Elaine
He doesn't, he refuses to move away his hands from the waist, Instead it falls low, dangerously to the curve of my lower back.. Pulling me closer to him as I blinked not able to fathom such action from him in spite of the place we were in.
"Why?" is the one word he utters, they weren't sturdy or strong, instead they were dark and possessive. The smile now replaced by a look of vicious authority. Like the Alex who kept the lightheartedness up till now was just for the sake to fooling me, for simpleton, morons.
"What are you doing?" I hiss, gritting my teeth.
"Something that I should've done long ago" His other hand joins at the back, as he hugs me closer. The hesitation in my orbs should've shone clearly as he smirks. "Stopping you from escaping me"
I inhale in his minty scent as he depresses his head lower to the side, his cold breath teasing against the skin of my neck, a heat so high we might as well impersonate a public sauna.
And then I felt his lips ever so lightly brush across my cheeks, before he firmly kisses them.
Tears pricked my eyes as I heard gasps from around, there was nothing innocent about him, his kiss or the atmosphere.
Without a second thought I shoved him, running out as fast as my feet could carry me.
From those eyes, from him.
The night kept replying in my head like a broken recorder. When morning came I was ready to quit so many things at once, but I couldn't. My pride won't let me. So I went to my first class.
I lived. He wasn't there.
The second.
The same.
And. So on.
But guess who took his place instead and miraculously turned out to be my new partner for the semester's upcoming joint learning?
April freaking Beckett. Real surprise there.
In a day with her I made sure she felt the radiation of my ignorance every second that I managed to ignore her. She was at ease, probably because she expected it in a way. Ignorance is a bliss, but curiosity is a bitch.
Excuse my language, but the stinging pain and thirst to know what their motives are made me antsy. But for once I maintained my primitive stage of curiosity, and dealt it with decency.
They worked for him.
I am just paranoid.
Why the hell are they here?
Was he in danger again?
That's the cycle of questions I buried so that my day went like every other day, without drama.
But who was I kidding again?
By the last class, The one class were I was sufficiently assured of April's absence, a class which always took my breath away, quite literally, felt like a heaven for once.
That is until I managed to screw it up as well.
The hem of my uniform skirt endured all forms of nervous fondling while I sat on a bleacher, the gym clothes neatly sat inside my bag. I surveyed as the other students played, refusing to look down were Edmund now had my ankle balanced upon his knee as he inspected it.
I close my eyes shrieking, hissing in pain when he moved it gently, but even in such fashion the jolts of stings coarse even at the slightest of moments.
"How did you managed to do this to yourself even before the class started?" Distant and professional, that's how he sounded. No tease, no pity. Only an accusing edge that he tried to cover up as he blinked at me. His jaws clamped and warm eyes never so hard.
I shrug sadly, not trusting my mouth.
My present state of swelled, red and sockless leg involved an absent mind, wet floor and a girl who was extremely late for the class running into me.
He sighs chewing the inside of his cheeks in thinking, as his eyes lingers over the red angry skin. A fight in his them.
"Screw this" he mutters more to himself, now blatantly unprofessional as he lifted his gaze taking me aback with the sudden onset of angst concern in them.
"How the hell do you manage to hurt yourself so bad you-you idiot. Can't you let me be angry with you for at least a week? You and my supposed best friend lied to me all this while and yet I feel like shit by the way I treat you. And I don't even treat you with anything even half bad as to what Alex does" he whisper-yells as I flinch, a couple of students curiously halted their motions to see what the mumbled commotion here was.
They resumed when the president fumingly spared a second to turn and glared at them.
A glare of a leader, while Alex's were of a tormentor.
Why the comparison?
"I am so sorry Edmund, I can explain" softly I mumble as he shakes his head, asking me to stop. To not feed him with any more hope.
"Don't sorry me Elaine. I refuse to believe in that sincerity of your apology. It wants to make me fall for you again" I clutch the folds of my skirt, startled by the way he watched me. his eyes were prison, that accused me of so many things "I don't want to love you in the naïve sense I did before. this time I want to love you wrong"
"Edmund-"
"Go on a date with me"
It goes blank, my mind. Fogging up to the forbidden junctures, there were too many things in them. Too many things going on in my life and I can't drag him in this mess. I try opening my mouth to make amends, to break his heart for his own good.
"And I am not asking or requesting" the sentence clogs in my throat as I gaped, he raked my face challengingly, as if daring me to topple off his order.
"Is everything okay?" we both look up as a shadow hovers from behind us, the ever disinterested enquiry of Mike hung abandoned in air as we both looked at him.
"Am I interrupting a moment or something?" his lips twitches, the highest form of curiosity by his side as Edmund clears his throat.
