Chapter 2

Wandering around the halls, I finally came across the main office. "It was literally only 3 doors down when I first entered the building...", I face palmed. As I entered the room, I began to look for someone to speak to.

I find a giant desk with a short plump woman sitting behind a computer screen. "Why aren't you just the cutest little thing!", she says as she spots me. I readjust my mask out of my shyness and try to think of what to say. "Ummmm ... thank you..." I look down, suddenly finding my shoes interesting. "Oh no problem darling! Now what can I do for you?" She asks. "Ummm... can I please have my class schedule?" I ask back. Her eyes widen slightly in shock. "O I'm sorry honey! You look so young! I didn't think you were a student here!", she exclaimed. "What's your name sweet pea?" I slowly bring my face mask below my lips and quietly say, "Tobias Kelly". She squealed once again. "Awww darling! You are too cute! I wish I could see that adorable little face of yours! Your schedule is printing out right now!" She informs me. I smile at her and pull my mask back up as she hands me my schedule. "Thank you Miss." I say and begin to read off what I have first.

My first class is The Art of Architecture and it's starts at 9:15... I look at my yellow watch and stare at the time in utter shock. It's 9:27! "Oh no! I'm late!" I scream. "What room is it!" She exclaimed with matching urgency. "Room 145!" I say. "It's down the hall, last door to the left!" She points and yells. I run out the office but halt in my movement before going back. Rizzy says that I can't be rude. "Ummm ... Thank you!" I mumble before running back towards the class.

Standing in front of room 145, I could hear the professor speaking. Hesitantly, I knocked on his door. The speaking stopped and a few seconds later, the door opens. "Hello, can I help you?" The older man says. He must be in his late forties. Grey hair streaked through his dark locks. His beard is well maintained and perfectly shaped his square face. His muscles are very obvious through his tight, dark gray shirt. "Ummm, th-this is s-s-supposed to be my first cl-class...", I manage to stutter out quietly. His deep voice rings out again, " Ahhh, you're my missing student!" He turns to the side to let me enter. "You're only a week and fifteen minutes late." He says sarcastically and looks to his students with a smirk. The students begin to laugh, thinking his little comments were funny.

The hairs on the back of my neck stood up, the closer we were. "I-I'm sorry Mr..." I look down at my paper to see what his name was, but before I could even find it he says, "Williams. I'm Dr. Williams." He crosses his arms over his chest while he rests his hips against his desk. He cocks his eye brow while looking down at me and smirking. "You would think that if you come to my class late, you would at least be more prepared." The class once again erupted in laughter. My chest started tightening a bit more as I sat there being made fun of. This wasn't what I thought would happen on the first day. I tried to look up at the teacher only to be met with him staring back at me. I don't like being under his gaze, it was almost predatory. I started to panic once again, trying find words that would make this all go away.

As I took a step back to possibly run from this situation, a calming scent fills my nose as my back hits something hard. I crane my neck all the way up only to be met with beautiful chocolate eyes staring back at me. His kind smile and calming scent relax my shoulders a little. "Hey Mr. Teacher dude, sorry I'm late." A smooth voice comes from this man's beautiful lips as they pinch back into a dazzling smile. I carefully look back at Dr. Williams only to see a scowl now prominent on his face. I don't think he liked being called Mr. Teacher dude.

The class had started to fill with students whispering to each other. "You're new here, right? How bout you sit next to me?" The beautiful man asked. I looked back up at him and just nodded. He held his hand out for me to take. Should I take his hand? I don't know him! But it's way better than staying up here I suppose... But he's a total stranger! But out of everyone I met today, he's one of the nicer ones... I argued. I looked down at his hand and hesitantly slipped mine into his. Immediately, light bursts of what felt like electricity shot through my arm and through out my body. I just looked at him confused at what that was but he seemed to have felt it too as his smile just grew.

We walked up the lecture room stairs slowly. While I'm absolutely sure that he could probably skip some of these steps with how long his legs are, he was careful in making sure that he was going at a pace that I could follow. We made it to the back of the lecture hall and took our seats.

Dr. Williams picked up where he left off. He was talking about an upcoming project. "This is a partnered project. Each group will be assigned certain buildings fit for a specific purpose. Your assignment is to talk about the architectural attributes these building have and then to create some of your own. For example, if I give your pair schools. You have to research ten different schools and then create three of your own. Explaining the steps you went through to create your schools, the purpose of certain spaces and other architectural choices that you make." Wow! This sounds fun! And hard...But fun! "We were going to have a group of three but, seeing as Mr. Tobias finally decided to show up, we can continue with all pairs." Dr. Williams was sure to emphasize my name. Something about him seemed... familiar. The way he would speak with his hands and sometimes even wave a ruler around while doing so. I sunk in my seat as people turned back to look at me. I pull my hood further down.

