I'm affecting her. Is it wrong that affecting her like this makes me happy? I mean of course, I'm appeased that she's exhausted and bothered, but it's not enough. I want more, Ineedmore.
“I want you to hurt…” I lean closer to her, my face inches away from her. “I want it to burn every part of you. I want you to be in so much pain that you can't bear to breathe.”
She blinks. “What do you think the last ten years of my life has been like?”
I'm silent. Rendered speechless by her words, which is quite a rare occurrence for me. My breath is caught in my throat, her words piercing deep into my chest. She could be talking about me, or maybe she’s talking about how miserable her life is. Either way, it’s honest and unexpectedly raw.
The silence piercing the room should alarm me. Anyone could walk in right now and what would they see? Me and Adaline, inches apart, breathing heavily. I can’t even attempt to have a thought, because all I can do is stare at her exhausted face.
My eyes take note of the minuscule beauty mark under her ear; anything to distract me from… her lips.
Now, I'm looking. I don't have another choice. They look soft and her maroon red lipstick looks inviting. It seems as though she doesn't have a choice either because she's staring at my lips too.
Being this close to her, I can almost trace the outline of her lips with my eyes. Not that I can focus on her lips any longer because I feel my neck being pulled from the back, consequently pulling me away from Adaline. “Get off her!”
Chapter SEVEN
A d a l i n e
“Whatis going on?”
The sound of Aryan's voice snaps me out of the momentary trance I was in. What was that? That moment? I was just flustered. I mean, it's no secret that Juliette is an attractive girl, I just became entranced for a moment, that’s all.
“Nothing,” I scratch the back of my neck, “everything is fine.”
They don't seem convinced. Aryan seems bewildered and well, Victoria seems livid. She yanked Juliette off me with such brute force, I expected Juliette to fight her or yell at her, but she didn't. She's just standing there, looking at Victoria with annoyance, although her eyes keep wavering over toward me. I avoid her eyes, like I usually do.
“Fine? She had her hands on you!” Victoria screeches, her hands flailing with exasperation.
Victoria gets very protective sometimes, I think it's the older sister in her. She really can't help it.
I don't blame her though; I once broke some girl’s hand because she tried to slap Victoria and Aryan once choked a guy unconscious when he tried to grope us. We are a very violently protective group.
I told them about having to tutor Juliette when I left her house that day—they were sceptical about why I agreed, but once I told them about the commendation letter, they understood.
In fact, they went straight to Mr Khalid’s room and asked to see a copy of the letter. It was perfect, I made all the amendments I needed to and quickly began dreading holding up my end of the bargain.
Juliette rolls her eyes. “You're acting a bit dramatic, don't you think?” My friends practically snarl at her.
Why are they so bothered about this? I mean, it literally looks like fume is coming out of their ears. This is what Juliette and I always do; they should be used to it by now.
Thankfully, they have no idea how badly Juliette has been mistreating me the last few weeks.
“What are you guys doing here anyway?” I ask, to diffuse the tension.
They both sigh audibly and Victoria is the one who begins talking. “We overheard Stacey bragging about wrecking your clothes, so we confronted her.”
The mention of her name reminds me of the raspberry slushy. She was so sneaky about it too, although she wasn’t confident like Juliette. She did it from behind and ran away straight after.
“It didn't take much threatening before she told us everything that they've been doing to you,” Aryan adds.
Shit. I thought I had been vigilant in hiding the havoc that Juliette has been wrecking on me. I even bought premium grade bleach, just so I could remove that slur she put on my locker.
I couldn't let them know, they would murder Juliette and then she wouldn't be able to take her anger out on me, which for the first time, is actually warranted.
Juliette scoffs. “It's worrying that you guys couldn't figure it out yourselves. Aren't you her best friends?” She shoots me a look, telling me that she is bewildered, but satisfied at the same time that I didn't tell my friends anything.
“Shut up!” Victoria groans out, clutching her forehead like the sound of Juliette's voice is giving her a migraine.
