A Hater's Gamble (BxB)

THREE

              "King of my heart, body, and soul."

M I L E S

Grace pushed her homework in front of me at the lunch table and pouted.

"I'm not doing it for you," I stated, taking a bite of my apple.

"But, Miles, it's...," she made a disgusted gesture at her homework. "Physics." It looked like it pained her to say it.

I sighed. I could've almost guessed what she was going to say next.

"It's not like I'm going to be an engineer!," she grumbled frustratedly. "I'm going to be photographer," she said, looking pleased.

I gave her a pointed look but scanned her homework nonetheless. More than half of it was left blank, the rest was scribbled incorrectly. "Grace," I stated, setting the paper down. "I went over this with you last week. You said you understood it. "

She put her head in her hands. "I know," she sighed, but looked at me bashfully, "I just said that so we could watch the movie. I'm sorry."

I took another bite of my apple and wordlessly scribbled the correct answers onto her paper. Out of my peripheral vision, I could see the wide smile that filled Grace's face. I shoved the paper back to her once I was finished. "We'll go over it again before we have the test, yeah?," I asked.

Grace looked relived. She was about to say something, but from across the lunch room, I spotted them.

Him.

My stomach churned awfully and suddenly my apple didn't seem as appetizing.

The sight of his golden hair was enough to pull me away. Grace touched my arm. "Miles," she said lightly. "Don't go just because they're here, okay? I'll talk to my bro-," she stopped short.

"I'll see you later," I interrupted hurriedly and exited the lunch room with swiftness, wishing to be unseen.

Not in the mood for another round of let's-kick-Miles'-ass.

Even though I felt I deserved it at times, last night's gambling had left me drained. I was exhausted. Maddie had to drag me out of bed this morning. My mother was gone by the time we were ready, but I noticed the nine-hundred dollar envelop was vacant from the kitchen table; meaning she certainly made use of it.

I was almost at the bathrooms before I was roughly shoved into a wall. My vision tilted slightly from the impact; but once my sight cleared, I was looking into the eyes of Liam Coleman.

I always hated that he towered over me.

"Going somewhere?," he asked, voice dark.

His golden hair was tousled on his head, strands fell across his forehead. His eyes resembled the darkest shade of blue, the deepest part of the ocean, where no one could survive. They contrasted mine, a dull brown.

I did everything I could to keep myself from retching all over him. Liam made me anxious, it was a fact he didn't need to know. I cleared my throat. "Heard you ditched yesterday," I stated, desperately trying to keep the fear out of my voice.