Once again, I wrote this about a year ago and began to rewrite and edit it some time ago. My spelling and grammar is really bad. Just a warning. Enjoy.
When I got to school, I saw the mustang next to my normal parking spot. William was leaning against the car, smiling in my direction. I pulled into my spot and turned off the engine. I sat there for a moment and tried to process why he was torturing me in my head. I got nothing. His smile mocked the fantasy of having him want me.
"You didn’t have to wait here for me." I said as calm as my voice would allow. I locked my door with the key and sighed at the sky. It looked like rain and the fog was getting thicker.
"Well, we do have to go to the office together. I don’t know where the hell I'm going. So I thought this would be the safest place to wait for you." He said in a smug tone.
I walked around my car and he joined me as I walked towards the school. He still slowed his pace to match mine. However, today, he wasn’t struggling.
"What do you have first period?" I asked. He looked very similar as he did yesterday. Absolutely perfect. He wore a t-shirt that was tight enough to hit at his robust build. He wore his hair the same as yesterday and a jacket unbuttoned. He reminded me of a Calvin Klein model.
He would never be interested in me. I was just the only face he knows, besides Steph. And we all know she is having her own sick fantasies about him.
"English, I believe." He said, interrupting my thoughts. "Mrs. Hellmold was the teacher's name." He said, pausing in thought. He almost had me fooled, but I bet he already had the school map memorized. Who wants to have their face glued to a map their first day?
I humored him, "I have that class too. We are a little early for class though. Normally I find Steph and hang out with her until the first bell rings. But if you don’t want to do that, I would understand. I'm sure the teacher is already in the class room if you want too-" He stopped walking, "What is it?" I asked.
He turned to his left, "Isn't that Steph?" he asked, pointing towards the building as if he heard her talking. I followed his stare. She was standing against the brick wall with Matt kissing her neck. I sighed.
"Yep, that’s her. That’s her boyfriend, Matt. I guess he wasn’t that sick after all."
Steph saw us looking at her and she pushed Matt off of her and started walking towards us, leaving matt staring. He seemed mad and stalked into the school. He was as tall as me; luckily Steph is a very short person. He had a scruffy beard and always wore a baseball hat.
"Hey, you’re William, right?" Steph asked as she approached us. Obviously she was faking dumb. She did that often, she is a very bright girl.
William nodded once.
"Great, how do you like Seekonk so far?" she asked, not very interested in the answer, just trying to make conversation.
"Actually, I've lived in Seekonk for two years now. I was home schooled."
"Oh, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you around. Have you gone to any of the local parties? I try to make an appearance at all the parties I can." she said smugly. "Why didn’t you come to Seekonk High?"
"My father thought it wouldn’t be safe." he laughed as if it was an inside joke, "And I haven’t been to any of the local parties. Once again, not safe."
Steph was about to say something but the bell rang interrupting her and I jumped into the conversation. I didn’t like the chemistry growing between them, "I think we should get to class, William. See you at lunch, Steph."
She nodded, bewildered by William's answer. He absorbed her expression and smiled, but not my smile...uh, I mean the crooked smile.
I felt a rain drop on my arm before I entered the school.
We walked past the cafeteria first. I waved to a few familiar faces while explaining the seating arrangements during lunch. My group of friends normally sat at two tables by the vending machines. Then we walked past the gym, not so exciting. Then the art classroom, next the main hall. We turned and I walked to my locker. He stood up against the locker next to mine.
"Where is your locker?" I asked while bending down to grab my English book and notebook.
"I'm not sure I even have one." he said looking at the huge crowd fishing through the hall attempting to get to class on time.
"Just push your way through. Nicely of course." He smiled his perfect crooked smile and I shivered again.
"Of course."
I closed my locker and started to walk towards the large crowd. He stood close to me the entire way. People moved away from him as he passed, staring in amazement. We walked up the stairs next to each other and the people descending the stairs just stared at us, or him rather, as we walked. Our class was the second classroom on the right. And I was thankful to get away from the stares.
We walked in and I stood by my seat waiting for my friend Heather to come to class. William was greeted by the teacher and she told him to sit in the only available seat in the back corner. I don’t think he really minded.
Heather came in and took her seat next to me, "Who's the new kid?"
"That's William. I have to show him around and what not."
She nodded and started opening her books; she sneaked a peak at him out of the corner of her eye, "Lucky."
"He is kind of cool. He is a little up tight though."
She nodded again, "Give him a few days. He is new."
