Whistle in the Woods | Teen Fic ✔️

3 : Teammates

It was like looking at a blank paper seeing the expression on his face. But the worse part was that Lea saw when he turned away just as quickly.

"Come on in, ladies," Mr. Foster said and indicated from his desk. "Have a seat. I have news for you all."

"Sorry for being late." Meldei shut the door after Lea followed reluctantly inside. But instead of going to their seat, she tugged her friend's wrist. "Let's tell the whole class again," she said. "Now that everybody's here."

Noleak looked like she'd just suggested something absurd. "No," she whispered. "Just go."

"They'll leave during recess and we'll be repeating ourselves for nothing," she reasoned.

"What's wrong, girls?" asked their teacher. The whole class was waiting for them.

She shared another look with Lea, who looked torn from all the attention. "I'll talk. Okay?" She faced her teacher. "Sir, can we announce something real quick? Just one minute—please."

As Mr. Foster consented, Meldei stepped up to the center and began going through the situation briefly, indicating to the poster that they'd stuck on the wall earlier. Those at the back already heard the story once, so the minute she started talking, a low hum began to buzz over the back seats.

"Guys." Mr. Foster's authorial voice boomed. "Listen to her. English only in my class."

The voices quieted down a bit.

"When does it start?" Youhei spoke. He hadn't taken his eyes off the board since she started talking. Caspian looked up beside him.

"Around next week," she said, as appropriately as she could. She nearly glanced at Lea. "We'll give more details once we have a picture of how many participants there will be. And there's no fee."

He nodded, then turned to Caspian, muttering something.

When she finally looked, Lea was staring at the floor, hard and unblinking, and she wanted to tell them to go back right that instant.

"Any questions, guys?" Mr. Foster gratefully took over, thanking them, and concluded in a final reminder that earned way more attention than Meldei would've hoped to get.

She clasped Lea's shoulder friendlily, prodding her forward as they went to their seat in front of the boys. Lea couldn't afford to break now—not when everybody might be watching. In this school, appearances could determine your life.

"You okay?" Meldei muttered after they sat waiting. But when Lea answered, she couldn't tell if she was nodding or shaking her head. So instead she gave her hand a reassuring pat and decided that break time was the best time to talk.

"Guess who will get kicked out today?" she whispered, motioning at Mr. Foster.

That won a small smile from Lea. "Who knows."

"All right." Mr. Foster clasped, and the class subsequently hushed. "As I was saying. Because the director hasn't been able to find enough teachers, I'll be substituting a lot with the other classes. I won't have time to correct everybody's test papers in a week's time. So right now—because you're the oldest here—I'm giving you a choice. We can either test normally, or do a project. Raise your hands if you want to test."

Meldei kept her poise—so did Lea. The options didn't really matter. They always found a way to complement each other, both in assignments and revisions. Just then, a majority of the class began questioning about the project.

Soon later, Mr. Foster returned to the center with a paper held out to the class. "There are three options if you want to do the project." He pointed. "Either you write an article about your personal experiences, a mission diary about your goals, or you can do literature. Now remember, this will be eighty percent of your grades. You'll have to do something more complex than a one-page essay."

"Is it a group project?" Meldei asked, mulling over the topics.

"Yes, it is." The sternness returned to his voice as Mr. Foster hushed the class again. "This is a group project, guys, unless you want to do a mission diary on your own. Now, I want a group of four members maximum, preferably those in front or behind you. All right? I don't want to see everyone running around the class every time I get here. So choose your team now and decide what you want to do."

Meldei turned to Lea, about to speak, but then Mr. Foster's voice cut through hers, saying: "Just a reminder. If I catch anyone copying and pasting things from the internet, you're not staying in my class this year. Everything in this project must come from your experiences. Or here." He pointed to his bald head.

A round of low affirmation ran through the class.

Meldei studied the topics that were being written on the board, her eyes lingering on the second line. Mission diary. Goals. Future.

That could've been the easiest, even if they were dreams and not goals. But her dream barely solidified when her gambler-father left and it was replaced with reality. Even then, she had a reason to move on. Study so that you’ll not be look down upon, her mother often said. And yet, the longer she shouldered the expectations, school and home started to feel like a cage-less prison she didn't know how to break free. She couldn't. Because everything was okay now. Their abuser was gone. Had fled. But she'd never been so lost.

Lea shifted. Meldei blinked out of her thoughts, laying a notebook between them.

"So, what do you wanna do?"

Lea shrugged shallowly. "Can we—"

"Meldei, let's be a team," Caspian said from behind. Lea looked at her once and shut her mouth.

Meldei shot him a dark look—and saw Youhei reading something from the textbook. "He said maximum four members," she said to Caspian. "Two is fine."

"More of us together, lesser work." Caspian grinned, blue eyes pleading.

"No." Could he seriously not read the situation? "Find your own team."

"Come on. Don't be so uptight."

