Chapter 3
I know for a fact that I am not popular in school. I am that kind of student who actually succeeds in blending in like a shadow and is going to finish highschool without any problems at all. I literally only ever talk to three people in the walls of this school and if I talk to anybody else, it's because I absolutely have no choice but to.
I remember back in sophomore year when I got paired with Freda in Chemistry lab. I knew Freda because she was the only black girl in the cheerleading squad and Jamal once found her beautiful. Freda however, didn't know me and the first five minutes of our praticals were spent asking if I was a new student. Then a guy behind us scolded Freda for not knowing meek Israel. That's when I discovered that the handful of people that might know me thought of me as meek. And of course, a church boy. I don't know if that's because they've seen me do the sign of the cross or walk out of the church on Sundays or if it's because I sometimes hang out with Darcy.
Freda argued with him though, saying I was being humble and unpretentious instead (that was more of a dig at the guy than it was a compliment to me), she smiled at me and for a while during chemistry we paired together and sometimes when we see at the hallway, she waves.
My point is not many people know me and I didn't think Cat eye boy was among the handful that did, I didn't even know he was in town. I haven't ever seen him again since the five minutes in church four years ago. I figured he went back to wherever he came from and I never hoped to see him again and now here he was calling my name like he knew me.
He shakes his head as if finding humor in something only him was aware about. "I didn't know you drive."
"Huh?" I find my voice to ask, wondering if by some chance I've entered into another universe.
"Sorry," he hands me back my phone, studying my expression with his cat eyes. "I panicked."
I nod, stuffing the phone down my pocket. I am starting to sweat under his scrutiny and the last thing I want is a sweaty armpit, so I walk. I walk away from his eyes until I am behind him, then I squat down to see the damage done.
Who is he?
One of my rear headlights is wickedly cracked and the side of his truck that collided with it was bashed in, looking like someone hit it with a hammer. I gasp at the damage and the panic returns to me in full waves. Ma would kill me, I'd never drive again. I don't think I mind the latter.
"What are we going to do?" I ask tracing the cracks on glass with a shaking finger.
I hear him squat down to and feel him beside me. The strong scent of his cologne hits me, strong and welcoming but not overwhelming. I don't think I have such a strong scent, if I even have a scent at all, it'll probably be shampoo. He leans towards me and touches my glass too, moving around until our fingers touched and I could've sworn his skin burnt mine.
I flinch away and scramble up to my feet, I could feel him looking at me from down there and I struggled not to look at him, rubbing my palm over my pants. "It's a minor car accident but we should still call the police." I say, holding myself and trying to be rational, applying the laws I was thought in driving school.
"Please don't, my parents would kill me. This," he gestures to the truck with a pained expression. "Isn't the first time."
"My parents would kill me too but what do we do? I can't go home like this, insurance won't hold." I complain twisting my fingers together.
"I know a guy," He says sounding like some mafia movie person. When he says nothing else after that, I raise my brow at him. He sighs and continue, "he's a mechanic, owns a shop— he'll help us."
I groan running my palms across my face, "forgive me but that sounds shady."
He frowns at me and I notice he still looks as beautiful. "Forgive me," he fired back, "but do you have a better option than calling the fucking cops?"
I glare at him, I'm not mad at him, I'm mad at the situation but I immaturely lash out at him anyway. "This is all your fault, if you hadn't bumped into me like a crazy person, I wouldn't be in this mess of a situation."
"Crazy person?" He looks throughly amused and I ball my fist as he laughs. "You're the crazy person who decided to reverse his car without looking back. I was already on way out before you just start moving from no where."
I look at him and I want to spit out some hurtful words but I don't know what to say. I just point at him and let my hands fall back, reaching for my phone. "I'm calling the police."
He jumps quickly and in a second he is already in front of me, holding my hands down to my side. His body uncomfortably very close to mine. "No, please Israel, don't."
"Did you steal the car?" I blurt out because of his attitude on hearing the cops and because I was getting dizzy with our proximity.
"What?" He asks surprised taking a step back and I regretted asking that. But then to be fair, I literally don't know him and he's acting weird. "No, I just don't want to get involved with the cops again. This is the third time I'm getting into a car accident, I don't think the insurance would hold again and I'd get in big trouble."
I don't know how I knew but he wasn't lying. "Third time? And you're saying it's my fault."
"This time," he smirks at me, "it is kinda your fault."
I sigh in defeat relaxing back on my car and looking around. We were the only ones left and it was getting dark already. "This is my first day driving out for God's sake."
