All For Not

Page 26

I stood there stunned, blinking in slow realization I sighed. Abruptly though someone came to stand at my side, "werewolves are pretty hyper..." I swallowed, giving a sudden nervous nod, "indeed," Xavier smiled down at me, fully turning to face me as I looked away, "so you're racing today?" I nodded again, "Enid asked and my sister forced me into the situation I'm afraid..." He frowned, "she forced you?" I couldn't look at him, "I like water fine enough, but I prefer piranha infested lakes and rivers... I also prefer not to take a dip..." He looked at me with a calculating gaze before asking me something, "do you know how to swim?" Turning to face him fully I smiled, "of course, how else do you exercise baby piranhas?" 

He scrunched his face up with a smile before laughing, "right, right, we'll uh, we'll go easy on you so don't worry about getting too wet okay?" My brows knit together at the sentence, "don't, I'd prefer to win on equal terms and I definitely don't plan on getting in the water today," he continued to smile only it turned into a kind of smirk mixture, "a challenge huh, okay," he nodded with his words before leaning down a little, his clown outfit finally setting the tone with his smile and the makeup, it was as if I was noticing it for the first time; and I was.

"Just be careful then, maybe after my team wins we could do something?" I frowned, and he paused at the expression on my face, "after my team wins, we could depending on the activity," he nodded standing up straight again as he scratched underneath his ear, "the uh, the chefs down in the kitchen let some of us guys in and cook sometimes, maybe I could whip something up, if you're okay with that?" Licking my lips I nodded, his eyes caught the action as he smirked again, "cool, so uh, we should probably go get to the dock then," I nodded again and he smiled, "since you want equal treatment though, I won't go easy on you," he paused and leaned down again this time closer to my face, "tell me Xavier," I smiled with large eyes looking up at him, "can you swim?"

His teeth glinted in view, "I can but, are you asking because the little kitten can't?" He seemed almost feral as he smiled, his clown paint matching perfectly and the outfit adding to the look even more. Dare I think he seemed creepily attractive, dare I say it out loud, "for a clown you look quite insane... It'd be a shame if you lost your crooked paint job."

"Are you saying you like my costume?" I swallowed glancing towards the dock where most of the school was heading towards, "I wouldn't, not, say it..." I fumbled the words with a little nervous confusion, "so you do like it?" He watched my expression and his little smirk stayed plastered on his face, "I think it compliments you well..." I watched as he stood straight, waving at another clown as he ran by yelling and whooping, "to be honest," he looked back down at me and smiled softly, "I really like the cat ears, you should wear them more often," rolling my eyes I walked off with a smile as he chuckled behind me, jogging to catch up.