This is another chapter for Sneha Nair. She really pushed me to make this chapter and I'm so grateful. I LOVE her =) Best mates forevvvverrr...!!
"Guess who?"
"You..!!"
Chapter 9
Blade abruptly straightened up, his face turned hard.
Suddenly he pulled me gently but hastily aside, almost to the other side of the room. He practically had me crushed against his chest, and then I heard a crashing sound. The window near where we were standing before all of a sudden clashed open. Half the lighting was suddenly gone from the room- instant, but partial darkness- as a sudden gust of wind blew into the room, some people screamed. Most of the girls were protecting their hair, hands shielding it from the unexpected. The boys who had a partner just pulled them out of the way of the window; the others didn’t look too bothered.
The blast of air was powerful and eerie; it blew my hair into my face, and made my dress ruffle from its strength. Just as suddenly as the wind came it had gone. Blade held me against him even more close, if more closeness was even possible, his arm painfully tight against my waist. I looked up at him, wondering what could have made him so frightened of a little bit of darkness.
Pursing my lips I squinted through the half darkness. There was sudden artificial light, the brightness of it made me narrow your eyes, before my lens got adjusted to the instant bright rays. Blade relaxed his grip on me but kept a firm hand on my waist. I must have been imagining it but I thought I heard him exhale deeply, as if he had been holding his breath the whole time.
I looked around and was surprised to find that Blade’s gang was lurking nearby. Two couples were dancing, but not really into it, they seemed alert, and watchful, and the other two guys were leaning against the wall, gazing darkly into the crowd.
Blade hadn’t said anything yet, he was just standing there, held me close, not even swaying to the music which had started again. I reached up and cupped his cheek, and he looked down at me, his eyes softening at my touch, and placed a hand over mine, squeezing it.
“Sorry,” he said apologetically, and he took the hand that I had placed on his cheek, and started swaying again, keeping me still close, and still just a few breaths away from me.
“What happened there, you completely freaked out, almost killed my arm!” I said theatrically, joking and cocking him a light smile.
He looked at me incredulous, “I was trying to protect you.”
I raised my eyebrows at him, “From what? The scary darkness?”
He looked away from me, and at the window which had now been closed, “It’s a scary world out there, you know?”
I snorted, “I can take care of myself, if a zombie came at me, I would kung-fu chop his head,” I stated.
He didn’t look back at me, but he chuckled, “You realize that even if you do kung-fu chop a zombie’s head he can still come after you.”
I rolled my eyes. He smirked knowing that he had won the unsaid argument.
One of his friends wanted over, his green eyes pouring into mine through his mask. Usually I would have felt uneasy at a stranger looking at me so. But he seemed harmless. But then again, most predators appear that way.
Blade stopped dancing, and turned to face him. I scrunched my eyebrows, how did Blade know that he was coming?
The guy looked at Blade with a serious expression; it looked like there was some unsaid conversation going on. It kind of looked like a staring competition. I poked Blade’s rib, and he turned to me blinking slightly.
“Cara, this is Shaun,” Blade said, gesturing towards the green eyed guy.
“Oh, hey,” I said, holding out a hand for him to shake.
He took it smiling warmly at me, “It’s a pleasure to meet you lass.”
“Are you-”
“Scottish? Yes, I am,” he said happily.
Blade nudged my waist, and I focused my attention on him, “I’m going to go get some punch, you want some?”
Shaun intervened, “They spiked the punch, but the teachers are manning the water so that’s clean.”
“I wouldn’t mind water, thanks,” I said gratefully. I didn’t even realize how thirsty I felt until he mentioned it. He smiled at me and walked away leaving me with Shaun. The other single guy from his gang joined him, and for once I saw them muttering quietly to each other as they got engulfed by the crowd.
“So, Blade tells me that you’re from Faversham? Mi ma’m lives quite near there, out in Chilam actually.”
I cocked a smile at his accent, “Yeah? I’ve never actually been to Chilam, heard that it’s a very posh place to live though. Mom wanted to buy a house out there, but I told her that two million dollars is so not worth it when we just live there once in awhile.”
“Ah, yes, I suppose you’re right lass.” He looked at me tentatively.
We didn’t speak for awhile, just watching the couples dancing in the now bright ballroom.
