He stormed off the living room like he was tracked by the FBI, leaving me on the floor, confused.
What the hell was that?...
I slowly breathed out and started putting my books inside my bag with shaky hands while trying to process what just happened. Everywhere he touched me was burning, I could almost feel my blood running hot in my veins.
I didn't hate it at all, which is just plain awful.
Oh my godness! Did I like it? Do I like him? Ew, no! I don't, what the hell?
After a few moments, he walked back in the room and stared down at me and once he noticed I was still in the same attire, he averted his eyes from my half naked self.
"I called someone to take you home, why are you still naked?" he said looking away from me, staring at the wall like it had the meaning of life written on it.
I have a better question, why are you avoiding eye contact when two minutes ago you were trying to pull my shirt off my body and scrutinizing me?
"What the hell was that just now?" I stood up, confused and irritated and he flinched and turned his body completely away.
"Get dressed, now" he ordered and I couldn't believe my ears.
Is he seriously getting shy over me being half naked when he was the one who got me like this in the first place? He literally suggested "strip poker" with a big smug smile a minute ago, what's his deal?
I stood there silently for a second than narrowed my eyes at him.
Is this another joke? Pretending he's dumb and now pretending he's shy and modest. I'm tired of this. I'm not dealing with this. I can't keep up.
I wish I would snap into the same moods as him as fast as he did and meet his insanity but unlike him, I'm a well balanced individual.
I took a step towards him and he tensed.
"what the hell is your game?" I hissed and his clenched his fist.
"Alexa, for your own good, don't come any closer..." he growled while taking a step back from me and it seemed like his voice got deeper.
For my own good, are you fucking kidding me? He was making it sound like I was about to rape him.
He can't just undress me, slap me on the ground, fondle me and then leave me hanging.
It's not that I want him to finish what he started; I'm just annoyed at the fact that he's treating me like a rag when moments ago his big hands were in my hair.
I'm tired of this. Whatever games he thinks he can play with me ends now. I started stomping my feet heavily on the ground and pushed his left shoulder back so he'd face me.
"Listen to me carefully you sensless goon..." I started and then my mouth sealed shut the minute I locked eyes with him. I was going to go into an hour long rant about how he can't treat people like his play toys like I always do and then he'd smirk and it would be like I didn't say anything and he'd retort with something smart of perverted, but this time something was different, his look, his eyes, they weren't mocking or playful like usual, they were dark, serious and intimidating.
I was still angry, I was just a tad less confident now.
He looked at my blouse angrily then back at me.
"Get dressed!" he growled menacing. His husky voice almost made my knees buckle.
I don't know why but if I was in boots I'd be shaking in them.
Is this the same idiot Alexander from half an hour ago? There's no way!
So many of his true colors have come out...Smart, serious, inteligent and extreamly seductive.
Because whether I liked it or not, that one second where he forcefully yet gently held me on the ground would make any girl fall in love.
I was still shaken by that.
I breathed in then took a step back towards my pants that were on the floor and slid them up rapidly. He was facing the window like he couldn't look my way and it hurt so much.
I put my tank top in my bag, along with my watch and slipped my ring on my finger. I couldn't find where my hair tie was. I think I shoved it in my bag along with the books. So I left my hair down. I tugged a few strands behind my ears while looking for my other sock.
I finally grabbed both of my black socks and headed for the door. Earlier, I took my shoes off when I got inside the living room, he said I didn't have to but I wasn't going to walk on an expensive white carpet like that.
I put those on and then heard footsteps coming towards the living room.
-You called for me? ..., River started and then stopped when he saw me, his eyebrows knitting together.
Yeah, hey. What's up? I was just casually getting dressed in here...
Does their third friend live here or did he just drive from his house just to come take me home?
Alexander finally turned back to check if I was fully clothed before sighting then glancing towards River.
"You take her home, you drop her right at her door even if she whines, you wait until she gets inside to leave, understood?" he demanded and River nodded.
