Chapter 11, Part II

Chapter 11, Part II

While Salomus and Sudoku were outside, enjoying each others' company, the dining hall was buzzing with excitement. Nearly everyone had witnessed Sal's fierce assault on his adversary. None of that mattered to the two Talmi. They were getting to know each other much better, feeling closer after the incident. Milo and Breya did likewise behind them. Salomus was showing Sudoku some of his sketches, though he made sure to hide his picture of her until the time was right, and he skipped completely over the many name-doodles. It turned out that even though she was not the best of artists, Sudoku did enjoy viewing others' drawings and paintings. She loved nearly every one of his pictures, from even a thoughtless doodle to his prized drawings, which were in full colour. One of them was a picture of May, which he had done shortly before leaving for MemTech.

"These are great!" Sudoku praised. "I can't draw worth a damn."

"Nonsense. There's no such thing as someone who cannot draw well. You just need to discover your style. I see that you have your own sketchbook, so let me have a look at what you've got in there."

Reluctantly, Sudoku handed over the sketchpad that had been poking out of her bag. He looked through the pages. Some of them were simple, borne of her random thoughts, while others were true works of beauty of a scale that rivalled his own most passionate creations. From the gradual changes in their appearance and quality, it was clear that Sudoku had begun to develop her signature style. Yet Salomus hardly noticed that.

The whole time they were talking, he was lost in the sheer beauty that seemed to radiate from her very being. The glow from earlier was back, stronger than ever. She had a voice that could charm even the shyest doves out of the trees. Her hair was like silk, so perfectly smooth and soft-looking. Her eyes were what captivated him the most. One was a deep sapphire blue, while the other was a vivid emerald green. His heart felt like it was trying to burst through his chest wall, and she was the only thing in his mind. He had even temporarily forgotten the incident at lunch.

Though Salomus was not aware, Sudoku was beginning to feel similarly about him. She had never met anyone quite like him. He was quite large and a very capable fighter, yet he was really calm and reserved. Though his hands were rough and calloused, built for hurting others, they were surprisingly gentle and were used instead to create works of art. He appeared so dark and mysterious on the outside, but she knew that in reality he was a friendly and cheerful person to those he cared about. In many other ways his personality contradicted his appearance, and seemed to be attuned to her own, like a counterpart. Unlike Salomus, however, she was better at hiding the emotions she felt towards him. She, too, tried to play it cool, despite her suspicions of his attraction.

The two continued chatting away casually, each with their thoughts on the other. The bell rang at the most inconvenient time, but neither cared, as they shared their next class, pre-calculus. They walked at an unusually slow pace, and they were still deep in conversation when they walked into class three minutes late.

"Forte!! You're late!" The teacher barked, gazing sternly over her rectangular spectacles. "What kept you, and who is this young man?"

"Sorry, ma'am," Sudoku apologised. "I was just showing our new student around, and we got a little off-track." She indicated the Talmi beside her. "This is Salomus. He just came here recently from Terth." Salomus just gave a silent nod of agreement. "He doesn't talk much, except to me, so please don't expect him to introduce himself to the class."

"Oh, yeah. Got him on the list somewhere. Very well, then, Salomus. Please take a seat anywhere you like. Choose wisely, though; you will stay in that seat for the remainder of the year, but should I need to come over there and relocate you, it will not be a pleasant experience. That is all I have to say for now."
Sal followed Sudoku and sat down in the vacant desk next to hers. His sensitive ears picked up the hushed murmurs of others.

"Who's that guy?" he heard some girl say to her friend.

"I dunno, but he's a total hunk."

"I wonder if he's dating anyone?"

Others were less positive.

"Look at the size of him."

"Total freak."

"I hope he doesn't start trying to talk to us."

Having heard these sorts of things, and worse, throughout his entire school life, he knew better than to let them bother him. He still appreciated Sudoku's attempts to comfort him nonetheless.

"Don't worry about them, Sal." She said gently. "They're like that with anyone who's different. And those three girls are total whores. They drool over anybody they find even moderately attractive."

"Oh, don't worry too much about me. I've had to deal with this kind of shit since I was a kid. I'm numb to those kinds of people now. They're not worth wasting my time over."

"Quiet!" The teacher called out. She pressed a few buttons on her desk and the assignment popped up on the holo-board. They had to take notes and solve the given examples. Easy enough. Unfortunately, the teacher had a monotonous voice that seemed to drone on endlessly, and before long Salomus had slipped into a stupor, along with most of the class, even the nerds. As a result, his paper donned many small doodles and written thoughts. He tried to have a whispered conversation with Sudoku, but the teacher noticed and walked up to them.

