Serenade Me

1. Off Tempo

Off Tempo

"IN MEMORY OF THOSE WHO CHOSE THE SEA"

Elijah Davis

"Wait, what?"

"I said I'm breaking up with you," the words rolled of Tiffany's sparkly, glossy lips. I always hated the taste of her lip gloss. But I loved the feeling of her lips on mine. Now I would never feel her lips again.

"B-but why. Everything was going well. I thought- I thought we loved each other."

"I guess the feeling wasn't mutual," she looked down at the floor and crossed her arms. "If I'm being honest, there's someone else."

"What!" I didn't realize I was being loud until people in the full hallway shot me confused looks. I lowered my voice, "Who?"

"It doesn't matter."

"Tiff, I love you."

"I told you, the feeling isn't mutual." She didn't even look like she cared. Her expression was bored.

"How long have you felt like this?"

"A while." The ring of the school bell filled the halls, indicating we had a minute to get to class before we were late. "I have to get to class." Tiffany turned on the heels of her foot.

I grabbed her shoulder gently and turned her body. She looked at me once again to find a look of hurt and yearning cross my face. "Wait! W-what can I do to be better? Maybe we can fix this."

She sighed and placed a hand on my cheek, "I don't fix what's broken, Elijah. I throw it out." With that, she left me standing in the now empty hallway.

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I crossed my arms on my desk and rest my head in them. The shock wasn't wearing off. Tiffany's harsh words were still ringing in my ears. It was like an echo that wouldn't leave my head.

I loved her. I treated her like heaven on earth. But I should've known better. She was known to date and move on quickly. I was the exception. We were together for six months. For some reason, I believed that I could be different to her. Clearly, I was an idiot.

"Class," Mr. Wentworth began. "We have a new student." When I looked up, every thought of Tiffany vanished. Next to my history teacher was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen in my life. I wasn't the only one to notice it. Every person's eyes were trained on her, not even daring to blink and miss a second of her beauty.

Her light brown skin seemed to glow under the terrible classroom lighting. It was as clear as glass. Her hazel eyes with gold and blue flecks only complimented her perfect skin. Long dark brown hair rested on her shoulders in its natural, curly state. The tight, jean skirt and long-sleeved, green, button-up crop top she was wearing, accentuated her tiny hourglass figure well.

In the time I spent admiring her, I hadn't realized that she was staring back at me. She flashed me a playful smile. I quickly looked down at the paper on my desk, flustered after being caught in a trance.

Mr. Wentworth's voice boomed through the room, "What's your name again?"

She focused her gaze on the teacher and he seemed to melt in his spot. It was shocking to see she had such power on a grown man. Especially when that man barely showed any emotions on a regular basis. "Aurelia. Aurelia Cordula."

"That's beautiful," Mr. Wentworth gushed.

"Thank you," she uttered.

The teacher pushed his glasses up on the bridge of his nose and stuttered, "Y-you can sit in the back. Next to Elijah." He pointed at me and my eyes widened. I tried to look at anything but her. Suddenly my pencil seemed to be more interesting than her.

The realization hit me. The empty seat next to me used to be Tiffany's. Now she was sat with some of her friends and some guys on my football team.

Aurelia softly positioned herself into the seat next to me, dropping her blush pink messenger bag on the floor. I tried not to stare her down, but something was drawing my eyes towards her. From my seat, I could smell her rich fragrance. It was ambrosial. Intoxicating in the best way possible.

"Hi. Elijah, right?" I liked the way my name rolled off her tongue so smoothly. It could've been mistaken for a seductive tone, but I highly doubted it.

"Yeah," I looked up at her. I could've sworn that her eyes changed colors. Now they were a mixture of amber and green. "Did your eyes change color? Or am I just going crazy?"

"Oh," she looked down and brushed a hair behind her ear. "They just do that sometimes."

"Cool," I whispered. This was my desperate attempt not to be awkward, but it was failing miserably. "Where are you from?"

"Not one place specifically."

"You move a lot?"

"You could say that." She rested an elbow on her desk. Mr. Wentworth began speaking again.

"So, you all will have research projects due in a month. The goal is to write journal entries of a famous person in history," he was back to his usual monotone state. "I'm giving you guys the freedom to have your pick at the time period and who you choose to impersonate. The minimum of entries is 25. For every five extra entries written, extra credit will be awarded. Everyone will be emailed the rubric and you're allowed to work with partners." Everyone made whooping noises and high-fived their friends. "I will be choosing your partners." Everyone slouched back in their seats and groaned.

Mr. Wentworth continued, "Aurelia," she faced him, and he froze quickly before regaining his composure. Clearing his throat, he said, "you can work with Elijah. He's smart so he can catch you up on what we've been reviewing so far in the year."

"Perfect," she responded. I looked over at her to see if she was kidding, but her smile looked genuine.

Normally, I would've been annoyed because Tiffany was my go-to partner. But we were broken up. And Aurelia seemed nice and like she actually wanted to be around me. That made me feel somewhat better.

I looked across the room to where Tiffany was seated. She was glaring at Aurelia. Is she jealous? This makes working with Aurelia ten times better.

The rest of the time in the class had gone by fast. Soon enough, the bell rang. Aurelia stood up and grabbed her bag from the floor.

"Pass me your phone so I can give you my number," she held out her hand. I unlocked my phone, opened the contacts app, and handed it to her. "Do you mind if I go to your house after school? I honestly don't get anything the teacher was saying. It's totally alright to say no. I don't want to be a burden."

Something about the way she talked made it irresistible to say no. "Yeah. I'll- uh text you my address. I have football practice, so I won't be home until around 4 though. Is that okay?"

"That's perfect. I'll see you then." She delivered me another charming smile.

I couldn't help but watch the way her hips swayed when she walked out of the class. No one could help but to watch. She was just too enticing.

Hola, amigos! Another book coming your way because I'm impatient!

This is very different from all of the other books I've written seeing as it's fantasy. There's still smut and whatnot, but there's also more of a plot.

I'm really excited about this one!!! I hope you guys are too.

Also, this amazingly beautiful cover was made my jkalinda! Please go check out her cover shop! She's amazing and so freaking talented!!!

Umm... hope you enjoyed

What did you guys think of the chapter (although it wasn't much)?

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