raised my hand.

"Can she do it while sitting down on her desk?" I blurted out. "Uh... if that helps...?" I turned to Dani, and she just nodded her head.

"Okay, sure." Said the teacher, nodding her head. "Introduce yourself."

"My name is Dani." Then Dani did an awkward wave. I contained my laughter, and end up coughing. My peripheral vision saw her turn to me with a glare, but I kept my eyes down, listening.

"And...?" Said the teacher. "Where are you from Dani?"

"Québec." The blonde replied, shrugging her shoulders.

"Parlez-vous français?" The teacher asked.

Dani smiled.

"Oui, madame." She replied.

I stared at Dani in awe. I mean, sure I know French too, a little, but her accent is... perfect.

"Any hobbies?" Asked the teacher.

"Reading."

Reading? That's all she has to say? How bland, I thought for sure she would say something different. Maybe, sucking off people's blood. She did say that she's a vampire, I wouldn't know.

"What kind of books?" Asked the teacher.

"Anything."

"What's your favourite?" I asked out loud. Mostly because I'm just really curious.

"LGBT stories."

I swear, you can hear every single one of the students take a breath. Usually you won't hear it but with everyone doing it at the same time... It's obvious that we are all surprised.

"There's no shame on it. It's a piece of writing." Dani said defensively.

I nudged Dani's foot with mine and tried to get her attention. She turned to me, and I saw how shaken she was, how... worried she suddenly looked.

"Alright, I guess we should move on." Mrs. Thurber said, clearing her throat and making everyone pay attention by reading out notes from her book, and telling us to copy it down.

I looked at Dani, and she plugged in one of her earphones on. Her face deep red with embarrassment, and I bit my bottom lip and glanced at the teacher before ripping a blank loose-leaf and wrote on it.

'Are you alright?'

Then I handed it to Dani. She looked at me, but I was multitasking by listening and watching her peripherally. Then she wrote something on the paper. Seconds later, I felt her nudge my foot and I stealthily extended my hand to close them on the handed paper.

'Everyone here is judgemental and closed-minded.'

I raised an eyebrow and actually turned to look at her. I wrote,

'Excuse me, but I'm not closed-minded.'

Dani scribbled, nudged me and handed the paper back. I flipped the paper. It said,

'I just didn't like the reaction that I got.'

I gave her a sympathetic look and sighed.

'I didn't like their reaction either.'

Dani read the note and just looked away.

We listened to our teacher, and she assigned questions from the textbook for us to do individually. Thirty minutes later, a note was thrown on my desk and I knew that it was from Dani.

'Vagina'

I burst out laughing and everyone looked at me in confusion. I tried to keep quiet, but I end up laughing hard and leaned down on my desk, hiding my face on my folded arms and shaking with laughter.

I couldn't breathe, and there were tears in my eyes. Mrs. Thurber asked what was wrong, and I looked up already calmed down, but the tears of laughter was still there.

"Oh, what's wrong?" The teacher asked, her face suddenly alarmed.

I turned to Dani, and she was busy copying notes, keeping a straight face.

"N-nothing." I said, wiping my eyes and covering my face with my hands. "May... May I be excused?"

"Yes, yes of course."

I practically ran outside and let out my hysterical laughter. I was practically giggling my way through the washroom, and I washed my face, trying to calm myself down.

"What the hell." I said, looking at myself on the mirror in amusement. "Vagina, really?"

I had no idea why I find that so hilarious. Maybe it was just unexpected, I honestly don't know.

Then I wiped my face with a paper towel, still chuckling, and went back to class.

A few minutes later, I was sitting on my desk, then I saw Dani smirking at me.

Then, I remembered again.

I had another laughing fit. But I covered it up again in my arms. I kept nudging my foot at Dani's, nudging hard, letting her know that I'm in actual pain.

My stomach hurt and I quickly wiped my eyes with the back of my hand. I mouthed the words,

I hate you at Dani, but she just shrugged her shoulders and concentrated on her organic compounds.