Black Moon

8. The truths we need

Mrs. Verne nodded at Zereck allowing him in who was carrying a bundle of papers and a briefcase.

"Distribute it to the students, please," Mrs. Verne smiled at the handsome devil making him oblige.

"Isn't he a little old to be in this class?" I asked Killian who was sitting beside me in a whisper.

As far as I knew, he was in his senior year and this was the junior year AP Math.

"Don't tell me he failed it," I couldn't help but let out a smirk when I theorized it.

"Contarinis and failure? Keep dreaming. He's Mrs. Verne's teaching aide. He gets extra credits for it," Killian snorted bitterly.

Shit! He was the teacher's aide? I didn't see that coming...

"At least he isn't as bad as Levon," I muttered under my breath.

"van Dama? Don't even compare these two. At least van Dama would reach out and help in need, given his mood but Contarinis? This bastard would rather watch you die rather than to give you a glass of water," Paul whispered haughtily as his piercing gaze kept glaring in the direction of Zereck.

"You speak like you have experienced?" I gave it a little benefit of the doubt, he couldn't be that bad as they say him to be.

"You wouldn't believe me, but yes, I speak of first-hand experience. There was another member of our group till last year. Elliot was more lively than any of us but a bit on the troublemaker side. Last year, when we sneaked out of the dorms past our curfew and ended up in a fight with some thugs behind a famous club," Paul turned to stare into my eyes with those dark eyes of his as he seriously continued, "he was there, Contarinis. He was right there, watching us get beat up. He could have stepped in and stopped it all or at least call for the ambulance earlier, but he didn't. That night, Elliot was declared brain dead on arrival at the hospital, and later that week, he passed away."

I felt shivers go down my spine at the information that had just been shared with me. Reflexively, I turned to look at that handsome face that had so coldly let one of his schoolmates die.

As if being called, Zereck's eyes met mine, making me instinctively look away before looking back at him from the corner of my eyes. He was still staring at me, for what felt like an eternity but had only been a few seconds.

The way he looked felt like he had heard what we were talking about. Had he really heard it?

The thought alone made it difficult to breathe.

No, that couldn't be possible, right? But I knew better. There were things that were beyond our comprehension and anything was possible in this bizarre world.

Mrs. Verne started the class soon after. Thank god for that, for I didn't know what to say. The period of an hour felt tense and awkward. Though Mrs. Verne was not a bad teacher, the constant feeling of being stared at was on the back of my mind. And whenever I turned towards the direction I felt the stare in, my eyes would land on Zereck who would be busy going through whatever book he was reading.

And most of the time, he would end up catching me red-handed staring at him.

Talk about first hand embarrassment.

Even till the end of the period, I was not able to figure out who was the one that was burning a hole into the side of my head.

The bell went off making Paul and Killian to sink back into their seats in a more relaxed position as Mrs. Verne packed her teaching materials and Zereck headed over to help.

"Finally, it's lunch," Paul air pumped looking like he won some competition and not just make it through Math period.

The boys didn't wait much from dragging me to the cafeteria along with them. Just as we were passing by the teacher's table, I ended up locking eyes with Zereck once again, which shimmer blue like the waters of Florida keys. Can those eyes be cold enough to watch a person almost die and not care?