Once inside Mrs. White's office, I saw with relief that Liam's nose was no longer bleeding.
Coach Samuel was missing along with the three boys that had started the whole thing. Elijah was pacing around the room, not paying attention to his brother again, while Liam along with the guy who had creepy eyes and I all sat around the meeting table and waited for the principal.
She probably wasn't coming anytime soon, but the atmosphere in her office was charged with unasked questions.
I kept my eyes away from the creepy dude, my fingers tapped rhythmically on the table, I stopped when I felt that Liam started catching on to the tune, two minutes away from whistling, by the looks of it.
The boy should be hating my guts by now, not dancing along at something I was playing idly, it was way too odd for me to put up with right now, so I openly glared at him. He looked apologetic.
Good.
I heard very clearly when the door behind me opened then closed, but my eyes were glued to the table, my fingers picking up where they left off, tapping my discomfort away, I had no idea how to tell Mrs. White that I only got involved in the incident because I thought it might have something to do with her daughter, she was so going to expel me.
"Johnson twins, outside, now."
It was the coach calling out for Elijah and Liam, so it must've been him that came in, not the woman I was expecting, they all went out together, leaving the guy that was ignoring me as much as I was ignoring him and myself alone inside the office. I never lifted my head to see any of them anyway.
"Hey," said a soft-spoken, euphonious voice.
I looked behind, shocked that it was her, she must've slipped in when the coach called for the boys but was she speaking to me? I looked at the other guy in the room, he was sitting as far away from me as the meeting table allowed. She was talking to me. Not him.
The relief that washed all over my body was unhealthy.
At this point, I had missed my chance to casually reply to her, but she didn't seem to mind. Her face was as impassive as ever while she dragged the chair silently next to me, then made herself comfortable as she crossed her legs — Her moves were so elegant, it was as if she was moving in slow motion. How come girls never looked like that before?
I was struggling with my shallow thoughts about her good looks until the scent of jasmine got a hold of me. I took one deep breath, savoring her. I knew that from this day forward, that flower was always going to remind me of the cold princess that was sitting next to me. When she turned her head to the left where I was, she looked open and relatively relaxed, but her eyes were restless, they had many things to say.
"I am Elizabeth King," was she really introducing herself? "Last time wasn't a good time for this, we had an urgent family matter." Now she decided that she owed me an explanation?
My tongue was tied. Was I ever this nervous in front of a girl my whole life? She was perfectly composed. And I knew it was time for me to say something.
'Say anything!'
She was waiting patiently. A small smile played on her flawless lips. It was a major lapse of judgment for me to focus on them. Her lips were the final stop on the road to a logical comment. I switched to autopilot mode and blurted out the first thing that should make it sound as if I was uninterested.
"No worries, man."
Did I just call her man?
She laughed a warm-hearted laugh.
"Ah, thank you, Theo. I was starting to get worried that you might have been holding a grudge."
I scowled.
In what world was the girl who didn't bother to show me her face worrying about something that had to do with me?
"No," I said harshly. "I don't know you well enough for that."
She seemed unaffected by my rudeness. "Do you mind if we start over?"
Was this about the fight that broke in the parking lot? Did her mother ask her to reason with me and cover up for it?
The thought was disheartening.
"There is no need for that," I said. "But if it makes things easier for you — or for Mrs. White — I will not talk about you, or your friend over there in the police report." I pointed with my chin towards the other guy by the end of the table, feeling heat spreading in my ears as I saw him openly staring at me.
"There won't be a police report." She dismissed my assumption.
I moved around in my chair, suddenly feeling too cramped up inside of it.
Mrs. White and the coach came in at that moment. I gave them my full attention, a part of me was running away from the awkward direction my conversation with the girl took. But the other parts knew that what happened on a high school ground was serious, I even broke someone's nose, and if nothing else did, that would have consequences.
But what they said to me was very different from what I had in mind.
As it turned out, the three boys did not go to this school to begin with, they were trespassing. They admitted that they tried to push the Ram around to see if they could shake it when the other guy in the room — I found out that his name was Wyatt — asked them not to. They started causing trouble and asked him if he thought he stood a chance against all three of them.
Other students started gathering around them, but he was waiting for a teacher to come and didn't want to leave the Ram unguarded, afraid they would do something to the car. When they saw me making my way to them, they assumed I was coming to hit them, and so they wanted to attack me first. That was all that there was to it. They begged the administration not to call the police and agreed to write a statement that they were never going to trespass again, otherwise, they would be expelled from all the schools in the state.
