The Secret

Maybe not everything is as bad in this school as Kayla thought. Maybe her likely enemy, will turn out to be her friend. Maybe she will survive the first hour.

“Now class, quiet down,” the teacher yelled through the gym. That had little effect on the class, and seeing this the teacher brought her hands up, in a desperation attempt. “Let’s get into our squads so that we can take attendance.”

“Why bother, we know you don’t care about us attending,” a shout came out of the crowd.

“Or is the little Mrs Exercise afraid to lose her job?” Kayla heard another snicker. The class erupted into laughter as she just stood there. Leera’s eyes momentarily met Kayla’s and she gave an evil smile. In less than a second, Leera turned around and began talking to a girl next to her.

“Fine,” the teacher yelled, her voice carrying momentum, “You can either continue chitchatting or I will call the principle, in fact he is really interested in what will happen with the seniors this year. As you know, last year’s seniors had gone overboard and this year Mr Lemson plans to be swift in punishment.”

This made the class quiet down. Kayla eyed the body of students in wonder, either they were playing along, or they were genuinely afraid of the principle.

“Get into squads,” this time the students followed the teacher’s instruction and Kayla decided that they were afraid of the principle after all. She had a newfound respect for a man who could command such high influence without even being in the room.

“Ms Smith, please sit over here,” the gym teacher pointed at the spot near the front. A slight growl of discontent escaped her, but Kayla still made her way to the front of the gym and sat down. The teacher smiled down at her and then clapped her hands together to gain the attention of the student body.

“Mrs Lily, I can sit here, right?”  Nick asked. She traversed her gaze from Kayla to Nick and vehemently shook her head.

“Mr. Rei please come sit in front of Ms Smith. This year you will be sitting in the front just like you did all the previous years,” she topped it off with a slight smile. A groan sounded from behind Kayla, but very soon light footsteps announced the arrival of Nick.

“Well, scooch on,” Nick motioned for Kayla to move back a little bit, “Mrs Lily wants me in the front, she will have me in the front!”

After Kayla moved back, Nick dramatically sat down and begin looking at Mrs Lily from the floor. She ignored him, for long ago Nick Rei had proved himself to have little interest in their friendship.

“Let’s do our usual warm up,” Mrs Lily told the class, “Mr Rei, would you be so kind as to show Ms Smith our warm up sets?”

“So, Ms Smith, huh a very unique last name,” Nick joked getting up. Kayla looked up at him, “Well, go on - get up.”

“You don’t get to order me around,” Kayla retorted, against her better judgement.

“Ouch, I feel like we have really gotten off on the wrong foot,” Nick said, a smile passing on his face.

“You think?” she asked, really not understanding what she had against him.

“Fine, but let me tell you a secret that will make it maybe worth it?” He told Kayla, after he offered her a hand up. Ignoring his offer of help, she pushed herself of the ground and gracefully got up. Nick attempted to hide a grin.

“Fine,” she said, through gritted teeth.

“That girl that interrupted us-”

“Yes, Sarah. My memory isn’t as poor as you credit it,” Kayla interrupted. A genuine smile pulled at Nick’s lips at this stark comment, but he hid it quite well.

“Alright, so Sarah plastered herself on top of Nick, thinking she was kissing him,” he whispered, training his voice to stay low.

“But, you’re Nick,” Kayla whispered back, following with the rouse. She didn’t follow where this conversation was going.

“That’s the joke, I’m not Nick,” Nick continued to speak in hushed tones to her.

“Very funny, or do you think I’m stupid,” Kayla’s voice rose an octave.

“It’s the truth and keep your voice quiet!” Nick tsked at her, “Today, my twin brother and I decided to trade places. So, I went to the gym and he went to my US history class, isn’t it funny? When Sarah realizes she wasn’t kissing Nick, she will go ballistic!”

“So, if you’re not Nick, then who are you exactly?” Kayla followed his command to keep quiet, still not believing he was telling the truth. Nate leaned into her, so that she felt her breath against her ear. The spicy smell, hit her nostrils.

“I’m the gorgeous twin Nate Rei,” he whispered, the breath escaping his mouth gently brushing her ear. She chuckled as she inhaled. For some reason the smell was messing with her head.

“Say I believe you,” Kayla said, feeling slightly lightheaded, “How are you going to prove it?”

“You see this small birth spot near my left ear?” Nick, or Nate motioned to his left ear. And sure enough there was a slight spot.