"You are here at the right time. Elaine here injured her ankle, if possible help her to the infirmary, will you?" for a second Mike glances at my ankle with both his brows raised and lips pulled down as if in wonder and was it appreciation?
The he nods, bending to grab my shoe and the sock that Edmund had removed to inspect the leg.
Swinging my bag pack with the other over his shoulder he offers me his arm.
With gratitude so high I latch on it, he helps me circle my arm around his neck and shoulder as I elevate the leg slightly, limping but stable we walk out with Edmunds stare hot on us. Probably confused as to why the bipolar nature of Elaine- well Elzina Winston was grinning so wide with twinkles in her Eyes that was so creepy even to imagine.
"What is so happy about going to infirmary?" with his brows pulled low he grumbles, was my smile so ridiculous that it even made the Mighty Mike uncomfortable?
"No, but you helping me is" I chirp as he sighs, he as asks me to adjust the leather strap of camera around his neck since his were quite occupied.
He was carrying my shoe afterall. Contrast to Cinderella's tale, he was helping his not so Evil sister. And he doesn't even know it.
Once inside the nurse aids me, bandaging up after icing it. She asked me to leave an hour later with some practiced instructions and precautions.
Fifteen minutes later I sat up already bored, my legs dangling over the edge of the bed, all traces of the chirpy smile gone replacing it with a monstrosity of tense nerves as I recall what Edmund said, asked of me.
A date.
I can't do it. False hope. He was too good for me.
"You are like chameleon."
Grumpily I look at Mike through my lashes. He had pulled himself a seat as he played in his phone. Said he was using me as an excuse to skip the class. I have been muddled up since, I thought he cared.
"Your emotions is always written on your face, changing color's according to the people you are surrounded by. And when you don't want to, you mask it so well to the point of looking dead. The features of a true artist and a chameleon" he says, leaning back.
"Was that an insult or-" I let my delusion incomplete, it takes him a moment of silence to decide.
"It was a compliment"
I nod, swallowing in a smile. If being called a chameleon was a compliment in the world of Michael Stuart, then I was glad.
At least it wasn't a tarantula.
The squeaks of doors from the visit and pass of others fills the room, till we're left alone.
"May i?" I ask, my finger right about the main switch of his camera, the one I have been examining outwardly for a while as he watched me do so.
He looks at it as if it was the most precious gift that life ever could have rewarded him with, with pride and admiration before he softly nods, but the thoughtful pondering never left his face after he granted me the permission to snoop its contents.
Discreetly I noticed the clenched jaws, that stopped him from stopping me. It was battle, That he realized he lost the moment I began scrolling through his collections, memories and desires.
The desire that caused my heart to twist in warmth and awe for him. Among the insanely beautiful photography of wildlife and Academy's events at its best portfolio was a single image of Riley as she sat in the bed of grass with her signature navy blue calligraphy note yawned open, her face cutely concentrated upon the page with teeth biting on the closed end of her quill. Completely foreign to the boy who had captured such virtue with care and love.
When I try to sneak a glance at him, he's already watching me. In fact waiting.
How do I react? Should I lie? Lie about what?
Before I could come up with an alibi for the thoughts regarding Riley's image on his gadget, he already was a step ahead with his honesty.
"I know you saw" he said his tone balanced, but I don't miss the sliver of unfocussed hurt in them. "And yeah, it's exactly what you are thinking. I am not a creep, but someone who is selfish enough to sneak a pic of girl I like"
I puff my mouth like chipmunk, letting the air pass out slowly as my lips puckers out into a pout, then smile. Only Mike can discuss his feelings so easily without a trace of passion or zeal. But little did I know how wrong I was.
"Does she know?" I ask, sliding neared to him as he shakes his head tiredly sideways for a no.
I frown. Of course he wouldn't. Riley was single, but Mike was married to his nonchalance. If only he had even as tried to talk to her about this, they'd have been prepping for their twenty seventh date today.
"Why?" I whine like a child, with a touch of reprimand in it.
He merely watches me, with the first smile that I ever saw that graced his lips. But it left a doubtful sensation in my heart , that smile. It wasn't mocking or derisive, neither were they genuine. Instead they were forced, weary and already giving up.
"There's more to it, isn't it?" I ask, my posture now contorting into seriousness.
He looks out of the window, as a crew of students passed, a shadow of self pity crawling his gaze.
"I don't think Riley would appreciate dating a guy who is already engaged"
I suck in a rather deep and soundful breath.
"Wha- what? How?" I croak out, my vocals suddenly dry as I hear him chuckle humorlessly.
"What? About how I became the protagonist of the series Eighteen and engaged?"
Silence.
