Immortals Of Byolla Bay

Just like I knew they would, every girl in Algebra class turned to see this wonder of a human being waltz in the door. Some girls waved at him while batting their eyes, others smiled seductively while pointing to an empty desk near them. Rikki ignored them all as he turned to me, “Where do you sit?” I pointed to the other side of the room where I sat at the back row next to the window.

Rikki followed me and sat down in the adjacent seat. The girls competing for his attention looked at me, completely dumbfounded as to why he would pick to sit with me over them. ”Trust me, I’m wondering the same thing myself.” I thought. First there was walking me home, then showing up at my door to walk me to school, taking up for me in front of Analya Forthrope, not looking at anything Ms.Tomkin’s tight revealing dress had to offer him and now he shunned their advances, sitting next to me like he has won the blue ribbon at the town fair.

I’m still asleep, that’s it. I pinched myself for the 5th time that day. Nope, not asleep or else seriously knocked out. Why does he actually want to be around me? I’m not even in the same league as him.

Mr. Tome finally walked in after the bell rang. He sipped from a coffee mug that said “Best Teacher in the World” given to him by his son for Christmas last year. He only drinks out of that mug and so far I have only seen him drink coffee.

Mr. Tome works as a math teacher in the daytime and runs the only gas station, which is connected to our grocery store where my mom works, in town at night. His brother runs the gas pumps and the mechanic shop built beside it in the daytime. I relayed this information to Rikki who smirked, “Does everyone here work two jobs?”

I nodded, “Most do because our population is so small that we can’t fill all the positions needed full time. The town tried to hire outside help about 10 years ago, but we didn’t get a big response back. My mom even had to get a job outside of town when I was three because the fisherman that she used to work for had a heart attack and died. Nobody else had full time work available so mom found a factory in Zephyrs Landing that made door frames that needed help Monday through Friday. She got offered a part time weekend job stocking shelves at the grocery store about five years ago which has helped tremendously since we get discounts on food. Only the people who live toward the front of town are well off enough that they only need one job. That’s just how it is here.”

I don’t know why I went into that much detail about my life with him, but it flowed out so naturally that I couldn’t stop. I’ve only shared stuff like that with Meshella, whose mother graciously babysat me for free while my mother worked when I was too young to be home alone. In a way Meshella and I were more like sisters than best friends.

Mr. Tome cleared his throat and started roll call. He only slightly acknowledged that we had a new student and welcomed Rikki to our town in his gruff voice. He then had us pass our algebra homework forward and announced we were having a pop quiz. Everyone in class groaned and complained. Mr. Tome ignored us, like he normally did, and proceeded to write the quiz problems on the dry erase board.

I glanced over at Rikki and seen he was busily writing the problems on his paper in the neatest handwriting I had ever seen in my life. The letters in his name all matched in size and were condensed into straight lines with no curves or spirals, kind of like what you would see on a computer in the times roman font. I learned his last name was Viken, which was different. I’d never heard of that name before in my life.

He looked over at me and smiled then turned his eyes back onto his paper. It was then I realized it just looked as if I was cheating. With my cheeks heating up from my embarrassment, I pulled out a sheet of paper and hastily wrote down the algebra problems.

The class bell rang and all the students leapt from their chairs, eager to leave while Mr. Tome was grading papers. Most of the time he forgets to give homework if he is busy doing something. This time proved no different as he sat quietly grading and not saying a word as we filed out of the room.

“That class is pretty easy.” Rikki commented. I nodded, “By the way, I wasn’t cheating earlier when I was looking at your paper. Your handwriting caught my eye, is all.” I felt even more embarrassed having to explain this to him, but I didn’t want him to think I was stupid or something.

He grinned, “Any excuse is better than none I suppose.” He gave me a heart stopping wink and my breath caught in my throat as I realized he was flirting with me. I stared at him while I was walking so I wasn’t watching where I was going and ran right into none other than Analya herself. Analya obviously seen me coming and braced for impact, whereas I found my books going in different directions. My bottom would have met the cold, marble floor if it wasn’t for Rikki catching me.

Everyone within a two mile radius stopped and laughed while Analya said, “Oh my gosh, Kinsley you should watch where you are going. Maybe you need to get a pair of glasses.” I then heard a familiar voice speak up on my behalf, “She don’t need glasses, but you need to get a new personality, bitch!” It was Meshella, my bestie.

Analya turned around angrily looking for who dared defy her and when she spotted Meshella with her hands on her hips glaring at her, she smiled, “Oh don’t mind me, Meshella I was just going to see Eivan. He likes his afternoon kiss before gym class. See you later.” Meshella glared harder as she walked away. After a while she has gotten used to Analya’s stupid little taunts like that, but I could tell they still bothered her deep down.

Meshella bent down and started picking up my papers that went flying the farthest and Rikki handed me my world history book that landed behind me. “That girl has no class. She’s just a spoiled little rich skank who is going to end up with another black eye if she keeps on.” Meshella was grumbling I think more to herself than to me.

Rikki agreed with her, “That’s for sure. I wonder if her man knows about her trying to escort me around school this morning. Girls like her are just not attractive at all.” Meshella looked up, noticing him for the first time, and I seen the look of recognition on her face, “You must be the new kid. I’m Meshella.”

Rikki nodded, “I figured as much. Kinsley has spoken highly of you.” Meshella smiled mischievously at me, “She better have. I’ve only been her best friend since we were babies. So other than that tramp, how have you liked this town so far?”

Rikki looked over at me and said, “Well, since last night I have come to like it quite a bit.” I felt my cheeks heat up. The second period bell rang signaling we had five minutes to be inside our rooms or we were considered tardy. Meshella hugged me and whispered, “Girl, we have to talk at lunch and you better tell me just what he meant by last night.” She winked and walked away.

Rikki had my class again. We had world history with Mr. Ternis. He was a dumpy, balding teacher who looked like he was a slice of pizza away from a heart attack. He was constantly wiping sweat that beaded on his forehead and always had sweat stains under the arm pits of his long sleeved button down shirts.

His second job was night security at the docks oddly enough. The well off residents of our town that have yachts and pontoons said they wanted a guard outpost at night to watch over their precious boats. Mr. Ternis volunteered for it. There wasn’t really any crime in our town so I guess he knew he wouldn’t have to do much there.

He pulled out the projector and placed a picture of a long boat with the head of a dragon on the front. “Today we will learn of the Vikings. Who can tell me what years their Era was?” No one said anything at first, but then Rikki slowly raised his hand.

Mr. Ternis pointed to him and asked him his name as well. “My name is Rikki Viken, sir and the Viking Era according to history was from 800 AD to 1066.” Mr. Ternis nodded and looked excited that he finally had someone in class get an answer right.

Rikki listened intently to everything the teacher was saying, narrowing his perfectly sculpted eyebrows at a few things. Especially when he mentioned how Vikings never cared for their appearance and had poor hygiene, Rikki was adamantly shaking his head then. I wondered if Rikki had done a paper or report on the Vikings at his old school and knew more about the subject than Mr. Ternis did.

It wouldn’t surprise me. Most of our teachers here weren’t college graduates. They picked a subject they were good at and our mayor gave them the teaching position. Small towns do have their flaws.

When the teacher mentioned the end of the Vikings Era Rikki looked sad, as if someone was telling him that his puppy just got hit by a car. I reached over to get his attention and ask if he was alright. He flashed me that dazzling smile and I forgot in an instant what I was about to say. I vaguely remembered Mr. Ternis saying to do end of chapter questions for homework, but I was too involved with the butterflies dancing in my stomach. Rikki was looking at me as if I was the most beautiful woman on earth.