Chapter 31 - Part 1
I stared at the teacher's pencil, how he was bouncing it in his hand as if it were a flexible rubber, thinking of all the ways I was going to harass Arsen into telling me why I couldn't take part in this stupid "gang" mission. As if that was even a thing.
These guys were too nice to be in a gang. Minus Arsen.
I mean, think about it. I hadn't seen these dudes do anything bad since I'd met them. Again, minus Arsen.
I could imagine Ameena busting somebody's ass up, though. Which reminds me of that party that happened at Shanaya's house.
Feels like it was yesterday. Honestly, it wasn't. About two and a half weeks ago, max.
"What happened to that Alec guy from Shanaya's party?" I whisper into Jax's ear, leaning in. He leans in too.
"I have no idea," He whispers back. I sigh and go back to staring at the teacher's pencil trick.
It was actually very mesmerizing.
Apparently, we were stuck in five minutes of punishment time because of some kid who kept throwing paper balls at the dude in front of him.
They hate each other apparently. And here I was thinking he'd be the one getting detention.
But unusually, this school actually takes bullying into consideration, and the idiots' parents are coming in to talk with the guidance counsellor.
It's almost weird to be in a situation as normal as this when my whole life is literally a mess.
"Ariadne Sayers?" A man suddenly calls, walking into the classroom.
I don't recognize him from anywhere, but I stiffen when I realize this person doesn't seem to know me but knows the name that isn't mine.
"That's me," I say, raising my arm and shoving my messy hair away from my face.
The man gives me a slight smile. "The principal would like to see you," He says.
I gulp.
This must be important since Principal Crissler didn't use the speakers to call me to the office. She used a personal messenger. Or whatever he is.
I nod, picking up my bag and walking out of the classroom after him.
But not before shooting Jax a worried look over my shoulder. He just raises his eyebrow and mouthes 'text me'. I nod and follow the stranger out.
"Um, sir," I mutter. The man stops to look back at me, smiling.
"Yes, Ariadne?" He asks, almost mocking my name.
"Do you know why the principal asked for me?"
"No, I don't. But you can see for yourself," Taking me through a few more hallways, he finally comes to stop in front of the familiar door.
I give him a brief smile, before walking in.
Inside are the principal and a good looking boy.
Really good looking, actually.
"Ariadne Sayers, meet Max Bledel," Principal Crissler announces, and my eyes widen at his name.
He looks completely neutral, though. "Hey, Ariadne," He smiles. I smile back, still confused.
This is Max?! This is the Max? Oh God, Arsen's going to go ballistic!
Or maybe I'm going ballistic.
"Hey, Max," I wave awkwardly. Principal Crissler just gives me an uncomfortable look.
"Ariadne, this boy is going to be your tour guide for this evening. I thought you'd like to be shown around by...someone you don't know," She explains. I raise my eyebrows.
Why does it feel like she did this by purpose? Maybe she didn't want Arsen to be in Max's place. Or she could just be a really kind and generous Principal.
"That's great," I say cheerily, trying not to let my frustration show.
This is both great and not great. Am I supposed to suddenly become Max's best friend for information or take it slow?!
"Come on, we'll start with the bottom floor," He says, his voice hot.
I can't believe I admitted to that.
"Sure," I answer, giving Principal Crissler a tight smile before following Max out of the office.
I hope this doesn't end up too bad.
"So, you know Turner?" He asks immediately, turning the corner and leading me towards the lifts. My eyes widen when I hear his name.
His real name.
But instead of freaking out, I try to play dumb.
"Um, who's Turner?" I ask, not looking him in the eye.
Which was easy, since he was literally the same size as Arsen. Aka, very tall.
"Right, I meant Arsen," He says properly. I pretend to make a face of sudden recognition.
"Oh! Arsen Reed! The principal's son, right? I, uh, don't know him much, but I guess I'm familiar with him," I shrug, hoping he doesn't realize I'm lying.
Max laughs. It's a nice laugh.
I like it.
"You're hot. He usually tries to hit on hotties, so better watch out," He smirks, pressing the button to the elevator. My cheeks blush incredibly warm.
We wait for the ding while I visibly try not to glare at the elevator doors, imagining it as Arsen.
Always taking advantage of poor, innocent girls.