I heard a growl, come from right next to me as the atmosphere slightly shifted. Gasps could be heard. I looked up to see some students shake in fear, some quickly turn around and others put their heads down. The atmosphere was thick with anger. I'm glad I was sitting, otherwise my knees would've buckled. I looked up at the beautiful man next to me only to see him smiling back down at me and the thickness was suddenly gone, replaced with the same calming scent of rain.

"Ahem, as I was saying," Dr.Williams continued smirking, "This assignment is due in four months at the end of this semester. I suspect everyone of you to breeze by the first part of this project. The harder part will be to design the three other buildings based the concepts I give you. I want floor plans, a drawing of what it would look like on the outside, drawings of the rooms on the inside, etcetera. You will have other lessons and tests." The class groaned. "You all are in my advanced class, did you really think this would be easy?" The class continued to groan at this and he just laughed.

"I will now read off the pairs and your concepts..." I patiently waited, nervously playing with sleeves of my sweater. What if my partner doesn't like me? What if they are mean? I could feel my anxiety go up. Why aren't these stupid pills working? Should I take another? Before I even reach for my book bag a giant hand found it's way to my thigh and gently squeezed. Not in a weird or bad way but in a more reassuring way. "You need to calm down little one." The man from earlier whispered in my ear. At his touch and his words, my mind and body instantly calmed.

"Who are you?" I asked dazed from the total relief I was feeling. I don't ever remember feeling this calm. I looked up at him and ask, "How are you doing that?" I wanted to know everything about this man. "My name is..." But before he could utter his name, Dr. Williams called out, "Tobias and Qaletaqa..." I'm partnered with Qal-a-t-ta-ka? Qal? Taqa? Taqi? Who is that? I look around the room only to see the students staring up at me. Some in disbelief and some in... in jealousy? "I'm Qaletaqa." The beautiful man next to me said. "I-I'm his p-partner?" The man next to me chuckles and laughs. "Yes, you're my partner little Toby." If I didn't have my mask on, I'm sure he'd be able to see how embarrassed I am. "Did I say that out loud?" I put my head in my hands as if to cover more of my already covered face when I hear a whisper in my ear. "Yes you did..." I didn't dare to look up or do anything more that could cause further embarrassment. "... You two will have the concept of churches. All right class. Get to work." The class erupted with students talking about their projects.

My head shoots up after hearing that. I can't do churches! I can't... My chest starts to tighten and my breathing becomes a little erratic. The mask not helping. At this, Mr. Taqi's hand squeezed a little tighter as my panic grew. "Hey, hey, what's wrong?" He brought me closer to him and pulled down my mask. I was able to take in more air but was still having a hard time. He took off my glasses and stared into my now teary eyes. His face paled and breath seemed to hitch as he stared at my bare face. "I-I c-can't..." This snapped him out of whatever state he had been in. "You're okay", his hands moved to the sides of my face as he wiped the tears from my eyes. "I-I-I can't..." I try to speak but the lack of air was keeping me from that.

Mr. Taqi's eyes stare into my own. He takes my trembling hand and puts it over his heart. Just then his eyes turn into a silver color. "Do you feel my heart?" He asks. I look at him confused. He just smiles and says, "Close your eyes." I don't know why I listen to him, maybe it's because I want this moment to stop. Yea that has to be it, so I do it. "Can you feel my heart?" I nod. "Do you feel how it goes, bum-bum, bum-bum, bum-bum..." I nod again. "Do you feel how calm and slow it is?" He asks. I could feel the beat of his heart. I could feel it through my finger tips and through the palm of my hand. I could feel it run through my arm and through out my chest. I could feel his heart beat through out my entire being as I nod once more.

I breathe in and the smell of rain fills my nose, and pretty soon, I am consumed with only him. His voice drowns out all the noise in the background. "That's it, Toby. Just breathe." Before I knew it, I was calm. I open my eyes and stare into Mr. Taqi's eyes again. His silver eyes turning back to a dark chocolate color. "How did you do that?", I ask him. He just looks at me quizzically. "Don't you know? You're our mate."