“So, which bike is yours?” I asked, breaking the silence.
He looked at me slightly surprised, “The Kawasaki ZZR 1400, Blade mentioned that you like super bikes.”
I looked at him suspiciously, “Blade seems to talk a lot about me.”
“All of us, we’re really close. We never hide anything from each other, and we can tell if one of the others is hiding something.”
“You must keep some secrets from them,” I said frowning.
Shaun smirked at me, “Even if I wanted to I can’t.”
“Are you really that intuitive with each other?”
“Yes,” he said simply, looking straight into my face now, “You’re dressed beautifully, fit for a Queen.”
I snorted, “I look nothing like a Queen,”
I laughed. He peered at me curious, “What’s so funny?” he asked.
“My best friend, Sapphire, she named me the Anti-Cinderella,” I scanned the crowd quickly looking for her; it wasn’t the hard, honestly. She and Jake were dancing this sloppy waltz; making a forced passage through the throng- the people did not look amused. I pointed her out to Shaun, “That’s her right there, the one with the blue ball gown.”
He looked at me with a pained expression he was obviously trying to hide, “Yeah… I know her; she’s in my AP Economics class. Is, is that her boyfriend?”
I looked at him in disbelief, “JAKE?!” Some of my fellow classmates stared at me as if I had a unicorn horn on my head. I ignored them and continued, but is a lighter pitch, “Jake is gay!! We were supposed all go together but…” My voice trailed away.
But Shaun nodded his head knowingly, he seemed to be in a better mood than before, “You forgot to tell them didn’t you.”
I didn’t even bother to defend myself, but I gave him a cheeky smile, “Can’t blame me for who I am,” I searched through the people, this time looking for Blade, it was almost ten minutes since he’d gone.
Shaun must have noticed because he said soothingly, “Jayden might have got him caught up in some man-to-man conversation, don’t worry about it.”
“I’m not worried, I’m just…”
“Worried,” he finished. I scowled at him.
It was easy talking to him and his Scottish accent. Usually I never got along with people that easily, but it was like I just fit right into their family. My heart fluttered.
Shaun straightened up, “Your prince has arrived mademoiselle.” He bowed sloppily to me first and then Blade who had just walked over looking a lot more relaxed.
He was holding a wine glass of water. I sniggered, “they really have outdone themselves haven’t they.”
“That they have,” Blade said in his deep sonorous voice.
“Well, I’ll leave you both to it,” Shaun said.
He turned to me, “Lass, have a wonderful evening, and uh,” his eyes shifted quickly to Blade and back to me, “Keep it safe.”
He scuttled off quickly. Blade, I saw, was sending a death glare to the back of his head. I looked at him confused, “What did he mean keep it safe?”
Blade snapped his head quickly towards me, his neck cricking but he took no notice, “Um, I don’t know.”
“You’re lying,” I said a-matter-of-factly.
“Let’s go dance,” he said tugging at my waist.
I narrowed my eyes at him, “You’re avoiding my question!”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“You’re so innocent Cara,” he said tisking, shaking his head.
He dragged me back onto the floor, but just then the music stopped. I heard tapping on the microphone, and I twisted myself to face the stage, yet still being in Blade’s arms.
Dr Barber was on the stage; he was wearing a formal suit, it would have looked completely normal if he hadn’t been wearing specs with baubles hanging off both the edges. I leant my neck back, to look at Blade. He looked just as amused as I was.
“Hello, hello, can everyone hear me?!” Dr Barber exclaimed in his usual booming voice. The speakers screeched, and I cringed. Blade rubbed the side of my ear for me, chuckling at me.
“Alright then kids! Well it’s obvious that you can hear me. Quite interesting actually- some of you will not be able to hear me. I’m not a physics professor myself, but the concept is quite intriguing. Where destructive interference is placed, where the waves are exactly in difference phase difference, no sound will be heard, because the sound cancels one an other out,”
There was silence, even I boggled at him. One of the other chaperones, the music teacher I think came onto the stage and took the mike from him. Dr Barber didn’t look at the least phased.
“Well! Ladies and gentlemen, its just fifteen minutes to midnight now,” I didn’t hear the rest of the sentence. FIFTEEN MINUTES TO MIDNIGHT?!
