“No one’s perfect, not even you.”
“You are.” I couldn’t describe how amazing Daddy was. He was as tall as trees, as strong as the biggest monster you could imagine, and oh-so sweet, caring, funny and loving. His arms were long and full of muscles that could hug me to death but never did. He was so fun. Always playing with me, spoiling me. Sometimes, I thought he knew me better than I knew myself. He was my only friend, my best friend for as long as I could remember. I used to swear if I ever married, it would be to a man with Daddy’s eyes, so blue, so beautiful.
“No. I’m not, baby, and neither is Mommy.” His admission furrowed my brow. It seemed impossible. I couldn’t imagine anything but perfection from him. In fact, I’d always thought the reason he expected so much of me was becausehewas so amazing.
“That’s what makes us different and beautiful, Magdalena. We all have faults. Sometimes, people do and say stupid things,and you just have to give them time so they can learn to be better. Okay?”
Again, I nodded. I wasn’t sure I understood everything he was saying, but I promised myself I’d think about it later when I had time. Was he trying to say people change? At the time, I hadn’t known how unstable the world and the creatures inhabiting it were. “Okay.”
I hugged him, not letting go as he stood, wanting to soak up all his love for me. To force me to let go, Dad spun, making me squeal and giggle while hanging from his nape. I jumped down, blew him a kiss one more time, and walked toward the school without looking back. If I had, I wouldn’t have entered the building. Despite my fears, my stride carried extra speed, with excitement and curiosity. Either I was going to make more friends there, or I was about to find out what was behind a bunch of masks, either way, it would be entertaining for some time.
From the bottom step of the tall staircase and the corner of my right eye, I noticed a boy sitting on the wide stone banister at the top. No matter how many kids passed him to get inside, he didn’t move. He had pitch-black hair with a few red highlights. His skin was pale white. He wore black jeans and a short-sleeved T-shirt with stripes.
Everyone else had stopped existing.
It was just us two, but it made me uncomfortable how he gawked at me. His gaze felt like a trap. If I met it, would I ever be released from it? A strong connection surged between us, yet I had never seen him before. Eventually, despite how much I didn’t desire it, I cut the connection our gazes held. As I walked into the building past him, I couldn’t deny the weird sensation I felt in my tummy. I thought I’d have to vomit.
Was he walking behind me? Following me? I felt a presence, but I refused to look back like some victim in a horror movie. No.The hell with that. I continued walking while pretending I didn’t care if he was there or not.
Inside, the walkways were wide, with lockers spanning the halls. I scanned the information sheet that had been mailed to us once more for the classroom and teacher, then searched the halls following the numbers on the doors. By the time I arrived at the number on the sheet the presence had been long gone.
“Magdalena Michaelson?”
“Oui.”
“I’m very glad to meet you. Je suis Madame Lavigne,” she said in French while giving me a sweet smile that made me feel safe. After all the students had walked in, she introduced me to them. “Class, today we have a new student, Magdalena Michaelson. I hope you will all treat her with kindness and respect. Why don’t you take that empty seat in front of Killian, Magdalena?” My gaze followed the direction her finger was pointed, locking with the boy I’d seen on the banister outside, and I froze.Killian. His name is Killian.
Once again, the other sounds disappeared, with the teacher’s voice muffled in the background, like some slow-motion scene in a movie. I cleared my throat, trying to get rid of the weird sensation that was erupting again, but it didn’t help. For the first time in my life, my cheeks burned, and like a fever, an insufferable heat swept all over me, but I also had a cold chill. He looked at me as if no one else existed, so I scanned the room to see if everyone had in fact disappeared, but they were all still there. None of this was normal, and I didn’t know what it meant or what to think about it. His leer was so intense, almost angry.
As I walked toward the seat in front of him, he didn’t release me almost pushing me to panic and react, burning through me with his gaze, searching for my soul, so I glared at him. Most kids were weirded out by my glare, but not him.Is he trying to unmask me?The thought pulled a smile out of me. I thoughthe’d turn out to be a different and new challenge for me. My amusement softened his facial features, and he didn’t look creepy anymore. Sitting with my legs to the left, I placed my bag on the floor next to the chair, holding his stare. The corner of his mouth lifted in half a smile. He placed his arms on the table and leaned closer. He thought he would win the game, that he would figure me out so fast? His mouth dropped open as if something had shocked him. I was shocked too. Thank the universe, time disappeared, because I was so comfortable here in my new home.
