the alarm clock sounded at 06:58 AM ,a slim arm slipped under the sheet to reach over to the phone and withdrew to disappear under the over again ... it ringed at 07:01 AM , that's when a tall brunette woman appeared at the door of the room "Janna " she called out in a serious though not harsh tone " it's past time you wake up, stop setting 10 alarms, i can see it's no help in your case " . Jenna raised slowly , smoothed her hair and answered in a sleepy tone " i'm coming right away mom .
no one who have seen jenna would ve judged her special .. she goes over the same routine everyday, she wakes up early , tough not easily, goes to the bathroom, takes breakfast , wears her outfit then she heads to her high school . usually people who see her for the first time say she's average. average intelligence, average loveliness and average beauty .. in fact she hated the word 'average' because all it meant to her was :uninteresting .. truth be told she was a little bit more than that .prejudices never got the right of her . she was the first at school and she had a loving heart , but none of this is what makes her special .. what makes her special is her imagination. she has a whole world to herself , a world where she escapes eveytime life gets tough on her . her head is full of stories , and you could see a spark in her eyes when she speaks of her favorite books . she would just spend hours and hours reading novels , losing herself in its pages and at night she only goes to sleep because she is obliged to wake up early . "it's not my choice" she almost wishperes sadly to her book before placing it down .then she closes her eyes and starts imagining what would happen next ,and it keeps going on until she falls asleep . then her theories about the coming events of the story would just melt in her dream then it expends by itself .
Jenna took a last look at her reflection on the mirror before leaving for scool. her golden hair was combed in a pony tail , her large black eyes looks bored, a lock of hair blocked her vision so she tucked it behind her ear . she was angry today because she had reseaved a message from Amera telling her that her favorite teacher is to depart for another country . " it's temporary" she said " plus no one loved him but you " , well yes he speaks alot , and sometmies he forgot that they were there ,and seemed surprised to seem them , bu
once outside, she walked in a hurried pace , her small but quick footsteps echoing in the empty alley . he hated being late, she was known to be a punctual person , arriving in the exact time , not one minute before not one after . soon enough she found herself approaching the main entrance .at first she didn't noice a group of boys on the wall , then one of them descended bruskly that she was taken aback ." the little bird is scared ! " he said in a hoarsy mocking voice " oh where are my manners. it's not polite either to ignore me sweet lady .." she herd a sudden mouvement behind her back and turned to find the guy with the horse's voice had stretched a hand towards her , only someone clunched his arm . for a moment she was too stunned to speak , then she heard a cry of pain , the horse guy's arm was turing red and he tried to strike her defender with his free arm , but the latter avoided it swiftly . he was grave and tall , quite tall indeed .his arms weren't too musclar but she could see how strong he was; when he spoke his tone implied that he accepts no argument " go away " he said " and never show me your face again " the horse guy seemed to want to fight back only when he turned and found that his friends have long departed , he chosed to be wiser .
"thank you " jenna begun to say .. she hated to show anyone gratitude but she owed him that , however he spared her the trouble. " you study here i presume , perhaps you should get going, i believe we're late" he said smilling feebly ... 'we' what does he mean by we . he was certainly young but not young enough to be studying in high school , plus she could see he was no local , yet he gave her no time to ask questions for he directly moved towards the door . a hand slapped gently her shoulder and jenna turned around startled , but it as only the bright smiley face of Amera she saw . she sighted in relief " you scared me moron!!" she exclaimed . " why look who's being a craven " Amera replied in a ironic tone .
" would it be more to your taste if we study here under the trees ?"
"oh !" Amera gasped ,acting stunned " are you reading my mind ?!"
the two of them entered the shool giggling and Amera soon begun her reports of the latest gossip .
in the class Jenna always chosed a seat close to the window , not that she was the kind of student to ignore the lessons, only she liked the feeling of breez on her face .she is a dreamer , and dreamers can never be locked between four walls for too long . besides , she liked to sneak a look at the sky from time to time, it made her feel comfortable . Amera always wanted to sit in the far end of the class , and Jenna preffered the first bank , so they both sat in the middle . soon the lesson begun and Jenna found herself forgetting everything else . it was philosophy that day , everyone else hated it , but not Jenna . she listened earnestly to her teacher , who she considers a great mind . " he knows everything !" sometimes she would blurt out " well not everything , but just too much " .. sometimes she held long conversations with him , and at the end of the hour she can't possibly be any happier . today she only realised it was over when all around her people were collecting their staff .she started doing the same , only the voice of the headmaster caught her attention . " goodmorning everyone " he said with a hudge smile on his face . ' something is misplaced ' thought Jenna .' the headmaster never smiles , well not like that , he only smiles to mock . this can only mean one thing : he's not alone '. " today i have someone important to intoduce to you .." ' i was right wasn't i ' thought Jenna , smiling to herself . " as you all know our school performed several alliances with many foreign schools for years long . many teachers went to join them for a whole year .." how can she forget that .. they took her favorite teacher once and she was really mad about this alliance thing . ' wait ..' Jenna understood it all then , the guy outside school .. he must be .." i present to your new teacher of psychology " .
