Once The Four of Them Meet - an end-of-the-world romance

3 - And I think IM falling for YOU

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The same dream came to me that night, but instead of a blinding white ball of answers, I was met with the face of... Nevian?

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-

I slap the top of my alarm clock, hard —damn alarm clock.

I try to go back to sleep and realize it's a Monday.

Looking behind me at Nevian's bed, I find a neatly made bed. Groaning, I sit up, cat stretch, and get out of bed... very slowly.

Time skip  >>>>>>>>>

After lots of pushing from Nevian, I make it to homeroom on time. Ms. Haven introduces the school to us and talks to us about rules and blah blah blah.

I sip my homemade coffee, unsurprisingly better than the one from Alice's Cafe.

A painting behind Ms. Haven's head portrays something like another planet. I feel myself get deja vu and shake my head. Honestly, the painting looked like a bright white ball, like the sun.

I must have spaced out looking at the painting because someone jabs me in the ribs and I find all eyes of the room on me. My cheeks heat up as I look over to the kid who jabbed me, I see a green-eyed, blonde-headed boy watching me.

"Your name, we are introducing ourselves." He hisses at me in a thick country accent.

"Athena Fabel." I manage to stutter out to the crowd. My back is boiling from the moment and I find myself focusing more intently as Ms. Haven talks. 

A shrill high-pitched bell rings at the end of the period and everyone single file lines up to walk out. 

I am handed a map of the school, black and white and helpful looking. As I examine the map, a sharp shoulder hits me exactly where my bruise is, it's like it was looking for it. I grimace, squinting one eye from the pain. 

"Are you... okay?" the same blonde boy from before asks me, peering down. 

"Yeah," I say "Just caught me in the wrong spot." 

"Okay... you're new here, need me to show you 'round?" he asks in an almost singsong voice.

"Nah, It will be easy with the map," I say, sure of myself. It couldn't be that hard. 

Trotting through the halls, I notice that the walls are all a peach color. I stop at a collection of tapestries that I'm guessing were made by the students. One of the tapestries displays a woman with hawk-like eyes... I can't put my finger on it, but the woman looks familiar for some reason. 

I figured out the hard way that reading a map is hard. Not because it was hard, but because of my poor map-reading skills. Halfway through, I realized I was reading it upside down.

Sighing, I enter English late, earning a stern look from the teacher. She ignores me and I find Sawyer in my class waving me over to the only empty seat. The desk is nice and polished with an A+A embedded into it.

Sawyer smirked at me, "Told you you needed help."

"Correction. You asked, not told." I say smirking right back.

"Smart ass," he whispers, rolling his eyes. With his accent, it sounded more like "Smert ise" and I couldn't help but smile a little.

With a discreet roll of my eyes, I focused my attention back on the teacher as she lectured us for the rest of the class. With the ring of the bell, we were liberated from the tediousness of our English teacher. Together, Sawyer and I make our way to philosophy class...

Sawyer and I walk to philosophy class together. I roll up my thin sweater and put it in my backpack, god is it hot. I checked my watch and it is 92 degrees, I can definitely feel it. 

Nevian is sitting near a window sill staring at some kids licking popsicles outside. I sit next to her as the class starts. Ms. Haven comes up to the board.

"I hope that practice essay you gave me was worth it," I whisper to Nevian.

"No promises.." she says giving me a look.

Ms. Haven starts a lesson and it is not about ontology, instead, she goes over philosophers in the past and what they did.

Halfway through class, we start watching a short movie about Aristotle. 

Nevian looks at me, she's wearing an emerald green tank top that contrasts perfectly with her skin. 

Her face is shiny from little beads of sweat and her cheeks are slightly tinted pink from the heat. A vine of henna flowers snaked around her bare shoulders. She looks angelic and I almost say it out loud. 

She combs her hair back and throws me an innocent smile. 

"It's hot in here, isn't it," she says. 

I snap out of my trance and feel my cheeks heat up even more.

"Yeah," I say, "My back is practically wet from sweat." 

I wonder how I looked from her perspective, probably sweaty and smelly.

"For reaaall, who dumped water down my back?" she laughs. "Oh my god! Do you have deodorant?" she shouts out wide-eyed.

"Yeah," I say handing her a stick. 

"Thank God!" she exclaims, then excuses herself to the bathroom. 

I still can't bring the pictures of her out of my mind. Her face. Her smile. Heck, her laugh drew me towards her, like a magnet. I was the South Pole and she was the North, growing closer.

I was in love with her deep, and no matter how straight I thought I was, I couldn't deny... this feeling...

❤

Wait... guys I actually got an okay-long chapter! Say hello to 900 words!

For everyone reading this, thank you so much, and have a great day!