Change of Heart

Chapter 12

**

After some time, Alex slowly dropped his arms. I followed doing the same looking him in the eyes. Just as I was about to say something, his eyes distracted me, leaving me completely fazed. Despite the dim lighting, and his eyes darkened color, looking past that, I noticed they were filled with such beauty. I felt myself beginning to blush once again.

He blinked a couple times and smiled. Flicking me in the forehead, he let out a small laugh. "There you go again."

I winced from the sudden pinch in my forehead. "What was that for?" Rubbing my forehead, he put his face closer to mine.

"That's the same look you gave me when I passed you that note in class." My eyes flew open as he gave me a snide smirk. "So you have, haven't you?"

Quickly backing away, I proclaimed. "No! Of course not!" I slowly looked away, hiding my face. My voice diminished into a whisper. "How could I?"

"Well, no point in sitting around here any longer." He stood to his feet and held out his hand. "Come on, I'll take you back home."

Looking up, I saw that smile of his again. It only made me melt away once again. Seeing that smile of his, it made me love him even more. I returned a small smile as I took his hand. Pulling me up, he wrapped his arms around me yet again, and the next thing I knew, we were standing in the front of my house. Alex pulled away looking down at me. "Well, I'll leave you be. Your brother is probably worried about you."

"Yea, I wouldn't doubt it. Well, thanks...uh, I'll be seeing you..." As I turned away, Alex grabbed my arm stopping me.

"One more thing."

"What-" His lips met mine in an instant and were suddenly pulled apart.

"Be seeing you...princess." He smiled once again, saluting me goodbye. Princess? He called me that the first time we...kissed...

Touching my finger tips to my mouth, I maneuvered my hand to cover my cheeks in the process. Just thinking about that time only made my face redder. Why does he have to be so frustrating all the time?

Walking inside, I noticed Caden pacing the floors. "I'm home." I called out catching his attention.

"Where the hell have you been? I've been worried sick!" He ran up to me and gave me a giant bear hug. I wrapped my arms around in response.

"I'm sorry...some things, sort of, happened and I wasn't able to call in advance."

He pulled away looking at me in the eyes. "Are you alright?"

I smiled. "I'm fine, don't worry. Like I said, I just got caught up in something. I was too busy to call."

Caden nodded and smiled back. "That's good."

"I'm going to go take a nap. Right now, I feel pretty exhausted." Giving him another hug, I pulled back away.

"Alright. Holler if you need anything."

"Will do."

**

I laid on my bed staring up at the ceiling. I really had planned to take a nap, but I just couldn't sleep right now. My mind was racing like never before. Looking over at my desk, I thought about my drawings. Thinking back I never actually did go through and really look at all of them. For the most part I just drew them only to stuff them away.

Sitting up, I threw my legs over my bed. I went over and pulled out all the drawings I had made. Maybe there's something in here that I could find useful...maybe...

The last time I even looked at these was when Alex barged in here. Even then I didn't actually look at them though, besides the one of Zander Alex held up to show me.

I threw the pages to the floor and sat crisscross. Hesitating, I picked up the top picture. It was the same one Alex had held up. It was Zander sitting on some kind of brick podium with that sadistic smile on his his face. The more I stared at it, the more frightened I was of him. This is the guy who's after me. Out to surpass Alex. Swallowing hard, I set it down next to the pile, face down.

Looking at the next one, it was Alex and I. We were standing back to back. He was injured, and covered in blood, where as I stood there, clean. I did notice a line down my cheek.

Tears.

I covered my mouth, greatly appalled. Why am I even looking through these? The only memories I remember them giving me were me ending up either in tears or screaming. And now that I know it's all real...it's only making it worse!

Grabbing the strands of my hair, I dropped the paper allowing it to sway in the air. I can't bring myself to keep this up...I only looked at two and yet...

As I watched the paper sway to the ground away from the pile, I couldn't help but notice the third picture. I saw, I drew Alex twice. Narrowing my eyes a bit, I released my hair and brought the picture to the air. This time, I really focused on the detail.

It was just his head, and a bit of his upper body. His hair was almost the exact same, one a little more thicker with a few strands of highlights. No difference in their eyes, both red to the core, but their expressions. Almost yin and yang to each other. The one with highlights has such an easy going expression, a smile spreading from ear to ear, whereas the other one, so serious, a frown on his face. What could this even mean?

I had to show this to Alex. Maybe...just maybe he knows what this means. For all I know, it could just be him and his demon side, right? But still...what's with the highlights?

Setting the drawing aside, I quickly flipped the pile upside down. I didn't want to be tempted to see another one. For now, I'll take this to him tomorrow, and see what he has to say about it. Stuffing the pile back into my drawer, I set the one of Alex on top of my desk.

Laying back down, I stared up at the ceiling once again. I decided to take a nap for real this time. I needed to clear my head. Shutting my eyes, I turned over on my right side holding the pillow between my head and my hands. In time, the world around me slowly started to disappear, and without realizing it, my entire body had fallen asleep.