[A/N] I realised only just now that people thought this book was ending last chapter. Sorry about the misunderstanding. The Wattpad Creators Program people allowed me to continue writing this book to its natural end, we're only a little way into the book!
There is plenty yet to happen... huhu ( ââ¿ â )
Fair warning this is a somewhat short chapter! I'm writing another chapter tonight but I have to leave now and will get back late and wanted to post something now rather than later!
The following morning I walked to school so fast that I accidentally arrived just in time to see Irene's car pull up in the road outside the school gates, and the moment she spotted me I saw her freeze.
Colby only noticed me after stepping out, looked a little put on the stop, looked around to see if anyone was watching, smiled awkwardly at me and then hurried off into the throng of students moving in through the school gates ready to reach their lessons right on time.
Irene crooked her finger out of the half open driver's side window and I stared at her, and then slowly closed the space between us, mildly annoyed to see her face.
"Elliot are you doing this on purpose?"
I raised a brow.
"Really, I don't know how long a tantrum this has been but if this goes on for any longer we're going to send you to a therapist. We care about you, but we have two sons."
"I've mastered counting, but thanks for doing all the hard work for me."
He mouth opened and she shook her head, disgusted. "You're not the only one that matters in this family, the world doesn't revolve around you. You have a brother, top of his class, he's doing all the things that need to be done to do well in life, please don't make things difficult for him."
She had the gall to make the kind of expression that one would make when persuading someone into donating to a good cause, a genuine, concerned expression.
"Irene the world doesn't revolve around Colby either. I walked fast because I'm excited to learn. I've decided to turn my life around and be a better student. You'd like that for me, wouldn't you?"
She was struck between being immediately defensive from my first statement, and shocked into mute by the second.
Instead of replying she stared at me. I counted in my head a full minute before she put her hands back on the wheel and exhaled.
"If you mean that then that's... good... I hope that new attitude lasts longer than a few hours. But you still have to keep your distance from Colby..."
"If I arrive at the same time what connection are people making other than the one you're presenting by calling me over to your car in front of everybody?"
No one was looking, rightfully, no one cared, but her eyes still went rather wide and she stepped on the gas, quickly driving back out of the temporary parking spot without saying goodbye.
I watched her go, one of the first years looked at me as they turned the corner into the gate very slowly while I stood and stared. Maybe she was looking at the bruises on my face, who knew. I looked back at her.
"That's my step mother." I smiled. "She had an affair with my father at work and then moved into my house after my mother died."
The girl didn't even really react, her eyes barely widening and her feet slowing down momentarily and then speeding up.
I shrugged my backpack further up my shoulder and headed in after her.
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My amnesty period was over, this was clear to me the moment I stepped into the classroom.
I felt the shift in front of me, just barely out of the perimeter of my vision, the eyes following me to my seat. The noise turning just a decibel lower, barely noticeable.
The air had a sort of stagnant feeling to it when it was like this, familiar and hostile. Just the atmosphere that used to compel me to keep my head low and pull my shoulders tight together, imagine to myself that I was a child hiding behind a bush, that if I couldn't see them they couldn't see me.
I sat down at my desk and nearly didn't notice the writing as I put my arms on it.
HUNGRY?
Below it there were two pictures that were both incomprehensible. My best guess was someone being drowned and someone being made to eat gravel.
The night before I had gone out to hang up more posters in the other area of town, they kept getting taken down but I decided not to focus on one place for too long. I took Akuma with me, with an opening out of my backpack for her to look out of.
I couldn't really tell with cats but she didn't seem to be bothered by it and when it got windy put her head back inside.
I'd stopped at a late night pharmacy that night when it got a little too cold for me and wondered the aisles for a bit. I didn't need much so I grabbed whatever I felt compelled to buy. Some alcohol wipes, some pain pills and some plasters. Given the split lip and the bruise on my face the cashier didn't have to guess what they were for.
I wiped the desk down with some wipes and surprisingly it cleaned up pretty well, I almost felt proud of myself for some reason.
The murderer came late to class.
He ambled in without glancing at the teacher. His uniform was better fitting this time and he looked really unreasonably good.
I felt an unfamiliar hitch in my breath when I saw him approaching, saw his hand in his leather jacket pocket, as relaxed as ever, those dark brown eyes reaching far beyond what they were looking at.
Every step he took felt strangely weightless, slinking through the tables like a big cat, the eyes of all the little cats watching him from their seats with eager eyes, index fingers curling through their hair, fluttering their eyelashes at him.
My heart thumped in my chest as he stopped at my table.
People were already looking in his direction, now they were looking in mine.
He raised a brow, eyes on my face. "Don't people like you like to wear makeup? It might help cover up all that..." He gestured at my face with a long elegant index finger.
I swallowed, feeling the heat rising in my neck as his finger just about brushed my face and I shrugged and looked away.
"Ignoring me?" He asked, his voice smooth.
"Leave me alone." I whispered.
He put his hand on my desk and leaned in really close to me, I thought the class went nearly dead quiet. "Don't be offended kid, it was a joke."
There was a beat of silence, and then a raucous bout of laughter from the back, mainly from Patrick, but it was Pierson who spoke up. "Ignore that shithead he can't ever take a joke. He's acts like everything is a knife to his neck!"
I couldn't help but chuckle at the wording of that and stifled myself a moment too late, my deskmate looking over at me with a strange expression.
"Hmm..." Arran withdrew his fingers from my desk and stood up, moving to sit in his place behind me.
I looked down to my side into the opening of my backpack on the floor, resting against my leg and chair leg, and saw the glint of something metal inside.
The day before....
"A knife?" He asked, stepping in closer to me, perfect lips slightly curved into an almost-smile.
I nodded.
"What kind of knife?"
I shrugged slowly. "What kind isn't allowed?"
His dark eyes glimmered briefly, examining me. "You're strangely naïve for someone with those eyes... What do you want a knife for?"
"Do I have to answer?"
"Yes." He replied immediately, low and relaxed.
"I'm going to plant it on someone."
He hummed. "That's not very imaginative."
It wasn't just the rush that I felt moving even close to the guy that had kidnapped me, but the strange magnetism he had that was drawing me nearer. I wanted to lean into him, feel the adrenaline of just standing in his sphere.
I could feel his warmth from where I was standing now, I leaned in and looked up at him. "What would be more fun?"
His eyes flickered down at my lips as I spoke. He squinted briefly down at me, with eyes that looked as though they were trying to figure out why an ant was encroaching on his territory, leaning in as though he wasn't afraid.
But I wasn't afraid. Are moths afraid of fire?
[A/N] Alright! I'll come back and update another chapter to this book. Then I'll post He's Just a Skater Boy, then The King's Personal Joker. And the next update for this book should be next Friday!
As always with me we will find out if this premonition comes true... I am terrible with schedules.
Thank you to the WPC and the amazing people supporting me on Patreon. Big big big hug.... â¡â('Í áµ 'Í )