"Zada!"
I don't have any time to react. It all happened so fast. One peaceful second, I'm casually walking down the hallway with Charlie and the next, I being attacked from behind. If I had the proper time to react, I would have flinched in fear but then I see two arms coming at me from both sides and wrapping around me in a big, teddy bear hug.
Not to mention that those arms are wearing very familiar looking Iron Man bracelets.
"Bailey," I groan out, trying my best to sound annoyed but failing badly. I have a full blown smile on my face because of this girl.
In response, Bailey squeezes me under her arms. On a normal occasion, I wouldn't have minded but seeing as my shoulder is still recovery from the gun wound, Bailey's loving hug soon became a painful bear hug.
"Ow! Ow!" I yell out and use my good arms to push Bailey's arms wide open. Thankfully, she takes the message and lets me go.
"I wasn't holding you that hard girl." Bailey teases while I continue to mumble 'ow' over and over again and gently rubbing my sore shoulder. The pain isn't irritating beyond belief anymore but sure is still sensitive to unexpected pressure. Bailey's face loses amusement when she realizes that I'm holding onto shoulder. "What did you?" She asks, concerned.
"Apparently it was a sledding accident," Charlie explains, giving me a sideways grin.
This man is a life saver. I gratefully nod my head, "it happened over winter break and still hurts sometimes."
"Does that mean I can't give my best friend hugs?" Even though Bailey is totally crushed at the thought, I still laugh.
"Oh please! You have your girlfriend for that!" I say, making sure not to mention Chasity's name out loud, like we agreed over the phone last night.
I keep my mouth shut about who exactly Bailey is in a relationship with while Bailey never bugs me about Reece.
It's a good deal.
Charlie, first time hearing that Bailey's a lesbian, whistles in approval. "Who's the lucky lady?"
"I would tell you but she's not yet ready for Beacon High to know she's out of the closet so..." and to make a perfect finish, Bailey sticks her tongue out at Charlie who just rolls his eyes and doesn't press on the matter any further.
How come he didn't just act like that yesterday instead of pushing and pushing me to go see Reece because that sure turned out well in the end!
"You ladies ready for biology?" Charlie asks, attempting to start a conversation when the three of us go silent.
Bailey turns to give me a bewildered look, "did he seriously just ask that?" Then, she proceeds to face Charlie so he can see her shocked expression. "When would we ever be ready for that class?"
"Then why are you taking it?"
I giggle, finding it super adorable at how cute Charlie looks with his eyebrow scrunched up and a bit of wrinkles showing on his forehead. This guy needs to me confused more often.
"If it weren't for my parents who forced me to take all three sciences, believe me, I wouldn't!" The three of us round the corner, coming into view of the biology wing. Charlie and Bailey have sprouted a heated argument about whether or not biology is a useful course but I tune them out because all my attention is zeroed in on the breathtaking guy leaning against the lockers near Mrs. Layman's biology class.
My eyes lock in with his brown ones and it's not like those wonderful romance novels where the world stops and it feels like it's just the two of us. No because I can still hear Bailey and Charlie's debate on biology like a bee buzzing right up against my ears and the students all around us making their way to class, blocking my view of Reece every now and then.
Yet Reece and I still continue to have a stare down and I can't stop the blush from spreading across my cheeks because of it.
"Zada, what is your opinion on the matter?" Charlie politely asks, interrupting my moment with Reece. Not having any other choice, I look away from my favourite brown eyes to see Bailey and Charlie staring at me intently.
"What?" I ask, having no idea what Charlie asked me because of a certain somebody who distracted me with a certain pair of lovely eyes.
Am I seriously obsessing over Reece's eyes? Like how many times have I thought the word 'eyes' this past twenty seconds?
"Tell me you agree with me that biology is only useful if you want to have a shot at med school." Bailey pleads, desperately wanting to win the argument.
"Um," automatically, I look back in the direction of our classroom to see that Reece is no longer standing near the door. He must have gone into the class already. "There are numerous other careers you can have with biology." I say, sounding bummed because I can't look into Reece's brown eyes.
"Thank you," Charlie says, glad that I see his point of view.
But Bailey doesn't give up that easily. "Like what?"
Bailey comes to a stop, causing Charlie and I to follow suit so now we're all standing outside bio class. "I don't know Bay," I honestly say, "just check some random university's website and look at their PhD degrees or something like that." Not wanting to be apart of this conversation any longer, I leave the two and walk inside the classroom, to the back of the class, and sit beside the most popular boy in the school.
"You're early today," he announces, more so to himself than me.