She ignored him—but then Lea zipped her backpack with noticeable force. "I'm going," Noleak muttered. She stood up, but Meldei caught her hand.

She spoke in Khmer. "Just ignore them."

Lea withdrew her hand. "I can't." It wasn't until then that Meldei saw her eyes glistened when they flicked behind her for a split second. She let go.

Lea went to the very back of the class, joining the noisy bunch, and settled next to the Uno owner. Meldei exhaled.

Caspian looked apologetic as he said, "I knew something like that was going to happen."

She glared, but let him slide. She didn't want to wait for recess now. Instead, she veered her attention on the one next to him.

"What are you doing?"

Youhei looked up a second later. "What?"

She couldn't read his face; it showed nothing. "Why are you even here?"

"To study?" A corner of his lips lifted. He relented and said, "It's too noisy back there. I can't focus. Nobody's sitting here anyway, right? They changed to the morning class?"

"But why here?" She pointed across the room, to the row near the door. "Nobody sits there either."

"I like it here," he said.

"It's cooler," Caspian added. The AC was blowing right around them.

I don't care. She sighed, aware of how Youhei was watching her. "You know Lea is—like this. Why can't you..."

Youhei glanced over his shoulder, but when he turned back around, nothing seemed to change. He was so...okay. Meldei could hardly believe she'd spoken to the same person two hours ago, could hardly believe she was chasing after his melody. She steeled herself.

"Didn't she ignore me just fine?" he said, marking the pages with a pen.

"You really think so?"

He paused—then, "We can still a be a team. Three of us."

"Who says anyone's teaming with you?" she snapped.

"You're stuck with us," Caspian said. His gold hair fell out of place as he rounded the class with a look. As a descendent from a Thai mother and British father, some of the envious traits seemed to have gathered up there on one face.

Meldei scanned the room; it was like the three of them were on a different island. Everybody else was already huddling toward their teammates. Lea seemed pleased about something her new friend was telling her.

"We still have our agreement. Right?" Youhei said suddenly, in a voice only they could hear.

"What agreement?" said Caspian. But Youhei was looking at her, and the hint of a smile made it a bit ridiculous, if not secretive.

She'd always been more comfortable with Caspian, considering that they'd been classmates since Meldei arrived in Issara's old campus, that the effortless way his new friend seemed to slide into the zone made her forget that Fujihara Youhei was little more than a stranger.

Schooling a fake frown, she said, "Yeah. What agreement?" She turned to her desk, and almost wondered where Lea went.

Mr. Foster looked up from his laptop once she got his attention. "Can I work alone?" she asked.

"You want to write the mission diary?"

"Not...that. Is it still okay?"

"Don't listen to her," Caspian said. "She's just mad, teacher."

"Because your friend left you?" Mr. Foster's face momentarily teased her. "Actually, I have something I'd like you guys to do if you can't decide." He started to burrow through the drawer and produced a green workbook, through which he flipped to several hundred pages.

"Have you heard of Lewis Carroll?" he asked.

"Alice in wonderland?" Youhei said instantly. Mr. Foster nodded.

"And its sequel, Through The Looking Glass?"

This time, Meldei turned to him for an answer. She may not miss out much in her childhood, but her capability to understand foreign communication only really blossomed when she buried her nose and determination in library classes in middle school. It was safe to say the storyline was a jumble of cartoon characters in her head now.

"Not the whole novel," Mr, Foster was saying. "I will select something in there and you'll have to analyze it and come up with different theories, for example."

"Can we use the internet to help?" Youhei said.

"You can use your phone. But I want you to do the actual work." He looked at her. "I know you'll do well, Meldei. The other two would be too easy."

Great. It even got to her English teacher. "I'll try."

"We'll try," Youhei corrected.

When Mr. Foster went out to print them what he selected, she felt Youhei leaning up against his desk toward her back.

"Teamwork will make it easier," he said. "Why need to work alone?"

"Because I'm supposed to work with my friend," she said without turning.

"She could make new friends. So could you."

She took out her pencil case. Chose a pen.

"Meldei."

She paused. And turned—and was confused when she saw his hand, outreached toward her, in the manner of someone waiting for a handshake. "What?"

His gaze stayed on her face, almost serious. "For the start of our friendship," he said, then lower, a smile resurfacing, "and my apology for intruding your personal space."

A sum of air escaped her nose. She felt the corner of her lips raise. Is this boy serious? He most definitely appeared so, schooling his expression back its cool demeanor, all leveled eyes and straight mouth. Well, she wouldn't mind—she had some intrigue for acting.

While Caspian was buried in his phone under the desk, she raised her hand. When Youhei's fingers clasped around hers, they were warm and large and pale.

She leaned in to say, "Easy to forgive. Hard to forget."

"Noted." But when they withdrew, he looked anything but serious. "So can I take it that we're friends now?"

"Teammates." She smiled. "We're now teammates."