Don't be afraid, darling ✔[COMPLETED]

Chapter 13: Under his spell

Kiara's POV:
Okay. This is getting serious. Illiana Carter was burned to death and her charred body had been dumped at the edge of the forest like a sack of garbage.
It was quite a tale her mom came up with. Apparently, Cassian Montez had shown up at her house to return a book Illiana had lent him.
And then, after a few minutes, a very confused and disheveled Derek Williams had come rushing down the stairs from Illiana's room and started to spout some nonsense about a power cut and Illiana's disappearance.
Both Cassian and Illiana were nowhere to be found after that.
First, I really don't think Illiana has ever held a book in her hands in her whole life.
Second, how the hell could Derek not remember seeing Cassian enter and kidnapping Illiana when he was in the same room as her?
Thirdly, did Cassian teleport himself and Illiana out of the Carter residence?
Bloody hell....
Anyways, Derek had been sent home as the poor guy was visibly shaken and in 'severe trauma' as the police put it.
Illiana's mom was stubbornly refusing to accept that Cassian had killed her daughter, despite theoretical (and logical) evidences.
She kept repeatedly saying one thing: Cassian did not kill Illiana.
Not only did this confuse everyone, but it also caused the police to entangle themselves more and more into the mystery web.
"What do you think, Kiara? Who killed Illiana?"asked Curly. We were in her room in the Parker residence.
I was lying sprawled on her bed, scrolling through Instagram on my phone and Curly was curled up on her armchair, doing her nails.
Yeah, we get around to doing girly stuff like that, once in a blue moon. *wink*
I looked up from my phone, "Curly, I have no idea whatsoever. Mrs Carter has obviously blown a fuse out of grief. I mean, all fingers or evidences or whatever, point at Cassian for Christ's sake! How could she possibly say that he didn't do it?"
Curly concentrated on applying another coat of polish to her nail, "I don't think Cassian is capable of doing it...."
I huffed, exasperatedly, "Honestly, I don't know what he's capable of. He is an absolute mystery to me. And the way he looks at me sometimes...." I shivered, thinking about his hot sinister look.
"How does he look at you?"asked Curly interestedly.
My mind ventured to our little chat in the cafeteria. I had said he didn't make me nervous, but right at the next moment, I had felt super nervous. God knows why.
The way his lips stretched into a small but effectively dangerous smile, the way his eyes glittered with a distinct threat in them and the way his muscles tensed and flexed through his shirt.
I was sent into a frenzy of both nervousness and excitement whenever he looked at me.
I decided to divulge just a bit of my Cassian-fantasy to my best friend, in order to maintain my confindent and sarcastic stature in front of her, "He looks at me like a hunter would look at his prey. A wild prey that he wants to tame. To cherish, maybe. That
dangerously threatening glimmer in his eyes tell me that much."
Curly was listening open mouthed, a stupefied expression on her face.
I wrinkled my nose, realizing my folly, "Ew, poetic much? I don't know what's wrong with me. I must sound like a total fangirl. God, it's frustrating! He makes me sound like this! I'm completely under his spell."
Immediately after uttering these last words, I clapped my hands over my stupid mouth, extremely annoyed with myself.
I glared at Curly as she burst out laughing, "It's not funny, Curly! I thought you were my friend!"
She said between hastily suppressed laughs, "It is.... a little."
I threw a pillow at her as she continued to laugh her head off.
__________________________
A few weeks later at school, we were summoned to the auditorium for a collective meeting.
Principal Sherman was supposed to be addressing the students.
After we were all assembled, she took her place behind the mike on center stage and cleared her throat.
Why do they always do that? If they think it makes them sound more authoritative, they are just kidding themselves.
She had a weird look on her wrinkly face. Kind of like a mixture of sorrow (for Illiana, I think) and excitement (for what she was going to tell us, I'm sure), as though she couldn't decide which face to make.
I wanted to tell her to stick to one expression because her dual expressions were kinda distracting.
She began, "Good morning, children. Today I asked for this meeting for two reasons." Oh, that totally explains the dual expressions!
"One was to express our condolences about the tragic demise of one of our students, Miss Illiana Carter. And the other reason is to break the news of the upcoming Founder's Day celebration we are having in the school."
This created a hubbub among the students as everyone started deciding who was gonna wear what.
Curly turned to me excitedly, "Kiara! Did you know, the town of Oakwood had been founded by Sir Alexander Mantzari. All the mayors of Oakwood are descended from him. He is largely honored in this town." She was over the moon to inform me this.
I asked her suspiciously, "Okay, it's all very good, but why the hell are you so excited by this information? You're not related to him, are you?"
She blushed, suddenly very shy, "No- no, not at all. I just... admire him. That's all."
"Strange guy to admire. He must be dead for at least a few centuries."
She didn't say anything and turned ro Principal Sherman instead.
".... The students are required to bring partners to dance with. Refreshments shall be provided by the school. Any student interested to help with the preperations can sign up immediately. And....." she stopped and swept her eyes around the auditorium threateningly.
"...no detours anyone. There shall be teacher chaperones patrolling the grounds. So be warned."
There was an outbreak of giggling at this. Mostly by girls.
I rolled my eyes at them. They probably were planning to have their first kiss at this dance. Bad luck girls, your plans can go down the drain. I'm sure the teachers are gonna hunt for kids on detours.
The meeting ended and we were all cordially requested to return to our classes by our polite, mild mannered teachers, "Hey, you annoying pests! Get back to your stupid classes where we can waste six hours of our lives cramming useless facts into your pea sized brains and give you homework which you will never do and we will never bother to correct! Oh, and let's not forget to confiscate those lovely thousand dollar phones of yours that you all are constantly hiding behind your unused books."
I'm pretty good at reading people's inner thoughts. *Thank you. Thank you.*
___________________________
"So, who're you asking to the dance?" I asked Curly as we walked home from school.
She turned beetroot red and mumbled something that sounded distinctly like: "I haven't decided."
But I have. I'm asking Cassian. End of story.
Okay, not end of story. I have no clue how to ask him without melting into a puddle of hyper, jittery nerves.
What if he looks at me like that again? Oh my God, Cassian Montez, what're you doing to me?
My face must've reflected my thoughts as Curly asked concernedly, "Are you gonna ask Cassian?"
Holy cow, I'm that obvious?
I was about to answer, when a pair of running footsteps and an all to familiar voice calling out "Kiara!" made me stop in my tracks.
We turned around to see the object of my thoughts, Cassian Montez jogging up the street to reach us.
I tried to look as nonchalant as possible when he stopped in front of us, "Hey Cassian. What's up?"
He smiled and that sent off fireworks in my stomach. He looked so damn gorgeous when he smiled like that!
"I need to ask you something." I looked at him in surprise, having meant to do the same thing.
"Yeah?" I had to struggle to get that word out of my mouth.
He ran a hand through his lustrous dark hair as he looked.... nervous?
Which side had the sun risen from today?
"Will you go to the dance with me?"
For a moment, I stared at him stupidly. Did he just.....?
He was looking at me expectantly, so I decided to answer, trying not to show my delight, "Yeah... yeah, I guess."
His smile widened, "Okay, then. I'll pick you up at 8 o'clock, Saturday?"
"Sure" He winked a goodbye at me, nodded at Curly and set off towards his own place.
I had to be shaken twice by Curly to come back to my senses.
I stared at her in new found horror,
"Curly, what're we gonna wear?"