Infatuated

I took the last of my books out of my locker, shutting the door only to see Alex on the other side, scaring me out of my wits.

“PEEK-A-BOO!” he’d shouted. I let out a small yelp and slapped him upside the head.

“Ouch, what was that for?” He pouted rubbing the back of his head. I rolled my eyes and grunted at him.

“How’d you like it if I scared you half to death?” I asked him as he dropped his hand and wrapped his arms round me.

“Well, I suppose you have a point,” he quickly pulled away from me; not caring about what anyone else was thinking and made a thoughtful face.

“I’m guessing... Phys Ed?” He bit his lip as if guessing my class were important. I stifled a short laugh and laid a hand on his nearest shoulder.

“I’m afraid, the answer’s no,” I whispered. He fell to his knees and threw his fists to the ceiling.

“God damn you physical exercise!” he boomed earning several scared looks from the ninth graders. I giggled at his expense before moving past him.

“So what do you have then?” he asked keeping up with my pace.

“Study Hall,” I sighed, dragging my feet and making my way towards the dreaded room. Alex stayed hot on my tail, keeping up conversation and distracting me from what lay ahead. As I approached the room I was in I slowed my pace and felt Alex’s arms wrap tightly round my waist in a loving embrace before placing both hands firmly on my shoulders and wishing me luck. He then skipped off down another hallway, leaving me to enter the room and sit in silence.

It wasn’t ‘til half way through study hall that I actually looked up for the first time.

“Autumn Matthews?” I heard my name called. I looked round to the door frame seeing a hurried looking Miss Riley holding out a note. What was it with all these notes? I stood from my seat, placing my things in my bag before going to relieve her of the message. I was needed down at the main office. What had I done now? Nonetheless I sighed and walked out, down the hall on my path.

I turned several corners, absentmindedly dragging my feet and not even needing to think about my path. I turned down one of the main hallways and saw him. Stood in the middle of the wide hallway, fists in tight balls, Taylor stood, glaring right at me. The wall only light was coming from the wall of windows behind him, making his figure nothing but a silhouette, in contrast to his piercing eyes which were clearly visible.

“Oh... Hey Taylor,” I murmured slightly startled by seeing his figure here. Getting no reply I frowned lightly at myself before advancing forwards. No part of him moved yet his eyes stayed focussed on me. I could tell by the look in his eyes the only emotion he was feeling was hate, for some reason focussed on me.

I hadn’t seen him since he dropped me off at my place so I was confused as to his current posture. My footing became slow as the beats of my heart became louder. It wasn’t racing, it was just loud. I mirrored Taylor’s gaze as I manoeuvred to walk around him, however, keeping a distance. I didn’t feel in danger, but whatever was his problem I figured I’d let him keep that to himself.

As I advanced a few more steps a wave of pressure took over my left side, forcing me into the end of a row of lockers. Without even having to look I knew it was Taylor. I was shocked. His forearm was pressed horizontally over my collar bone while the other was on the side of the locker keeping me trapped. There was no way out. Being this close I studied his expression. It was then I realised his eyes didn’t appear blue, but a startling yellow. Not like anything I’d ever seen before, and fluorescent even in the shadows of his face. His hair was less well kept than usual and looked rougher. The corners of his mouth were tugged into a grimace and his jaw hung slightly open, just wide enough for him to emit a throaty growl before the bell next to my head let out a shrill sound. My eyes had immediately fixed on the bell before I turned back in front of me, only to see Taylor had gone and where his hands once were, mine had replaced. My eyebrows furrowed. Was I hallucinating? I stared at the red pressure mark along my elbow. That wasn’t a hallucination.