The Spades and Scorpions

Arrogant? No, Charming. (3)

First day of Senior year. Crazy. I look up at the school I have been going to since the 9th grade and sigh. I look around and find my 'friends', they're actually a group of teenagers trained from birth to fight and die for their mafia leader, my mafia. They give me the handshake to signal their alliance. I take note of the signature tattoos behind their ears that they all got at 14. I didn't have the tattoo behind my ear yet because Mama wanted me to make sure I was certain before stamping my body. I didn't want to argue with her so I have a professional tattoo artist give me the fake ones that last for a few weeks without fading. 

   I go inside the school with my 'pose' behind me, we looked like something out of a movie. The 'bad boys', no one said it out loud, but I knew my family had a reputation and the minions with matching tattoos did nothing to refute against this. I nodded towards the senior hall and they followed me without a word. I watched as people cleared our path like we were contagious and suppressed the urge to roll my eyes. All except one girl. She looked like she knew who I was but didn't care. She was in my way. 

   "Move," I tell her without being polite. Mom says being too polite can make you come off as weak, and our family is anything but weak. The girl rolls her eyes at me. 

   "I will move when I want to, this is a free country. Even if you're Soyer Sharp, you don't control what I do with my body," she says with a passive shrug and continues to stand in the way of my locker. I look at her in amusement. 

   "Well then maybe you'll learn better to move with a broken hand," I whisper in her ear, expecting to rattle her a little. She turn towards me with a blank and unaffected look on her face. 

   "I'd love to see how your mothers respond to that and try to cover it up like my uncles death," she says with a gleam in her eyes like she knew something I didn't. I give her a questioning look and she leave with a slam of the locker next to mine and without saying a word. What did that mean? 

I sat down in the back of the class with two of my eight guys and leaned my head back in boredom. I don't know why Mama insists on me coming here when my time would be much better spent learning how to fun my mafia with Mom. This class is so boring. I roll my head over to the side just in time to see the girl from earlier come in and sit next to a nerdy guy up front. I can't place it, but she intrigues me. I give my guys a look with some raised eyebrows and they follow my lead. 

   I stand up and go next to the girl. The guy next to her looks at me like he is going to pee his pants until he quickly grabs his things and moves to the other side of the room. I smile in satisfaction before sitting in his place and looking at the girl. She gives me a bored look. 

   "And you want?" she asks in an aggravated tone. I smile in amusement. 

   "You don't like me," I state the obvious. She gives me a 'duh' look. 

   "What do you want, Soyer?" she asks annoyed. I grin. 

   "You know my name, I don't really think it's fair that I don't know yours. So, what's your name?" I ask her as I lean back in the chair. She raises an eyebrow at me. 

   "My name is Sage, I've been in literally all your classes since Kindergarten." I look at her confused. She does not look familiar, but the name sounds like I know it. I give her a good look over when I remember her suddenly. 

   "Straggle Sage," I say in realization. For all of middle school and most of high school she was a huge nerd with braces and huge glasses and would make a weird sucking sound because of how her mouth had to be fixed. She was gross and no one really talked to her other than to pick on her. But now, she looked like a clique hot girl. I looked her over again in amazement. She was hot, like really hot. 

   "Of course you would know that nickname and not my actual name," she says with a roll of her eyes and looks around for the tardy teacher. 

   "You look... different," I state as I look over her slowly. She rolls her eyes before looking at me that same creepy way. Suddenly I felt... violated? Yeah I'm not doing that anymore. 

   "And you look...," she pulls me in to whisper in my ear and I am definitely not against being this close to her. "Like the same jackass little kid that poured my milkshake on my head in the seventh grade." I look at her in amazement before looking back at the guys. I liked this girl, she had guts. 

   "Would it put me back in your good graces if I apologized and bought you a new milkshake.... on a date? Tomorrow night?" I whisper in her ear. She gives me an annoyed look. 

   "Soyer Sharp I have had a crush on you since the first grade and you didn't even know who I was until five minutes ago. What on Earth would make you think I would want to go on a date with you?" she says in her normal voice while giving me a strange look and crossing her arms over her chest. I grin. 

   "Because like you said Sage Gradly, you have a crush on me," I wink at her before standing up. "I'll pick you up tomorrow night at seven. Wear something warm." I turn around to leave before she stops me. 

   "You don't even know where I live," she states. That's not a no. I smile smugly before turning back around towards her. 

   "You'd be surprised what I know, Ms. Gradly." I tell her with a wink before going back to my seat in the back. 

   She so wants me. I chuckle lightly and look at her for the rest of the hour.