Evan was on a roll, and he knew it. Most of what he was gathering was courtesy of her facial expressions and her mannerisms. He loved every second of it.
“And lastly, I’d say you don’t expect a lot of other people.”
Megan looked up at him. “I’m sorry?”
“Well, a small surprise party among your closest friends had you in tears. You didn’t expect anything of that magnitude from those people…the people who are supposed to mean the world to you. Your expectations of people are low.”
Megan hadn’t ever thought about her relationships that way. Where she came from, it seemed that most people needed to take care of themselves first. Sure, friends were important, as they are to any adolescent, but survival was key. Anything extra truly meant they would have to go very much out of their way. So, the little things meant a lot. The little things were really all they had. “I guess you’re right.” She looked down.
“It’s not a bad thing. Sometimes I wish I could find such joy in such a small thing. Plus, if your expectations start out low, you’re never disappointed.”
Megan felt her cheeks blush again. They had spent too much time talking about her. She was beginning to feel uncomfortable and exposed.
“Okay, onto you.”
“Just like that? You don’t want to discuss this more?”
“Nope.” She zipped her lips and shook her head.
Evan relented. He could see he was pushing her close to her breaking point. He didn’t want to see her break…not yet, at least.
“Okay, onto me.”
Megan opened her green notebook.
Intro to Psychology
Dr. William Covington
Assignment:
· Exchange stories from childhood with partner
· Deduce three facts about partner that were not specifically stated in story
Lesson:
· Reading between the lines
Partner:
· Evan Covington
Megan looked up from her notebook. “Hey, you have the same last name as the teacher.”
Had Evan been taking a sip of water, he would have spit it right back out at her. The endearing innocence and shock in those words melted his heart. “I do.”
“That’s so funny. What a strange coincidence.” She lightly smiled, and then dropped her focus back to her notebook.
“It’s not a coincidence, Megan.” He laughed as he placed his palm on her knee.
The speed at which she shot her eyes back up to his made Evan pull his hand back in shock. Something strange had just happened between them. Neither one of them was quite sure how or what to call it.
Megan found her center, bringing the conversation back. “So he’s…”
“My uncle.”
“Your uncle.”
“My uncle.”
“So you’re…”
“His nephew.” He cocked his head at her.
“No, no, I meant…” If his uncle was teaching at the school, she could venture a pretty strong guess that he was not like the rest of them. Someone with family money wouldn’t be teaching uppity teenagers in Vermont. Maybe his uncle pulled some strings to get Evan into the prestigious school. Maybe he was like her: poor. Maybe with him, she’d fit in. But on the other hand, his clothes, his mannerisms…he fit with them. He was just like them. Hell, he was practically their leader.
“You’re asking if my uncle had anything to do with me getting into this school?”
“Kind of?” Megan shyly shrugged.
“Ha, it’s fine! But, no. In fact, my brother and I have more to do with him being a teacher here.”
“How so?”
“Should this be my story?”
“What?” Megan was lost in his voice.
“My story, the one I have to tell for this assignment.”
“Oh.” She sat up straighter. “Yes, that’s a great idea.”
“Okay then, here we go…
“So, I’m actually from Connecticut, but my father had some business to handle overseas, so he sent my brother, Darren, and I off to live with my Uncle Billy up here in Vermont for a few months. Darren was about to go into sixth grade, and I into fourth, so my uncle enrolled me into The Valley School’s pre-preparatory program, and Darren tested right into the school. My father eventually came back, but was still travelling consistently, so we stayed with my uncle, or rather, I did because Darren lived at the school, and my father visited on occasion. Fast forward two years, and since Darren loved the school so much, I applied, and I got into the school as well. About a year later, the school’s previous Psychology teacher retired, so Dean Watkins, a good friend of my uncle’s, from both being prominent figures in the area and also because he had enrolled two kids into the school, asked if he could fill in for some classes. He was bored of seeing patients, and ultimately enjoyed the research aspect more than the listening to people aspect, so he gave up his practice and came to work here full time. Fast forward again, and Uncle Billy has been teaching here for three years now. The classes are like pet projects for him.”
“Pet projects?”
“I mean he only does them because they give him a thrill. You know, the whole getting into young people’s heads and tinkering around? It’s not like he needs the money.”
“Interesting.” Megan leaned back on her elbows. She felt a little exposed, but this time, oddly comfortable. She had learned a good deal from just that little story.
“Interesting? I told you more about my uncle than myself.”
“Not necessarily.”
“Oh really, GF?” He smiled a smile that lit up his face as he leaned over her. “What three things did you learn?”
Megan repositioned herself so she could take a more controlling stance. She might not have been the type of person to jump at taking the lead, as he had picked up on, but when she was confident about something, it showed. Evan slunk back accordingly, affected by her newly found sense of power.
