Along came Avery

7 . l e c t u r e r o o m

When the hell will class start?

My lips roll in my mouth as I by every means necessary try avoiding Avery; his gaze, his greedy hands or his presence besides me. That means, for damn sure, I have my head turned to my left as he is seated on my right. Luckily for him — which is unfortunate for me, really — he can lean against the wall since he brought us to the back corner and basically decided without even consulting me that he'd be seated at the corner with me next to him.

There's a seat open besides me and not one person decides to sit here. Not even the group of two girls who are seated not too far from us. It's almost like they won't even acknowledge our (my) presence for my peace sake. The room is quite loud since the session hasn't started, but even still I feel like I'm the only one in the room alongside him.

That, or it feels like I don't exist. I don't know which one seems more fitting.

Of course my heart is literally thrusting against my ribcage and my breathing is slightly wavering. Both of my hands are fisted right on my lap. My foot is even shaking, I can't stop the bouncing of my knee.

I'm not terrified of him, I don't think I am. But he is unpredictable. If he isn't going to kill me, he will humiliate me and I hate attention on me; and attention is something he whole heartedly doesn't mind. He knows this, he's always known. Using what I hate against me has to be the way he's bound to torture me.

"You're sitting quite far, Zeze." I hear him sigh out and then, from my peripheral view, I see his hand reach closer to me before holding the one leg of my chair, and then he pulls it closer to him.

I literally hitch when my chair is pulled almost right against his. Maybe he has enough respect to leave that small gap between us, but he doesn't close it completely. I gulp, loudly.

"Or maybe sitting on my lap isn't such a bad idea—"

"No, Avery." I shift my gaze to his with concern. He doesn't even seem bothered by it. "We're in a room full of people. What do you think they'd think?"

"I don't care what they think. You've known me long enough to know this."

"Well, I do. I care." I fold my arms a bit. "And... and the lecturer could walk in and— no. Okay? No."

I hate the way I like how his eyes roll. Almost childlike, almost animated and with a hint of slight annoyance. My face turns from him to the front, mentally begging for the lecturer to come quick and start the lesson already.

"So, tell me something."

"Huh?"

"Tell me something." He repeats, and I glance back at him to detect any joke in his features or tone. He's dead serious. It's an actual question. "How have you been?"

It's a trick question, isn't it. My shoulders shrug. "Fine."

"Fine? How can you be fine after you murdered somebo—"

"Shhh, Avery!" I hiss, hands daring to reach out to him before I retract them and cover my mouth. Even after I see his lips pull to a smirk, I glance around us to ensure no one is actually listening. I then glare at him but with pleading eyes. "Please. We can't talk about this here."

"Why not? You did do it."

"I know. I know. But just... I don't want to... Avery." I whine as he leans in a bit with his eyes piecing through the depths of my pupils and soul. I then shake my head and rub my face with eyes pressed closes. My stomach is holding tight to the anxiousness in my gut and I squeeze my knees against each other.

The soft sight from him is heard, and then he says; "Calm down. I haven't given you a reason to be anxious as yet."

"Then don't give me one. Not right now, in front of these people. Preferably not ever." I lift my head to look at him. He has his chin rested in the center of his palm, which his elbow rested on the table. It's a good moment to wish he didn't have this stupid headband holding his hair back from covering his eyes because his hazel brown eyes are too strong to resist. Especially since they are framed by dark long fly-away lashes. "There are better ways to... to deal with things. With this. We didn't even get to sit down and talk about that night."