Fate's Call ✓

chapter one

    "WHAT YOU NEED is a rebound," Nick insists behind me. I grin as I turn my head to meets his. He's not facing me, of course. I don't have many issues in the girl department. No, he's speaking to Rhys, and rather determinately at that. A few boys are ganged up together between the few desks, eyes peeled to the door to find suitable girls for the job.

    "What about Kiara Hemingway?" Logan suggests as she walks through.

    Instantly shooting him down, Nick says, "She's just gotten in a relationship with Xavier."

    "Fine, Addison Sivan?" Logan says. It's a joke of course, and there's a chorus of laughs from all of us. Except Rhys - he's much too soft to indulge in our humor.

    "We're trying to help Rhys find a girl," I say, "not a leech." The teacher enters the room and the voices lower by a tenfold. Sometimes though, I still hear small whispers of names then a description come from behind me.

    Rhys dragged himself away from our conversation a while ago. His head is tilted against his left hand, and he stares straight ahead. Which really beats the whole point of what we're doing if he's not even going to pretend to be invested in this. I catch his eye and throw him a questioning look.

    He just shrugs at me and shakes his head. I slump into my own seat and roll my eyes. Can't help those that don't want it.

    More than twenty minutes later, a girl suddenly strolls through the door, casually swiping on her phone. A girl I don't recall ever seeing before. My eyes lock on her dark hair, tied back gracefully into a high ponytail. Then to her eyes, that deadpan the room in search of a seat. "Alyssa Fall," Nick states. I lean my head back a bit. "She's off limits - so no."

    "Off limits? So vague, Nick?" I scoff.

    Nick stares back at me. "She's never had a boyfriend, and has declined all invitations from guys." I glance back at Alyssa who's now in a seat, paying no mind to anything except her phone. The teacher doesn't even glance her way. It gives me time to study her for a bit. Her features are soft and pretty — delicate like china.

    After class, I pack up my books at Alyssa's pace. Which takes much longer than seems normal, until I finally get the idea. She want's to be the last one in the room. So I hurry myself up and linger outside the door, barely peeking inside.

    Alyssa walks up to the Ms. Evans' desk and gets a packet of papers handed to her. "You have talent, Alyssa," Ms. Evans says, "keep writing."

    Alyssa just smiles and nods before she heads for the door. I immediately turn to the locker behind me, feigning to have just pulled out my own books.

    Out of the corner of my eye, I note that she'd stopped at locker 209. I approach her with a casual grin. Her brows lower in confusion, instinctual defensiveness laced into her face. "Yes?" she asks.

    My mind grabs for something to say. I turn my eyes downward and see the titles of books in her arms. "I just noticed that you had The Wandering Earth there, and wanted to say that I loved that book."

    She looks down for a moment and a dangerous smile crosses her lips. Slowly, she removes the book from her stack and places it on top. With a small nod, she says, "You read Mandarin?"

    Only now do I notice the subtitles are written in Chinese characters. I flush red, while she proceeds to walk past me.

    Hurriedly, I step in front of her. "Just hear me out," I say, extending my hands out flat in front of me, trying to stay cool under her penetrating stare.