| Amelia |
"Refresh my memory if you will, whose idea was it to sleep at 2 in the morning on a school night?"
Zoey groaned in annoyance as I drove the car at hyper-speed, desperate to get us to school on time.
After our little adventure last night, the three of us had returned to my house to continue spending our time watching movies and ended up sleeping very late. Needless to say, none of us had the energy to wake up on time.
"I don't care, and I don't mind." Leila's unusually chirpy voice from the back made me turn my head briefly to glare at her.
Her legs were sprawled on the entirety of the back seat while she rested her head on the window of the vehicle, a wide smile adorning her face. It was quintessential of her to love the fact that we were probably going to miss our first few classes of school - that too, on the very first day.
"Hey, look at where you're going, bitch!" A sudden loud and angry voice from outside the car made all of us turn our attention to a burly man outside on the road who was apparently yelling at me.
My face flinched as I realised I had almost sidestepped him with the car in my desperate race to get us to school on time.
Shit.
"Why don't you mind your fucking language?" Leila forwarded her head out of the window as she yelled back at the guy, looking like she was ready to eat him alive as we hurriedly speeded away.
"It's kind of my fault, you know?" I chuckled as I looked at her through the rearview mirror, but she only huffed and put her head back inside the car, mumbling profanities under her breath in Hindi.
Leila's Indian side was always bound to come out whenever she got angry.
"Yeah, but he called you a bitch. I'm not allowing that." She grumbled as she crossed her arms and sat up straight in her seat, unaware of the smile that formed on my lips at her words.
—
Leila and I parted our ways with Zoey as she rushed off to her Chemistry class, while we got ready for English. The three of us had surprisingly managed to reach on time, and I liked to think it was due to my expert driving...well, if you ignore the occasional sidestep.
We entered and took our seats in the middle of the class, where we usually sat. My mood suddenly lifted by a notch as the familiar faces came into view; everyone seemed to be engaged in exciting conversations with their friends, telling them about their summer.
"I'm just going to go to the washroom before Ms. Whoever comes in." Leila suddenly said, making me look at her in confusion while she eyed everyone with a bored expression.
I narrowed my eyes at her, knowing that she was likely going to go outside and miss this whole class, even possibly the whole day. Leila was prone to doing that a lot, but most of the times, it was when there was something grave on her mind and she needed to think some things over.
But before I could ask her if everything was okay, she interrupted, "It's fine, I'll tell you about it later."
Knowing Leila, I knew it would be of no use to question her further, so I simply nodded my head as she exited through the door.
A few minutes passed and I was talking to some of my friends from class, when suddenly the classroom door opened and everyone became silent. Expecting to see the teacher, I retreated to my seat and looked in the direction of the blackboard, only to widen my eyes a few seconds later.
Standing at the door was none other than Noah Carter.
His form seemed to represent the state he was in yesterday; his hair were dishevelled as the strands rebelled in different directions, while his muscles were tensed, ready to jump at whoever managed to tick him off.
His eyes analysed everyone in the room for an almost unnoticeable second before he clenched his jaw and began walking inside, each step taken in such a way that I was sure he thought he owned the place.
A tense silence now encased the room, many of the girls stopping their conversations to openly stare at him like cheshire cats - admittedly, not unlike myself - and as was clear from the look on his face, a mixture of amusement and arrogance, he loved the attention.
The trance was broken the next moment, however, as a loud sound of rustling papers echoed through the room and a skinny figure rushed through the doors, subsequently bumping into Noah's shoulder on the way.
Timothy Anderson, a boy from my course, hurried in while muttering curses under his breath, scared that he had been late for class. "Ms. Smith, I'm so-"
But he stopped mid-way the second he noticed the absence of the teacher, and from where I was sitting, it was clear he had a much bigger problem to deal with.
"Watch where you're going."
The colour from Tim's face drained into a horrified white as he recognised the voice, just now realising who he had bumped into. With his lips almost trembling, the bespectacled boy clenched his fists and turned around, finding a deadly Noah Carter standing in front of him.
"I'm s-so sorry, I-I thought I was late and-"
"I didn't ask for explanations." Noah grunted and cut him off, walking dangerously towards him and with an almost malicious look in his eye he suddenly snatched the paper Tim was holding in his hand.
"Now, what do we have here?"
"P-Please, give that back, i-it's important-"
Noah clicked his tongue and shrugged mockingly, "You should've thought about that before you pushed me."
Every student now stared at the scene in anticipation, some even pulling out their phones to make a video. My guts twisted as I watched them and then the scene in front of me, an ominous feeling already beginning to cloud my stomach.
Before any of us could even comprehend what was happening, he pulled out a lighter from his pocket and began fiddling with it in his fingers, smirking amusedly as he saw the absolutely petrified look on Tim's face.
My eyes widened as I realised exactly what he was about to do.
I kept rocking my eyes back and forth to look at the door, hoping that the teacher would come in and stop this madness. But even I knew that wasn't going to happen.
Tim's hands immediately reached out to grab the sheet, his voice for the first time loud and determined. "Give it back!"
