My curse

Elijah

Another knock followed by '' Professor Paterson, are you there?'' echos behind the closed door. Our eyes meet, and I see her mouth start to open to say something, but I close the distance between us. My hand quickly covers her mouth, and I hear her faint gasp at the contact. Her eyes bulge out, and she reaches out her hand to remove mine. Suddenly, she drops her arm as if realizing something horrifying. I look at her, confusion all over my face. What was that reaction? Was she afraid to touch my hand? 

After a long moment of her breathing hard and avoiding my eyes and me trying to keep myself together while my hand lays on top of her soft lips, the person knocking on the door finally leaves. Her eyes shoot to mine, and it feels like the entire world has stopped spinning. Like no one else exists but the two of us. My heart starts beating fast as her large green eyes roam my features and land on my lips. I can't bring myself to remove my hand from her lips and get away from her. Her eyes come back to mine, and suddenly, the world starts spinning again, and the loud chatter from the hallways fills my ears. I watch as her eyes light up with mischief. And then she opens her mouth and licks my palm, startling me. I drop my hand, surprised by her action. She seizes the opportunity, opens the door, and runs away, leaving me flabbergasted. As I'm about to call after her, I realize I don't even know her name. Great.  

SKY'S POV      

I run away. I head straight to the WC so I can get myself together after what just happened. I have never felt the way I did, back there. As if two forces are pulling us together. As if an invisible string is pulling me toward him. Elijah. 

As soon as I locked the bathroom door behind me, I let go of the breath I was holding. I look up at myself in the mirror and notice how red my cheeks are. Without any warning, flashbacks of my encounter with Elijah trap my mind. The closeness, the tension, the eye contact, the intimacy, his hand on my lips.... I feel my heart starts beating fast as I recall every detail. My fingers softly brush my lips where he had his palm. As I focus on my reflection, I realize I'm smiling at the memory. But my smile abruptly fades when I remember how close I was to touching his hand. When he put his palm on my mouth, I wanted to remove it, and I almost did, but thankfully, I stopped myself at the last minute. I can't be this careless. If my hand touched his, everything I have done for the past years would go in vain. Every sacrifice, every heartbreak, every memory will just fade away, like they never meant anything. I can't afford to go back to that phase of my life. I don't want to go through all the emotional pain I went through. And for some reason, I can't bring myself to even think he will die, let alone see it happen in my vision. I can't.    

This is my least favorite class. Even though I have nothing against Professor Parker. He is tall and thin, probably in his late fifties. This professor always pulls the group project card on us. And I hate it. I hate when I find myself with a bunch of people, who most of the time don't even do their part of the work. So I usually do everything. The fact that I don't confront people and avoid social interactions altogether doesn't help. I sit in the far back and pull my notebook from my bag. I'm still mad at myself for letting Elijah threaten my peace of mind. And I am also mad at him for having that much effect on me. Speaking of the devil, he enters the classroom with such confidence that everyone can't help but stare at him. He has a nice body, and the all-black outfit is highlighting it. He looks around, searching for someone, and I can't look away from him. His presence alone is enough to catch everyone's attention. Our eyes meet, and he slowly smirks, holding my eyes captive. I feel my cheeks turn red, and I break the eye contact first. When I look again, I notice him sitting on the opposite side of the classroom. A few girls sitting in front of me turn around and give me a weird look before whispering to each other something. UGH Great, now he had to do that in front of everyone and bring attention to me. Exactly what I try to avoid at all costs.

''As most of you already know, I LOVE group projects.'' Professor Parker starts and the people sitting in front laugh. But I don't. There is nothing funny about putting people through the torture of trying to get everyone to show up in group meetings and trying to agree about one thing when everyone is so attached to their limited perspective. 

''This time around, you will have to work in groups of two. You will be partners, and your assignment is to come up with a business idea. You have to present a business plan......" Mr Parker explains as I write down everything he says. ''You will have to meet up with a couple of real businessmen and businesswomen to understand how a business succeeds rather than just theory.'' He continues looking around the room to make sure everyone gets what he means. I nod my head as his eyes lie on me. He goes on to explain the instructions more precisely and how we will be graded, and so on. He then goes back to his computer and announces with a hint of disappointment in his voice ''Since many people complained about my way of paring last semester, this time I have all your names entered in this platform that will generate the paring of groups.'' 

I patiently wait for my name to be paired with someone else's. So far, there have been mixed reactions to the pairings of groups. I heard a groan, I saw a high five and a couple of fist bumps, I caught some curse words, and finally, a loud YES that made us all laugh. When my name appeared on the screen, I felt my heart racing. I heard a guy up front ask his friend, who is Sky Lindson, to which the guy answered with a shrug. After what felt like forever, a name next to mine popped up: Elijah Woods. Seriously?

 Am I still asleep, and this entire morning is just a long, awkward, never-ending nightmare? Because there is no way I will be working with him for an entire semester. Should I pinch myself to wake up from this weird dream? 

I stop a scream from escaping my lips after I pinched my arm. Well, this is as real as it gets. I am not dreaming. ''Elijah Woods?'' The professor interrupts my thoughts with his strong voice. I hear a deep voice from the other side of the classroom answer '' Right here, professor.'' 

''Great. Sky Lindson?'' Mr Parker calls, and I fight the urge to take my bag and run from the classroom. ''Yes, here, professor." I answer in a shakey voice, but the whispers going around the room are loud enough to drown my response. ''Sky Lindson? Is she absent?'' He asks again, looking around the room. This time, I respond loudly, holding my hand up.'' I'm right here professor''. The entire room goes silent, and many heads turn my way, including Elijah's.                    ''Perfect. You will be working together with Woods.'' I nod my head with a polite smile or rather what I think is one because there is a high chance I might be grimacing.

 I feel Elijah's eyes burning the side of my face, and I lose the battle against my will. I turn around to look at him, and he smiles a mischievous look on his face. Well, this is definitely going to be interesting.