With his face close to mine, the first thing I noticed was his big almond-shaped eyes didn’t match. He had one brown eye and one blue. Both colors, like his gaze, were extremely intense: the brown one a dark amber with black speckles, and the blue almost a teal as bright as the Mediterranean Sea. Then I noticed the tiny red freckles on his pale cheeks. His breath warmed my face, and my smile widened. “Hi,” I greeted.
“Hi.”
Althought I didn’t want to, I turned toward the front of the class to pay attention, and my ears popped, then the teacher’s voice became clear as day again. Looking around, everyone was busy paying attention to her as if they hadn’t noticed what’d happened between Killian and me. Whathadhappened? Still to this day, I couldn’t define it. For the rest of class, I was hyperaware of all his movements. I heard his breaths every time he leaned close to my ponytail. And I knew that he had in fact followed me into the school at least for some time.
For lunch, a girl named Bessie invited me to her friends’ table. Bessie came off as sweet and genuine. Characteristics I wasn’t used to, but when I checked under her mask, I saw nothing else. All I found was she needed a good friend. It was hard for me to believe, but then I decided to do as Daddy had told me and gave her a chance by following her to her table where all the seats were taken. She grabbed an extra chair from another table nearby and sat next to me. They introduced themselves to me and everything seem fine. Once I finished eating, I discovered her friends were not the kind I would ever want to keep. All they did was make fun of everyone and told me not to hang out with anyone else, especially Killian. Apparently, there had been a “very good reason” for him to be sitting at the back of class and for the seat in front of him to remain vacant. No one wanted to be near him.
“I don’t know why they accepted him into our school in the first place. He’s obviously not of high class,” said some blonde-haired girl. “He’s so creepy.” I hated that she was right about that and that she’d made me question if I was of high class. What were the requirements to be a part of the high class, anyway? I’d have to ask Mom and Dad.
According to them, he’d been suspended so many times he was one fight away from being thrown out of the school, but I didn’t believe that. We were in the second grade. How many times could you fight in the second grade to be so close to being permanently suspended? He was known for stealing, so I needed to be more careful with where I placed my bag. Again, I didn’tbelieve them. “He doesn’t even live in a house. He lives in one of those antiquated carriages pulled by horses,” some blond-haired boy with dark-brown eyes chimed in. I had already forgotten his name.
With a scrunched brow, I asked, “What do you mean?”
“Exactly what I said, he lives in a carriage.” He shrugged.
“Well, is there anything we can do to help him find a house?” While I searched for Killian, with concern rushing through my veins, their laugher erupted and filled the cafeteria. Killian was glaring at me again from a table far away.Does he know we’re talking about him?
Bessie placed her palm on my shoulder, grabbing my attention. “Don’t mind my cousin, Mael is lying. Killian lives with his parents in our neighborhood, so there’s no need to help him find a house. And they are very well-off.”
“Oh.” For a few minutes, I sat there, wondering why I’d even believed this idiot named Mael in the first place. Everyone knew there weren’t any homeless people in Monaco. I guessed the concern had overwhelmed me.
“Yes, only because they’re thieves.” I’d spent an hour listening to nothing but hateful lies, but once Mael added that comment, I could no longer hold back my glare. I was glad it pull down the stupid smile from his stupid face.
Once the bell rang, all that toxicity stuck to me, as if I’d bathed in a pool of tar, and I wanted it off. My only relief came from walking away and clearing my mind in the halls before returning to class.
The back of the school had two small meadows surrounded by bushes and trees for young small people like me. Much farther were the bigger fields for the older kids. During play time, I joined the rest of the class in a game of hide-and-seek while Killian sat on a bench reading a book. It was almost time for class again when the boy found me spying on Killian through holes in the bushes. “My lady, you’ve been found. You’re Magdalene, right?” I stood, hoping Killian wouldn’t acknowledge our existence since I’d been spying on him.What was this guy’s name again?
