Wanting.

“Watch where you’re going.” He said retracting the foot he used to trip her.
“Yes…Sorry…” She said picking up the books she dropped from the floor.
“Keep walking.”
“Right…sorry…”

Starting in middle school, Oliver has always done things like this to Mia. Things like tripping her, knocking things out of her hands and walking away, pulling chairs out from under her. To him, there was something about her that was so innocent. Something so…adorable. It made Oliver sick. He could never have her. Yes, he wanted her, who wouldn’t? She was beautiful in her own way. Long golden hair and light caramel eyes, soft pink lips and a face that looked so smooth. He was definitely not the one for her. Oliver was a sneaky, smooth talking kind of guy. There was no girl he could not have. Except Mia.

A while back, he thought he’d give it a shot. He thought he could try to reel her in. The more he thought about how he’d get her, all the things he’d do to her, he decided against it. The things he’d do to that girl are things he thought shouldn’t happen to a girl who was so innocent looking. The power he felt over her when he did things like hit the books out of her hands and make her pick them up was the kind of feeling he liked having over her. And it was only her. If he tried it on some other girl, he wouldn’t feel right. He liked that she always looked at the ground when he stared her down. He liked how she always said sorry to him for everything. She was submissive and that’s what he wanted.

A few times Mia thought about sticking up for herself like everyone told her to do, but every time she was about to, her courage was struck down. It was those eyes…actually, his whole appearance. She had always taken a liking to how he looked. His family had quite the gene pool. His pale skin, scattered freckles, emerald green eyes and natural black hair ran in his family. He had always reminded her of a sneaky cat. The way his lean body moves lazily and slinks around on chairs or sofas. Also in the way he smiles that clever smile with those full lips.

Every time he made eye contact with her, she felt compelled to look away. This wasn’t an unusual habit for Mia, however it was just stronger in Oliver’s presence. Something she noticed about his smile and the way his eyes looked when he did smile was that it always looked suggestive and maybe even sensual. It always made her turn a shade of pink. Mia felt she had to obey him. She felt that if she tried to stick up for herself, she’d fail. Despite him being a master womanizer among his friends, there was a part of Mia that wanted to…try things with him. The thought of sharing her first kiss with Oliver made her heart beat faster. To even think about doing anything more than that almost gave her nosebleeds.

The school day was almost over with only two classes left. Students dressed in black and green uniforms crowded to get inside the buildings and out of the cold weather. Mia and another one of her girl friends stepped into the History classroom, taking their seats at their table. With a small crowd traveling behind him, Oliver walked into the classroom taking his own spot on the opposite side of the class. As expected, his crowd followed him. The other two girls who sat at Mia’s table joined them as the bell rang.

“Alright class. Its two weeks before winter break and you know what that means.” The class stayed silent, staring blankly at the teacher.
“Man you guys are dead. It means finals are here!” he said a little too enthusiastically. The class exchanged looks of annoyance and distaste.
“But, lucky for you guys, you won’t be having a test. Instead, you’ll partner up with one other person and turn in an essay and slideshow.”

The students didn’t give the teacher a chance to finish before they began moving seats to their desired partner. Mia and the girl she walked in with stayed seated next to each other, as they were always partners in school work. Oliver walked to one of his guy friends and sat on the desk, obviously not caring whether the teacher liked it or not.

“Ah ha! I knew you kids would react that way! So I came prepared. I have assigned you your partner. I’m going to give you a slip of paper with a number on it. Your partner has the same number and the two of you will find each other.”

Of course, the students didn’t like this one bit. Each one of them were handed their slip of paper.

“What are you?” Mia asked her friend.
“Thirteen, you?”
“Seven.” Both girls groaned and stood up like everyone else. The room became a little more crowded than usual with everyone walking around aimlessly. Her friend had found her partner, but Mia was still standing in the front of the classroom, waiting for hers to pop up.

“Partner hasn’t shown up, Mia?” the teacher asked. She just shook her head, looking at the ground. “Who’s number seven?” he asked over everyone's voices.
“Hey, Oliver that’s you!” yelled someone.
“Wait, what?” asked a lazy voice.
Oliver was found sitting on the desk of another girl, touching her hair, completely unaware of what the whole class was doing.
“Oliver, are you number seven?”
“Hmm…yeah I guess so.”
“Get your butt over here then.”
Oliver slinked off the desk but not before giving the girl a smile.