Uh, I think the fuck not.
"First of all" I started but River grabbed my elbow gently, "Come" he interrupted then slightly bowed his head towards Alexander.
I glanced towards him and he looked like he was pleading for me to just follow him and shut up.
I don't know River. I don't hate River. I partially think kindly of him. He doesn't steer trouble and he seems like a serious, articulate fellow. So I did follow him quietly.
I wanted to take one last look at Alexander but I didn't. With every step I took further from the living room I fought the urge to run back inside. I felt like I forgot something important in there but I couldn't figure out what.
He dropped me off right at my house. The car ride was awkward. I've never spoken to River before. He was always glued to Cole and Alexander. I didn't have much to talk to him about anyway. So we both just kept quiet. The sound of the radio concealed the silence.
Plus he seemed really tense.
Do I tell him I just played stripped science quiz with Alexander? I felt so ashamed and guilty at the same time.
I went there to tutor him. I carelessly agreed to play his game. I never should've.
I get dropped right at the door of my house. I felt almost insecure about where he had to drop me. I lived in a bad neighborhood. My house was old, run down. Money's tight we can barely make rent. I got a part time job to help mom out but she wouldn't let me keep it. She said I needed to focus on my studies so I did. She works triple shifts sometimes just to make ends meet while Markus sits at home drinking and watching baseball.
You get why I'm so uptight about school. My mom's making sacrifices for me.
Alexander would never relate. I can't let him fuck me over on this.
I walk through the door then go straight towards the window to see River driving off. What I don't notice right away is Markus who was sitting at the kitchen counter, eyeing the driveway from another window.
He saw Alexander's Black mustang.
Before he can look at me, I run up the stairs.
Fuck he saw!
This will come back to bite me in the ass later, I can already picture the fight.
I don't see Alexander for another week; and I panic.
The test is in another week. What if he plays dead until then?
But then, the panic slowly and involuntarily gets replaced with another feeling throughout the days.
An annoyed feeling gradually crept over me every time I remembered the last time he skipped classes for a week.
He was having sex and living life with some dumb blonde bimbo.
And that's where I gripped my pen tight, snapping it in half without even realizing it. Emily turned towards me confused and looked at me puzzled. I shook my head at her to let her know it was nothing and took out another pencil from my case but the feeling remained. I started tapping it furiously on my book.
It was lunch break, every other student was in the cafeteria but we decided to stay in class and cram together. We had a test coming up tommorow.
I was reading my chemistry instruction manual but not really. I was just starring at the black bold letters on it.
Why should I care? He can fuck the entire cast of The Real Housewives of Orange County if he wants to. That's none of my business.
As the thought crept upon my head, I snapped my second pencil and Emily's head rotated slowly towards me with her lips pursed and a glare.
She then slowly grabbed her pencil that was next to me and securely placed it in her bag and I sneered at her. She pulled her tongue out and grimaced.
"You've been starring at the same line for over half an hour, it's an H2O2 Redox reaction, it's not that hard!" She pointed out and I sighted.
"I know" I whined.
"is it Alexander?" she asked with a sly smile and I almost passed out and cracked my head over the classroom table.
"NO!" I screamed as if somebody accused me of being a bank robber, " I mean...yeah, If he ditches the makeup quiz I'm done for it..."
I mean that was bothering me too but that wasn't all.
Damn it! Where the hell did he go? Why do I let bother me so much?
"is that it?" she smiled, "I thought you missed him or something.."
"Ew, don't be gross..." I denied, "The only true way to miss him is to have a gun in one hand and alcohol in the other..." I closed my book shut.
I'm not in the mood for chemistry.
"I mean, you can always call him. Being lab partners in Mister Henderson's class is practically like being married. He makes partners take responsibility for each other and his grade counts for 60% of the total school year average..."
It felt kind of good hearing her say those words.
