Ever so slowly, I lowered my mouth to the lime. As I did so, I felt the brush of her lips on mine.
Just a touch. Just a breath, and it ignited fire in my veins.
And at that moment, I forgot a lot. My heart stopped, my breathing quit, my thoughts cea...
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I felt his presence behind me before I heard his voice.
"Ninety-nine percent?"
I turned to face him. A strand of his jet-black hair fell into his eyes as he looked down at me, a smirk on his lips. His eyes were alight with mischief; intrigue. With one hand, his hand encircled my wrist, and with the other, he snatched my chemistry test from my hands.
It was the beginning of chemistry class. We had just gotten our tests handed back. And of course, just because of luck, Augustus Casen had sat next to me the entire goddamn semester, so he was the first of my classmates to see my test score.
I ground my teeth together as he looked over it, smug. "Looks like someone forgot their significant figures," he said, joy evident in his voice.
"Fuck off," I muttered, grabbing it back and shoving it into my binder. God, I should've double-checked my work more thoroughly, but I was too focused on finishing faster than him.
Augustus and I had a sort-of ritual on every test. As soon as the tests were passed out, we would start at the same time and try to finish before the other. Then, we'd compete to see who got the highest grade.
"I finished faster than you, though," I said, looking at him. "A good five minutes, I'd say. Plenty of time to fix a silly significant figure mistake."
"I wouldn't say five minutes," he replied. "Maybe five seconds."
"That still would've been enough time to fix my mistake," I argued.
He smiled that infuriating smile and I wanted to slap it off his face. He leaned close to me, letting his eyes search mine, dark with a hint of deviltry. "But you didn't fix it, did you?" he muttered. "I still won. Just admit it, Laurent. I'm better." He always addressed me by my last name and I hated it.
I fisted my hand, wanting to throw it into his complacent face. "Remind me what you got on your last biology exam?"
His jaw clenched, and I knew I hit a nerve. He had gotten a 90 percent on the last test for biology - possibly the lowest grade in his entire life (what a shocker). I, on the other hand, had gotten a 100 percent, and I couldn't help but mention it to him every five seconds.
He dropped his chemistry test on my desk, as if in rebuttal. It had a big "100" on the top, with a smiley face that should've been on my paper. "In case you need to study," he explained, a corner of his lips tugging upward.
I threw him a sickly sweet smile, baring my teeth at him. "You're just the sweetest, Casen."
"I know." He tilted his head at me. "If you ever need a tutor..."
I wanted to scratch his eyes out. "You're so fucking sweet," I repeated, attempting to sound nauseatingly pleasant, but the words came out as more of a threatening hiss.
