Page 27 of Don’t Forget Me

We spoke about Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and the dangers of curiosity. Once the teacher dismissed us, I immediately gathered my belongings and headed to the next period on my schedule. There were a few familiar faces from my previous class that I recognized when they walked in the same direction as me. Which caused me to look around, hoping that the raven-haired guy didn’t have the same class as me. I’d pretty much begun to hate my time here already.

I sat down in the back, away from interlopers. Perhaps I wouldn’t be noticed if I sat there. Until a red-haired girl neared my desk. I tried my best to ignore her tense demeanor as I pulled a notebook out of my backpack. She stood with her arms crossed, glaring at me.

“This is my desk,” she snapped.

“I don’t see anyone’s name on it,” I replied.

She gulped, making me believe that she wasn’t used to being challenged. “Get out of my seat.”

“Like I said, I don’t see anyone’s name written on it, so that means it doesn’t belong to you, but to the school,” I argued. The corners of my lips almost curving upward when her face turned crimson.

“Don’t you realize that there are people in charge here? People who matter. Those people get to choose where they sit.”

“Well, guess I chose before you.”

“You dirty brown trash,” she spat.

I could already feel my nostrils flaring, my fingers curled inward, readying myself to throw her across the room. I’d break her sickly body in half just for that comment.

I was fighting with myself to remain calm, but my patience was already wearing thin. Did I really want to be sent back to California on my first day attending Blackthorn? Hell no. I bit down on my tongue.

“Leave her be, Scarlett,” someone said. The girl turned, and I got a view of the one person I wished to be parted from. It was almost impossible not to roll my eyes as I screamed internally. “This is Lysandra, she’s new here. I’d suggest you give her the cordial welcome we are obligated to give our foreign friends.”

Silence followed as she scanned me once more and walked away to another group of girls, giggling among themselves before glaring back at me.

Great.

“I know we didn’t start off on the right foot. So, I’d like to formally introduce myself to you. I’m Ezra.” He extended his hand toward me, but I ignored his sad attempt to fraternize. I pursed my lips profusely, and continued to take out the rest of my belongings from my backpack.

“So, you’re gonna go mute on me again?”

I gave no reply. Nothing made me angrier than the arrogance of men.

I sighed loudly and waited for the professor to come in, but Ezra remained standing by my desk. “Well, since you refuse to speak to me, I have no other choice but to force you to talk and suffocate you with my insufferable presence.”

Then, his black hair bobbed around the table until he plopped his behind onto the creaking chair beside me. I slowly turned toward him, my hair falling over my shoulders, squinting my eyes with unhidden contempt. I had planned to be quiet, focused, and learn even more while I was here. But there had already been too many mishaps, and I refused to allow these spoiled snobs to ruin the greatest thing that had ever happened to me.

“Are you sure you want to sit next to this brown trash? You should be careful, you might get stained,” I exasperated with a sarcastic smile.

He sighed with a slight roll of his gaze. “Don’t pay mind to her comments. I find your people’s culture respectable and beautiful.”

“Hmm,” I replied, turning my attention to the man with a thick white mustache and a black vest walking toward the large desk, which was chaotically stacked with books. He stacked two more volumes above the section of what seemed to be his favorite works.

“That’s Professor Daine,” Ezra whispered. “He’s a wicked teacher. I had him last semester in another class, and I decided to ask to take this one.”

“You asked for this course?” I asked.

“Yeah.”

“Crazy how a person can have so much money that all they have to do is point a finger to get what they want,” I muttered.

“I-It’s not like that,” he stuttered.

“Oh, really? So, what’s it like? Do you command your servants to create a curated schedule just for you? Isn’t that what your life is like?”

He shook his head. His gaze almost showed defeat. I knew I was being the insufferable one then, but my goal was to push him out of this seat. Ezra Van Dorren had already caused way too many problems for me, and it wasn’t even lunch hour yet.

“Hello class, I am glad to see a few familiar faces, and unfamiliar ones as well. Tells me that I am taking my job seriously. This semester, we will begin with the fall of the Roman Empire. We will go over details of their strategies to become one of the most powerful empires of their time, the beginning of their downfall, the aftermath, and the cities that were affected.”