CHAPTER TWENTY.
adrianna saint laurent
perspective
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"STOP THAT. IT'S way too early for you to be in a good mood." I groan, narrowing my eyes at Kota who was smiling way too brightly for me. I bet even the sun was jealous of his brightness.
"It's past two o'clock in the afternoon, Annie." Kota snorts, rolling his eyes at me.
"That's still early," I mutter as I lean back on the chair, looking around the nearly empty room. It didn't seem like the teacher would come in since the class started twenty minutes ago. Some people in the class had left since there was absolutely nothing to do.
In this academy, teachers are either early, on time, or don't come at all.
"Should we just go outside?" Kota sighs, resting his jaw on his hands as he stares outside the window.
"But it's so cool here and it's too hot out there." I groan, frowning at him as I lean my head on the table.
"There's the breeze outside, it's gonna be fine," he insists, tapping my head before he starts shaking my shoulders.
"Go alone," I mutter, slapping his hand off my shoulder.
"No. We're meant to be together in life and death, you aren't leaving me alone." Kota frowns as he starts to pull on my hand.
"You wanna burn in hell with me?" I muse, glancing at Kota with a small smirk.
Kota chuckles, shaking his head, "I think you will be the one burning and ruling hell so I might as well be on your good side."
I furrow my eyebrows, "Is this why you're being nice to me? So you won't burn in hell and will be protected by my wrath. I'm offended."
Kota squints his eyes, thinking for a few seconds before he opens his mouth, "That could be one of the reasons."
"What's one of the other reasons?" I glance at him.
He looks into my eyes before smiling and shaking his head, "You're one of the truest people I've met. I had a hard time trusting people because they all looked genuine but they just wanted to use me and my wealth. It feels terrible, you know. You just feel like you're only accepted because of your money," he mumbles, throwing me a small smile.
I feel so horrible for hiding my identity.
I smile back at him, "I think you'll feel better when I tell you that I never had any friends except one girl. People never liked me and I didn't give a shit if they did or not."
"Let me guess you were too good for them?" Kota chuckles, shaking his head with a grin.
"Oh, yes. They were way below my level, they couldn't reach me so they tried dragging me now." I chuckle at the thought of all the things I did to the people in my previous schools.
"Your face looks like you did something evil to them," Kota mumbles, narrowing his eyes at me.
"Please," I scoff, "I'm literally the nicest person out there," I mutter, knowing very well that Kota could see right through my lie.
"Like you didn't just throw your bottle on the kid, who's sitting in the front row, just because he didn't put his head down." Kota hums, smiling at me.
I scoff, "I did warn him that I was going to throw the bottle. Not my fault that he has a big head which blocked my view."
"Did you just say that I have a big head?"
The blonde boy who had gotten hit by my bottle was standing in front of me, his grey eyes narrowed at me. Just great.
"Yeah, I did. Want me to say it louder so the whole class can hear it?" I arch my eyebrow at him, watching him scowl at me.
"Oh, damn." Kota mutters, falling back on his seat as he glances at me and then at the blonde boy.
"Who the hell do you think you are?" He hisses, placing his hands on my desk as he glares at me.
"Isn't it obvious? Someone who's just trying to see the board but can't, because of you." I shrug, using my books to make him take his hands off the desk.
"You think you're better than everyone just cause your friends with them, don't you?" He seethes, twisting his lips as he puts his hands on my desk once again.
I glance at my side to see Kota getting up but I shake my head at him, sending the message that I don't want him to get involved in this mess through our eye contact.
"I don't need them to prove that I'm better than you. Your face is enough to make everyone know that I'm better than you." I chuckle, smiling in pleasure as I see him quiver in anger.
"You're a bitch," he hisses, moving his face closer to mine.
"But you can only wish that I was your bitch," I smile, pushing his face away from me before I get off my seat.
"Come on, Kota. Let's go outside since I didn't expect all the bugs to be inside," I scrunch my face as I look at the blonde boy before walking out with Kota.
"I was expecting you to kick him in the gut though," Kota throws a grin, putting his arm around my shoulder.
"Mhm, me too but I can't fight someone on a lower level compared to me. That's an easy win and boring." I shrug as I grin at Kota.
"I could see how brutal you wanted to be. You should've broken his bones then he would never block your view again." Kota muses as we walk out of the building and I nod in agreement.
"I wish," I groan, "But then, I would've been kicked out of the school and I don't wanna leave you this quick."
Kota shakes his head at me, smiling down at me, "There's no way you can get kicked out of this school. Did you forget that my family owns this land? I will never let you leave so do whatever you want. I'll always back you up."
"Kota, you are promoting violence right now. I don't think that's right." I chuckle, grinning at him.
"Aren't we always right, Annie?" He laughs, "And I'm pretty sure that someone believes that violence is the answer to everything."
"That someone is very right." I nod, sending a smirk to Kota.
"And that someone is also my best friend," Kota grins, patting my head.
I put my hand on my chest and smile at him, "Aw, aren't you a cutie?"
"Mhm, your cutie." Kota winks, pulling me into a hug as we both laugh at each other.
"I'm gonna get suffocated if you don't leave me," I whisper as Kota squeezes the air out of my lungs with his bone-crushing hug.
"Oops. I'm sorry, Annie." Kota grins at me before removing his arms off me.
"Don't worry, I'm used to all these attempted murders." I smile at him, giving him a thumbs up.
Kota widens his eyes at me, letting out a gasp, "I never tried to murder you, Annie," he frowns at me.
"Those hugs sure do say something else," I mutter.