“Uhuh,” Kayla answered, not understanding what it had to do with anything.

“The ugly twin doesn’t have that mark,” Nate told her, “But don’t tell anyone. Everyone in this school has yet to figure out this slight sign.”

“Then how do they differentiate between the two of you?” Kayla asked. He leaned closer to her again and she caught the whiff of that intoxicating smell again. A slight moan escaped her that she instantly covered with a cough.

“Are you alright?” Nate asked, withdrawing slightly. Kayla coughed another time just for show and then backed away from Nate. Maybe it was best she stay away from him, or she might just end up embarrassing herself.

“Yeah, just something got in my throat,” Kayla muttered, not making eye contact, “So continue, what you were saying.”

“Oh, so people differentiate between us by our eye color,” Nate told her, this time staying where he was, “You see my twin, Nate, has light gray eyes, while I, Nick, have dark green eyes.” By his emphasis on names, Kayla guessed that he was trying to keep his cover. A genuine smile pulled at her lips then.

“I guess that’s a problem easily fixed with colored eye contacts?” She asked.

“Wow, you’re actually bright when you’re not being mean,” Nate mocked her, “But yes, you’re right.”

“Mr Rei and Ms Smith, since you chitchatted through the whole warm up set I suggest you do an extra lap around the track. The class will do 2 laps, and you both can do 3,” Mrs Lily interrupted Nate and Kayla’s conversation. Kayla reddened slightly at that, because normally she never was the receiver of a teacher’s scold. But, Nate just laughed.

“Don’t worry, Mrs Lily, we will finish the 3 laps before the class runs their 2 laps,” Nate made an extravagant bow and then motioned for Kayla to follow him, “Let’s go, we have 3 laps to do.”

“I hate running,” Kayla’s voice followed him out the door, as she gradually began increasing her pace to catch up with him. He turned around, not bothering to stop walking.

“Maybe that’s true, but something tells me you are a very fast runner,” he told her, “Hurry up, will you?”

“How long are the laps?” Kayla asked, following him to the door. Their classmates took their time getting up, and Kayla wondered how Nate expected to keep his word.

“They’re a mile each,” Nate smiled at her. Kayla groaned.

“I’m going to die,” she whimpered.

“No you’re not,” Nate told her, as he opened the door for her. After they stepped out he passed her a smile and broke into a run.

“Are you actually serious about this? 3 miles, 3 whole miles?” Kayla asked his back.

“I can’t hear you, catch up,” Nate yelled without turning around.

With a grimace, Kayla broke into a run. The trail that they followed was outlined with rocks and she deeply inhaled the warm autumn air. In a couple of seconds she caught up to Nate. He turned to her and offered her a smile. She used up all her self control not to return that smile. She looked straight ahead as they ran toe in toe on the trail.

She zoned out of her run, losing herself completely in the soft rustling of leaves and the singing of the birds. For the first time, she felt like she was actually enjoying running. Very soon, the school came into view and after they ran past it, she looked in wonder at Nate.

“That couldn’t have been a mile,” she told him. He smiled at her.

“Maybe you’re just better at running than you thought,” he shrugged his shoulders. She weirdly noticed that he wasn’t even out of breath. She felt angry at him, until she realized that her breathing was quite leveled too. In a little while, she heard distant chattering of what sounded like people up ahead. And true to her hearing,very soon they ran up to the group of students.

“This can’t be true, we couldn’t have caught up to them so fast,” Kayla said to no one in particular.

“Kayla, not everything has to make sense to you. Some things can be accepted without question,” Nate told her. She was about to argue, when a highly annoying voice imploded on their conversation.

“Hey, baby, come run with me,” Sarah yelled from the front of the class. Nate passed Kayla an apologetic smile as they neared Nick’s girlfriend.

“Hey, babe, I would love to run with you, but I promised Mrs Lily we would finish before you guys,” Nate told Sarah, and a triumphant smile spread across Kayla’s face, which she instantly tried to hide.

“But, Nick,” Sarah moaned.

“Now, babe, stop being clingy, it doesn’t suit you,” Nate answered and when Kayla slightly turned to look at him, she saw a smirk on his face.

“Fine,” Sarah yelled at his back, “Be that way. We both know you’ll come crawling back to me.”

“Doubtful,” Nate chuckled at Sarah’s outburst, “Let’s get away from here.” Kayla was more than happy to oblige.