Bonjour mis amis!
Hope you enjoy this chapter. It's a bit more relaxed. A bit. Anyways, continue!
To the story!
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I shivered. Fall was coming to an end; the dreary blanket of winter snow was coming.
I was walking to school today, I couldn’t handle being in the car with Adrian this morning.
I pulled my zip-up hoodie tighter around me. I doubted Adrian even remembered what he said. He was so tired; I think it was making him say things. He was just saying it because of what we were. Because of who we were.
I could see the school just down the road. I walked carefully down the hill, hugging myself. I was so lost in thought that I didn’t notice the sleek black car as it came to a stop in front of me. It skidded to a halt and a person in black leaped out, pointing a gun at me. A Glock 23. I stood rooted to the spot. I heard the click of the gun.
Suddenly, everything appeared to move in slow motion. I dived out of the bullets unyielding path and snatched up the knife I had in my boot. I aimed and flung the knife in the woman’s direction. She dodged it just in time. Before I could do anything further, the woman jumped back into her car and screeched down the road. I stared after her.
“Tanya!” I cast a glance towards the school, now behind me. Novosi was running from his car at full speed. I stood up defensively, wary of what he was about to do. He stopped right in front of me, not even panting, and gave me a quick check-over before looking me in the face.
“Who was that?” I asked. Novosi shook his head.
“I’m sorry, Tanya, I don’t know. She could have been a wipeout agent from either of our sides. I don’t know,” he repeated.
“Either? Why would Byron want to kill me? And I thought you told me your side wanted me alive?” I stared at him, perplexed.
“Tanya, it might have been another agent. Ours isn’t the only ones out there.”
I ran my hands through my hair, frustrated. Why couldn’t my life be easier? I wasn’t even sure who I was anymore, who anyone was.
“Get in the car.”
“What?”
“Get in the car, Tanya,” Novosi repeated. I raised an eyebrow. “Your arm is bleeding.” And sure enough, the sleeves of my shirt were soaked through with blood. How many times would my arms get injured? Novosi held the passenger door open for me. He shut the door and around to the back of the car, rummaging through the stuff in his trunk. Novosi slipped into the driver’s seat with a first aid kit.
“Take off your shirt,” he commanded.
“Excuse me?”
“I need to clean that, if you don’t mind. Are you wearing anything underneath your shirt?”
“Yeah, a bra.”
Novosi winced. “That’s not what I meant.”
I pulled off my shirt as I said, “You know this could be considered illegal.”
“Everything we do is illegal. Well, everything you do, at least.”
I frowned at him. I tucked my shirt behind me, glad that I had a tank top underneath. Novosi poured some alcohol onto a swab and leaned towards me. He gently dabbed at my wound. Apparently the bullet had just managed to scratch my arm, nothing deep, but I hissed in pain when the acidic liquid touched me.
Novosi’s hand sprang back. “Sorry! Is it hurting?”
“Just stings.” He nodded and continued to dab at the wound. Once he was done he pulled out the bandage roll and wrapped it around my arm, just below the knife wound that he had given me. My left arm had gone through a lot of abuse.
Novosi tied up the bandage, his hand trailing up my arm. I felt his fingers easily untie the other bandage, and throw it away. “I’m sorry about this,” he murmured. He fingers traced the scar of the knife wound. “Does it still hurt?”
I shook my head. “It’s finally healing. So long as I don’t get punched in the arm again.”
I could still feel his fingers on my skin, the tingling feeling remaining. There was a strange feeling in the pit of my stomach too. Novosi kicked the car into gear and drove down the road towards the school. It was just within sight when I rolled down the window and up-chucked any and all food from the past few days. The car screeched to a halt.
“Tanya!” Novosi yelled. I coughed into the crook of my elbow, wiping off the vomit. I leaned my head back against the headrest, closing my eyes. “Tanya!”
“What?” I half whispered.
“You just threw up,” he stated. I frowned, my eyes still closed.
“Yes, I can still feel it.” I could imagine Novosi’s eyes roll as I said it. I heard him move and when I opened my eyes, his face was just inches from my own.
“It’s the poison, isn’t it?” I scoffed.
“Of course not. It hasn’t done anything to me for sometime now.”
“That’s the point. It starts working without warning. I don’t think you should go to school today. I’ll take you home.”
“NO!” I exclaimed. “I can’t miss school!” Novosi chuckled.
