Rebirth: The Awakening Of A Witch (15 page)

“Holy crap,” I groaned and heard Nick laugh. This yoga pose wasn’t as easy as it looks. It actually hurts when you’re not
used to stretching this much
.
I reached my arms out, flailing them towards Nick, trying to
grab hold of
his arms.
He caught my arms and we finally completed the position. I was busy ignoring the pain in my legs
when I felt Adrien’s maddening aura rupture like a volcano.

What the hell? I dragged my head
up
, completely destroying the
blasted
yoga pose and turned to where the fuming aura came from. I automatically plastered my death glare when I saw him staring back at me. He completely looked angry for some reason, before d
uc
king his head back to his knee.

“Okay, guys. Let’s get on with the Double Boat now. Raise your feet together,” Mr. York cried out the initial instructions.
“Be sure to hold your partner’s hands so you won’t hurt yourselves, and don’t forget your breathing exercises,” Mr. York continued on as he slowly walked everywhere, checking on each of our poses.

I felt like dying right now. I definitely need to start exercising. I was preoccupied with my breathing when his infuriating presence
bothered me again. I looked at him with all the annoyance I now felt clear in my eyes. He
was so furious
that he almost
appeared
to reach that point where fumes from his ears would be blowing out any moment
.
I ignored him. I was definitely going to place ‘Why is he mad at me?’
at the top of my long list of questions.

After about half an hour of stretching, Mr. York finally dismissed the class. I groaned. “Thank you, Lord.” I breathed and collapsed on the mat. Nick chuckle
d as he stood,
towering over me.
“Don’t you ever get tired?” I asked him, slightly annoyed that he didn’t seem to look like he even tried
putting any effort in the
entire
exercise
.

“Nope,” he answered, clearly emphasizing the ‘p’ as he replied.
He
rea
ched his hand out to help me and I gladly took it, ignoring Adrien’s furious aura.

Nick and I walked to the school cafeteria together. When we reached our table, everyone was already there, everyone except Adrien and Cole.
I would know even without looking.
I tried locating his presence, trying to confirm once more
if it was his aura that
was continu
ously
bothering me.
And there
he
was
…
two tables from our left. I turned to look at him sitting with Cole
. He was
slowly
eating his lunch
with a s
lightly angered
look on
.
I clicked my tongue.
What did the food ever do to you?

At least my theory was confirmed.
The only unsolved mystery now
is
why
I
could
sense his presence
.
Why
is
it only him
?

I frowned, turning
my gaze back to our table
.
I
saw Elise smiling apologetically at me. I returned her smile. For all of Adrien’s unpleasantness, Elise was the complete opposite.

I sat down beside her. I would really like spending more time with her and Cole, without having Adrien around to ruin it.
Then an idea hit me.

“Elise,” I looked at her expectantly.

“Yes?” she asked as she daintily wiped her mouth with a table napkin.

“Would you like to go to a party with Nick, Anne, and I on Saturday night?”

Her face instantly lit up. “Oh, that would be great! Is it really okay for me to come?”

“
Sure it is,
”
Jessica answered
almost immediately
. “It’ll be much more fun with more people,” she continued on as she winked at her.

“Take your brothers with you, too,” Anne said while I groaned inwardly.

Elise happily nodded at Anne and smiled weakly at me. I sighed. I guess it can’t be helped. At least the twins will be there. I gave her a reassuring smile before
leaving
our
table,
running after Nick
,
who was now standing
at the end of the
line
, waiting for the
lunch ladies to
start
serv
ing the
food
.

Afternoon classes went by so slowly like the rest of my morning classes did, what with Adrien continuing on with his stalker behavior.
I couldn’t concentrate much on the lectures.

When the last bell for the day finally rang, I felt his presence slowly slip away. I turned to look at where he was seated at the back of the room. He was gone. I frowned. He usually stayed and
skulk
around some more.
I shrugged and glanced at my watch. The Arts club
was having one of those
monthly
meetings scheduled later this day.
I decided to go early and maybe start on some project while I’m waiting.

I made my way to the Art room, which was just located on the floor above Mr. Roberts’ room. I loved this floor. Most of the windows in the corridors were open to allow some of the artworks to dry up. It was very airy and fresh, and I loved the feeling of walking with
subtle
air blowing against you.

