Enchanter (3 page)

“He’s still staring.” Sonya elbowed my ribcage.

“Well, if he wants to stare at the back of my hair for the
rest of the class then let him,” I whispered harshly, knowing that he could
hear me.

“No need, he already turned his attention back to the
notebook in front of him.”

For some reason, I was relieved by that.

“Isn’t it too hot to wear that kind of clothing?”

It was, but the heat did not seem to bother Brandon as much
as it did us.

“Would you stop staring at him?” I was afraid that if she
kept rubbernecking she could spontaneously combust before my very eyes.

“Why? It’s not like I’m going to explode if I do.” She laughed
at my expression.

“No, but
he
might.”

“All right, all right.” She smiled. “Oh, and before I
forget… happy birthday.”

I groaned out loud. “Thanks.”

For the next forty-five minutes I decided to ignore that
brief eye battle with Brandon Morris and focused all my attention on the lesson
of the day. Later on, as the class worked on writing down a list of potential
questions to use as reference for the not-so-wonderful assignment, I got up and
approached the professor, hoping to get off of the project. Two papers covered
from front to back with guideline requirements and a ‘good luck’ later, Mr.
Lynne dismissed me and I marched back to my seat with a defeated look on my
face. The sheets he’d handed me for the humanity project stated that its
purpose was to help us understand the complexities of each individual
personality. Considering the fact that I was paired up with the one person I
could safely say was beyond different, I thought that I deserved a perfect
score just for being stuck with him.

“No luck, huh?”

“Oh, I have luck, it just happens to be bad.”

“Sorry, Leah.” The look on her face was genuine, so I
decided to reward her with a half-smile.

“It’s not your fault. If anything, it’s mine.”

“It’s not your fault, either. You couldn’t have possibly known
what was going to happen.”

“That doesn’t make me feel any better.”

“Look on the bright side.” She chanced another glance over
my shoulder. “You might get to find out something new about Brandon Morris.”

Yeah, and I might just turn into a famous movie star
tomorrow, too.

I glanced back, only to find that Brandon had removed his
sweatshirt hood and his long hair now hung over one side of his face like a
black, silk curtain.

Just like before, his entire attention was engrossed on the
books on top of his table and he seemed to be writing down notes as he listened
to whatever song happened to be playing in his IPod. No one bothered him, not
even the professor, and he seemed completely contented to be sitting there and
minding his own business.

At first glance, he appeared as normal as anyone I knew on a
personal level. However, although I would not go as far as to say that he was
in fact weird, Brandon Morris was not normal either.

Although I was relieved by it, I never understood what
caused his bullies to discontinue their daily torture of him, but as I observed
him further, I comprehended that he was now a very frightening creature. Where
before he used to be shy, small, and scrawny, now he was big, tough-looking,
and completely intimidating.

It was during my gawking session that Mr. Lynne dismissed
the class and I started to wonder how on earth I was going to approach Brandon.
We had to schedule a time in which we could interview each other.

Walking up to Brandon was a very hard thing to do and I must
have tried to mosey on toward him like a hundred times, but chickened out
before taking the first step.

“What are you thinking so hard about?” Sonya asked when she
noticed I was still ogling Mr. Dark.

“I’m trying to find the courage to go over there and ask
when we can find a time to get together and work on this stupid paper.”

“Normally, I have very good advice to give. But when it
comes to him, I’d rather keep my mouth shut.”

“Gee, thanks for the help.”

Brandon rose, picked up his items, and started for the door.

“Well, here goes nothing.”

It came as no surprise that during my chase, I found myself
hesitating more than once and even thought about turning back around and
forgetting the whole thing. If this stupid humanity project was not worth so
much of my grade, I would have bailed out on it. But I could not afford to make
that mistake, so I followed Brandon out the door and into the hallway. He
walked so fast I had to sprint to catch up with him. However, losing his huge
frame was basically impossible. He easily towered over most people around us
and because of the direction he took, I knew he intended to go up the stairs to
the second floor, so I ran after him.

“Brandon,” I called after him but he did not stop, although
I was pretty sure he heard me. “Brandon!” I used a more forceful tone and he
reacted to it at once, his big body halted so suddenly I ran straight into him.
“Ouch!” I squeaked when my face came in full contact with the wall of his back.

As he turned to face me, he nearly knocked me down and I had
to place a hand on the wall next to me to keep from falling sideways to the
floor. I steadied myself and glared at him while I waited for an apology that
never came.

“What do you want?” For a second or two after he spoke, I seriously
thought I was going to shrink. His voice was so deep and rough that my entire
body reacted immediately. It shivered as if I was cold. By that point I wanted
nothing more than to take off running.

“Don’t worry, I forgive you,” I bit back sarcastically, even
though the meaning was totally lost on him. Or he just did not care. Either way
he was staring me down as if he wished he could squash me under his heavy black
boots.

“I have another class I have to get to.” The statement was
practically a growl.

I heard whispers down the hallway, and I glanced behind me to
find a group of people staring at the giant and the lowly midget girl locked in
an uncomfortable moment.

“This will only take a second,” I replied, shooting a nasty
look at the crowd of gawkers. They took the hint and continued on with their
business.

“Then I guess your time is up,” he retorted, turning on his
heel and storming toward the staircase at the end of the hall.

“Wait.” I ran after him, grabbing a hold of his long sleeve
before he could escape.

If looks could kill I would have been on my way to the afterlife
as soon as I touched him. The way he glared at me caused the hairs at the back
of my neck to rise.

“Make it quick,
Parker
,” he said my surname as if it
was poison to his lips.

“The name’s Leah.”

“Whatever.”

If I was not so sure that he would pick me up and break me
in two the second I slapped him, I would have.

