Afterlife - Stephanie Hudson Page 0,60

He had hit me right where he knew it would hurt and he'd been right on the money. I could feel my palms start to sweat and I rubbed them together as I tried to continue.

“I was merely asking her if she had a book or if not would she like to share,” I said in a broken voice.

“What a Good Samaritan you are and your name would be?” Oh shit, how long was he going to keep this going? I could imagine it from now on. I was going to be a target for every question, the butt of every joke and the bullseye for every sarcastic comment that would escape those small chewed lips.

“Keira,” I stammered as I sat back down, trying to indicate the end of my humiliation.

“Well Keira, I assume I can continue and would hope you are going to show the same dedication in my class as you have done with your unprepared friend there.”

I just nodded in response and tried to ignore the stares I received from every eye in the room.

“Well now that that little drama is over, open your books to page 68, for those of you that have them, that is.” His tone was cutting and I knew that my chances of this blowing over and being forgotten were not going to happen.

“During this lesson you will see that reading and analysing text is central to understanding and knowing history. In this class you will understand the importance of facts. You will live and breathe the intensive study of books and documents from varying historical fields and periods.” He continued like this for the rest of the hour loving the sound of his own voice. Well at least someone in the room did.

Sophia and I didn’t say another word to each other throughout the class but she did however keep smiling at me like I was some kind of saviour. She wrote the words “thank you” in her notebook in the most amazing ornate handwriting I had ever seen. She pushed it my way for me to read, never taking her eyes of the Himmler look alike down at the front. It was the large forehead and the shifty eyes peering from behind small round glasses that gave him the appearance of the head of the Gestapo. Hitler would’ve been proud!

I scribbled in my not so neat hand “no problem”. My handwriting looked as though it had been written by a toddler compared to her flowing calligraphy. The lecture continued and made History sound like a blurring bore. Something I love so much could easily be destroyed by this man’s voice. He made everything sound as though he was actually there and although there was clearly passion in his expression, it was still unnerving to witness the man smile with his own excitement. I don’t know how I was going to look at history in same way again.

He continued on just like all the first lectures I'd had. The introduction to History was a little wasted on me as I had been studying it all my life. So, as his boring voice droned on, I let my mind drift to other thoughts. Those like working at the club tonight and the thought of being in the same building as Draven. Then I started to wonder would I really want a man like Draven to notice me? Well sure I would want him to notice me but the fact that he would was a bit of a joke, I mean what was there for him to even notice. As much as it had hurt what those girls had said in the toilets that night, they had still been right. Now if I looked like this stunning girl that sat beside me I wouldn't be having any worries about my self-esteem.

The class finally drew to an end and I realized that I had missed most of it due to my daydreaming. I would have to pay more attention in future or I would definitely be caught out in the firing line. I was already an easy target in this man’s mind.

I got up grabbing my books and as I was putting them in my bag I noticed a pair of doll like eyes examining me. I met them with a curious look of my own.

“You have lovely hair, why do you wear it back?” Her question had thrown me off guard and I started to stammer my answer out.

“Umm well...it...it gets in the