boys,” Molly teased.
Jennifer responded, “Eew! I didn’t need that mental image in my head.”
“ Come on, you two; stop kidding around. This is serious. I don’t know what happened.”
“ Looks like you’ve got to pick which one you want more.” Molly clarified. “Before one of them kills the other.”
But I didn’t know what it all meant. Did they fight because of me? It sure felt like some deeper underlining issue between them. Heck, so deep it could have gone as far back as centuries! Whatever the reason, I felt more determined than ever to find out what. And if I had to choose between the two of them...well, Dameon won every time.
Then, the bell rang.
Decisions
By midweek I had grown impatient with the two new men in my life. When I leaned over Dameon’s shoulder by our lockers, Kian would magically appear behind me, and I swear I heard him growl. Then Dameon would hiss. Like two rabid dogs! Whenever I walked with Kian down the hallways, Dameon would somehow get wind of it, and when we sat together at lunch, he would tell me how awful an influence Kian would be on me if I kept hanging out with him.
Then after the lunch bell rang, Kian would sneak up to me before my next class and warn me about Dameon’s charms, that for my own good I had to stay away from him. They stayed at each other’s throats constantly. I saw them scuffle in the halls on Tuesday before fifth period Journalism. But because of the fight they had on Monday they were not allowed to be seen in proximity at lunchtime. At least then I could have some sense of relief that they wouldn’t yet kill each other.
But I felt Kian’s jealousy that I chose Dameon over him to sit with at lunch; his burning eyes beat on me through the glass windows from outside while he was sitting with Krysta and Nathaniel. Even Jennifer and Molly sat with them. Their threesome had become five, and I started to miss hanging with my girls at lunchtime. Why had I been given all this male attention all of a sudden? From two new students at the school? I hadn’t had such luck with men at Millennium High before, and now, all of a sudden I had become the temptress. What had changed?
In English class I had managed to change my front row seat to the back row next to Dameon. Mrs. Engstrom hardly noticed. She still didn’t even call me Ali, as I had requested countless times. I had to sit through hearing the chalkboard-scratching sound of Allison every day. Most of the class paid little attention to the teacher, instead, whispering to their neighbor, eye-balling and pointing to the window, texting. Mrs. Engstrom afforded the class a certain level of leniency she hadn’t usually, because she knew some of the kids knew Tommy Bachelor personally. The principal had had a teacher’s meeting Monday morning before school, I heard, telling all the teachers to go easy on the kids this first week back since the so-called suicide.
I felt grateful. If I hadn’t had Dameon to draw my focus away from the window I probably would feel like a zombie.
“ What did you do over the break?” I batted my lashes at him.
“ Not much.” He kept his sentences short. Since I had known him, I had never heard him say too much. I was supposedly getting to know him better with all this hanging out, and yet I didn’t feel like I knew him at all. He still remained an enigma. “You?”
“ Oh, hanging out with my girlfriends.”
“ Jennifer and Molly?”
“ Yeah,” I said with a beam of pride that he actually took time out of his day to notice me and who I hung out with. Then it dawned on me. Who did he hang out with? I had never seen him sit in the cafeteria at lunch before he started sitting with me. I had never seen him in a click. He walked the hallways solo like James Dean.
I tilted my head in his direction, and my whole body leaned toward him as if gravity pulled me there. Stroking my fingers through my hair to pull the strands behind my ear I asked, “Do you hang out with
Jennifer responded, “Eew! I didn’t need that mental image in my head.”
“ Come on, you two; stop kidding around. This is serious. I don’t know what happened.”
“ Looks like you’ve got to pick which one you want more.” Molly clarified. “Before one of them kills the other.”
But I didn’t know what it all meant. Did they fight because of me? It sure felt like some deeper underlining issue between them. Heck, so deep it could have gone as far back as centuries! Whatever the reason, I felt more determined than ever to find out what. And if I had to choose between the two of them...well, Dameon won every time.
Then, the bell rang.
Decisions
By midweek I had grown impatient with the two new men in my life. When I leaned over Dameon’s shoulder by our lockers, Kian would magically appear behind me, and I swear I heard him growl. Then Dameon would hiss. Like two rabid dogs! Whenever I walked with Kian down the hallways, Dameon would somehow get wind of it, and when we sat together at lunch, he would tell me how awful an influence Kian would be on me if I kept hanging out with him.
Then after the lunch bell rang, Kian would sneak up to me before my next class and warn me about Dameon’s charms, that for my own good I had to stay away from him. They stayed at each other’s throats constantly. I saw them scuffle in the halls on Tuesday before fifth period Journalism. But because of the fight they had on Monday they were not allowed to be seen in proximity at lunchtime. At least then I could have some sense of relief that they wouldn’t yet kill each other.
But I felt Kian’s jealousy that I chose Dameon over him to sit with at lunch; his burning eyes beat on me through the glass windows from outside while he was sitting with Krysta and Nathaniel. Even Jennifer and Molly sat with them. Their threesome had become five, and I started to miss hanging with my girls at lunchtime. Why had I been given all this male attention all of a sudden? From two new students at the school? I hadn’t had such luck with men at Millennium High before, and now, all of a sudden I had become the temptress. What had changed?
In English class I had managed to change my front row seat to the back row next to Dameon. Mrs. Engstrom hardly noticed. She still didn’t even call me Ali, as I had requested countless times. I had to sit through hearing the chalkboard-scratching sound of Allison every day. Most of the class paid little attention to the teacher, instead, whispering to their neighbor, eye-balling and pointing to the window, texting. Mrs. Engstrom afforded the class a certain level of leniency she hadn’t usually, because she knew some of the kids knew Tommy Bachelor personally. The principal had had a teacher’s meeting Monday morning before school, I heard, telling all the teachers to go easy on the kids this first week back since the so-called suicide.
I felt grateful. If I hadn’t had Dameon to draw my focus away from the window I probably would feel like a zombie.
“ What did you do over the break?” I batted my lashes at him.
“ Not much.” He kept his sentences short. Since I had known him, I had never heard him say too much. I was supposedly getting to know him better with all this hanging out, and yet I didn’t feel like I knew him at all. He still remained an enigma. “You?”
“ Oh, hanging out with my girlfriends.”
“ Jennifer and Molly?”
“ Yeah,” I said with a beam of pride that he actually took time out of his day to notice me and who I hung out with. Then it dawned on me. Who did he hang out with? I had never seen him sit in the cafeteria at lunch before he started sitting with me. I had never seen him in a click. He walked the hallways solo like James Dean.
I tilted my head in his direction, and my whole body leaned toward him as if gravity pulled me there. Stroking my fingers through my hair to pull the strands behind my ear I asked, “Do you hang out with
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