Devil's Eye

Chapter 1

Translated from Russian into English.

Translator Anna Polyakova.

5' 8"-5' 9"

Considering Noah's situation, he shouldn't have come to the students' party in honor of the beginning of a new academic year, especially considering the fact that there was not a single soul waiting for him at this celebration of life. However, Andrea insisted. She said that this school year just HAS to be different from the previous two. In her opinion, this party was a sick opportunity to give it a fresh start. Noah decided not to remind Andrea that she also labeled the cafeteria's coffee as a sick beverage, even though it tasted like dishwater. And Psycho III was sick, but everybody knows that it's a terrible movie. Anyways, Noah agreed to go to the party despite all the doubts. He didn't hope, though, that everybody would be diagnosed with amnesia during this summer break (although it would have been great) and, suddenly, they would finally stop gossiping behind his back or posting offensive jokes on social media. Noah decided to attend this party to make everyone understand that he won't be giving a shit about their opinion for the third year in a row. Of course, deep down, he cared about their opinion but he would never show it to these people. Only Andrea had a chance to face his true emotions once in a while. Scott was a person who saw them even less. To be honest, Noah's main audience were his granny's cats – Peanut and Fluffy. The rest of the world thought that Noah was completely care-free and he was okay with it.

"How much more are you going to eat?!" Andrea's indignant voice scared Noah so much that he stuffed more tartlets with an unknown green stuffing into his mouth in case she decided to drag him away from the snack table.

"I've just started!" Noah tried to assure Andrea, swallowing his gain and reaching out for a new one. The girl shook her head judgmentally and slapped Noah's hand a little, trying to stop him from stealing more from another plate.

"Do you usually come to parties just for snacks?" she asked him, perfectly knowing the answer.

"Also for drinks," Noah reminded her, "I love free drinks as much as free snacks," he said, and demonstratively drained his beer from a plastic cup.

"You know what I mean!" Andrea frowned and flicked her black curly hair that was shoulder blades long.

"No way, don't say that he's gonna eat all the food that was brought here for 50 people!" Scott jumped out of nowhere and stared at Noah as judgmentally as Andrea did. Scott was on her side in any possible situation, probably because, during all the years of their friendship, he was utterly head over heels in love with her. He never confessed his love, though. On the other hand, Noah had a feeling that Andrea was very much aware of Scott's feelings. He could nothing but guess why she didn't want to dot the i's and cross the t's.

"Why do you care so much? Did you make it yourself?" Noah snorted while pouring himself another glass of beer, "If you don't want me to eat or drink, what do you want me to do during this unbelievably fun occasion?"

"What do you mean?! Relax! Have fun! Meet new people!" Andrea even spread her arms around.

"Yeah, sure," Noah grunted as if surprised that his friend doesn't consider food as entertainment.

"Why are you so pessimistic?" Andrea was standing with her hands on her hips, "If you're still worried about that stupid gossip, I wanna draw your attention to the fact that there are tons of freshmen here who know nothing about you or about those absurd stories surrounding your persona."

"I wouldn't be so sure," Noah sighed with a sense of déjà vu. Andrea was saying exactly the same thing a year ago. However, last year, she also added that everybody had already forgotten all this stupid gossip. But she was so wrong. Nobody forgot about it then. So there was no reason to hope for anything better this year.