“Alright. This is your partner. Choose your topic and get to work. Remember, an essay and a slideshow.” And with that, the teacher left them alone. Mia couldn’t believe it! She was partnered with him. How was she going to do this? She can’t even walk down the hallway without him doing something bad to her. They stood awkwardly in silence. Well, awkwardly for her; he just seemed bored. The rest of the class period was spent sitting in silence at a random table.

Mia sighed. ‘This will not be getting anywhere. I might as well do the whole thing myself. He’ll never talk to me. Much less work with me.’

Once the bell rang, Oliver zoomed out of the room. He couldn’t believe it. Mia of all people. In a class of thirty-five kids, it had to be her. ‘How am I going to do this? Sitting next to her is hard enough.’ No pun intended, by the way. Just looking at her, sitting right next to her, he wanted to pull her into his lap and watch her blush. Just the mental image of that made him excited.

“God dammit.” He growled as he took his seat in his last class. He spent half the class looking out in the hallway, staring off into space, not caring about calculus. Unexpectedly, Oliver caught the sight of Mia walking down the hallway to the girls’ bathroom. He didn’t even know her class was in this hallway. Without thinking, his hand shot up in the air.

“Yes, Oliver?”
“I need to use the restroom.”
“That’s an interesting fact. Anyways as I was saying-”
Oliver rolled his eyes and raised his hand again.
“Yes, Oliver?”
“May I use the restroom?”
“Oh, of course!”
Oliver walked out of the classroom, calling the teacher some insulting name under his breath. What was the whole point of him coming out anyways? Was it to see Mia?

He walked into the boys’ bathroom, waiting to hear her light footsteps walk out into the hall. He peeked around the corner of the boys’ bathroom to see if she was out. He saw her fixing her uniform in the mirror. Unlike other girls in the school, Mia and a few of her other friends wore black tights during the winter with their green and black plaid skirts; that was the way the winter school uniform was supposed to look like, however ninety percent of the girls in school preferred to show off their legs and freeze. The winter uniform, in Oliver’s opinion, looked better on Mia than any of the other girls. Her white long sleeved sweater shirt fit smugly around her waist and her green and black tie was always neatly done.

‘God her legs look so nice.’ His thoughts began to wonder to the point where he almost didn’t notice her leaving the bathroom. He silently followed, knowing he would have to make his move before they came into sight of the classrooms. Taking two giant strides, he yanked her wrist and shoved her into the wall, just far away enough from the class windows. She gasped in surprise, only to be more surprised to see it was Oliver in front of her.

Both of their hearts were beating quickly. Neither of them knew what to say. Mia began to step away from Oliver and the wall, only for Oliver to put his arms on the wall, blocking her from any kind of movement.

‘What is he doing…? I want to look at him but I can’t…’ She decided to risk it, and she slowly looked up at him. The look she gave him made his mind go blank. All he wanted to do was wrap her legs around him and kiss her. He looked down at her and she looked up at him. Oliver lowered his head so his breath was on her ear. Mia’s legs were becoming weak. Every movement or breath he took was agonizingly slow. By then Mia was already looking down at anything on the floor, anything but his green eyes.

“Look at me.” He quietly demanded. He didn’t even know what he was talking about.
“Wha-what?”
“I said look at me.”

She kept her eyes fixed on the ground. She felt paralyzed. When she hadn’t done what he said, he laced his fingers into her hair and slowly pulled her head back to look up at him. Slowly, but firmly. He looked into her eyes and saw confusion, freight, but somehow he could see a kind of wanting. Did she want him to do this?

Oliver pressed his lips under her jaw and felt her shudder. He could even feel her pulse. It was beating so fast. Was this the effect he had on her?

“Go back to class.” He said, raising his head, but not moving his arms.
“What?”
“I said go back to class. Now.”
“B-but what wa-”
“Don’t ask questions. Go now.” He removed his arms from either side of her and pushed her forcefully towards her class.