Shattered - By Sophia Sharp Page 0,12

Laura sat in her seat, and waited for the rest of class to fill up.

Half an hour later, the last students were rushing through the door. And still, there was no sign of Logan. Laura hoped that she wasn’t responsible for his absence, after what she said that day. Or, worse yet, that the animal had gotten to him. Although after the display against Brady and his friends, Laura doubted he had trouble taking care of himself. Which, again, was what made everything about him so weird – the type of calm confidence he had displayed facing the bullies went at odds with the other way he acted otherwise.

The second bell rang, announcing the start of class. Mrs. Millburn came to the front of the room, and greeted everyone with an effusive “Good-morning.” Laura sighed. It looked like Logan wasn’t here today, either.

Just then, the door at the front of the room opened, and a tall man Laura didn’t recognize stepped in. His head was held high, and a sleek black trench coat sat on his shoulders, opened to the chest to show a vibrant red shirt underneath. His straight, dark hair was combed back and up, and… wait. Laura rubbed at her eyes, thinking they were deceiving her. Was that Logan?

“Sir, I don’t know what would possess you to interrupt, but as you can see, I’m in the middle of teaching my class,” Mrs. Millburn began. Then her eyes widened, when she realized what Laura had realized herself. It was Logan. “Ah – ahem. Mr. Sutherby? If you would, ah, take your seat, we can continue.” That was it. No reprimanding him for being late, no demand for an apology or excuse. Mrs. Millburn never acted that way.

Logan nodded to her, and walked towards his seat. Strutted towards his seat was more like it. He walked with shoulders swinging grandly, and made strong eye contact with everybody on his way. Well, then. Laura had certainly not been expecting this.

As he passed her, their eyes locked, and whispered in a stage-whisper – a loud whisper – “We’ll talk after class.” Everybody around her heard, but nobody dared comment. Laura just nodded quickly. Satisfied, Logan walked on.

And it wasn’t just his manner of dress or his hairstyle that was different, Laura realized. His milky-smooth skin had also become more vibrant. It was still white, but shone with a renewed vigor. Laura allowed herself to peek back at him as he sat down.

His body language was completely different. He leaned back comfortably in his chair, shoulders and arms spread wide. He wasn’t afraid to take up space anymore. And with his hair style up like that, it looked almost a crown. A black, thorny crown belonging to a king. Most of all, though, Laura thought that Logan looked proud.

She twisted back to look at the front of the class. Mrs. Millburn was talking, something about trigonometric functions and probability equations. Laura tried to focus, but her entire mind was racing with questions about Logan. What had prompted him to make such a drastic difference? Was all of last week just an act? Why did he look so much more vibrant all of sudden? It was like he underwent a weekend transformation, and came out of it a completely different person.

More importantly, though, she was trying to figure out what she would say to him. And what he would say to her. He told her quite clearly that they’d talk after class. Did he want to clear the air regarding what happened on Thursday? Laura couldn’t imagine it being anything else.

Suddenly she became uncomfortably conscious of the fact that he was sitting behind her. Meaning he could very easily be watching whatever she did. Not that she was doing much, sitting there pretending to pay attention to the teacher, but the possibility of his eyes being on her made her rigid. She felt awkward.

Slowly, the clock ticked away anxious-ridden minutes leading her closer and closer to the end of class. Would Logan want to talk with her right away? Or would he wait until their detention session with her afterschool? She wasn’t sure. She knew she wanted to talk to him as soon as possible, before – but now she wasn’t so sure. She wasn’t even sure who she would be talking to – would this new, more confident version of Logan act differently with her than before?

Finally, the bell announcing the end of class rang, stopping Mrs. Millburn mid-sentence. She looked mildly