The Genetic Code

Chapter 4

Sterling

I've been trying to get her attention all day. All week, actually. It got even worse after what I did yesterday.

She purposely comes in for our lectures just as the lecturer arrives, and sits on the polar opposite side of the room. If she spots me along the hallway, she'll make a long detour just so we won't cross paths. She doesn't acknowledge me at all anymore, even when I'm sitting right next to her in class or doing a science experiment with her, and instead moves her chair as far away from me as possible. When I try to talk to her, she doesn't even respond.

She's avoiding me like the plague. In fact, at this point, I think she'd rather contract the influenza than have to speak to me or look me in the eyes.

Shit. What have I done?

I remember her face yesterday, after I said that she liked me. She looked aghast, angry, almost, as if me saying that actually offended her. Then she completely ignored me, pretended I wasn't right in front of her, with my gaze trained on her, waiting for her to say something, anything, and left.

She didn't come for lunch today, again, and when I went to look for her in the classroom, she wasn't there either. I was getting worried, but later I found her in the library, sitting alone, with her head resting on the table.

I walk towards her, and look down at her face. She's sleeping. I observe her silently, my heart melts a little seeing her dozing off peacefully, shoulders rising and falling in time with her soft breaths. She has really long eyelashes, and her lips are almost unnaturally pink, although I think she only applies a thin layer of chapstick. I can't help myself, and lightly trace my finger over her delicate features. She stirs in her sleep, I smile softly at how cute she is, and mumbles a few unintelligible words. But I catch one. A name, which wipes the smile right off my face.

"Alex..."

My hand forms a tight fist, and I move it away from her face, stuffing it into my pocket.

I take a step away from her, and sigh.

Of course. What did I expect? She's still head over heels for that guy, her old friend, the drunkard bastard who played around with her feelings, kissing her cheek one night, then making her cry the following day once he was sober. Just the thought of it makes my other hand clench into a fist, and I'm nearly trembling in anger at the thought of some pathetic guy like him hurting her.

Speak of the devil...

A tan guy in a white jacket glares at me from the entrance of the room.

Looking at him like this, I really don't see what the hype over him is. Yeah, sure, he's tall and muscular, as expected of an athlete, but I'm even taller and more toned, though I'm not one. My angled, defined features could beat his ordinary boy-next-door look any day. His eyes are also a weird shade of blue.

Currently those oddly cartoonish-blue eyes are locked in a fierce staring match with mine. I can't give away my fuming contempt for the guy, so I play my most practiced game: indifference. I cock my head to the side, raising my eyebrows in question, then drop a sarcastic smile and wave at him mockingly.

His mouth twitches into a scowl. He nods his head towards the door, before walking out of the library.

Oh, this is going to be interesting.

***

"Stop bothering Juliette. Can't you see that she doesn't want anything to do with you? Just stay away from her."

"Wow, I'm touched. I feel so special. I don't see you issuing these warnings to my darling sister."

He ignores my remark, pretending he didn't catch my clear insinuation. Or maybe he actually didn't get it, I wouldn't be surprised, doesn't seem like there's much substance beyond that pretty boy face of his.

"You're just some bully taking advantage of your family's money and power to do what you want. If you hurt her I'll—"

"You'll what? Drown me in the swimming pool? You know you can't take me in a fight, nowhere near. So a word of advice: Don't start one. I don't want to bash you up and have her get all Mother Teresa over your sorry ass."

"I may not be able to beat you in a fight, but I know more about Juliette than you ever will. You only just met her, while we've been best friends for years. I know what's good for her, and it sure as hell isn't you."

"Know what's good for her? Last I remember she ran out of the swimming complex bawling her eyes out and hyperventilating. I wonder who she'd met before that that made her that way?"

His expression hardens. "That's none of your business."

"And this is none of yours. I'm not the one hurting her, so stop trying to act like Prince Charming saving her from the big bad wolf. This is territorial to you. You obviously don't actually care about her, or you would've done something yesterday and not just stood there watching like it was a damn movie," I spit out the last sentence harshly, despite how hard I was trying to keep my voice calm and leveled.

Just thinking about what happened yesterday, my hands start to ball up into fists and my jaw clenches.

I was going towards the basketball court. I wanted to shoot some hoops to clear my head, since I'd been racking my brain the past week for a possible reason as to why my ally had been so cold to me recently, after our outing, where we'd gotten along so well.

As I was rounding a corner of the building, I saw them.

My ally had her head tossed to the side, while Kera's hand hovered in the air. Alexander The 'Great' stood nearby, looking like he'd been standing there for a while, and had watched the whole scene unfold, without doing anything. Even after his 'best friend for years' was hit across the face, he didn't move a muscle. He didn't even flinch.

I glared at him in disbelief. I so badly wanted to go up to him, and physically knock some sense into that oversized head of his. How could he just stand by and not do anything? But I quickly decided that I had to focus my attention on the more important task at hand. So biting back my rage, I rushed towards the two girls to stop my sister from laying another finger on my ally, while he remained rooted in his position and watched.

"You just don't like the fact that I'm around her, because in your warped mind you've already 'claimed' her like she's your damn property. You don't want anyone to fill in the void you left in her life so that anytime you feel like it, you can just dive back in. In case you didn't realize, you thick-headed walrus, she's a person, not a private swimming pool," I growl at pretty-boy, whose obviously stirred by my words, a teller that I'd hit the nail right on the head.

He doesn't seem to be able to construct a comeback to counter my words, because of their undeniable truth, and maybe also due to his limited vocabulary.

Eventually, it looks like he gives up on finding an appropriate comeback, and his eyes harden. His voice is low and spiteful as he speaks, "You'll just end up breaking her heart."

"Nothing I do to her can ever hurt her as much as you can, and you already have." I'd tried my best to keep the bitterness out of my voice, but I don't think I succeed. "In order to break someone's heart, you need to have it first."

He looks at me with a confused expression, and doesn't seem to understand what I'm saying. Ugh, he's such a dumbass. How the hell did a smart, witty girl like my ally manage to tolerate him all those years?

I give up on making him grasp what I'm saying, since it looks like the disparity between our intelligences is far too large to bridge. So I go with something simple that he'll understand: a threat.

"I don't know what it is you did or said to her that day at the swimming complex, but I swear to God, if you do it again..." I smirk, and look down. "You don't need your nuts in order to swim, right?"

That seems to do the trick. He immediately comes to attention and his eyes double in size, looking at me horrified.

I pat his shoulder. "Take care of your little friends down there."

With that, I shove past him and walk away.

Sterling — One; Aquatic airhead — Negative twenty.