“It’s better-“
“Shut up. I’m going to school; I’ll just go to the nurse if I feel worse,” I said with finality. I turned away from him and looked out the window. I heard shuffling and then the car moved. I let out an inaudible sigh of relief. Adrian would kill me if he found out I wasn’t at school.
Novosi parked in his high and mighty teacher’s parking spot. Before I could open the door, he stopped me, resting his hand on my shoulder.
“Give me your phone.” I reluctantly handed it to him. He snatched it from me and punched something in. When he handed it to me the screen said ‘Contact saved’. “If you need anything, call me. Speed dial three.”
I got out of the car, scanning the area to make sure no one saw me. It would only bolster the notion that I had a thing with Novosi. I hurried to my locker and grabbed my books. I shut my locker only to find Koda leaning against the next locker. He flashed me a smile.
“Hey, babe.” I rolled my eyes and started walking. “You haven’t talked to me since our date.”
“Neither have you,” I pointed out.
“Touché! But still, we didn’t get to spend much time together. Want to sit with me at lunch today?”
“I’ll think about it,” I said. He grabbed my arm and I winced.
“What happened to your arm? Did you get hurt again?”
“I fell this morning.”
“On what? A knife?”
“A rock.” Koda laughed.
“Well, text me when you decide, see you later babe.” Koda spun on his heel and walked away, catching up to his posse. I continued walking to Mr. Young’s class. For the first time I was actually early to Math. I took a seat closest to the window and stared at the quad. People were slowly filing into class when the bell rang. Mr. Young walked in and banged his briefcase on the table, startling me.
I turned my attention to him. Oh. It wasn’t Mr. Young, it was Novosi. He smirked at my surprise and then faced the rest of the class.
“Mr. Young called in sick today, so I’ll be your sub,” Novosi announced. I was sure I heard someone swoon. Do people do that anymore? I felt a spark of anger in me, but I pushed it away. The one day I make it early to class and Mr. Young wasn’t even here to see it. Just my luck.
“Now, Mr. Young told me you guys are doing something about synthetic division?” The class groaned which made Novosi laugh. I smiled. He looked good when he was happy. “Yeah, I know, that sounds boring. How about we play a game and for homework you guys just read the textbook and do the exercises he has on your calendar.” The guys whooped, pumping their fists.
“So what do you guys wanna play?”
“Truth or Dare!” Jake shouted. There was a murmur of agreement and Novosi shrugged.
“Why not? Nothing inappropriate though!” He exclaimed as everyone shoved the desks into a circle. I hesitantly joined in, realizing that I was sitting next to Koda. He nudged me.
“So have you decided yet?” he asked. In my peripheral vision, I saw Novosi’s head snap towards me.
“Koda, it’s been ten minutes. I haven’t had a chance to think about it yet,” I retorted. I could still feel Novosi’s gaze on me.
“Alright, does anyone have a bottle?” Novosi asked, pulling our attention to him. There was a quiet murmur then as one, all pairs of eyes turned to me. I stared back.
“I don’t exactly bring beer to school,” I scoffed. Nevertheless, Jake ran at me snatching up my bag and attempting to search through it. But not before I shouted at him. A second later the bag was in my hand, and Novosi was holding Jake’s arm behind him, a smile plastered on his face.
“Hey, man, I was just looking for a bottle,” Jake said in a back-off tone.
“Didn’t your mama ever tell you that it’s not polite to look through a girl’s bag?”
“Chill, Mr. Novosi. I have my bag,” I said, holding it up. Novosi let Jake go but I was could tell he was keeping an eye on Jake. “Lucky for you guys, I just happen to have a bottle of coke.”
I set out the glass bottle on the table in the center, careful not to break it. Crystal, one of our high schools more popular girls stood in the middle and took the initiative to spin the bottle. She gracefully rejoined the circle as the bottle continued to spin. It started slowing down, passing me a few times before finally settling on facing Koda and Crystal. Koda grinned, and I let out a sigh of relief, glad it hadn’t pointed at me.
“Truth or dare, Crystal?” Koda asked, still grinning. Oh he had a dare in mind, that was for sure. Crystal noticed too. She smiled.
“Dare.”
“Yes!” Koda pumped his fist then rubbed his hands together. “Alright Crystal, I want you to run into Mrs. Davies class and yell “Fire!” then run out the school doors and run in circles, pulling at your hair and screaming insane things.”
“Wow, Koda, that was rather detailed,” I mused.