Once inside, the door closes and he presses the down button.
At one point, our eyes lock for a second, and I gasp.
"Oh my God, your eye, or, eyes!" I gasp, looking at the strangeness of it.
His right eye is a tremendous blue colour, almost electrifying, but his left eye is a shining hazel or green - I can't tell. It's incredible.
"I know, pretty cool, right?" He asks, grinning. I scoff, smiling back.
"Cool?! It's amazing! How'd it happen?" I ask, almost disbelieving the fact that this guy could be the one who started any anger in Arsen.
"It didn't happen, I was born with it. An eye condition called heterochromia, the term for having two different coloured eyes," He explains, expertly closing the normal eye and leaving the unusual one open, as if winking.
I step a little closer to take a better look at it, and I laugh, mesmerized.
"Wow!" I mutter, leaning back. He shakes his head.
"It's not a good thing. Some people take it too seriously, which kind of makes me the freak," He shrugs, looking away. I raise my eyebrows.
"Who would call you a freak?!" I ask, actually surprised. He turns back towards me, a grin lighting up his face.
"No one. I just wanted to hear you say that," He laughs.
My cheeks immediately redden.
I feel like I'm walking into the wrong territory even though I'm not really doing anything bad.
Once the elevator dings open, Max gestures to follow him and we walk through the gorgeous hallway, wide enough for many students to walk in, and enough to fill full-length, fancy gold lockers.
"Know what?" He asks, turning to me. "How 'bout I take you somewhere? There's something I'd like you to know about me," He smiles. "No harm in that, am I right?"
Before I can protest - which I was going to do - he grabs my arm and pulls me after him, running past the many doors we've left out of our tour.
(He's harmless, and I have a gun, so maybe I'll go with him just this once.)
I feel the adrenaline pump through me as I realize maybe he's taking me somewhere I can get answers from.
I'll be able to find something out and impress Arsen!
Actually...it's better I don't tell Arsen about this. He isn't exactly in love with Max.
Although he might be. You never know.
Just stop.
Yeah, okay.
"Where are we going?" I call as he dodges a fast-closing door.
Just as we skid outside of the entrance, I hear the end-of-lesson bell go off, and Max looks at me triumphantly.
"We made it!" He cries in victory, twirling me around with the hand he's still holding.
I laugh out loud.
"Why? Are the doors not usually unlocked?" I ask as he walks over to a charming blue Mini in the parking lot and I follow.
It's absolutely adorable.
"The doors automatically get locked once the bell rings, so students don't decide to ditch lessons between, uh, lessons," He explains. I laugh.
"Cool."
How can anyone hate him? He's got nothing to hate about!
Just like you thought there was nothing to like - about Arsen?
Shut up. I didn't even know him that well back then.
But you do now. And there's not a whole lot you know about Max.
I'm not disagreeing with the fact that I like Arsen, though.
Then maybe its something more than--
Okay, that's enough!
"Ladies first," Max says, bowing slightly as he opens the passenger door for me. I giggle and give him a slight courtesy.
"Dogs follow," I answer, smiling before getting in.
He mocks a horrified expression on his face and shakes his head, laughing.
Once he's inside, he turns the car on, but funnily enough, doesn't start driving. I give him a curious look.
When I glance at him, he's staring straight ahead, almost as if he's glaring at something and thinking at the same time. I furrow my eyebrows and follow his gaze.
My eyes widen when I realize what he's looking at.
"Arsen's Jaguar," I whisper. Max doesn't look at me.
"I know you're more to him than you let on," Max finally says, his face serious.
My smile falters as I feign a confused look.
"I don't know what you're talking about," I murmur, looking away, my cheeks going red.
"I know you know," He pauses. "Ariadne?" I look at him.
That's not my name. I want to tell him that, I want to tell him everything.
Even though I don't know him at all. The only thing I learned about him in the past thirty seconds is that he has gorgeous eyes and knows Arsen enough to be familiar with his actual name.
"Don't lie," He says softly, giving me a tiny smile. My heart breaks a little.
He looks so innocent, honest and...normal. A little too mundane for my lifestyle. I've completely forgotten what normal even is anymore.
I let out a huge sigh. If he knows already, I might as well confirm it.
