The Wishing Fallacy (The Vendetta Series: Book One)[COMPLETE]

Chapter Fourteen: Different Heartbeats✔️

Love is a Bitch by Two Feet

Anxious was a word that was far too underwhelming to describe Belle at the moment.

Marnie had dropped her off at the campus for her first official day at CalArts, and Belle had already sat through two of her three classes for the day. Her new classmates were expectedly perplexed at the fact that there was a new student so late in the year and Belle hadn't really had a chance to talk with anyone. The amount of work she had to compensate for all of the grades she had missed so far this semester was horrific. Belle had so much to do that she was pretty sure that under normal circumstances, she would just curl up in a hole and cry. But, Marnie had had so much faith in her talent that she had jumped through hoops to get Belle accepted here- and Belle refused to cower under the weight of her assignments when she had to show the demon what she was really made of.

Belle flushed as her heart beat quickened at the thought of the Djinni. Marnie's rut had finally subsided for the time being and so she wasn't nearly as provocative with Belle as she could be. Their time together had been less sex and more just actually hanging out lately, although Marnie didn't let her get ready for her first day of school until she had properly screwed her before dawn had even broke. Marnie was having fun teasing the hell out of Belle while teaching her how to cook more, and Belle had been teaching her how to be good at video games- courtesy of her little brother. Belle still couldn't believe that all of the video games in Marnie's possession had been for Saleem only.

Belle hummed to herself as she looked around the library for a desk with a free laptop. It wasn't really busy, but everyone there seemed to need to use a computer. It was a good fifteen minutes before Belle found an unoccupied laptop on the second floor, next to a slimly built red headed boy.

She slid into the seat and dropped her bag off to the side, typing in her student number and password to get past the login screen. She had four different papers due next week- one for each class she was enrolled in. The first one she was working on had to do with the renaissance period, so she took her book out of her bag and hefted it on top of the desk to lookthrough as she typed.

Thesis statements. Ugh, Belle groaned internally. She could count on one hand how many times she hadn't been marked for doing something wrong on her papers. She chewed on her lip anxiously as her leg bounced silently underneath the desk. Flipping through the chapters Belle needed to glean her information from, she began highlighting specific paragraphs that might work for her paper, so engrossed in the text that she didn't hear the red headed boy next to her clearing his throat at her until he coughed loudly to gain her attention.

Belle's head snapped up and she glanced around stupidly before turning to the boy. "Uhm, I'm sorry, am I bothering you?" She assumed he could hear her anxious leg tapping and she tried to stop by crossing her legs beneath herself.

"What? Oh- no, I didn't even notice you were doing that. I just- you look really...familiar."

Belle scratched her head and tucked some hair behind her ear. She couldn't remember anyone she had known in high school or otherwise with red hair. "I'm sorry, I don't remember if I've seen you before," Belle frowned.

The boy hummed and drummed his fingers on the table. "I mean I sit a few seats behind you in Dr. Olstein's class, but I swear I've seen you before then. You're the new transfer, right?"

Wow, Belle was oblivious. She'd been so focused on trying not to be the center of attention that she didn't even notice anyone around her. She laughed nervously and nodded. "Yes, I am."

"Well, maybe I'm just crazy," the boy said, shaking his head with an amused smile. He had adorable dimples, Belle thought to herself. "I'm Xander," he said, extending his hand towards her.