Chapter 3- Just keep quiet

"And if you replace the x with the number you just got, which is 57, and multiply it by 4, you'll end up with"-

"Boooring!" Kyan exclaimed, earning laughter from most of the students. Some were too scared of Mrs. Kimura to laugh at that.

He held up his hand for me to high five, with a smug grin on his face. I didn't feel like doing it, so I just rolled my eyes at him, wearing a smile myself.

"Now, Mr. Atkins, do you know what is boring? Having to correct all of your sloppy homework and know after a few times seeing your unfinished worksheets and tests that the grades you'll get on my class will most likely always stay on the same level. And you and I both know what that is. Starts with a g and ends with arbage. So zip it and pay attention." Mrs. Kimura stated. Her slanted eyes, a feature of her Asian descent, holding a blank expression. That's right. Blank. The woman doesn't show emotions at all.

Kyan's smile immediately dropped the same time as some people in the class said 'Ooh' and 'Ouch' to her sharp reply. I, on the other hand...

"Savage, are we?" I said loud and clear. I could see a lot of people tried to stifle a laugh, some failed miserably and others covered their mouths and pretended to yawn or whatever.

"Would you like to earn yourself a detention, Mr. Benson?"

"Nah, I'm good. Thanks for asking, though."

"Keep quiet." Again, she wore a blank expression. I don't like you. that's what I was thinking as she looked at me. Not glared, but just looked at me, showing how insignificant I was to her. What she was thinking, you could never tell.

After a couple of seconds of us just staring at each other, she turned back to the board to continue her explanation of the problem. I just rolled my eyes.

As I was about to proceed with doing my exercises, a noise caught my attention. It was the sound of plastic being crumpled. You know, that thing you do when your uncle Harold calls and you pretend that the line is breaking up and you can't hear them. Yeah, that's it. Only it was a much lower version of the sound.

I looked to my right and saw that Ella was the source of it. I watched as she opened up her snack bar cautiously, trying not to make any sound. She kept on glancing from the bar to Mrs. Kimura until she finally managed to rip it open and take a bite. I don't know if it's just me or she really is adorable. I smiled involuntarily at the scene. That's it, I'm talking to her now.

"Hey," I whispered, making her stop in mid-chew. "You're Ella, right? I'm Collin."

"I, uh... Yeah." She swallowed, "You can call me that."

What? What does that mean? Isn't that your name? "What? What do you mean?"

"Um, never mind. Yeah, you can call me Ella." She said, well, whispered with a small smile.

"But that's not your name?" I asked her with a confused look. "I'm a little confused here." I chuckled a bit, showing her a nice smile.

"Well, it's-"

"Mr. Benson. What part of 'keep quiet' do you not understand?"

For God's sake. Can't you see I'm trying to have a conversation here? Some people are so rude.

I sighed and turned my gaze from Ella, who had instantly hidden her food, (if you can call it that) to her.

"Am I supposed to answer? Or do I keep quiet?" Kyan, who was sitting on my left, snorted at that. Of course he would, he doesn't like Mrs. Kimura any more than I do. In fact, I'm yet to meet someone who does.

"No, just keep quiet." She turned back to the board once again.

Okay. I turned back to Ella, who was now working on a problem too, her snack lain on her lap this time.

I scribbled a note on a piece of paper I had torn from my notebook and placed it on her desk.

'So, you were saying?'

She looked at me with her eyebrows furrowed, then read the note. After she finished, which took her only two seconds because it was super short, she flipped the paper and wrote something on the back. And soon it was back on my desk.

'Sorry, but I don't want to get in trouble. Can we talk some other time?

'

I scoffed and wrote another note.

'Aw, come on. Don't tell me you're afraid of Mrs. Kimura. She won't be using her samurai skills on you, I promise.'

Ella- or so I thought was her name- read my note and scoffed herself too, but more quietly than I did.

'I'm not afraid of her. I just don't feel like being kicked out of class for exchanging notes. And you shouldn't call her a samurai just because of her Japanese descent.'

I smiled at the note before writing another back;

'I didn't call her a samurai, I just said she has one's skills. And not because of her descent, but because she's deadly and silent like one. Also, how can you not be afraid of her? I heard she eats even good students like you for breakfast. When she can't reach the cereal shelf of her cupboard, that is.'

As Ella read my note, she snorted- loudly, might I add- and let out a laugh, before quickly covering it up with a cough. Old trick, but works every time. The whole class, who was in silence, turned to her to see what broke the quietness in the room. I laughed as well, not expecting that reaction from her just from my note.

"Everything okay, Ms. Carson?" Mrs. Kimura asked.

"Uh, yes." She coughed again, "Sorry." Then she cleared her throat and looked down at her desk, shamefully.

"Mhm. Well, now you can all open your books on page 29 and do the exercises. I'll correct them by the end of class or tomorrow, if you can't finish today."

As everyone opened their books as she said, I placed another note on Ella's desk.

'Need some cough drops for that throat?'

She looked at me with raised eyebrows, but holding back a smile. I knew she wanted to laugh at that.

'No, thanks. Nana always says some tea works just fine. Now please stop sending me notes. You almost got me in trouble.'

I laughed and wrote a reply to that.

'Not my fault you laughed. And you still didn't explain to me the thing with your name.'

She sighed, then wrote back;

'It is your fault. And just call me Ella, I told you.'

'But what's your real name?' I decided to push, before adding a little:

'Ps.: No it isn't.'

She looked at me with an expression that said "are you for real"?

'Why do you want to know?' Ah, that's no fun. She let me win the argument.

'Just tell me. Is it a super weird name or something?'

'It's not a very common one. Most people here call me Ella because that's the name I give them. And please stop with the notes!'

I raised my eyebrows at this last reply. Okay, now I'm curious. It couldn't be so bad, could it?

"What is it?" I asked her.

"Doesn't matter." She whispered.

"Now it does, cause you got me curious. Just say it!" I whisper shouted.

"Seriously, why-" she stopped talking- whispering, actually- and looked down at her desk.

"What happened?"

"Shh." She said, still looking down, pretending to be doing the exercises.

"What are you-"

"Shut up." She sang, making me chuckle.

"Come on, what-"

I was cut off by the feeling of a figure looming over my desk and sighed. Damn it. I turned to the source of the shadow casting on my desk before speaking, "Hello there! You have reached Collin's desk, we are unavailable at the moment. If you wish to leave a message, lift the eraser", I said, pointing at it, "if what you need is to kick him out, lift the pencil case", I pointed at the blue pencil case, "if..."

"Here's your detention note, Mr. Benson." The demonic creature interrupted, handing me a paper.

Oh, well. Beautiful day to spend locked in this prison for a few more hours, isn't it?