Dangerous »ᴄɵᴍᴘᴌᴇтᴇ«

FIVE

FIVE [Madisyn "Freak" Simms]

He had it? After all this time he had it? After spending hours searching last night... How did he get it? Glancing back at him, I saw that he was staring at me with nearly drowning black eyes. And for that second that I stared into his eyes, I wondered what it would feel like to drown...

"That's it class, you can put your books away and leave early," grateful cheers went around the classroom in response to our teacher's words.

My only way out of seat was suddenly blocked by a large body. With my desk touching the wall, I only had one way out. And that was being blocked by Zero. Then Zero was moving with easy grace, sitting on the chair in front of me so that he sat on it backwards, facing me. He rested his forearms on my desk. Reached his leg out to block my exit, as though he knew I wouldn't step over it to get out. I felt his eyes stare at me, but I refused to look, focusing on my pad in front of me. A pad that was suddenly being turned.

"Are these doodles?" he asked.

Such a simple question made me blink. Why was he talking to me? Why did he care if they were doodles or not? But I nodded in response to his question, telling him they were. I'd been trying to recapture the cats I'd drawn. But I couldn't quite get it.

I felt his burning eyes touch my head before they returned to the pad. "Wow, is that...? You were drawing the classroom from your perspective? Why didn't you draw in their eyes and stuff?"

I shrugged. "B–B–" I took a breath. "Because they didn't give me permission to draw them into the picture."

"Huh," he replied lightly.

I blinked, I was surprised he'd heard me.

"Who do the cats signify?" he asked, reaching into his back pocket.

I shrugged. "M–Maternal love of a mother and their child. Unconditional love..."

Why was I talking to him? My thoughts were being echoed by the students leaving the classroom. "Look! She can talk to people."

"Yeah, but why is Zero talking to her?"

"I think he said that she drew him a map."

"Where did you hear that?"

"He said it to Lucy earlier."

The pair went silent for a moment. "Lucy's gunna be pissed that the Freak's talking to Zero."

"Why didn't you throw the image away?" I asked the guy opposite me. And I wasn't sure why, but I knew that his response to this would mean something. Even though people were scared of him. Even though he had attitude. Even though he was a jerk and went through girls like no tomorrow... I had a feeling that his response would mean something.

I looked up when he placed a sheet on the desk. It was the map... then he turned the page over and there was my drawing of the two cats.

"Because it's the best drawing I've ever seen."

I looked up then. Looked into eyes that were nearly black, a dark chocolate where the sun hit. Looking at him head on with his honest expression and true, to him, words he'd said, I could only stare at the soul I saw. His voice had held something in those words. Something raw. Something that he held close to his heart. In that moment, I knew that I saw him and not the Bad Boy image. And what I saw was painful yet completely beautiful.

The moment was ruined by a ball nearly hitting Zero in the head. It bounced on the wall between two windows, and on the return, Zero caught it like it was going in slow motion and he was moving at normal speed. He did it with ease. I looked back at the picture of the two cats with a feeling that this picture was no longer mine but his.

"Blade, come on, you've got a game to win."

Zero looked away from me to Duster who called for him. "You head over, I'll be there in a sec."

I blinked at his voice. Noticing the difference. His voice was friendlier, kinder, softer when he'd spoken to me, but when he'd spoken to Duster, it was his usual tougher, rougher, commanding voice. As I looked at him again, I saw that he was trying to appear less threatening in front of me. That surprised me and made me question like I had with everything else he'd done. Why? But I didn't ask it. I had a feeling that he wouldn't answer.

"You got any money?" Zero asked in his softer tone that told me he was talking to me.

I nodded.

"Can I borrow it?" he asked. "I promise to give it back to you."

I wasn't sure what made me reach for my purse and hand him a ten pound note, I wasn't really thinking about it as Zero grinned at me. Taking the money, he stood and left the room without a goodbye. Without a thank you... But after seeing that moment of him I couldn't find it in me to complain.

Pulling all my things together, I looked up as I heard a cough from the doorway. Zero was back. "You heading home?"

I shook my head. "I do art after school."

Zero sent me another grin before leaving. It was only then that I saw the girls in the corner, and that there was one girl sitting in that group who hadn't been in our last lesson. And as she had been in tutor time, and like at the end of Tutor time, she was glaring at me.

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