He's the jealous one out of the two of us, at least he usually is.
The moment the warning bell rings, I’m out of the gym and hitting the showers faster than anyone else. I’m determined to get to Rose before anyone else does.
Sixteen
Areyna
Thankfully, class passes fairly quickly, the teacher had us girls run laps while the guys worked out on exercise machines, honestly most of the girls just walked, but once I started running, I couldn't help myself, I needed to let off some steam and running allowed me to do that. What I hadn't considered though is the fact that none of the humans were able to keep running at the same speed for nearly a whole hour without ending up leaning over themselves panting like dogs. I simply walked away from the gym, not even a drop of sweat on me.
"You really shouldn't show off like that, Rose." Jase scolds as we make our way to the cafeteria. I shrug my shoulders not caring what anyone thinks about me, but I can’t help noticing the other girls watching Jase closely as he flicks his wet hair away from his face. When I frown at the other girls, Jase glares at me as though I’ve done something wrong.
This whole going to school thing sucks and so far today I have managed to piss of the guy who stole my first kiss, get half a dozen lectures from another hybrid, scare off my next-door neighbour and piss off both of my cop guardians.
I'd call this day a complete and total bust.
The second we walk into the cafeteria I feel like I've walked onto the set of one of those damn teen movies. Everyone is sitting in little groups ranging from two people to eight, all of the people in each group are dressed similarly and they even make the same hand gestures or lack thereof.
I shake my head as I grab a red plastic tray. The lunch line isn't very long, I only have to wait a few seconds before getting my food. I'm not overly hungry, so I just grab a strawberry milk, bag of chips and an apple. I hear Richard grumbling behind me about my horrid eating habits but I ignore him and pay for what I have using the money Richard gave me this morning before we left the house.
Unfortunately, I hadn't thought through what I was going to do once I actually had to find a seat. I have no idea what group I fit into. I glance at the prissy looking crowd and see Tori, our neighbour, shaking my head I move my eyes to the next table. A bunch of kids wearing what looks like bad imitations of the nineteen-twenties actors who played the vampires in Nosferatu all of whom are glaring at me. Again I shake my head opting to not get involved in that weirdness. Another table has girls dressed in those cheerleading uniforms. The table in the middle of the room is surrounded by giggling girls, I can't see who they are hanging around, but I get the feeling I don't want to sit there.
I must have hesitated too long; Richard grabs my tray and starts walking over to the table with guys who are all wearing red and yellow jackets. Each of them have a different number on their backs. He smiles at the guys and starts introducing us.
"Tom." He says as we sit down. Tom is a handsome enough guy, with thick black hair that is cropped really short, his eyes are the dull colour of mud after it's dried in the sun, but there's something about him that sets my internal radar to high alert.
"Davey." Richard says pointing to Davey, who is a gangly looking guy with scraggly beach sand coloured hair, he smiles kindly while Richard's attention is on him, but the moment he turns his back to introduce the next guy, Davey leers at my chest. Next in the line-up is a guy named Kyle, he too is nice to me while Richard's attention is on him, but he winks and deliberately runs his gaze slowly over my body, wriggling his eyebrows in a weird way once Richard isn’t looking.
"And these three are Josh, Liam and Bran." The three of them are almost identical, except for the fact that they are clearly a year or so apart in age, they all have the same brown hair and grey-green eyes, with a light dusting of freckles. I can see why the girls at the table next to us are all ogling them, but they are not my type.
"This is my brother Jase..." Richard –umm Char, Man I need to start thinking of him as Char or I’m going to slip up and call him Richard in front of the wrong person.He waves at Jase who took the seat beside the first guy Char introduced. Char comes to stand next to me, wrapping his arm around my waist. "...and my girlfriend Rose."
Jase chokes on his drink, I'm thankful I didn't have time to put anything into my mouth or I'd be choking as well.
"Char, can I talk to you for a moment." Jase asks in an ominous tone.
I watch the two of them walk away, leaving me alone with a bunch of guys I've never spoken to before. "Trouble in paradise?" The second guy, Davey, I think his name is, asks.
"Uh, I don't think so." I mumble, trying to figure out what he is talking about.
"Hey sweetheart, thought we were meant to be meeting up at lunch to study for our assignment." I jump at Torren's voice behind me. He looks just as sexy as the first time I saw him; especially when he’s smiling and showing off that dimple. Looks aside, there's something about him that fascinates the vampire side of me. He places his hand on my shoulder causing me to blush.
"Nah, man, hands off, that's Char's girlfriend." The guy with the black hair sitting next to Davey says.
"He ain’t gonna be happy if you take her off somewhere without him." The youngest of the three brothers adds.
"Yeah man, he's already warned us all away from her." Davey shakes his head, eyeing me from my head to my exposed cleavage. The way he's leering at me makes me feel like covering up. A part of me is pleased that Richard had the foresight to keep creeps like this guy away from me, but another part of me is a little pissed that he thought he had the right to dictate my love life.
"Trust me,Areynais notdatingthat dickhead." Torren laughs. "Come on, Areyna, let's get this over with so you will still have time to grab abiteto eat." The second he says bite my fangs pop out, I quickly cover my mouth, pretending to yawn.
"Tell Jase and Char, I'll meet them after school." I quickly say, trying to keep my fangs hidden as I get up from the table. I follow Torren from the cafeteria at a fast pace, hoping to avoid running into Jase or Richard, I really want to know what Torren has to say and I don't want those two overprotective idiots interfering.
"Talk and talk fast, we don't have a lot of time before Ri... Char and Jase come looking for me." I say as we climb the stairs to the third floor.
"Oh, relax, I know they are cops, what I don't know is why you're with them. Are they holding you against your will?" My jaw drops at his words. We emerge out of the stairwell and into another locker lined hallway that looks identical to the one below.
"I don't..." I start to say but he cuts me off.
"Know what I'm talking about, yeah I got that spiel earlier, how about the truth this time." He growls pushing me into a classroom.