The Change||Damon Torrance

II

5 years ago

"Please Adrian." I say to my friend while he's squeezing my wrist, in the park, in Thunder Bay. It's October 30, the night before Halloween, Devil's Night. Everyone's at the party, where I wanted to go too, but Adrian didn't let me."Look at me, whore!" he orders me and I feel how his palm sticks to my cheek. "Make fun of me one more time in front of my friends and you'll regret it!" he says, squeezing my wrist so hard that it left a visible mark.

"Do you like hitting girls?" a male voice is heard from behind us. I look back and freeze. I've always been intimidated by them. The Four Horseman. Adrian let go of my wrist and looks at them but doesn't say anything. Michael Crist, Kai Mori, Will Grayson the III and Damon Torrance. The whole town knows them. It's their holiday. Devil's Night. I thought they were at a party.

"Get out of here!" ordered the boy with a white mask and a red line, who was Will. Adrian looked at me and left, leaving me alone with them. Shit. I took a step back and saw everyone take off their masks, revealing their faces."Are you ok?" the one next to Will asks me, who was Kai. I approve and hear the leader of the group, Michael.

"Do you want us to drive you home?" he asks me and I stay a little lost in thought. It was quite late and cold. I didn't want to walk alone but I refused. "It's ok. I'm not far away. I can walk alone." I tell them and Michael approves. "Thank you, by the way!" I tell them, giving them a short smile and I start to take a few steps away from them. I hear them turn and go in the opposite direction but I hear some steps behind me.

"The wrist doesn't look too good." I hear the same voice that approached Adrian before Will, Damon's voice.I stop and turn my gaze, seeing him a few meters from me. "I'm ok. It'll pass. I'll cover it with foundation." I tell him and he analyzes my face. "You're a freshman, right?" he asks me and I agree."I saw you at cheerleading practice." Damon says to me and I'm surprised. I don't say anything but I hear him again. "Aren't you a little young for a boyfriend?" he asks me as he sits down on the bench to his right, motioning for me to sit down as well. I hesitate to sit down but in the end I do.

"He's not my boyfriend." I tell him and he raises an eyebrow "It didn't seem like earlier." he says while meeting my gaze. God, I can't keep eye contact with him. "It's a complicated situation." I answer him, moving my gaze to the other side. I see his smirk out of the corner of my eye, but he doesn't say anything.

"I'm Alekseeva by the way. You can call me Eva." I say and he sits more comfortably on the bench "I know." he says to me, seeing him lighting a cigarette out of the corner of his eye. He motions to me if I want from his cigarette but I refuse. "You know I'm a freshman, you know I'm on the cheerleading team and you know my name, but now is the first time we've spoken," I say, trying to maintain eye contact, but it's hard. He smirked while taking a drag on his cigarette and exhaling the smoke.

"I like to watch." he tells me and I raise my eyebrows for a moment but I don't ask him many details. "Why aren't you with your friends? It seems that they have left." I tell him and he throws his smoked cigarette on the floor."I know where I will find them tonight. I don't know where I will find you tonight." he says, making eye contact. I bite my bottom lip so he doesn't notice that I'm smiling.

"I'd like to go to the party." I tell him and he doesn't say anything, but after a few moments he gets up and stretches his hand towards me, waiting for me to take his hand. "I know a place. Come on." he says to me and I grab his hand and we start to pick up our pace, still holding hands. It's the first time I interact with Damon, but I feel like I've known him for a lifetime.

I got into his beautiful black BMW. I've seen him so many times in the high school parking lot. I get into the seat on the right and he gets in driver seat.I was know we're not gonna go to the party because it's on the other side of town."You didn't tell me where we were going." I ask him while looking at him. He only has his right hand on the steering wheel and the other is on the window. Hot. "You'll see." he tells me, while pressing the accelerator even more.

He turned to a place I've never been to because it's closed."What are we doing at the library?" I ask him while opening the car's door. "Come." he tells me and I follow him. The doors were locked, how does Damon want us to enter? I see him taking it through the back of the bookcase, so I follow him. Somewhere around the corner I see a small, wooden door. Damon pushes the doorknob a little and I see how it opens. He motions for me to come in. It was dark and dusty. I don't understand why they closed this place. It's so spacious.

"What are we doing here?" I ask him one more time but I see Damon going upstairs."Damon!" I whisper after him, but he doesn't answer me, so I go up after him. This library had two floors, but we pass the second one, and I raise my eyebrows because only two floors could be seen from the outside. We reach the third floor. I look to the left right but it's quite hard to see. Then Damon turns on the light, a weak light but where we can see ,revealing a big room with musical instruments. Now I'm really amazed. I look at Damon amazed and see him leaning on the heel the doors.

"How do you—?" I stop remembering what he said. I like to watch."You can try them if you want." he tells me as he sits down in an armchair and lights a cigarette again. I stay frozen for a second and go to the piano. I love to play at the piano. I've been playing at the piano since I was little but I stopped a few years ago. The piano was a little dusty but it didn't bother me.

I started with the score I remembered from the interpretation of "Insolation". It's quite sad, but I always liked it. "What were you thinking about when you played the piano?" Damon asks me and I look back at him. I sat for a few moments to think "I didn't think of anything in particular." I answer him and he fixes his eyes on me while he smokes.

"Did you think of something?" I ask him and I see how his look changes. A serious look without emotions.