Tainted Souls

Chapter Fourteen

The next day, I was excited to show up to campus. It probably had to do with the newfound revelation I had about Maverick and because I was in love with him. Although love could be confusing, there were also times where someone felt like they were actually floating on a cloud. Maybe that was why people referred to it as Cloud 9.

"What is with the skipping?" Keisha teased me in a knowing tone.

"I thought you promised not to tease me about that in public," I hissed at her, feeling embarrassed.

"Can't blame me. Hey, I just discovered that my bestie is in love," she whispered into my ear.

"You promised to be discreet about it, though," I whispered back.

"Speaking of the man of your dreams, here he comes by now. He actually seems occupied with taking something out of his backpack," Keisha grinned. "Who knows? Maybe it's a revised version of the fake love confession to a real one. You know, from back when you had detention with him, alone, with that third wheeler, Professor Hill. That man was definitely a third wheel, for god's sake."

"Be quiet. He's nearby," I hissed at her.

I saw Maverick walking towards our direction. Of course, he didn't have a smile on his face or anything like that. That was not a Maverick Medici thing. But the mischievous smirk that he had as he continued to dig through his backpack made me swoon unintentionally. It was so early in the morning, yet I was already dying internally because of his sexiness. Okay, so maybe Keisha had basically dragged me out here during the morning since she found out that Maverick had a morning class in the Creek Engineering building...

I quickly squashed those feelings until they were barely visible, then called out to him, "Hi, Maverick!"

"You sound too enthusiastic, but don't worry. It's completely normal for you, considering how you've always tried to see the best in others," Keisha assured me. "He won't suspect a thing."

I elbowed her slightly, then looked up at him expectantly. Maverick didn't say a word, but just raised a brow. I guessed that it was his brooding version of a "Hi" back. I heard people whisper and stare at the encounter, which was clearly because of Sasha's stupid "Maverick's whore" rumor. Whatever. I couldn't care less about that today.

Because Maverick Medici actually acknowledged my presence in a way that wasn't antagonistic towards me. It was him actually being civil! I was actually fainting internally. At that moment, I had empathy for his fangirls. I knew how they felt and why they felt the way they did. In fact, Keisha had purposefully walked away in order to give me "alone" time to talk to Maverick.

Yeah, right. I barely spoke to him. When he approached me, it was usually because of some revenge plan he had, when he was angered with my revenge plans against him, or the rare time that he wanted me to form an alliance with him. That was it. She had too much false hope.

I watched as he rolled up his sleeves and focused on putting up a string. He seemed to be concentrating on something. Could it be a part of his Engineering Technology class or something? As in, they had a project to complete? I had no idea.

But that was when the unexpected occurred. I yelped when I saw that there was actual paint that was pouring down on me. It was green paint. There stood a triumphant looking Maverick, not even looking the slightest bit sorry. He was actually smirking.

What. The. Heck. Where was the Maverick that I spoke to yesterday and the Maverick that became my ally to get evidence against Hunter? The boy that let me get an exhilarating ride on his motorcycle? That was the Maverick I fell in love with, not this cruel boy.

How did he suddenly change that quickly? Why had he decided to be Bad Maverick today instead of Sort-of-Humane Maverick? It was so disappointing that I couldn't even stand there and yell at him. All I could do was gape at him in shock and just stand there as the yucky green paint dripped onto the floor.