East Bridge High

vi. eyes of a snake

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LIKE STARING into the eyes of a snake, Cleo never let her glare waver. As much as she probably wanted to run into a broom closet and hide, she didn't want her friends to see her weak—especially Alexandre. In her peripheral vision, she noticed Eric's body tense up as he realized who it was standing next to him. The rest of her friends lingered in an uncomfortable silence.

"Who let this asshole inside the building?" Eric growled.

"I'm actually a student here, see." Alexandre said as he pulled out his student ID, holding it up to his face as he smiled. Joshua began to step in front of him, his shoulders broadening and his face rigid before Cleo decided to pull him back to her.

"It's fine." She whispered to him, her acrylic nails grasping the side of his shirt.

"Ciao, bella." Alexandre said as he shifted his eyes to Cleo.

"Her name isn't Bella." Eric commented, causing looks of disappointment from his friends. Eric was a little bit of an airhead, but his heart was in the right place. A hearty laughter erupted from Alexandre.

"Cleo, your friend is an idiot." He said as he tapped the side of Eric's face. He began to tense up again causing his mouth to form into a tight line.

"Alexandre, for the love of all things Chanel, why are you here?" Cleo questioned, anxiously waiting for his response. She didn't know if she could stomach the fact that him being a student here was something permanent or just one of his 'jokes'.

"I'd really love to tell you, but first I'm going to need to speak to you," Alex scanned his eyes over at her friends before finishing, "alone." Cleo motioned to her friends for them to leave, but they hesitated knowing it wouldn't sit right with either of them to leave her by herself.

"Cleo, I'm not going to leave you alone with this guy." Eric said frustrated as he ran his hands through his hair. He shot annoyed glances at Joshua, trying to prompt him to convince Cleo as well, but he himself knew that once Cleo was set on something, she wasn't going to go back on it. Naomi ended up dragging the guys along with her, sighing as she did so. She was questioning if this was one big mistake.

As Cleo's friends excited the barren, eerily quiet hallways, she knew they made it to the lunch room when she stopped hearing their footsteps and whispers of arguing. She focused her attention back to Alexandre, clutching her Biology textbook to her chest.

"So, why are you here?" Cleo asked confidently, never taking her eyes away from his.

"You're so cold." Alex observed with a pout. "Essentially, my father wanted to finally venture into expanding his empire to the America's-"

Cleo began to cut him off, "Fifty states and you just had to choose New York." She huffed, planting her face in her free hand.

"As I was saying, he wanted to move from the European market moreover to the Western. So Beaumont Distilleries's American market is going to be my father's main focus. He decided it would be best to make us uproot to a major city to get his marketing started, and production." Alexandre explained thoroughly using a lot of hand movements.