: Chapter 29

I missed Stone.

The hollowness hit me harder as I glanced behind my shoulder at his vacant seat in the English classroom.

He had not been at school all day and I was starting to get worried.

In first period, Lana commented about my sulking which I replied with a fake grin and telling her that I did not care.

It turned out that I did care a lot. I cared that I did not have him to talk to about books or even to talk to about things as casual as the weather. I cared that he was not here to make me laugh or to challenge me in class. I cared that I did not feel his eyes on me or that I did not have the feeling that came along with his dark gaze.

Lana put a hand over the pencil that I had no idea that I was tapping ‘What has got you so agitated?’ She asked.

With a sigh, I told her ‘I feel unfulfilled.’

Her face contorted to a confused expression as she raised a perfect blonde eyebrow ‘Why?’

Biting my pencil in the corner of my mouth, I thought of the best way to put it without sounding like I missed the giant. A way that she would not interpret as me sulking.

‘It is just that I land some great blow to his ego in English.’ I explained, ‘I usually come up with great book-centred insults and references and he is not even here to hear them.’

I cursed Stone in my mind. He would definitely revel if he knew what I was talking about. He would have something to tease me about.

‘So, you miss him?’ Lana asked with a large smile ‘I guess it is true what they say. Distance makes the heart grow fonder.’

‘No!’ I exclaimed too quickly. Quickly enough that it sounded fake and an utter lie.

An even larger grin grew on her face as she said ‘You are such a little liar! Just admit it. You like Stone.’

I crossed my arms and looked over at Mr Dankworth’s board lesson as I muttered ‘I guess a little but that is only when he is not here, and I can’t hear him.’

‘So, if you don’t like him, I guess you would not be interested in knowing why him and Brennan are not at school…’

‘I am kind of interested.’ I admitted instantly after she said it.

Lana covered her hand as she giggled ‘I don’t actually know where they are. All I know is that you are a bit too keen to know where a guy that you supposedly don’t have feelings for is.’

‘And I know that you are getting a bit too good at sneakily getting things out of people.’ I rebutted.

A shrug was her reply before she voiced ‘I have learned from the best. All that time spent with you.’

Sticking my tongue out at her, I then asked, ‘So you really don’t know where they both are?’

‘No. I don’t.’ She replied, shaking her head ‘Brennan did not even tell me that he was staying off today.’

The shift between Lana and Brennan’s relationship had become way more noticeable. It was no longer rainbows and butterflies between them. The honeymoon phase for them was over.

She sat forward in her seat with a small, frustrated groan ‘I don’t even know what his favourite colour is.’

I bit my lip to try and to hide my amusement ‘I don’t think that matters, Lana. Unless you are kindergarten then it is life altering.’

Her frown did not turn upside down as she explained ‘It does not matter how small something is. It is about getting to know the person. It counts because every small thing about them adds up to a bigger picture.’

‘But favourite colour?’ I repeated, unconvinced ‘It does not reveal any person’s thoughts or intentions.’

She swivelled around in her chair, so her body was facing me as she interrogated ‘What is Stone’s favourite colour?’

‘What is the point in this?’

‘Just answer the question.’ She insisted.

‘Black.’ I answered but then I thought about what he would say if he was there ‘But he would not say that. He would probably say fairytale green to annoy me.’

‘See. Colours tell you a lot about a person.’ She pointed at me like her point had been made ‘He would say his favourite colour is that because it reminds him of you.’

‘That is not what I meant—’ I began to argue but I was cut off.

Mr Dankworth stood at the very centre of the front of the class and waved his dramatically ‘It is time for another assignment. Which will be carried out in pairs.’

The whole class groaned but he continued ‘In your pairs, you will get to really know each other. Learn everything about that person and write it down in a five-hundred-word essay. Five hundred words is not a lot, so I am expecting every word to count for something.’

Lana whispered, ‘When was five hundred words not a lot?’

Getting a list from his desk, Mr Dankworth told the class ‘I have already decided the pairs before you start looking around the room for a partner.’

He started calling names for the pairs, but Lana and I were only listening for our own.

We started to tune in more as he read the last couple of names ‘Chase and Daniel. Brennan and Michael. Mandy and Lana…’

At that, Lana let out a small groan ‘Why do I always end up getting Mandy as a partner? She does nothing.’

The final pairs got called out even more dramatically by the over-the-top English teacher ‘Finally the last couple is Stone and Ella.’

I regretted telling the universe that I missed him.

The next conversation with the smug skyscraper was going to be an interesting one. I could already imagine his smirk when I would have to tell him that we had to work together.

When the class went back to work, Mr Dankworth caught my attention by waving.

Then he did something odd. He put his thumbs up. It was like he was giving me a sign for some secret mission.

I thought that I was maybe imagining it until Lana commented on it.