"Hey," I looked up at him with my worried eyes and he smiles at me in a way that's supposed to be calming and reassuring, it works. "It's gonna be alright."
I nod, "so what's this about your shady mechanic?" It's actually very surprising that I'm holding up a conversation with cat eyes — not only is he a complete stranger, but he makes me feel weird inside.
He tosses his head back and laughs, his hair moving with the wind. "There's nothing shady about him man, he's a clean guy."
I stand up. "Fine, let's go then before my parents declare me missing."
He chuckles opening up his truck to go in. "You're a funny guy Israel."
I don't know what to say to him, I don't even know his name so I just smile in reply and go enter my own car.
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We successfully leave school with me driving slowly and carefully behind cat eyes. I once almost lose him but then I find him waiting for me ahead and after giving me a look, we continue driving. We make some turns and it looks as if we're heading downtown but then we don't actually go that way and just drive a little more closer into an alleyway before he stops his car. With my hands still on the steering wheel I look around the place, it's darker than actually society and it might not be downtown but it had the ambience.
I jerk up when I hear a knock on my window, my body only relaxing when I see that it's cat's eyes knocking. I shut my eyes for a second before getting out of the car making sure to bring just my semi empty wallet with me, leaving my phone inside. Ma had a bag full of bad stories about this side of town with the hood rats and druggies of all races.
"You scared, Israel?" I look at him smirking down at me and I scoff, pushing past him to walk away. I am still not used to him calling my name.
"You said nothing shady, this place looks really shady you know," I turn to him with an uneasy frown. "I don't want to get into more trouble."
"Relax, I come here all the time." He gives me a pat on the shoulder before going in. I sigh, looking around more before going in after him.
Inside the building there was more light and it was actually a mechanic shop with about three guys seriously working on cars. I tapped my feet on the ground as Cat eyes greets them like they are all friends. Some big guy comes out the back and that's talking in Spanish that I don't understand at all. Cat eyes holds a conversation easily, speaking Spanish so fluently I have to do a double take. Maybe he is hispanic after all, he skin does glow. But then, I really doubt.
I keep looking at him speak going over his features for the umpteenth time. He is not only beautiful, he is breathtakingly handsome. Like I literally had to remember how to continue breathing again when his eyes snapped to me, catching me in the act of checking him out. I furiously blush, consoling myself that I wasn't actually checking him out, I was just appreciating the works of God on him. Beauty is after all to be beheld and appreciated.
He smirks and beckons me over, the big Spanish guy's eyes on me. "Hey, are you okay?" I nod and he gives me a 'really' look. "You look like you're about to empty your gut, I'm worried."
I look at him wondering if he now sees through me and he breaks into a smile that simultaneously causes me to smile, realizing he was joking. I shake my head at him, "stop joking."
I feel his hand on me and I zone into the touch so much that I don't hear what he says next. Why am I feeling like this? It's like my senses are all heightened around him.
"Israel," cat eyes snaps his finger in front of my face. "Can you leave your car and come get it tomorrow?"
Can I leave my—
"What?" I get my senses back, eyes widening in shock. "No, please, my ma would kill me if I don't go home with the car."
He turns his eyes to the big guy with a pleading look and I do the same too, hoping I look convincing and not like a constipated cat. The big guy grunts and from the look on Cat eyes face, I was going home with my car. Big guy told us he'd be done in twenty minutes and we should go wait, so we went over to sit at the back of Cat eyes truck.
"He didn't say how much he'd take?" I ask, opening up my wallet. "I don't have much in here." Just half of my allowance was left here and that's almost equivalent to nothing. Cat eyes stays quiet, he has his head resting on the side with his eyes closed.
I blush just looking at him and I guiltily look back at my near empty wallet. His nose is perfect and lips pink. "I was thinking maybe I'd pay in parts?"
His hand reach for my thigh, eyes still closed as he pats me again. "Don't worry about it Israel, I got you."
He sounds tired and it dawns on me how much of a jerk I've been. He is also in this mess of a situation and without this he's also supposed to be at home with his family. I watch his hand leave me, returning back to his side.
"Thanks a lot... Um—" my tone is suggestive, he's supposed to say his name after that but he doesn't and I almost think he has fallen asleep. "What's your name?"
"Sky."
Now permit me to say but like my sister's usually gushed about celebratities — even his name is hot!
And I mean that in an innocent way.
"Thanks a lot, Sky." Way better than 'cat eyes'.
"You owe me."
I nod in reply, relaxing back on the truck bed and letting my mind wonder around things, including him.
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