The Primordial Sin

Chapter 1

"Did you hear?" Candice, my best friend beamed at me, her eyes blue as she grinned. The hallway all around me was abuzz with excitement as I took my books out of my locker.

"Did I hear what?" I shut my locker before turning to look at the blonde beauty.

"About the new kid?" She raised an eyebrow at me and for a brief moment I felt jealous of her for being able to do that. I'd always wanted to do that, but could never raise only one of my eyebrows. Then almost instantly, I worried if my eyes had flashed green with envy while I'd had that thought so I quickly averted my gaze.

The last thing I wanted was another fight.

The fact that all our eyes changed color with changing moods lead to fights more often that I'd like, even over the pettiest of things.

"What new kid?" I enquired after a beat once I was sure my eyes were back to being their usual light blue.

"Geez, for someone who's as social as you, you sure are oblivious." She bumped her shoulder into mine playfully as we began moving down the hallway.

"I was away for the weekend, remember?" I reminded her, but her reply was lost on me as Jimmy from English whistled lowly at me.

"Looking beautiful, Eloise." My name slipped through his lips in a way that only he could do as he passed by with his possé, his lips pulled into an almost shy smile. I blushed almost reflexively, throwing a 'thank you' over my shoulder as we continued on our way through the fast emptying hallway.

"Did I miss something there?" Candice asked, the teasing lilt to her voice making the implication of what she was asking obvious. She was the only one who knew about my crush on Jimmy and teased me relentlessly about it, urging me to make a move at any and every opportunity she got.

I blushed harder. "Other than the fact that he invited me to a party at his friend's place next weekend over phone last night? Nope, not much."

"Oh my god!" She squealed, her eyes practically glowing with happiness on my part as she squeezed my arm affectionately.

I felt a rush of gratitude towards her. It was hard finding genuine friends in a world such as ours, friends who would actually be happy for you instead of getting envious. It was one of the main reasons I'd stopped hanging out with my former best friend, Isobel. Every time something good happened to me, her eyes would always turn green with envy before she'd force herself to feel happy for me. We'd gotten into a lot of fights over it before I'd finally stopped hanging out with her. It was a blessing that I'd found Candice at the library and bonded over our shared love for Nicholas Sparks and all things romance.

I was pulled out of my thoughts when Candice greeted Mr. Sparks with a chirpy good morning from next to me as we entered our shared homeroom. Mr. Sparks looked up at us with his uninterested dull brown eyes, giving us a nod in acknowledgement before we took our seats at the back of the class. He usually remained unconcerned with what we did as long we didn't create too much of a ruckus as most teachers at our school did.

I dropped my books on the table before sprawling onto my chair.

I turned to Candice. "So, what were you saying about this new kid?"

"Oh, I haven't seen him yet, but from what I've heard, he's pretty damn hot." She wiggled her eyebrows, making me laugh.

"I'll be the judge of that." I announced, making her burst into another fit of giggles.

"But it's weird, right? Its the middle of school year, why would someone change schools in the middle of the year?" She asked, once she'd calmed down enough, her eyes clouding over slightly as she pondered the question.

"That it is." I agreed. "What year is he in though?" I asked, my curiosity piqued. Ours was a small town, we didn't get many new students, let alone in the middle of the school year, so it sure was a pretty big deal, big enough to have the whole school talking about it if the conversations all around me, including ours, were anything to go by.

"Heard he's a senior like us." She muttered, casually examining her nails as she said so.

Before I could reply, the warning bell rang overhead, and the moment it did, the door to the classroom opened with a bang that had the whole class turning to look at it, including Mr. Sparks.

And boy, what a sight it was.

With dull brown eyes, shaggy brown hair, a jawline which seemed chiselled to perfection and slightly baggy clothes which hinted at an equally chiselled body, the boy looked no less than a greek God.

"He's hot alright." I murmured to myself and Candice nodded from beside me.

"Cutting it a bit too close, aren't we?" Mr. Sparks commented.

"I got a little lost, Sir." The boy rasped out, and I was pretty sure I heard a lot of sighs from around me.

Mr. Sparks regarded him for a beat before nodding. His eyes remained the same dull brown, uninterested, much like Mr. Sparks' were so it was obvious that he wasn't lying.

"Class, this is the newest edition to our class, Mr. Orion Martinez." Mr. Sparks announced. And looking at the flirty look with bright eyes every girl in the class was giving him, added, "Now, now girls, let's not make the boy uncomfortable."

This triggered a series of reactions from all the kids in the class. The boys sniggered and hollered while the girls blushed. I shook my head with a grin, focusing my eyes to the front of the class again.