I shrugged and started doodling. I doodle often. I write song lyrics to what ever song is stuck in my head all over a notebook page. I draw Wicca symbols sometimes. I need to stop spending so much time at the book shop. I don’t know why I draw them; I don’t even realize I draw them until the end of class.
Today I only doodled his name over and over again. After a while, the page was filled with W's I's L's A's and M's. I kept getting that panicky feeling that he was looking at me. Which should have creeped me out but it only made me more interested in him. He was so mysterious.
My friend Kevin is also in this class, but he sits far away from us. He and I were very close. We acted like we were boyfriend and girlfriend, but never made it official. Until lately, we spent every moment we could with each other. But now he hangs out with his friends and brothers a lot.
Heather poked the arm holding my head up and my head hit the desk. Mother fucker!
"You okay?" she whispered, "You seem distracted." I shrugged. I was never really good at whispering. I always talk loud so you can’t really count it as whispering. When I looked at my notebook it was completely black from the ink. Heather threw a piece of paper at me. I opened it and read it.
‘Selena, can you find some one to hang out with tonight at my house for movie night? It will just be Chris and I and I don’t want you to feel like the third wheel...again. You know my mom won’t let me hang out with him alone. Hey maybe the new kid will want to come.'
I stared at the paper. I guess I could hang out with them. William probably wouldn’t want to though, so I won’t ask him. I wrote back,
'Sure, but I highly doubt he would want to hang. Maybe Alyssa could come.'
She read the note and shook her head.
'She would bring Justin. You would still be the fifth wheel. So no. Just ask him or I will. KAY!' I wrote back to her, but when I was folding the paper I sliced my finger deep. My own blood was quickly flowing to the wound and down my hand. It wouldn’t stop.
"Shit!" I said out loud. Oh no.
"Did you say something, Selena?" the teacher asked. The entire class was looking at me. This wasn’t the kind of attention I really wanted.
"Yeah, I need to use the bathroom. May I have a pass?" she waved me up to the front of the room.
The blood was gushing faster now. I almost ran out the door but stopped myself in fear of getting a detention. I was standing there waiting for my pass when I started feeling dizzy. I stupidly stared at the wound and it was turning my stomach. The walls started to move. I could feel my body sway back and forth. The last thing is saw was William's eyes. They were tight, black. William's usual warming expression turned cold. Then only darkness followed.
*****
When I woke I was in the nurse's office laying on one of the ugly blue beds that were way to uncomfortable for their own good. I sat up quickly, way to quickly. The room began to spin and I felt like I was pushed back down. Maybe because I was pushed back down. I wasn’t alone in the room.
"Take it easy, Selena. You hit your head pretty hard.,” a velvety voice had said. I was mesmerized by the voice instantly. I couldn’t see William but I knew it was him.
I tried to sit up again, slower this time. I was better, the world stayed straight when I opened my eyes. William was staring at me, worried. However, they were warm, not black like I remembered. He was standing at the far end of the little room by the door, arms crossed, his face intent on mine.
"How long was I out?" I asked.
He smiled and walked over to me. He pushed some of my hair out of my face with his pointer finger. The essence of his finger was cool. "Three class periods. The nurse said you have lunch now."
"Oh, did you stay with me? You should have went to class."
"I did. I have lunch now too. And I thought I would check on you. You were bleeding pretty badly."
"From a paper cut?" I asked, skeptically.
"No, not from a paper cut." he looked at my hand with a Band-Aid on it. "When you feinted you hit your head on the corner of a desk. It was painful to watch, I’ll admit. What's his name had to carry you down here. Kevin I think it was."
"Oh, damn. I'm so embarrassed." I put my hand on my head and there was a small Band-Aid on my forehead. I pulled away instantly and stood up. Or at least I attempted too. I was still light headed and I fell. My head was inches from the ground but he caught me. Without even trying he stood me back up.
"I told you to take it easy."
I rolled my eyes, "Thanks for the save." I walked over to the mirror and looked at the mess that was my face. The Band-Aid was covered with blood and blood was smeared across my face. I took a paper towel from the roll, got it wet and started cleaning my face. As I started taking off the Band-Aid, William and I both took in a deep breath. The wound was dry and I cleaned around it. The actual cut wasn’t that bad.
"Don't tell me you're squeamish too."
"Something like that." In the mirror I saw him back away until the wall wouldn’t let him go any farther. His eyes were black again; his lips were trembling over his teeth...that were growing.
