Chapter -8 "Chocolate Brown Eyes"

<Rebel POV>

I hopped off the yacht and stared at Mr. Karim, the head of the security services, made a silent gesture to leave me alone. Before pulling out my phone from my coat’s pocket and pretending to not pay attention to him. 

Mom sent him with me to ensure I didn’t run away like hell I could. I knew the consequences I would have to bear if I dared to disrespect her words and did something rash. And believe me, mom turned scary, not a sight you want to witness.

“Forgive me, Miss, I received orders to guard you until you enter the college building. And you are not allowed to use your mobile phone either.” Mr. Karim stated in his perfectly professional voice, which irked me off. I gritted my teeth angrily yet nodded curtly while handing my cell to him, no matter how much I wanted to run off, but I knew better. With this man as my bodyguard, it was safer to do as told, at least for now, because Mr. Karim had a sickness of endless loyalty towards his boss.

Mr. Karim moved ahead to open the door of the car, waiting for us outside the port. I chose not to sit inside but rather took a walk instead. My college was hardly 20 minutes from here and a little walking wouldn’t hurt me. Furthermore, I enjoyed watching the calmness of the water lines and the noise of mankind moving side by side.

As expected, Mr. Karim tailed after me. I paid no attention to him, and let him do his job. Whilst I am enjoying my view outside of the window.

Whenever I felt like staying alone, I came here and did nothing, just sat on the shore and watched the patterns of waves and listened to the music created by nature. The combination of waves crashing down on the shore and the bustling sound of civilization nearby. 

It’s kinda weird and annoying for some people. I get it.

Though to me, it was like taking time off from my hectic life to let nature heal my soul. 

It has always been like this for me, whether it’s blue ocean water or a lone moon surrounded by thousands of illuminating stars in the night sky. Nature’s goodness never ceased to amaze me.

With a genuine smile on my lips, I set the distance from the port to the college. Standing in front of the ancient-looking architecture, all the memories of the time I spent here came back to me. 

Without wasting time, I turned toward Mr. Karim, and thanked him for accompanying me to university (which I didn’t need though) before crossing the threshold of The University of Tampa, Florida.

***

Everything was the exact I left. In the sea of students crossing or hanging out outside in the hall, I looked for one person whose company I preferred over popular collage groups, my friend Rosy. She was the local here, and she was the sweetest person I ever met.

I found her in the locker room trying to deal with the bushes she called hair. I lent her a hand and tied a ribbon to secure her hair in one place. “You are back! I miss you so much, Reb!” She jumped on me in excitement.

I chuckled softly at her show of love and hugged her back. “I missed you too. Tell me what happens when I wasn’t around?” I was genuinely curious.

Rosy rubbed her chin as tried hard to think of my questions while I took a look at her appearance. She was shorter than me but had a cute face. She was wearing a black knee-length dress with a denim jacket on it and accompanied by white sneakers, which looked just perfectly fine. 

Other than that, she had a dark brown complexion, and she wasn’t wearing any makeup. With her ocean blue eyes and curly brown hair, all in all, she was a cute and genuine person who loved to stay real, not as others who hide behind layers of makeup and branded accessories.

“Umm… nothing except Lisa colored her hair green and her pet levy ran off last Friday.” Rosy whispered.

I failed to suppress the giggles that escaped my lips while an image of Lisa with green hair crossed my mind. Rosy joined me. However, our fun was cut short when the bell rang through the speakers announcing the class was about to start. 

***

We exited the classroom together and headed to the canteen for the lunch break. Rosy excused herself and headed for the washroom first, while I stood on the cue to get our food. There was a large line ahead of me. I waited patiently for my turn while plugging in my earphones. Ruelle’s songs blast in my ears. With no care in the world, I was standing there with no idea what was going on behind my back until the crowd in front of me shifted to look at the scene unfolding in the canteen. 

I plugged off my earphones and turned to watch a green-headed girl with her group bullying a boy. He must be new. I never saw him around, yet I felt like I knew him somehow. Strange. 

His chocolate brown eyes were jumping helplessly from one person to another in the room before colliding with mine. He looked away immediately. There was a voice inside my head nagging me to rescue the poor guy.

Nobody moved to help him, instead of enjoying the show and making fun of him, when Lisa dumped her milkshake over his head and giggled innocently.

I hated being the center of attention to college bullies, but I had a strong urge to help the newbie. It was nothing new to me. Lisa and her gang loved to mess around and make fun of people. With time, it becomes easy to ignore her for me.

She thought coming from the richest family in Florida gave her the right to treat others as her slaves. And her father was one of the trustees, which was another point to add. 

She easily gets away from any matters, so there was no one to challenge her dictatorship.

No matter how much I hated her, I never raised my voice against it. For starters, it was against the boundaries set by my family in exchange for living a peaceful life. And secondly, she was not worth wasting my time on. If I wanted, she would be dead meat on the floor in a blink of an eye. I didn’t even need to use my power, for that matter. 

This little brat playing dictator over daddy’s treasury just didn’t deserve my attention. 

I turned a blind eye and grabbed my food order before walking out of here but bumped into someone not so accidentally, of course.

The outcome created another wave of chaos running through the crowd when the person I bumped into accidentally dropped her coffee on a green-headed girl’s expensive skirt and shoes. 

Lisa cried at the top of her lungs.

I didn’t stand there to watch the remaining drama and dragged the newbie by the arm with me before darting out of the scene. Not stopping until I reached the terrace door.