C H A P T E R 1 7
T h e  H e l l
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NATASHA'S POV

"Are you done?" Blaze asked, coming up behind me. His voice barely above a whisper.

"Yup! I just need to set this one and then I am done" I whispered back, without turning my head to look at him. My attention completely on the work at hand. I slowly and carefully pulled back the hammer and locked down the handle bar. Placing the last mousetrap gently on the ground.

"There done!" I said, standing up and dusting myself off. I turned around to face him.

He was casually leaning on a pillar, with his arms crossed and an amused smile on his face.

"Awesome! Now how are you going get back here?" Blaze crooked his head to one side and pointed his eyes down at the ground.

I followed his direction and immediately face palmed myself. 

I let out a silent curse as I looked down at the scattered rat traps placed all around me.

Even though the foyer on which Blaze stood was no more than two to three steps away; my oh so clever idea of placing the rat traps in close proximity to one another had left about fifteen of them open to bite at my toes, if I dared to move from my position. 

I was ironically trapped in my own trap.

"What idiot is absent minded while placing traps?" I mumbled, crouching a little to take a better look at the gaps between the traps.

"Natasha Glazer!" I turned sharply at his words and saw Blaze cover his mouth with the back of his hand to muffle the sound of his laughter. Which was more for the benefit of not waking the whole school up, rather than to feel sorry of my condition.

If he could laugh freely right now, I knew he would have laughed loud enough to be heard all the way to HoneyTop.

"Are you done?" I glared at him, crossing my own hands in frustration.

He held up a finger to indicate that he needed a minute and then turned around to catch his breath. Once his laughter had died down, he turned back around with his favorite accessory- his smirk-and gave me a mock salute, followed by a bow down and a silent slow clap.

If I wasn't standing between a circle of rat traps I would have killed him for mocking me like that. Instead, I silently stood at my spot and counted to ten, while focusing on my breathing.

Don't kill him one....you shouldn't throw one of the trap at him two....you haven't watched all the seasons so you can not get away with his murder three....

"Alright..okay!" he chuckled, raising his hands up in surrender, after taking one good look at me.

"No need to blow out steam like an angry bull...maybe we can.." he trailed off as he knelt down. His eyes traced the traps positioned a couple of inches away from his feet. While I huffed and adjusted my pink cap. Not an ideal choice of disguise, unlike Blaze's Black jeans and black hoodie combo, but I needed something to keep my long hair out of my way and I couldn't find my hair tie anywhere. 

Placing my hands on my hips, I bit the inside of my cheek and watched as Blaze slowly, almost hesitantly tried to reach out and move one of the traps but pulled his hands back, right before touching it. He looked back up at me and shook his head 'no'.

I sighed and looked up at the night sky. I knew we couldn't risk moving them back as there was a possibility of setting them off. The noise from even one of the trap, would resonate like that of a bomb throughout the tranquil silence, that the whole school was under in. 

It had been hard enough trying to get past the sleeping guards placed on the outskirts of the campus. If we made any sort of loud noise they would surely wake up and then we would be done for good.  

After we had won the competition, both of us had silently agreed to drop the idea of revenge and let the Delegres chapter be closed peacefully.  

However, when one of the obnoxious loser from Delegres High, decided to poke us one last time out of spite, by dumping food on our heads, I knew this chapter of Delegres needed to end in a way, that would forever haunt this place and the people of it.

A real life nightmare so worst, that the mere memory of it would make them shit their pants.

Hence, once the lights were turned off and everyone had called it a night, Blaze sneaked into my room to devise a perfect revenge plan in mere minutes.

Once we were clear on what we needed to do, Blaze distributed each parts into small groups to be executed on the basis of our skills. Both of us had our own sets of the plan to work on. Which both efficient and clever.That way, we both get to complete each portion faster and without getting onto each others throat.  After all, we didn't really have a good history of working together. A fact we both knew. 

I suppose, the students of Delegres High deserved a special mention of gratitude here too. After all if it weren't for their various detours this morning, we would have never got the directions to the janitor's closet or the store room. From where we were able to get all this rat traps, along with other supplies from.

Our plan at such wasn't really a plan at all, initially. It was more of a 'we go and fish for whatever good stuff we can find and use' sort of plan. Which is why once we had our supplies or an idea of the materials that we had at our disposal; thinking of their respective uses came easily to us.

While I had been busy, mopping the floor with oil to make it slippery, Blaze had rounded up all the toilet papers he could find and dumped them in their swimming pool. Once that was done he went about in search of the art class, as a sudden idea had come to him.

By the time I got done with oiling the floor and rapping up clean foils from door to door and pillar to pillar, creating a maze of invisible sheets for people to run into; Blaze had painted numerous Devil worshiping signs throughout the school. After that we had gone about spitting chewed bubble gums outside the dorm room of the guy who had poured food on us at dinner. Blaze though had taken it up a notch by entering in the room and sticking some in his hair. 

