The Devil is in the Details (Book 3)

Rival

-Amelia's POV-

"I've never been so humiliated in all my life,"

A small smirk lands on my face as I close my locker and turn to Francis who stood with a mild pissed off look on his face. "I'm assuming your hunt didn't go very well. You don't normally go for seconds." 

He leaned against the locker next to mine and crossed his arms. "Is that what you see of all this? A game?" 

"A game I'm not willing to play," I reply with a steady voice, getting ready to turn and walk away but before I got the chance to, he grabs a hold of my wrist which forces me to look back at him. His eyes looked deeply into mine. 

"Neither am I, Amelia, I was serious, about everything I said." 

I held in a scoff in respect for his serious voice, his grip feeling as if he wasn't going give up on me just yet. 

Serious? What about it was serious? He told me he loved me but he also agreed on a bet to break me and something told me that only one of those things were somewhat 'serious' to him. Reputation was everything. He hung out with the top people, got the best grades, applied to the best colleges. Where did I fit into all of that? 

I stepped closer to him until our chests were almost touching, I respected him for keeping his stance. I then lifted a hand towards his face which loosened his grip over my wrist. Getting hold of his face, I leaned up to him. I could hear his breath at this point, calm but a little shaken at my advances. He closed his eyes and although his trust in me caught me a little off guard, I leaned closer and after stopping by his lips for a second, glancing towards his flawless skin, something like a greek statue he reminded me off, it was beautiful, the details he had outwardly, his eyes when they're open, his hair in perfect misdirection, his hands which worked so hard. If only his insides were just as beautiful. 

I moved towards his ear and said,  holding back my disappointment, "You shouldn't play with the word 'love', it'll haunt you."

I then pulled back and was able to slip away from his grasp, ignoring his gasp and shock in his eyes, I walked past him. 

"Amelia!" 

He called after me but I wasn't going to give him any more of my attention. 

I sat in class after that, trying my best to forget the events that had just passed and keep focused on the tasks that we were presented with. It was all the same at this point, the same structure to the day, the same lessons, the same pieces of information that get flung out in slightly different sentences. It was drilled in my head but I didn't care enough to put any of it to use. Or, more so, I couldn't. 

We were given a test in this class, unannounced like they like to do it. And I sat looking at the sheet of paper. The questions reminded me of the lessons and if I thought hard enough, I could probably replay it all in my head but I didn't have the strength for it. Something my mother warned me about when it came to martial arts was that the more your head got hit, the harder life becomes. And until I learnt how to block those hits, to see them coming and counter them, I got hit a lot. I wondered sometimes if my mother warned me because she knew how it felt but it couldn't be possible. She ran multiple businesses, was always on her feet, dealing with different people and different problems. She didn't have any weaknesses and all I could do was strive to be like her. 

I sighed and after looking up at the ceiling, calming my head down and trying to focus again, I started the exam. 

The hour passed and after completing what I could from my exam, I stood up and got ready to go. I knew I probably got the average score like I usually do, nothing I'd go shouting at home about but also not enough to change anything about me.