Scarlet Dreams

Chapter 8: In the Balls And Six Feet Under

Scarlet

I knew the probability of Simon not jumping on me about the History class incident was even lower than winning a lottery while not buying a ticket. I was one hundred percent sure my best friend was going to do his absolute best to get a good laugh out of it, so my battle strategy was a simple one; avoid being caught by him for as long as possible. Easy-peasy—at least, if it wasn't Simon we were talking about. But regrettably, of course—it was.

Slowly, I peeked out from behind a corner down the main corridor to the cafeteria for any signs of my formidable opponent; not there. I frowned, feeling even if I had some dormant ninja blood in me, I couldn't be so lucky as to get to my goal without even seeing him skulking around somewhere, waiting to ambush me.

Without a warning, an arm circled around my waist and pulled me into the air, causing me to cry out in alarm.

"Did you think you could hide?" chuckled Simon with mischief twinkling in his baby-blue eyes.

"No?" I sighed in defeat.

"Are you going to put me down now?"

"Nope, it's fun," he smirked. "At least, I think so." But I couldn't find the 'fun' he'd implied in dangling on his unfairly strong arm like a doll. Men and their stupid strength advantages—and he was such a show-off.

Not bothering to convince him otherwise, I unceremoniously grabbed his arm that was holding me in the air and twisted it just enough to make his grip loosen around me. Effortlessly, I fell on my feet with a thump and straightened my shirt. Now who had the advantage?

"Ouch, jeez, Scar! I like that you know how to defend yourself, but can you please not use the moves on me?" he whined while holding his wrist. "They are meant to make the other person hurt, you know."

I knew for a fact it only hurt for a second when I twisted it and he was only playing around. After all, he wouldn't have survived the training sessions if that hurt him.

I smirked. "If I really wanted to hurt you, you wouldn't be having children in the future."

Simon whistled and threw his arm around my shoulder loosely, the "pain" obviously forgotten. "Savage, like always. Anyway..." The corners of his mouth turned into a sly smile, "what's up with you and the new guy?"

I ignored him and walked into the buzzing cafeteria. He didn't miss a beat and followed me, all the while pestering me, not stopping even when we were collecting our food.

"You can tell me what your sex-deprived mind has been coming up with," he continued nonchalantly, making me look around uncomfortably to see if anyone else was listening to his blabbering on about my non-existent sex life. I wasn't shy about it but that didn't mean I wanted to announce my sexual status to everyone.

Simon grinned when he caught me making sure no one was paying much attention to us. "I can be louder, you know. I SAID, I CAN BE—"

"Shh!"

I glared at him and made my way to our table. My resolution not to say anything was thinning to the point where I was very inclined to shake my can of soda and open it into his face.

"I bet," I said.

We seated ourselves at a long bench table. "There's nothing going on!" I said. "I just thought he felt different."

Simon looked like he'd just been fed a world-class delicacy. "Oh, so he felt different. I wonder what you were thinking about. What, exactly, have you been feeling?"

His words made my cheeks heat up without my permission.

"I bet you went all Fifty Shades of Grey on him in your crazy, sex-starved little head," he said, smirking and sipping some soda from that same can I had wanted to open in his smarmy face. I already regretted that I hadn't done it.

"He just...I don't know...doesn't really seem to fit into this place."

"Hmm... he does act a bit old."

"It's called mature," I defended the stranger, feeling that calling him old was a bit much. Simon smiled knowingly. I rolled my eyes at him and dug into my food. I was starving.

"By the way, I've got a surprise for you."

"What surprise?" I asked apprehensively. His expression was a bit too mischievous for my liking.

"Speak of the Devil." Simon smiled and waved to someone behind me. Turning around, I froze. He had to be kidding. I was so going to kill him.

"Please tell me you didn't invite him here," I whispered to Simon with an agonized look while turning my back toward the person of interest, the one I had noticed resolutely making his way toward our half-abandoned table.

"Oh, yes I did," he said smugly, "You can thank me later." Thank him? More like kick him in the balls and bury him six feet under.

I groaned silently. He was totally doing this to make fun of me.

"He's getting close, closer... almost here...right behind you," he helpfully whispered to me with a wide amused grin on his face before talking aloud again. "Hey! Got stuck in the crowd?" Simon sounded like he was talking to an old friend. Well, he always talked like that, so making new friends was easy for him.

"Yeah, the hallways are way overcrowded. Almost forgot how that felt."

I took a shaky breath before looking up to see Mr. White sitting right beside me. Our eyes met and I managed to smile at him feebly.

His striking gray eyes watched me with curiosity, making my heart start a one-man tango in my chest. The only thing going through my mind was "spring with a touch of fresh nature" because that was the scent tickling my nose when he sat down next to me. My favorite season coupled with my favorite place. It couldn't be my senses playing tricks on me, could it?

"You're Scarlet, right?" I was momentarily stunned by his deep tone and the chemical reaction in my body that occurred when he said my name, one that produced a substance called endorphin along with other hormones, making my head go entirely blank for a second.

"Um, yeah," I managed to say, but no other words came to mind. How does he know my name? It must have been Simon, that sneaky little asshole.

If I hadn't been so preoccupied with getting the chemical lab, that was my body, under control, I would have sent him my best death glare.

"I'm Christian." He reached out his hand in a kind of formal greeting.

Smiling, this time with a lot less tension, I took his hand. I tried to blatantly ignore my heart's enthusiasm at his touch, but his next action made me fail almost immediately.