The Kiss of the Blade

Chapter Four.

  Zee:

The alley was empty except for two people, A girl and a boy. The girl was clutching her arm and her face was contorted with pain. The boy had slung his arm round her waist and was supporting her weight, while whispering words of encouragement into her blonde hair. But the hair wasnt entirely blonde. At the tips and the roots, the original black of her hair was showing, the blonde dye coming off. However, in the dark alleyway lit only by a street lamp many yards away, it didnt matter. The pair moved to a clearing behind a dumpster. It would have been beautiful if it wasnt for the stench. nevertheless, they staggered behind a bush and collapsed. The boy set the girl down carefully on the ground, then he dug around his backpack for two things - A set of tweezers and a cloth. He balled up the cloth and put it in her mouth. The girl bit down hard on it. Then, raising the tweezers, the boy proceeded to remove the bullet from her shoulder. The cloth muffled her screams, but no one was around to hear her screams even if there was no cloth. THe boy finished and quickly bandaged the wound using strips from his shirt. It was a cold night, but he would manage, waming himself with the knowledge that the girl was safe, or atleast, as safe and unhurt as a lady of their profession could be. Then lying down on the cold, hard floor beside her, he fell into a fitful sleep. 

Zee woke up with a start. She had just relived the one day she wanted to forget most. Her shoulder ached with the memory, and her heart ached for her partner. She curled into a ball under the sheets and tried to get the memory out of her mind. If anything, that made it worse. She dragged herself out of her bed and walked, zombie-like to the small attached bathroom. The previous night, Noah had woken up, and proven what she feared most - He hated her now.
   It was better this way, Zee tried to convince herself. This way, she would keep her distance and not get too attached. She would do her job properly. 
  Zee looked at herself in the mirror. A little black in her hair was stariong to show the way it had in her dream. her lower lip also had a small cut, probably somehting from the fight that didnt heal. 
 She sighed. She had almost done it. She had almost killed Noah. No! She had to think of him as the victim. Either way, she had almost killed him. Almost done her job. She had just had to push down a little harder and his neck would've snapped. But she had looked at his face, his agonized face, and she hadnt been able to. 
 She bit her lip. Atleast now, Noah would avoid her, and she him, and then she would lose her friendship attachment to him. It was a friendship attachment right? But why did she hate the thought of avoiding him. Were they such good friends? No. They couldn't. They shouldnt be. She took in deep breaths and calmed her mind. Then she re-dyed her hair.

                                                                                    * * *

Zee sat in her French class, staring at the pop quiz in front of her. French was an easy sunject for her. She had learnt it as a child and gone on multiple missions in France. So why was she unable to answer even the most simple questions?

Q 4.) Traduire:  Les garçons ont couru à partir de la souche d'arbre, à travers la route et ont pris un lep directement dans l'océan pour éviter d'être pris. 

Why did she have to do this? The sentence was somehting about some boys and a tree, but her mind was too distracted to care. 
 "Cette question est inutile et je ne me inquiète pas ce qui est arrivé aux garçons." She wrote as the answer. Then with a sigh she handed in her half empty paper.
  She couldn't get back to her seat fast enough. The teacher glanced at her paper and gave her a funny look. "Zee come here for a moment." 
Zee turned around again to face the teacher and stalked aver to where the teacher was. 
"Zee, what have you written for question 4?"
 "Cette question est inutile et je ne me inquiète pas ce qui est arrivé aux garçons." She said in fluent french, "I wrote that The question is useless and that i do not care what happens to the boys." Then, without waiting for a reply, Zee turned back around and went to her seat. The teacher frowned, but said nothing. 
And finally, finally, the bell rang. Zee was the first person to hop up and get out of the class. She literally ran to the last class of the day, willing time to speed up. The day had been a blur. She hadn't been able to pay attention to anything but the fact that she had almost, almost done her job, and hesitated. What was happening to her? She was a proffesional. She couldnt - wouldn't let feelings for Noah get in her way. Wait...Did she have feelings for him? 

. He was keeping his distance as she expected, but for some vague reason, it annoyed her. No, it hurt her.  
    She shook her head, clearing the thought away. Why should it hurt her? nevertheless, she steadily looked away when Noah and the others entered the class, and therefore didn't notice Noah looking at her wistfully.  
She did, however look at him when he took the seat next to hers. She raised her eyebrows and opened her mouth to ask a question, but he just winked and put his finger to his lips. A small smile played on her lips. What was he up to now?  
    The teacher entered. He placed his fat bottom on his chair and started to open the can of soda he always carried around. Noah nudged Zee and pointed slyly to the can. The moment the teacher opened it, it exploded with foam and bits of Mentos, soaking his beard and dirty suit. The whole class burst into laughter, but Noah only smiled smugly.  
  "Jones! Get out of my class!" The teacher shouted, his face purple with rage. Noah got up without a word and went out, still smiling. Zee continued laughing, but a part of her felt like Noah had done it for her. Like he wanted her to notice him. As though she needed any help with that... 

"Ryder! Leave the class!" She heard her teacher say. The class was staring at her expectantly, and she realized that the teacher had asked her something. She didn't care though. She stood up, her back straight and her chin up, and haughtily sauntered out of the room.  
  She didn't of course, care about History, but she had an ulterior motive for leaving with no comment. As much as she denied it, she wanted to see Noah.

She walked into the hallway and shut the door behind her. Noah wasn't there. She heard a banging noise and turned in the direction of the source. Noah was sitting in front of a locker and was tinkering with the mechanics of the lock with a screwdriver that he had nicked from the janitors tool belt. There was something familiar about that set of lockers. She looked carefully, and realized that he was tinkering with the locker next to hers. her suspicions were confirmed. He was trying to get her attention. But...Why? He hated her. Or did he?  

      Noah was about to turn around, and Zee quickly hid herself behind a pillar. She didn’t want him to know that she was spying on him. Technically she wasn’t spying but it sure felt like it. She peered around the pillar but Noah had disappeared. Zee stepped out from behind the pillar and made it seem as though she was just leaving the class. Not a second too soon, either. Noah walked back into her sight, without the screwdriver this time. He looked at her, and his face broke into a grin. "I see you've also graced the class with your absence," He said, his tone slightly sour.  
Zee tried to lighten the mood, "Up to another bout of mischief, Sir?" She asked, a smirk playing on her lips.  
"Of course, Madam." he said, joining in, copying her British accent as best as he could.  

Zee thought he sounded adorable, but she didn’t say anything.  
"Shall we take a stroll? Madam?" Noah asked, extending his arm.  
Zee hesitated, but she took it. "Of course, Kind sir". Then they burst out laughing.  
It almost seemed as though he didn’t hate her anymore, but when she touched his arm lightly, his expression hardened. "What happened?" Zee asked.  
"Nothing" He said, his tone somber.
Zee pursed her lips and raised an eyebrow. "Doesn’t seem like nothing."  
"So why are you out of class?" he asked, deliberately changing the topic.  
Zee sighed, and lied through her teeth not wanting Noah to know that she had been thinking about him, and therefore got sent out for not paying attention. "I guess our history teacher simply hates me," She said. 
Noah smiled halfheartedly.
Something was wrong, but Zee didn't want to push it, so she relented, and leaned against the wall. They stood in silence until the bell rang.  
     

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This is (if you cant see) Zee's POV. More will come dont worry. In case you didnt realize by now, the man from her flashbacks is her dead partner. Partner in crime, yes, but also, in case u hadnt noticed, they loved each other. anyways, more coming, ill try to update soon. Also, "* * *" is a change of scene. like if shes in her room, and the 3 stars appear, the next scene she'll be somwhere else.
                                        <3