Married to Alexander? That sounded like a whole parallel universe. I wonder if he has a girlfriend though.
Still, we weren't that close. I mean, we exchange insults and take stabs at each other all the time but I don't even have his number. Aside from basic immature interactions, there really isn't anything deep between us.
So why am I annoyed?
As I was about to answer. I caught a glimpse of her bowing her head slightly at someone that was coming through the door. I followed her gaze and my eyes met Cole Brown's.
He was coming towards us and I felt her tense up slightly but I kept my eyes on him. He gave me a small smile while putting his hands on our table.
"Lunch?" he asked, looking straight at me.
"Cramming..." I answered while pointing at the books and he smiled.
"Come on, it's on me..." he retorted and I raised my eyebrows.
Oh my god. He was asking me if I wanted to have lunch with him?
What lifetime is this? Wait, what just happened? Is this a prank? Is he doing a bet?
This doesn't happen. This isn't a teen fiction where the popular hot high school boy takes notice of the nerdy scholarship student. This doesn't happen in real life. Okay. Something's wrong. Very wrong.
Am I in purgatory?
I blinked twice at him then once at Emily, who smirked at me.
"Go ahead, I'm a little behind.." she poked me with her elbow and my cheeks went slightly red.
Okay, it's no secret to her that I liked him. Cole Brown is another breed of humans, okay. He was cool, serious, collected, well mannered and mature. He wasn't one of those moronic teen boys that ran around checking girls from their to-do lists.
He wasn't like a certain someone.
I don't know him that much but I've observed him for the last few months that I've been here. Just overall a well spoken and calm gentleman with incredible mysterious charm and heavy energy.
Sadly, we couldn't go too far from the school's garden tables since we weren't allowed to leave school grounds during study hours. I got my lunch that he paid for and was sitting across the table from him under a tree.
I'm glad I'm eating actually. I was starving. However, I couldn't help but notice the stares from the girls around us and the whispers.
He noticed me noticing and he smirked.
"Is it bothering you? We can move.." he asked and I shook my head.
"It's fine. It's what happens when someone's who sits low on the highschool food chain starts to mingle with the ones at the top" I shrugged and a laugh escaped his lips and it was like music to my ears.
Have I mentioned that he's incredibly handsome? He had blonde hair and tan olive skin. His eyes were a deep green and they were looking at me amused. He was so tall and muscular but not as much as Alexander.
...Who's probably deep inside some hooker right now?
I gripped my clear plastic fork so tight a mild dent formed on it.
"Highschool food chain" he repeated still amused by the term, "What criteria are you basing that analogy on since you put me within the top?"
"Hotness" I said and then instantly regretted it.
Oh my fucking god why? Why did I say that? Did I leave my brain in the classroom with Emily?
I'm usually so smart. What's happening to me?
"You think I'm attractive" he smirked and I shrunk and died like a dry leaf during fall.
Come on, he knows he's hot.
"No!! I mean yeah!! Jesus! I mean, I'm not the one who came up with scale system and I'm not saying I agree with obeying a social hierarchy, I'm just saying it's the 9th graders pecking order. You're on top and they're basing that on attractiveness because what else are they going to base it off of?..." I rambled and then wanted to just go die somewhere.
He seemed amused and I'm not sure whether he was laughing at me or with me.
"What are your plans after graduating Eastwell?" he moved on and I was so grateful.
Eastwell high was the name of our school. I breathed in. I had it all planned out. I'm not playing any random games with life.
"I'm hoping I can get into Pennsylvania state university.." I answered hesitant and he looked at me with sudden interest.
"that's on the other side of town.." he indicated and I pursed my lips.
"yep, one might even say that it's the basis of its appeal.." I smiled.
"it almost sounds like you're running away from Melrose" he added and my feet went cold.
I wonder if that's what mom thought when I told her. Is it that obvious?
