But, she wasn’t allowed to continue, because a new face emerged from the crowd, squeezing itself between Mina and Reeba. Mina had no idea who he was, but he was already leaving a bad impression.
“You, scram,” the guy said, pointing his finger at Reeba.
Mina immediately frowned, getting ready to kick this guy to the curb but before she could say anything, Reeba bowed her head down and disappeared.
“Well, now that I’ve got you alone…”
The guy leaned onto the lockers, blocking her path. He was grinning at her, a row of perfect pearly whites, with a smile to die for. His hair was the latest fashion scream from any hairstyle magazine, with every single hair in place. His skin was glowing. Mina thought he was probably one of those guys who never goes to bed without hydrating his skin first. She hated his kind.
“I don’t think we’ve been properly introduced,” he was flirting with her shamelessly.
“Oh, really?” she couldn’t think of anything else to say, which wouldn’t make her sound too pissed off. He was already making a horribly bad first impression and it was only going downhill.
“I’m Raphael,” he cooed, “and I swear, you’re the prettiest girl in the whole school.”
Mina burst out laughing so loudly, that a few students turned around to see what was going on.
“Don’t tell me that actually works?” she frowned, disbelief written all over her face in permanent ink.
“You’d be surprised,” he grinned.
“No, I’d be an idiot,” she corrected him and he actually smiled genuinely this time.
He looked almost likeable without that arrogant grin on his face, when he was just smiling like a normal person. She wondered why he couldn’t be like this all the time.
“Lucy, right?” he asked.
“Mhm,” she replied.
?
?It’s always nice to see some fresh blood here, especially this beautiful.”
“Oh wow,” she nodded, “actual gradation. I’m guessing by the end of this unpleasant conversation, I’ll be gorgeous?”
“You can be gorgeous now, if you want,” there was that grin again as he spoke and he went back to just being a jock douchebag.
Of course, she recognized now who he was. The whole school knew him.
Raphael Ferranti.
With a name like that, he didn’t even have to be hot but he was. Despite her unwillingness to do so, Mina had to admit to herself that he really was the epitome of a handsome guy. A Renaissance God. It was like Da Vinci painted him and then Raphael just effortlessly walked out of his painting and into real life but she would be damned if she’d ever say such a thing to him. His head was already too high up in the clouds and he was talking like he owned the whole damn school and everyone in it. So annoying.
“What I really want now is to be gone,” she told him. “Could you please move? I’ve got places to be.”
She could see from the look on his face that he didn’t expect this. No one ever talked to the awesome Raphael Ferranti like that. Everyone melted at the very mention of his name, let alone at his actual presence. Well, she wasn’t impressed and she was about to punch him in the face for being so rude to Reeba just now. Who did this guy think he was? Asshole.
“Yeah, sure,” he moved a second later, sounding a little confused by what had just happened as if it took his brain some effort to figure it out.
“Catch ya later!” he said, a little too loudly, apparently so that those around him could hear that he was still in full control of the situation.
So pathetic. She snorted as she walked past him, pushing him to the side aggressively with her shoulder. She hated guys like that. Cocky, asshole, pretty boys who thought they owned the world. A part of her actually hoped he had something to do with Dante, just so she could kick his ass. She didn’t want to kill him. No, that’d be too harsh. She’d just like to slap him around a little, to teach him a lesson, never to treat any woman like she was a plaything.
As she walked down the hallway, she knew he was watching her. She had learned to recognize that burning sensation on the side of her head, a heatwave that arose from a simple stare that was hot enough to burn a hole in her head. It was a skill she desperately needed in her line of work: awareness of a gaze. It had saved her life more than once.
She also knew that he was still confused. Those several leftover grey cells which were still working inside of his brain were trying to make sense of the situation and what had just happened. In his universe, this was an impossibility: someone rejecting him outright, not falling for those cheesy pick up lines and his pearly whites.
She smiled to herself. If she could, she’d pat herself on the back but a smile would do. Like she would ever want anything to do with someone like that. He was more trouble than he was worth, she was sure of it.