Khai was kicking a small stone he spotted on the ground as he dragged his feet back towards the men's dormitories. Anaya occupied his mind and questions about her troubled him. He couldn't help but wonder why he felt those sparks every time he touched her. Squinting down at his hands, he saw traces of her blood linger on his left thumb, the sight making his head hurt.
"Khai!" He heard someone after him as he made his way past the main building. He groaned, recognizing her voice immediately.
"Hey, Nat." He muttered, annoyance leaking from his tone.
Natalie Vilmot was a minor inconvenience in Khai's life as well as his neighbor back in Orestes. After Khai's parents passed away, he moved in with his sister and two grandmothers that lived together next to the Vilmots. Both of his grandfathers had lost their lives on the battlefield and his parents died in an ambush attack from the rogues.
While he loved living with his grandmothers, who spoiled him to no end, the arrangement came with an unfortunate side effect of living next to the Vilmots. Rupert and Anica Vilmot, along with their daughter Natalie Vilmot had somehow convinced themselves that Natalie would marry Khai. When Natalie and Khai turned 18, not only did the Vilmots have the audacity to express their wishes to Khai's grandmothers, but also managed to spread rumors around all of Orestes that Khai and Natalie were an official couple.
Khai's late mother, Camille, considered Anica a dear friend and Anica milked that sentiment as often as she could. When Khai was younger, she forced him to escort Natalie to balls and parties, claiming that it was what Camille would've wanted.
As he got older, Khai devised several ways to ignore the Vilmots, even going as far as dating other girls he had no interest in, purely to show Natalie's family his disdain towards her. But the Vilmot's were thick skinned and ignored his frolicking as a sign of 'youth having fun'.
"Missed you at the party last night, and this afternoon at lunch." Natalie played with her hair as she threw flirty glances at him. "Are you ignoring me?" She pouted.
"You're really smart Natalie, I'll give you that." Khai shot her a smile that didn't reach his eyes.
"You jest." she brushed of his rudeness, "I'm throwing and end of summer party this weekend! A bonfire at Chelsea Spot. Everyone is invited, of course. I trust that you'll be there. The dress-code is white, your favorite color!" She waggled her eyebrows, as if hinting something.
"Hmmm, I've started to grow rather fond of black lately." He said.
Natalie frowned. Today was not her day, she thought. "Let me walk you to your dorm, I have so much to tell you about Elliot and Austin at the party last night." She briskly walked next to him as he picked up his pace to get to his room.
Natalie went on about who Elliot and Austin hooked up with at the party, delving into every unnecessary detail as they climbed four flights of stairs to Khai's room. Khai exhaled in relief as he saw Elliot walking towards them.
Not even bothering to acknowledge Natalie, Elliot smiled as he walked toward his friend.
"Hey man! Took you long enough, did you stop to beat someone up?" He looked at the blood on Khai's hand.
Natalie's paused, in shock as she followed Elliot's gaze and noticed Khai's hand. Holding it closer, she rubbed the blood on it, "Khai what happened!?" She exclaimed.
Khai swatted her hand away in annoyance. He gave her a menacing glare before his thoughts moved to Anaya and a small smile crept up his face. "It's nothing." He dismissed her absently.
"I helped someone who was hurt." Khai turned to explain to Elliot.
"Well, some help. You missed lunch. I got you a box to your room."
"I'll join you two!" Natalie chimed in. "Elliot, I was just telling Khai what you were doing with Samantha and Allie last night."
Elliot grinned at Natalie. "Nat, you little perv! Khai, we have our very own peeping Tom here. How did you have the time to look at what I was doing when Philip took up all you attention Nat? He's in Khai's room by the way, come on. I'm sure he'd be happy to see you again."
Natalie's expression fell and her face paled. She had hooked up with Philip after she got drunk last night, but she didn't want Khai to know that. She sneaked a glance at him nervously. As usual, he looked bored and unbothered.
For once, she was thankful that he didn't care and sheepishly excused herself. "I just remembered that I told Jen that we'd get some gelato. Excuse me, I have to rush! Khai, make sure to bring everyone you know to Chelsea spot on Saturday, 9:00 PM, don't forget."
With that, she left Khai with Elliot and scurried out of there like a mouse.
"Word is, she wants to tattoo your name on her heart for your birthday this year." Elliot snickered.
Khai rolled his eyes and walked to his room. He knew Philip wasn't in there because if he was, he would get beaten up. Not because Philip got with Natalie, that part actually made Khai happy. But Philip was a legacy that held some unfathomable sense of competition with Khai. He always tried to one-up him like he had something to prove.
As he entered his room, he spotted the huge bowl of food Elliot got for him and proceeded to wolf it down. He didn't realize he was this hungry until he took his first bite. Elliot grabbed a can of grape soda from the mini fridge and sat on the edge of the bed. He let his clearly hungry friend eat for a bit before he spoke again.
"Did you walk over your training plan with Gordon? What's it like?"
"It's like death. Three hours every morning, starting 4:30 AM. I have cardio endurance, strength straining and close combat. Then I have Ranger training for an hour at 6:30 PM."
"That sounds harsh. When do you think Austin and I would start?"
"That's going to be 'never' for me." Austin walked in, holding a flask in his hand. Elliot reached for the flask and took swig while Austin faked an exaggerated fall, face down, onto the bed.
"Let's spar tonight. Losers join me at training starting tomorrow. I think the two of you have excellent potential."
Elliot flung his empty soda can at Khai, which he caught before it hit his head. He crushed it in his hand and tossed it in the trash before he took the last bite from his bowl. He slipped out of his t-shirt and walked into the shower with bittersweet thoughts, ignoring the mindless chatter from his two best friends.
*****
Meghan opened the door to Anaya's room at 9:00 PM that night. She wanted Ana to eat something in case she got up hungry in the middle of the night. The two girls ate their salad bowls and watched some comedy until they finished their dinner.
Then, they started to unpack Anaya's bags. While Meghan did most of the work, Ana tried to help as much as she could.
"This! This is a pile of your best outfits. You should wear this for the party on Saturday!" Meghan held up a pleated white off shoulder crop top with frills. The sleeves had elastic cuffs, that rested below the elbow.
"What party?" Ana cocked an eyebrow.
Meghan handed her a flyer as she continued to speak. "Found it outside everyone's door, yours too! It's an end of summer party. Some girl named Natalie is throwing it in the forest and she invited everyone. Isn't that sweet?" She smiled.
"That is sweet, but I'm in no mood to show up to a party in the jungle when I can barely use a whole hand Meg. I'll pass." She said.
"Nonsense! I'll be with you the whole time. Actually, I'll give you ten minutes and I'm sure there will be a line of guys laying their palms out, waiting for you to walk over them" she giggled.
Ana threw a dress at Meghan and laughed with her "Shut up! You just want to leave me be and run off with George."
"That I do!" Meghan nodded seriously, before bursting into another set of giggles. The girls stayed up until 3 AM that night, until Meghan dozed off on Ana's bed.
Unable to get a wink of sleep, Ana picked up a book that she was reading. As she tried to read, her thoughts kept drifting to Khai. She recollected his hands holding hers, as she absently stared at her wound. Heat rose to her cheeks. She shook her head to get him out of her mind. She couldn't think about a man just yet. She told herself that it was too soon.
Walking to the window, she quietly watched the sunrise before she felt drowsy again. She finally fell asleep next to Meghan at the early hours of dawn.