XIV. Red Rings

Cara

I boredly tapped my pen against my notebook waiting for the history teacher to arrive. His arrival did not matter. My mind was not there anyway. Yep, Cara's presence in the classroom was merely physical. Her mind was very far away.

My thoughts were consumed by what happened just the day before, less than twenty four hours before. The woods. The chase...The kiss.

It had happened as suddenly as death. Suddenly his lips were mine and mine were on his. Suddenly he was pressed against me, every inch of my body against his and it felt good.

I remembered the warmth of his body, the gentleness of his lips and his hold on me. He had wrapped his arms around my back and pulled me up so that I settled on his thighs as he was in a kneeling position.

It had been so spontaneous...so unexpected. That may have been what made it so passionate. It caused me to realise just how much I wanted him, how much I needed him. Because at that moment I didn't want him to ever let me go.

"Earth to Matthews...Cara Elizabeth Matthews."Alice and Lisa called. They were practically shouting. My daydreams had consumed me too much for me to hear them.

"What's got you so off at nine o'clock in the morning?"Asked Lisa, checking her phone for the time. She had quickly made friends with Alice and I. Now she, Alice and I were practically inseparable.

Over a span of less than a week we had become the best of  friends. This was surprising since Alice and Lisa were polar opposites in so many ways.Unlike Alice who was a bit...reserved, Lisa was fun-loving and free spirited.

Due to her jovialness and free spirit, it only made sense that Lisa was captain of the spirit squad. Contrary to the common belief, not all cheerleaders are mean-girls who will mock and bully you. And Lisa was proof of that.

"Nothing. I'm fine. Everything's fine," I answered Lisa. She stared at me incredulously then let it go. She did not believe me and knowing Lisa, she was not done with it, Lisa didn't just let things go. It was her nature to pick and prod all your secrets and thoughts out of you, not in a bad way, of course.

"He's back," I heard some girl say. I turned my attention away from my friends and directed it to the front of the classroom.

There behind the teacher's desk stood a man, a very tall and admittedly, handsome one. The odd thing was, here I was staring at a man that many would describe as panty-dropping gorgeous and I did not feel a thing.

While the rest of the class -save for Alice, of course- was practically drooling, my thoughts had returned to Ivan. I suspected that a few months ago (before I met Ivan), had I been in the same situation, I probably would have drooled a little but now, nothing.

"Good morning, Mr.Hoff, "everyone said excitedly, that is, except Alice and I.

"Good morning class." His voice was deep and laced with a light accent. Some sort of Baltic accent. It was weird because the surname 'Hoff' was not at all Baltic : it was of German origin meaning 'court'.

I had done my fair share of research on various things, one of which was common surnames and their origins. I loved to research things.

Mr.Hoff was surprisingly good at teaching history. But there was something off about him. I brushed it off as one of my many delusions.

Nothing to worry about. You are just being crazy...so stop being crazy.

After an hour of Mr.Hoff going on about the U.S parliament with a few jokes in between the lesson was finally over.

"Matthews!" I heard Mr.Hoff's throaty voice behind me. Letting Alice and Lisa go ahead of me, I went to the teacher.

What could he possibly have wanted?

"It is Matthews, isn't it?" Asked Mr.Hoff. I did not know his first name and I frankly didn't care enough to try to learn it. The teacher leaned against the desk in a casual manner.

"Yeah."As I got closer I was able to get a better look at him. He had oily dark brown hair with reddish-brown tips and well defined cheekbones. His lips had a red tinge. His eyes were what caught my eyes. His pupils were golden, each with a little slightly red ring around it, some sort of eye disorder by my guess.

I quickly focused my attention away from his eyes but he tried to maintain eye contact between us.

"You're the new student. Or do I not have my facts straight?" He quired. I avoided his eyes. They were creepy.

"Yeah. I am new here."

"I understand you relocated here a few weeks ago. I hope you have settled in well." I nodded. He scanned me bottom to top but his eyes stopped at my neck. He slowly touched my neck with the pads of his figures.

Alarmed, I swiftly slapped his hand away and took a step back from him. Now I was fully creeped out. He was either a perv or had absolutely no boundaries. "Oh... apologies. "

His eyes moved to the two necklaces that hung around my neck. "Silver, brass, obsidian. Where did you get...this little trinket? Who gave this to you?"

"No one. I-I have to go"

I walked away leaving him hanging. What was he gonna do? Give me detention for walking away from him? I think not.

***

As I approached my vehicle, I found that a car had parked behind me. The car in question was a grey Mercedes-Benz SLC 300. Yep, I know my cars. The only question was, who the hell parked it right behind mine,blocking my way?

"So you're the little delinquent that parked in my space."And there he was again. Mr. Hoff. No wonder no one had ever complained about me in the faculty lot, the space belonged to him and he had been absent.

"I-" I started but he cut me off rather rudely in my opinion.

"The goddamn student's lot is all the way on the other side of the school. Not here and certainly not in my parking space!" He raised his voice at me, attracting the attention of the few people around us.

"I'm sorry...plus it's not like you were here anyway," I said. That angered him even more. Oops.

He and I were getting off on a bad start. Hopefully he was not petty enough to fail me without reason just because I parked in his space. He looked like the kind.

"Listen here, girl , and listen well, " spat the angry teacher. I only stared at the red rings around his pupils, paying little attention to what he was saying. "Do not think that this little thing around your pretty little neck,"he clenched his jaw as he touched the chain of my new necklace, "can protect you from me, from what I can do to you."

Without any warning whatsoever, he pushed me aside and opened his car door and drove off.

***

"Argh!" To my utter dismay, my car was...malfunctioning. The engine was not working. There was something wrong with it and I had no idea what.

Frustrated and in distress, I leaned back against the car seat. First the encounter with Mr.Hoff and now this.

Coach had been absent so there was no practice, meaning I could get home early. Things had actually started to go my way then this happened.

My attempts to fix whatever the problem was proved futile and I ended up with an even more smoke filled engine. Now the conversation dad and I had about me getting triple A rang in my head. Why hadn't I just done it? I was young and stupid then. 'Then'

was a month ago.

"Hey Matthews!" Connor shouted across the lot. He drove up to me with a dazzling smile on his face. All part of the player's charm. "In case you didn't notice,  your engine is smoking and so are you."

"Seriously..."

He got out of the car and approached the increasingly smoking engine. He dipped into the mess. I wondered how he could withstand all the smoke without so much as a cough.

"I see the problem. Leaking valve cover gasket. Basically the leak is causing oil to drip onto the manifold which is very hot at the moment. This is what's causing all of this... " He said.

"How do you know so much about cars?"

"I don't. I just had the same exact problem two weeks ago. I guess that maybe you did not get triple A." I nodded."Well seeing as you are a damsel in distress,I have no choice but to help you, you know, as your knight in shining armour. You'll ride with me."