Unpredictable - (tristan evans)

If Looks Could Kill

Days crawled by agonisingly slowly, nights grew darker and sunlight clung on just a little longer before surrendering to the soft glimmer of starlight. Yet she saw none of it, never looked up to see the changes around her, always finding some excuse to stare at the silent shadow in the corner. And the more she looked, the more she saw. She noticed the way teacher’s eyes would slide past his seat as if he didn’t even exist, how alone he was, every second of every hour, day after day after day. Despite the flock of red-lipped, fake-tanned girls constantly shadowing his every quiet footstep, he never seemed to fit in, preferring to hang back on the edges and offering nothing to the conversation. She saw, and she felt only sadness, her initial instinctive fear fading away.

He never looked her way again, and yet her curiosity grew with each passing second until it became her only thought. She was pre-occupied, head in the clouds as she walked into class and quickly sat down, a cool breeze whispering across bare skin where her jeans were ripped, frayed edges fluttering. She tried to stop herself glancing over at his desk but couldn’t help herself, disappointment flaring when she caught sight of the empty, slightly crooked seat but quickly pushed away by a reckless surge of annoyance.

Get over him, a malicious voice in her head taunted her; he’s no good for you. She tried to block it out, but it just went on and on. Another joined in, velvet tones dripping with poison. Did you even think you had a chance with him? Idiot. He’ll only hurt you, and then look who’ll be laughing. That’s right, you’re the stupid one. Can’t you see?

Desperately trying to shut the voices out, she didn’t notice the harsh scraping of a chair beside her, a slender hand resting lightly on the desk with a few subtle rings gleaming black on long fingers. Looking up from between her trembling hands, she dimly realised someone was sitting next to her and surprise widened her eyes, shifting her hair over one shoulder to hide her face from sight. From behind a shielding curtain of cascading midnight waves she studied the rings, admiring the way sunlight seemed to melt into the black depths, as if one touch could cause enfolding darkness to pour forth. Then the breath froze in her throat, the voices died away and fizzled into nothing. She knew that hand, recognised the sweeping lines of a single, beautiful tattoo curling over the delicate framework of bones beneath the skin. And yet she forced herself to turn her attention back to the teacher, anxiously clicking the metal stud in her tongue against her teeth with each precarious breath. She felt eyes on her, drifting past her to the slumped figure next to her, and she heard their astounded confusion as clearly as if they had shouted it down her ears. What the fuck was he doing? Suddenly she was angry, furiously angry. Weeks of staring helplessly after him, losing sleep over the memory of his eyes, checking his seat every lesson without a thought for anything else. And now he was sitting right beside her. So close she could feel the chill radiating off his skin, hear the tap of his lip piercing against brilliant white teeth, smell the scent of cigarette smoke and mint that clung to his every movement, exposed skin. It was as if he was deliberately mocking her, taunting her with what she could never have, and her hands balled into tight fists, nails digging into her palms and threatening to break skin. She threw him a scorching glare over her shoulder and suddenly found herself lost in those blue eyes again, staring straight at her, anger dissolving away as quickly as it had bubbled up.

He looked vaguely surprised at the intensity of her anger, a hint of something else that disappeared as soon as it came; eyebrow raised a fraction as he calmly held her gaze. Strangely graceful hands turned a mangled pen over and over as seconds merged into minutes, the chatter of students around them gradually fading away. Finally she wrenched her head aside, abruptly turning back to face the front and deliberately ignoring him though she could still feel his eyes searching her face, and she thought she could sense confusion in the way he fiddled mindlessly with the broken pen. The plastic was splintered, shattered beyond repair and glistening red ink leaked over his skin, scarlet bloodstains against pale white. He didn’t seem to care.

“Why do you hate me?”

She jumped slightly and shocked eyes turned to his closed face, eyes carefully guarded and lashes lowered towards the floor. His voice wasn’t quite what she had expected, and it took her by surprise, robbing the words from her lips. Low, musical and carefully courteous, rough edges telling tales of sleepless nights and cracking with lack of use. People around them stared, openly stared. Apparently they had never heard him speak either. She looked pointedly at them until they reluctantly turned away, though she could tell they were listening, ears straining to catch every whisper of conversation. She sighed. No doubt this would be around school in five minutes at the most.

He was still waiting for an answer, apparently uninterested as he flicked away the shards of pen with one careless twist of his wrist.

“I don’t”

She didn’t know what to say. Only she knew the truth in her words.

Blatant disbelief flickered across his features, hollow shadows circling his eyes as heavy boots shifted on the floor. He simply held her eyes for a split-second longer, then dropped his gaze and was silent, the lines of his face cold.

When class finally ended she almost opened her mouth to say something, to explain, to make him understand. But he was already walking away, catching a fleeting glimpse of his trailing laces before he rounded the corner and was gone, leaving behind only the amazed stares of her classmates and a lingering scent of smoke and mint that now clung to her too.

If looks could kill, she would be dead.

a huge thank you to every who continues to read and comment and everthing, you're all great x

part three is already written, i'll update soon x