GRAVICTA

CHAPTER 7.

Waking up today wasn't as easy as I thought it would be. I don't know if it was because I had a tiring day yesterday, probably from overthinking, but I just couldn't get myself to wake up. Luckily, after mom began screaming and shouting about getting my wings today, I was able to get up and make it to school just in time.

Usually, the council will decide where all the schools would gather so we would enter the portal together. This year, we were told it'll be our school so here I am, walking around my school, totally confused. I haven't seen this much people in my school before. Since it involves only my classmates, we were only about twenty in class but right now I think we're over a hundred students gathered.

I try to hide my fear and confusion as I make my way through the crowd, looking for any familiar face. I don't know why but I get a few stares from a few guys. I can swear that one of them blew me a kiss and I ended up getting death glares from a girl beside him, probably his girlfriend. After much hard work of avoiding any awkward conversation and looking around, I finally see Buttertooth and she's standing alone, looking at something. I walk up to where she is and hold her face to get her attention. She blinks a couple of times, trying to adjust her vision.

"Oh, hey Eva," she says in a high-pitched voice and smiles as she hugs me.

"What were you so focused on?" I look back to where she was looking earlier and I see Zed. He's sitting down and has his hands covering his face.

"Nothing. Just that for a moment I thought I saw his hair. It looked like it was white," she says and I turn to look back at her. She just shrugs and turns to leave.

"I'll see you later Eve. Go talk to him." She waves as she walks out.

It's been a while since anyone called me Eve. I don't know why she's being distant today. Plus, she said I should go talk to him like maybe she knows that I know him.

I decide to go talk to Zed instead of just standing here. As if knowing that someone's coming, Zed looks up at me just as I arrive. I sit beside him and he lets his eyes wander from my head to my toe as if checking me out before burying his face in his palms again. I know I wore one of my new wing robes today but give me a break. I only wore a sweater and jeans.

"Hey. Good morning Zed," I say but he doesn't reply. I stare at him for a moment before deciding to greet him again.

"Zed I am talking to you. I said good morning," I say with closed teeth. The feeling of being ignored stings as he just mumbles something under his breath that sounds like 'Leave me alone.'

I get up to leave but I notice a strand of white hair that's hanging out his covered head. I try to tuck it back in but Zed grabs my wrist and glares at me. His breathing is so disorganized, I can see his chest rising and falling. He looks like he is about to kill me as his eyes are widened and slightly red. Veins are now visible on his face as he frowns, making me scared. I haven't seen this side of him before but then again, I don't really know him. His grip is warm and should be comfortable but it's also extremely tight and I feel pain. I wince and immediately, his eyes widen even more and he releases my hand.

"I'm sorry– I, I just wanted to f– fix your hair," I stammer, my whole body shaking in fear. I turn to walk away when Zed stands up and hugs me from behind. My eyes almost pop out from my face.

"I'm so sorry Eva. I didn't mean to hurt or scare you away like that." His voice is so innocent and weak.

I can feel that he's going through something right now. I sense fear and a trace of bitterness in his voice. I turn around to face him and hug him, pressing my face on his chest.

"It's okay. Whatever it is that you're going through just know that I am here for you," I say warmly and his breathing starts getting balanced. His arms snake around my waist. I think he's okay now so I slowly lift my face but then a liquid touches my forehead. I look up to check if it's about to rain but what I see shocks me to the bones.

Zed is crying.

"They killed my parents," he says, sounding like he's choking. I see him struggling to breath and that's when I realize that his breathing wasn't getting balanced before. It had stopped.

"I– I don't–" He struggles to speak but his voice isn't coming out fine. I tighten the hug and close my eyes as I try to fight the tears threatening to fall off my own eyes.

"Shush. Don't talk. Everything will be okay Zed," I say but he's still struggling to breath and I can feel the life draining out of him. I don't know what triggered all these but I'm guessing he saw something. I want this excruciating pain I sense in him to end but I don't know what else to do.

I look at him and he has his eyes tightly shut and his whole body is tensed. He's sweating a lot and his arms are trembling. I don't know why what I'm about to do next sounds stupid to me but I decide to do it anyways. I lift myself up to his height, placing a light kiss on his cheek and he immediately freezes.

He stays that way for a few seconds before he starts breathing again and his body relaxes. He looks down at me and I can see his eyes soften. I take this opportunity to tuck his hair back in and wipe the tears that strolled down his cheek. He just remains there, holding my waist and looking at me.

I smile at him and he brings his face down to mine until I can literally feel his hot breath on my face. I inhale sharply as my body starts getting a tingly feeling and I can feel my cheeks heating up. His lips brush against mine and I feel tiny bits of sparks building up in my stomach from the contact. He then brings his face towards my ears.

"Thanks," he whispers and my eyes widen again. He places a light kiss on my cheek before letting go of me. Now my insides feel like everything melted. I probably look miserable. Thanks to this handsome demon.

He smiles at me as I try to regain myself. I clear my throat and pat him on his shoulder.

I know it's a stupid move to make but I just don't know what else to do. He grabs my wrist and starts walking off. This time, his grip is gentle and comfortable. I don't say anything, instead, I follow him without resistance. This broken boy doesn't know how just his touch makes me feel.

"Really thank you Eva." I hear his voice in my head again but I'm noteven surprised. I look up at him and he winks, showing off his very bright ashe keeps leading me towards our classroom.