Her Hope (On Hold)

[ Chapter Ten ]

I plucked up a random book from the school library and selected a vacant table in the back, choosing to read for my free period; a choice that surprised me endlessly until I was somewhat interrupted.

"Mystery girl!" Tristian plopped down in the chair opposite me, giving me the biggest heart attack as I yelped, placing a hand over my thudding heartbeat.

"Don't do that!" I scolded, clutching the book and hitting him over the head. He groaned in despair, massaging the spot I had just abused.

Maybe I hit him too hard...

"What was that for?!" He whined, squinting his eyes in agony as his soft, chestnut hair bounced due to the amount of movement he was making.

I had to resist the temptation to run my fingers through his hair and move them away from his eyes.

"That's for always showing up out of nowhere! People just don't do that! Unless you aren't human?" I lowered my voice for the last part, pretending to act curious as I leaned over the table so that I could analysis his face.

"I mean, I have all the male functions a human requires if you know what I mean..." He cocked his left brow in a way that made me invariably swoon, a grin emerging on his lips. Playful as ever.

Two can join in on that game.

"Oh, really?" I quietly hummed, edging closer, our lips suddenly centimetres apart. "Show me. You won't." I egged him on. The close proximity between us was overbearing, making everyone else in the room dissolve into nothing. After a while, I allowed a chuckle to escape my mouth as I observed his transfixed state before I gradually pulled away.

Mesmerized by the stunt I had just pulled on him for cracking a half bad joke, he tried to conceal his immediate shock with a look of disbelief.

"Hey! That's not fair!" He whimpered, still slightly dazzled as he fought to control what he showed. I rolled my eyes with a small smile.

"Guess I'm just irresistible." I brushed my straight, dull brunette hair over my shoulder, folding my arms across my chest.

Now it was his turn to roll his eyes as a smile broke out onto his face.

"You know," he ventured to change the topic, "I was thinking about this the other day and thought, you should come over to my house some time." He eagerly spoke, his thoughts now focused completely on his proposal. My brain registered his words as an invitation for something far more dirty that what he was obviously referring to.

I coughed on my own spit, biting the inside of my cheek to suppress my laughter. "And do what, exactly?" I pestered, curious as to what his idea of 'fun' was.

"Bake cookies?" His voice sounded low, observing my reaction with caution. He sighed after a few seconds, my late response dampening his previously overjoyed mood. "Nevermind, I knew it was a stupid id-"

"I'm busy tomorrow but free on Sunday." He lifted his dull gaze, beaming at my encouraging smile with his own.

"It's a date then!" He cheered, standing up with his arms outstretched as if he had just won nationals.

I shook my head with the ghost of a grin, "you're impossible."

• • •

When last period finally rolled around, I felt drained.

"If we were supposed to hand in that 'extremely essential' homework I'm going to shoot the te-"

"Christian!" I obnoxiously gasped, clasping a hand over his mouth to stop him from uttering something stupid.

Multiple eyes turned to me before our physics teacher, Ms Woodville entered the classroom in a rush, accompanied by a girl that looked oddly familiar.

And that's when it clicked.

She was the girl from the bathroom.

She kept her gaze at the ground, appearing more fearful then when I first met her. But it wasn't the nervous kind of scared, it was fueled from something else... Something more.

"Everyone, this is Ms Hunters, a new member to our class. I'm sure some of you already know her from around the school, and if you don't, now's a great time to recognise a new face. Is there any volunteers who wish to look after her for our first lesson?"

"I'll take real good care of her, Ms Woodville!" The callous voice belonging to the boy who attempted to threaten me the other day spoke up a bit too quickly, smirking as he looked her up. I watched as she flinched at the sound of him, his group of nutcrackers snickering, a few incoherent but undoubtedly rude words muttered.

"That's rather sweet of you, Colto-"

I quickly raised my hand, unsure why I felt as though I just had to protect her. "I'll look after her, after all, we share a lot of the same classes together." I lied through my teeth, making it sound and look genuine. The boy, who I believed was named Colton, sent me an infuriated glare, shooting dagers out of his eyes. I chuckled at how worked up he seemed. Pitying him if anything.

Christian seemed generally uninterested as he swiped through his phone, laughing every so often.

The girl peered up with a grateful look in her eyes. Without wanting to waste any more time, Ms Woodville quickly stated, "Amber, you can choose sweetie." With those words locked in place, Amber instantly made her way towards me as I smugly smirked, looking back at a silently fuming Colton.

"Thank you." She sounded almost breathless as a small smile resided on my lips, taking in her flustered state.

"I'm Eleanor by the way, and this over here is my best friend..." She smiled, her eyes flickering from me to a deadly quiet Christian, returning back to me with a lost look.

Automatically expecting him to politely introduce himself, I whipped around with annoyance when I realized he was still on his damn phone. Quickly snatching it out of his hand, I chuckled as he began to angrily snarl at me until his eyes met Ambers.

I witnessed as his face morphed into a soft smile. I could tell that he had instantly detected she was a bit on edge, in which he contained his typically overly enthusiastic self maturely.

"I'm Christian." He velvety spoke, afraid she'd break if he raised his voice too high.

"Amber." She lightly giggled, resembling an angel. Christian stared at her in a state of awe, causing a smile to light up my face as I observed how adorable they were acting, even if they had just met.

It made me happy, which sounds... Odd.

Stop smiling, you look like a loser.

My smile instantly fell at the truth behind thoughts, although my spirits remained high for the rest of the day.

• • •

Quick question, is it weird that my chapters only typically fit 1-2 scenes? Should I make them longer? Because it's been disturbing me lately that I can only fit in two encounters and then that's it, cya next chapter folks!

^ Help a girl out with feedback pleaseeee.

Also, what do you think about Amber and Christian... ;)

Don't forget to vote and comment if you enjoyed :)

xo