“First of all, you have a certain level of respect for your brother. You like that he’s there to test the waters before you, and you really want to see him as a powerful figure in your life…someone you can aspire to be like. But there’s something else.”
“What do you mean?” Evan was interested. He had never broken down his feelings for his brother. In fact, he had never even really thought about his specific feelings toward his brother. He had no idea how she had seen all that just by the few words he had spoken of him.
“Well, something dimmed in your eyes when you spoke of him. It’s like he’s there, he’s powerful, but you don’t trust him.” She stopped her breath and looked straight at him. “I’m sorry, was that out of line?”
Evan shook his head and scooted toward her ever so gently. “Not at all. Keep going.” His voice was softer, more intense.
“Okay,” Megan inhaled. “Your uncle is the black sheep of the family, and you see him as that.”
“What? Why would you say that?” She was right, but he still wanted to know why.
“You said he doesn’t need the money, and yet he still teaches a high school course on something he’s more knowledgeable about than the standard curriculum would require. Obviously, he comes from money, but decided to not partake in the family business, as I assume your own father has. Instead, your uncle chose to spend years and a great deal of effort pursuing a medical degree in a field that deals with the inner workings of the human psyche.”
“Okay, you got me. Black sheep, he certainly is.”
“And your father?” She added, genuinely interested.
“Followed in his own father’s footsteps.”
“And you?”
“Will most likely do the same.”
She nodded and smiled knowingly, but was a little hurt that her assumption was correct. There was a brief second there when she had hoped he was just like her, that he relied on his brains and not his money to push him ahead. She had hoped that her being of a different social stature wouldn’t complet
ely affect her experience at The Valley School. As of yet, she had not proven that point. As of yet, she was still an outcast.
“And the third?”
Megan blinked her eyes, waking her up from her mind’s escape.
She casually offered her third take-away. “Your mom died. That’s the real reason your father sent you to live with your uncle.”
Evan stood, immediately breaking eye contact. “Get out.”
“Excuse me?” Megan didn’t understand his complete change.
“I said get out of here. Now.”
“Evan, I was just…”
“Leave.”
She didn’t question him again, just followed his commands. The moment her feet hit the hallway, his door slammed behind her.
She had obviously struck a nerve.
CHAPTER FOUR
“Well, I probably would have done pretty well on that pop quiz had Genius Freak not been in our class.” The group of boys sitting next to and behind Evan chuckled as they offered their palms for a high five. Even the girls who had engaged in her news on the airline being sued giggled at Evan’s joke. They had all turned against her, and it was all because of him.
Two months had passed since Evan kicked Megan out of his room, but not a day had gone by where he hadn’t in some way made fun of her. Megan was miserable. Not only was she an outcast, but she was also made to feel by everyone like the outcast. While she had only promised to come home once before Thanksgiving, she had in fact gone home every single weekend after her Friday night field hockey games. Her mother was delighted, but Megan was hurting.
“Kids can be cruel.” Her mother soothed.
“But just to me?”
“They’re jealous.” She continued with the habitual excuses.
“Of what, Mom? They have everything they could ever want.”
“Not your brains.”
“They hate me. I ruin the grading curve.” Megan huffed as she sulked away from her mother.
“But you can’t tell me they don’t wish they had even a ounce of your smartness.”
“If it meant that everyone would treat them the way the treat me…”
Her mother welcomed her into her arms.
“Just you wait, my little girl. One day, this will all make sense.”
“I hope so.” Megan nestled into her mother’s arms.
Dr. Covington stood at the front of the class. He was wearing a dark blue blazer, a white and blue pinstriped dress shirt, and a silk white tie. After realizing only from their names that Dr. Covington and Evan were related, Megan couldn’t figure out how she didn’t see it before. They had the same high cheekbones, the same strong jaw line, the same large lower lip, and the same dominating presence. The main difference was that Evan was mean and cruel and childish, while Dr. Covington was…powerful. He enthralled her. Had it not been for Evan and his pack of wolves sitting behind her, Intro to Psychology would have been her favorite class.
“For your next partner assignment…”
“Dr. Covington!” Evan interrupted.
“Yes, Evan?”
“Can we switch partners?”
“Absolutely not. I believe I made that point clear the first day of class.”
Evan shuffled his feet, trying to gain attention. “But what if you can’t stand to be in the same room as your partner?”
“Why can’t you stand to be in the same room as your partner, Mr. Covington?”
“I don’t know.”
“This is psychology. Analyze your feelings.”
He blew air between his lips. “Probably because she smells.”
“What the hell is wrong with you?” Megan burst out. It was the only thing she could do to combat her tears.
