Broken, Navaura Campbell [top young adult novels txt] 📗

a liar, a peddler, and all sorts of things, just to name a few. However, his life changed for the better when he moved into the Rawsin’s home. They’d shown him, compassion, love, discipline and who God was. All of those things he’d needed. Within six months

 

Timothy had shown signs of change and by the summer, he’d completely become someone entirely different. The scraggly long hair was gone. The various piercings gone, the sharp tongue, subjugated partially. Even now he had to refrain from speaking his mind too much; and the baggy ripped clothing were taken away. Aside the physical, there was a renewing of the mind and he found himself meditating in his bible all the time. His favorite thing to do was read his bible and then meditate on what he’d read.

 

Again, his gaze flickered to Tamarah and he sighed. She was a sight to behold. He loved the blue feather earrings she’d worn today, it accentuated the beautiful features of her face. His favorite color to see her in was blue. Today she wore sky blue. Sky blue earrings with matching eye shadow and a matching silk blouse that hugged her upper body in just the right way. The skinny jeans she wore accentuated the beautiful gentle curve of her hips and legs. He shook his head, turning his gaze to the classroom window. He felt like God was going to have to do something because the way he felt about her was anything but holy. He bit down on his bottom lip and grunted softly to himself. Life wasn’t fair.

 

Tamarah knew he watched her. She could feel it when ever his gaze found her. It was like sending an invisible hand to stroke down her back. What she didn’t understand was for all the staring he did, he’d never once spoken to her. Although she’d tried, she’d never succeeded at getting him to say one word to her. Often times she found herself wondering what was going on in that head of his and whether or not it was her imagining his attraction to her. She already knew his routine.

 

Once class let out, he would scoop his books up and dash out the door like someone was chasing him. She knew that at one point there had been a lot of young girls that liked him but they always complained that the only thing he seemed interested in was God. God this, God that, was all that came from his mouth, so those girls had lost their initial attraction to him and it was she who was left standing to carry that torch. She was impressed with him. The way he carried himself, the way he treated others and the way he seemed to respect everything around him. Yeah, she watched him enough to know that with him what you saw was definitely what you got, However, what she could not figure out was how to get him talking. She also knew she wasn’t one to back down from a challenge when she wanted something, and good Lord, she really wanted Timothy. That curly dirty blonde hair that went wiry over his head made her heart beat speed up when ever he walked into a room. It was because of that hair no one could ever mistake him. Those blue eyes never failed to make her swoon when ever she got the chance to look into them. They were so clear, so bright and unbelievably beautiful.

 

There was almost a spiritual quality about them that beckoned her curiosity. Tamarah shook her head and felt as though it was best to not allow her mind to roam into thoughts of that sinewy, hard muscled body connecting with hers or even being sculpted through her hands. She inhaled sharply, feeling her body respond to her thoughts. She wished with all her might that if there was a will, that there was a way to get Timothy into her grasp because she knew that once she did, he’d be hers and only hers. That she’d make sure of.

 

“Class, today I would like to introduce you all to a new project that we are going to be working on.” Mr. Wayne, their English lit teacher stated, drawing everyone, including Timothy’s and Tamarah’s attention up to the black board. Tamarah’s eyes widened. She didn’t know that you could be assigned partners in an English Lit class. What type of project could you possibly work on? As if answering that question, Mr. Wayne continued talking, “Here’s what I want you to do. I’m going to sign you into pairs. This assignment is a research project. I’ve paired off your partners already.”

Some of the students groaned because they wouldn’t get to work with who they want.

“I’ve paired you guys off with each other because the project should be easier to complete with a partner and also so that you guys won’t become overwhelmed with it’s specific requirements.”

“Will it be fun at-least?” Brooke Couliver asked,

The teacher smiled, “It involves watching a movie of your choice.” The teacher began. “However, I have narrowed it down to several films that were written in the nineteen nineties.”

Scott Farrow, another student broke out in laughter, “Why would anyone want to watch films from that time, they all said the same thing.”

“Kill, kill, kill.” His side kick and best friend, Adam stated. The students all laughed. Mr. Wayne cleared his voice and spoke above the students, “Well, you are in luck because the films on this list are entirely educational in one way or another, so there shouldn’t be any problems.”

“Educational?” Adam’s and Scott’s laughter died down as well as the other students and a simultaneous groan was heard throughout the class.

