Captain Swan - Set My Soul On Fire

Chapter 4

"What's up with Emma? Why is she sitting with them?" Ruby asks, acknowledging them—the popular kids—with a sneer.

Killian shrugs as he continues munching on the rock-hard crust of what the lunch ladies call pizza. Pizza, my arse. Maybe if you consider stale crust, bland sauce and questionable white cheese, pizza. But he skipped breakfast and is hungry enough to eat a boot, so he's not about to be picky at the moment. He's told Ruby before that Granny should be their lunch lady and serve her delicious diner food. But then she'd have to close the diner. And that would be a travesty. The reason the diner is so popular with high school students is because they can't wait to have real food when they leave school for the day.

"Earth to Killian." Ruby waves her hand in his face, towing him away from his thoughts. "What's up with you? And why is Emma sitting over there?"

"Why don't you ask her yourself," he grumbles bitterly. He's trying not to think about her. Because if he thinks about her than he'll have to think about how sad and miserable he is because she hasn't spoken to him all day and is avoiding him like the plague. So, why she's sitting over with the popular kids instead of the people who quickly became her friends is beyond him.

"Did you two have a fight or something?" Ruby questions with a raised brow. "You've been obsessed with each other since you met and now she's eating on the other side of the cafeteria with those snobs. So don't tell me you don't know. why."

"What do you want me to say, Ruby? Things were great last night. I went to her house and had a nice dinner with her and family, and then when I arrived at school this morning and tried to talk to her, she walked away. She hasn't spoken to me since last night. So no, I don't have a bloody clue as to why she's sitting over there."

"Well, you better figure it out soon and get her back here."

"Why should I? She made her choice."

Ruby shrugs and takes a bite of the cheeseburger she'd brought from her shift last night. It looks and smells much better than his unsavory pizza. "Because it looks like Graham wants to keep her for himself," she mumbles through a mouth full of food. "Either that or she'll just become another notch on his belt before he dumps her."

"What?" Killian pales as he finally looks over at the popular kids' table. When he sees Emma sitting next to Humbert—sitting awfully close—and laughing with him, Killian's seeing red. He hasn't known Emma for very long and they haven't even had a chance to become serious, or anything really, he also knows he has no right to be jealous, but the emotions building inside of him aren't because of the green-eyed monster. They're because of a blue-eyed bloke who better keep his paws off Emma if he knows what's good for him.

If there's anyone Killian hates at Storybrooke High, it's that Irish arsehole. His reputation for manipulating girls and getting into their pants before dumping them afterward is not based on fabrication or filmy gossip. Killian knows this because he used to be friends with Graham. But that was two years ago before he got sick of Graham's bullshit. He got sick of hearing stories from Graham about the flavor of the month. The flavor of the month —Graham's words, not Killian's.

Each month during the school year Humbert chooses a new victim and it looks like Emma is next on his list. Killian can sense this from across the cafeteria, in the way Humbert looks at Emma and talks to her, with a cheesy grin and eyes buzzing with intrigue. He doesn't dare touch her yet, but he's biding his time. He must have seen Emma with Killian and has been plotting or waiting for the chance to get her alone, or at least away from him. Graham's learned over the years how to work quickly, and he knows Emma's the perfect target. It's no secret she's a pastor's kid; gossip spreads like wildfire around here. Graham most likely knows about her vow of abstinence until marriage and sees her as a challenge.