My mouth still hurt from all the chewing it had done but I knew that the sight of watching him get covered in sticky chewed gums would be worth it.

Yet, it wasn't enough though. We felt like we needed something more. More than what we had. So we decided to go snoop into Mr. Pine's office, where much to our delight we found some rather juicy stuff.

Turns out the oh so prejudicious principle of Delegres High, who had gone at length about 'us teenagers and our hormones', and had practically humiliated us by giving a whole speech on how 'we kids this days were completely driven by our sex drives and how we were slowly evolving to act like animals'-had two drawers full of playboy magazines in his working desk.

That wasn't even all though. As soon as we found the magazines Blaze made up his mind of cracking into his computer, as he believed we might hit jackpot there. And he wasn't wrong. Turns out Mr. Pine had quite a thing for animals or well adult women dressed as animals; by what his web history suggested.

The whole thing had frankly grossed me out. So I left Blaze to do whatever he sought fit with that information and I came out here into the main entrance ground and started working on my rat traps.

Now, standing in middle of my hard work I truly felt like digging a hole to bury myself in.

Dejected, I looked back at Blaze and begged him with my eyes to help me. To my surprise, he got up at once and reached his hands out.

"Guess you will have to jump" he said, taking a step as close to the ground as he could.

I looked at his outreached hand with doubt and then met his eyes.

"Don't worry..I will catch you" he said with conviction. But somehow I already knew he would with certainty even before he uttered those words.

Maybe it was because of all the time that we spent together this past two days. The situations we were in. Maybe it had built a bridge of trust between us. Though I didn't know if I could honestly say us, but for me...I didn't know if I liked him yet or not. But I definitely trusted him. More so that I have ever trusted anyone.

Which was odd and made me feel weird. Very weird.

Although, trusting someone has nothing to do with liking them right? It's just about knowing that they won't disappoint you. That they got you. And I knew if I jumped Blaze would catch me for sure. Which was perfect for this situation, yet for some unknown reason that scared the shit out of me.

"Anytime now" he rolled his eyes but braced himself.  

Without wasting another minute mulling over my haywire thoughts, I briefly closed my eyes, took a deep breath and then leaped.

The good news was, I didn't set off any traps.

The bad news however was, that I had landed into Blaze's arms with a enough force to topple him over, making both of us fall on the ground, with my face landing smack on his.

The time seemed to slow down and yet my heartbeat picked up its pace. I felt my eyes fly open as I realized my lips were pressed up right against his.

They were smooth, soft and I could almost taste something sweet and minty on them.

Oh no!

In a single hesitant blink, the time resumed its speed and I pulled back as fast as my shocked and clasped muscles could react in.

Still laying over him, I could feel two rapid hearts violently beat, as our chest were pressed against each other. Our legs were tangled together and we were both staring at each other with same bewilderment. The moon had just then decided to hide behind the clouds. Leaving us blind and out of breath.

All of my senses became alive at one. My skin felt the coldness of his hands that were holding my waist. My ears could hear the sound of his breath fanning my face and mingling with mine. My nose could smell the slightest hint of soap on his body along with the mint of his toothpaste. My pink cap now lay few inches above Blaze's head, It having let my hairs loose to fall over one side of our faces, creating a curtain over us. The moon made then came out of his hiding and gave me sense of sight back. I could now see clearly how his eyes had diluted and how his mouth was slightly open in shock.

How the hell did we end up like this?

The minute our brains had fully processed what had just happened, or what was still happening, we both freaked out and started shoving the other away from self. Blaze in his hurry to push me away had almost rolled me towards the ground where hundreds of traps lay waiting to bite me but fortunately, I stopped though right at the edge of the foyer.

I took a minute to just lay on the floor and get back my bearings. Blaze on the other hand, had already gotten up and was furiously fidgeting with his hair.

After taking my sweet time to get on my feet I, in a very childlike manor wiped my mouth with the back of my hand.

No ! No way ! This is NOT HOW I WANTED MY FIRST KISS TO BE ! I won't consider this!

I didn't know how to act after that awkward moment we had ended up in and judging from the way Blaze averted his eyes I knew that neither did he.

What the Fucking Fucked Fuck!

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When I had been mopping the floor of the hallways with oil or covering the school grounds with hundreds of rat traps, I had thought the ride back home would be filled with laughter. Instead our compartment was filled with such a heavy air of awkward silence that even the ticket collector had walked right past us, not daring to check in.

From the corner of my eye, I saw Blaze looking out the window, just like me. He seemed to be lost in some deep thought. What was he thinking about? He couldn't be thinking about the kiss...would he? So what if he did? It wasn't even a kiss really. Why was I thinking about the kiss? Why was I even thinking about, if he was thinking about the kiss or not? Why does his hair look good flying back from the wind?
Wait what?

