How to love a devil

in front of

"May I introduce you to Edgar Blackthorn? He is starting today and will also be taking our Alchemy and Potions class."

There he is! Yesterday's cute guy! Immediately all my muscles spasm, I can feel my heart beating faster and I'm getting dizzy.

No doubt he is! Pale, black clothes, black hair, black fingernails, black eyes.

Black as the night.

"Edgar, would you like to tell the class something about yourself?"

"Good," the boy replies, clearly annoyed. "My name is Edgar, I'm an Epic-class brawler, I go to this school to learn Hand-to-hand Combat and Defence, and yes, as the name suggests, I'm related to old goatee, which is why he forced me to take this course as well."

Wait what?! Edgar is related to Professor Byron?! And call him an old goatee!?!

Byron gives him a stern look that doesn't seem to intimidate Edgar much and then continues in a calm voice.

"Please sit in the first row next to Colette."

What?! Next to me!?! Oh true, otherwise there is no more free space.

I hold my breath in excitement as he sits in the chair next to me. Emotionlessly, he rummages in his black backpack for a pen and pad and directs his gaze to the blackboard without even looking at me. He wears black earbuds, and his eyes are lined with black eyeliner.

Suddenly I realize that I'm staring at him like a zombie, and I quickly focus on the lesson again.

-----

"So, Edgar, where are you from?" I ask when the shrill bell starts the break.

"I don't know what your business is," he replies without looking at me.

OK...

"I'm Colette, nice to meet you." I try again.

"I already know your name. Goatee mentioned him earlier when he said that I should sit next to you." Edgar says and packs his things, still not deigning to look at me.

"So, you're related to Professor Byron? Is that why you're a brawler? Is he your grandfather, or even your father?"

Well, maybe too many questions at once.

"All right. Yes, he is my grandfather, my father is in prison, I live with Byron until I can stand on my own financially. Are you happy now?!"

This time Edgar looks me straight in the face and I in his.

I see his pale skin, half-shaved emo head, the stray black strands that fall before his eyes, a small scar under the left corner of his mouth, every blue-grey speckle in his otherwise jet-black eyes.

We just stare at each other for a few moments, then Edgar gets up, slings his no-care backpack over his right shoulder, and leaves the classroom with a "Don't ask me anymore and stop staring at me like that."

And what am I doing? I just keep staring after him until he's out the door and out of my line of sight.

Wow, that was... kind of... weird.

-----

School is finally over. Strange, I've had a long day and many gruelling hours of Distance Combat, Herblore, and Glyph Interpretation, and yet the only thing I can think of is Edgar.

He comes across as cold, gloomy, and forbidding, but somehow there is something else about him, something that I can't let go of.

I have a reputation for being a psychopathic stalker around here. The brawlers who came up with this tend to exaggerate and I don't get bullied or anything, but I'm more of an outsider who doesn't meet up with friends as often and prefers to watch the others quietly and covertly. That's why things catch my eye that nobody else notices. And with Edgar there is also something in the bush, I can feel it very well!

Lost in thought, I walk to my locker to get my things and bump into the one boy I've been thinking about so hard. We bump into each other, and he drops his books. I quickly bend down, pick it up and hand it to him with a "Sorry, I was thinking."

He takes it from my hands without saying a word and walks on. I watch him thoughtfully, then I walk the last few meters to my locker, open it and take out my schoolbooks, my writing pad and my scrapbook. After a short chat with my friends Amber and Max and making a short detour to the toilet, I head towards the exit.

The emo boy is gone from my mind now - but not for long.