He sits at that same spot in the back, sprawled out across his seat and the two on either side of him. He almost makes the seats look comically small with how imposing he is. I watch his mouth while he chews on the end of his pen, pulling it out from between his teeth before smirking at me.
My shoulders slump, and I move down the row, dropping into the seat beside him.
His facial hair has grown out a little—I don't think he's shaved since before that night. It looked like this when I met him, too; it softens him somehow.
I remember the way it felt against my chest when he bit me. It took forever for that bruise to heal. I couldn't stop pressing on it.
"Can you at least get off me?" I ask, opening my laptop.
"I'm notonyou."
"Yes, you are, Elias. You're manspreading all over me. Your leg isfullyunder my desk, rubbing up against me, and your elbow is jutting into my side."
He scoffs. "So? What do you need all of that room for? I could put you in my pocket."
"It's calledpersonal space."
"You don't get personal space anymore. You've lost the privilege, haven't you? Besides, you live in my personal space."
He stretches out, somehow making himself even bigger, his arm hanging over into my chair with his hand against my bare leg.
I really need to rethink my clothing choices on days we have class together.
"Hey, Elias!" I look up at the familiar face, and all the air leaves my lungs.
I try to make myself even smaller at his side, hoping she doesn't notice me. I lean over my laptop, resting my head on my hand, attempting to use that and my hair to obscure my face.
"Hey, Sasha," he says. "What's up?"
"I didn't know you were in this class!" she says. "I thought it was only for freshmen. Can I sit here?"
No,I think.Please, no.
"Yeah. You're coming to the party tonight, right?"
No.I never considered there would be more people from our high school at this party.
"Oh, for sure," she says. "I seriously can't wait to hang out with you guys again. Dax actually texted me right when I got to campus, and I texted him back, but then I never heard anything from him again."
"Yeah, we've been a little busy…"
I feel him looking over at me now. I'm sure he senses my discomfort—he has to see it in my body language, especially since he lives for it, and I wait for him to capitalize on it.
I want to fucking die.
Sasha was in my year, but she was always one of Elias's minions. She slammed my fingers in my locker one day when they were walking down the hall together. Two of them broke, and I had to tell my mom I fell on them during gym class.
That was back when I still thought he would stop.
She kept it going for him after he was gone, but once I got a reputation for swinging, her assaults were only verbal. And then Elias paid her to sleep with my grad date. I don't know what you'd call that.
They kept seeing each other for a while, too, even after he found out she was paid to do it.
They keep talking, and to my surprise, Elias doesn't single me out. And even though she spent so much time making mylife hell along with him, she still doesn't notice me sitting beside him.
If I did something like that to someone, I would recognize them. It would sit with me.
I can't even hear what they're saying over my internal dialogue—the panic and the sound of my own heartbeat. Her laughter cuts through it all just as the professor makes her way to the front of the room, and I can't fucking take it anymore.
