Chapter 05

ALINA

Everyone seemed to be in their own little buzz this morning, whispering amongst themselves. They seemed intrigued about something. This town was pretty small and not much really happened. You couldn't flick a booger in this town without someone noticing.

There was a cold chill in the air. A weird sensation ran down my spine. Something was wrong and I could just feel it in my bones. Something was definitely about to happen or already did for the entirety of Sapphire High to be in a chatting frenzy.

From a child, I could always predict when something bad would happen. It was strange but I always regarded it as my sixth sense and for some reason my sixth sense seemed to be tingling more than usual.

I roamed the eerie and chattery halls of Sapphire High with a clear goal of reaching my locker without being noticed by anyone but I lost sight of my goal when a strange figure stood at the main entrance of the school building. His silhouette was the only noticeable thing visible to the eyes. He looked muscular with broad shoulders and very tall.

Everyone's attention had turned to him as he strode down the hall with the utmost confidence, his features becoming more noticeable the closer he walked toward me. All chattering seized. It was as if he captured every drop of undying attention that these students had.

He ran a hand through his long, wavy, jet black hair. The black v-neck shirt he wore hugged his biceps to the extent where it seemed the seams would burst. Black washed out jeans and black combat boots completed his look.

There was something about him that didn't settle right with me. He exuded so much confidence and pride. I noticed a purplish glow emanate from him so I rubbed my eyes and then blinked a few times but the glow was still there.

He walked passed me, accidentally grazing his arm against mine. I jumped backward, slamming my back hard onto the metal lockers. His dark, emotionless eyes caught mine but he never said a word.

His body was unusually cold but it didn't seem to bother him. He stood directly in front of me and quirked an eyebrow. His face was round but jagged. He had the darkest set of eyes I've ever seen and a slight stubble across his defined jaw. He had the look of a pretty boy.

The corner of his pale, pink lips curled into a devilish smirk. The strong scent of cologne invaded my airways causing me to sneeze. I heard him chuckle lightly in amusement, his hard chest rising and falling.

"You call that a sneeze?"

I inhaled sharply as his features softened out of amusement. His voice was low, husky, and deep. An interesting sound if he didn't have such a cocky demeanor. Everyone's attention wasn't only on him now but on me too.

I planned to go unnoticed today but that plan blew up in a puff of smoke the moment his skin made contact with mine. His eyes searched my face as I swallowed the rising bile in my throat. I felt agitatedly nervous. The purple glow that I had seen radiate from him turned a soft yellow and I took notice of the slight dimple indented on his left cheek.

"What's wrong? Cat got your tongue?" he asked, giving me a questionable look for not replying to him the first time. His eyes searched my face, taking in my features as they lingered a little too long on each one.

My words escaped me and my brain was in utter shambles. I couldn't think straight with him in my personal space so instead, I silently shook my head feeling a massive wave of embarrassment submerge me.

"You're standing in front of my locker sweetheart," he smoothly said, gesturing to the locker directly behind my head with his dark green eyes.

I glided to the side to allow him to access his locker. When he opened the baby blue locker my heart sank. His locker number was 120 which meant my locker was directly next to his. Locker 121.

