Page 16 of A Noble Affair
“Do you know of any parties coming up where they might want more?”
“I’ll ask around,” Louis answered. “I don’t wanna draw a lot of attention to myself, especially since no one really knows me.”
“Don’t worry,” Jean soothed.“Take it slow." He held out his fist, and Louis bumped it with his own.
"If I don’t hear from you before then, I’ll see you next Monday. You know how to reach me if there’s a problem."Jean stood and stretched, and when he did that, he looked like someone Louis’s age. “By the way, there’s a little surprise for you in your bag to help you get through the rest of the day.” With a wink, Jean sauntered down the street, his hands in his pockets.
As soon as Jeanwas gone, Louis peeked inside the bag of marijuana that he supposed to be his own. There was a little red pill inside. He was surprised because he had never taken anything that didn’t require smoking. He sat for a moment, considering. It must be safe to take now if Jean had told him he could get through the day like that. The more he thought about it, the more appealing the idea was. There was an additional benefit—he would have no telltale smell of marijuana.I’ll just try it.His pulse quickened.
Chastity was crossingthe street towards the school entrance when someone called her name. It was Marc.
“Oh, hey.” A blush stole over her features. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m not stalking you, don’t worry.” Marc laughed. “I had to meet a friend in the area.”
“Really?” She raised her eyebrows. “You know people in Maisons-Laffitte besides us?”
“I really do.” He grinned disarmingly. “I still have a few friends from my summer visits home who are willing to be seen with me. One of them has moved out here.”
“Oh, good.” Chastity was distracted. She didn’t expect to meet Marc here, and she wasn’t sure how she looked. Plus, her class was about to start in fifteen minutes.Yikes. I forgot to get the handouts I need for the next class.
Marc studied her face. “I can see I caught you off-guard. Sorry about that. When I saw you, I didn’t want to keep walking without saying hello.” Hescratched his chin, which had a tiny bit of stubble on it.He looks cute—the thought distracted her even more.
“Anyway,” Marc continued. “We never set up another coffee date. Do you have time this weekend? Unless—did you want to have dinner with me instead?”
“Um…” Chastity was trying to sort out what she wanted. “You know what? Let’s stick to coffee dates for now. I don’t want to have to worry about finding a babysitter.”Or about explaining to Thomas why I’d be going out with his father without him.
“Okay, so then Saturday?” Marc leaned in. “I’ll call you.”
“That sounds fine,” Chastity said, evading his kiss aimed at her cheek. “See you.”
When she arrived in the building, she found her heart was beating fast. She tried to decipher what that meant, and whether she could possibly be falling forMarcagain.That, my dear girl, would be the height of folly.
She ran up the stairs, and after a quick detour in her office, walked into the small classroom, which sat sixteen at most. This was her largest class for the day, and no one was there yet. She went over to the whiteboard and wrote at the top.
Reflective Essay
What cultural elements of the Colombian fishing village played into Santiago Nasar’s death?
As she was writing the other questions, the crowd of students that had congregated outside the doorway began to enter the room noisily, throwing their book bags downand talking over one another.
“Take a seat, everyone,” Chastity commanded over the bustle. “We’ve got a lot to cover this afternoon, and you have a homework assignment. The more we have time to discuss in class, the easier the assignment is going to be for you.”
Everyone settled into their chairs, got out their laptops—or in some cases—their notebooks and pens. A few took out the book.
“I hope everyone had a good lunch.” Chastity gave a friendly smile and continued, “but not so good that you’re falling asleep.” She wrinkled her nose, and a few laughed. The students generally liked her, but they didn’t want to break the secret teenage code and make her life any easier by showing it.
“You were supposed to have finished reading the book by now. How many of you really did that?” Almost everyone raised their hands, but a few made her doubt their veracity.
“Good,” she said brightly. “Then it should be no problem for you—”
She was interrupted by Louis’s entrance.
“Sorry, Miss Whitmore.” His words tumbled out. “I didn’t mean to be late. I was in the library trying to finish the book and then a class came in, so I went down to the computer room, but there was a class there too. So I went outside and read on the bench and didn’t notice the time. As soon as I saw I was late for class, I rushed right in. I’m here now, though. Prepared to work. Ah. Here’s a seat.”
He dropped his bag on the table and hooked the chair with his foot, pulling it out with a loud scrape so he could sit. He pulled the contents out of his bag and put them on the table noisily, opening his computer and squinting at the board to read the words before typing them on a new document. He did all this with precise movements and loud alacrity.
“Okaaay,” Chastity said. If she were not so alarmed by his behavior, she would have wanted to laugh. He had not spoken that many words in the entire semester so far, and this…"Energizer Bunny" was a far cry from his usual state of sullen lassitude. A few of the students were giggling, and others were looking at Louis curiously.