“You got it,” Crystal said. She stood up and Koda followed her. I was surprised she was willing to do this. She seemed too…sophisticated, for lack of a better word.
Everyone crowded around the door and heard the other class door slam open. We heard Crystal yell ‘Fire!’ and then run out the back door. Not long after, Mrs. Davies, a stout, old woman, who loves her cats and has this ridiculous cackle for a laugh, ran right out, hands flying in the air as she screamed down the hall. She ran smack into the door that Crystal had just left through. The rest of us cracked up, watching students from her class peer out the door to find us whooping with laughter. Even Novosi was chuckling. Eventually, though, he went to help Mrs. Davies up and take her to the nurse.
When Novosi returned, the bottle was already spinning. Crystal had yet to return so most of us assumed she was somewhere behind the school making out with a random guy. The bottle landed on Jake and Hailey. She went for truth.
“Kiss Danny,” Jake ordered.
“Jake this isn’t a dare!” Hailey cried out. Jake’s expression was set.
“Well, you didn’t pick dare, so now I’m giving you one.”
“That didn’t even make sense, Hough,” I said, using his last name.
“Just do it!”
“Nike!” Koda shouted. I elbowed him. Hailey sighed and turned to Danny. He was one of the hot geeks in our class. He smirked at her. Hailey gave him a quick peck on the cheek.
“Hey!” Jake yelled. “That wasn’t a kiss!”
“It was too!” Hailey argued. “You didn’t say where I had to kiss him.”
“Kiss him on the lips!”
“Too late! Your turn is already over.” Hailey leaned forward and spun the bottle while Jake huffed. The coke bottle came to a stop, pointing at me. Danny sat across from me.
“Truth or dare?” he asked.
“Dare!” I said immediately, hoping he would come up with something good. Danny scrutinized me, pondering his dare. For some reason, when his eyes lit up, I knew it was going to involve something about my violent reputation at school.
“I dare you…to fight me,” Danny said boldly. I giggled. Giggled!
“Hell no!”
“Scared, Tanya?”
“Yeah, right. I’d probably pound you to a pulp before you could even touch me.” I saw Novosi’s grin from the corner of my eye.
“Psh, I’d so win. And lets make this more interesting. If I win, you have to go on a date with me this weekend.”
“And if I win?” I asked.
“I’ll drive you to school every morning.”
“Nah. Actually, why don’t you drive me to school for a month?” I suggested. That way I’d avoid another incident like this morning. Sitting in Novosi’s car was not something I was eager to do again. Especially with his intoxicatingly good looks.
“Fine.” We shook hands.
“So where do you want to do this?” I questioned.
“Right here, right now.”
I frowned. “Inside the building?”
“Yeah, unless you’re too chicken to do it.” I squared my shoulders.
“Let’s do this.”
“Rules!” Novosi exclaimed before we could start. I stared at him. I forgot he was in here. I was rather surprised he hadn’t said no to this. It was rather inappropriate. Whatever.
“It’s gonna be like wrestling, boys,” he stated. “ And girls. First one on the ground for more than ten seconds loses. No face punches and no crotch abuse.”
Some people snickered. “Ready? Set, go!”
The class had back up against the walls, the desks pushed aside in haste. Danny and I circled each other. I waited for him to make the first move. He did.
Danny reached out to grab my arm and throw me over but I caught his arm first, spinning around so it was twisted behind his back. He groaned in pain. I tried not to hurt him too much; I didn’t want a law suit filed against me. I released his arm and leaped onto a desk, dodging the punch he sent my way. I jumped onto the next desk, and the next, going in circles around him. Danny spun around, confused. While he had his back turned to me I jumped down and kicked his back. Not too hard, but hard enough to knock him onto the ground. He fell splat on his face. Adroitly, I scurried over and sat on his back, counting out loud with the class as he flailed under me with no success.
“Five, four, three, two, one!” I yelled throwing my hands in the air. I hopped onto a table and raised my arms, accepting the cheers. Danny grudgingly got up and dusted himself off. I startled him when I landed in front of him. I pulled a hairball off his back.
“You’re still a little dirty,” I said, smiling. Danny scowled at me, before grinning.
“Hey, now I get to spend every morning with you!” he exclaimed. The guys patted him on the back, calling his name in approval. I rolled my eyes. Danny turned back to me and suddenly his eyes went wide. “Tanya-!”
“You need to go to the nurse,” Novosi interrupted. “I’ll take you.”
“What - ?”
