The Inveigled

Chapter 7: Blythe

I noticed eyes following me as I strode to my seat, and I couldn't really tell why. Why did this have to happen? How could this be mere coincidence?

When I get situated, I find Professor Whittaker hovering over my desk.

"Good morning Blythe." Her hoarse voice spits, as if I was beneath her.

"Good morning Professor Whittaker." I return with a fake smile, watching her as her sluggish actions begin to form in front of her. She crosses her arms over her chest, and her hazel eyes inspect mine for what seems like hours.

"Why are you wearing a gentleman's blazer?" She bluntly remarks, and I quickly retract my head in defense.

"What are you talking about?" I look down at my attire before realizing I in fact, was, wearing a men's blazer over my clothing. The class erupts into hushed whispers, and I purse my lips, silencing myself as I search for an explanation.

Everyone's eyes stared at me as if they had just heard I had come back from the dead. A few smiles take people's faces. Their eyes judged me, running me up and down, exposing every bare inch of my body.

What did Juno do?! Why would she give me a men's blazer?! Was she trying to get everyone to stare at me?!

"...There was a bit of an incident, so I didn't really have a choice.." It takes all my energy to get my lips to move, and even then, my voice comes off as a whisper.

"You're not going to come and make a laughing stock of my presence like that. This is a proper classroom and you won't be invited to return until you're in proper attire. I hope you realize that this is a one time thing, and a one time thing only." She aggressively barks, and I can see the few flicks of saliva rolling from her tongue like bullets as she spoke.

I silently nod, not being able to cough up my voice. It was like a large set of hands silently choked me, not allowing me to speak.

"Good, now we shall return to our lesson." She simply mutters before turning on her foot and sashaying back to the front of her classroom. The only sound in the whole class was the clicking of her heels as they hit the tile of the floor.

I had to admit, I was quite fidgety the whole period. I found myself tapping my foot, anxiously staring to my left while Jax's full name faded slowly. I couldn't even hear the lesson going on a few feet in front of me.

Every footstep I would hear would make my head jut upwards, every voice making me anxiously recall the few words we exchanged.

I don't think it was specifically him I was worried about, but just the fact itself that I had just lost four people and I wasn't looking forward to lose one more.

My eyes mindlessly follow my pencil as it bounces up and down against my desk. The tapping sound seemed to be soothing to my ears, like a single melody that would lull a baby into sleep.

I actually feel my eyes begin to shut, watching the name beside me slowly fade into oblivion until it suddenly flashes up.

--Wait, that means..

I quickly sit up, my eyes rushing to the door. A single hiss echos around the classroom while Jax carelessly saunters to his seat. I set my eyes to the clock and..

Seven minutes. We had seven minutes of class left.

"Mr. Sylvan. It's your first day here, and you've completely missed your first period. You're taking advantage of the opportunity that not many students have."

He raises an eyebrow before moving his head to the sharp source of sound. There's a silence that rests before he clears his throat and replies to her in a belittling tone.

"I'm here. That means I haven't missed it." He rebuts, and I find myself in a state of shock.

All of us, gaped at him with our mouths hanging wide open and our eyes bulging out of our heads.

What was he attempting?

"Oh? Give me an overview of what we've learned in class today." Whittaker states, as a bit of a case closed statement.

Jax's eyes waft around the room before they rest on the electric display screen projecting the words "Quantum Entanglement" on the board. He pauses, feigns an interested tone, and continues. Something about him just threw me off. Maybe it was the liquid that had dried on his right arm, or the mud that stained the soles of his shoes, but something told me he wasn't coming to class to learn something. Where he was the first fifty-three minutes of class?

 Who knows?

In fact, all I can deduct is that he was somewhere he wasn't supposed to be, and I've got a pretty sharp eye. Other than that, he gave no signs of anxiousness and worry. He either legitimately didn't do anything wrong, or he's just really good at hiding it.

"Quantum entanglement describes a situation where multiple particles are associated in such a way that measuring the quantum state of one particle also places constraints on the measurements of the other particles." Jax says, then he pauses. "That's just a very, very simplified version of it, anyways. Do I need to dumb it down more?" The corner of his lip curls upward.

Professor Whittaker stares at him, bewildered. She quickly covers it up though, brushing him off with a mere wave of the hand. 

"Get to your seat." She grumbles, her voluptuous figure slumping in great distaste as she floats back to the board.

Jax marches over, hands bare of any books as he pulls the chair back and slowly sits down, without a care in the world. Even I could feel Whittaker's glare boring into his skull.

He juts a single arm on the desk, using his hand to prop up his head as he discreetly adjusts two pods wedged into his ear.

The first thing I notice is that he reeked of smoke, and the liquid on his arm seemed to hold a tint.

"Were you smoking? Is that why you didn't show up?" I blurt, and he blatantly rolls his eyes.

"Why do you care?" He harshly spits, as if I was below him. He returns to fiddling with his ear pods. It threw me into annoyance with how he just belittled me like that.

But the question was one that I had to pause and think over before answering.

"I don't care, I just don't want to be seated next to some druggie." I murmur, letting out a forced sigh as my glare hardens, almost becoming a permanent expression whenever I'm around him. Why was I waiting for him to walk into this classroom again?

"Well, you can keep your crazy obsession with me to yourself." Jax groans.

"What?"

"Some people may find the creepy stalker thing cute. I'm not one of them. I'm quite a magnet, I know, but seriously." He looks down at my blazer, trying to hide the obvious smirk that plays across his lips.

"What are you saying--" He reaches for my.. it seems like he's reaching for my chest, and I quickly slap his hand away.

Instead of retracting, he toys with a pin on the front, acting as if he was doing something but really, I felt like it was just an excuse.

He slips off a pin and displays it, the gloss of it showing his name.

I stare at it in disbelief.

"I- I swear I didn't take it! That Juno girl, the cheery bubbly one, yeah, she brought it to me! I don't know where she could have gotten it but-"

The smile on his face quickly sinks.

"I see."