Untamed Hearts

28:- Sensation

XXVIII. Sensation

   Madison Shepherd

  I should have known it was going to take more than just my saying I wanted to forget Angelo Tallerico for it to actually happen. I mean, nothing seemed to go right these days although God knew how valiantly I wanted to make them work. Needless to say, Michelangelo Tallerico did not make things easy as usual. There were no more threats or attempts against my father and I was grateful for that, though I suspected that he didn’t really have anything to do with it. Being charitable or good was not a trait usually associated with Angelo Tallerico these days. He was Soto’s right hand man and he did whatever Soto wanted him to do, no questions asked, not that he ever really cared a lick about my father.

I refused to admit to myself that I still wanted to him to care even a little. Maybe if he cared enough to somehow not attack my father despite the horrible way he had treated him in the past, it would show there was still a faint glimmer of the old Angelo in him. And then I became angry with myself, because I wanted so badly for him to be Jesus, and to willingly forgive everyone who had ever hurt him in the past and that was just ridiculous. Thus, I forced myself to come to terms that he really was gone.

 I walked into Biology class late and realized to my dismay that the only seat left was with Angelo. Taking a brave breath, I straightened my spine and went to sit by him. The minute I sat down, he moved to the far side, taking especial care to lean and turn his face away from me, as though he smelled something horrid.

Discreetly, I sniffed my hair and inhaled the coconut and tropical scents of my shampoo. It seemed a safe enough scent. I glanced sideways and saw his face was turned away in such a way that he couldn't even see my face or even the teachers. His hands were clenched so hard the skin was white against the knuckles. I let my hair fall into a curtain that shielded me from his line of vision. Not that he was looking my way; he was taking enough effort to ignore me. I continued to steal looks at him during class but he never relaxed his rigid posture, as though he had a pole for a spine.

The bell rang and he bolted out of his seat as though a crazy axe maniac was after his head. So it was back to square one again, back to pretending I didn't exist. No, I told myself. This time was different, it was worse. Worse in the sense that he was now consumed with a distaste I couldn't understand. I had hoped that we could somehow find a way to peacefully coexist in our little oasis but he was making sure it would never be.

It went on like this for about a week, and by then I was fed up with his attitude. I wanted to walk up to him and demand to know what his problem was, but each time I walked into class and saw his steely look, my resolve melted. Even Mrs. Cope had stopped calling on him for fear of his frosty attitude. I thought if I walked up to him after school, perhaps he would listen and see reason to stop his pointless sulking but even that would not do as Jasper had taken it upon himself to bring me to and from school. Once I had looked to where he parked his Bugatti bike, he was looking at the both of us. Jasper nodded once in acknowledgment to him, I had never seen such a look on anyone's face before. His eyes started smoldering, and he hopped on his bike before racing out of school.

  Ever since Jasper's discovery, neither of them had bothered to make their status official. Jasper could hardly do it, considering Angelo's intense hatred. I had never thought that Angelo possessed the capacity for hate, but sadly it was just part of him. He had learnt to hate hard now. And his hate was icy, mixed with all his anger.