I grabbed Blade’s right wrist, pulling back the suit sleeve, expecting to find a watch, but nothing. Blade held out his left arm, “I’m left handed, I thought you knew that?”
“Oh,” I said, and raked intently over the watch, it was seriously just fifteen minutes to midnight, “I didn’t realize that it was so late, it seems like we just got here.”
“We were dancing for more than two hours you know,” Blade said seriously.
My eyes widened, “TWO hours?!” I whisperingly exclaimed, “Damn, how did I not notice two hours pass away just like that?”
“How did you not know that I’m left-handed even after being my lab partner for almost nine lessons?” He questioned back, smirking.
“I-shut up!” I said embarrassed.
“The Princess of Darkness!” the music teacher said with excitement, bringing me out of the dazed conversation that I was having with Blade. All heads were looking around, but the spotlight then hit me. All eyes landed on me, and I turned red. Crap.
I quickly whispered to Blade, “What did I miss?”
He just smiled at me and shoved me towards the stage. The silence was eminent, my heels clicking as I walked, I kept looking back at Blade, who was now grinning at me, his hands shoved down his pocket.
“So, princess,” she pressed, “Would you like to take off your mask, and reveal your identity, so we can crown you?” Uh, no, I thought. But I smiled convincingly at her, and undid my mask as I stepped up to the podium. I left it dangling from my arm, making sure it didn’t touch the ground.
There was a collective whisper as I turned to face everyone, but none looked really surprised.
The lady then brought out a faux tiara, placed on those cliché silk red pillows, from a dark corner of the stage, “Well, er, I’m sorry, what’s your name?”
“Cara McArthur,” I answered her.
She quickly threw aside the pillow it surprising accuracy back to its dark corner and placed the tiara on my head. She even managed not to ruin my hair, although the prongs of the tiara dug into my scalp, making me wince slightly.
“Yes, Cara! You’ve been awarded the Princess Award. Would you like to say a few words?” She asked handing me the mike.
“Um, no thanks, I’ll pass,” I said with a meek smile. Then I quickly rushed back down to where Blade was standing before the lady could say another word.
Somehow Dr Barber had gotten hold of the microphone again and continued, “The ball will end at midnight sharp kids, so you have ten more minutes to dance the night away, well, half the night,” he chortled to himself, “make sure that you check out before you go, sign the exit list so that we know you’ve gone home, and that is all of you children. Just one last special mention to the Social Events team for organizing this gorgeous evening! Goodnight to you all!”
Blade pulled me into him, twirling me to face him. He took the mask from my hand and tied it back onto my face, pulling the knot tight enough to stay on, but not enough to hurt the tissue around which he had tied it.
He pulled me close to him, so that both his hands were rested on my waist, and my arms were automatically pulled to being draped around his neck. I looked up at him, but my head hit his chin instead.
“Ow,” I rubbed my forehead, “Your chin is hard Blade!”
He was massaging his chin too, “Your head his hard.”
We both laughed.
“I had a good time tonight Blade, time just literally flew with you, I didn’t even notice,”
“Yeah, I noticed when you practically killed my arm,” he mimicked me, a very bad impression I might say.
I frowned at him, “You know, if that’s how my English accent would sound, I’m so glad that I was brought up here.”
He scoffed, “As if. You know better than I do that was a horrible impression of you. I’m not really good at them.”
“Clearly,” I joked.
“Hey!” he exclaimed insulted, poking at my waist. I jumped by reflex.
“You’re ticklish!” he said with glee.
“It was just a reflex!”
Blade snorted, “I doubt that.”
He poked me again, and this time nothing happened, “Damn.”
I laughed at him.
There was a few moments of silence, then Blade spoke, “You look so stunning today Cara,” he pulled a step closer to him.
“You look smashing sir!” I said in a cheesy British accent.
Blade chortled, “Why thank you ma’am.”
I smiled, “But really, you look so handsome. Any girl would be lucky to have you.”
“Lucky then that I don’t want any girl,” before I could say anything back, he quickly added, “I’m not gay.”
“I wasn’t going to say anything,” I said innocently.
“Sure you weren’t,” he replied, rolling his eyes knowingly.
Bella’s Lullaby came on.
