Fire and Ice

2- Delaying The Inevitable

"No Kenny!" Azarlea exclaims as he moves his hands from her waist down to her private area. He grips on her thighs, so she stands up, walking to the other side of the room.

"Kenneth I said no." She glares at him.

"Why not!?" He growls at her.

"Because I'm not ready Kenny! You told me you'd wait!"

She doesnt see his fist fly towards her face, she only feels it collide with her cheek. "You know what?" He spits. "I bet your sleeping with other people behind my back! Like that silent freak!"

"Kenny, I'm not okay!" He storms out, so she collapses to the ground in tears. She cries herself to sleep on the bedroom floor.

Before Azarlea realises, its the day before the history paper is due. Shit shit shit shit shit SHIT! She thinks to herself, running to the class.

She runs in the door to see Mrs Loft frowning. "Late again Azarlea."

She opens her mouth to defend herself, but the teacher cuts her off. "Uh uh uh! I dont wanna hear your excuses, take your seat. And dont make this a habit!"

She sits in her spot next to Theo. When shes sitting 10cm away, he notices the bags under her eyes and the redness of them. Shes been crying. And she has a bruise on her left cheek, thats been poorly covered with makeup.

"Are you okay?" He asks, as quietly as possible. She looks at him, startled that he has a voice. Its smooth and low, not gruff like Kenny's.

"Yeah... just some stuff I guess." She shrugs, looking forward.

"Wanna talk about it?"

"Nope." Theo notices Marissa turn around and look at the girl next to him. Azarlea doesnt meet her eye.

The phone on the desk vibrates every few seconds, blowing up with texts. She simply ignores it and continues with the work. "Also I'm sorry, I didnt do what you asked. I've... had a lot on my mind." Theo smiles at her, shrugs and pulls out a peice of paper with the work that she was meant to do.

She smiles. "Sorry. You've done pretty much the whole thing." He shrugs, his lips pulled into a tight smile.

They continue working on the project, before finishing the final writeup. They walk to the front of the room, handing the paper to Mrs Loft.

She smiles at them. "Thank you Azarlea and uh whats your name hun?" Theo doesnt answer, just looks at his feet.

"Thats Theo. Hes really quiet and sits at the back a lot." Azarlea tells Mrs Loft.

The teacher nods, "well it seems this is all complete. You two go and do whatever for the rest of the lesson."

The two walk back to the desks at the back, taking a seat. Theo pulls out his book on White Wolves.

"So whats your spirit animal?" She asks him suddenly. He simply looks up and points to the cover.

"Oh thats cool! So your element is ice then?" She asks, suddenly interested. He nods.

"Nice." She compliments. "I'm fire. My spirit animal is a red fox."

"What about all your friends?" Theo knew that once she started talking, she'd cheer up.

"Well Marissa is air, hers in a raven. Kenny is earth-" And thats the point where Theo stops listening. He pretends to though, for Azarlea's sake.

After she finishes telling him everything he already knows, she cocks an eyebrow at him. "So why are you so... edgy?"

"I'm not edgy." He says, crossing his arms. "I just dont see a point of trying to talk to people when obviously no one cares enough to talk to me."

She rolls her eyes. "So say if people did start talking to you, would you be friends with them?"

He frowns confused. "Waste my energy on another human who'll end up hurting me in the future? No thanks."

"Well if they're a true friend, they wont hurt you." She argues, crossing her arms.

"No they will." He disagrees, his mouth pulled into a line. "It just wont be as soon. Delaying the inevitable." He shrugs at her.

The redhead girl just sighs. "So you wouldnt even bother?"

Theo flicks his tongue. "Why do you care?"

"Because maybe, just maybe, I care about you. And maybe I think you could be a nice person if you opened up more." She simply cocks her fleek eyebrow at him.

"Hm." He mutters, shrugging again. "One persons opinion I guess."

In reality though, that is the nicest thing Theo has ever heard another student say about him. He has to force the smile from his face as he walks to his house that afternoon.