B E L L E D ' V O I R E and A I D E N M C K E N N A
Missing. Jonas' lessons had certainly taken a particular kind of lean in the weeks since the dance, and his incessant subliminal prodding of the class had only cemented Belle's suspicions that there was something he wasn't telling them - some grander purpose or plan for her and her peers, sneaking under the nose of the school board. In her mind, she listed everything she had on Mr. Lehrer, all his quirks and the peculiarities she'd experienced since his arrival in Crestwood: two large fires within a week; the haze that the Lunatic Dance had become; the shared looks between Jonas and Winter in-class since said dance; her newfound influence on insects; hell, she even counted the class itself against Jonas' credibility. He was lying to her, her peers, his colleagues...from experience, Belle found people rarely hid pertinent information if they had good moral direction. She thought of her bugs - and she was thinking of them as her bugs now, their attention almost comforting now she had accepted her abilities - and of what she could do with them to quell the lies. But, that wasn't like her. She lacked that kind of aggression, and Jonas, while suspicious, wasn't putting any of them in danger. He barely even acknowledged them outside of Social Conscience.
Instead, Belle turned to her notebook, twirling her pen in her hand as she thought of how to answer the question posed to them, thinking on all her ruminations from the past two weeks. So much she didn't know, was unsure of, unaware how to find the answers.
Truth, she scribbled first, and then below it, Answers. She paused.
Aiden had found it hard to concentrate in most classes as of late, but Lehrer's whimsical one-word explorations had consistently proved to be the biggest challenge. It was almost as if the curriculum of the class itself was a distraction; each task that was set seemed to send Aiden bounding down a corridor of unrelated thought in which each door held a dozen unanswered questions. In fairness, he did see the good intentions behind Lehrer's 'Social Conscience' schtick, it was just unfortunately timed. At this time in his life, when so little was clear to him and so much of the physical present remained uncertain, how could he seriously be expected to ruminate upon abstract notions such as this?
It was a concern of his that had been stirring for the past weeks; since the night of the dance, Aiden had found it near enough impossible to distract himself from his obsessive desire to remember. Because of course, the most unsettling element of that night's events were that he seemed so incapable of properly remembering them.
The one thing he did remember was the fire: he remembered the bright orange burned into his retina with ease, and it was of no difficulty at all to recall the smoke that pierced his nostrils or the heat that licked his skin. Everything else seemed to be blurred, somehow: there was a faint awareness of his own presence within those forgotten moments, but all their form and detail seemed to evade him completely. Certainly, Lou and the still-missing Elroy may have been held responsible for the blaze that night; but back in the hospital, every burning fiber of Aiden's being had told him that he had abused his powers, urging him to rediscover the circumstances surrounding that one undeniable fact.
Realizing that he had yet again derailed his train of thought in one of Lehrer's classes, Aiden scrawled the word "Memories" into his notebook, then slam his pencil down in frustration. He leaned back in his chair and surveyed the room in search of some distraction, and was just in time to catch what had to be the third or fourth suspicious exchange between his teacher and Winter Carlyle. He rolled his eyes, muttering under his breath just loud enough for Belle, who sat beside him, to hear.
"No prizes for guessing who's coming out of this shit show with an A."
Belle looked up sharply from her notepad where she had been carefully writing a bulleted list of everything from minor quirks to major suspicions, devolving into random, barely-connected word salad. Aiden had spoke and she set her pen down.
"Excuse me?"
Aiden nodded in the direction of Jonas and Winter, whom were still engaged in some kind of thinly-veiled cryptic conversation. He was consistently irritable lately, especially during this period, and the idea of somebody else cruising by and flaunting it to the rest of the class was tugging on his last nerve.
"Winter." he said, matter-of-factly. "Her and teach are awfully pally lately, don't you think?" His words were bitter and venomous, but his eyes had broken away and directed themselves back down to his notebook. He feared, had he left them fixed there for but another moment, the girl might have combusted on the spot. Quietly seething to himself, Aiden barely noticed as the temperature around him began a steady climb.
