The second year in Wushan was different.. not in a way Denita could explain immediately.. but different the way a room feels different when someone has rearranged the furniture just slightly.. everything is the same but your feet keep finding the wrong places..
Their class had changed.. new seats, new arrangement, same faces.. Mian was still beside her, which was all that mattered to Denita.. The rest she would figure out..
She figured out Avet slowly.. without meaning to.. It started with noticing that every time a period ended.. before the next teacher walked in.. there were maybe four or five minutes of noise and movement.. and in those minutes, Avet would get up from his seat.. He sat three rows away.. she had not thought much about it.. But he would get up.. and somehow end up near her.. talking about something.. the class, a teacher joke, nothing important.. always nothing important.. and then the next teacher would arrive and he would go back..
It happened after the first period. Then the second. Then every single one..
Denita mentioned it to Mian once, casually.. Avet talks a lot right!.. Mian gave her a look she did not fully understand.. To everyone..? she asked.. Denita thought about it.. 'I do not know.'.
she said.. and moved on.. because she genuinely did not know.. she had assumed he was just like that.. friendly.. talkative.. the kind of person who fills silences easily.. She never once thought it was specifically her..
Games period was always a little uncomfortable for Denita.. she was not bad at everything but she was quiet about what she could and could not do.. and boys had a way of making that loudness feel like a verdict.. It was long jump day.. She ran.. jumped.. and it was short.. she knew before she even landed.. the measuring was unnecessary really.. she could feel it in the way the ground came too soon.. Some of the boys laughed.. not cruelly perhaps.. but carelessly.. which sometimes hurts the same way..
She was stepping back quietly when she heard Avet's voice cut through..'Atleast , she tried..don't say anything!'.. only the feeling of them.. the way he spoke without hesitation, without checking if it was his place to say something.. like it simply was his place.. like of course he would say something.. The laughing stopped.. Denita looked at him and he just looked back at her for a second.. not making a big deal of it.. not waiting for a thank you.. then turned away like nothing had happened.. She stood there a moment longer than she needed to.. then walked back to her place.. She still thought he was just a good person.. a generally good person.. that was all..