Chapter 06

ALINA

Zion cleared his throat, his anchoring stare never leaving me, "Are you okay?" He asked emotionlessly. Almost as if he didn't really care but asked out of courtesy.

My words escaped me yet again, just like this morning, and I stood there as mute as a headless chicken. I found the energy in me to give him a slight nod before feeling a hand wrap around my arm, pulling me away and also bringing me back to my senses.

"What was that?" Max quipped, glaring at me with skepticism in his eyes. It wasn't like me to freeze up because I wasn't a shy person. I wasn't outspoken either, I was somewhere in the middle and I was happy for that because that meant I wasn't socially awkward.

"I... I don't know," I admitted, "I get a strange feeling when he's around and he always seems to be around." I shook my head as I tried to rid my mind of what had just happened.

"I'm surprised you didn't have a creative reply to him," Max quirked an eyebrow at me as we made our way to AP math class.

"You're lucky I don't stuff you into a locker for what you did. It was all your fault. I would have preferred to kiss the filthy floor than to have landed in his stupid arms," I whined, "Who was on the phone anyway?"

"Just Sophia, checking up on us. I didn't get much of a chance to talk to her since you were busy gazing into that guy's eyes." He began making kissing sounds and I nearly hit him upside the head.

Shooting Max a deadly glare, I mumbled more too myself than anything else, "I just hope I don't have to run into him for the rest of the day."

~~~

Today must have been the worst day of my entire existence. Each time I whispered the words of not wanting to see the new kid he somehow showed up seconds later. He was evil incarnate and I couldn't find a way to send him from where he came. There was only one class we didn't have together and that was psychology. I had no idea what he had when I had that class but I prayed that he wouldn't somehow show up in the one class I was free of him. We even did Latin like me and surprisingly, he was excellent at speaking the language fluently.

Max offered me a ride home after school but I declined thinking that the fresh autumn breeze would do me some good. It wasn't too cold nor too warm out. The weather was just perfect for a stroll. The leaves on the tall trees that lined the sidewalk had started to brown and fall to the now paling grass around it. A wind whisked through the air that awakened goosebumps throughout my body. I loved this autumn weather. It made me feel free.

A loud honk of a car that seemed to be trailing me brought me back to reality. I turned around, wide-eyed when I saw who it was. I knew my face had an unpleasant expression decorating it since I didn't care to hide my annoyance.

"Lina right?" The new kid asked with a smug smile tugging at his pink, heart-shaped lips. They looked too good, too perfect to belong to someone like him but it was always the jerks blessed with the Godly good looks.

I rolled my eyes, displeased at the fact he used my pet name, "Alina Hart!" I specified, stressing each name so he wouldn't have the chance to forget it.

"So she speaks," he said in a fake shock that made me want to grab my pocket knife and engrave the word 'dipshit' on his shiny black car, "You didn't even speak to me in chemistry or when I tried speaking to you. I was beginning to think you were mute."

I offered him a tight smile as I continued walking and he kept trailing me with his car, "I'm sure Megan must have cleared up your doubts about me." For some reason, my tone sounded scornful but I truly wasn't.

"Megan, yeah. She's an interesting one," the end of his lips quirked into a suggestive smirk matching his tone. The smirk was worse than the smug grin he had. And by worse, I meant annoyingly attractive.

"What do you want new kid?" I was growing increasingly frustrated by his presence. All I wanted was a calm walk home in peace and usually, that wouldn't have been difficult to do but this boy clearly had it out for me.

"Well Alina," he trailed off, "We started off on a bad note and I figured I'd have to deal with you for the whole semester considering you're in all my classes. So, what I'm getting at is, could I give you a ride home?"

"No thanks, new kid. I'm good!"

"It's Zion, Zion Collins," he laughed, completely unfazed by my rejection of his offer.

"I know your name, you introduced yourself in every class." It was quite amusing to watch because he seemed to be uncomfortable in front of crowds. He had the tendency of shifting from one leg to the other continuously, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand and stuttering after saying every third word. He exuded confidence but when it came to speaking in front of a multitude of people he became nervous.

"And yet you still call me new kid?" He voiced, pulling me out of my thoughts.

"You're new, you're a kid. I see no problem here," I shrugged.

"You're something else, Alina." He made sure to stress my name the way I did before continuing, "You sure you don't want that ride home. You might find me more appealing if you gave it a chance."

I stared at the rain clouds above head that were rolling into town really fast. It wouldn't be long until they hovered above me a burst open. I thought over his offer before finally jumping into his sporty looking black BMW.

Here goes nothing!