The Taste of Silver | Fortune's Fool #2

01 | warmth of coldness

Only then did I process what she'd called me. Instinctively, a snarl encased my face as my eyes pierced into hers like bullets. "What did I tell you about calling me that?"

She shrugged her shoulders, the calculating expression on her face suggesting she knew she was testing my limits. Despite that, her priority in the moment was getting a reaction out me; anything to prove that I wasn't completely robotic.

A face flashed in my mind and I found myself grabbing my thermos that certainly wasn't full of tea or coffee full to drown it out.

It was ridiculous how a man's own name could be crippled by a woman to the extent when he no longer wished it were his own.

"How about Riel?" She persisted.

The perfectly controlled expression on my face, dripping in poison, gave her an answer.

I knew not to make the same mistake twice.

Or apparently thrice.

Pressing my large hands against the table, I slowly leant towards her watching intently as she shuddered at the proximity. Speaking in a whisper, my mint breath merged with the air, "Lisa?"

Her green eyes locked on mine as she held her breath. "Yeah?"

"Go put on some damn eyewash. Your eyes look as if you just swam in a pool with an unhealthy chlorine concentration. If you're going to do drugs at school, at least try to make it subtle."

Talisa wasn't surprised at my response and only looked at me dryly, "Looks like I had too much fun earlier. You're jealous that you missed out."

A part of me was.

Eyes still lingering on my structured face, she stood back up in her stiletto heels and slung her slouched handbag over her shoulder. "Come round mine after school. I want you to meet someone."

"Who?"

Twisting to face the large door of the hall, I caught her reply. "You'll find out."

Before I could stare her into answering my bloody question, two peach arms wrapped around her caramel shoulders causing her to smile lightly. "Hey, Ashlei."

If it wasn't the fakest woman ever.

You mean second fakest.

My teeth ground together when Ashlei began gossiping in her over the top voice, long wispy hair framing her oval face. "Oh my god, have you heard about Mr Holland? He was caught red-handed with Allegra Skelton, some 16 year old."

"What the fuck? That's disgusting," Talisa exclaimed with a curled lip. "In Year 7, I thought he was the cool teacher."

Even my eyebrows twitched infinitesimally.

What the fuck was wrong with people?

"You have him for English, don't you Gabriel?" the annoying blonde questioned me. When I didn't reply, her nails nervously tapped against her thighs.

I knew exactly what was going through her mind in that second. She was wondering if I knew.

Of course, I did.

I wasn't going to tell her though. She deserved to suffer in the unknown.

"Anyway, I overheard him begging the faculty to trust him when he said the relationship was totally consensual."

I could have sworn there was a slight tinge of vengeance in her cornflour blue eyes when she glanced at me and continued, "He even had to guts bring up Logan to show that in contrast, he respected and loved Allegra."