Beacon in the Darkness

11. Undertow

God, he was so screwed. He had to find a way to stop thinking like that. It had gotten so much worse over the last several days. Ever since that day on the swings at the park next to the cemetery, really. But if he were being truly honest, he'd felt a spark of it the first time he saw Camila. There was definitely something different about her. She didn't act like all the other girls. Girls like Roxy—whose nails were seriously starting to irritate him now.

Camila didn't put on a front with him. Didn't act like she needed to dress up, or be anything other than who she was to impress him. In fact, he was quite positive she hadn't tried to impress him once. He liked it. A lot.

Raising his eyes to her table once more, he caught sight of something that made his heart thud just a little harder in his chest. Zayn stood next to Camila, holding his lunch tray in one hand and the back of her chair with the other. He leaned over slightly and smiled. She grinned in return as she looked up at him.

Shawn clenched his fist under the table. Unfortunately, before that moment he hadn't realized Roxy had been holding onto his hand. She took his involuntary response as encouragement to lean closer into him. He rolled his eyes and shifted slightly in the opposite direction.

His eyes stayed glued to Camila and Zayn as his heart pounded harder. He had the urge to jump out of his seat, grab her, and wrap his arms protectively around her, claiming her right then and there. He realized he had no right to feel possessive or jealous in any way when it came to her, but he did. And that thought kind of made him want to punch himself in the face for being such a douche. Anyway, they were just talking. There was no harm in that.

It was at that unfortunate moment that Zayn chose to lift his hand and run it across Camila's forehead, tucking a wayward curl behind her ear. And then she freaking blushed! Shawn's instinct about punching himself in the face turned to an undeniable urge to do the same, and possibly worse, to Zayn. He'd never liked him anyway. It'd probably feel pretty damn good to connect his fist to Zayn's nose. He snickered at the thought.

But his laughter died quickly, only to be replaced by an insane swelling of heat in his chest as Zayn leaned over and whispered something in Camila's ear. If it were possible, she grew even redder and giggled. He wondered briefly how many days he'd get suspended if he broke Zayn's jaw and possibly the hand that had just touched her.

Just as he decided that he didn't care and any time served would be worth it, Alexandria's nasally voice broke him out of his jealous haze.

"So, what do you think, Shawn?"

"Huh?" He reluctantly turned toward her, taking in her large poof of blonde hair and overly painted face. "Uh, yeah, whatever." He had no idea what she was talking about and frankly, he didn't care. The only thing he was concerned about at that moment was getting Zayn far, far away from Camila.

Before he had a chance to even consider more of his Zayn pummeling plan, Roxy let out a loud squeal, catching the attention of pretty much everyone in the lunchroom. Turning to her with the intention of telling her to shut the hell up, he was ultimately surprised when her hands grabbed his face and her lips crashed down on his. For a second, his rational mind left the building only to be replaced by the horny teenage boy whose chest was being assaulted by a halfways decent pair of boobs.