His tongue trails from the side of my chin to the corner of my mouth. I'm frozen on spot, barely breathing. When he pulls away, his eyes are the same shimmering silver I had seen the other night. My breathing spikes, and his eyes dart to my mouth. B...
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— 8 —
After Calvin's declaration, Gibson put the school on lockdown. All the professors were instructed to lock their doors after everyone returned to class (with the exception of me and my friends), and the students in Mr. Canty's class were put in the gym. The blinds were drawn so no one could peek in, and, after he volunteered, Mr. Kingsley stayed with us as Gibson reviewed the tapes with the police. No one's coming in or out.
Now that something's being done, everyone decides to crowd around me on the couch. Nikki is sitting on Leon's lap to my right, Calvin on the arm of the couch next to them. TJ and Trent are still on the loveseat across from me. The coffee table separating us has been moved against the wall, right under the window, so TJ can massage Nikki's feet. On the left, Whit's eyes are darting from us to Mr. Kingsley, who's leaning against the wall—sizing him, I guess, making sure he's not going to do anything.
He notices, though, and decides to say something about it. "I'm not a threat, Ms. Hall."
She lifts her head a little, face stern. "We'll see about that, Chase."
He raises an amused eyebrow. "Don't want to use my last name?"
"I don't call any of the professors by their last names," she answers. "Privilege of flunking a year."
"You're proud of flunking?" he questions, tilting his head. He's mocking her. I can tell by the small curve of his mouth—he's trying not to smirk.
"Yes," she says, unfazed.
He's smirking now. "I see."
"Leave him alone, Whit," Leon says. "He helped Cupcake; I don't think he's going to try anything now."
"I just think it's strange," she defends, looking at Leon. "He suddenly comes to our school a day before Preston sends us that warning, and he's already meeting up with her at odd hours of the night. We all know Circle K is anything but popular and yet he was there at two in the morning."
Leon can't say anything in return.
Mr. Kingsley looks more entertained than offended as he straightens up. "I was visiting a friend of mine. He ran out of cigarettes and asked me to run to the convenient store near his house on my way."
"That's just it: why were you visiting a friend at two in the morning?" she demands.
I sigh. "Whit, drop it. He's not dangerous, okay?"
"But, Cupcake—"
Mr. Kingsley shakes his head. "No, it's okay. Ms. Hall is perfectly justified in her assumptions."
I raise an eyebrow.
"My parents passed away recently," he says, "and in an attempt to mix things up, I decided to move to the States. I have a friend that lives here in Silverstein, and he thought it would be a good change of pace. He said the people here were... interesting, and things were different. I taught for a year in Europe, so he knew someone who could get me a job if I was qualified. The same friend has a job on graveyard, however, and I haven't seen him since I moved here, so I thought I'd sacrifice a night and visit him. Friday night was the first night he's had off since I have been here."