"Welcome to the introductory page of our world Elaine" he bitterly laughs as if thinking of jokes on his own misery "were rule number one is to never fall in love, because marrying a woman for the sake of your family business is your end forte. So nothing in between"
My heart felt for him, though it was hard to process such thing . I did my best to understand the malaise he was going through, the regret of being born in such luxurious prison, the foremost debility.
"Mike- I, I am so-"
"No Elaine. Don't you ever pity me. Don't pity a weak person who won't fight for his freedom through the lunatic cycle of his society because he loves his family. Only to live a life without the one who he is sure that love's him equally as them and so does he"
Silence again.
Too thick and dense.
I respect his wish, to not try and help him with words. Or pity as he puts it. but instead I ask-
"You let me see this. On purpose"
"I wanted someone to talk to" he groans lowly, closing his eyes heftily.
"A friend?" I offer smiling slyly. He snickers to himself, sitting up straight from his wayward position.
"We argued about the pro's and cons of ear wax a week ago. Friends don't do that" He frowns at the absurdity of it as I crack a breathy laugh.
"What about siblings?"
He looks at me weirdly as I wiggle my brows, waiting.
"Siblings" he tests the words before Smiling and leaning back. But not declining.
And again there was that ludicrous palpable silence, that I had to break with the one last question that I hope he answers with all due honesty.
"What about her, your fiancé? Is she okay with that arrangement?"
"You know her" my eyes goes wide a fraction as he chews the inside of his lower lip sniffing.
"I do? Like she studies here. In academy?" I bombard him more as he nods, fixing his green eyes on mine. Scrutinizing the curiosity in me. And then he begins slowly,
"Elaine. It's someone you know quite well." he paused tilting his head to look away from me as he continues "It's Hailey. My fiancé is Hailey Howard"
I gave up filtering the emotions I felt as I went still, watching him wide eyed. But that wasn't enough for him as he chucked, exposed more of this twisted sense in my way.
"And before you question me if Hailey possesses such feelings towards someone else like me, then the answer is yes. She does." I blink rapidly, taking them in as he goes on "But the certain guy she loves happens to be forcing a girl with an injured ankle to go on a date with him"
___
I don't limp, the walk is quite normal as I play with the strap of my backpack as I lazily drag myself across the empty hallway, the lone shoe now being held like a wallet in my clutch. Classes were long over, it was the time Mike left me alone with my thoughts.
A thought so messed up.
A weaved incoherent state of love and power. And how did I end up in this mess exactly again?
Oh god! I am losing it. Every sort of sensible path which led me to a conclusion now all coaxed into a poodle of grey slush.
A loud cough tears through the air, then a ragged groan of pain. A cry.
With a silent gasp I wheel to stare at the closed door of the class beside me, from where the voices poured. With a deep breath I tried to do the one thing I horrifically lack at. Ignorance.
But the next wail followed by a punch erased all forms of control from a system. Like a mark of pencil from a paper.
The lever was cold when I pulled at it, the minute crack was enough to provide me with a view of the tumult behind the concealed door.
The noise grows as there was a breach in barrier, but I don't hear it anymore as my senses goes numb.
It was the jock from yesterday, the one who insulted me in cafeteria. Now sparsely recognizable as blood and bruise covered his visible skin.
It wouldn't have been much if it wasn't for the boy who added more despair to his succumbing ache. He was barely able to keep his eyes open as his own friend, who looked sympathetic yet helpless, held his arms back, twisting them behind so he won't move as Alex grabbed him by his collar after a final blow to his jaw.
"What you said to her last night could've cost you more than this. Consider this as a mercy and don't ever show your face again" With that he leaves his hold, letting him fall to his knees as his head falls low in defeat.
The hammering of my heart increases as he turns to leave, In hurry i move away stumbling, in order to take on a run before he sees me, but the shoe slips off my hands, making a loud thud that crystally echos through the silence.
I struggle a tattered breath as the footsteps rapidly increased, wincing from the lurching burn from my injury I ran, hugging my body in prayer.
I heard the snivel, as the door was ripped open. But I don't stop.
Nothing changed.
A sob hikes up.
It was all an act.
I hate him.
"ELAINE" he screams, his voice now getting closer.
I'd rather choke to death then give into his command. But fate had different plans when it came to letting me down as his strong arm snaked around my waist from behind. I thought I screamed, but I didn't. I merely gasped out aloud as he pulled open the door of nearest class, dragging me in, inspite of the angry kicks and swears I bestowed him with.
Whirling me he grabbed me by the wrists.
And before I know I was pinned up against the locked door .
Both of us heaving, breathing in emotions.
Nothing changed. I thought again.
I thought again as I withered in fear, and he sizzled in anger.
***