07

Hypothesis; when a pack of boys runs into me and the subject, pushing the aforementioned subject away saves emotions from being spilled.

I'd promised myself I'd get over it. I'd sworn to never cry because of the accident. And up until now, I was doing just fine.

I had the chocolate lattes to remind me of my dad and a mother who was too engulfed in her own life to care about mine. I guess it helped too. All that sorrow, I just channelled it to growing angrier at the way my mom was taking the news about my dad. Poorly, that is.

At least, from time to time, I tried to ask her.if she was fine. I could see she wasn't, heck, the old lady three blocks away could see it as well. But my mom always lied. So eventually, I gave up on her. The same way she gave up on me.

My hands stopped moving on paper and I froze, all the air knocked out of my lungs when I saw what I'd just drawn. Or who.

After all this time, my dad's face was still fresh in my mind. I'd captured everything right. His eyes, his smile, that scar on his chin that he never explained to me.

I bit down on my lip and stared down at the black and white image. It's perfection angered me to the point of irritation so I shut the book and shoved it in my bag.

"Don't forget, at the end of the month, you have to make an illustration of someone that means the world to you. Points will be awarded for detailing, of course. This was, you'll be able to learn how emotions affect our art." My art lecturer held a small stack of textbooks in her hand and pushed up her glasses. "I'll see you on Friday."

Barely moments later, the class was rowdy again as students made their way out of the hall while some stood around each other, smiling and talking. A part of me wanted friends, but knowing how antisocial I was, I'd probably scare them off on the first meet.

My phone vibrated in my hand as I stood up, a single text lightning up the screen.

From: Barbie

Meet me in LT043. We need to talk. Right now.

Uh oh.

One word; Seniors.

Tons of them sat in packs, mostly talking to each other and laughing, some frowning. A few hung around in couples, smiling at each other like they were about to swallow the other person. I made a face when I spotted a couple in the corner locking lips and then shut my eyes tightly.

Breathe, Noah.

I needed to find Chanelle, figure out what the hell she wanted and get out as soon as possible.

A shockwave soared through my bloodstream, making me flinch away when I felt someone touch my shoulder. But then I relaxed when I saw who it was.

"Cherry. Don't do that!"

She grinned unapologetically, shrugging. "Oops."

We were at the entrance, and somehow, she'd managed to draw the attention of almost everybody in the room to me—asides the busy couple in the corner.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, taking my hand and leading me into the lecture theater. The place wasn't very large, but the stares felt almost too much to handle.

I stared at my feet. "Chanelle said to meet her here." My voice was low just in case people were trying to listen is. Daniel was supposed to be in this class, this was way too risky. Even for Chanelle.

If he saw us together. I just couldn't begin to think of the explanation I'd have to give.

"Oh." Cherry pulled her eyebrows together. "She's not here at the moment. She stepped out moments ago. Said she had an appointment at the sal—"

I removed my hand from her hold but kept walking beside her. "What do you mean she left? She said to meet her here immediately and here I am. For fuck's sake, does that woman not understand that some of us have stuff we do with our lives?"

I'd intended to say the entire thing with a hissy tone, but the frustration just built up the more until I was outrightly spitting the words at the end. Cherry took a step aside and cringed.

"Lord knows why she'd do that."

"And you don't?"

She snorted a small laugh. "Chanelle is pretty personal with her stuff. She considers everyone an acquaintance, Carol and I included. So no, I don't know what's going on in her head most of the time."

I growled under my voice, swearing and cursing at the mini Chanelle I'd imagined in my head. And then I whipped out my phone and speed texted her.

To: Barbie

You're not funny.

Without waiting for a response, I tucked the phone away, casting one glance around the class to see that all eyes were still on me. I could literally feel myself melting under their stares.

Deciding I couldn't take any more of this, I stepped back, shying away. "I'll see you later."

Cherry nodded. "I'll say hi to Carol for you."

Nodding back at her, I spun around and hightailed for the door. I'd be damned if I spent another minute in this dungeon of seniors.

However, right at the end of my clean getaway, I heard someone call my name and instantly recognized the voice.

"Freshman!"

I halted in my tracks, shutting my eyes and swearing to murder both Chanelle and Daniel, two of the major problem-causing factors in my life.

With gritted teeth, I turned to face Daniel who was already running towards me. And oh how much attention he was dragging along with him.

He came to a stop barely a foot away from me, black eyes gazing down at my form while my gaze couldn't focus on one part of his face. So I just looked everywhere, except his eyes.

"Daniel."

A weird feeling churned at the bottom of my gut when he pouted and I sucked in a sharp breath.

"That's the first time you're calling me by my real name," he said. Apparently, he was good at observing things. I bit down on my lip when his soft gaze searched my face. "You're not okay."

I feigned annoyance, frowning. "You don't get to assume anything. You hardly know me."

"I know that you're way too stubborn not to call me an asshole. I need to—"

"No," I cut him off, stepping back like his words could burn me. I was not going to be vulnerable and share my private life with a stranger. Moreso one I was supposed to be seducing. "You're wrong, Daniel. You don't know me. You know nothing about me."

He stepped forward, like he was challenging me. I stepped back and peeked behind him. Everyone was watching. For the other end of the class, Carol and Cherry had their jaws on the table behind them and their bodies twisted to face the scene. They were eager.

I was eager too, but for an entirely different reason.

Daniel looked like he wanted to say something, but a group of guys jogged up to us, one of them patting his shoulder in a way that would've hurt. Except, Daniel didn't move. His eyes were locked onto me, still searching. Like he wanted to crack my code.

I looked away.

"Sorry to interrupt, man, but we're heading to practice." The dark-haired guy shifted his gaze between Daniel and me and rested it on his captain. "We should go."

Without looking at the third person, or the group of three boys with him, I stared at the spot between Daniel's eyes. My lips fell into a straight line. "You should go."

For the next minute or two—who was counting?—neither of us moved. We just stared at each other, waiting for who'd give in first. I wasn't sure what we were giving in it though.

The guy had to Pat Daniel again to break whatever spell was on him. "Come on, man."

I noticed that all five of them were around the same height. The one next to Daniel was about inch shorter than him which wasn't short at all. The rest seemed to be the same height. I couldn't tell because they stood at a fair distance.

Daniel licked his lips and ran a hand through his curly hair which for once wasn't in a ponytail. My hand tingled to touch it for some reason.

Unlike mine, his looked way softer, and the curls bounced around his face instead of standing upright like some forest on my head. And we were both African. Not fair.

His gaze was intense when he brought it back down to me and I made the mistake of staring back at them. Instantly, that feeling of drowning came over me and my breath caught.

"We're going to talk about this. Everything." He said it with such finality that I couldn't really oppose. Either that was the reason or it was because I couldn't breathe. He took one look at the expression of impatience on the dark-haired guy's face. In that moment, I took in as much air as possible. Then he brought it back down to me and I was beat again.

"I'll text you after practice."

With that, he nodded to the guys and they headed out of the theater. Once he got to the door, he halted to give me a final look before leaving.

My heart was hammering again. I couldn't tell whether it was because Daniel was going to prod the issue about my dad out of me or because I couldn't understand why his eyes were getting to me so much.

When I came to myself, I noticed the entire class of seniors still watching me. I caught Carol's gaze in the corner but as usual, it was flat. So I looked at Cherry but she looked very confused.

Since neither of them was going to help me right now, I decided to do it the old-fashioned way.

I lifted my chin, tucked my hands into the pockets of my cargo shorts and walked out with an exterior of coolness whereas inside, I was screaming.

Just great. Day two of this task and everything was about to spiral out of control.