Novels by Jewella

Alex~I do not know how long we stay like that on the sidewalk, with the night air wrapping around us like a second skin. My face is pressed into his jacket, and it smells faintly of laundry soap and underneath is something warmer, that makes me want to hold my breath just to keep it in.The cold creeps into my fingers, but I do not move because I do not want to. Seth’s chin rests on the top of my head, and every time he exhales, the warmth of his breath slips through my hair. His arms stay locked around me like if he loosens them, I might slide apart right there on the concrete.When he finally pulls back, it is not much, just enough to see my face, his brows drawn like he is still bracing for whatever comes next.“You good?” he asks quietly.It is a stupid question and we both know it, but the way he says it makes it less about the answer and more about letting me choose whether to talk at all.“Yeah,” I lie. My voice does not even try to make it sound convincing.His mouth tilts i

Alex~The rest of the presentations feel like background noise after mine. I sit through them, nodding when I am supposed to, pretending to listen while my mind keeps replaying the sound of the applause. How it had been hesitant at first, then stronger, how the professor’s voice had cut through the clapping with something that almost sounded like pride.But the other part of me keeps looping the sight of phones held up during my turn, tiny red dots blinking at me from the corners of the room. Recording, posting and sharing my words and my face already beyond my control.By the time class ends, my head is buzzing and my stomach feels tight, like i have just swallowed an elephant. I shove my stuff into my bag and slip out before anyone can try to talk to me, letting the chatter of the hallway drown me out.The air outside is brisk enough to sting and the cold is the kind that makes me tuck my chin down and walk faster towards home, warmth. I am halfway to the dorm when my phone starts

Alex~It’s the presentation day already and I am feeling super jittery.The room is already buzzing when I walk in. People are half-settled in their seats, chatting over the tops of laptops, chewing gum, shuffling slides. The projector hums quietly overhead, casting a faint glow over the front row. Jordan’s already there, naturally. He gives me a small nod, like we’re teammates passing the ball off mid-game, but he doesn’t say anything. He doesn’t need to he already did the work. The editing, the stitching, the last-minute subtitle alignment. I’m just the one opening my mouth in front of thirty people.My mouth feels like it doesn’t belong to me and so does my arms. I clutch my bag too tightly and try not to look like I’m gripping it for stability. I finally sit down, watching the professor go through attendance with his usual half-hearted rhythm. His glasses keep slipping down his nose that he doesn’t bother fixing them anymore. I look down at my shaky hands, maybe I should’ve aske

Alex~To ‘cheer me up’ Seth invites me out, he doesn’t say where we’re going just glances at me from where he’s tying his boots, eyes flicking up beneath the curve of his lashes like he’s gauging if I’ll come willingly. Knowing he isn’t going to answer, I don’t ask, I just pull on my hoodie, even though the evening’s already warm, and follow him out.We don’t talk much as we cut across campus.As we walk, I feel like the weight between us has shifted again, it’s not exactly heavy. Just… full. I stay close to him as we walk, his hands brushes mine once, accidentally, but neither of us pulls away.By the time we cut through the side alley behind Leo’s building, I know where we’re headed.“Sneaky,” I murmur as he pulls out the key Leo left him ages ago. “Didn’t peg you for sentimental.”For some reason, despite knowing the past between him and Leo, I don’t even feel jealous.“Don’t give me too much credit,” he says, pushing the door open. “I just like the view.”We get in and climb up

Alex~I don’t expect the knock.It comes in the middle of a quiet Sunday afternoon where the clouds overhead are stilled and there’s barely a breeze outside, the clouds are the kind of gray that turns the dorm hallway into something hushed and suspended. Seth’s out running errands. I’m halfway through microwaving leftover rice, trying to force myself to eat something that isn’t dry cereal or cold Pop-Tarts.Then i hear it at the door two soft knocks, hesitant and careful.I pause with my hand on the microwave. I listen for a second, I just stand there, not moving, then I wipe my hands on a kitchen towel and head to the door, already assuming it’s someone from our floor who forgot their key card or another RA with a clipboard.Only when i open the door, it’s not either of these people, it’s Tracey.She’s wearing a green knit sweater I recognize, it’s one of the ones she used to wear on movie nights, the kind I once tugged off her shoulders with my teeth. Her hair’s down, her eyeliner

Alex~I wake up with the taste of his name still soft in my mouth and Seth’s arm slung low across his side of the bed he’s not touching me, but it’s close. I don’t know how the night ended exactly. At some point, his laugh had dissolved into sleep and I’d stayed awake, counting the rise and fall of his chest like it might explain something about my own.Outside, the morning filters in like it’s not sure it’s welcome. I blink into the low gray light and try to make peace with the ache in my chest not sadness just the weight of the incoming.Seth stirs, and I watch him blink himself awake slowly. His hair’s a mess and he stretches out on the bed, yawning like he owns the world then looks over at me and smiles.“Still here?” he asks, voice all scratchy and warm.I nod. “You snored.”He grins wider. “No, I did not.”“You did. Once just once and then you talked in your sleep.”“Oh no,” he groans, rubbing his face. “What did I say?”I hesitate, lips pulling into something between fond and

