Page 37 of Satan's Spawn
“I’m not moving.” I shrug, knowing if I cave now I’ll be setting the pace for the rest of the year.
More sharp breaths ensue around us and Hendrix looks like a leopard ready to attack a gazelle.
Archer watches intently, ready to step in at any moment, but I really hope he doesn’t.
I can fight my own battles.
I think.
“You little—”
“Alexis take a seat, please.” Mr. Beckett’s voice reappears in the room, unaware of the tension because all the students quickly whip around in their desks.
“Big mistake, bitch.” Alexis whispers in my ear as she slithers into her seat behind me.
I ignore her, not daring to cast a glance at the giant next to me either, even though there’s no doubt those blue eyes are intruding on me now.
Dissecting me.
It makes me feel naked in all the worst ways.
Not that there’s ever a great way to be naked in a room filled with strangers.
Minutes feel like hours as Mr. Beckett goes on with his first day lecture, going over plans for the year, syllabus, projects expected to be done by mid term ending. The entire period passes with me writing down notes, small talk with my two friends, even Felix, which seems to make Crayton’s predatory gaze amplify by a thousand knots. It leaves me desperate to crawl out of my skin.
“By the end of this week each of you will write an essay on your childhood. I want to get to know you better, especially the two new faces in the back.” He smiles at me and Hendrix, and I manage an awkward one his way.
Hendrix does no such thing, she continues staring out the window onto the football field.
“Alright, that’s all for today guys. Don’t forget those papers are due Friday.”
The bell rings just as he finishes his statement, and the majority of the class gathers their things and rushes out of the room. I attempt to do the same, but the second my legs are in a standing position I feel someone shove me from behind, knocking me into the desk.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Hendrix seethes at Alexis as she snickers like a petulant child.
“Oopsies. Guess I didn’t see the useless twat.”
I gather my composure, straightening my shirt.
One or two things can happen here, I can mouth off to Alexis and get into a potential physical altercation, or I can be the adult and set my boundaries without stooping down to her level. All while wishing she gets the worst case of genital crabs known to mankind. “I’d appreciate it if you’d watch where you’re going next time.”
Of course, true to bully form, Alexis makes another berating comment. “Stay out of my seat,skank. And maybe I will.”
Archer is in deep conversation with a couple of guys while all of this goes down, not that I’d want him to swoop in like a knight if he wasn’t. At least I don’t think I’d want him to.
I’ve never really been in this situation before.
Sure, there were bullies on the west coast, but I kept to myself so much I flew under their radar. I was invisible at La Jolla high, which is what I was aiming for in Riverside, too.
I feel more than seen here, though. I feel targeted—on display—and just like one of those soldiers on Normandy beach at the moment they realized they were trudging to their doom.
I’m watching Alexis saunter off as furious blue eyes to my left burn a hole into the side of my head. I turn to face him, not daring to look anywhere but at Crayton when he slides in between two desks. His entire body eclipses mine as he invades every version of personal space one could with another human being.
The tips of his unlaced black combat boots, which arenotappropriate school attire, are stepping painfully onto the toes of my flats. He’s so close I can smell the notes of masculine cologne on his skin.
Spice and bergamot fuzed into one egotistical sociopath.
Crayton tilts his head, revealing even more of the black horn by his carotid as he speculates my face, but stays quiet.