I glance at him and let out a chuckle, "Don't cry, Kota. You know I'm only kidding."
He snorts, shaking his head at me, "I know. There's no way you can die that easily."
I gasp, putting my hand on my chest, "So you did try to kill me. I knew it," I scoff, rolling my eyes at him.
He stops smiling before glancing at me. He furrows his eyebrows at me, trying to process his words.
"Annie, you're not even on the list of people I want to kill," he scoffs, shaking his head at me.
"You have a list? I didn't expect that." I glance at him in shock.
"But do tell me the names. I wanna know if we have people in common that we want to kill," I smirk and he grins at me in reply.
Kota snorts before sending me a cheeky smile, "The first person on my list to kill is..."
"Theo?" I chuckle.
Kota hums, narrowing his eyes at me, "Close. He's second though."
"Try again," he chuckles.
Oh, this is such an easy guess.
I gasp as a grin breaks out on my face, "Winchester. Elijah Winchester."
Kota lets out an evil laugh, making me laugh, "How did you know that Elijah is first on the list of people I want to kill?"
"I thought it was gonna be Theo since he's first on mine," I look at him with a small grin.
"Me too. I didn't expect myself to be on the top of the list. Guess I won."
I hold back my laugh as I see the smile on Kota's face disappear, he looked like he was about to cry now. I would too by the sound of his voice.
"Now, now. Don't I deserve an award for being at the top of your list, Westwood?" Elijah smiles as he puts his arm around Kota's shoulders.
"Oh, kill me." Kota mutters under his breath, closing his eyes as he prays to be saved by Elijah's wrath.
"Mhm, didn't you want to kill me?" Elijah mutters as he locks his arm around Kota's neck.
"No!" Kota squeaks, trying to get Elijah's off him but he clearly had no power over him.
"What a liar," I mutter and Kota sends me a glare. I smile, shrugging at him as he looks at me with pleading eyes.
Damn, I kinda feel bad for him now.
"You know that he was only playing around," I muse as I rest my hand on Elijah's shoulder. He turns around and looks at my hand before looking down at me.
"Mhm, doesn't look like it." Elijah mumbles, narrowing his eyes at Kota.
"Elijah, you know that you're my best friend. I would never think of that," Kota awkwardly grins, patting Elijah's arms.
"And I thought I was your best friend. What a player," I scoff.
"Oh my God, Annie." Kota groans, "Please, just leave me."
"Can you continue this mess later? Kota and I need to grab food." I smile at Elijah as I point at Kota.
"Why should I listen to you?" Elijah narrows his eyes at me, he leaves Kota and moves his face closer to mine.
From the corner of my eyes, I could see Kota running away from us. If he was running in search of Nico then I hope he knows that Nico left the school after lunch. The only person Kota could find is Theo.
I smile and move my face closer to his, our lips nearly touching as I look into his eyes, "Is there a reason why you shouldn't listen to me?" I whisper, looking at his lips and back up into his eyes.
He looks into my eyes and then moves his gaze down to my lips, "You're lucky that there are no reasons."
"Mhm, I knew that." I chuckle as I move my face away from him.
"Wait," he whispers, brushing his fingers across my cheek while he places his other hand on the side of my neck.
He brings his face closer to mine, his lips almost touching mine as our breaths mingle. He looks into my eyes and back to my lips. My heart starts to bang against my chest as he grazes his hand down my spine.
I swear I could see him moving his lips closer to mine, wanting to touch my lips.
But he doesn't kiss me like I expected him to.
He closes his eyes shut for few seconds as if he was trying to control himself.
"Fuck, I'm sorry," Elijah whispers as he pulls his face away, the warmth of his hands leaving me. He looks at me with what seemed like pain and confusion on his face. And with one last glance, he walks away.
"Fuck you, Elijah. I wanted you to kiss me," I mutter under my breath as I brush my hand through my hair.
I groan and take a seat on the bench, having been done with the day. I just wanted to go home right now.
I hear my phone ring and I shut my eyes for a few seconds before digging my hand into my pocket.
"Hello?" I answer impatiently without looking at who called and that was probably my biggest mistake.
"Adrianna," his voice was enough to make me sit up straight on the bench, all my tiredness quickly vanishing.
He never called me during school hours. I start shaking my leg, wanting to know why he called me. I swear I did nothing wrong.
"Hey, Dad." I mutter.
"You sound nervous. Did you do something wrong?" I could hear the slight sternness in his voice.
Yeah, I almost kissed your best friend's son.
But I couldn't say that.
"Not at all. I'm just curious since you called me during school hours."
"Ah, right. I need you to come to the Harrington Medical Centre right now. Your grandfather got into an accident. He's alright but the whole Lennox family is here. I'll send a driver to pick you up," he releases a sigh and I could hear the tiredness in his words.
"I'll be right there," I mumble, "But Dad."
"Yes, mon amour?"
"How are you? Just because I'm not there doesn't mean you can overwork and stress yourself." I groan.
I hear him laugh through the call and hearing him laugh immediately made me smile.
"What's gonna happen to me while my troublemaker is around? Nothing. I'm perfectly fine, mon amour. Just need a little sleep." I hear him smile through the phone.
"I'm not a troublemaker." I scoff, rolling my eyes at him before smiling.
"Mhm, your exclusion records don't say the same." He mutters and I could imagine him shaking his head at me.
"Enough of that. I need you here as soon as possible. They're all waiting for you. See you soon, mon amour."
"See you soon, Dad." I mutter before he hangs up the call.
How bad can this day get?