Captivated (14 page)

My jaw dropped.

The one who saved me…he also had two tattoos on the same forearm.

“
I
mpossible…” I mouthed out, thinking Tanya wouldn’t hear me.

“What is?” Tanya asked.

I heard her at a distance. Everyone was at a distance it seemed. The only person that existed at the moment was Dean. My heart started pounding uncontrollably. It couldn’t be him. Could it? A coincidence maybe?

A whistle broke my intense concentration.

“That’ll do, girls.” the coach shouted to the three sweaty guys.

Immediately, James and Ricky plopped to the floor in complete exhaustion. Dean, on the other hand, slowly stood up, controlling his breathing. He didn’t look as worn out as the other two, but he was tired. When he stood up, he faced my direction, but didn’t notice me just yet. He put his hands on his waist and took in deep breaths while looking up at the sky. With every inhale, his abs contracted-a spectacular washboard. The sweat slowly crept down his body and I found myself following a few of the droplets until they disappeared at his red gym shorts, turning the waistband blood red.

“Breathe, girl!” Tanya said in the distance.

I was having trouble peeling my eyes off of him, I was sure the other girls around us were just as in awe. Then, without warning, he dropped his head and jetted his eyes at me.

That worked.

I immediately looked the complete opposite direction of him, as if it wasn’t obvious I was ogling.

“Hello? I’m over here, Mindy! What are you looking at anyways?” Tanya bugged at my side. How I wished she’d receive a text message right about now.

I felt a familiar heat flowing in my direction-Dean’s eyes were boring into me. Waves of shock washed through me and a frantic giggle was trying to burst out of my mouth.

“We better head back. The bell’s going to ring in a few.” Tanya said. “He is so hot!” she added with a shriek.

“Huh. Oh yeah. He’s alright.” I gulped out, wanting to shriek with her.

The show was over. All the students started for the building.

“Whatever! I saw how you were checking him out! You practically stripped him down with your eyes,” she laughed out.

I wasn’t sure if it was just me, or if she was actually being a little too loud. I eyed some students to see if they heard her, but there were no signs of it. No pointing at me. And no whispers with eyes my way. Nothing.

“Blah, blah.” I muttered with relief. “Rick and James probably tried to jump Dean again,” I thought out loud.

“What? What are you talking about
again
?” Tanya asked with dramatic confusion.

“Yeah. Ayden threw a soda can at Dean this morning. Then he beat up all three of them like it was nothing.” I said.

Tanya only stared at me. I could already hear the things rolling around in her head that would soon take a trip through her mouth.
Why didn’t you tell me this before? I can’t believe you.
Blah blah blah.

Then she opened her mouth. “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me! We’ve been together for the past hour and you didn’t. You didn’t…” she huffed out. “I can’t believe you!”

“Sorry! I forgot.” I looked at her and hesitated when I said, “Oh, and Markus broke up with Ayden for me.”

“Well, that’s just great! You know how long I’ve been waiting for you to do that? I wanted to be the one to tell him to ‘F’ off. Thanks! Did anything else happen? Maybe over the weekend?” she asked.

I thought about that for a moment. I didn’t think I should tell her about the almost rape. Tanya was my friend, but she also had a big mouth and fast texting fingers. I didn’t want to tell her that Markus might have been losing it. Especially not about Dean liking me because she herself had a strong crush on him. Telling her about our confrontation or the fact that he saved me from being raped and that I just figured it out was also out of the question. Crap!

“Well?” She snapped.

“I uh-I got a dog.” I said with a slightly shaky voice. “Well, my mom did. I guess it’s mine too. I named him Zeke.”

“That’s not juicy, Mindy.” We continued walking. “Now, back to Dean.” she perked up.

“Yeah. He sure is-”

“HOT!” She interrupted me and dramatically sighed, she looked up at nothing. Probably imagining him.

It kind of bothered me how she kept talking about him. Strange. I never cared before. She’s had a crush on him for as long as I could remember. So I really should’ve be used to her blabbering.

The image of the tattoos lingered in my mind. I had to ask him. It had to be him, but how and when could I approach him? Students were always everywhere. But I was determined to find an opportunity. The first bell rang and all of the students began to pour out of their classes. The guys jogged by us in the direction of the gym. Most likely, they had to rush to take showers before the next class started. As they ran by, I felt Dean’s enchanting eyes piercing me from a corner glance. A chill ran through me raising every hair I was aware of. I tried to shake it off so that I could come back to reality but I was much too intoxicated by his look. It was just a simple look. Right? No. It wasn’t. There was something more behind it.

All I thought about for the rest of the day was his eyes. I would find myself constantly checking myself out in the mirror, making sure that everything was in its place. I felt stupid for trying so hard to look my best for a guy. But not just any guy. Dean of all people! My concentration during school today was so out of whack. The image of Dean this morning was engraved in my mind and there was no way of getting rid of it.

Lunch came around. Thank God! Tanya wasn’t joining us today. Another crush she had wanted to sit down with her. So, of course, she gladly accepted. I couldn’t wait to hear all about it.

We sat at our usual bench outside; it was nice and I couldn’t help but glance over at Dean’s lonesome bench. The only company he’s ever had was that of Shane’s. I couldn’t understand why Dean looked so pissed off whenever Shane was around though. Yet, he still had lunch with him as if they were in their own little club. I noticed Markus was also looking over at his bench. The only difference was that he was making it painfully obvious.

“What are you looking at?” I asked.