What they said was perfect.
Too perfect. It was a crystal clear coverup.
First of all, Wyatt was never summoned outside, didn't they need to hear out what he had to say about the whole thing? That on the side, while the three boys looked like they were running at me, their eyes were on Liam only, even the guy I pinned down, he never lifted a finger to resist me.
"Get back to your class now," Mrs. White commanded while I was still deep in thought.
"Do you want to go together?" Elizabeth asked when I didn't move away from my seat or looked like I was going to. I looked up to see her smiling playfully. I didn't smile back and just stared at her like an idiot.
"Or we can go separately if you prefer it that way." The playful mood was gone; she was clearly offended by my nonstop rudeness, I was on a roll. She looked like she was about to leave.
"Wait," I stood up, "I'll go with you."
I almost choked on my own words, falling right into her hands. I'd already concluded that they were covering up for something, and I should be demanding an explanation, confront them, and refuse to be treated like the fool they were trying to turn me into. It should have been easy to expose them. But instead, I escorted Cinderella out of her mother's office and headed to math, too afraid that the clock would soon struck 12 and she would disappear again on me.
I decided to question her while we were at it. I knew she was involved in what happened in Mrs. White's office, I found it almost a good thing that she was lying to me. Now I can show her that she won't be able to do that for long. I decided to start with the obvious. "I never saw you at math before."
"I was on sick leave last week." She was not even putting in an effort.
"Your truck was not on sick leave with you?" If I sounded exasperated, it was because I was.
"I had to help my mother with a few things around here."
She was walking a step ahead of me and she pushed her hair behind, sending the scent of jasmine my way. I hurried up to walk beside her before my eyes slid down her body any further than where her hair stopped, exactly in the middle of her back.
It felt good to walk around with her in the empty hallways.
We reached the classroom all too soon, and we both reached for the doorknob at the same time, her full hand pressed over my thumb.
This time, I didn't pull back.
I just allowed her touch to burn into me, afraid of where that heat would reach if she didn't remove her hand soon from over mine. But her fingers lingered there, neither of us pushed the door open, and we didn't look at each other either — Was I hoping that I made her feel the same thing?
Were her fingers also burning and tingly?
"My bad," she said softly, finally pulling her hand back slowly. I pushed the door open without responding to her, completely dazed.
Mr. Miller, our math teacher, waved three times quickly for us to enter without interrupting the idea he had reached while he was solving a problem on the board for the rest of our classmates.
I tried to focus on walking to the final row, the sight of the twins in the row in front was a welcomed distraction to the question I had in my mind, I tried not to hear it or picture the words in my head but failed miserably — Where was she going to sit?
Elijah made a fist as I almost reached him and I bumped it quickly, I paused a fraction of a second to make one for his twin brother, it was the only apology he was going to receive from me, I was not surprised when he gladly returned the fist, but I was glad for it anyhow.
I threw my bag to the side and took my usual seat, my heart stopped beating when I saw her making way to the final seat from the other side, then it ran full speed ahead when she sat next to me. She kept her head straight while I sat gawking at her.
"It was the only seat available," she said.
I looked the other way, but it sounded as if she was smiling.
"Whatever," I tried and failed to sound indifferent while I was smiling like a fool. Mr. Miller demanded the class's attention right then.
Math went in a blur, if anyone was to ask me to repeat one word of what Mr. Miller had said, I wouldn't be able to do so. I avoided looking at the beauty next to me at all costs, but the scent of jasmine just refused to let me be.
I tried to distract myself from the jasmine assault whenever Elijah fussed over his twin every now and then, or when I was finally able to register that the rest of my classmates were not looking at me persistently the way they did every day.
Maybe they got bored with my act, or maybe they found me scary now that I broke someone's nose right in front of them, and pinned another to the ground, easily choking him.
I decided they were right not to stare.
As soon as the bell rang, the girl was out of the picture, I only allowed my eyes to follow her scent when I was sure that she was out of the door.
The moment she went out, it was like a switch got turned on in the brains of everyone else in the classroom.
Without an exception, the students who were minding their business three seconds ago turned around then started flocking.
"Theo! What happened out there!"
"Yeah, man! What was all that about?"
"Are you okay? They didn't touch you, did they?"
.
.
.
What was wrong with everybody?