Loving Lisbeth Salander (XIV Series #1)

The Girl in Black I

That’s her.

I stared at the girl as she walked by the hall alone. She wasn't even trying yet she made it seem like she owned the hallway - so beautifully, so effortlessly. Her long, red, wavy hair flowing down her back was glowing as if there was fire beaming on its ends that matched well, too well, with her snow white skin. Her skin with visible black ink which she wasn’t trying to hide to fit society’s standards. Her black leather jacket and her overall style in general made me wonder if she was the type who would come to school in a motorcycles. I don’t know why I imagine people in leather to be riding motorcycles. I guess I just assumed people with leather jackets are cool enough and capable enough to ride motorcycles. She was almost walking like a h****n or a villain straight up from an action movie. It’s not technically a bad thing because she catches eyes – my attention, even. I wonder why I never noticed her before, though. It’s all just that one moment that your eyes start focusing on some things.

And I liked it.

I liked it so much I hadn’t realized I was smiling as I watched her walk pass by me, fully aware that she would not even cast a single glance at my direction even if I prayed to the Gods for her to meet my eyes just once.

I knew I was just a blur in her peripheral view, but this was the moment I decided I didn’t want to be just a blur in her point of view, but a focus she would try to keep from the blur.

“Oi.”

I snapped back to reality, hearing the sound of my best friend calling, and a hard tap on my shoulder.

“That girl.”

I turned to Harvey at the sudden mention of a girl as if he knew I was trying to come up with ways to approach and talk to her – the lady with fiery hair, and a visible dragon tattoo on her skin.

“Is a no-no.”

No-no?

“I don’t like how your eyes just glistened when you saw her, mate. I really don’t.”

I turned to him, genuinely curious of what he had to say. “What do you mean no-no?” I kept staring at her as she walked further away from where we stood. A part of me knew what he was trying to tell me but a part of me also didn’t want to believe that. Or maybe I was the one convincing myself that I didn’t need to hear baseless rumors about her.

“She attends her classes but sleeps during the entire time.” He pulled his hand up, raising one finger, then adding another, saying, “She hates people but talks to people. She’s a heavy drinker and a party animal. She gets into fights and—” He paused, wandering around before leaning closer to my ears to whisper, “drugs” which for a moment, I thought, was both hilarious and terrifying at the same time. Drugs isn’t really surprising to me considering I’ve made studies about why some people take them for particular reasons. “She stands by the name as the daughter of Lucifer.”

Daughter of Lucifer?

“How can she not be a no-no?”

Fair points, but I still thought they were baseless rumors that people throw out to ruin someone.

“She’s that bad.”

I gave him a look of disapproval. “No one can be that bad.” I stared at Harvey in disbelief, puckering my lips a little. “You talk like you’ve actually met her but no one ever really dares to know her, and you people make her look bad just because you judge her first.”

For a moment, he was speechless. He knew well I made my points clear. And apparently, that seems to be a skill I possess that most people weren’t, say, fond of that much. “Bottom line is…” He gave me deadly glare, as if to warn me not to even try whatever I had in my mind. “You can’t like her,”

I froze, unsure how that came out of nowhere from his mouth. Was I being too obvious of my sudden interest in her? I don’t think so? Or maybe that’s just how I automatically react when I get too invested in someone. But I have never been really interested in anyone like this before. It sort of came in a flash. The feelings I was feeling were all too new to me as well for me to say I’m… well, interested.

“—is what I’m trying to say Mark since the day you started talking about that—”

I furrowed my brows waiting for what he was about to say out of curiosity.

“—that demon of a woman.”

I continued staring at her back as she slowly fades into the hallway. I sighed before turning back to Harvey with an unimpressed look. “Why do you say that?” I mumbled. “What do you mean I can’t like her? What’s so wrong about liking a demon?” I rolled my eyes, unknowingly cracking a smile as I spoke. I hate myself for calling her that, but for the sake of sarcasm, I did. I’m terrible. It’s not like she’s really a demon anyway. It was just a term people used to identify her – which I, personally, think makes her stand out from everyone else. Whoever gave her the nickname did a good job at painting her into this mysterious student of Condrey State University. If people weren’t keen enough to see her as a mystery, I’d say they all got bad taste.

“Are your eyes closed or something?!”

No?

“Did you get hit by a truck or what?!”

N-No… Not that I remember either.

“What the heck is wrong with you?!” He exclaimed. He squeezed his hands in the air, on the side of his head, frantically like he was squeezing juices from his brain. “Did you see that hideous, smudged black stuff all over her eyes?!”

We both froze to think for a moment.

“It’s eyeliner…” I corrected shrugging in distraught.

“Hideous stuff.” He pushed.

“It’s makeup. It’s her fashion statement.”

He creased his brows deeper. “WHAT?!” I was sure he couldn’t believe that I was trying to defend her right now which I really was. I was interested in this girl after all. If not, I wouldn’t try to make a good image of her in front of my best friend. Try this hard, for that matter.  “She’s a complete psycho!”

That may be an overstatement.

“Fashion statement, my ass!” He hisses out loud, rolling his eyes away from me. “It’s not even a good eye makeup look and you’re not one to judge considering that you’re no makeup professional yourself!”

I chuckled. The girl got Harvey talking like a crazy man is hilarious. I’ve never seen him so furious in the entire time spent with him. I should make this a hobby – the purpose of self-entertainment. Harvey’s only role in my life, really. No one makes me laugh better than he does, and he doesn’t even need to try. I don’t even laugh at him for the right reasons which might come off cold. Sometimes I just laugh because he was too sensitive and hot-headed for the pettiest reasons.

“And she even wears the same leather jacket every single day!” He added, exclaiming even harder and louder than the last time. At this point, he doesn’t even care if the other students were eyeing us like we’re weirdos, yelling at each other for who knows. “She could have not washed it since the day she stole it for God knows when!”

I crossed my arms and tilted my head to stare at Harvey in disbelief. This roasting moment he was having towards the poor girl was getting out of hand. It was entertaining, but it was starting to feel like he was mocking her and I didn’t like how that would feel if it were to happen to me. I’m sure he wouldn’t feel great about it either. “Then she would have smelled if that happened. You’re just overthinking everything about—”

“Mark, please. Defending her isn’t going to wash her bad reputation off.”

I managed to flash a smile, raising a brow at him. “Harv, of course, I would defend her. She’s defenseless and everything everyone ever does is talk bad behind her without really trying to understand the poor girl.”

“Blimey, Mark.” Harvey glared at me in disbelief. He still couldn’t accept that my interest in her peaks. “What in the world has gotten into you?” He said with so much expression in his voice. They weren’t the good kind of expression either. “There are so many other girls out there, and you just had to pick the most—”

“She’s quite appealing, no?” I asked, teasing him more. “She does a good job, catching people’s attention.”

He looked at me with more disgust than he gave before. “For someone who can read even the smallest fonts on print, you have really good eyes for disaster.”

I let out a chuckle. “Give me a good reason why I shouldn’t.”

“Weren’t you listening to everything I just said?!”

Right…