The teacher stood at the front of the classroom, a piece of chalk in one hand.
"And that," he declared, turning towards the board, "is why the treaty changed the course of the entire conflict!"
He punctuated his words with an enthusiastic sweep of his arm, nearly knocking a stack of books off his desk. Recovering just in time, he continued his explanation, gesturing animatedly as he described the events that had led to the treaty's signing.
Kai stared at him.
For the first few minutes, he had actually managed to concentrate.
Even he was surprised.
History was, without question, one of his least favourite subjects. Usually, he spent most of the lesson counting the minutes until the bell rang, wondering how anyone could possibly find a collection of dates and long-dead people interesting.
Today, however, he had somehow managed to follow the teacher's explanation.
It was a small victory.
He glanced at Noah, who was sitting beside him.
His best friend appeared to have abandoned the lesson entirely. Instead, he was bent over his notebook, doodling something in the corner of the page.
Kai leaned slightly to get a better look.
It was a stick figure wearing a crown, standing beside a tiny bunny with ridiculously long ears.
Kai couldn't help smiling. He shook his head at Noah's childishness, but Noah was so engrossed in his masterpiece that he didn't even notice.
Kai turned back to his notebook, copied a few words from the board, and then raised his head to look at the teacher again.
His gaze wandered briefly across the classroom.
And landed on Nyx.
She was sitting near the front, close to the window.
Unlike Noah, she appeared to be paying close attention to the lesson. Her back was straight, her hands rested neatly on her desk, and her expression was unusually serious.
There was no playful smile on her face. No mischievous glint in her eyes.
She simply watched the teacher with an attentiveness Kai found almost suspicious.
He stared at her for a moment.
Why does someone like her even exist?
More importantly, why did she have to involve herself in his life?
As though moving to Willow Creak hadn't been troublesome enough, he now had to deal with a girl who seemed determined to make herself a permanent part of his existence.
Kai clicked his tongue and turned away.
He had enough problems already.
"Is there something amusing happening at the back of the classroom?"
The teacher's voice interrupted his thoughts.
Kai looked up as the teacher stopped writing on the board and turned towards the middle rows.
Two girls immediately straightened in their seats.
"No, sir," one of them replied, quickly lowering her eyes to her notebook.
The other pressed her lips together and glanced at Noah. A blush crept across her cheeks, and she hurriedly lowered her head, but not before another giggle escaped her.
Noah paused his doodling and looked towards the girls.
They were doing their best to appear occupied with their work, although one of them was still struggling to suppress a smile.
For a moment, Noah watched them, his pen hovering above his notebook.
Then he turned back to the teacher.
Kai stared at him, his eyebrows slowly climbing towards his hairline.
What was that about?
He turned towards Noah, still looking at him as though he'd just witnessed something unbelievable.
Noah caught him staring and tilted his head, silently asking what his problem was. Then, as though he had somehow heard Kai's thoughts, he shrugged.
Kai gave him a look that clearly said, Are you kidding me?
A slow grin spread across Noah's face before turning back to his notebook and continuing his doodle as though absolutely nothing had happened.
Kai blinked.
Then he shook his head and faced the board again, wondering what he had just witnessed.
Unbelievable.
The teacher cleared his throat.
"Perhaps we can all return our attention to the lesson?"
The girls immediately straightened in their seats.
A few students chuckled.
Noah, apparently satisfied with his artistic achievement, added a final line to his drawing.
Kai shook his head and turned back towards the board.
Some things, he decided, would never change.
Unfortunately, his ability to concentrate was about to become one of them.
The teacher resumed his explanation, chalk scratching against the board as he wrote down another set of dates.
Kai tried to follow along, but his attention kept slipping.
He had never considered himself much of an overthinker. Before moving to Willow Creak, he had rarely spent an entire day worrying about what might happen next.
Now, his mind seemed determined to revisit everything that had happened since his arrival.
The strange occurrences.
The unanswered questions.
The things he had seen and the things he feared he might see again.
No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't quite convince himself that everything was over.
Kai pressed his lips together and rubbed his thumb against the side of his pen.
Stop thinking about it.
He glanced at the board, attempting to concentrate on the teacher's increasingly enthusiastic explanation.
A few seconds passed.
Then a minute.
The words blurred together.
With a quiet sigh, Kai turned towards the window, hoping that something outside might distract him from his thoughts.
And, for once, he found something that did.
Outside stood a beautiful crape myrtle tree, its branches spreading beneath the morning sky. Clusters of pink and purple flowers covered its slender branches, their colours standing out against the green leaves.
A gentle breeze stirred the blossoms, sending a few loose petals drifting towards the grass.
Kai's gaze travelled upwards.
Between two sturdy branches sat a small nest.
Several tiny European robin chicks crowded inside it, their little beaks opening and closing as they called for food. Moments later, their mother landed on the edge of the nest, carrying a small insect in her beak.
The chicks immediately became more animated, stretching their necks towards her.
Kai watched as she fed them one after another before fluttering off to find more food.
A faint smile touched his lips.
There was something comforting about the scene.
