Flicker Read Online Free PDF Page B

turning back to the front. She was annoyed to realize that she still hadn't learned his name.
                  Elise's frustration would be short-lived, though, she knew: in the few days before she assigned them Latin names, Magistra took attendance for any new students in English. So she paid attention through the first five or so of her classmates, and was rewarded when Magistra called, “Mercer, Alexander,” and the boy promptly replied, “Salve, Magistra. Tibi gratias ago pro me docens. ”
                  Magistra West paused, fluttering her eyelashes at him-- Elise was always amused by her teacher's flirtatious way of joking with her students-- and saying throatily, “My, it would seem that our new pupil has had a good deal of classical education before he came to us.”
                  “Yes, Magistra,” he replied with a smile, apparently as amused as Elise by the teacher's antics. “I took Latin for two years at my old school.”
                  “Well, you'll fit right in here with our remaining advanced students; discipuli, welcome Alexander to your scholarly fold. Now, dear, was your last teacher in the practice of giving students Latin names?”
                  “He was, but he just left mine alone-- it is rather classical, after all.” He said charmingly.
                  “That is certainly true. Well, if you have no objections, then Alexander you shall remain. Welcome to my class,” she gave him a genuine smile before she moved on down the list.
                  So now I know his name, Elise thought. Alexander was an old name, as he'd noted, and a powerful one-- the name fit him, and she was obscurely pleased by it. Despite her embarrassment over flirting with him in the hallway, she also couldn't resist turning around in her seat to smirk at him from under her eyelashes. “Show-off,” she mouthed at him. It made her oddly happy that she was the only person in the room who wasn't surprised by his grasp of the language they were studying; sharing the secret with him, however briefly, had almost made her feel like they were friends.
                  Alexander shrugged, grinning. “When in Rome...” he murmured back, just barely loud enough that she could hear him. And then, to complete the image, he actually winked at her. Elise flushed a deep crimson and whirled back to face the chalkboard again, pretending to be absorbed by the grammatical diagram Magistra was sketching there.
                  The class dragged by, only partially because it was just the second day and Magistra spent the period reviewing things they had learned last year. Elise kept having to stop herself from looking over her shoulder at Alexander again, especially at the frequent points when she was sure she could feel his eyes burning into her back. She hadn't actually flirted with anyone in years, and in watching her peers throw themselves at each other, had seen nothing she cared to emulate. The last thing she wanted was to turn into one of them; in the interest of preventing such a transformation, she refused to look back at him. The part of her that mocked everything she did pointed out that all she was likely to do, when looking at him, was bat her eyelashes like a bimbo-- so there was no point in bothering.
                  Sitting through the boring class, barely hearing Magistra's jokes, Elise found her confidence ebbing in a wash of negativity that left her depressed and anxious. What was she thinking, trying to flirt with some boy? Most likely, she would run out of things to talk about with him and end up sitting awkwardly in silence, looking like a moron. But on the off chance that things went well and he enjoyed her company, then what? She knew perfectly well he couldn't be trusted-- no one could. So was there really any point in this? She slumped in her desk, doodling absently in the margins of her