Jules pov
I remained frozen and from the back of my mind, I could hear panicked gasps from Taylor and Josh. My mouth opened and closed but nothing came forth.
Staring at him from this position, with me splayed at his feet and him staring down at me, made me get a quick flashback of the scene that I had walked into last night at the party. That made color flood my cheeks at once as I instantly averted my gaze while my heart raced. He was regarding me like I was some irrelevant dirt which he had mistakenly stepped on, which has now ruined his entire day.
I held my breath in fright, waiting for a solid kick to my chest or something. His scent was so strong, clouding my lungs in waves now that I was currently in such close proximity to him.
A few seconds passed and nothing came forth. When I glanced up at him once again, he wasn't staring at me any longer. Instead, he was walking past me without a word.
I let out a long stuttered breath of relief once he was gone. I stared down at my hands, not knowing what to make of that encounter.
Taylor and Josh were beside me almost immediately, helping me to my feet. Josh had a horrified look on his face and all the color had drained from Taylor's face.
Taylor looked me up and down as he rubbed my arm. "Are you okay?" He demanded worriedly and I cleared my throat while nodding my head.
"Yeah, I think so." I whispered in response.
"What were you thinking? Why would you walk into Blaze of all people?" Taylor demanded and right now, his fingers were massaging his forehead as he paced around a little.
I swallowed a little while trying to not think of the frightened shiver that had coursed through my veins when he had peered down at me.
I shrugged weakly, not knowing what to say for myself. "It was an accident." I ended up whispering.
Taylor finally stopped pacing in front of me, face morphed in a very serious expression. "Honestly, you should be grateful that he had just walked past without doing anything."
Josh nodded in agreement. "Consider yourself really, really lucky, Jules." He muttered seriously.
I tilted my head as I blinked at them. "I guess you're right. He could have kicked me or something," I tried to laugh after speaking, but the looks on Taylor and Josh's face prevented that from happening.
"Blaze isn't like the other predators here, Jules. He doesn't… kick people who inconvenience him." Taylor explained after a few moments.
I peered at him as I spoke. "He doesn't?"
He gave a tense shake of his head. "No, he doesn't. He ruins their lives, or kills them, if he wants to."
The color drained from my face as his response washed over me.
"What?" I whispered in horror.
Taylor and Josh glanced at each other for a moment.
"Jules, it seems like you're not aware of who Blaze is, let me give you a quick run down." Taylor murmured and I gave a tense nod of my head even though I wasn't sure I really wanted to hear anything about him any longer.
"Blaze is… sick." Taylor finally revealed and I blinked at him while waiting for him to elaborate.
"Blaze is deranged." Josh supplied, but that didn't really help me understand anything.
"Blaze is like a special student entirely, compared to the other special students. He was given an entire floor in the special student's section, because everything about him is dangerous." Josh explained and I suddenly felt dizzy.
"Oh." I whispered.
"One time, he broke a student's arm because the student unknowingly took his favorite seat in class." Taylor revealed and I grew more shocked.
"He has a separate floor because he once killed a student over who made use of the dumbbells at the gym first, but of course it was covered up as a gym accident." Taylor continued and I felt my knees wobble in fear.
"Remember when I said Malachi was the heir to one of the four largest clans in the state? Well, Blaze is the heir to the extremely biggest one in those four clans. The clan is so big, way bigger than we can all imagine to be honest. Blaze is like a god here in this school, but scarier, angrier and definitely way more dangerous."
As Josh spoke, I began to silently cuss myself for all the previous moments I've locked eyes with him and how I had opened that particular door last night.
What if he ends up cornering me one of these days and snaps my neck for witnessing that scene last night? I asked myself silently as my heart pounded against my chest erratically.
Oh fuck.
I've finally gotten myself really fucked.
"You okay?" Taylor asked, pulling me out of my thoughts. I forced myself to chuckle a little.
"Of course, I am."
"You don't have to put on a front with us, it's okay to be scared, everyone is scared of him" Taylor murmured sympathetically as he grabbed my hand and squeezed. That didn't manage to calm my mind, it just got me more nervous.
"It's gonna be alright, okay? Just make sure to never run into him ever again. I'm sure he doesn't even remember you walking into him any longer." Josh spoke this time and I desperately wished that he was right.
~~~
I was exiting the last class of the day when Kai showed up with a soft smile dancing across his dimpled face as he stopped beside Taylor, Josh and I.
"So, how are you today? You okay?" He asked and I nodded my head in response, remembering that he was the one who had carried me from the pool all the way to the infirmary.
I offered him a warm, genuine smile. "Thank you for helping me out yesterday, I really appreciate it."
He waved me off at once and flashed me another smile, one which made him appear really attractive.
"It was no biggie, I was happy to help. He paused for a moment as his hands slipped into his pockets.
"So… wanna come by this evening so we could grab coffee together?"