I hadn't even realized that I had reached my locker because I was so engrossed in him. Turning around, I opened my locker and grabbed all my necessary books for the day. I didn't want to come back here to face him. Especially since I was embarrassed enough and that too in front of the entire student body of Sapphire High.

~~~

He was inevitable. I couldn't avoid him no matter how much I tried. He had all his classes with me so he was physically impossible to avoid and what made matters worse was the fact Mr. Greenwood thought it would be a marvelous idea to pair him and me up together in chem lab.

Through the course of the day, I learned his name but I preferred to refer to him as the new kid. He seemed to be a loner who didn't appreciate everyone's company around him. He had this 'mad at the world' persona about himself and he flaunted it the way a peacock would flaunt his beautiful feathers.

His demeanor attracted everyone and that meant guys included. I wouldn't be exaggerating if I said every female in this school would have been more than happy to grovel at his feet and he knew it.

It looked as if he loved the attention, thrived on it and he didn't even have to do much to get people's attention. I hated that, along with every other female in this school, he had an effect on me. Something drew me to him as if he was a magnet and I was a piece of metal.

Throughout the day the light that radiated of him and which only seemed to be visible to my eyes only changed into a whole array of colors. It was most definitely the weirdest thing I had ever seen but the most intriguing thing as well.

I had certain 'abilities' from childhood but this was not one of them unless this ability only applied to him. Which again, was weird.

"You look like you're having a bad day," my best friend mumbled, bumping his shoulder against mine as he took his seat next to me at the lunch table.

I let out an exasperated sigh, "It's the new kid," I held my gaze on the mysterious newcomer who hadn't noticed my deadly glare just yet or maybe he knew of my staring but choose to ignore it the way he ignored everyone else's.

"Making enemies are we?" My best friend's lips tugged into a grin. His cheerful mood not escaping me but I was a bit too preoccupied to ask him about it.

"Maxiumas Langford, are you teasing me?" I heckled, shifting my gaze from the new comer to my best friend as I narrowed my eyes in on him and heard an recognizable grunt fall from his lips.

"You know I hate that name. It's Max! Just Max!" he grumbled on as I tuned out the sound of his deep voice. He never liked his name because it had gotten him teased when he was younger and sometimes I would playfully tease him too. However, I only did that when he annoyed him and tended to call him an ass because of Gluteus Maxiumas.

My eyes followed the newcomer as he sat at a lunch table all by his lonesome self. I didn't expect that to last long with the female population of 'cock suckers' in this school and I only refer to it in those words because there was no decent way to put it. Although, I wished there was because I wasn't too fond of cursing and vulgar terminology.

Just as I anticipated, Megan Prescott graced the newcomer with her presence making no attempt to beat around the bush at all. She bent over, making sure her cleavage was in his range of sight before gripping his chin between her thumb and forefinger. She whispered a few words to him and in no time he was off his chair and heading out the cafeteria probably to the football field to do some unspeakable acts behind the bleachers.

"Well, it didn't take her long to sink her fangs into him," Max mused as he stuffed his mouth with pizza. I cringed at the sight of pineapple on it. Unfortunately, I was one of those people that believed pineapple didn't belong on pizza and nothing could possibly change my mind about that.

"It's Megan Prescott, the school's most promiscuous senior," I deadpanned. Megan knew what she wanted and once he had her eyes set on something, it didn't take her too long to sink her nasty claws into it. She was the evil witch of the school, making the lives of the people she wasn't particularly fond of feel like hell.

"Don't you mean 'cock sucker'?" Max beamed in a sardonic tone, an amused expression lighting up his more than handsome face.

"Yeah but I refuse to say those words out loud!" In my mind, as long as I thought them and never said them aloud that meant I never broke my rule of never cussing.

"Come on Lina," Max sang in an adorable begging tone, "You know poor Maxy is sad because Sophia isn't here."

"Where is Sophia?" I quizzed, just noticing that my female best friend hadn't shown up. I hadn't noticed due to my brain being occupied with the new kid who seemed to be a jerk at it's finest. My priorities were all in the wrong places.

"She has got the monthly flu in the private regions, " Max theatrically informed me in his beautiful English accent. Sometimes it slipped my mind that he wasn't American because I was so accustomed to his accent but certain words he spoke sounded very different from the way I would have said them. Hence, it reminded me of his nationality.

I shot Max a dryer than dry stare, "Why does she tell you these things and not me?"

"One, you don't answer your phone. I have no idea why you have one. Two, because I'm her boyfriend and she's the reason we are such good friends in the first place."

I laughed, recalling the memory, "Sof asked me to keep an eagles eye on you because she didn't trust these ratchet..."

"Hoes..." Max said for me so I wouldn't have to deal with the discomfort of cussing before chuckling.

"Yeah that, she didn't trust them to keep their prying eyes, hands, and other body parts away from you."

Sophia Horton, my whimsical blue-eyed and blonde-haired best friend since the first day of middle school stuck with me even when she found her first boyfriend. She and Max had been dating since ninth grade and his presence was a mandatory and essential part of my day. The aqua blue-eyed English boy had really become an integral part of my life with his humor and reasonable advice.

My circle was small. Well, it was actually a triangle because it just consisted of Sophia, Max, and I but it was never about the quantity for me. It was all about quality and you would never find the type of friends I had anywhere.

The sight of the new kid returning with his hand tightly around Megan's waist unfortunately sent unpleasant images to my head. I hadn't realized my face had a sour expression on it until Max got up from his seat and hit me lightly over the head earning a grunt from me.

"Piggy, time to get to class," Max cooed, pulling my arm.

I jolted up, pulling my arm away from him forcefully but he refused to release it and suddenly we were playing a game of tug-a-war with my poor arm. Max finally decided to let go of my arm at the sound of his phone ringing and due to the released force, I stumbled back into a hard object.

I turned around and found myself in the strong, perfectly sculptured arms of the new kid. Megan, who stood next to him, sent me a scornful glare that would probably roast a live chicken.

"Lina," Max called in a concerned manner but I didn't reply. I didn't even turn to look at him.

Steadying myself, I took a full step back, retreating from the new kid's sudden closeness to me. A blazing red glow radiated off him. His eyes darkened and his stare was cold but yet still so enchanting. I could see him clenching and unclenching his jaw which forced his throbbing veins on his temple to come out of hiding.

Out of all the people in the room, why did he have to be my saving grace?