Rejected At First Sight (Spinoff Series)

5

Sage Kegan

As my hand moved quickly, fluently filling out the answers on the worksheet, I became increasingly aware of the fiery presence beside me. I looked up at Ash and met her gaze. Her eyes were alarmingly vibrant and extraordinary for a human. They were the color of soft flames, a deep yellow orange that wasn't quite gold. "Can I do something for you new girl?" I ask as seriously as I can muster.

Her eyes flutter nervously to the paper on the lab station table. "Really, I can help with that." She said softly.

I frowned a little bit. Her timid voice did not meet with her raging emotions. I could tell that she was irked by my stubbornness. Why did she not show it? "No way new girl." I say with a playful smile.

Ash's cheek twitches. "Why did you help me earlier?" She asks, her emotions bubbling near the surface. I knew if I prodded her a bit more, she would show me who she truly was. I could tell that she wasn't this shy, delicate thing she seemed to be pretending to be. I thought back to math class we had together, and how she talked to no one.

"I tried to help you." I correct her.

"Look." She said, giving me a cross look. "I am sorry for what happened, but you don't need to be an ass about it." Ash's voice had started to leak with her true emotions.

I met her ire filled amber eyes with a steeled gaze. "Apology not accepted." I say.

She grits her teeth together. "Whatever. I didn't want it."

I smile and reach up and flick her forehead. Her head swivels towards me, her lips parted in a shocked expression.

"What the hell is your problem?" She asks.

A swish of brunette hair in front of us caught my eye, and when Ash averted her eyes into her lap, I knew that she had seen it too. I lock eyes with Kayleigh, her soft brunette hair falling around her shoulders and outlining her prominent scowl. She lifted her eyebrow as if to ask why was I talking with a human girl.

I stare back at her unflinchingly. Why would someone like Kayleigh even bother to look in my direction? Usually she was too good to spare me a glance while she was hanging on Jay's arm all the time. Was Kayleigh actually threatened by this human?

My eyes go back to Ash without a response for Kayleigh, though maybe it was enough of an answer for her. Ash was pretty. Her bright hair rivaled Kayleigh's smokey dark persona. And Ash had already shown me how much of spark she's hiding.

Ash had let her ponytail fall over her shoulder, and had taken a tendril between her forefinger and thumb, twisting and turning it in her lap. That sizzle that I had worked so hard to coax out of her, was now buried so deep inside that I wondered if I had imagined it.

Kayleigh had turned back towards her partner Alana, and they continued to work on their packet.

I shifted in my stool and glanced at Ash out of the corner of my eye. "Hey," I quietly started, grasping for something to say, "I forgot what safety gear we need to have in the lab." I slid the packet towards her and offered my pencil.

Reluctantly, Ash's slim fingers reached up and slid the packet towards her body, carefully avoiding my fingers. Instead of grabbing my pencil, she reaches for her own. I frown as she still doesn't meet my eyes.

The class passes by quickly, Ash's only interaction was a soft nod. There was no more eye contact or playful bickering between us. And I didn't prod her.

When the bell rung, I noticed how Ash slowly put things into her bag, one by one, as slowly as possible.

As everyone began to shuffle out of the class, dropping the group work off on Mr. Koll's desk, I sling my bag over my shoulder and walk the packet up to the front of the room. Sceptically, Mr. Koll eyes me wearily and flips through the slim packet to make sure I had done it all. "It's all there Mr. Koll." I assure him with a charming smile.