Her Forbidden Mate

Chapter 6

Across campus, Isabella had just walked into her classroom. The room was shaped like a hill with the professor’s desk at the bottom. When Isabella entered the classroom, the students were still piling in and the seats were filling in fast. She looked around the room, hoping to spot a seat in the back so she could avoid unwanted attention. However, no matter how hard she looked, she couldn’t find one. The only seats available were in the middle roll, and since the desks were long half circles meaning there was one desk for five people, and the available seat was in the middle, she had to pass by students to get to it. Sighing, she lowered her head and then started her journey towards the vacant seat, but to her dismay, someone had already claimed it.

Frustrated, she looked around the room again, and to her surprise, there were two empty sits left in the back. As soon as she spotted those, a smile spread across her face, and she practically ran to that seat, out of fear that someone would take it. When she reached her seat, she put her bookbag on the table and then started going through it in search of her laptop, and notebook. While she had no problem with taking notes on her computer, she still preferred using a pencil and a sheet of paper.

As the last of the students started to tringle in, the conversations between them became louder and hard to understand; but Isabella wasn’t paying them any attention. That was until she heard someone say, “That girl is a freak,” on impulse, she looked around the room, searching for the person who made that statement. At that moment in her life, she was used to being called all kinds of names, she just hoped the new school would be better.

After not finding the person who said those words, Isabella shrugged and then turned her attention back to her laptop. She had just entered her password when she heard another voice say, “How could someone like that go to our school,” the voice was so loud that it was hard for anyone not to hear; and yet when she looked around again for the culprit, she didn’t find anyone.

“Do you mind if I sit here?” A male voice said, startling her out of her investigation.

Isabella looked up and saw a handsome young man who was about 20 with black hair and beautiful brown eyes, staring back at her. He was about the same height as Tyler with a deep tan and he was built like an athlete. His smile was so bright that it made Isabela feel like she needed to get to know him. Maybe not romantically but definitely as a friend, if that was possible. Isabela shook her head, then turned her attention back towards her laptop.

“Thanks,” the guy said as he sat down next to Isabela. He then placed his laptop on the table, then said, “I’m Scott by the way.” Isabela said nothing, only continued pulling up the textbook information on her laptop. “And do you have a name?” Scott, asked, looking over at Isabella.

Confused, Isabella looked at Scott and asked, in a small voice, “I’m sorry are you talking to me?”

Scott chuckled then said, “You are the only one at this table with me.”

Isabella blushed and then said, “I’m sorry. I’m just not used to people talking to me,” her voice, was small and unsure. She had gone most of her life without any real communication with anyone other than her adoptive family, and now in the scale of two days, two boys had initiated a conversation with her, and she may have made a friend with her new RA at least that’s what it seemed like.

Scott c****d his head and then said, “Probably because of the mask. When most people see someone wearing a mask, they automatically think this person is sick,” he teased.

Despite herself, Isabella laughed, then said, “That’s true. But I’m not sick, I’m…”

“A germaphobe got it,” he said, interrupting her.

“I’m not a germaphobe,” she said, flustered.

“No, it’s fine. My stepmother is the same way. She has to wash her hands after touching anything. I don’t understand it myself. I mean I get the whole trying to get the bacteria off your body, but as a scientist, I understand that there are good bacteria and bad bacteria, so with all this obsessive hand washing she will wash away the very thing that is protecting her,” Scott said.

Isabella furrowed her brows then said, “You’re weird.”

Scott extended his hand toward her and said with a smile, “No I’m Scott. Scott Bardin, and you are?”

Isabella smiled brightly then extended her hand toward his and said, “Isabella Hart,”

Scott took her hand and shook it, “Isabella, that’s a beautiful name. So are you a freshman?” he asked, as he released her hand.

“Yeah. What about you?” She asked, feeling strangely comfortable talking to the man next to her.

Scott shook his head, “No. I am a junior. I am also a transfer student.” He informed her.

“Really? What school did you come from?” She asked.

“CalTech. It was a great school,” he said, trying to sound nonchalant about the whole thing but failing miserably.

“Oh, that was my second choice,” Isabella said, deciding not to ask him any questions about why he had to transfer although she was tempted to do just that.

“Really? Only number two?” He asked.

“Isabella shook her head, “Yeah. I’m from California and while I know the state is huge, I just wanted to go somewhere else,” she admitted.

“And you chose the coldest place in America?” He asked.

“It’s not the coldest place,” she retorted.

“Ok I won’t tease you anymore,” he said, with a smile that showed off a dimple, and Isabella couldn’t help but smile back.

“Thank you,” Isabella said. A second later a middle-aged man with a briefcase and thick glasses walked into the classroom and all the chattering stopped. Isabella, then turned her attention back to the front of the class, making sure to jot down notes on her computer in case she missed something.

Then halfway through class, she heard someone say, “I still can’t believe that freak goes here. I promise you when class is over, I’m going to make her wish she’s never been born,”

Isabella looked up from her computer, startled. She looked at Scott and saw that he was taking notes. She then looked at the other people around her and saw they were doing the same thing, while the teacher went on and on about the lecture.

“f**k her. She’s not worth it,” Isabella heard another female voice say.

“I promise this has nothing to do with you?” Someone else said. “This is my life mom, I will do what I want,” another voice said.

Isabella’s heart began to race, and her head started to hurt. She had no idea where the voices were coming from and she was beginning to feel crazy. The voices were so loud but everyone around her either didn’t notice or didn’t care.

As the voice grew louder and more rampant, she heard someone say, “I’m going to kill you.” the voice was full of malice and animosity, it was as if they were talking to her and it scared her to her bones.

Without a word, Isabella stood up and ran out of the classroom. Her destination was the bathroom, which luckily for her wasn’t occupied. Once she got inside, she turned on the water then sank to the floor and started rocking back and forth. The voices from earlier were now gone, drowned out by the sound of the running water. Isabella removed her mask and then started taking slow breaths in threw her nose and out through her mouth until finally, her heart had calmed down.