Dark Circles

XVI. ONE FOR EACH

Chapter Sixteen

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"HUNGRY, Barbie?" Zavier questioned as we left the dorm building. 

Continuing my taunting, I glanced backward. "I could go for some french toast. But I don't know if the dining hall serves pet food for you," His hands were stuffed into his pockets behind me, but I could see the fists forming nevertheless.

Stopping in his steps, Zavier untucked his hands from his pockets, rubbing his temples. "Kaiyo. I'm trying to be nice today, don't ruin this for me."

I turned to face him in full. Narrowing my eyes, I took a step closer to him. So much so that any further movement would have us touching. Locking eyes with him, I gave the troubled boy a careless shrug. 

"You treat me like shit even when I'm not near you. I don't even want to talk about how you feel when the energy is reciprocated."

And with that, I continued on my walk with the dog trailing at my heels.

Except this particular dog wasn't very efficient when it came to following commands. Zavier quickly overtook me with his long strides, which was only just disappointing to my ego. Thankfully, however, he seemed to make no moves on guiding me anywhere. Every few seconds Zavier would glance over his shoulder, and after a while, he had fallen into sync with my steps beside me.

"Would you be interested in leaving school grounds, Barb?" Zavier asked after a few more minutes in silence. We were nearing the dining hall, but the thought of a Starbucks coffee seemed more appealing than anything else the cafe had to offer.

On top of that, the thought of ditching this place, if even for a few hours, was more appealing than any thought I'd had in the past week. So I let the thing guide me through hallways I had yet to know existed. To leave school grounds you had to prove you were a good student, and quite frankly in a school with mostly juveniles, there weren't many of those. Most certainly not me, but Zavier had nearly free will when it came to these things. When we got closer to the main office and the security guards came into view, he grabbed my hand.

Immediately attempting to pull away, I looked up making no attempt to suppress my expression. Looking down, Zavier smirked. "Just pretend as you like me for a second, they won't let us leave otherwise."

I rather burn and die in a ditch. So politely, I returned the smile. "Let go of my hand you dog."

That was all it took for Zavier's face to reciprocate the feelings with a scowl, dropping my hand but not before pulling me closer to him. As we breached the guards, one of them looked up at Zavier with a boring look. 

"Leaving?"

"Going to the public library with her," Zavier replied, gesturing towards me. I tried to soften my expression to make me seem less... aggressive, but I don't think it worked. The guard raised an eyebrow and turned to lead us toward the glass wall which held the check-in desk on the other side. Our names and a picture were taken -- I guess in case we ran away there was an updated photo -- along with a time limit and list of rules.

"If you aren't back within 7 hours we will send the city police to find you, understand?" The woman spat bitterly. I could see flecks of it hit the glass.

Suppressing a laugh, I nodded. "Yes, milady."

"No smart shit, Masaki. Your file looks bad enough."

I wanted to tell her to fuck off, but Zavier beat me to it, replying with a stiff expression and quick "thank you" before turning to leave towards the now unlocked doors.

As much as I thought being outside the gates meant freedom, it looked just as grey as inside the school. There wasn't much of anything around us, to get anywhere we'd somehow have to walk or drive. Students weren't even permitted a car, why would we even need one? This school is a jail cell, not a college campus.

"What now genius?" I question, looking left and right at the deserted road ahead. This would be the perfect opportunity for us to get kidnapped and murdered. Ideal setting. "I'm not walking for more than 5 minutes."

"Now we wait for a bus, dumbass," He replied casually retrieving his phone from his pocket and sliding it unlocked.

"What city bus comes this far."

"Please refrain from being fucking stupid, Kaiyo."

"I'm going to murder you in your sleep."

"How many times do I have to hear you say that before it happens?"

This asshole...

"Answer my question, smartass."

"The school bus, Kaiyo. We wait for the school bus to pick us up and take us into the city. Got it? Now stop asking questions, I'm tired of listening to your voice, and quite frankly, I could go a while without."

So much for being nice today.

"I didn't ask you to follow me around all day to be a dick, so maybe you should stop talking instead."

"Fix your attitude, Kaiyo. I'm the reason you're not inside of that school right now."

"You're going to have to fix it for me because I won't be doing jack-shit for you."

"Kaiyo-."

The bus pulled up as if on queue, ending our heated argument short. I noticed a few other students join us outside as we waited, so when the doors to the bus opened, there were a good 15 or so other people climbing on board.

I went all the way to the back, not for any reason but just so I could feel something when the bus hit bumps in the road. Zavier followed, taking the empty seat across. "The city is an hour away from here, get comfortable, Barbie."

And so I did, and after 15 minutes of staring at the tall fern trees outside, Zavier moved over to the seat next to me and extended his hand in my direction.

In his palm was one earbud.

A/N

PLS LEAVE COMMENTS. They motivate me so much and I honestly have no idea how you guys are feeling about the book. Even if it's something pointless or one word, I love reading them.!

I'm taking a creative writing class, so hopefully I can get back into the habit of writing and updating this book more.

QOTD: Is Kaiyo and Zavier's relationship going too slow or too fast, in your opinion? 

I'm not sure If I'm doing a good job progressing the story and their relationship. I feel like I'm only ever talking about them and not the other characters yk?