How to Be Cliche (A Novel)

(9) That Escalated Quickly

                  "Sin gave me your description over the phone and my sense of smell and hearing is eight times greater than yours," he replied in an obvious tone. "You're very stereotypical against blind people. It hurts my feelings."

                  I couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic or not.

                  "Fine, I'm sorry. I won't call you Stevie Wonder anymore. You can have my apples."

                  "Hot-diggidy-dog." Hunter fell lazily into the desk a few rows next to me, held both of my apples in one hand, and took a massive chunk out of one, whipping the other at Sin with a quick flick of his wrist, who caught it easily with one hand. Hunter then dove into one of his many sandwiches.

                  It was a miracle Hunter even fit in the desk.

                  "You know, you're lucky I didn't just run to the nearest police station after you strangled me," I told him.

                  "You don't say?" Hunter feigned interest in my words. "You're lucky you're still breathing, so shut your damn mouth," he snapped. I won't lie and say my heart didn't pick up a notch around Hunter. I definitely would not want to be alone with him. But that being said...there was something about him that made me believe he had a soft spot somewhere deep inside his blind self.

                  "You wouldn't have killed me," I blurted. "You don't seem like the killing type."

                  "Well, well, well, it looks like you can't read me at all." Taking a large knife from his boot, Hunter faced me, his mouth turning up in a bit of a snarl, and started to cut out a piece from his apple all slow-like. "Do you honestly think I wouldn't kill you, sweetheart? Because my conscious left me the moment my vision did, and that's the truth."

                  Wow, that was deep. And really sad... And look at that, Hunter actually did have a knife collection. "I'm sorry to hear that," I said, turning away from him. I then sipped my juice, eying Sin as he leafed through a large book. "What would you do if I told the police that you locked me in a bathroom on school grounds twice?"

                  "Deny everything. But that wouldn't even have to happen because nobody would care if you ratted either of us out for anything," Sin replied in a fairly bored tone.  "Hunter's really good at playing the handicap card to get his way, and I'm too pretty to go to jail. Plus our family owns almost all of Europe, this school, and many other public places in Orange Gate County so we have enough money to hire the best defense attorney in the world." He then polished off his apple in four large bites. "I'm just saying," he added, after taking in my scowl.

                  Hunter sighed deeply at my right, bringing my attention back to him. He had my entire lunch, plus his pile of food from the cafeteria spread out along his desk.  How he had gotten my lunch without me seeing him do it, was beyond my comprehension.

                  "Hey!" I reached for my lunch.

                  Hunter slapped my hand away. "You'll get your food back when you answer some questions, human."

                  "Did you forget my name?"

                  Hunter bit into my apple. "No."

                  "Well, I have a name," I said, "and it's not Paprika."

                  Hunter took another bite of my apple then motioned to his lounging self. "Do I look like I give a shit about your name?"