Belle wasn't sure how to respond. She rarely partook in this sort of...pettiness. She closed her pad carefully, hoping Aiden hadn't seen what she had been scrawling on the paper.
"Maybe she's just receiving some tutoring." She said, trying to be polite enough not to dismiss Aiden, without involving herself in base gossiping. She would have thought Aiden knew better about rumours.
She shuffled her chair over as a gust of heat erupted from Aiden's vicinity, gently removing her cardigan. Not the first time she'd done so since the 'seating plan' had been set it stone.
Aiden's head darted around to look Belle in the eye, one brow raised noticeably higher than the other. He looked almost furious at the suggestion of Winter and Lehrer's innocence; as though Belle's endearing ability to look for the good in others had doubled as Aiden's ultimate betrayal. He scanned for face, hoping for some trace of mischief to suggest she was joking. Alas, no such detail was present. He narrowed his eyes, and turned back out the window.
"Whatever you say, Belle." He had little interest in arguing with her over this, but the stubborn demon in him compelled him to have the last word. The brief pause was punctuated with a bitter mumble: "She's certainly receiving something."
Belle nearly had to stop herself from batting his arm.
"You're being incredibly crude, Aiden." She said, disapproval on every syllable. "Yes, there is obviously something we're missing, but I don't think Winter is that low caliber, nor is Mr. Lehrer of that little integrity."
The temperature continued to emanate - even seeming to climb further - and Belle began to worry.
"Are you running a fever, Aiden? Are you feeling okay?"
"I'm fine," he snapped, instinctively sliding up the zip on his hoodie and pulling the oversized sleeves down over his hands. "I'm just tired of sitting through this shit when there's like, a billion other things I'd rather be figuring out right now than whatever Lehrer chalks up on that damn board." he said, louder than he'd have liked but still managing to maintain a private conversation. He lowered his voice further, turning to face Belle. "Sorry. You don't need to hear this. I just have a lot going on right now. The fire..." he allowed himself to trail off. Everyone had been affected by that night, he didn't need to pour his heart out.
Belle leaned away, moving her hand to her sides from where they had been reaching out to comfort Aiden.
"Are you okay, Aiden? That fire was terrifying for everyone...do you need to talk about it? Do you..." Belle hesitated, but bit the bullet anyway. "...do you know anything?"
Aiden froze for a moment, as it seemed that his angry exterior cracked, if only for a second, giving Belle a glimpse of a frightened rabbit caught in the headlights of a speeding truck. All too quickly, a scowl returned to his angular face as he allowed his brain to process the implications of what Belle seemed to be suggesting.
"I know that I didn't sign up to be interrogated today," he spat. "I had enough of that before Lou confessed. I'm innocent, Abelle." he was putting little effort into keeping quiet at this point, before the girl's naive nature and earnest eyes succeeded in quelling his temper enough for him to think rationally. He lowered his voice to a faint whisper. "But other than that... No, nothing." he confessed, a grave seriousness to his tone. "How about you?"
Belle recoiled mentally. She had already accidentally accused him at the hospital; and now, here she was again, tripping over her words and forgetting the context in which she said them. Foolish.
"Everyone was affected, in one way or another. I've certainly had my share of...affectations. But I can't let that change anything."
Aiden looked at Belle quizzically. She was being uncomfortably selective with her wording now. Affectations? What on Earth was she talking about? Unless... This was her way of telling Aiden she knew more than she was letting on. Something about the eye contact the girl held with him told him he was right, as it began to dawn on him that he and Belle might have had more in common than he first assumed.
And yet, before either of them could elaborate, Mr. Lehrer began informing them of a field trip planned for the weekend, and the moment was stolen. Aiden instinctive response to 'lose' his permission slip and avoid the experience altogether was swiftly overriden by the notion of spending time out of town with Belle. It would be the perfect opportunity for them to speak away from prying ears.
And it would seem they both had a lot to discuss.
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