EVAHis warm, brown eyes darted between mine in surprise, roving over my body and then climbing back up to ogle my face. "It's really you? "He couldn't believe I was here. The feeling was mutual.I nodded, my throat clogged with emotions. The need to blink was strong, but I fought it because I feared that if I did, he would disappear.His brows dove down. "You look different. "His words seemed to slur slightly. And now that I took note of it, my surprise on seeing him was quickly replaced by worry.I ignored his comment, wanting to ask him if he was okay instead, but before I could get the words out, he lunged at me and engulfed me in a tight hug. Almost immediately, my hands came up to wrap around him. I'd missed him. I closed my eyes, inhaling his familiar scent......... but it was all wrong. He smelled of beer and a cologne too strong to be associated with him.A minute went by, then two, three, four and just when I started to think he had fallen asleep on me, he pulled away abru

EVA "He is sitting right here and he isn't deaf. " he shot back. Omar cocked his brow, looking between the two of us and then slowly, deliberately slowly, he turned back to his food, eating in silence. A fine act. If Axel didn't leave, then he wasn't talking to me. I schooled my features before turning to Axel, shrugging as if to say 'well, you heard him'.His mouth fell open in shock. "I cannot believe you. You're sending me out? " I shrugged again. He looked completely floored. He probably wasn't used to not having his way. "Wow. " he blinked, before getting up and storming out of the room. "By the way, you're paying for my breakfast. " Omar shouted after him and I swear I could literally hear the slew of curse words Axel threw at him. I laughed lightly.The truth was, I wasn't really comfortable hashing stuff out and while Omar had seen that part of me several times already, he knew that I still hated doing it, and I could never when we had company.So when he'd asked Axel to

EVAI flinched at the word. I never referred to myself as an orphan and it was quite stupid that I reacted that way whenever people called me that because that, in fact, was exactly what I was. I had the documents to prove it, but the truth was, I couldn't term myself that. Not when I knew my parents were alive somewhere in this world. Sure, they could be dead; life wasn't guaranteed. But I didn't believe that."I've only met Mrs Lawson once, but I'm assuming she and her husband are nice people. " He said again, dragging my eyes back to him."Why? " I asked absently."They adopted you. " He said, matter of fact."Well, there's that. " I laughed. Why was I laughing? I frowned."There's also the fact that they built the school pool and furnished the gym to death, voluntarily, of course. " His eyes lit up. "Have you had the chance to go in there yet? "I shook my head. I didn't even know the school had a gym, but I knew about the pool. Zoe took regular swims there after school. I saw her

EVA Jesus, he had grey eyes. Not brown like every other dark-skinned guy at this school. Grey. And how startlingly cold they were.Starting to feel prickly under his intense gaze, I looked away, rubbing my palms together under the table to rid the cold I was suddenly feeling. With my head still lowered, I peeked at him out of the corner of my eye and to my greatest relief, he wasn't looking at me anymore. He was now making patterns with his food on his plate. How weird."Who is that guy? " I asked before I could stop myself."Who? " "The one sitting on the same side as Alexander. " Laura shook her head when she saw who I was talking about. "That's Vaughn. He's a total creep. And I don't mean that lightly. " That much I could tell. "Does anyone even have traditional names here? " I squinted and she chuckled."They do. We just prefer to go by our English names. Since, you know, they're easier to pronounce. "I nodded. That was true, I guess. And I wasn't one to talk. I went by my E

EVA"Axel! " The high-pitched, feminine voice came from a tiny girl running towards where we were seated with a wide smile on her face. She looked genuinely delighted and surprised to see him, all but pushing my bag to the ground to make room for herself on his lap. "Were you waiting for me? "As her voice sifted into my ears, I realized that it was familiar. She was one of the girls that sat at Axel's table —almost all girls in the school really, but she frequented that table more than the others. It was only now that it occurred to me that she was closer to him than the other girls were. Stupid of me to assume he would be unattached, especially considering how much of a player —and how good-looking— he was. He fumbled to catch my bag as it toppled to the ground, causing him to lean into her and she giggled excitedly, throwing her hands around his neck to steady herself.People were starting to come out now and seeing them made me think of how stupid I must look right now. My body a