An almost amused chuckle left Noah's throat as he brutally pushed Tim towards the blackboard, causing a loud sound to echo as the blackboard rattled while a pitiful whimper left the frightened boy's mouth.
"You don't want to raise your voice at me." Noah warned as he watched Tim cower and stutter apologies from where he had been pushed.
The horrible feeling in my insides worsened as I watched Noah take intimidating steps towards the pale boy, his hands stuffed in the pockets of his dark jeans. "Let's teach you a lesson, yeah?"
The lighter was still clutched in the grip of his fingers as he threw it upwards and then caught it, the smirk on his face widening.
No way. He wouldn't do that, would he?
But the scared whimper that left Tim's mouth was enough to make me assume the worst. Before I could even process what I had done, I stood up in my seat, only one word leaving my lips in a hesitant fashion:
"Stop!"
The next moment, I felt my heart shoot up into my throat as each and every head in the class turned in my direction, including the scariest one.
Noah's head cocked in amusement as a chuckle escaped him. "Excuse me?"
But my throat was already dry. "I..." My eyes travelled around, already intimidated by the sudden attention, and at that moment all I wanted to do was grab Tim and run the hell out of that room.
"You...?" he raised his brow, his tone irritated as I could now feel some of his anger radiate towards me.
Quick, you idiot, think of a lie!
"Tim and I, we, uh, we need to go the chemistry lab?" I managed in a low voice, but it came out as more of a question. Nevertheless, I nodded determinedly, stepping out of my seat. "Yeah, Mr. Peterson called us for this, uh, important assignment."
By this time, I was standing just a few feet away from Tim. "Right, Tim?"
He nodded frantically, his nervous look mirroring mine. I breathed a sigh of relief and smiled, nodding my head in approval. Before I could signal him for us to leave, though, a steel grip wrapped itself around my upper arm and spun me around, making me collide into a hard body.
"We're in the middle of something. Do you mind?"
No comprehensible answer could've possibly made it through my mouth at that moment.
For I found myself right in front of two breathtakingly bright verdant eyes that were staring right at me, the intensity in them enough to make a shaky exhale leave my lips.
Noah Carter, true to his reputation, made an electric shiver run its way down my spine as I involuntarily traced every perfect line of his face; the high cheekbones, the ominously dark ebony hue of his locks, the sharp jaw...I just couldn't help it.
"Are you deaf?"
His annoyed question brought me back to my state of panic as I now focused on the grip he had on my skin.
"Let me go-"
He tilted his head. "Or what?"
I struggled against his hold while he found amusement in it, making my frustration kick up by a notch. "Let me go or I swear I'll-"
"You'll make me regret it, yeah?" He mocked with a chuckle, his grip on me only tightening before he stopped with the games and stared at me in warning like I was his prey. "Why don't you try it right now, sweetheart?"
I gulped down the increasing lump in my throat, restraining my efforts to free myself in an effort to reason with him. "You don't have to do this, just...leave him alone."
He raised his brow, his grip on my finally loosening as he now began walking closer and closer to me - in hindsight, my situation was about to get even worse. "And what if I tell you that's not something I'm going to do?"
Each of his steps forward was met with one of mine back, but it was only a matter of time before a rattle broke through the air and I realised, I'd been cornered by him against the same blackboard he had shoved Tim on.
My eyes tried to find someone in the room who could get me out of this, but Noah's tall figure blocked out most of it. "I guess you have to be a really big jerk then." I mumbled under my breath, not really wanting him to hear it.
But by the ragged grunt that released form his throat just a second later, I was sure he had.
"Jerk, huh?" he pressed his body into mine more and clenched his jaw, intimidating me to no bounds. I tried leaning my body back, hoping the hard surface of the board would somehow swallow me whole. "You might want to take that back right about now."
His tone conveyed only one thing: warning. I could feel his heated gaze as he looked down at me, his minty breath fanning my face as anticipation swirled in my stomach. Unable to process our close proximity, I lowered my head, my peripheral vision catching the sight of an almost shaking Tim at the other corner of the class.
It was then that I raised my head and stared right into his forest eyes, gathering up any courage I had. Ignoring the way his deadly eyes alone managed to make the head at the back of my neck stand on alert, I nodded my head determinedly.
"What if I don't?"
His brows shot up by a small fraction, almost as if he was taken aback by my response. Something like amusement swirled in his orbs as his lips curved upwards to form a smirk, but not one that conveyed playfulness. No, it was almost malicious; like I had just challenged him, and he was sure to make me regret doing just that.
"Oh gosh, I'm so sorry for the delay, the headmistress was just-"
The terrifying silence was broken by the loud sound of the door opening as a flustered Ms. Smith entered the class in a hurry, muttering apologies under her breath.
Noah and I turned our heads to look at her briefly before facing each other again, another shiver racing down my spine at the coldness in his expression. He looked me up and down, his eyes returning onto mine a few seconds later as the smirk on his lips widened.
It was then that I realised exactly what shone in his eyes, clear as crystal: pure, sheer hatred.