The next day when Damien entered, Lucas was sitting on his desk looking out the window. The first thing he noticed was- He looked sad. His heart hurt a bit looking at the guy. He couldn't handle him anymore.
Michael could see Damien was upto something. He went and sat in his seat. There is no stopping his friend when he wants to do something.
Damien walked across Lucas ,purposefully bumping into his desk. Lucas looked up.
Damien ignored and sat on the beside Lucas.
Lucas was still looking at Damien. No expression on his face.
"What are you looking at?" Damien asked. Everybody had their attention to the back of the classroom. Lucas shook his head and went back to staring outside the window.
Damien got up from his seat and banged his hand on the table in front of Lucas.
"Is there a problem? Did you not like me bumping into your desk? Why did you turn away when I am not done talking to you?"
"No, it's nothing. I thought you were done."
This is the first time Damien heard his voice. He had a strong voice but he had mellowed his voice to almost a whisper. Damien's heart started to beat again.
"Don't act up!" Damien went back to his desk.
His heartbeat was still rising.
He always had life in control. Never had any uneasiness in his life. He was always confident and knew that he could get whatever he want. But with this boy, it was different.
He didn't know what to speak. He knew he was unreasonable. But he felt somehow threatened by Damien's existence.
Generally Damien never bothered with people , but the other students as well as teachers would always have a bit of cautiousness in their voice while speaking to him. Lucas' voice was soft but it was steady. He could feel it. The feeling of not being intimidated by him. Damien didn't like this guy. It was as if he was his equal.
After school, Damien went to the lane behind the school for a smoke. This was his perfect spot. Not many people would use this lane.And after dark, there is only a single street light to lit up the area. Perfect to hide.
Lucas was there again feeding the cat. He was sitting near the streetlight. The light was enough for Damien to figure out who it was.
"What are you doing?" Damien asked.
Lucas looked up to see a figure standing over him. He squinted his eyes to see who was talking to him. Once he figured out, he went back to feeding the cat.
"Cat got your tongue?" Damien asked.
"Feeding the cat" Lucas stated the obvious without looking up.
"So why the delay?Are you looking down on me?"
" No, I thought you knew what I was doing."
Lucas was still engrossed in feeding the cat out of his hand.
"You could say that looking at me.Do you know who I am?" Damien felt the anger rising in his voice. This guy didn't give a damn about him.
Lucas picked the cat up with his right hand stood up staring into Damien's eye.
"Yes. Damien Weller. The top dog of the school.The one I should not cross."
He turned to leave.
Damien quickly grabbed Lucas' right wrist and yanked him to turn around.
"What are you doing?"
" So you know that no one should cross me. Yet you act like you don't care."
Lucas tried freeing his hand but Damien's grip got stronger.
"Listen. I don't care. I came here to study and stay out of other people's lives."
"So you don't care who I am or what I do?"
"I don't mean that. I just don't want to be a nuisance. And I don't think I have done anything to cross you."
Damien was still gripping Lucas' wrist. Lucas yanked out his hand and freed himself. Damien knew he was being unreasonable and indeed Lucas had done nothing wrong but he couldn't stop the words coming out of his mouth.
" You haven't done anything to cross me? I feel weird whenever I se you. It's only been few days and I have gone mad. I don't like your snarky attitude. I don't like your smile. And I will do anything to wipe out that grin from your face."
"Damien!" They heard Michael coming over to them. " Why did you come alone? Even I wanted a smoke." Michael saw Lucas and nodded his head. Lucas nodded back.
Damien was flustered. This guy had manners in front of other people. Why couldn't he show that to him?But wait- do they know each other.
Michael tugged Damien and lead him out of the lane.
"How do you know him?" Damien asked while getting out of the lane.
"You asked me to get his info. Remember?"
"Yes. But you never nod to strangers."
"Yes. Because I know him a few weeks before you."
" You said he came two weeks ago and doesn't talk to anyone."
" I met him at the library a day after his enrollment. I helped him with some books. He is a good guy. We share the same interest in books." Michael turned to Damien."Why are you so interested in him?"
"He makes my stomach churn." Damien said as he got into his car.
All this while, Lucas stood there processing what Damien had said. He still doesn't understand why the guy wants to pick up a fight. Lucas never fought without reason. He had good fighting skills from the basic lessons he took few years back. He never used it to fight with people at his previous school . He always used to mind his own business and never got invested in activities of the school. He had followed the same over here as well. But this guy was being unreasonable and trying to pick a fight. He understood that that guy really hates him.
But what he couldn't figure out is when did Damien Weller see him smile?