‘Looks like Mr Dankworth is trying to set you up with Stone.’ She giggled ‘You are right, Ella. He is a very smart man.’

Scowling at her, we packed up our bags at the sound of the bell.

Lana started humming the song she had been writing for a while now. Her voice filled the corridor as we hurried to our lockers.

While she was busy putting her combination into the lock, I leaned against my own locker and took my phone out.

There was no hesitation in my fingers when my phone lit up with an incoming call from Stone.

I pressed accept before bringing the phone to my ear and greeting him ‘You rang, Lurch?’

‘Medusa.’ The deep guttural voice greeted back.

‘Why are you not at school?’ I tried to make the question seem nonchalant, but my tone came out as worried.

‘Are you missing me, Medusa?’

I smiled to myself before rebutting ‘You would know if you were here.’

‘If I was there then you wouldn’t miss me.’ The grumble of a voice rebutted.

‘True.’

I slapped my forehead and let out a groan as soon as the word left my mouth.

‘What I meant was that if I was missing you then it would true.’ I tried to cover up my previous mistake by rambling on ‘Which it is not. It is not true because I don’t miss you—’

‘Drizella.’ The rough husky voice of the man on the other end of the line uttered ‘Do you have your arms crossed or is your hand running through your hair?’

One of my hands was holding my phone and the other was tangled in my green hair.

I untwisted a strand of my hair that had been wrapped around my finger and sighed.

‘I was so not doing that!’ I blurted.

‘Of course, you were not, Medusa.’

I huffed out my question ‘How did you know?’

He chuckled but he did not answer.

‘You are such a stalker.’ I told him while I leant my back against my locker ‘Do you just sit and watch me?’

The gravelly voice was unapologetic and blunt when he grumbled ‘Yes.’

I felt a smile take over my face as I rebutted ‘I think you are the one that misses me, Valentine.’

There was no reply from him for a while. A few minutes passed and all I could hear through the phone was deep breaths.

‘Hello?’ I said into the phone.

‘I am working late tonight.’ He stated gruffly before demanding ‘Come to the garage.’

I hummed before telling him ‘Say please and I will consider it.’

‘Come to the garage.’ He ordered again.

‘Fine. If I must, demanding ass.’ I let out after a second or two ‘Just know that I’m not happy about it.’

Stone chuckled before uttering lowly ‘Get your hand out of your hair and stop being such a little liar.’

My green hair was wrapped around my middle finger, so I dropped my left hand to my side.

I let out an aggravated noise before I said a quick bye and hung up on him.

Lana closed her locker and turned to me while asking ‘Who were you on the phone to?’

‘Nobody.’ I muttered quickly.

‘So, you are just beaming ear to ear for no reason?’ She replied, unconvinced.

A slam on the lockers made us both jump.

I swivelled to face the noise and found the blonde quarterback leaning against my locker.

Offering the intruder, a polite smile, I greeted him ‘Hey Chase.’

He nodded at Lana before he spoke to me ‘I just wanted to tell you that I might not be able to take you to the fall ball next week.’

‘Oh no,’ I sarcastically remarked because there was no way I wanted to go anyway ‘How come?’

The quarterback revealed dramatically ‘Litora Bello is having its biggest night yet.’

I could tell he was saying something in Latin, but I had no idea what he was talking about, so I gave him a confused look.

‘Litora Bello?’ I repeated, ‘It sounds like a cheese festival.’

‘It is the beach fight club as you like to call it.’ Chase replied, ‘The big fight night is on the same date as the fall ball.’

His jock buddy Kyle appeared from nowhere and butted into the conversation ‘There is also a big fight happening right now instead of tonight. I can’t believe we are missing it—’

‘The local fighters are shit.’ Chase scoffed ‘Even the almighty Vulcan got a blow to the face on Sunday night.’

Kyle shook his head and corrected him with a look of admiration on his face ‘Vulcan still won. He always does. His opponent was one of the best fighters in Nevada, but Vulcan still destroyed him.’

Their talking became background noise. I was too busy rolling my eyes and making funny faces at Lana to listen to their conversation.

Lana glanced between them and acted as if she was interested ‘So the Litora Bello thing happens at our beach every night? This whole big fight club thing that everyone is raving about happens so near to home?’

Both of the boys nodded, and Kyle appeared like he was going to say more but he could not as the warning bell rang out among the halls.

The noise signalling the start of the period made them say their goodbyes and saunter away.

Lana put her arms around my shoulder as we made our way towards French ‘So you want to do something after school?’

‘I can’t.’ I said and then apologised ‘Are you not going out with Loverboy? I am sure he is free.’

She shook her head while grinning ‘I think you know that Brennan will be free because you are going to be taking up Stone’s time.’

I slapped her head playfully before downright lying ‘I don’t have feelings Stone!’