“You’re the one I can’t stand to be around.”
“And whose fault is that?”
“Miss Coulis? Would you like to offer some insight into why Mr. Covington doesn’t care to be around you?”
“Teacher’s pet.” Evan accused under his breath.
Megan heard him, but she didn’t care. Well, she cared, but she chose to pretend she didn’t.
She stood next to her desk. “Mr. Covington doesn’t care to be around me because he’s scared.”
“I am not!” Evan yelled for the whole class to hear.
“I made him confront some feelings that make him uncomfortable, so as a defense mechanism, he makes fun of me so he doesn’t have to face those feelings.”
“Very good, Miss Coulis.”
“That is not very good, Uncle Billy!” Evan stood just off Megan’s shoulder.
“Evan…”
“Sorry, Dr. Covington.” Evan slid down in his seat.
A smile flashed across Dr. Covington’s face. “New assignment. For exactly one hour, I want you to sit across from your partner. Lock your doors and turn off your phones: no distractions. Every ten minutes, you have to bring your chairs closer together. By the time you get to the last ten minutes, your knees should be touching. I then want you to report back to me on the change of conversation at each new distance.”
There were a few sighs and a few murmurs, but no one dared argue with Dr. Covington. His assignments were to be taken seriously. He was to be taken seriously. That was just the thing about Dr. Covington.
He spoke, and they listened.
He spoke, and they did what they were told.
The bell rang, signaling the end of the lecture.
“Meet at my room at seven, GF. Don’t be late.”
Megan turned around to confirm with Evan that she would be there at seven and not a second later, but he was already gone.
Practice let out at 5:45, and Megan rushed back to her room. She quickly showered, towel-dried her hair, unwrapped a granola bar, and took a bite. She wasn’t hungry, but forced herself to finish the bar while she quickly scribbled down the solutions to her calculus homework. The rest of her homework was done and neatly placed back in her backpack by 6:57. She grabbed her green notebook and sluggishly made her way down the hall, to room 601.
“You’re early.”
Megan looked at her watch, “One minute.”
“Still early.”
“You said not to be late.”
“Next time I’ll have to say not to be early too, I guess.”
He didn’t even look at her, just placed one chair against one wall and another against the opposite. She waited until he chose his seat before she found her way to the other one.
“Phone off?”
“Check.”
“Door locked?”
Evan stood from his chair, walked to the door, and turned the latch. “Check.”
“Great. Do we have a timer?”
Evan then moved to his bedside table and set his alarm clock for exactly ten minutes.
“Ready?”
“Ready.”
He pressed the timer.
Ten minutes later, the alarm went off. Neither had spoken a single word.
Another ten minutes was set on the alarm clock as they moved their chairs closer to one another.
“We can’t just be silent for an hour.” Evan chuckled.
“I was going off of you.” Megan laid blame, to which Evan snapped.
“Well, don’t. Have an opinion.”
“Oh, believe me, I have an opinion.” She snapped right back.
Evan had never seen Megan show that much distaste for him, or anyone for that matter. She took and took everything he and his friends had dished out, but she never fought back. It was interesting to watch how different she could be one on one.
“Then what’s your opinion?”
Megan smiled to herself. “For one, I think you’re a jack ass.”
“Ouch.”
“Sorry.” She shrugged, but he waved his hand at her.
“No. Don’t apologize. I deserved that.”
“You think?”
“I do.” Evan folded his hands in his lap.
“Then why act that way? You want to be a jack ass?
”
He looked up to the ceiling as if he was searching for a reason, but he didn’t need to: he knew the answer. “It’s a status thing.”
“That’s stupid.” Megan had her comeback ready.
Evan leaned forward, resting his forearms on his lap. “It may be stupid, but I’m not the one who gets made fun of.”
“So you’re saying if I was mean, then no one would pick on me?” Megan cocked her head at him.
“They’d definitely think twice before doing so. Right now, you’re such an easy target. You’re too nice.”
Megan knew she was nice, but it had never been seen as a bad thing before. “So it has nothing to do with money?”
“I didn’t say that.”
She threw her hands up and leaned back in her chair. “Now your whole theory was just thrown out of the window.”
“It’s a number of things. Money is just one of them.”
“Even though I can’t help that?”
“Why would that matter?” Evan narrowed his eyes, questioning.
She pushed her hair behind her ears. “It seems logical. Right now, I’m being judged for something I have no power over.”
The second ten minutes were up. The alarm was reset and the chairs were pushed closer together.
“I like your hair like this.”
“Like what?” Megan sat up straighter.
“It’s pushed back, out of your face. Normally you have it hanging straight down, and it covers your face.”
Unimaginable Page 3