Narcissist

"Oh I- I'm so sorry!"

In all honesty, I'd never feared for my life more than I had in that moment.

Luca always looked angry, he always looked annoyed and pissed but when his eyes met mine from across the room, they were the color of flaming Ice. And all I could think was....

~Dante's Inferno...~

This moment was exactly what my father had always warned me about. It was exactly why I should be afraid to make friends with vampires. Because Luca seriously looked like he was about to cross the room and rip out my throat.

"I didn't mean to-"

My sentence cut short when Charlie wrapped her arm around me neck and pulled me to her height. I ended up staring straight at her boobs. "Why are you apologizing?" she asked and ruffled my hair. "You made a fair point against our best player!"///

My eyes darted across the room to Luca again. He wasn't looking at me anymore, instead, he was examining the ball that he had picked up. "I did?"

"Yep!" Charlie cackled as if pleased with how angry Luca was. "If this was a real match, that would have been a point for you."

Charlie released me from her grasp and I attempted to fix my scarf as I stood at my normal height again. "But it was just luck. If it hadn't hit the corner of the table then-"

"Luck or not!" Zen joined in, "You made a point." she punched my shoulder and it hurt. "I don't even remember the last time I made a point against Luca."

"It's all for the better." Charlie agreed still smiling, "He needs to be humbled every now and then."

"Are you done?" I jumped at the ice-cold sound of Luca's voice.

Zen put her arm around my shoulder and leaned in as if I were a crutch. "Hey, be nice to the new girl."

"I'm trying to teach her." Luca sounded a bit exasperated, "And you guys are over here making a big deal out of a lucky shot."

Charlie and Zen both laughed at this.

"A 'lucky shot'?" Zen taunted and wiggled her fingers in the air.

"Someone is bitter!" Charlie agreed.

And the more they teased, the more Luca looked angry, and the more I feared for my life.

"Whatever." Luca finally said, "Yes, she got a point on me." then his eyes shifted to mine. "But it won't happen again, okay?"

I swallowed.

~Is he going to kill me?~

"Whatever you say, Mr. Zhang." The two girls laughed again but apparently decided that they had squeezed every bit of fun out of taunting Luca and moved on to watching the others play ping pong.

"You still need more practice." Luca finally said, and I couldn't tell if his anger had dissipated , or if he was simply doing a better job of holding it in. Either way, I didn't feel like disobeying and testing it. So I nodded and found my way back to the ping pong table.

We continued to practice for the next hour. Slowly, the other members of the team waved goodbye and left, until only a few of us were left.

I had played so much that I was beginning to sweat, and the fact that I was wearing a scarf didn't help. Although I didn't complain, I just kept playing until Luca seemed like he was finished.

"That's enough for today." Luca said, and I found myself breathing harder than usual. I knew ping pong was technically a sport but I hadn't expected to get winded from it.

"So," Zen spoke from the bleachers across the room from us. She, Charlie, and Candace were the last members remaining. "Do you think she has some potential?" she asked Luca.

"She needs a lot more practice before the match at Lux-U." He answered and my eyes darted away when he looked at me.

"You said your name was Theresa?" Luca asked and I nodded frantically.

~I mean technically it's Tia, no one calls me by my real name... But I'm not going to correct you.~

Zen turned back to talk with Charlie about something and Luca continued speaking to me. "You need to come to practice everyday for the next two weeks." he told me and my shoulders relaxed as I realized he wasn't going to scold me for making a point on him earlier. "You should practice with whoever you can, then I will work with you for an hour after practice everyday too."

"You will?" My eyes snapped to his. I expected that he would try to avoid working with me.

"Yes," he answered, "But you still have a long way to go." He held my gaze for a moment and I felt like I was freezing over. "So don't skip any practice."

~Jeez, he's so serious about ping pong...~

He turned to leave the room, and I released a breath with the end of our conversation. To be honest, I wasn't sure how many more conversations I could possibly survive having with him.

~Why the freaking ping pong club? Why did it have to be the only club left? Why did freaking Luca Zhang have to like this one random sport?~

"By the way," My body flinched when a hand grabbed my arm. I looked up to find Luca standing beside me with inferno blue eyes, "That was a lucky shot you made and nothing more." He squeezed my arm tighter as he leaned his head to speak in my ear. I wasn't even sure if I could hear him because my heart was suddenly beating so fast that it was echoing in my skull. "Don't get a big head about it."

He released me and I felt like I might faint instantly, "I- I won't." I mustered.

"Good." he smiled and it looked like the kind of smile one wore when they imagined murdering someone, "Then, I'll see you tomorrow." he patted my shoulder and left the room.

~I think I just peed my pants.~