I proceed with unpacking my notebook and pencil case from my backpack. It's true that today is definitely the first time since the first day of back to school this year, that I have showed up for class on time. These past two weeks I would always show up and leave right when the bell rang to decrease the probability that Reece would talk to me by a landslide. I just couldn't risk that chance.
Now, that I have stopped pushing Bailey away from me, I got so distracted at having her back in my life that I forgot about my strategy at limiting contact with Reece.
Speaking of Bailey, she and Charlie just entered the classroom, huddling close to each other as they walk to their shared desk while whispering to each other. Obviously their still having their debate. I see Chasity, whose desk with Cameron is right behind Baliey and Charlie's, lean forward into her desk so she can catch glimpses of what her girlfriend is saying.
"So those two are finally together," Reece states quietly so that only I can hear and not the two eager gossipers in front of us.
I just write today's date on the top my new, clean page.
I hear Reece sigh, "you're gonna have to talk to me eventually."
My hand freezes over my notebook but I recover the next second and continue writing in the date.
I can ignore him.
"You know we seriously need to talk, to discuss us."
Maybe not.
For the first time in two weeks, I look to my right, at Reece, not bothering to hide the hurt on my face. "Of course you're eager to talk so you can reject me and put all this unwanted trouble behind you." I shouldn't have said that. It was wrong of me to say such words in attempt at trying to shove some guilt into the guy in hopes of postponing our talk. Or maybe I was just lashing out because I know my ugly words are true.
Except Reece doesn't appear to be feeling any guilt over the matter. Instead, he looks extremely shocked as if one of our dads came into the room because they've found a cure for Reece's ability.
"Are you serious right now," Reece says loudly through gritted teeth. He huffs out in frustration, brushing a hand through his hair, undecided on what he should say next.
The two girl's in front of us shift their weight to one leg so they can slightly turn in our direction in hopes of hearing more of what Reece has to say next. I stay frozen in my spot, staring wide at Reece with dreading, wishing desperately that he'd stay silent for now.
Please don't reject me right here in biology class. What little dignity I have left will join the extinct club with the Dodo bird and the dinosaurs.
To the two girls disappointment and to my relief, Reece doesn't get the chance to further express his thoughts because the bell rings and Mrs. Layman walks in.
Only, when I turn to face the front of the class, it's not Mrs. Layman I see, sitting on the edge of my bio teacher's desk. This man is foreign to my class but, from the shocked gasps from the same two girls sitting in front of me, I'm sure the female population, excluding Chasity, Bailey, and myself, I'm sure he'll be more welcomed than Reece.
This guy is at least in his mid twenties but he is one hunk of a man. His tall, muscular frame can't be contained in that tight white shirt which he has tucked nicely into his black jeans. That black hair of his does those two drama queens in front of me no justice. I swear their about to either collapse from their seats or run up to the front of the class to bet the guys hair.
Did this guy accidentally mistaken the room he's supposed to be in for his photo shoot? Judging by his tanned bronze skin, I bet he's a model for some swimmers catalog.
I can't see the colour of his eyes from where I'm sitting and maybe that's a good thing. They're probably some sort of exotic shade of blue or green, maybe both. I certainly don't want to gey distracted and add my name onto his fan girl club list.
The man gives a lop sided grin to us. "As you might have already figured out, I'm not Mrs. Layman." This earns the guy a few chuckles from the class.
I know what the majority of my fellow students are thinking. He's way better looking than our old bio teacher.
"I'm Mr. Caraveo, you're guys' substitute teacher for the next few days. Now," he claps his hands together, giving all of us a once over, "let's watch some pointless bio video!"
Bailey, of all the people shouted out, "thank you", at Mr. Caraveo, earning the attention of the entire class. Now one had any clue besides Charlie and me that this was about her view point of bio being pointless. I see Charlie shake his head, still not gonna take her side of the argument.
Mr. Caraveo let's Bailey's weird out burst slide, turns off the lights, and turns on the projector.
=====* * *=====
Five more minutes left of class. Just five more minutes.
I keep telling myself that over and over but I'm one second away from throwing all my stuff at the annoying hottie sitting right beside me who has made it his personal mission to grab my attention the moment Mr. Caraveo turned on the movie.
I haven't paid attention to the video at all. For the entire hour and fifteen minutes, my eyes have been glued at the clock hanging above the projector. The class has thought me a very important life lesson.
Never spend more than two minutes staring at a clock.
It's not as thrilling as it sounds and wow, it sure makes it seem as time decided to move slower than a snail.
