Chapter Four

Settling down on our desk without a care in the world, we waited for the history teacher to come in.

Few minutes later, a short man oddly dressed in an old-fashioned Chinese wear, wearing small spectacles resting on his nose in a funny way, walked in with a huge book clutched under his arm.

"Good Morning Sir!!" We greeted in unison, standing.

"Morning fellas. Sit." He answered with a smile, motioning for us to sit. He slammed the big book on his desk, then wiped his chair before sitting.

"First timers in my class, stand."

Billy and I, including some other people slowly stood up, waiting for his next order. He said nothing but an unknown glint flashed in his eyes, he only gazed at us one after the other.

Then he said "Sit."

We then sat and the class officially began.

"Class, My name is Carson. Carson Dean and I am the history teacher, for those who are meeting me for the first time."

With that, the class kick-started.

The class wasn't boring as I thought. Mr Carson knew how to professionally combine teaching and fun, he made us laugh at intervals but still maintained seriousness.

The class was going well, until he called my name. I had looked at the back to be sure that it was me he referred to.

Unluckily, nobody was behind me.

"I am guessing you should know a lot about the Greek mythology, am I right?"

"Well..." I dragged the word, unsure if to say yes or no.

How on earth did he discover I knew something about Greek myths?

Honestly, there are so many strange things in this school that is seriously freaking me out.

Even my own thoughts are no longer safe with me. My personal mind space is already open to a strange man I met for the first time? Maybe I will stop thinking and keeping secrets, if only it was possible.

"Yes…" Mr Carson adjusted his spectacles to the bridge of his nose, waiting for my response.

"I do but a little I guess."

"Then tell me what you know. Come over to the front of the class."

With that, I lost my composure, I couldn't stand in front of people. With a little self-consolation and a round of applause, I drew in a deep breath and went forward.

Right in front of the class, I did my best, I explained and explained.

Soon, I joined the flow, I even said more than I anticipated. At the end, I dropped the curtain, it was followed by a loud round of applause. In the midst of this 'joyous moment', I noticed a peculiar gaze from one of the girls at the rear.

"Till tomorrow, Class. Matt, still you tomorrow." Mr Carson ended the class, after adding few points to what I had already said.

Finally, about an hour later, the school bell rang for closure.

"Wow, way to go, Matt. You did well back there. Never knew you were such a scholar in Greek myths." Billy nudged me playfully.

"I did my best, yunno." I smiled sheepishly.

"You sure did. Em, I also noticed something fishy." Billy had that his signature look of mischief written all over his face.

"Which was?" I stopped walking to listen properly to his blabber.

"There is this cutie that you were staring at during your 'lecture'."

"What?" I acted like I didn't know what he meant.

"Come on, Matt. It is written all over your face. Stop lying."

"It is not what you think, Billy."

"Then, what is?" Billy still persisted. I began to get irritated by his un-ending persistence.

"Oops, here she comes, Matt." I heard Billy hoot in joy. I suddenly became tensed and alarmed.

The girl I had seen earlier in class headed my direction, her eyes remained fixed on me as she approached slowly. I gulped a mouthful of spittle. Finally she got to where I stood.

"Hi." Her sugary voice soothed my ears.

The tip of my ears burned.

"Hi. Hi…" I stuttered shyly.

"I'm Emilia. How about you?" She extended her hand.

"Matt. Matthew Reed in full." I took her extended hand for a light handshake.

"You were so impressive today in class. I mean, you killed everything, even Mr Carson had nothing to say. How come you know so much about the Greek Mythology?"

"Well… my mom taught me some. The rest I learnt about them from books and e-journals. It's just my thing." I could feel my cheeks burn hotter.

"A bookworm, ain't you?" Emilia flashed her perfect white teeth, making my heart skip a bit.

"Something like that." I scratched the back of my head embarrassedly.

She let a light chuckle. "You are so funny. Look at how you are acting."

I felt a bit ashamed. I heard Billy supress a laugh, I immediately straightened up, trying to hide my obvious stupidity.

Emilia seeing this, laughed again. "No need for that. I still like you the way you are."

'What!!!! She likes me?' That very sentence took me unawares, I couldn't believe my ears.

"I'll catch you up tomorrow, Matt. Bye. Billy, bye" She waved at us as she joined her friends towards the opposite direction.

"Alright. Till then." I waved back with a wide grin on my face.

When she had disappeared out of sight. Billy roared out in laughter almost about to roll on the ground. I arched my brows at him, completely irked by his outburst.

The excitement in me then died down.

"What's so funny about that, Billy?" I stood akimbo, glaring hard at him.

"Nothing. Just…" Before he could complete his words, he went into another fit of laughter. This time, he almost found it hard to breath.

"You needed to see your face."

"Acting stupid and laughing like a full-fledged fool? So that's it?"

"Yeah. That's it." His previous smiling face dried up instantly.

"Can we go now?"

"Oh yes. Sure." Billy picked up his bag from the ground. "So… Where to from here?"

"I don't know, let's just keep going."

We moved towards the exit of the building alongside the rest of the students. Clueless of where we were heading, our legs led us outside the school premises. Billy unexpectedly stayed behind saying he wanted to check on someone somewhere. Before he could hear my response, he already fled, in a taxi precisely.

Since I didn't kill my pride and apologize, I had to continue moving forward, alone.

At last, I made up my mind to head homewards, oddly enough, the road was so dry, lacking active taxis. Covering a few meters, I heard someone holler at me, sounding like a dangerous wind. I felt a chill run down my spine, I instantly quickened my pace.

From the corner of my eyes, I could see the person coming closer. Then, their numbers increased, from one to about six.

Little did I know that someone was already standing in my path, so in the cause of looking back at my pursuers, I bumped heavily in the person causing me to fall on my butt.

Holding my slightly bruised nose, I raised my head to see who acted as a barricade in front of me. Who I saw made my heart race in shivering fear.