Melrose was our city. It was known for its incredible amount of green spaces, forests and wild life. It wasn't busy or crowded. It was calm, beautiful and safe but it had Markus in it and I would change galaxies if it meant getting away from him.
"sounds like I was right.." he continued after seeing the look on my face and I blinked.
"No, it's just a very prestigious university, I'm hoping graduating with honors from Eastwell will help me get in, and Alexander is making it so hard to do that..."
Wait, why am I bringing him into this?
To be honest, I wanted to ask him about where Alexander was the moment we sat down. I didn't want him to think I missed him like Emily did.
"he can be quite hard to deal with..." he looked pissed talking about him and I grimaced.
Okay, I won't ask, Jesus.
"What about you?" I asked and he lifted his gaze at me.
"I'll be...running the family business." he answered sharply.
"Do you want to?" I asked again confused at the look he had while answering, he seemed dull or maybe he didn't want to go into details.
"it's what I was born to do." he finished and I smiled.
Must be nice to know what you're destined to do the moment you come into this world. Choices make everything worse.
We finished eating and it felt like I was floating on cloud nine with him. Conversations were easy. Smart. Wholesome. I didn't get pissed. Want to shove my fork in his face or flip the table.
It was peaceful.
Next morning was another story.
It was a completely different story.
Because a certain someone was finally back. The girls in my class were excited.
And so was I...just a little...
Alexander was stanting at our table when I walked into class and I stopped myself from jumping when I saw him.
For some reason, it felt like his hair grew a bit longer because it would fall into his eyes and he'd brush it back. Did he always do that? I don't know but he looked hotter now.
I was looking at him reorganizing the lab tools and mister Henderson snapped me out of my contemplating state when he handed me our assignment sheets.
I put the papers on the table and he reached to grab one and read it over while I stared at him.
It's so weird. He didn't acknowledge me aside from a "Hello, Alexa!" when he came up to my table. Usually by now, he'd have initiated a random conversation about something stupid.
Is he mad?
I swallowed and mimicked his action. Taking a paper and reading it but not really caring about the content.
"so..." I started, my eyes falsely plastered on the paper, "I recon the kinky blonde is back..."
And that's where I braced myself for the smirk, the side glance and the "yeah, it was worth it, you jealous, Alexa?" but he took a formula bottle and turned towards me completely unbothered.
"What do you mean?" he asked and I suddenly felt so awkward.
Why is he being serious? Who is this stranger? I gave him a perfect setting for a dirty joke and he didn't cease the opportunity.
"I meant the one who made you miss one week of classes last time..." I answered bitterly while mimicking him and taking a bottle myself and he shrugged.
"Why would she be back? I don't ride the same rollercoaster twice.." he answered and I felt like someone dug a toothpick in my rib.
Urg, dick!
"you rode that one for a week straight though..."
Wait why am I discussing his sex life? Why am I bothered?
Calm down!
"no, she was just there on the last day..." he said nonchalantly, focused on the assignment and I almost choked.
He had more girls over that week? What the hell!
That one comment stayed with me for the rest of the two hours, and it showed in my work. I kept messing up and being out of focus.
Did he have sex with a new girl each day? Is that what he was doing this past week?
And the worst part...
"Alexa, that's the wrong equation for the equilibrium dissociation constant..." Alexander pointed out and I tightened my grip on my pen.
You thought dumb Alexander was bad? Smart Alexander is a fucking nightmare.
He just stood there like an authority figure, noticing every mistake I made and I've been making them so much today. It got so stressful that I became insecure every time I went to write something.
And every time he said my name, my heart raced.
He suddenly grabbed a pencil and leaned forward to write on my paper. I just kept glancing at his huge forearms to be honest.
"Glutamic Acid has only three ionizable groups and Tryptophan has a hydrophobic side chain, you put them in the wrong columns.." he said and then scratched what I wrote.