Orion Martinez stood there with his uninterested dull brown eyes. My brows furrowed. Any other kid in his position would be blushing like anything right now, or at least be giving a proud grin if he was confident with bright blue eyes.

But Orion did none of that, nor did his eyes change color. Which meant that none of what was happening was affecting him in any way possible. Because you could try and lie with your body language, but your eyes never lied.

Suddenly, his eyes swung to me, making eye contact but I quickly looked away, feeling like a kid who had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

"Silence, class." Mr. Sparks ordered, his eyes intensifying a little until they looked reddish brown instead of the dull brown they were only moments ago, letting us know that he was getting irritated now.

The class quietened down enough for him to tell Orion to grab a seat while he took our attendance.

Orion plopped down in an empty seat in the first row closest to the door so I could only see the back of his head.

"Well, that was interesting." Candice whispered.

"Definitely." I agreed before falling silent as Mr. Sparks began taking our attendance. The only rule Mr. Sparks made us follow while in his homeroom was not to make any noise while he took our attendance and I definitely wasn't too keen on getting reprimanded by him so I kept mum after that.

Once he was done, the bell rang soon after and we all filed out of the classroom towards our next class. I had English while Candice had American History so we said our goodbyes, promising to meet each other at lunch.

Unfortunately for us, we didn't have any classes in common this year other than Calculus and Biology which was almost always after lunch.

The hallways were abuzz with students heading towards their classes as I made my way towards my own class.

"Shut it, you bitch." A voice I vaguely recognised caught my attention from down the hallway and I hastened my steps to reach the commotion.

As I got closer, I saw Regina from my English class slap a girl I hadn't ever talked to but knew as Diana, her best friend. The two were joined at the hip more often that not and the only reason I got a chance to talk to Regina one on one was because they didn't have English together. As shocking as it was to see two friends fight, it was a pretty common occurrence for all of us here. So anyone merely batted an eyelash at the pair as they went at each other's throats.

"How dare you think you out me to my mother like that and I'd be okay with it?" Regina shouted at her, her eyes blazing red with anger.

"I was only trying to help you." Diana answered meekly, her guilty eyes the lightest shade of purple as she looked anywhere but at Regina.

"Help me? How? You knew I was with Ryan, my boyfriend! How do you consider telling that to my mother help?" She shouted, her eyes turning a deeper shade of red as she stared her friend down.

"He's not a good guy!" Her friend tried to reason with her.

"He is! You're just f*****g jealous that he likes me and not you." Regina all but hissed out through gritted teeth. "Don't you think I saw all those times when your eyes would turn green with envy when the three of us were hanging out together before you hid it?" She forged on, relentless.

Diana flinched as if she'd hit her. "I-I was jealous, yes, but it wasn't because I like him. I just wanted something like you did with him. And that's not why I did it. He really isn't a good guy, Reg, please try and understand."

Regina shook her head at her friend, as if disgusted, but her eyes dimmed a little. "He is. I just wish you wouldn't have let your jealousy ruin our friendship." She whispered before storming off.

I threw Diana a pitying glance before speed walking after Regina towards my english class. The fact that anyone could read your emotions just by looking at the color of your eyes made for a lot of misunderstandings which subsequently lead to equally as many fights.

I sighed as I turned a corner, lost in thought. I bumped into a wall, letting out an 'oomph' as I shut my eyes tightly, landing hard on my bum.

I quickly scrambled to get up, gathering my books as I did so.

"Watch where you're going." A raspy, aloof voice muttered from above me.

"Wow, rude much?" I shook my head as I got up and looked at a certain Orion Martinez I'd only ever seen once before.

"You wouldn't have to face my rude attitude if you watched where you were going." He answered in that same too cool to be affected voice as before with his still unchanged dull brown eyes.

Did anything even affect this guy?

I opened my mouth to argue before realising that it'd do me no good other than make me late. So I snapped it shut, simply muttering a sorry instead.

I then continued on my way to class as if hadn't just smacked head first into the new kid, simultaneously realising what a douche he really was. "Hey, wait up." His voice called from behind me and I stopped in my tracks despite myself.

The hallway was emptying fast and I was sure that I was going to be late if I didn't leave now. "Yeah?" I turned around to look at me as he swaggered towards me.

"Do you know where English with Mrs. Ana Craig is?" He asked, shaking a piece of paper in his hand which I assumed was his schedule as if to prove a point.

"Follow me," I turned on my heel, "I have english with her right now." I continued, turning once to make sure he was following me.

He was.

But even though his eyes didn't change color, something in his expression made me feel as if he was curious about me. And that was the only thought that kept me occupied as we all but dashed towards our shared English class, entering into a second before the bell rang.

Well, at least I wasn't late.

***