Page 14 of Strangers in Love

I just wanted to get out of my head for as long as I could.

A rowing machine wasn’t exactly my favorite piece of equipment to use, but it sounded like exactly what I needed right now. Something that would work my arms and legs and core. Something that would require my full attention and focus. It’d hurt like hell, and I’d probably regret it in the morning, but I refused to change my mind.

After a quick stretch, I settled on the machine and lost myself in the monotony of movement. My mind blanked, and relief flooded through me. This was exactly what I needed.

Eleven

Aline

Okay,so the past week had been a little different than I’d thought it’d be, but it hadn’t been bad, exactly. Just different.

I’d expected to use all of the nice, neat lesson plans I’d learned how to make, decorate my classroom, have those nice, neat rows of desks, a chalkboard. Freedom and I would get set up in our apartment or hotel room, then check out the school and neighborhood, talk to some people. Or, rather, I would talk, and Freedom would translate once I got past my limited Persian and Arabic.

But that wasn’t exactly how things worked out. I hadn’t realized that the expansive Neutral Ground headquarters would be not only where we’d be housing our classes, but it was also where all the volunteers stayed. Not only did it allow for better security – not everyone in Iran approved of what we were doing – but it also gave us women the ability to relax the dress code we followed both in the classroom and whenever we left the building.

While female tourists could often get away with being lax about the laws regarding accepted attire, Neutral Ground required us to follow it to the letter whenever we were outside of the living quarters part of the building. That meant long-sleeved shirts that were loose and covered our butts paired with flowing pants that didn’t showcase even a sliver of skin. A head covering was also required. Fortunately, Freedom had already explained all of that to me back when I’d first approached her with my idea, so we’d both been prepared with scarves the moment we’d landed in Iran.

Freedom and I had a single room with bunk beds. Bunk beds. It wasn’t that I felt like we should have been put up in some fancy hotel or apartment. More like I was surprised that they’d put adults in rooms arranged for children.

It was…interesting.

Our classroom had desks that Neutral Ground had purchased, and there was a chalkboard, but neat little lesson plans for specific age groups had definitelynotbeen a part of the package. First, because there weren’t any specific age groups. The kids’ ages ranged everywhere from six to sixteen. Some knew a little English; some didn’t know any. Which meant I had to figure out things I could teach over a variety of ages and skill sets.

It was harder than I’d realized, but after getting over the surprise, I’d found that I’d enjoyed the challenge. I hadn’t had many of those in my life, especially when it came to situations like this. Yes, I’d studied when it’d come to my classes, but that had only been because I’d wanted to do the best I could.

What I was doing here was far more important than trying to get the highest GPA possible. I’d realized that the first time I’d stood in front of those students and saw how eager they were to learn. All of them.

Something inside me had shifted, and it had stayed that way. Coming here had impacted me already, and I wondered how much more was to come.

The only thing that had really been a disappointment was the fact that I’d wanted to share my new insight with Freedom, but every time I’d considered bringing it up, something had stopped me. A faraway expression on her face. A look of sadness in her eyes. Something had gone wrong with her, and she wouldn’t talk to me about it. I’d thought the two of us were closer than that.

I’d been going through possible explanations for Freedom’s behavior when I realized that I wasn’t alone in the communal kitchen all the volunteers used. There were a dozen of us, with all sorts of different areas of expertise, and over the last week, Freedom and I had gotten to know all of them. We got along better with some than others, but there was really only one person we didn’t actually like.

And, of course, Serle Lansky was the one who’d just walked into the kitchen.

A high school teacher from San Diego who’d ended up having his contract not renewed due to budget cuts, he wasn’t the most well-liked out of the volunteers. He came across as arrogant and rude a lot of the time, but I really believed it was overcompensation on his part. He was only a couple inches taller than Freedom, which put him on the shorter end for a man, and he was thin enough that it made him look younger. Add in orange-red hair that had probably been the focus of adolescent teasing and the sort of fair, freckled skin that’d left him sunburned after just one day here, I didn’t doubt that his childhood and teenage years had been cruel.

It was that, more than anything else, that made me a little more tolerant of some of his less desirable character traits.

“Good evening, Serle,” I said with a polite smile. “How did your class go today?”

“As good as expected.” He came over to where I was standing next to the refrigerator and then reached around me to open it.

The action caused him to lean into my personal space, something he consistently did with all the female volunteers. I tried to give him the benefit of the doubt. I really did. Some people just didn’t have the best social skills. For all I knew, he didn’t understand that standing so close to a virtual stranger could be uncomfortable and unwanted. So I continued to attempt to handle things diplomatically.

“Here, let me get out of your way.”

For a moment, I didn’t think he was going to let me step past him, but after a tense second, he moved just enough to let me get by. My side brushed against his, and I suppressed a repulsed shudder.

I didn’t like to think of myself as a superficial person, or one who made snap judgments about others, but something about Serle made me not want to have any sort of physical contact with him. I hated that about myself, and I didn’t want to be that way, but I didn’t know how to stop it. All I could think of was controlling my actions and not letting anything I felt translate into any kind of discourteous behavior.

“Where are you rushing off to?” Serle asked before I’d gone more than a few steps. “We should have dinner together.”

Fortunately, I had an easy out. “Freedom and I already ate. I was actually just cleaning up from it.”

He gave me what I assumed he thought was a charming smile but was actually just…creepy. “Come on, now. You aren’t going to make me eat all by myself, are you?”

“My sister’s expecting me,” I said apologetically. “We have a few things we have to go over for tomorrow’s class.”

---