Taking What's His

Chapter Six

The rest of the day was quite peculiar after I stumbled out of the forest and back on to the school grounds. The fog had dissipated, and the gentle chirping of birds and the sound of woodland animals filled the space surrounding the forest once again. I looked back towards the cluster of trees, shivering once more before I started towards the school.

I faltered in my step, coming to a complete halt as I saw Ashton and Ruby standing together, both of them staring right at me. I was too far to hear what Ashton bent down to whisper in Ruby's ear, but she gave him a nod before he looked at me again. His eyes slowly trickled down my body, as if he was assessing for some injury of sorts...or stripping me in his mind. I tried and failed to not think about the latter, and a blush slowly spread over my cheeks.

His expression stayed emotionless as he turned and walked back into the school, and I didn't know whether to be relieved or upset. I walked toward Ruby, giving her a forced smile. "Can this day get any weirder?" I asked jokingly, nodding my head towards Ashton's retreating back. "Let's hope not." she murmured darkly, and I wondered what happened to make her bubbly mood evaporate and change so drastically.

She turned to face me, her expression grave as she crossed her arms over her chest. "You went into the forest again." she stated. I nodded lamely. An irritable sigh escaped her lips, and she violently shoved her bangs out of her face in frustration. "Geez--you freaking disappeared and I couldn't sense you...and you smell." she murmured as I stared at her in confusion. She reached out and took my face in between her hands, her eyes glowing red as she stared into my own.

It was like a thick fog enveloped my brain, and I suddenly felt extremely light, as if I was about to leave my body and float away. It was only the intensity of Ruby's gaze that kept me grounded. "Delilah--forget everything I just said." she commanded, and I nodded, my mind pulling up a blank about the last minute of our conversation. "I need you to listen to me, okay?"

Another nod. "Stay out of the forest. Don't go near it. Don't go in it. Do you understand?" She spoke as if she were speaking to and reprimanding a child. "I understand." I murmured in reply. She abruptly let go and I blinked a number of times, the sudden fog that seemed to cloud my brain disappearing. "Really, if we don't hurry up we're going to be late to class. I really don't want Mr. Coney getting on my case again." Ruby groaned, grabbing my wrist and tugging me inside the school.

"Maybe if you made it to his class on time every day he wouldn't be on your case to begin with." I laughed, my steps quick as I tried to keep up with her. We made it to class a couple seconds before the bell rang and hurried to our seats, glad that we avoided a scolding by our old coot of a history teacher. Ruby took my seat today, placing herself between Ashton and me, which I didn't mind. I at least got to focus on the lesson without Ashton burning holes through my back.

Ruby played with my hair, braiding and un-braiding it numerous times while I took notes for the both of us. I was a bit curious as to why Ruby would sit in my seat with her absolute hatred of Ashton, and the reason turned out to be that she wanted to talk to him. A quick peek at them showed Ashton's body angled towards Ruby, and their lips were moving silently, and I was somewhat surprised that I couldn't hear them when I was sitting just in front of them.

Ashton glanced at me a number of times, his expression not the usual self-satisfied smirk he wore, but instead his eyes were dark and his brow was furrowed, his lips pressed into a thin line. He looked...mad. I ripped my gaze away from him, not wanting to be caught staring, least of all by him. I twirled a strand of hair around my finger as I gnawed on the end of my pen, losing myself in the thought of what they could be talking about.

I got so out of it that I didn't even realize when the bell rang until someone grabbed my hand and roughly yanked me out of my seat. I blinked up at Ashton who's gaze was still cold as he held me against his chest, and an uninvited blush crept up my cheeks and warmed my skin. "You don't look to good Delilah. You should go home. Ruby will drive you." he murmured in a detached tone, causing me to frown. "I feel fine." I argued, not doing anything to pull out of his grip.

I could feel Ruby behind me, but she didn't speak up, which lead me to believe that she agreed with Ashton's judgment of how "sick" I looked. "Go home Delilah." Ashton said firmly, brushing my bangs away from my face. His eyes flickered from their usually deep mahogany brown to red and then back again. I stumbled back, and he let me go before passing by Ruby and I to exit the classroom.

"Come on, let's go home. We can watch some crap t.v. and eat ice cream." Ruby suggested as she tugged on my arm. I followed her out of the school in a daze, my mind only swirling around the image of Ashton's eyes. A certain shade of mahogany eyes that swirled with some deep, dark desire and emotion that I felt I would never understand. They say the eyes are the windows to the soul. If that's true, then I have a feeling that I won't ever want to look into Ashton's soul.