Saturn
• • •
When I left the bookshop, I could still feel his piercing gaze on my skin.
The power of his watchful eyes managed to leave a lasting engravement on me, even when he was no longer within viewing range. It was as if he was haunting me.
The bus hit a rock on the road, startling me out of my deep ponderings. We'd reached my stop. I hurried off the bus and into my building. It was nearly nightfall, and I was not fond of the dark.
I was still shaken by the time I reached my room. I considered going to Liana's room to have some company, but decided against it. I needed to sleep off the feeling of being watched. I didn't particularly dislike the feeling, but it was unfamiliar. I'd been stared at plenty as a foreign student at Kenton, but that was much unlike the way Calvin watched me.
It was strange to be admired.
⋆ ˚｡⋆˚ ⭒ ˚⋆｡˚ ⋆
I was starting to believe that Calvin was a vampire.
If not, then he definitely came from another universe. There was no other logical explanation for how obscure he was. When I caught him watching me at lunch the other day, the eerie feeling of being watched returned. I didn't even know second-years had the same lunch as we did. I'd certainly never seen him there before.
I brushed off his gaze. He was with two other boys with whom I was unfamiliar. What was his deal? Had he brought his friends to the dining hall on first-year lunch just to watch me?
No, that would be ridiculous. Calvin was nothing but my employer. He hadn't come to watch me. Perhaps being an international girl at Kenton really was getting to my head.
Still, I loved catching him looking at me.
Finally, I daringly shifted my gaze to wear Calvin sat watching me. Our eyes locked. His expression didn't falter.
"Is there something on your mind, Saturn?" Henri asked, pulling me from my thoughts. I glanced away from Calvin, feeling my cheeks grow warm.
"No," I said, "I just zoned out."
"You do that a lot, don't you?" Liana asked with a smile.
"Yeah, I suppose so," I said. I did lose my grip on reality often, it was one of my many quirks. Sometimes the world became so dark, that dissociating from it was the only way to find the light.
"Do you work later, Zaire?" I asked, changing the subject.
"Not tonight," Zaire replied, "Calvin messaged me the schedule for the rest of the week. We work together on Saturday..."
I'd stopped listening to him. Why hadn't Calvin sent me the schedule as well?
"Perfect," I said with false enthusiasm. If Zaire didn't have a shift tonight, then it was likely that I did. I wasn't sure how Calvin expected me to come in without knowing my schedule. Why would he avoid messaging me?
After Poetry class, I boarded the bus into the village. I was determined to discover Calvin's true motive. It was almost like he only enjoyed my company because it brought a sense of amusement to his typically dull life. I scoffed as I pondered it. I would not be a pawn for his pleasure.
The shop was vacant when I arrived. Calvin wasn't at his desk like usual. I sat in his chair, knowing he wouldn't allow me to if he were here. Calvin made me feel defiant.
"What are you doing?"
I glanced up from the computer. Calvin glared back at me. I'd been on his laptop, scrolling through his spreadsheets for the month. September had been a wildly successful month for the shop, probably due to the vast amount of English students at Kenton.
"What are you doing?" Calvin asked again, his tone slow and controlled. He was angry. More angry than he had been when I reorganized the bookshelves.
"I was just interested in the financial records of the shop," I shrugged. Calvin stormed over to the desk. I didn't know where he'd come from. He slammed his laptop shut. I winced.
"Never touch my things without asking," He said firmly, "and get out of my chair. Go clean something."
I shakily left the desk. Was Calvin going to fire me? I quickly searched the back room for cleaning supplies, then got to work wiping dust off of every relic in the shop. I didn't want to lose my job, and I really didn't want to disappoint Calvin. He already disliked me enough to exclude me from having the schedule.
As I worked, I felt his familiar gaze on my back. Didn't he have more important things to do than watch his most disgraceful employee clean bookshelves?
"You can do the windows next," Calvin said, as I went to put the supplies away. I let out a breath of frustration.
I was beginning to like Calvin less and less by the minute.