Another tiny piece of rolled up paper is tossed at me, hitting the side of my hair and then tumbling down to the ground. It's a good thing the lights are turned off otherwise the teacher would notice all the tiny balls of paper scattered around my desk area and even in my hair.
I take a deep breath through my nose and release it slowly out my mouth.
Easy does it.
Don't lose control now especially after being patient for this past hour and fifteen minutes.
What's five more minutes gonna do?
Wait a minute...oh my goodness! There's still five minutes left of class? I thought I had only one more minute left!
I'm not gonna make it.
Another ball of paper is flicked at me. This one hits the side of my nose and falls down onto my lap. I would have picked the piece up and chuck it back at Reece but it's too small to cause the damage I want Reece to feel for all I had to endure.
Take a deep breath in the nose and out the mouth.
Reece throw another piece of paper, hitting my ear. It almost got stuck in my ear but luckily fell down and came to a stop on my shoulder. With all the pieces of paper around me, it looks like I'm sitting in a winter wonderland.
Correction: an unwanted winter wonderland.
The next ball of paper flies into my hair, getting stuck in it. That's rather impressive seeing as me hair is quite short.
I close my eyes this time as I take yrt another calming breath.
I can do this. I can do this. Just a few more minutes left.
Reece throws his next annoying ball of paper at me but this one is bigger. The ball, probably close to the size of my fist, smacks gently against my cheek and slides down my face until it falls to the ground.
It wasn't the size that burst my bubble.
It was the fact that the massive ball of paper was soaked in Reece's saliva.
"That's it!" I yell, no longer caring about maintaining peace and balance. If he wants me to react then I'll react. I pick up my notebook and stand up from my desk. I lift my notebook up in the air and am about to smack it on Reece if the bell didn't ring at that moment.
The classroom lights immediately come on to reveal everyone, including Mr. Caraveo, staring at Reece and me.
Specifically me.
Mr. Caraveo is the first one to speak. "Class dismissed," he announces. I begin to feel relief that I'm actually not going to get in trouble until my substitute teacher points at me. "You stay behind."
All the relief disintegrates from me. I drop my hands down and begin to put my notebook and pencil case back into my backpack. By now, half the class has left. I see Bailey giving me an encouraging smile while Charlie mouths 'everything will be okay'.
At this point, I'm just glad my lip reading skills are top notch.
"Mr. Caraveo, this is all my fault. I was the one who aggravated her." Reece explains, surprising me. I look at him for the first time since the start of class and give him a small, weak smile.
Reece gives me a sad smile back. This is his way of saying sorry.
I don't know if he's forgiven though.
"I asked the lady to stay behind, not you." Mr. Caraveo calmly states.
Nope, Reece is not forgive.
I swing my backpack over my shoulders, being able to use my left shoulder now, and walk to the front of the class.
Reece ends up walking beside me. I sneak a peek to see him biting his lip, not pleased with the fact that I have to stay behind.
Well, he shouldn't have been throwing all those pieces of stupid paper at me.
I stop, standing right in front of Mrs. Layman where Mr. Caraveo is sitting. He glances over at Reece, patiently waiting for Reece to leave the room. Reece stands beside me for a couple of seconds, having a stare down with our substitute teacher before he finally decides to actually listen to the guy.
"I'll wait for you outside," Reece softly tells me then walks out of the classroom.
Mr. Caraveo mistakes the pure dread on my face because he lightly laughs. "Don't worry, I'm not here to scowl you. I know the boy was bugging you."
Then why didn't you call Reece out on it? Instead of asking that and getting myself potentially into real trouble, I go straight to the point. "Then why am I here?"
"You're Zada Porter, correct?" Mr. Caraveo asks.
I nod my head, not liking the creeped out feeling I'm getting. How does this man know my name?
Mr. Caraveo reads my weirded out expression loud and clear. "Mrs. Layman was impressed with your outstanding mark on your last unit test and instructed me to hang you the test back early," he elaborates. "She told me that you sit in the very back row. Seeing as you're the only girl in the whole back row, it wasn't that hard to figure who you were."
Again, I nod my head slowly, not really sure if I like his reasoning. Why would Mrs. Layman want her substitute teacher to hand an unit test early to one of her students? What good will that do me? Also, why would Mrs. Layman give specific instructions where I usually sit?
Mr. Caraveo reaches into one of Mrs. Layman's desk drawers and pulls out my unit test which I wrote last week. He places the test on the desk in front of me. The first thing my eyes do is locate my mark written in Mrs. Layman's familiar handwriting and silver ink. I scrunch up my eyebrows, finding out that I actually gotten ninety percent on my test.
