The Darkest Eternities

XIV. Red Rings

Cara

I boredly tapped my pen against my notebook waiting for the history teacher to arrive. His arrival did not matter. My mind was not there anyway. Yep, Cara's presence in the classroom was merely physical. Her mind was very far away.

My thoughts were consumed by what happened just the day before, less than twenty four hours before. The woods. The chase...The kiss.

It had happened as suddenly as death. Suddenly his lips were mine and mine were on his. Suddenly he was pressed against me, every inch of my body against his and it felt good.

I remembered the warmth of his body, the gentleness of his lips and his hold on me. He had wrapped his arms around my back and pulled me up so that I settled on his thighs as he was in a kneeling position.

It had been so spontaneous...so unexpected. That may have been what made it so passionate. It caused me to realise just how much I wanted him, how much I needed him. Because at that moment I didn't want him to ever let me go.

"Earth to Matthews...Cara Elizabeth Matthews."Alice and Lisa called. They were practically shouting. My daydreams had consumed me too much for me to hear them.

"What's got you so off at nine o'clock in the morning?"Asked Lisa, checking her phone for the time. She had quickly made friends with Alice and I. Now she, Alice and I were practically inseparable.

Over a span of less than a week we had become the best of friends. This was surprising since Alice and Lisa were polar opposites in so many ways.Unlike Alice who was a bit...reserved, Lisa was fun-loving and free spirited.

Due to her jovialness and free spirit, it only made sense that Lisa was captain of the spirit squad. Contrary to the common belief, not all cheerleaders are mean-girls who will mock and bully you. And Lisa was proof of that.

"Nothing. I'm fine. Everything's fine," I answered Lisa. She stared at me incredulously then let it go. She did not believe me and knowing Lisa, she was not done with it, Lisa didn't just let things go. It was her nature to pick and prod all your secrets and thoughts out of you, not in a bad way, of course.

"He's back," I heard some girl say. I turned my attention away from my friends and directed it to the front of the classroom.

There behind the teacher's desk stood a man, a very tall and admittedly, handsome one. The odd thing was, here I was staring at a man that many would describe as panty-dropping gorgeous and I did not feel a thing.

While the rest of the class -save for Alice, of course- was practically drooling, my thoughts had returned to Ivan. I suspected that a few months ago (before I met Ivan), had I been in the same situation, I probably would have drooled a little but now, nothing.

"Good morning, Mr.Hoff, "everyone said excitedly, that is, except Alice and I.

"Good morning class." His voice was deep and laced with a light accent. Some sort of Baltic accent. It was weird because the surname 'Hoff' was not at all Baltic : it was of German origin meaning 'court'.

I had done my fair share of research on various things, one of which was common surnames and their origins. I loved to research things.

Mr.Hoff was surprisingly good at teaching history. But there was something off about him. I brushed it off as one of my many delusions.

Nothing to worry about. You are just being crazy...so stop being crazy.

After an hour of Mr.Hoff going on about the U.S parliament with a few jokes in between the lesson was finally over.

"Matthews!" I heard Mr.Hoff's throaty voice behind me. Letting Alice and Lisa go ahead of me, I went to the teacher.

What could he possibly have wanted?