We were dancing tantalizingly slow. I rested my head on his chest, my mask, and his shirt was the only thing in between having my head against his soft skin. I could hear his heart beat; it was a little fast than it normally was. His normal was already above normal so it sounded like he had just gone for a run.
And just as quickly as it started it ended too. A gong was sounded. Yes, seriously, a gong. Probably Dr. Barber’s idea I thought.
Blade pulled away from me, and he adjusted the tiara on my head, “Let’s get going, if we leave now then we won’t get stuck in traffic, and you can see the speed on my ride.”
He grabbed my hand and led me to the exit, and went to scrawl our names on the exit sheet. Someone caught my arm.
It was Sapphire, “Have a good time tonight.”
I scrunched my eyebrows, “Blade’s just dropping me at home.”
Saph rolled her eyes, “That boy is far from leaving you at home. He’ll probably take you on a romantic rocket ride to the moon.”
“I highly doubt that Saph,” I said dryly.
“Well something of that kind! You know what I mean.”
I looked around, “Where’s Jake?”
“He’s gone to the loo. Whatever that means.” She said sighing.
“It means he’s gone to the bathroom, who told you that?” I asked her.
“I don’t know, some guy from Blade’s gang I expect.”
“Did he have a Scottish accent? Was he alone?”
She cocked an eyebrow at me, “No, and yes.”
“That’s Jayden,” I said grinning.
“Oh now you’re stalking his friends too?” she asked, tilting her head to the side.
“Shut up! I’m not stalking them. I told you Blade told me about them.”
“You never told me.”
I blanked, “I didn’t?”
She shook her head. Just then Blade came took my hand again, “Let’s go,” he saw Sapphire, “Did you put her stuff in my car?”
“Yes!” She pulled keys out of her long strapped purse, that I didn’t even notice she was carrying. Then she threw the car keys at Blade, who caught them with ease.
I just stood there gaping at the both of them, my eyes snapped to Sapphire and Blade in turn, “You two planned this out. Where are you taking me Blade?”
Sapphire looked around me, “Hey! There’s Jake, I’ll have to get going. Have a nice night you two!”
“But-”
“No buts!” She said taunting, “If you dare try to go back home, I’ll tell your mother the real reason why her herb garden died.”
My eyes widened, “You wouldn’t dare!”
“I would, and you know it,” she said starting to walk away, “Away Aphrodite, you know you want to go too.”
I didn’t have any response to that.
Blade tugged at my hand, “Ready to go?”
“I don’t have a choice do I?” I grumbled.
He looked hurt, “I’ll drop you off right now if you want me to.”
My heart melted. I don’t know what made me do it, but I squeezed his hand and pulled him towards the car park and then the car- not knowing what was going to happen next, not knowing what was in store for me, but knowing that it was the right thing to do.
And we were there, getting in the car. I heard the purr of the engine, and the car came alive, and suddenly we were off into the night. The windows down feeling the wind in my hair, the cold air numbing my face, but the best part, with my best friend, someone who I thought I lost forever.
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HEY!! I thought I should update early again as I got this huuuuuuuuuge epiphany, but please please don't get used to the often updates cause like I mentioned before my AS Level exams are coming up in less than a month.
Pray for me! And if you're an Athiest, pray for me =P Lol, joking, just wish that I get the grades that I really need right now. I shant mention it so I won't jinx it.
Thank my mate Sneha for this update, she's been really pushing me to write this chapter, REALLY pushing. But I love her for it, but don't except one now for about a week or so. EXAMS.
After exams I'll try and update every few days. That is June 8th People. JUNE 8TH.
I know, really long away right? Imagine the torture its going to be for me. It sucks.
I actually hate revision, its so boring having to revise something over and over and over and over again. The monotonity of it all.
So anyway, I know most of you might not be interested in my life so much. But most of my friends who have read this story will KNOW that I'm a pessimist, but I'm trying to be an optimist, so hopefully all this will make my life turn out for the best.
Thank you all my eight fans, and all the others for reading so far, and commenting. Its been lovely...!!
I'll see you again in another week or so!
Take care =) [Garnier- which I never use anyway, I LOVE Pantene too much to betray it.]
Love you all xxx
P.S THAT'S BLADE IN THE PHOTO BOX. ISN'T HE THE HOTTEST PERSON TO WALK THE EARTH?!