Amera spook to her in a hushed voice " since when were we studying psychology !"
" well i guess our headmaster forgot to tell him about that " replied Jenna
" he , how can you tell he is a he "
just then the new teacher entered , she got to look at him more clearly now tht she was hidding behind all the other students . he has short black hair . his skin was so white she thought he might be sick or something . his eyes were small but very bright , all in all he was the kind of guy the popular girls in school would have a crush on . somehow she misliked him for that . she was not one of the marginalised students at school but she was not popular either , nor did she want to be like them .. Celya gave her good reasons to despise the lot of them .
" hi ! i'm Adam Price , i will be very glad to spend more time with you .. " he cast a sharming smile , so she could litteraly hear some of the girls' hearts throbbing . Jenna rolled her eyes ' here we go again' she thought to herself ." .. but first let us play a little game , shall we ? who wants to help me ?" several hands rose , Jenna was not one of them , she enjoyed being invisible for the moment " young man ,yes , the one with the black jacket " . he was pointing to Elyas a shy boy who studied with her since forever but never spoke a word to her . " i want you to think of the name of a girl , any girl you chose , whether she is here or she is miles away " .. Elyas seemed to be lot in thought .. " i bet he forgot where he is " Amera joked . Jenna smiled to her but she gave mr .price all of her attention . " done " Elyas said . Mr Price looked at him long as if the name will appear on his forhead " let me see .. I'm getting something ... five words .. anna , enna .. no it's Jenna isn't it "
jenna was in disbelieve , that's me , no that can't be why would he chose me , and how could he guess the right name . Elyas turned as red as a tommato that jenna almost felt sorry for him , but she was annoyed all the same , every eye was on her , and now adam price was looking at her too . that was their first eye contact since the morning . Jenna knew she must feel embarassed , but somehow the only feeling she got was curiosity .she realised she wanted to know more about this man , she was fond of enigamas , but never had she met a living enigma. his face betrayed no surprise at the sight of her . that eye contact seemed to last for a long time , then she realised everyone else was clapping . and to her utter surprise even the headmaster seemed impressed.
" well i guess i'll see more of you tomrrow , goodbye then " he smiled again and departed . Jenna kept following him with her eyes , then as soon as he was out of sight ,Amera wishpered to her :" what was that ?" . Jenna could tell her friend was having a hard time supressing her laugh , so she dragged her quickly out of the class , never looking at the side where Elyas sat .
" i have no idea ..." Jenna started to say , when Celya stopped before them ..
" so , are you having a secret lover Jenna ? " celyce said in her mocking voice .. she always uses that tone so Jenna could only presume that this is the real sound of her voice .
jenna's lipsed tightened , she hated when Celyce and her group and tried to avoid them as much as she can , but Celyce always found a way to her .
" what ? are you jealous now Celyce ?" Amera replied
" i would sooner be hated than loved by someone like Elyas " she said , but Jenna could see she wasn't feeling comfortable
" trust me you don't want to add more to the list of people who hate you , i've heard it's full enough'
" whatever.. " with that Celyce and her band left them
the next day , Jen woke at 06:58 , she didn't need her mother to remind her it was time for school. she was very excited about today , they were going to have their first lesson with mr.Adam . so she quickly joined her mother for breakfast . Jenna's mother is nearly forty , she always looks tired but there are still signs that prove she was a beauty when she was young . Her hair was a deep black and as soft as silk , her eyes were light brown , but they're very hollow , the black under her eyes is very notable . her thin lips rarely curled into a smile , she seemed like someone who long bid goodbye to happiness , though she still makes effort , especially when she's with Jenna . Jenna had an elder brother but he long left them .. her mother did everything she could for him however hard it was since her father's death , so Yusef was sent to another country to continue his studies , and he never got back .. they herd he has a good job and he's married , but they knew nothing more about him ..
as to her father , he died of a heart attack when jenna was 6 years old .. sh barely remembers him , but she really loved him and missed him so much . she never liked to tell anyone about her dad , because she hated pity . and to be sure she never cried in front of anyone else , but sometimes late at night , she wold hide her face in the pillow and start sobbing , remembering all the little details of the days she spent with him . and sometimes she would just run to the toilet and shut herself in for a long time trying as hard as she can to hide any sign of tears . and right now Jenna was thinking of her father , well until her mother's voice woke her up from her revery ." is everything okay ?"
" oh yes mom , listen i gotta go , bye "
she kissed her mother's cheek as usual and left . just as she expected , the new teacher was on time.. 08:00 to be more precise. today he wore a dark blue jacket , and light brown trousers . his jet black hair was a little bit messy , but it only made him look more handsome .Jenna never cared about the other girls' long discussions every time they see a good looking man, but she had to admit that he was infact good looking , besides she felt gratheful because he saved her the other day .Jenna had been harassed before , and it gave her a lot of nightmares to keep her awake the whole night . she refused even to think what it would have been like if mr Adam hadn't helped her ... ( to be continued )