I'm not going to complain about the mark I received. I'm sure I did a couple mistakes here and there. The problem is that even though a ninety is an acceptable mark, I wouldn't consider it outstanding.
That's when I notice the words under the mark written red ink and unfamiliar handwriting. I read over the sentence and my heart skips a beat before it begins to accelerate. I can feel sweat forming on my forehead as I process the words over and over in my head, fear looming in.
Don't make any sudden sound that would alert Double M =)
Mr. Caraveo had the nerve to put a smiley face. I stare up in horror to see my substitute teacher putting one finger over his lips, telling me to keep quite. The smile on his lips is so creepy, he makes the scariest clown look like a care bear.
I stay quiet but I can't prevent my heart from beating louder than a drummer beating out to ACDC music. This man knows that Reece is Double M. I'm assuming he's dangerous and stay on the save side by listening to his request. I am completely confident in Reece's skills but I don't want to risk it.
My body starts to feel cold as I come up with the worst case scenario.
What if Mr. Caraveo is the monstrous Zero?
Mr. Caraveo, pleased that I haven't called for help, flips the paper of my unit test to the next page. Again, he has written a message on the page but this on makes me take step back, away from him.
How's your shoulder?
My mouth goes dry. How does he know? That's when I look into his eyes.
His light hazel eyes.
The same eyes I stared into at the top of the stares that horrible night at the cabin.
Mr. Caraveo is the robber who shot me.
"As you can see, Zada, the studying paid off." Mr. Caraveo calmly tells me, flipping my test back to the first page. I can barely concentrate on what he's saying.
I just want to get out if this room, as far away from him.
Mr. Caraveo picks up the test and hands it to me. "You've even impressed me. You can take the test home."
My hand is shaking so much that I nearly dropped the test.
"I'll see you tomorrow," My shooter says, giving me a kind smile and wave of goodbye.
I could have fainted right there if I wasn't so terrified on the thought of what he would do to me if I fainted.
With jelly legs, I walk as fast as I can, out the classroom. I slam the door shut tight behind me and lean against it, panting like crazy.
"Zada, are you okay?" I look up to see Bailey, Charlie, and Reece standing a few feet away from me. Their all staring at me in concern.
I clutch the unit test in my hand, making sure that the back side of the test is facing them while I shove the test into my backpack. I will my hands to stop shaking but they don't listen. I could barely put my backpack back on.
My fear still has a lingering hold on me because I stumble over to the three people whose concern seems to have tripled.
"Z-lee," I feel Reece's large, warm hand on my shoulder, steadying me. "What happened?" I know Reece overheard my conversation with Mr. Caraveo. He also most likely heard my irregular heart rate during that conversation.
But I refuse to tell him the truth, too scared of what Mr. Caraveo might do if he found out.
"I'm fine," I manage to gasp out, not sounding one bit convincing. I use Reece's firm hold on me for support otherwise my legs would give out and I would surely end up on the ground.
"You look live you've seen a ghost," Charlie states out, examining me closely.
They know I'm freaked out so I put all the energy I have and laugh. "Sorry, I'm just overwhelmed that I got one hundred on my unit test."
"Impressive," Charlie says.
"Damn," Bailey whistles.
Reece just says silent, not buying my lie. Thanks to his excellent hearing, he can tell when someone is lying. I don't want to face his interrogation, especially if he demanded to see the test.
"Listen guys, I'm going to head out now," I say.
"We'll come with you," Bailey replies back, eager to take the subway with me.
I shake my head, "no, thank you. I'm not going home right away."
"Do you want to go catch something to eat?" Charlie asks. I just shake my head, remove Reece's hold on me, and leave. I walk in the direction of my locker, needing to retrieve my winter jacket, hat, and gloves.
"Z-lee, let me come with you." I didn't even hear him follow me but I should have know that Reece wouldn't give up so easily.
"Please," I quietly mumble, "I just want to be left alone."
I reached the stairs and began to go up them. I expected Reece to follow suit and beg me more to let him tag along.
Expect, when I reached the top of the stairs and turned around, Reece was still standing at the bottom of the steps.
He gave me one last, encouraging smile before he walked away.
__________
So I'm about 20 minutes late with the update and I'm 40 words under my word count goal! Sorry about that !!!
I just want to thank @BoxImage right now because your comment on chapter 14 made me LMAO. Thanks for that! XD
Next Update: March 8 2015 (sorry for the wait, I got midterms)