As soon as I neared the Art room, though, that aura
came rushing towards me. I stopped.

He can’t be here, too. I groaned
as
I
peeked
through the nearest
door to the room
and saw him there.
He actually looked at peace while he was painting on a canvass. I’ve never seen him that calm before.

All of a sudden, he s
tiffened and looked right at me with
his blank expression automatically displayed on his face.
I sighed and waved at him as I entered the room and went straight to look at what he was working on.

I gasped as I looked at the image staring back at me. It was the blue-green marble tree I had on my wall, the exact same one
i
n my dream
s
.

“Adrien, how did you know about this tree?” I
softly
asked as I dragged my eyes on the entire painting. The colors, the leaves,
and the
exact pos
ition of the branches… even if
t
he painting
was
still
halfway done, it was
precisely
the same
tree
I
’ve
dreamt about.

I felt him
tense
beside me. “I just used my imagination,” he answered with much difficulty. I could
easily
tell that he was lying even if he
was
we
aring
that uncaring mask on.

“You know I can tell that you’re lying, right?” I replied, giving him a wary look. He immediately hardened his expression
and didn’t look at me.
He just kept quiet, probably trying to find a way to explain.
Then,
he
placed
the palette on the table beside him as
h
e
bent to
pick up his
things
when I stopped him.

“Fine. I won’t ask any more questions. Just please don’t leave,” I started. I don’t know why I stopped him, but I just couldn’t let him leave after he painted this tree.
My
tree. I looked at it one last time before turning my attention back to him. “What are you doing here, anyway?” I asked as I walked towards one of the room’s opened windows. I breathed the air in, enjoying the breeze as it ruffled my hair.

“I just joined the club yesterday.” He sat back down on th
e stool in front of the canvass, studying his half-done painting with a calm expression.

He wasn’t in any of the classes yesterday, and yet
, of all the clubs in school,
he had time to join this
one
?

Thinking about yesterday brought back how he fought off
those ruffians
, and I looked at him in awe again. I still couldn’t believe he can fight that well.

I blushed when he caught me looking at him, and I ended up making a fake cough to try and cover up my stupidity.

“So why didn’t you join the martial arts club? I’m sure they could use someone like you in their team,” I
inquir
ed as I arranged my hair, bringing all of it to rest in front of one shoulder so the wind wouldn’t be able to tousle it as much.

He just shrugged. “With all of that fighting surrounding you, would you still want t
hat violence
to continuously consume you even when it’s not needed?” he narrated as he gazed back at the canvass before him.
“I’d rather spend my time doing relaxed, laidback activities
and
enclose
myself in soothing environments.
A
rt just happens to do the trick.” He continued on as I stared at him, once again dumbfounded at what he just said. I smiled when he looked at me. I was actually glad that he shared something
that
insightful
with me.
It almost felt like we were friends or something.

Frenemies
,
maybe. I
giggl
ed when that thought crossed my mind. I never thought I’d use that term to
describe anything related to Adrien Fields.

Physically
, you wouldn’
t be able to tell that he was somehow intelligent.
My first impression of him being a badass may be a bit off.
But considering how he fought off those hooligans,
he may be badass after all.
I
exhaled loudly
.
Even his
character description is confusing.

I looked back at him to apologize for my sudden
laughter
,
but
I was surprised to see him actually blush
ing
. I was about to comment on that when loud chatters suddenly filled the room.

Most of the
club
members were here, and the afternoon’s meeting was about to start.

The discussion lasted for about
three
, slow
hours
.
A
nd by the time it finished, it was already dark outside. I dreaded walking home, especially after what happened last night.
I
was debating
whether to text Nick to come pick me up, but he probably would’ve just arrived home by now.
I remember him telling me that
they were having football practice
after school
today
, but
that
was already done about an hour ago
.

I sighed when I knew there was no choice. I started walking, making sure to quicken my pace so I could get home faster.

I didn’t get past the school entrance when I felt Adrien’s presence behind me. He slowed the car down until it was matching my own pace. For a few minutes I tried ignoring him, but he was so
insistent
that I got annoyed. I stopped walking and looked at him, crossing my arms in the process. He had the
car
window
at
his side rolled down and was just staring back at me, clearly amused with himself.