D E M O N (S) P A w N

Chapter 2

I did not know what it meant to be blown away until I saw him in my class. There he was, sitting down right next to my usual spot by the window. It was the first time I saw him. He looked amazing in the ‘I don't care what you guys think' look. The person had the messy dark hair, the typical hoodie, and that bored and uncaring aura he was emitting.

Would he even notice someone like me?

There was only one way to find out. Pulling up all my courage to walk up to him, I held out my hand. "Hi there, I'm Selene… I don't think we've ever seen each other before?" That was really smooth of me. Would he slap my hand away I wonder? He looked like the type to do it.

He shook my hand, "Damien. Damien Thompson. A pleasure to meet you." his grip was firm. His hand was cold and smooth, it resembled touching glass. An odd but nice sensation.

His choice of words was formal, and it was something I wouldn't expect from a boy around my age. On the bright side though, at least he wasn't ignoring me or acted like a snob. Now, what do I say? "Um, delighted?" I gave him a grin. 

He simply gave a nod at that, and let go of my hand. I waited for him to say anything else. But he seemed content to end it with just that. Was I acting too friendly? Probably.

This was embarrassing, I took my side him. Taking the opportunity to pull my bag closer to me, and got my textbook, notebook and pen. He seemed new… so did he have? I glanced at him and noticed that he already had the required textbook in front of him. I guess he had one. 

The teacher soon entered the classroom and started checking our attendance.

. . .

"Hey, um, what section are you from?" I asked him. Our teacher had put on a film about the Cold War. It was something that I can easily study later. 

"Didn't come from any section." he was flipping pages on our textbook, not really watching the film or even reading.

"Oh, so you just transferred here?" I held back a sigh and looked at the movie playing, it was a documentary. 

"Yeah." 

This resembled getting answers from a robot. ‘Yes. No.' Would it be better talking talking to an AI?

I wasn't even sure why I'm putting the effort if he didn't want to hold a conversation with me. I took the opportunity to scribble in my notebook. There's nothing more enjoyable than drawing stars and hearts. I was such a kid.

I had to try again though.

Why?

I wasn't so sure either.

People usually responded and warmed up to you when they realize you’re being friendly. But this guy was content with giving answers but never asking questions.

"What school did you come from?" I continued to draw, it'd be too weird to keep looking at him. It also made me look more expectant… which I wasn't.

Silence soon descended and only the audible sound of the background noise could be heard. There was also the soft snores of our teacher in their desk. If I was writing with a pencil, the tip would have cracked. This was embarrassing—I'll just stop now. I hung my head a bit.

"… from Blackwood High," he answered. I've never heard of such a place.

"Where is that?" I turned to ask him. His face was too close to mine. Several inches apart, I could see specks of red in his eyes, almost like flames—I turned away.

He chuckled a deep baritone. "You wouldn't really know. It's a faraway school."

And he turned down the conversation once again.

Okay.

That's it.

I'm stopping.

Pay attention to the screen, Selene, you need to keep your grades up. Michael would no doubt be accepted into our dream university with a sports scholarship in his belt... I had to ensure that I was accepted in the same place. Thus, I began to watch the film. Tried understanding the significance of the story and all the important people. I began to write them down. 

Meanwhile, at the corner of my eyes... it seemed like he wasn't paying attention at all.

Which was terrible, we were graduating this year! Could this possibly be the reason he transferred? I chewed on my lip and looked at him once more, "Did you get expelled or something similar?" I asked, for the last time.

"...Hmm, you can say that?" he leaned back in his chair.

Now he just made me curious why he got expelled. This was the worst situation to be in, looking for answers that’ll probably never get them.

Argh, I wanted answers.

. . .

The class soon ended after an hour, and before I could even talk to him again... 

He was already out the door!

I shoved my stuff into my bag and chased after him, "Damien!” 

“Selene?” Thankfully he stopped, and boy did he walk fast. It must be because he was so tall and had long legs. I held my hands on my knees and gathered my breath. He simply raised his brow when I looked at him. 

“Are you going to your locker?” I asked him.

“Yeah.” The short answers again. Maybe he was like that with everybody?

“I was on my way there too, let’s go together?”

For a moment, I seemed to have caught him by surprise. A small smile crossed on his face, “Sure.” 

It looked great on his face.