The birds had no idea what was happening in Willow Creak. They knew nothing about the principal, the strange occurrences around town, or the unsettling thoughts that had been following Kai since his arrival.
They were just birds, going about their lives.
For a few precious moments, Kai's thoughts quieted.
His shoulders relaxed, and his fingers loosened around his pen.
Perhaps the world wasn't entirely terrible.
Perhaps there were still ordinary things worth paying attention to.
Then his gaze drifted towards the window beside Nyx.
And his smile faded.
She wasn't writing.
She wasn't looking at the board, either.
Instead, she was staring at the wall in front of her.
Her back was perfectly straight. Her hands rested motionless on the desk, and her face was devoid of expression.
She didn't fidget.
She didn't blink.
At least, not that Kai could see.
She simply sat there, as still as a statue.
Kai tilted his head slightly.
What is she doing?
He watched her for another moment, waiting for some indication that she was listening to the lesson or even aware of her surroundings.
Nothing.
A small crease appeared between his eyebrows.
Is she even breathing?
The thought made him straighten in his seat.
He quickly looked away.
Why was he so bothered about her?
Nyx had always been strange. That wasn't news. He had known that from the moment she had entered his life.
Perhaps she was simply daydreaming.
People did that.
He did that.
There was absolutely no reason for him to sit there analysing every little thing she did.
Kai turned back towards the teacher and forced himself to concentrate.
He copied the next few sentences from the board, carefully writing each word in his notebook.
For a while, everything seemed normal.
The teacher continued explaining the lesson. Pens scratched against paper, pages turned, and someone near the front whispered something to a classmate before falling silent under the teacher's disapproving stare.
Kai began to relax.
Maybe he had been overthinking things again.
Then an uncomfortable feeling crept over him.
It was the same feeling he had experienced several times since moving to Willow Creak.
The sensation of being watched.
Kai's pen slowed.
His fingers tightened around it.
He kept his eyes fixed on his notebook, determined not to give in to the sudden uneasiness crawling up his spine.
Don't look.
He wrote another word.
Just finish your notes.
Another second passed.
He could feel it.
Someone's attention was fixed on him, unwavering and strangely intense.
Kai froze.
He didn't want to look up.
He really, really didn't.
But curiosity eventually got the better of him.
Slowly, he raised his head.
Nyx was looking directly at him.
Directly into his eyes.
Kai stared back for a moment before quickly lowering his gaze to his notebook.
What is wrong with this girl?
He picked up his pen and pretended to concentrate on the lesson.
Unfortunately, the words on the board had suddenly become very difficult to understand.
He could feel her watching him.
Or perhaps he was imagining it.
He glanced towards the window again.
Nyx was sitting perfectly straight, her hands resting on her desk.
She hadn't moved.
And she was still staring at him.
Kai's fingers tightened around his pen until his knuckles began to ache.
Something was wrong.
He was certain of it.
But what?
He studied her face, searching for some explanation.
Then he noticed something he hadn't noticed before.
Her eyes.
Kai's breathing faltered.
They were the same eyes he had seen countless times before. The same colour. The same shape.
There was nothing physically different about them.
And yet, something was missing.
The warmth he had grown accustomed to whenever she was around him and Noah was gone. So was the familiar mischief that usually lingered in her expression.
There was no hint of amusement.
No curiosity.
No recognition.
Nothing.
For the briefest moment, her eyes seemed utterly empty.
Not sleepy.
Not distracted.
Empty.
It was as though he were looking into a bottomless darkness, a place where nothing existed. There was no emotion behind her gaze, no trace of the girl who had smiled at him that morning.
Kai felt his stomach tighten.
He couldn't explain what he was seeing.
He only knew that the eyes staring back at him seemed strangely devoid of life.
As though someone had taken everything that made Nyx who she was and left nothing behind.
Kai's fingers went rigid around his pen.
For a moment, he forgot about the lesson.
Forgot about the teacher.
Forgot about the other students sitting around him.
All he could do was stare.
He knew those eyes.
But he didn't recognise what was looking out through them.
Then, without warning, Nyx raised her hand.
Kai's eyes widened slightly.
She was still looking at him.
What is she doing now?
He shifted uncomfortably in his seat, his gaze flicking between her raised hand and her face.
"Nyx?"
The teacher's voice finally drew her attention away from Kai.
She turned towards the front of the classroom, her hand still raised.
"Yes, sir?" she answered calmly.
The teacher nodded towards her.
"You seem to be following the lesson quite closely. Can you answer the question?"
Nyx answered without hesitation.
Kai stared at her.
She had been listening?
While he had been sitting there, wondering whether she was even breathing, she had apparently been following the teacher's explanation the entire time.
Nyx lowered her hand and returned her attention to the board. She picked up her pen and began jotting down notes, her movements as natural as anyone else's.
As though nothing had happened.
As though she hadn't been staring at him with those empty eyes just moments ago.
Kai remained still, his gaze fixed on her.
What had he just seen?
Had he imagined it?
Had his mind been playing tricks on him?
He looked down at his notebook, but the words he'd written no longer made any sense to him.
He had so many questions, and not a single answer.
Like I always say, I don't like this Nyx girl at all, Kai thought.