Eye Contact Lessons

"No, no, no! You've got it all wrong!"

The pink-haired girl put her hands on her hips, scrutinizing her "protégée".

"Remember, Florina, you need to look up!" she exclaimed. "If you don't have eye contact, how are you going to intimidate the others?"

"In-intimidate?" Florina repeated, bewildered.

"Yes, intimidate! How else will you overcome being shy? You have to make the others cower - it builds confidence!" Serra beamed.

Florina could not follow whatever logic Serra was using. If it was logic at all. What concerned her even more is that Serra actually believed this. "It apparently works for Serra, why can't it work for me?" she thought. "Who am I kidding, I can't do this…I could barely intimidate a fly."

She meekly raised her head, briefly maintaining eye contact with Serra. It only lasted about a second. Serra had already mastered a frightening stare, which made this particular lesson incredibly hard on Florina.

Serra remained silent for a moment, considering ways to help her pupil. Suddenly, with a bright glimmer in her eye, she concocted a plan.

Florina suddenly felt queasy. A glimmer in Serra's eyes was much like the grim reaper coming to claim Florina's soul.

Sweat was saturating her whole body.

Why Serra had blindfolded her, she did not know. It seemed only to intensify her anxiety. What could she possibly be doing? Was Serra going to lead her into a room of men? Was she going to force her to stare at someone?

Soon Florina felt hands untying the firmly knotted blindfold. She squeezed her eyes closed, fearing the worst.

"Open your eyes, silly!" Serra said with a grin.

Florina grimaced but peeked with one eye. Confused at what she saw, she opened both eyes.

"See, its not so bad…," Serra cooed.

Before her sat a smiling scarecrow. At least it appeared to be a scarecrow. Beneath the potato-sack head and tattered clothes was an unimpressed Erk. But Florina did not need to know the details just yet.

"Florina, say hello to Mr. Scarecrow. Look at hi – look at its eyes when you say it, too. Oh, and make sure you sound intimidating!"

She bashfully lifted her head. The scarecrow's eyes were hardly human. Two black circles and a half-circle smile. "There's no reason to be afraid, its just a scarecrow…," she reassured herself.

Boldly, she focused her eyes on those two black circles. She occasionally twitched, trying to turn her head away. But she was determined to stare at the circles. She had to pass this lesson!

She was afraid, yes. Which was quite embarrassing in and of itself. (But in her defense, it was a scarecrow.) However, the longer she stared, the less intimidating it became. "Hello, Mr. Scarecrow," she said with confidence, though it lacked the condescending flair Serra had wished for.

"Excellent!" Serra squealed. "You've held eye contact for almost a minute!"

"A minute?"

"Yes, a minute!" Suddenly, Serra's eyes lit up once again. "Now, you should be ready for the next test."

"The next test?"

"Of course…its not just going to be easy stuff like this all the time. Besides, how will you ever gain the attention of you-know-who if you never look at him…"

Florina could have sworn Serra's devious smile reflected pure malice. She started to sweat once again. How did she know about him, anyways?

Serra strolled over to Florina's new friend, and with a quick gesture, removed the burlap mask. Erk coughed and immediately shot a cold glare at the bubbly cleric. She smiled and gently pat his head. "Oh, Erky, you are such a good scarecrow!"

He rolled his eyes.

After discovering the identity of the stiff scarecrow, poor Florina felt paralyzed. She gripped the end of her skirt, forcing herself to stay seated.

Serra placed her hands on Erk's shoulders, as if to force him to stay. "Now, Florina, all you have to do is look at his eyes. Just imagine he's still the scarecrow!"

Her face felt flushed. Now it was real…she almost wished Serra was holding her down so that she could finish this test.

Florina kept her eyes on Erk for almost ten seconds before looking at the ground. She almost felt like she was going to cry. "It's ok, Florina, you can do it! We are just taking baby steps, ok?"

Florina took a deep breath and tried again. This time she held her gaze. After a few seconds, she found she could simply lose herself and forget the intimidating eyes peering back at her.

It took time and patience, both on her part and especially on Erk's. But as the day came to a close, Florina felt somewhat confident in herself. As if she could finally be like the other girls – sociable, friendly…happy. Serra's lessons had somehow given her hope.

If only she could have known what Serra had in store.

"I know something you don't know! I know something you don't know!" Serra chimed.

She sat with Hector at lunch time, needing to ask a favor. "Serra, keep this up, and I'll make sure I do the opposite of whatever you ask," Hector grumbled.

"Oh, please don't, Lord Hector. You must do this for me!" she pleaded. "Besides, it isn't even for my benefit."

"Really…," he said. He almost could not believe that statement.

"Yep. I'm just trying to help a friend."

"Ok, so what do you need me to do?"

She glanced about, assuring herself that no one else was listening, and leaned closer to him. She whispered her plan into his ear. His face contorted with confusion. "And why exactly do I need to do this?"

She smiled once again. "I told you, I'm helping my friend. Who knows, it could even help you, too!"

He shook his head. "Well, if I do this, you're going to owe me a big favor."

She didn't seem to mind.

Ever since Serra's lessons with the scarecrow, Florina was trying her hardest to keep eye contact with people when they asked her a question, or whenever she crossed their path. She still struggled, especially around the men, but she felt she was improving.

Eye contact was simply a bridge. If she could hold eye contact with someone, it could later lead to a greeting or even a conversation. She could finally fit in with the others and maybe even talk to Lord Hector.

She strolled through the camp, going back the tent she shared with her sister.

"Florina?"

She froze again. The lessons of Serra flooded her mind. She didn't want to let her friend down! And this would be yet another chance for her to practice…

She turned around, not realizing who it was.

Lord Hector looked at her. What a coincidence.

Her eyes widened. She did not know what to do. Her mind was thrown into a frenzy of terror and delight, all at once. She felt like looking anywhere but his eyes. The lessons had little importance now. She just needed to escape.

"Florina, are you all right?"

"Umm…," she began, insecure. "Yes…I'm doing fine."

He smiled, almost relieved. "So, Serra's teaching you something about eye contact, right?"

Her face turned bright red. She almost nodded, but quickly stammered, "How…how do you know?"

"Well, she thought I could help you a bit."

Oh, that Serra! "I can't believe she would go to such…such drastic measures!"

Florina was still studying the ground, completely embarrassed. Her head became stiff. She couldn't look at him. She couldn't bear to look so pitiful!

He lifted his hand up, resting his index finger under her soft chin and lifting her head. "C'mon, you can look at me, right?"

She slowly looked up at him, admiring his deep blue eyes. He had just created a bridge for her. She realized that now. It had been five seconds, ten seconds…she had held her eye contact with him!

"Thank you…th-thank you," she said, almost in tears.

He put his hand at his side once more. He did not exactly know how this helped, but then he wasn't shy and he wasn't a girl.

"No problem…," he replied. He waited for a moment more, just to make sure she didn't collapse into tears.

"All right, well if you need any more help with your lessons, just let me know," he said. He winked at her before walking away with an enthusiastic smile.

"Oh, Erk, wasn't that just great?" Serra giggled.

They were sitting behind some nearby bushes, observing the whole scene.

"Now, what should my next plan be…?"

He rolled his eyes. Erk could have sworn her smile reflected pure malice, as always.

Woohoo! My first fic with Serra! I never thought I would do a "matchmaker" type fic either. Hahaha...well this turned out much differently than I planned. Especially with the whole scarecrow thing. Lol! I was trying to make this humorous too, but it was kind of corny. Ah well. I tried. Anyways, hope you liked it, because I actually liked this one myself. Amazing.