“Now!” he shouted. I cringed. I let him grab my right arm and drag me out of the room. He led me down the hall, but instead of going in the direction of the nurse’s office, he led me to his own science room.
“What happened to going to the nurse?”
“They’d ask questions about your wound. It’s obvious you didn’t fall on a rock.”
I gasped. “You heard me?”
He smirked. “I was walking past you when you said it.” How had I not noticed?
Novosi locked the door behind him and sat me down on one of the lab tables near the back. He went into the storage room and came back holding a roll of gauze and a bottle of cleaning alcohol. I sighed. Here we go again. The process took no longer than five minutes but Novosi refused to let me go.
“You have to stop jumping into things like that.”
“It’s not like you tried to stop it,” I responded. Novosi smiled sheepishly.
“I wanted to see how good you were. At fighting,” he clarified.
I laughed. “You’ve already seen me fight. I fought with you in that alley before school.”
Novosi nodded absent-mindedly. I waved my hand in front of his face. He was staring at me too intently. “I really am sorry about throwing the knife.”
“Hey, we didn’t know each other then, so it’s no big deal,” I said softly. Novosi held out his hand for me as I slid off the countertop. “We should get back before things get out of hand there.”
“Tanya,” Novosi said, stopping me in my tracks. I turned around. “You have blood on your shirt again.”
I glance at my tank top. There was a splotch of blood on it, darkened because of the green on my shirt.
I cursed. I was in dire need of a new set of clothes.
“There are spare clothes in the storage. I think I can find you a t-shirt or something,” Novosi chuckled.
I shrugged. “Why not?”
He went back into the storage, rummaging around. I tapped my foot impatiently, then finally decided to go see what was taking him so long.
“No- Mr. Novosi?” I asked. I heard a bang and then something toppled over. I peered around the door only to find Novosi slumped in the corner with a cardboard box fallen in his lap and clothes piled all around him.
A laugh escaped my lips and I saw his slow smile. He began laughing along with me. Novosi tried to stand up, taking my proffered hand, but slipped on a beaker and pulled me down with him. We landed on top of each other, buried under the box and still laughing. I tried hard not to snort except it came out involuntarily. It was like a chain reaction. Novosi downright burst out and I couldn’t help but laugh even harder, snorting even more.
I don’t know how long we lay there laughing but eventually I pushed myself off the ground, clutching my stomach. Novosi’s eyes landed worriedly on my stomach.
“It’s not the poison,” I stated, smothering another chuckle. Novosi ruffled my hair. I was too slow to dodge it.
“Come on, before the bell rings.” Novosi double checked the bandages on my arm then unlocked the door. I cam out first, watching the cameras. I felt like a ninja. I crept down the hallway and once I was in front of the nurse’s office, I walked normally back to math class. Novosi followed behind me, shutting the door behind us.
The scene was much different from the way we left it. Everyone was sitting in their seats, the tables back in their rows and laden with math textbooks. At the front desk, Mr. Harris, the vice principal sat, reading a newspaper. He glanced up when Novosi and I walked in.
“And where have you two been?” Mr. Harris asked, as if we were both school children.
“Mr. Novosi took me to the nurse to get bandages for my wound.” I gestured to my left arm. Mr. Harris cast a cursory glance at it before glaring at Mr. Novosi.
“Shouldn’t you have sent a student to take her to the nurse, Mr. Novosi, instead of leaving the class in disarray?”
“Ms. Hayek’s arm was bleeding too much. I didn’t think any of the students could handle it.” Novosi sent a meaningful glance around the room, telling everybody not to challenge him.
“Can you tell me why nobody was working today?”
“With all due respect, Mr. Harris, I’m only a sub. I’m a science teacher, not a math teacher. Mr. Young’s lesson plan didn’t make any sense to me. I let the class do what they wanted and read the textbook for homework.”
Mr. Harris pushed up his glasses and huffed. He stood up from his chair and walked to the door. “I hope that this doesn’t happen again, Mr. Novosi, or I’ll have to put you probation.” With that he left the room, slamming the door behind him.
“Uptight ass,” Novosi muttered. The class snickered and relaxed in their seats. I sat at my desk, returning to my earlier window gazing. Something flashed in my eyes and I glanced down to find a piece of paper on my desk. I unfolded it, careful not to rip it.
Meet me at lunch?
- K
I smirked and wrote my answer. I threw it back at Koda.
As my gaze went back towards the window, I noticed Novosi’s gaze trained on me.
Yes.
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