"You're right. I know more than I'm letting on. I know Arsen's in a gang, I know that who he hangs around with are in his gang, I know what he does, how he does it. I know...I don't know why he does it," My voice cracks a little when I remember what Shanaya told me.
Max shakes his head, looking away.
"Not once have I ever met a girl that I've liked who hasn't been connected to Turner, one way or another," He sighs, rubbing his face. I swallow.
Think, Xanthe, think!
"How many girls?" I ask, curious. Max turns to me and exhales.
"Three so far, two out of them I've never seen again,"
My heart sinks as I realize the truth behind his words. Because if those two girls were in any way one of Arsen's bimbo's, he must've killed them. Isn't that what Shanaya told me?
I look at him again, afraid of the answer.
"Who was the third?" I ask. Max turns away.
"Shanaya."
I let out a deep breath I didn't know I was holding and suddenly grab the handle of the car, feeling suffocated in the small space.
Max turns to look at my frantic state.
"Hey, hey, what's wrong?" He asks, putting a gentle hand on my arm. I shake my head, eyebrows furrowed.
"Um...I have to go do something," I mutter aimlessly, fumbling with the door as I finally push it open and go running out of the car.
I reach the school entrance doors, relieved that they're not locked, and rush in.
Where the hell would Arsen be at this time?
Maybe he's still in the janitor's room we met at before. And if he's not there, I'll call him.
I run towards the door leading into the gardens, and rush outside, noticing another door at the far end.
Once I reach the door, I pray to the lord it's the one leading into the janitor's room, you know, considering my history with doors, and open it slowly.
I look inside and see Arsen laying on the couch, and suddenly, all my anger flies away. Just like that.
He's spread out on the couch, one leg on top of the other, one arm tucked under his head, his eyes shut, implementing his absolutely long, dark eyelashes.
"Arsen," I say.
Slowly, he opens his glowing amber eyes and looks up at me, squinting them slightly as if it were too bright.
"I'm busy," He growls. I raise an eyebrow.
"Mmhmm," I mutter, gesturing to his relaxing body. I look around. "You're allowed to just sleep here?" I ask, raising an eyebrow.
"Xanthe, this is my room," He says, elegantly getting up off the couch and standing in front of me, raising an eyebrow.
I sigh.
It was better when I was standing over him. Not the other way round.
"So you come here to sleep?" I ask, tilting my head. He raises an eyebrow.
"Xanthe, I'm nineteen. I should be in college, not in fucking high school," He growls.
I know I'm going to get a lot of sin for saying this, but I can't help it; I love the way Arsen swears.
It sounds...sexy.
I also know that when he swears, he's extremely angry. I look down at his left hand, clenched in a tight fist.
"What's wrong?" I ask, taking a step forward. He shakes his head.
"None of your--"
I reach forward and take his fisted hand, holding it up in between me and him.
"Why do you always clench your left hand but not your right one?" I ask, gesturing to his other hand, which seems to be perfectly fine.
Arsen stares at me for a long time, as if contemplating something. His scrutinizing, fiery amber eyes blaze as they lock onto my own.
"My father used to tell me if I hurt someone and I didn't like it, I could just come back home and hurt myself," He tells me, his voice cold. I furrow my eyebrows.
He didn't answer my question.
"Your father said that?" I whisper, his fist still in my hand. His intense gaze turns away from my eyes.
"He said a lot of things, Xanthe. That's all I had." He growls, his voice ice cold.
I look down at his fist again, and ever so slowly, unfold his index finger so that now, it's pointing at me.
"And now you've got this," I tell him quietly.
He looks down at his finger coldly, then lifts his gorgeous gaze back up to who the finger is pointing at.
Before I know what to even do, Arsen grabs me and pulls me towards him, his lips crashing with mine.
I hold onto him with dear life, not wanting to let go, completely sinking into his tantalizing embrace.
Sinking into the kiss of a thousand murders.
Once again, I've forgotten why I came.
*~*~*~*
"Why?" Jax asks, looking over at me. I shrug.
"No clue. But apparently, if it's not in till Friday, the whole class has to clean up the lab room on floor five," I tell him.
He laughs. In my face.
"Good luck with that, babe, this Friday is experimenting day, which means, a lot of mess," He snorts, grabbing a handful of my chips and stuffing it all into his mouth.
