MOON SHADOW

CHAPTER THREE

Lilah's left hand was clasped around the snow globe necklace dangling around her neck, her right one in her shoulder bag. She was using her knee and her locker to hold her up her bag in front of her as she pulled out unneeded notebooks.

Her earphones were playing a bit too loud to drown out the sound of the rest of the school around her. Though, her mind was still on the whole Yari thing instead of on the lyrics Taylor Swift happened to be singing in her ears.

She was pulled back, her bag falling to the floor with a thud. She almost yelled, but a hand was placed to her mouth, their other hand pressing her shoulder into the locker next to her open one. Her heartbeat raced as her eyes widened to take in the person in front of her.

He was looking around to see if anyone thought what he was doing was weird, but the one of the pros for Lilah's locker location of choice was that it was on the backside of one of the school buildings and people normally didn't choose them. That meant an easy route to avoid people if she didn't want to be seen.

She was about to bite the boy in front of her when he let go of her mouth, his now free hand pulling one of her earphones out of her ear, letting it dangle by its wire before holding her other shoulder to her locket.

"You need to be more on guard, Desmarias," an Australian accent sounded in a whisper. "You know there's people who want to kill you, yet you walk around so carelessly."

She swallowed whatever lump was in her throat, not entirely trusting her voice to not be shaky.

"And are you one of those people who want to kill me, Roman?" she whispered back boldly, staring into his hazel eyes.

Roman Bancroft was another senior in Lilah's grade. He was on the basketball team with Jeremiah, Shawn, and even Max Campbell, but they had little to no contact with one another. He didn't hang out with her social circle of basketball players and cheerleaders, minus herself, and instead was always with a girl named Cora Nguyen. And Lilah only knew that much information about him because his accent and mysteriousness made him one of the desirable boys around school, a topic that Arianelle sometimes liked to talk about.

"Please," he responded sassily, turning his head to the side as if offended by the accusation. "I'm practically your bodyguard."

"Excuse me?" she asked.

He was pulled off of her quickly, but not pulled too far. Cora grabbed him by the collar and his black button up, glaring at him angrily as she pulled his tall frame closer to her short one.

"Your mom said make sure no one makes a hit on her, not hit on her," she scolded him in a hushed tone.

"Your mom...?" questioned Lilah, furrowed eyebrows and confusion weaved onto her face.

As she stared at him harder, she remembered the photo from Kathi's office. Realization dawned on her face, her lips slightly parted and her expression softening when she connected the dots. No wonder the little boy was so familiar. She blinked a few times. She probably would've never made the connection considering their difference in last names. His hair was darker now than it was in the photo, too, bordering more on a brown or dirty blonde with blonde highlights than the bright color it was in his youth. He now wore them in soft waves that were in a fringe style, parted to the left side.

He was standing there with a smirk, as if he knew what had just dawned on her.

"Yes, my mum," he responded, crossing his arms and looking back at Cora. "And I wasn't hitting on her, Cora. I was testing her."

"Sure you were," Cora said sarcastically, not believing him. She shook her head at him before walking away, glancing back at them once before disappearing down the hall.