“Yes! Educational.” Mr. Wayne pushed his dark rimmed glasses up the bridge of his nose. Mr. Wayne had been teaching at Tiger Hill sense the early nineties. He wore a different suit everyday and his hair was thinning on top. He was an African American man who didn’t like the generation now any more than he had when he was growing up because it seemed everything grew worse with each generation.

 

The schools he’d attended as a child felt less like a prison than it did these days. At-least three officers were on the premises now. They each ran duty up and down the halls during class periods; just to ensure that there were no fights, no unauthorized visitors and that every student who walked in wore an ID tag. Only clear back packs were allowed and there was a strict dress code implied, not only for the students, but the teachers as well. There were no casual clothes allowed by administration on campus. Everyone wore elegant wear, which was stupid, because not all teachers were into elegant wear all the time. Mr. Wayne was one of the teachers who wasn’t, so, in his classroom, he always left the top button of his shirt undone, sleeves were rolled up and he always removed his jacket.

 

Mr. Wayne did love teaching English and he did appreciate the few good students he had in class. Of those students only five were freshmen. The others were juniors and Seniors. He reached inside the pine oak desk of his and pulled out a stack of papers. Handing them down the rows, he said, “The choice of film depends on the student and their interest, but remember, I want a thorough thesis on the film. This includes it’s writers, directors, actors, plot and the studio who produced the film. I also want the date the film came out either in theaters or released to video and I want you to tell me the significance of the film in it’s genre and what critics stated about the film and oh yes, I want your detailed opinion of the film itself and whether or not you thought the same as the critics did.

 

This is a six page paper project and you are to cite all sources of information according to the American Psychological Association. Details on format and structure of the paper are included in this document.” Another groan was issued by several students as they thumbed through the pages of the packet. “I know this is a lot of work which is why I’ve paired you off. I thought maybe you guys could decide who does the research and who write the paper. I want you all to work diligently on this and if there are any questions, please feel free to come by my office if you have any issues, or get stuck on the project. I tried to be as detailed as possible when explaining what I want in this paper. So, if I missed anything please don’t hesitate to stop in and see me.”

 

“Mr. Wayne, how long do we have to write this paper?”Mr. Wayne cleared his throat. “I’m giving you all till the week of prom to finish it. That’s the Twenty third of April. If it’s not done by then, you loose twenty five percent of your grade. I will give extensions to those who have a verifiable reason for not completing the project.”

“Verifiable?”

“Doctor’s excuse only. Read the conditions of accepting late papers. Now, with that covered, let’s move on to the next topic before the bell rang.”

Tamarah glanced up at the clock. There was ten more minutes left of class and she knew Mr. Wayne would use every one of those minutes.

“I have paired you up into groups of twos. Since there is twenty four of you in class, that wasn’t a difficult task. I expect you and your partners to exchange numbers and then schedule time outside of class to meet. I expect you to give me detail by Monday as to who will be doing what part of the assignment.” He grabbed his grade book and opened it to the page he had assigned the students in groups of two. After reading down a long list, when Mr. Wayne got to Timothy’s name, he wasn’t sure he’d heard correctly. Timothy raised his hand.

“Yes. Mr. Rawsin?” The teacher inquired.

“Who did you say my partner was?”

Mr. Wayne glanced down at his grade book. “Tamarah Grey.”Timothy let out a big sigh and closed his eyes. How was he going to get by this one. A whole six weeks of being near her would be more than what he could handle.

 

Tamarah sat at her desk with a smile on face. Things were starting to look up. It had taken a while, but her prayers were being answered. She turned to glance over at him. Timothy had a blank look on his face. With a shrug of her shoulders, she decided that by the time this project was over, he’d definitely know without a doubt she liked him, however, whether or not he liked her would solely depend on him. Tamarah furrowed her brows. She didn’t know how she would take it if he said he didn’t like her. She’d never had that happen before. As a matter of fact, the mere thought of him not liking her made her heart sink. Something she couldn’t say happened too often. Again, her gaze flickered over to his but this time a look of worry was on her features as she thought of the possibility that he may not like her.

~ ~

 

Timothy stood up and gathered his books. He turned and was about to run out of the room when he nearly ran down the person in front of him. “Nice to see that you are still the same Timothy Rawsin.” Tamarah stated a hand on her hip. She looked up at him. He was a good five inches taller than she was. He cleared his throat, “How about we get together Tomorrow at the Library and pick out what film we want?”

“I’ll do the research, you can write the paper.” Tamarah stated.

“Excuse me?” Timothy glanced down at her with a look of surprise on his face.

“I mean why not, when you are a better writer