2. Vald Evans

Ivory's Pov

"I'm sorry..." I was still apologizing when the guy I had bumped boom.

"Watch it!"

It was two simple words but I've stiffened. And for the first time since I've arrived, I felt goosebumps creept up my arms.

The guy stared at me with heated intensity that made me wanted to squirm and hide. Until he turned and left.

"Are you alright?" Luke asked, study me with a relief looked.

"I'm good," I lied, controlling my ragging heartbeat.

"That was Vald Evans." Luke mumbled as we continued down the path. "You should stay away from him."

We walked back around the cafeteria, to the south buildings by the gym. Luke walked me right to the door, though it was clearly marked.

"Well, good luck," he said as I touched the handle. "Maybe we'll have some other classes together."

He sounded hopeful.

I smiled at him vaguely and went inside.

The rest of the morning passed in about the same fashion. My Physics  teacher, Mrs. Brown, who I would have hated anyway just because of the subject she taught. She was the only one who made me stand in front of the class and introduce myself. I stammered, blushed, and tripped over my own boots on the way to my seat.

After two classes, I started to recognize several of the faces in each class. There was always someone braver than the others. Who would introduce themselves and ask me questions about how I was liking Aberdeen. I tried to be diplomatic, but mostly I just lied a lot. At least I never needed the map.

One girl sat next to me in both Physics and Spanish, and she walked with me to the cafeteria for lunch.

She was tiny, several inches shorter than my five feet four inches. But her curly brown hair made up a lot of the difference between our heights. I couldn't remember her name, so I smiled and nodded as she prattled about teachers and classes. I didn't try to keep up.

We sat at the end of a full table with several of her friends, who she introduced to me. I forgot all their names as soon as she spoke them. They seemed impressed by her bravery in speaking to me. The boy from English, Luke, waved at me from across the room. It was here, in the lunchroom, trying to make conversation with four curious strangers. When I first saw them.

They were sitting in the corner of the cafeteria, as far away from where I sat as possible in the long room. There were three of them. They were talking, and taking small bites from their tray that was filled with food.

They weren't gawking at me, unlike most of the other students. So it was safe to stare at them without fear of meeting an interested pair of eyes.

"What are you staring at?" The girl from my Spanish class, whose name I'd forgotten asked.

"Who are they?" I asked.

"The populars." Jayden answered, taking a bite from his apple.

"Meet the Evan's family." Luke muttered.

But before I could answer, my neighbor said. "That's Haden." She said, pointing to the guy with dirty blonde hair, amber eyes and a die for pouty lips.

"Beside him is Adriana." She added, looking at the cheerful-looking girl.

Adriana raven colored hair was pulled in ponytail as they spoke. Alluringly, she blinked, letting her long eyelashes fan her cheek. Her eyes were spellbinding. A rapturous shade of cerulean blue that was much more appealing than my chocolate brown ones.

"And you already met Vald." Luke piped in. "The cold one."

"Vald is not." My neighbor defended.

"The guy is scary, Jess." Luke practically yelled.

Oh, so that was her name Jess.

"He's not." Jess pouted, "Tell him, Abby." She gestured towards the curly brown hair girl.

"He can be a tad bit scary." Abby answered, pushing her black rimmed glasses up her nose bridge.

"Whatever." Jess sulked.

"They are… very nice-looking." I struggled with the conspicuous understatement.

"Yes!" Jessica agreed with a giggle.

"Have they always lived in Aberdeen?" I asked.

"No." She said in a voice that implied it should be obvious, even to a new arrival like me.

I felt a surge of pity, and relief. Pity because, as beautiful as they were, they were outsiders, clearly not accepted. Relief that I wasn't the only newcomer here and not the most interesting by any standard.

After a few more minutes, the three of them left the table together. They all were noticeably graceful.

I sat at the table with Jessica and her friends longer than I would have if I'd been sitting alone. I was anxious not to be late for class on my first day when Abby reminded me that I had Biology with her.

When we entered the classroom, Aby went to sit at a black-topped lab table exactly like the ones I was used to. She already had a neighbor. In fact, all the tables were filled but one. Next to the center aisle, I recognized him, Vald Evans was sitting next to that single open seat.

As I walked down the aisle to introduce myself to the teacher and get my slip signed. Just as I passed, he suddenly went rigid in his seat. He stared at me again, meeting my eyes with the strangest expression on his face. It was hostile, furious. I looked away quickly, shocked, going red again. I stumbled over a book in the walkway and had to catch myself on the edge of a table.

The girl sitting there giggled.

I'd noticed that his eyes were black — coal black.

Mr. Gordon signed my slip and handed me a book with no nonsense about introductions. I could tell we were going to get along. Of course, he had no choice but to send me to the one open seat in the middle of the room. I kept my eyes down as I went to sit by him, bewildered by the antagonistic stare he'd given me.

I didn't look up as I set my book on the table and took my seat, but I saw his posture change from the corner of my eye. He was leaning away from me, sitting on the extreme edge of his chair. And averting his face like he smelled something bad.

Inconspicuously, I sniffed my hair. It smelled like strawberries, the scent of my favorite shampoo. It seemed an innocent enough odor. I let my hair fall over my right shoulder, making a curtain between us, and tried to pay attention to the teacher.

I couldn't stop myself from peeking occasionally through the screen of my hair at the strange boy next to me. During the whole class, he never relaxed his stiff position on the edge of his chair. Sitting as far from me as possible. I could see his hand on his left leg was clenched into a fist, tendons standing out under his pale skin. This, too, he never relaxed. His long white sleeves shirt was pushed up to his elbows. Revealing his forearm that was surprisingly hard and muscular beneath his light skin.

The class seemed to drag on longer than the others. Was it because the day was finally coming to a close, or because I was waiting for his tight fist to loosen? It never did; he continued to sit so still it looked like he wasn't breathing.

I peeked up at him one more time, and regretted it. He was glaring down at me again, his black eyes full  of revulsion. As I flinched away from him, shrinking against my chair.

At that moment, the final bell rang at last,  making me jump, and Vald was out of his seat. Fluidly he rose he was much taller than I'd thought, and he was out the door before anyone else was out of their seat.

I sat frozen in my seat, staring blankly after him. Slowly, I began gathering up my things. Trying to block the anger that filled me, for fear my eyes would tear up. For some reason my temper was hardwired to my tear ducts. I usually cried when I was angry, a humiliating tendency.

I walked slowly to the office to return my paperwork. The rain had drifted away, but the wind was strong, and colder. I wrapped my arms around myself. When I walked into the warm office, I almost turned around and walked back out.

Vald stood the desk in front of me. I recognized again that tousled black hair. He was arguing with her in a low, attractive voice. I quickly picked up the gist of the argument. He was trying to trade from Biology.

The door opened again, and the cold wind suddenly gusted through the room. Rustling the papers on the desk, swirling my hair around my face. The girl who came in merely stepped to the desk, placed a note in the wire basket, and walked out again.

But Vald's back stiffened, and he turned slowly to glare at me. His face was absurdly handsome with piercing, hate-filled eyes. For an instant, I felt a thrill of genuine fear, raising the hair on my arms. The look only lasted a second, but it chilled me more than the freezing wind. He turned back to the receptionist.

"Never mind, then." He said hastily in a voice like velvet and he turned on his heel.

I went meekly to the desk, my face white for once instead of red, and handed her the signed slip.

"How did your first day go, dear?" The receptionist asked maternally.

"Fine." I lied my voice weak. She didn't look convinced.

When I got outside mom was already waiting. "How was your day, honey?" Mom asked soon as I was seated in the car.

"It was great." I lied, fighting tears the whole way home.