“It’s strange…” Markus said, half aloud.

“What?” I asked.

“Well. See that huge shadow over Shane?” Markus pointed out.

“Yeah. What about it?” I shrugged.

“Where are the trees? Or anything else that would cast it over them? The sun is over there…” He pointed to his left and drew an invisible line in the air, bringing it down to where all the other shadows were cast. “…so that one should be facing the same direction as the others. Wait a minute-” He trailed the shadow with his eyes and pointed to a tree in the distance. “There! You see that? That’s where it’s coming from, but it’s facing an odd direction. It’s covering Shane and Dean.” he stated.

“You’re right. That’s so strange.” I agreed.

“What’s up with Shane anyway?” He continued, “Notice anything unusual about him?”

“Except for the fact that he is everything that defines perfection?” I blurted.

“Yeah. Except that.” Markus bluntly said.

“Then, no. Not really.” I shrugged.

“He’s pretty pale, isn’t he? It’s obvious that Dean hates him. That night I first saw Dean kill a vamp, I also saw Mr. Perfect with blood on his lip. Do you think that maybe… he’s a vamp?” Markus tested the question with doubt in his voice.

“That can’t be. Vampires can’t be out during the daylight. Right?” I asked.

“Traditional ones, yeah. But this is real life. Maybe they can.” Markus said.

“Why does Dean hang out with him?” I pondered out loud. “Oh. Remember the first day of school? When Dean got in Shane’s face?” I asked.

“Yeah, I heard about that.” he said.

“After everyone left, Dean punched the brick wall. He left a dent and crumbs fell off of his knuckles.” I informed.

“What?! And you’re barely telling me this? You know how important that information is to my case!” he exclaimed.

“Case? This isn’t your favorite TV show, Markus. We’re not in the show Innocent or Criminal.” I retorted.

“Innocent Until Proven Criminal, Mindy!” he corrected. Funny, when Markus got aggravated or upset you could hardly tell. He was the definition of monotone. Only his closest friends would be able to catch onto what was going on with him and this was one of those times. He took his ‘job’ very seriously.

“Okay, okay. Geeesh! Sorry. I forgot all about it!” I continued, “besides, that part of the wall could have already been dented in. Maybe it was cracked or something and it made it easier for Dean to punch it.” I said.

“I’ll have to take a look at it.” Markus said with authority.

The bell rang. We pushed to our feet and threw away the mess we made on our trays. As we passed Dean’s table, Shane threw me a perfectly crooked smile. Dean was staring at him with rage in his eyes, like he wanted to smash his face in. What was the deal with those two? We dumped our trays in the basket next to the entrance and walked through.

“Show me where.” Markus said.

We walked a little ahead and I took him to the dented wall. I pointed at it with my eyes. As discretely as Markus could, he examined the dent.

“Wow. He has to be.” Markus looked around at the students walking by. “He has to be, you know.” he repeated.

I knew? Was he talking about Dean being a vampire? I shrugged my shoulders. “You’re not suggesting that he’s a…” I whispered, “…vampire?”

“Super strength? Out killing at night? And he hangs out with the other suspect, Shane.” he listed.

I remembered Shane’s tattoo and the two I just discovered on Dean. “They both have similar tattoos on their arms,” I blurted a little too loudly for Markus to allow.

“We better talk later. There’s too many people around. Did anyone else see this?” he asked while still feeling the hole in the wall.

“I don’t think so.” I shook my head. “I’m going to head to class now. I don’t want to be tardy today. Do you want a plastic bag so you can bag the evidence?” I asked with a snicker.

Markus faintly smiled and nodded his head with his eyes still focused on the dent. I patted his shoulder and walked away. I made it to class on time with only one thing on my mind-when this class was over, I was going to sit next to Dean. I was ridiculously excited. My adrenaline was pumping with excitement and the more time went by, the slower fifth hour appeared to be. But finally, it was over. I didn’t tell Markus about the tattoo yet. Not until I was completely sure. In order to do that, I had to confront Dean. My heart accelerated at the thought. What if he wasn’t the guy and I was just making assumptions?

Entering sixth hour was nerve-wracking. I made sure to get there as early as possible, hoping to find Dean in there alone like I had the last time I was too early. That way, I could blurt out my question.

As I approached the classroom door, I took in a deep breath. I then exhaled into the palm of my hand-my breath wasn’t fresh enough so I popped some gum into my mouth and strolled in as if everything was normal. But when I saw him at his desk, I forgot how to walk. My left foot barely hit the back of my right and I flopped to the ground like a fish out of water. I didn’t know what to do I was drowning in complete humiliation! Then a sweaty, slippery hand reached down and grabbed my hand. I instinctively pulled up as the hand did.

“Thanks. I don’t know what I tripped over.” I said while looking back at where I tumbled, hoping to find an enormous book or something that would give my involuntary actions a fair reason. But of course, there was nothing.

“You just tripped over your own foot. Don’t you remember?” said Ben. Oh, I forgot, he was
always
early. There went my chance of talking with Dean. For now. “Did you hit your head or something? You tripped over your foot!” he said a little too loud. It was as if he was trying to make some sort of announcement.

“Yeah. I know!” I whispered out, hoping Dean didn’t hear anything that was going on. I quickly glanced at him from the corner of my eye to see if he was listening. Crap! He was more than listening; he was standing beside his desk. His expression serious, as usual, and staring right at me. Was he expecting to help me up, but Ben beat him to it? He looked away and sat back down.