Marcus MatthewsThe pen swirls between my fingers coming to rest between my index and thumb in rapid succession, One might say I was bored, but in reality, it was all I could do to still myself as the thoughts ran their wild course through my mind. My fingers jerk each time I think of Orion and the gun.“Take care of him” My brother Dane had requested simply.Giving him a 44 magnum pistol had not been part of what he requested and I’m pretty sure he’d have my balls on a stick flying high over his pool-house if he found out, but then again the crazed look in his eyes had been something I’d recongized. It was the same fire that had been in Dane’s eyes for Miranda all those years ago before he became a money conscious prick.The door bursts open as I oblige myself to a taste of scotch, and a burly looking guard I frankly don’t remember hiring walks in.“Sir,” he says simply waiting for my signal before he continues, I raise my glass to him and he steps back “The quarry has arrived and he

Paloma“You sure you don’t want to stay?” Casey asks for the billionth time that morning “I could as well just tell my parents to come at a later date or we could-"“It’s fine Casey” I reassure her again. “Besides you haven’t seen them in God knows how long, it would be selfish of me to let you pass up the opportunity.”“But-” she opens her mouth to raise another argument.My hands are faster and I raise it to silence her.“Enough Casey” I say, blowing my sweaty hair out of my face as I haul my suitcase from my room “I swear if you ask me one more time I’ll shove this suitcase so far up your arse you’ll sneeze bra, if you really want to help, then help me bring the luggage to the door.”She smiles and obliges me and I heave a breath as she takes the box off my hands.“It’s a two week stay,” she says huffing “Why do you need so much and how do you even have so much stuff, are you moving?”“Its stuff I need” I tell her “Just help me get it to the door would you.” Certain strings of exp

OrionIt had been a week since she was discharged and still my fingers has not learnt to uncoil the gun, I wonder how she will react if she found that I had been sleeping right outside her apartment with a revolver in my hands like some crazed paw patrol squad. I counted down the time until Casey’s parents would arrive, then she would have to stay with me for awhile and then maybe I’d finally get some shut-eye.It has been quite unmemorable this past week with some days leaving a bitter taste trailing down my throat like when I had to grovel back to join the team, the all too enthusiastic glint in the coach’s eyes made me want to vomit. I hated that he got to win like that but in the end I’d grovel before a thousand worlds if it will keep her safe.The night was awfully quiet save for the occasional hooting of the owl and the constant ticking of my watch, I should sleep even if it’s a little but I cannot bring myself to do so, even if she has begun to notice it, there’s too much on my

PalomaA string of expletives escapes from my lips and he winced, with a strength I did not know I possess I leap from the confines of my bed and rushed headfirst towards him, my fists raised high up in the air, he did not stop me but he sure did not expect as my arms wraps around him, crushing myself into his chest.“Thought you weren’t coming back.” I whisper into him, “why the fuck didn’t you come back, you had left, I could not-”In that moment he lifts my face up placing a deep kiss on my lips and silencing me, it was right, something I was hoping for, like an addictive drug that I had gone too fucking long without, it was relief, we finally break away from our kiss, his hands still cupping my face as we stare into the endlessness of each other, he opens his mouth to say something but a deep clearing of someone’s throat kills off whatever words were to come out.“Orion in love.” A deep voice says from behind him. “Never thought I’d see it come, your father must be absolutely livi

PalomaWe have lived almost everywhere before, from shanty houses to trailer parks, things kind of got awry when dad left and having little next to nothing.Didn't seem to help matters. I vaguely remember her now but for all the mystical things in the world, things didn’t come close to Mama Lupé.It was a dark time for me with dad gone, I was nine and Mom’s habit of drugs and drinking had begun to become less of a hobby and more of a daily routine, it was expected that without a job that we would be kicked out and the landlord had been lenient enough, mom was not picking up her act and soon the need for money had us out on our backs and into the streets.This was perfect scene for Mom anyway and I only remember him as Luca but he was one of the worst moments of my life but still I had nowhere to go, stuck in a trailer park with Mom’s dealer and new love interest, it was in the next trailer I met one of the most interesting women.Her skin was what drew me to her in the first place, I’

Chapter Twenty SevenOrionFocus on her smile.Focus on her smile.Focus on her smile.My eyes betray me once again and my gaze drifts over her, I wince annoyance and a gain the cloud of annoyance falls so much so that her voice seems far off, drifting off with the cold air that blew from the air conditioning."Orion,” she calls to me. “You seem off, I'm fine you know, you really don't have to-"She stops when she catches my gaze and for a moment our eyes linger telling the truths that our lips were afraid to say, I knew her enough to know when she put up the fake facade, that show of strength when when really it was all jelly underneath the iron facade, it didn't make feel better, it made me feel worse and I feel her cold hands against mine, she notices my looks and squeezes my hand, looking up to the ceiling, she blows a breath."Fine, it's stupid to say I'm fine," she says. “Any idiot can see I'm not fine, is it your fault? Could this have been avoided? Maybe.” I grunt interruptin