Okay Jesus! I can't focus with him this close. I kept looking at his jaw while he was focused on writing. His neck. His ear. He had a silver earing on one side. I wanted to run my hand throught his hair.
Oh my god, I need to snap out of it!
I have officially entered hell.
...But I was wrong. I hadn't entered hell yet. At the moment, I was just standing at the gates and I didn't know it, but at lunch break, the gates opened and then I walked inside.
I was sitting at the cafeteria with Emily, right across from me was Cole, River and Alexander who were in another table a few feet from us.
Some girl came up to Alexander and remember when I said they drooled over him but he didn't bath in the attention? Well now he started fully canon-balling in it. As the girl put her hand over his shoulder and said something probably stupid, he smirked at her and then said something probably stupid in return before taking her hand in his. For a brief moment he glanced my way while smiling at her and I dropped my head at my plate.
I couldn't hear, I could only assume they were having a dumb conversation and I didn't enjoy it. My insides were flaming.
It made my stomach turn. I spent two hours with him and he didn't smile at me once, like he used to. He was so serious and focused with me.
Two weeks ago, I would have loved him like this. But right now, it just made me annoyed.
The next day wasn't any better. He loosened up a bit and joked here and there but was still cold and professional with me. We felt like two middle aged colleagues.
I walked into class that day with a bruise on my arm.
It was Markus's handy work. And when I say "handy" I mean it in the literal way. He grabbed my arm so tight yesterday when we got into an argument that he left very obvious blue finger print bruises on me.
What sucks about school uniforms with sleeves that end up at the elbows is that you can't wear anything over it or you'll be violating dress code. I had to wear my lab coat all day to cover it up.
However, one tiny slip up included me forgetting I had the bruises in the first place during science class.
I had made a bad pun about the table of elements and Alexander was smiling his usual gorgeous half smirk, but then as I neared the sink to wash a tray, I rolled up my sleeves so I wouldn't wet them and he noticed instantly. It's like he had me on his radar at all times and before I could do anything, in a quick movement, he grabbed my wrist and pulled it to him so my bruise was on full display. His smile was gone in an instant, replaced with a murderous glare. Then something weird happened.
I felt it.
..and I would've said I imagined it, had the whole classroom not turn our way at that exact same moment.
I felt an overwhelming and extremely dark, dominant surge of power fill the room like thick haze. I felt my stomach spasm and my eardrums ring, I tried to swallow but it was as if my throat walls were sandpaper and the shades of the classroom windows were drawn even thought they weren't. I tried to gather the remaining of my muscle strength in all of the confusion and yank my arm from him, I heard a low growl escape his lips and I shuddered. The entire classroom felt it. It wasn't just me.
What the hell...is going on?
I felt like a demon was going to emerge from the abysse at any moment. Alexander stood there, his body facing me but his eyes looking down at my arm.
Mister Henderson got up from his desk, seeminly alarmed and stood there looking our way in a questioning yet concerned manner.
"who did this to you?" He growled, contained fury in his voice, his eyes getting dark and I felt myself starting to shake slightly. Students in our area took a few steps back and stared in silence.
"um...what..." I mumbled, then backed away confused and startled. Suddently a hand landed on Alexander's shoulder and Mister Henderson spoke from behind him.
"let go of her!" he said to him calmly and Alexander's hand that was grabbing me started to shake before he reluctantly let go and breathed out, "walk it out!" mister Henderson asked and he nodded while keeping his eyes on my bruises.
Then suddenly, he was gone out the door. The menacing aura still lingering in the room. The students started whispering and I exhaled a shaky breath and looked at my arm while covering it up quickly with my sleeve.
Oh my god, was that what angry Alexander looked like?
I'm not sure if mister Henderson saw my arm. I don't think he did.
Truthfully, at that moment I could only feel was the warm sensation lingering where he touched me.
Yes. The bruises hurt alot.
But it hurts much more to realise that this was the first time someone actually cared that I was hurt.