Secrets In The Garden / l.h ✔️

10

~Ophelia's POV~

"Blade!" I exclaimed with a pout, frowning at him as he stole my pencil. He grinned and cocked his head to the side playfully, trying to play innocent. "What?" He asked.

"Come on, give me my pencil. I need to do homework." I said, but he just rolled his eyes and sent me a look. "It's a free period. Who does class work during their free period?" He asked, raising a brow. My cheeks warmed in embarrassment and I shrugged shyly. "I do." I mumbled, crossing my arms over my chest. Although everyone else was in their seventh period class, save for a couple other seniors, Blade and I had a free period that we spent together. Aside from Saniya, he was probably who I was closest to.

"Can I please have it back?" I pouted, reaching over to try to grab it from him. He chuckled and shook his head, moving it out of my reach. "No. You can have it back when it's time to go to eighth period." He said, making my jaw slack. "Are you seriously going to forbid me from doing work? It's Friday and I don't want to have to do homework over the weekend!" I complained, throwing my head back as I slouched in my chair. I heard him snicker and then felt him gently kick me in the shin, though it was really more like a simple nudge with his foot than a kick. "If you really want it back that bad, then come and get it." He challenged.

I looked at him and he grinned cheekily, making me narrow my eyes. "Can't you just give me it like a good friend?" I frowned, but he just snorted. "Where's the fun in that?" He retorted.

Looking down at my calculus homework, I bit my lip and considered for a moment if I wanted to just finish it later. The answer was a clear and definite no, I did not. I leaned over and tried to snatch my pencil out of his hand, but he easily held it out of my reach again. "Come on," He teased, grinning. "You can do better than that, can't you?"

"You're such a pain in the butt!" I huffed, pushing my chair back as I stood up. His brown eyes glinted with mirth as he looked up at me, holding the pencil tight in his fist while I struggled to get it from him. "And you're fun to mess with." He snickered, making me scowl and reach for my pencil again. I barely got the chance to touch the eraser with my fingertips before Blade was standing up quickly, the chair scraping against the floors. "Hey!" I pouted, looking up at him as he held his arm straight up to keep my pencil way out of my reach. "You're too tall. That's not fair!" I pouted.

Blade only snickered, looking mischievous. "Come on. I'm sure you know how to jump, don't you, Ophelia?" He coaxed, waving my pencil in the air above me.

Sighing, I stretched my arm up as far as I could and pushed up onto my tippy toes, desperately trying to get my pencil without having to make a total fool of myself. "Gimme it!" I complained, grabbing his arm and trying to pull it down so I could reach it a little easier. He resisted, pulling against me as his bicep flexed with the effort. "Get it yourself. You're so close!" He teased, grinning.

"I can't reach it!" I exclaimed, pulling aggressively at his arm as I dug my heels into the floors. He snickered and managed to snatch his arm away from me, backing up with my pencil still in hand. "Sounds like you won't be getting this back, then." He tsked, shrugging his shoulders carelessly.

When he turned around to leave with my pencil, I panicked. It was my panic that caused me to run after him, not even thinking it through before I pounced on him from behind, wrapping my arms around his neck.

The both of us screamed when he went tumbling to the ground face first, landing on his chest while I accidentally knocked my head against his and groaned from atop his back. "Ow." I complained as I sat up, rubbing my sore face. My poor nose and forehead had taken most of the hit, but Blade had definitely taken the force of the fall.

"What the hell is going on here?" I heard a familiar voice ask, making my head snap up. I looked up and blinked at Luke, wondering what he was doing here. Just how many free periods did this guy have?!

"She's trying to kill me over a pencil." Blade wheezed from under me, making me gasp and scramble off him, kneeling at his side. "That's not true!" I exclaimed defensively, shaking my head as I glanced up at a smirking Luke. I looked back down at Blade as he rolled onto his back and groaned, my pencil rolling onto the floor and stopping at my knees as he released it from his hold. "It is true." Blade groaned.

Embarrassed and feeling guilty that I had hurt him, I huffed and avoided Luke's gaze, knowing he just found this whole thing funny. "Are you okay?" I asked him, chewing my bottom lip nervously. Blade nodded his head and rubbed his jaw, which was a little red. "Yeah, I'm good. It surprisingly didn't hurt that bad." He assured, shrugging.

I sighed softly and picked up my pencil, helping him up once I was stood on my feet again. Glancing over at Luke, I kept a hold on Blade's hoodie, peering up at the tall, blonde haired boy. "Didn't know you had a free period now too, gorgeous." He mentioned, the nickname making Blade raise a brow down at me that I pretended not to notice. "I would've preferred it to stay that way." I sighed, turning around to head back to the table that I'd been sat at, tugging Blade along with me.

Not to my surprise, a second set of footsteps was heard following after me and I knew it was Luke without even having to check. "Thought you were avoiding him, Phe..." Blade murmured, peering down at me with a raised brow.

"I'm trying, but he won't take no for an answer." I sighed, tilting my head up to look at him. He glanced over at Luke and then ducked down a little, lowering his voice to a whisper. "Please don't tell Saniya." I whispered before he could say anything, not wanting to cause any drama between her and Luke. It was pointless. Although he was definitely annoying, it seemed Luke was harmless. He wasn't really mean to me.

Blade looked uncertain, biting his pink bottom lip. "Are you sure? You know how she feels about him. She'd want to know." He said, but I shook my head. "Please, Blade." I begged, staring up at him hopefully.

He paused and glanced over at Luke once more, the two of us sitting back in our seats beside one another. To my surprise, Luke didn't try to join us or even pester me. Instead, he just kept on walking, taking a seat at another table. "Okay." Blade murmured in reluctant agreement. "I won't tell her." He assured, sighing.

I smiled at him gratefully and picked my pencil up off the table, beginning to do the rest of my homework without any interruptions.