The Monster's Little Angel

Chapter 14

It was lunchtime and Ashton and his friends made their way to the cafeteria, walking inside as if they owned the place and sat themselves down at their usual table. Ashton had not seen Quinn or her happy little pooch since their homeroom class and he was really hoping to see her again.

He looked around the cafeteria and - as luck would have it - Quinn was sitting by herself at a secluded table, with her dog at her side, eating from a container filled with kibble. She was rummaging through her bag, looking very upset about something.

He smiled at her direction, that he just couldn't help. She was so beautiful and cute. But he definitely did not like seeing her upset. Without thinking of anything but her, he strutted his way towards the table she was seated at and took a seat across from her.

"Hello, Quinn," he greeted as he studied her magnificent features.

She stopped her rummaging and slowly turned her head, to face him. Her dog looked up, seeming to have lost its happy demeanour as it walked closer to Quinn, laying its head on her lap. He studied her actions and he could tell that she was already getting shy around him.

"H-Hello?" she stuttered out a reply that was more of a question as her hand started to pet her dog's head.

"I'm in your homeroom class. I was the one in the front row," Ashton explained as he realised she didn't know who he was. It wasn't that surprising considering she didn't even look at anyone during homeroom.

"Okay, hello."

"My name's Ashton Hunter, in case you were wondering," he said and awkwardly stuck out his hand for her to shake.

'What is wrong with me?' he thought while Quinn just stared at his hand.

'Why am I acting like an awkward weirdo? I'm never this nervous around girls.' he scolded himself as Quinn continued to stare at his hand.

Ashton was usually smooth and charismatic around girls. He would flirt with them and charm them and they always fell for it. But, with Quinn, he was a nervous wreck. He couldn't flirt with her because he didn't know how this shy girl would respond. He couldn't charm her because he had heard from someone that she had skipped two grades, meaning she was too smart to even care about his charming ways.

All he could do was nervously smile and awkwardly hold out his hand, to which Quinn was still just staring at. He was about to bring his hand back when she slowly reached out and shook it. He noticed her hand still stroking her dog as she did.

"Well, I'm Quinn Reed but I guess you already knew that," she greeted, her voice soft and angelic as she brought her hand back.

He was amazed and spellbound by her touch. Her skin was soft and delicate. It held warmth and sent little tingles through his fingers. Her hand was small in his yet it molded with his perfectly - as cliché as that sounded, it was true in his case.

As he gave her a warm smile, her eyes widened at something behind him and she pulled her hood over her head, ducking it down behind the table, clutching onto her dog anxiously as she mumbled, 'please go away' over and over again.

Ashton turned around to find an older-looking gentleman, somewhere in his late thirties or early forties, coming towards their table. The man had a charming air about him as a smug smirk played on the corners of his lips. He wore a black suit attire, while his dark hair was roughly styled and dark eyes that had a mysterious yet smug vibe to them.

The man stood in front of their table and tapped Quinn's shoulder. All eyes were on them as Quinn slowly raised her head, her cheerful grey eyes now full of anxiety as she stared at the man.