All Hail The Queen Of Hell

2) Manipulation

"He's kinda hot," Aggie complimented before taking a bite of her burger. Her amber eyes which were always tucked safely behind a pair of glasses darted on Phil, waiting for her response.

"Kinda? Mr. Aldric is the definition of hot, you should see the way looks when pissed off. Fucking sexy," Phil corrected with a drooling tone underlying her words.

I rolled my eyes, feeling odd.

"He's a teacher, you idiots," I cried cutting a piece of the steak on my plate.

Their eyes fell on me, brows raised.
"And so?" Phil questioned giving me a 'go-fuck-yourself' attitude.

Maybe going out with my two crazy best friends after the Aldric confrontation wasn't the best idea since they both seemed to have a crush on him. Phil didn't surprise me one bit, she had a crush on almost any guy that crossed her path even though she was dating someone. Aggie, on the other hand, never spoke her thoughts on guys so boldly.

"And so you should stay clear of him. I can tell he'll be trouble for anyone who gets close to him."

"Okay, Mom," Phil teased snatching a piece of my steak.

I in return snatched one of the drumsticks from her plate, gaining more than I had lost.

I smirked as we both raised our plates away from each other, earning the attention of the other diners in the restaurant. How savage of us. But, that was our weird bonding.

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History class...
Everyone was already settled and quiet. This had been the new routine since Aldric Andres became our new teacher.
The girls were more keen to impress him, while the boys just wanted to gain from this legendary teacher who was known for the best performance of his students.

I had researched him on Google, but there was little to no information about him other than students all over the world discussing his prowess in teaching history. The damned man had no social accounts. No Instagram, no Facebook, no Twitter, nothing. How could there be such a skilled man on earth and not have any social media presence in this modern era?

And if he was this good, what the hell was he doing in our school?

Eagle High wasn't a high-performing school in terms of academics, we were known for our sports capabilities in the district and the county.
Our budget wasn't enough to afford this kind of teacher.

All of this, made me have countless doubts about him.
He may have looked trustworthy, attractive, and even capable, but my dad taught me sometimes the most beautiful things, are the most poisonous ones.

I was staring at the open door, lost in all those thoughts when he showed up. Our eyes crashed almost immediately, and I swear I saw a sly smirk tug on his pink lips.
The arrogant smirk reminded me of the previous day...what he had called me.

"Hello, students," He greeted while setting his books on his light brown desk. The others responded, but I held my silence. He was not going to fool me by acting all righteous now. I had clearly heard him insult me, and I was planning on exposing his hypocrisy.

"Today, I won't be teaching a thing."

The students gasped in response before murmurs broke out.

"I need a student to teach us what I taught, yesterday." His eyes scanned over our heads and countless hands shot in the air, each volunteering.
His eyes landed on...my deskmate. "Martin, do you mind?"

Martin, jumped out of his chair and rushed to the front of the class. He walked past Aldric who was now heading towards my direction.

Heads turned and girls stared in shock as their crush made way and sat next to me. He had to pull back the chair to accommodate his height, yet never glanced at me even for a second.
Lucky me, always sitting at the back of the class. Lucky? Not in this scenario.

"Concentrate," a whisper came from his side. "This repetition is for you. So don't get distracted or you'll be having detention and a quiz later on."
I stared at him, my jaw already on the floor. How ruthless of him to make the rest of the class learn the same thing as yesterday just to punish me?

I glared at his unbothered frame and then ignored him to put my focus on Martin.

"Mr. Aldric?" Called Rose who sat on the next column called in a sweet low voice.

The teacher faced her, offering me the back of his head where his long white hair flowed like a river. Unconsciously, I found myself staring at it, slowly growing the weird urge to reach out and touch it.
I felt as if I needed to touch it or I'd die from all this new unholy desire to lay a hand on his hair.

My hand started reaching out, my mind freezing sense.

He was busy answering Rose's question, but when I was a breath from touching his hair, his left hand grabbed my wrist and yanked it downwards. The sudden pain hauled me out of that trance, but I swallowed it silently and freed my wrist.

Aldric didn't even turn around. How had he known my intention?

But that was not as important as what the fuck had I just experienced?

Humiliated, I waited back when everyone had left the classroom after the bell had rang. Aldric was standing over Rose's desk, explaining something to her. For she had taken this rare opportunity and bombarded him with a lot of questions. It was not like her to be this inquisitive, but who was I to judge? Maybe she had grown a history backbone over the past two weeks.

When they took too much time, I picked up my backpack and rose from the chair.

"I need to talk to you, Melanie," Aldric spoke up as I whooshed past him.

Running from it would not ease my conscience, all I needed to do was apologize, and boom! Problem solved.

Giving them some space and time, I walked over to the windows and stood there gazing out into the sunny school garden. The air was so radiant and the wind was calming...until the strange male came to stand next to me.

I almost jumped, startled out of my own body.

"What did you want to say to me?" He asked.

Calm down, Mel.

"Um..." I tried to hold his gaze, but it was difficult due to the shame weighing my soul down.

Aldric closed the distance between us just as the door banged shut. He went ahead and placed a finger under my chin and made me look up at him fully.
All the sirens in my body started ringing aloud. This was not ethical for a teacher. This was against all teaching rules.

And when I attempted to step back, his other hand slid to the back of my neck with ease.

"Wha-what are you do-do-doing?" I was starting to feel the fear slashing my insides.

Aldric ignored my cry and leaned down, gazing directly into my eyes. "Melanie, I want you to forget what happened earlier. From today, you will address me by Mr Aldric and you will show me the utmost respect as your teacher." His words vibrated in my head like fading echoes. And slowly, like a drowsy call, he vanished from my sight, along with everything else.