He should smile more often… and there he was leaving me again, “Wait up!” I caught up to him once again. The two of us walked into the hallway together, moving along with the rest of the students. Some acquaintances were giving me waves and looks, but none of them even bothered to greet him. They even looked wary of him. I hope they didn’t get the wrong idea, people were prone to gossip. Whatever the case, I wanted to talk with him.

“So do you have friends here already?” 

“Not really," he shrugged, glancing down at me. “The first person to approach me was you?”

I frowned at that, was it because he looked unapproachable? Well, he was, but it wasn't a reason to avoid him right? When there was a new person, it only made sense to say hi and tried to befriend them.

“Ah, it sucks being the new kid huh?” I said and looked up to him. He didn't even do anything so much as blink, he was a block of ice. The smile earlier must have been a fluke or something. But I really felt my heart go out to him, it was absolutely the worst thing to have no friends to rely on.

He didn't need to worry though, it must be fate that he sat close to my usual spot. “Well, I wouldn’t mind adopting you as a friend~” I told him and made my voice sound like he just won the lottery. A little bit of enthusiasm might get him smiling or chuckling, anything to show that he was human.

“Am I a little project for you then?” He shook his head and stopped in front of the lockers. “Do you want to be Miss Congeniality in Prom Night or something?”

“What? Project?” I froze, did he take it the wrong way? Did he think I was only trying to be popular? I waved my hands in disagreement. "Not at all! I was joking-”

“I know, princess.” His cold fingers poked my forehead, a playful gesture. “Feel free to adopt this guy,” he said, before turning to one of the lockers and unlocking it.

I blinked. 

Princess? Did I act spoiled? Was I some little kid to him? It didn't really help that I was short. I could feel my heats cheek up, how could he just do that to me. We were still basically strangers now. I looked around the locker hall, anyhow it seemed like... we stopped real close to— “Your locker is pretty close to mine!” I dove towards my locker and looked back at him and motioned to it. It was weird for me to be this happy. “I’m just three lockers away from you.”

He said something underneath his breath and shut the locker.

“Huh?” I blinked. Did he say I was an i***t or something?

“Our last names are pretty close,” he said.

“Yeah, but I don’t…” I paused, trying to recall if I mentioned it at all. “I only told you my first name, didn’t I?” 

I haven't mentioned my last name at all...

“...the professor took our attendance earlier didn’t he?”

“Oh right, I forgot.” I scratched my cheek, averting my gaze from him. Why was I being so hyper-sensitive? I clutched my arm, I was probably a weirdo to him now. Was there anything I could do...the book in his hand, “So your next class is Latin huh? Good luck! I took French.” I smiled.

“Mhmm, thanks.” He paused, was he going to say something now? “I’ll get going now.” he walked past me.

Too soon.

I bit the inside of my cheek and crossed my fingers, “I’ll see you around?” I called out to him.

This was the final moment, if he didn’t really—

He stopped in his tracks and finally glanced back at me. Damien gave me a wink.

“Definitely.”

The guy sauntered off after that, disappearing in the crowd of people.

So he had a personality after all, I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding in. I couldn’t help but let out a shaky laugh. Why did my legs feel like collapsing underneath me? I had made a new friend! This was great! Darkness overtook my sight.

“Guess who?” 

A hot breath brushed behind my ear. The familiar warm hands and comforting presence behind me, “Gabriel?” I smiled.

“Wrong.” he booed, and pulled his hands away from my eyes and turned me towards him. “It’s Michael.” He looked at me disappointingly. He shook his head in dismay. "Do you really like Gabriel more than your own boyfriend? Honestly, that guy is too sneaky for his own good if he does this to you too."

I bit back a laugh, “Hi Michael, how’s first day going for you?”

“Well, it’s good." He gave me a shrug, "Got headache in my Calculus class, but you seem real happy though, Selene? Really, really happy.” he crossed his arms. "Like, I should go for a check-up happy."

I waved him off, one couldn’t possibly be too happy, “I just made a new friend in AP History class, they seemed shy. Glad we got along though, I feel like we’d be good friends.” I shouldn't speak too much, but I was. "They've just transfered, so I guess I was hoping that he'd get along with us."

“Oh that’s nice.” a smile crept up to his face. It may not seem like it, but Michael was a softie. Unlike the usual stereotype, he'd be the one defending the weak and helpless. "I'd like to meet them, we can definitely introduce them to the group."

“Yeah.” I was glad that he was real supportive of the idea. I've got the feeling that the two of them would hit it off well.