Jules' pov
My heart was pounding hard against my chest as I secretly let my eyes dart around till it landed on the other side of the arena, at the top part of chairs.
There sat Blaze, seated at the very top, with his three friends seated around him. As I peered at them, I didn't need anyone to point out the fact that this group was certainly a group to not be messed with.
My eyes landed on Blaze and without meaning to, I felt my breath stutter to a stop in my chest as I kept staring at him.
There was something about him, something I couldn't place my finger on.
He was on his phone, fingers swiftly moving over the screen, hair slightly falling into his face. A lot of people were currently staring at the four students, but it was clear that they were used to the attention and weren't shying away from it, telling from the area which they had chosen to go sit in.
I turned around to glance at Taylor who was speaking to someone whom I hadn't noticed when he arrived. Taylor's noticed my attention and pointed a hand at me.
"This is Jules, he just enrolled here."
The student glanced at me and let out a small sound that resembled a snort. "Oh, yeah. I know, news has begun to spread." The student mused on a small, amused tone and I slowly stiffened.
"What news?" I asked but Taylor let out a tight chuckle and threw his hand over my shoulder.
"It's nothing serious, just dumb, usual student gossip." Taylor explained just as the other student began to speak.
"The rumors said you've become the next toy to be messed with until people becomes bored."
I blinked at him in confusion, brows furrowed. "What does that even mean?" I inquired. I watched as Taylor gave the student a pointed look and in the next moment, the student was huffing and shrugging his shoulders.
"Just dumb gossips. Anyways, I'm Josh." The student breathed out, hand outstretched. I hesitated, because it felt like there was more, a lot more which Taylor didn't want me to know of yet, but I decided to not dwell on it yet, when I could easily ask him later.
I accepted the handshake which was warm. Josh was a werewolf, a beta, telling by his slightly muted scent. He is slightly above average height and had a pretty good looking face.
When Taylor glanced at me, I nodded my head in the direction which Blaze and his chew were still seated in.
"Students are allowed to bring in phones to school?" I asked and Taylor glanced in their direction and grimaced for a moment before slowly shrugging.
"The students aren't allowed to do a whole lot of things, but that group over there? They don't abide by the rules." Taylor explained and I peered at him in confusion.
"They don't? And… that's allowed just like that?"
Taylor and Josh exchanged a fleeting glance before Taylor began to speak once again.
"They don't abide by any rules, Jules… because they make the rules." Taylor continued and I blinked at him a couple of times as I found it hard to digest what had just revealed to me.
"A- and that's just allowed? How does that even work?!" I spluttered.
Taylor stared at him and let out a grimace. "That's complicated to explain. To be honest, no one knows how it actually completely works."
As Taylor was speaking, from the corner of my eyes, I noticed as someone stepped into the swimming arena, he was clearly a teacher, seeing as he's the only one not dressing in a swimming gear, and he also had someone trailing behind him, someone who is definitely his assistance.
As the teacher stopped in the middle of the arena, a few inches before the edge of the pool, he motioned for everyone to gather around him.
Taylor, Josh and I all inched towards him along with the rest of the students. Everyone's scents were mingled and it was making my nose feel extremely sensitive. I never used to notice any scent apart from that of my fellow witches and warlocks who I was always around. Being in the midst of other supernatural creatures and being able to smell them is certainly an advantage to me in my current situation.
From the corner of my eyes, I noticed that Blaze and the rest of his crew remained at the top of the rows of seats while everyone else was around the teacher. I nudged Taylor and nodded towards their direction. "Aren't they gonna come down?"
Taylor grimaced and shook his head in response. I wanted to ask him to elaborate, to ask a lot more questions because so far, nothing made sense to me about this school, but before I could do so, the teacher began to assign everyone to various positions.
"Predators on the right side, Prey on the left side." The teacher ordered loudly. He was tall and muscled, clearly an athlete.
Everyone hurried to fall into their designed position. As I trudded towards the left side with every other prey, a hand brushed my arm, causing me to flinch and when I whipped my head around, my eyes locked with the vampire from my classroom. His fangs gleamed in the dull light as he flashed me a smile before he was gone in a flash.
Goosebumps settled over every inch of my skin and I shuddered for a moment as dread settled in my stomach.
When I was positioned in the left part of the arena along with everyone else, my eyes kept darting around because I could feel various eyes on me at once, boring into every inch of my skin, which made me grow uneasy and worked up. When Taylor glanced at me, a soft smile was on his face.
"You alright, Jules?" He asked and I nodded my head in response while forcing a smile on my face.
Taylor nodded his head and glanced forward. I let my eyes wander around, darting towards the right side where the predators were positioned at. They clearly outnumbered the preys, which probably made it more understandable as to why they'd walk over prey's classified breed.
An intense tingling feeling behind my head slowly made me turn my head around, and my heart slowed to a stop when I locked eyes with him.
Blaze.