"Having a pleasant conversation, are we?" She said crossly. All around, sniggers and giggles could be heard. "Young man, I have a strict rule against talking. And you, Miss Forte, you know better. Both of you see me after class."

This really angered Salomus, as he could clearly hear several other students talking throughout her entire monologue. Yet she paid no attention to them, and instead chose to pick on the new student. He wanted dearly to voice his thoughts, to give her a piece of his mind, but knew that it would not be wise to do so, and kept himself under control.

When the bell rang he reluctantly dragged himself to the teacher's desk, with Sudoku by his side. They were given a stern lecture and a thorough talking-down, which Salomus paid no real attention to. He was still pissed off about the unfairness of it all. When they were finally permitted to leave, they wasted no time in doing so. The moment they were out of earshot, both broke out in angry complaints.

"That bitch! What the hell is her problem?! People were talking all around us, and yet she chose to single us out! It's like she already hates me, even though its only my first day in that class!"

"Now you know why I hate her so much! She gets on to me all the time for stupid reasons like drawing while we take notes or humming a quiet tune to myself. I'm surprised she hasn't tried to give me detention for not looking depressed enough."

They would have loved dearly to continue their rants, but they had to part ways for fifth period. Sudoku had Gym, which she also seemed to loathe with a passion, while Salomus was heading to Photography.

As it turned out, Photography was located across the entire campus, in the building farthest from the main one. He had to jog the whole distance just to get there before the bell rang. Despite this, he thoroughly enjoyed the class. When he casually mentioned his skill with a camera, his teacher, a young Talmi woman in her mid-twenties going by Ms. Phoenix, took it as a challenge. In order to prove his talent, she asked him to capture as many good shots of her as possible while she performed an array of acrobatic manoeuvres. He obliged, and not one of them turned out bad.

"Pretty good, I'm impressed." She told him, reviewing the shots. "A slight motion blur on a few, but that seems to add a more dramatic effect. And there's so much emotion in these. You can clearly see my expressions. Not to mention such good lighting. Although I must admit, this one was not exactly what I had asked for." Smirking, she held out a photo depicting several of the other students, many of whom were making odd faces for the camera.

"Sorry, I just couldn't resist. You were a bit focused on your performance — which was brilliant, I must say — so I snuck in a little fun pic of the class."

"Well, apart from the irrelevant class photo, I must say that these are magnificent. You, sir, have a natural talent for photography. Keep up the good work, and you need not worry about failing this class."

The bell rang a bit sooner than Sal expected, but not before Ms. Phoenix assigned each student a different project. His task was to go around the school, taking various panoramic shots of the campus and its landmarks. He was glad when sixth period came around, as Sudoku was also in that class, which was Theatre.

When he arrived, Sudoku ran up to him and hugged him in greeting.

"Thank God that was over." she complained. "The coach had us run twelve laps around the track, until every last person completed a lap in less than thirty seconds. It was brutal; I hate running. I tried to take a shortcut by leaping most of the distance, but then the coach made me repeat those laps without so much as a single hop. Oh, and hi."

"Hello to you, too. I just got out of Photography. It was a bit more entertaining than Gym must have been. Oh, well; at least Theatre will be fun."

"Yeah. I use this class to let off a little steam. Really helps me relax and unwind after Gym. Not to mention the fact that it's a super-easy class. We hardly ever do anything but sit around and talk, and occasionally the teacher will bring us doughnuts and other treats. We're supposed to start casting for the end-of-the-year play, and rehearsal starts next week."

The class zipped by rather quickly, and before long the day was finally over. Salomus and Sudoku were glad to finally be back in their dorm. Sal immediately shed his uniform and donned his favourite casual wear, while Sudoku did likewise in the bathroom. When she emerged, she was wearing a large t-shirt with some loose-fitting shorts, and she had let her hair out. She flopped down next to him on the couch him and grabbed a controller. One short nuclear war later, they decided to take their chances at the dining hall again, though they were sure to sit as far away from the last table as possible, out of sight of the Celeste's cronies. Each of them ate as though they had survived a seven-year famine, demolishing anything within arm's reach. When they returned, both were too tired and full to do much else but sit and talk. They watched a movie that was on HV, but even this did not last long, and soon Sudoku had dozed off on Sal's shoulder. He, too, felt his eyelids begin to grow heavy, and fell asleep not long after.