“Look, I’m not happy about this arrangement, either, but
we’re stuck with each other so let’s try to make the best of it, shall we?”

He said nothing.

“I just want to know when we can get together so that we can
start interviewing each other for the essay. We can’t do so while in class and
I work after school so—”

“I have a job, too.”

“Well, what does that leaves us with?”

“Our days off.” His tone made me think that he expected the
answer to be obvious to me. Perhaps it should have been, but I was so freaking
mad the stupidity of my question did not hit me at all.

“I’m off on Fridays and Saturdays.”

He stood there, towering over me, for a few seconds without
replying. The way his blue eyes assessed my face scared the daylights out of
me. Why hadn’t I ever noticed how utterly scary he had become? Probably ’cause
I never bothered to look at him unless he was heading my way while in the
hallway and even then, I would just glance up once so that I could pinpoint his
location long enough for me to sidestep him and continue on my way to wherever
I happened to be heading.

“Fridays aren’t good for me. But Saturday is fine.”

“Where should we meet?”

He appeared startled for a second or two before he regained
his composure.

“Is there a problem with meeting here?” He gestured to the now-empty
hallways.

“School? Do you really want to spend more time here than
what you already do?”

“No, but I don’t think you would want your
friends
to
see us anywhere else.”

“This isn’t about my friends. This is about completing an
assignment that’s worth a quarter of my grade for the semester. So, let’s make
this about what it is.”

“Fine.”

God almighty, he was beyond annoying.

“My apartment.” His reply came as a shock to me.

“What? Why your apartment and not mine?”

“Because I don’t visit.”

“This is not a visit deal. This is strictly school work.”

“Either way, I won’t go anywhere near
your
place.”

The urge to slap him invaded my instincts again, but I held
it back, just barely.

“This is ridiculous!” I snapped.

He took a step back and leaned against the wall, sneering
the whole time.

“You’re enjoying this way too much,” I accused.

“I don’t give a damn either way, prom queen.”

“You need this grade as much as I do.”

“I’ve accumulated enough credits to graduate, anyway, and so
far, I have almost a hundred percent in this class, so even if I fail this
essay, I’ll still pass with an average C. So, who needs this more?”

Damn this boy to hell!

“You could—”

“I don’t have to make things easier for
you
.” He snickered.
“I’m good with my classes, so if anything, you’ll be doing
me
a favor by
helping me keep my grade up, not the other way around.”

“You’re so unbelievably—”

“Go ahead with the insults.” His pale blue eyes shot daggers
at me. “I guarantee you won’t call me something that I haven’t heard before.”

His words cut my retort short.

“Fine,” I said, defeated for the time being. “I need to have
a good grade for this assignment so let’s just try our best to work together.”

“That’s fine with me.”

“Can we find someplace else aside from your apartment to
work in?”

“No.” His body language let me know he was not about to
budge. “Take it or leave it.”

“But—”

“Are you scared of me? Is that it?” As if to make a point,
he took several steps forward and stopped only when our bodies were a few
inches from actually coming in physical contact. The invigorating scent of
cologne invaded my nostrils, causing my mind to go into total confusion.

My frightened brain had no idea what to react to. Normally,
I was a sucker for guys who smelled as good as he did, but this was Brandon
Morris who was standing before me. So I did not know whether to lean closer and
inhale slowly, or scream and take off running to the lobby area.

I wanted to deny his accusation, of course, but I knew he
could see the truth in my eyes so it was pointless to even try to fill him up
with lies. By that point he could see how bad I was shaking and I could not disguise
it fast enough for him not to notice.

“Should I be?”

Brandon opened his mouth as if to say something, but he must
have thought better of it because he shut it again.

“Just so you know, people will be informed of my whereabouts,”
I warned.

“Yeah, I’m sure they’ll be all over my case because the
pretty prom queen is going to be in my house.”

Was it my imagination or did he just call me pretty?

“No one is going to bother you… us while we work.”

Brandon ignored my comment and only moved to reach into his
front pocket to take out a piece of paper, which he handed to me.

“What’s this?”

“My address.”

I looked up at him in surprise.

“Mr. Lynne told me yesterday I was going to be paired up
with you, so I wrote my address down for you.”

“Thank you.”

He did not respond, and instead took off up the steps.

I stared at his back for a long time after he disappeared.

Happy freaking birthday, Leah!

After Brandon’s huge frame disappeared up the first set of
stairs, I recalled that he gave me no time of day in which he wanted me to meet
him. Annoyed, I started for the stairs after him. Since anger and frustration
were dictating my body’s movements, I was not paying any attention to where my
foot landed until it slipped and I fell forward onto the concrete stairs. I
tried to grab the handrail before falling, but my reaction came a second too
late. My hand touched nothing but air and by that point all I could do was cry
out and brace myself for what was to come.

Though I knew what was going to happen, the impact still
took me by surprise and within seconds of freefalling forward, I was lying on
my stomach in the middle of the stairs, pain immediately spreading throughout
my body like wildfire. The right side of my body suffered the worst of the blows.
My ribcage, knee, and right side of my head received the worst of it because
they were the first body parts to make contact with the steps. My eyesight
fogged up for a second or two as I lay there. However, I did hear the sound of heavy
footsteps coming down the stairs but I had no idea who it was until he spoke.

“Leah!”

I lifted my face at the sound of Brandon’s voice.

“Are you all right?”

That’s probably the stupidest question you can ever ask.
If you see someone on the floor and it’s obvious they’re hurt, why is that the
first thing that slips out of peoples’ mouths?

“Oh, don’t mind me. I just decided to test my theory on
whether or not falling face first onto concrete hurts as much as people say it
does,” I snapped. “Guess what, it hurts like hell.”