I shook my head. I must be dreaming. When I looked back in the mirror his lips were in a straight line and his eyes were the usual chocolatey brown. I sighed with relief. "This doesn’t usually happen to me. There was just a lot of blood. And the smell, it’s just gross." I said, my voice a little shaky.
He shrugged and headed for the door. My heart jumped, "Wait!"
William turned with an alert expression, "Don't leave yet." his expression softened. I took hold of his arm and brought him to the bed and I sat down. My hand was suddenly really cold. I let go and patted the bed beckoning him to sit with me. "Tell me about yourself." I demanded. I wanted to know every detail of this god's life, even if it killed me.
He sat down and smiled, "What do you want to know?"
"Why did your father think it would 'dangerous' to come to this school?" I could tell he wasn’t ready for that specific question. He raised his eyebrows causing a crease in his forehead he didn’t realize was there.
"Next question." he said, unsettled now. I crossed my legs facing him and leaned on my elbows.
"Okay then, why did you feel obligated to check on me?" he leaned close to me. Our faces were inches away from each other. I could feel his strangely cool breath on my lips and I stopped breathing.
"Do you always scare people away with your questions?"
I smiled.
"Are you scared?"
"No, but I am different than your average human."
"And how is that?"
He smiled and leaned away from me. I thought I heard him chuckle but I couldn’t be sure. "Thank you for showing me around school today, Selena."
I shrugged.
"It's no big deal." I leaned away from him falling backwards.
Well, today was just getting better and better huh.
"Selena?" his voice was serious. He stood up and put his hand under my head and sat me back up. His touch made me shiver. Or did I shudder?
"You should let me take you home. You’re in no condition to sit through the rest of school or drive."
"Oh crap." I said to myself. "I completely forgot. I was supposed to hang out with my friend tonight."
"I think your friend will understand."
I was shaking my head before he finished, which really hurt. "No, I have to go. It is really important to her. Her mom is really strict and she wants to hang out with her boyfriend so I have to be there." He gave me a disbelieving look. "I'm fine really."
"You can’t even stand up, let alone hang out with your friends."
"I'm perfectly fine. I can handle a few bumps and scrapes. I'm going. If you’re going to be so worried, why don’t you come along?" I said while my heart was fluttering. Heather would be happy.
"Do you want me too?" he said, taken aback.
"Sure, why not? You go to this school now, mind as well hang out with the people that go here too."
He smiled that crooked smile, and like magic, a shiver ran up my spine. Did he know he had this affect one me?
We had last period together and he ended up walking me to class. I knew he memorized the school map. It was Chemistry. I would have fallen asleep if Steph hadn't been poking my arm every few minutes. William told her what happened to me before class had started. He also said I might have a concoction so I can’t fall asleep. I said I was fine but would any one listen to me?
No.
At the end of the day I was at my locker trying to figure out if I had any homework...wait I didn’t go to over half of my classes. Heather came skipping up to my locker and startled me.
"Oh, sorry." she said laughing, "I was just going to ask you if you asked William to come to movie night." her smile reached her ears.
"Yes I did. And yes he is coming. I know what you’re thinking and I’m not going to just pounce on him like he is a piece of meat. I think he needs some space from me. I am the only one he talks to. He probably spent his lunch in the bathroom."
"Don't you remember? He was at the nurse’s office during his lunch. I went down to see you during free period but you were asleep. Did you know you moan in your sleep? It's kind of cute." she laughed.
"Yeah I know. That doesn’t matter, he still needs some space."
"Selena, he is interested in you. You need to pounce now before some one else does. Admit it, you like him too."
I shook my head no, my small headache was now throbbing. Her smile turned into a frown.
"What am I going to do with you?" she asked herself, "Well, Chris is probably waiting for me. See you guys around seven. Bye." she turned around and walked away.
I knew something like this would happen sooner or later. I was hoping on later.
A date.
I don’t date. Not that I don’t want to or that I haven’t been asked, but it’s easier on my father if I don’t do normal teenage things. It keeps him away from drinking and yelling. This way was better so that he wouldn’t have to accept the fact that the only link to the world that he has is growing up.
But, was I even ready to date? I barley know him. He is extremely good looking, so some one would eventually notice him and asks him out. I guess I could do things a little backwards and get to know him on the date. Ugh, I hate that word.
I walked slowly out the building, looking up only once because I walked into a freshman that was carrying what looked like five textbooks. They went flying everywhere but I kept walking. He muttered something unintelligent that sounded like 'freak goth chick.'
