Those Cold Eyes ✓

Chapter 7

Shaking off the unsettling message from Tobias, I headed up the stairs, taking two steps with each stride. I didn't feel like being late for this art class. I wanted to be the one sitting down when he walked in, not the other way around. The thought had me gritting my teeth: something was seriously wrong with me. Why did I care so much, why did I let him occupy so much space in my head? Sure, he had this mystery-thing going on around him and he was seriously good looking, but... he wasn't nice, he wasn't even pleasant. He was a first-class douche by the looks of it, and I was just fooling myself into believing that there was something more to him. Sure, Tyra had just spilled the beans, or not spilled the beans, but yeah. There was something more to him, but it didn't mean I should try to be involved. If he had problems, then all the more reason to stay clear of him. 

When I walked into the classroom I saw Sebastian sitting by himself, looking down at his desk. Always hiding, I thought. I went over to him, but as he tensed his shoulders, I realized that I made him uncomfortable just by being close. I wanted to wrap him up in my arms, telling him that everything was okay, but I couldn't do that. I wasn't his friend. He didn't trust me.

"Hey," I said, tentatively.

He looked up, meeting my eyes and stared at me with his soft green ones. I'd never seen them before as he had hidden them behind his dark fringe. For some reason, they turned hard.

"What do you want?" he said, pushing out each word, trying to be someone he clearly wasn't.

"Hey, don't get your shield up, you remind me of a friend, a friend I miss. I just wanted to talk," I said, trying to disarm him. He squinted his eyes, perhaps debating if he should trust me or not.

"...but it's fine if you don't want to. I'm not such a bad guy, though, or wait—perhaps I am." I tried to sport all the charm I could muster at the moment. It earned me a slight spasm at the corner of his mouth. Not a full smile, but it sure felt like one.

I heard a chair being pulled across the floor, giving off that characteristic sound of metal against laminate. I looked over my shoulder and saw Zach sitting down. It was enough to make me cringe, remembering every little detail from yesterday I'd rather not. I tore my eyes off his back and looked back at Sebastian. He raised a questioning eyebrow and I mentally face-palmed myself. This little guy was a clever fellow, far too perceptive, just like Jonah. It was almost scary how much they seemed to have in common.

"I'll talk to you later," I said, giving him one of my lopsided grins. He nodded, and I couldn't help but feel a little bit victorious.

The rest of the students started to enter, one by one or in small groups. I sat down, deliberately avoiding to look at the guy next to me. I pulled up my drawing of him, realizing that it wasn't much better. I wanted to groan as the emotional turmoil running rampant inside, not caring what it did to me or my mental health.

"Zach, where's your drawing?"

I looked up, and saw Ms. Neat stand in front of Zach, her mouth in a disapproving line. "I'm not letting you slack just because you show a bit of talent young man," she continued.

He didn't answer.

"Don't give me that look, Zach," she said, staring back with hard eyes.

"I threw it away," he answered flatly. His voice so thoroughly disengaged that I wondered briefly if he was alive or not. Perhaps he was one of those zombies that roamed around in our alternate universe.

"You threw it away? You won't get any marks for this assignment," Ms. Neat's disappointment was obvious. Then she turned toward me and peered at my drawing, which made me look at it as well. It wasn't better this time around. In fact, it was awful. It wasn't Zach, it was someone else. "Well, here's another young man with a talent." She held the drawing at arm's length and adjusted her horn-rimmed glasses. Nervous, I shot a quick look at Zach to see if he was watching. He wasn't.