Eyes of Emerald

Chapter 9 - Wynn

        I felt my cheeks redden rapidly, as I sat on my bum on the grass, staring up at the faces of Angel, who was supressing laughter, and the boy with the sapphire eyes, who looked concerned, like he genuinely thought I was hurt. 

        "You alright?" he asked, holding out a hand. "Here," he smiled at me, as I stared at the hand. 

        "You, uh..." I began, and he smirked. 

        "Ffi tried the flip trick?" he guessed. "I won't, I promise." he grinned, flashing white teeth. Ugh, why was he so attractive?

        "I'll be fine," I managed to say, getting up. I didn't trust anyone now. Not when they were capable of flipping me over their shoulder, which hurt.

        He shrugged, and put his hand in his belt loop, which held a vicious looking curved sword and some plain, worn daggers that looked like they could kill someone with just a prick on the finger.

        I stood awkwardly opposite him as he looked up into the sky. Angel nudged me and giggled behind her hand, looking very much like Drew when she did that. 

        "Um, can I talk to you for a minute?" the boy asked suddenly, dropping his gaze to mine. I held it for a moment and then looked down to the grass, a mere peasant not daring to look up at the King. 

        Wait. 

        He wanted to talk? Like...talk? With me?

        "You...what?" I asked, surprised that he would actually want to talk to me. I was still almost in shock that he'd actually noticed me.

        The boy rubbed the back of his head and shrugged.

        "You're the only Shifter girl around here that I can see," he said casually. I blinked.

        "Um..." I looked around to Angel, my heartbeat growing and growing. I was feeling slightly panicky, and the fact that Angel smiled and waved for me to go with him didn't help. 

          "I'll go find Iris," she said, turning her back and walking off, her long brown hair swinging in the wind. How could she? I was now alone with the one person that I did not want to be alone with. It would be so awkward.         

        I glared at her retreating back before turning back to the boy, whose eyes matched the colour of the sky almost perfectly. Amusement glittered inside the calm waters, as he smiled at me. 

        "I'm Wynn," he smiled, holding out a hand for me to shake before realising that I wouldn't shake it because of my weird fear of being flipped over his shoulder. "Wynn Weatherstaff." he grinned.

        "Autumn," I replied, fiddling with my hair. "Autumn Dusk." 

        "Nice name." Wynn complimented. I nodded, staring at the ground, feeling incredibly awkward. What do you talk about to boys? I'd always been far too shy to speak to the boys in my class in school-they'd all been obsessed with wrestling, rugby and football, and their heads were all full of dust and dead flies, not an intelligent thought in them. They communicated mostly by grunt language, and frightened me slightly. The other girls understood them, but that was mainly because they didn't have many intelligent thoughts in their heads either.

        "Um...thanks," I replied uneasily. Did he like me? Did he not like me? Ugh, why was everything so complicated! Boys were difficult enough normally, but throw in the fact that I was the only Shapeshifter for fifteen years and that he was a...goodness knows what...Celie said that warlocks wore blue, and this boy was wearing a blue tunic, which really emphasised those beautiful eyes...

        Stop it, Autumn! 

        "So...um, d'you want to go for a walk?" he asked, smiling slightly.

        I blinked.

        "A...a walk?" I repeated stupidly. He grinned.

        "Yes, a walk. Like...when you put one foot in front of another? Didn't they ever do that in London?" 

        "Of course we did, stupid!" I retorted, realising what I'd just said. My cheeks reddened. "I...sorry, I didn't mean-" he cracked another smile at my stuttering.

        "So you have got a mouth on you. I was beginning to worry," he told me.

        "What?" I asked, confused.        

        "Gingers are meant to have a temper." he explained, fiddling with one of the daggers on his belt.

        "We do not!" I felt my face grow hot. "That's totally...uh...gingerist!" 

        A guffaw escaped his mouth and he laughed. 

        "Good one, Shifter." he laughed. 

        "What? It's actually a thing! And we do not all have to have a temper!" I protested. He smirked.

        "Oh yes?" he grinned. "Then what was that, carrot-top?"

        "Shut up!" I shouted, louder than I was meaning to. People looked around and stared at me standing in my black top (which I had only just noticed that nobody else was wearing, which kind of embarrassed me). 

        "Little miss Fire-Head!" he teased. I clenched my teeth. This was the kind of bullying that had ended up with me starving myself.

        "Look...please don't call me that." I said quietly. 

        "Why?" he asked. Typical. 

        "I...I've been called it before and it wasn't by the nicest of people." I explained quietly, staring at the ground and plaiting my hair back tightly.  

        "Oh...that's OK. I understand," he said. I sighed unhappily. He didn't understand, no-one understood, not even Angel, who I told everything to. "Soo...about that walk?" he asked. I bit my lip.

        "Oh, I...okay." I agreed, and his face split into a huge grin.

        "Great!"