I was pleased that my close encounter with Kiran brought no immediate spells of unconsciousness, and hoped that my previous behavior was all just a phase I was now, hopefully, over. I still could not mentally wrap my head around Kiran’s unexpected visit or his even more unexpected exit. I unconsciously brought my hand to my cheek and smiled. I felt the heat rise beneath my fingers and quickly shook my head, physically trying to forget last night’s intimate moment.
The student parking lot sat on the back of campus, near the football and soccer fields, so I bypassed the Administration Building and headed straight for English. A nice change from being dropped off at the front of campus like all of the other students who were too young or too rich to drive themselves.
A handful of students were in front of me, scrambling to get to class on time. All of them dressed in their navy blue and white uniforms; the only change today was the addition of navy blue or cardinal red cardigans, signaling the change in temperature. I was always amazed at the ability some girls had of changing a dowdy school uniform into a stripper piece from some teenage boy’s wildest fantasy; I was not one of those girls.
I clearly picked out Kiran and Talbott in the throng of students ahead of me since they were walking much slower than everybody else. I slowed my pace slightly, not sure if I wanted to pass them, or be brave enough to join them. I mean Kiran and I were friends right? Or something more? Or something entirely different all together? I actually had no idea what we were.
I noticed how much taller Talbott was than Kiran, how much taller than everybody he was, and how strong he was built. I had a hard time picturing him in a bowler hat, but realized it must have been him behind the tree last night. An instant wave of relief washed over me. I had no idea why he would wear a disguise to accompany Kiran to my house, but it was the only thing that made any sense.
I was still pondering whether to pass or wait them out when they simultaneously turned around to look at me. Kiran gave me a small wave and an almost sheepish grin. I noticed near embarrassment in his eyes; it was the most endearing he had ever looked. I gave a small wave back and felt my cheeks burning from the memory of last night.
Talbott noticed our exchange and slapped the back of Kiran’s head. My mouth dropped open from shock and amusement. Kiran stopped dead in his tracks and Talbott followed suit. They stood there staring at each other, both refusing to say or do anything more. For a second I thought they were going to fight.
“Enough of this Kiran, go to class,” Talbott demanded.
“Who do you think you are?” Kiran shouted hostilely. They were both angry enough that their accents were making it difficult to understand them. The remainder of students, running as late as we were, turned to watch the exchange. I wiped the smile off of my face and realized this could get serious.
“Go to class,” instead of shouting, Talbott’s voice was a low growl.
“You cannot talk to me like that. I won’t forget this,” Kiran snarled back, but obediently and without looking at me again, walked on. Talbott did not continue walking however, but stayed where he was. His demeanor remained calm, and he turned his body to face me. After I refused to walk any closer to him, he signaled me with his hand.
“You can’t keep playing this game with him,” he started speaking to me as soon as I was close; a look of sincere determination on his face.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I replied, slightly offended, and feeling like I used that phrase an awful lot lately. If there really was anything between Kiran and me, who was Talbott to get in the way? More importantly, why was Talbott getting in the way? And even more importantly, was there anything between Kiran and me?
“I’m afraid you do,” he alleged softer, making his accent thick. I continued walking and he matched his strides with mine. “Listen, we are all curious about you, I’m sure you understand, but Kiran is taking this too far. It’s not fair to him and it’s definitely not fair to you. You are only going to get hurt.”
“Thank you for your concern, but really there is nothing for you to worry about,” I tried to stay polite, but get the message across at the same time. The soft undulating energy that was only a hum a moment ago was steadily growing stronger the longer I talked with Talbott, making my temper even harder to control.
“I am warning you for your own good,” he persisted. “Stay away from him.”
“I am trying to stay away from him. Maybe it’s him you should be having this conversation with.”
“I’ve tried to talk to him….. He is focused. When he finds something to…. entertain him, it is hard to refocus him; and you Eden, are turning out to be much more than mere entertainment. I am afraid the game is getting dangerous,” When I opened my mouth to say something he continued quickly, “You should know that he has a girlfriend,” he looked at me out of the corner of his eye and I knew that he was waiting for me to react. So I played it as cool as I could, continuing en route to English class.
“Really. Who?” I tried to ask coyly, but I could feel my blood temperature rise and not from the electricity this time, for whomever the girl was. The energy rushing through my veins centered unexpectedly and surged out through my fingertips into the grass, creating a small fire. I stopped suddenly to stomp it out, hoping Talbott didn’t notice. And he didn’t, or at least he pretended he didn’t.
“Seraphina. That is why we are at Kingsley. He moved here to be closer to her,” he reached out to open the door for me and the gesture gave me a second to recover.
“Figures,” I sighed under my breath. “Listen, I’m really not into him. As far as I’m concerned, there is nothing for you to worry about. Seraphina and Kiran make a nice couple, really, they deserve each other,” I finished through gritted teeth. All anger had vanished; instead I could only feel disgust for myself. Clearly, I was making something out of nothing.
“So I have your word, you will not distract him anymore?” his language was confusing to me, I was not going to give “my word” about anything; the promise seemed too binding. Besides that wasn’t really up to me, right?
“Whatever Talbott, I won’t bother him anymore,” we were almost to class and I could not wait to be finished with the conversation; for some unexplainable reason I was suddenly depressed. I hoped I wasn’t jealous of Seraphina. I found that especially degrading.
Before I could get through the classroom door however, Talbott put a soft hand on my shoulder, stopping me. “Eden, he can be quite persistent. He is very intrigued by you. He has never met anyone quite like you, so you will have to give him a clear message,” I turned to look at him in the face, hoping that he was joking, but I was met with frighteningly serious eyes. “Even if you are human, Seraphina will not be very forgiving if she senses any competition,” he tightened his grip on my shoulder, sending lightning bolts running down my arm. I was officially irritated.
“Listen, this doesn’t sound like my problem. If Kiran is unhappy with his relationship then let them work it out. As far as I’m concerned, none of this has anything to do with me,” I was finished with this, so I pushed passed Talbott into the classroom. I was late again and I could hear Mr. Lambert lecturing me as I headed straight for my seat. Wasn’t it just last night that I was looking forward to coming to school?
–-
The rest of the day went surprisingly quick. I was very prepared to ignore Kiran completely, but as it turned out, he was the one to give me the cold shoulder. This irritated me more than anything.
All day I began plotting what I would say to him if we happened to bump into each other. But I soon realized all of our previous run-ins must have actually been on purpose, because suddenly he was nowhere to be seen. By the time I was sitting in eighth hour Chemistry, I felt terribly mopey.
The most irritating thing of all was that I had never noticed Kiran and Seraphina were a couple. Seraphina was loud and obnoxious, always drawing attention to herself; never once had I looked up to see Kiran at her side, worshiping her like the rest of the sheep.