Ughhhhhhh!

Gritting my teeth in irritation, I turned my attention back on the passing scenery.

The silly little accident that made our lips touch for five seconds had completely ruined our atmosphere. It had in fact ruined everything. 

Even the joy of literary setting the school on fire to start the sprinklers and watch our plan in action had seemed less joyful after that stupid thing.

We had watched on from afar with only a hint of smile on our faces as everyone either slipped, tripped or fell on the traps. Even the mortified looks and shrieks of younger children, when they caught sight of the naked pictures of girls stuck on the wall-because that's what Blaze thought of doing with the information-hadn't been enough to keep our spirits aloof. Forget the little ones, that one boy who had a rat tarp stuck on his family pine tree had only got a small snort from both of us.

We had been awfully quiet throughout the taxi ride too. Right up till now; when were just few minutes away from reaching HoneTop. The silence had finally bothered me enough to be the first one to crack and say something.

"Do you think the playboy posters and the web pages prints was a little too much? I mean there were little kids there" I said, tugging at the ripped threads of my ankle fringed jeans. Just to avoid looking at him.

"Too late to think about that now. The damage has been done" he shrugged. "Besides they would soon be searching them back up after couple of years anyway."

I peered at him through my lashes and gave a small smile. "I liked the Devil signs you drew" I said.

"Thank you. I made them up" he chuckled and then suddenly laughed out loud.

I couldn't hold back for much longer and joined in too. We then spend a full minute or two laughing and imitating the funniest reactions that we saw. The guy with his baby maker trapped, Mr. Pine holding a prints of his playboys with eyes bulging out of his socket, and the two boys with their hairs and cloths stuck together by sticky gums, being our favorite top three.  

"Crazy three days huh?" Blaze commented later with a sly smile, running a hand through his hair, messing it up.

"Totally!" I said nodding my head vigorously. Then as I recalled all the things that happened, I couldn't help but feel a weird nagging in the back of head. That was warning me about something but I didn't know what.

Everything that had happened in these three days, had left me feeling confused. Confused on how and what to be around Blaze. Till now I thought of him as nothing but a narcissistic prick that I absolutely hated for no reason. But after seeing him lead us all the way to Delegare, I learned that he wasn't at all a narcissistic prick but rather a good company. He wasn't even a brash thinker like me. He was level-headed, even in the worst of times. While I had gotten us in a mess, he had gotten us out of it. 

I came to know his kindness too. Whether it was when he had held me on the road, or when he had motivated me to keep moving forward when I was ready to give up.  Even when he was willing to sleep on a cold floor just so I could have the bed. Or be it last night during dinner, when that guy had dumped food on us, the way Blaze had inclined his body to shield me,from the hot food. All of these actions spoke about his character in a way no one could.

Throughout these three days, every little thing that Blaze has done; had not gone unnoticed by me. It had instead made me respect him and even like him a little. It did however leave an irrational hole in my heart too.

I knew I didn't hate him anymore. That I couldn't hate him anymore. And yet that made me want to hate him more.

That doesn't even make any sense.

The train came to a stop just then, making me step out of my mind palace of unsolved thoughts and into the reality. Blaze had already taken his luggage and was slowly making his way out of the compartment.

I quickly grabbed my bags too and dashed after him. Not to catch up to him or to exchange nice words but to make a point clear.

Maybe he wasn't that bad..So what? I don't think anything should change just because of what happened these two days.

I was thankful, sure. I admired him too. But I didn't quite feel right about befriending him or continuing anything that wasn't at all like before either. 

Hell if anything, I felt like hating him even more now. Which was irrational and pointless.

Call me selfish, stupid, ignorant, etc...but I didn't like this weird feeling in my chest. I needed it out of me as soon as possible. And so I shall do.

"Blaze!" I called out to get his attention and he immediately stopped on the platform. I didn't know what I truly wanted so I did what I knew best. To begin with whatever pops in my head first.

"Listen, I'd really appreciate if you kept whatever happened that day on the road to yourself" I said.

"Like I would be interested in gossiping about Natasha Glazer the walking talking annoyance" his tone had a bite to it, as if he was angry at me.

The hell!

"Well good! I just wanted to make sure that you weren't under the delusion that whatever happened in Delegres meant that we could be friends now" I said, clutching the handle of my bag in anger.

"You got that right. We could never be friends" he shoulders his bag saying that and then walked off. Just like that.

What the fuck was that?

Whatever, I don't give a single flying fuck about him either. It's what I wanted too. 

Then why is there a sting in my eye?

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Raise your hands children if you have had an embarrassing or bad or weird or whatever first kiss. Or if you didn't see that coming or if you have ever been this confused or...oh just raise em! 

LOVE N