• Absolute •

][ XI ][

I looked at him and saw he was looking at me with an expressionless face, those blue eyes of his giving nothing away. I looked down at my feet and sat in my seat without a word. On the outside I was silent as Ezra stared at the side of my face quietly, but in the inside. . .I was pooling with questions, anger and. . .relief.

Our teacher walked in and began the class. I guess Mr. Morrison wasn't the type to give class introductions, I thought as I continued to feel Ezra's stupid, intimidating, hit gaze on my face. I didn't even know where my last partner, Bethany, was sitting now.

Mr. Morrison spoke but I didn't listen. All I could think of was all the questions pounding inside my mind. And Ezra's gaze on me. He never looked away. Even as Mr. Morrison switched off the class lights and turned on the projector so we could watch a clip of the play Hamlet, I felt - and saw from my peripheral sight - him looking at me.

I sighed and purposely moved my right hand away from my face so that my hair could make a curtain between my side profile and his stare. It didn't work. I continued to feel his heated stare through my little barrier. I decided it - he - wasn't worth wasting precious knowledge over and began to pay attention to what was going on in the play.

The thirty minute 'clip' finally finished and I stretched my arms out in front of me. Then froze. I'd forgotten about my 'new classmate'. I knotted my fingers together and sighed, finally looking over to my left. He was still staring at me. Though, I noticed, a muscle in his jaw was twitching like it did with boys. When they were angry.

"What?" My first question (out of the million, 'more pressing' ones I had stuck in my head), came out sarcastically. He shrugged, his mouth hinting at a smile. He was going to smile?! He found my being pissed off funny? "Then stop staring at me. . .w-weirdo." I stammered and mentally whacked myself.

"I'm not staring at you." He spoke in his quiet and deep voice. He sounded so amused. I hated it. I hated him.

"Oh, really?" I asked sounding just as sarcastic and annoyed as I had before.

"People! Quiet down! There's still time in class left and I want you doing work!" Our teacher yelled from the front of the class. No one listened. Another person yelled, "You didn't give us work!"

"Why are you here?" I asked Ezra, letting out my main question. Ezra opened his mouth to speak, a devilish grin tugging the corners of his mouth upward, but was cutoff by Mr. Morrison.

"Whatever! Just keep it down, yeah?" I saw that no one cared to answer back because everyone was into their own, loud conversations.

"You." Ezra said the one word and had my head spinning back toward him.

"No." I said, my anger surging. And so was my nervousness. No! An internal voice screamed in my head. You hate him! He hates you! Ezra nodded, his evil grin growing wider. His black hair fell into his emotionless blue eyes but his face stayed the same: stuck in that teasing smile.

"What if I decided I wanted to start high school?" He asked. "I fell from heaven, down to earth; I say I might as well get the full 'teenage experience'."

"Too bad. Because you aren't even human. . ." I hissed underneath my breath, leaning closer to Ezra so that the two girls behind us and the guy in front of us (who, unlike his seating partner, was awake) wouldn't hear us. Ezra's smile grew so wide I could see his teeth. That never happened.

He leaned in closer to me, our eyes level with the bottom of the desk now, so we were hidden from Mr. Morrison's view, and looked super suspicious whispering underneath our desks.

"I look it." He said and humour flashed in his cool, remote eyes.

"Barely. You look. . .not-human." I mumbled stupidly. "I don't know how to describe it, but something about you isn't human human, you know?"

"No, I don't." He replied flatly and I remembered I hated him. I sat up straight suddenly, and twisted my body back toward the front of the room. From my peripheral vision, I could see Ezra straightening as well, raising one dark eyebrow at me. I breathed in deeply and let it all out in a gush. The guy sitting in front of us - the one who was awake - turned around and looked at me weird. I glared back.

"Okay, let's get this straight." I said, turning my body back toward Ezra and folding my hands tightly in my lap. I was trying to look more composed than I felt. I don't think it was working. "You aren't here for me - or to get the full 'teenage experience'. You're either here to ruin my life, or to kill me - because I 'know too much' - or, you're here for something and someone else entirely." Ezra stared at me with the same unfeeling, icy eyes as he had before.

"You're right." He said, his mouth pressing into a straight line. I blinked but on the inside I felt a twinge of hurt. Why was I feeling hurt!?

"I'm not here because I want the 'teenage experience'." He said, looking down. Then he looked back up at me, staring into my eyes so intensely I had to look away but couldn't find myself doing so. "I'm here to ruin your life."

++++++++++

Damn! Who likes this meaner, bad-boy Ezra more? I know I sort of do! ;)

THE FUN BEGINS. . . .NOOWW! (By 'fun' I mean Rachel's life starts falling apart and Ezra's character begin to fully develop (; lol)