I stare at him. "How wonderful," I mutter, glaring. He just opens his mouth in my face, showing me all his food. I scrunch my nose up.
"Ew, gross!" I cry, pushing his face away. He just laughs with his mouth full and shakes his head.
After a lot of loud munching and glaring - from me - Jax eventually gets up. "Sorry, Xanny, but apparently, Arsen cares about you too much," He smiles, patting my shoulder before walking off.
I sigh.
Ameena informed me previously about the fact that Arsen was conducting a top secret plan to get Max to agree to give the information. Or some kind of deal like that.
Obviously, since it was dangerous, Arsen decided I will not partake in it. Meaning, he thinks I'm a coward.
But it's cool. Buys me more time to get to know Max. I actually like the damn guy.
"Hey, Aria," Max says, sitting down on the bench beside me. I look up and smile at him.
I love the nickname he's given me. Even if it is for the name that isn't mine.
"Hey, Max," I smile sweetly. He chokes a little on the water he was drinking.
"You flirting with me?!" He asks. I laugh.
"No, idiot, I'm just giving you a well-earned smile..." I pretend to look disappointed but end up grinning instead.
Max laughs loudly and shakes his head, looking to the far side of the crowded gardens, boys and girls sitting in clusters and eating their lunch.
"So, hot stuff, how's your first day going? Made any new friends?" Max asks me, nudging me with a wink. I laugh and shake my head.
"I did, actually. This girl named Elvira, she was really sweet, but then I realized she was obsessed with Hello Kitty," I snort.
"Oh, no, not Vera," He laughs. I shake my head.
"Then, there was Tony. All I heard when he was talking was 'active-matrix', 'analog' and 'I need the toilet'," I mutter, scratching my head. Max laughs once again.
I've come to like his laugh. A bit more than I should.
"He's in the computer club, which probably explains the 'active-matrix' and 'analog' part. I can't explain the 'I need the toilet' bit, though," He smirks.
I laugh, shaking my head.
"So, can I show you that something now? We didn't get to finish off our little trip earlier," He says, smiling shyly and rubbing the back of his head. I give him an apologetic look.
"I'm really sorry about that. It's just... you reminded me of this thing and I got angry and I didn't want to put my anger out on you so I--"
"Hey, it's okay. You can make it up to me now, actually," He gestures for me to follow, and we stumble through the many people sitting and laying on the grass, chatting with each other.
I actually like this school. Even though that's probably a discriminating term to people like me, who generally hate school.
"You usually say your thoughts out loud?" Max asks, smiling as he leads me, once again, towards his blue Mini. I grin, my cheeks heating up.
"Usually, yeah," I giggle nervously. "What did you hear?"
"That you like this school. Enough not to judge," He smirks, leading me into the car. I snort and roll my eyes, shaking my head playfully at him.
He opens the passenger door for me.
"In you go, m'lady."
*~*~*~*
"Where are we?" I ask, looking around at the huge district we're in.
It's like we stepped into an alternative universe. Except, we flew back like, a hundred years and have somehow landed ourselves in a Victorian-times palace.
Those gorgeous ones that seem to be bigger than Queen Victoria's Buckingham.
"My home," He sighs, throwing his hands out and embracing the air.
I like guys who like nature.
Oh, shut up.
Hey, he's nice.
Right. Nice for information.
Now you shut up.
"You live here?!" I cry, looking around.
He parked his Mini in a very fancy looking driveway, with only one other car in the many slots put out in a rectangular shape. Max smiles.
"Believe it or not, this is what girls want from me. And here I was thinking it was for sex," He winks at me and I laugh, shaking my head.
"Don't get too ahead of yourself, Max. I'm here for neither," I say, nudging him.
He leads me up the huge path leading to the even huger - in fact, ginormous - castle in front of me.
"Yeah, why are you here?" He suddenly asks, as if he's been thinking of that question for a while.
"You asked me to," I reply. He shakes his head and gives me a serious look. I shrug.
Might as well give him the truth.
"I want to join your gang, Max."
Or maybe just the truth he wants to hear.
TO BE CONTINUED.
DRAMATIC - I KNOW - BUT GO ALONG WITH IT.
THE CHAPTER WAS GETTING TOO LONG.
HEH HEH