Captivated (An Affliction Novel) (3 page)

“What’s the story on powder puff?” Ayden asked a little too loudly. All the eyes that were locked on the boy switched towards Ayden in amazement.

“Ayden!” I gasped out.

The guy
faced Ayden and stared at his pencil on my neck. He then looked up at him and smiled broadly, flashing rows of bright white teeth. The guy’s eyes flickered to mine and he swiftly walked towards me without removing his gaze.

“And what is your name?” his soothing voice asked me. It was like listening to a song that brought you into a world of no worries.

“I…” I cleared my throat. For that second, I forgot my name. My jaw was dropped and I couldn’t help it, I felt drugged. There was complete silence.

“Her name is Mindy.” Ayden’s rugged voice blurted. It made me jump a little
, almost breaking the trance I was in.

With the gu
y’s eyes still on mine, he reached for my limp hand. His hands felt cold and fresh. It wasn’t like ice; more like his hands gave off a minty sensation when he touched me, like when you chew a fresh piece of gum and inhale a little through your teeth. The fresh feeling threw me deeper into the trance.

“Mindy.” he softly said my name. “Tell me…my beautiful red rose,” he continued, “why must you let this thorny bush grip onto you, keeping your light in its dull and ugly world?” He raised my hand up in the gentlest way, I hardly felt it move. A marking on his arm snagged my attention and I could only see part of it peeking through the rolled up sleeve. The color was the blackest of black. Either that or his white skin made it seem darker than it was. I couldn’t quite tell what the design was. Some sort of tribal marking? The
guy lowered his face towards my hand. It looked dirty against his satin skin. His intoxicating eyes were still locked onto mine and his perfect lips puckered as they inched towards my hand. He gently pressed his delicate lips against it and I stopped breathing. Pure silence had taken over the classroom.

“What are you doing, Mindy?!” Ayden yelled out. He jumped up huffing.

I didn’t answer. I couldn’t move. Who would even try?

“Is thi
s clown your boyfriend?” the guy asked.

“Hey! Who-who you calling a clo
wn!” Ayden exploded, but the guy ignored him.

“No.” The word crept out of me. Even if Ayden
were
my boyfriend, I think that word would have still seeped out of my mouth.

“Ah…I see.” The guy
smiled even wider, as if he proved himself right about something. “He is the insect that uses your precious petals as a resting spot. Is the friendship beneficial for you or the fly?” the pouty lips asked me, but I was too dazed to answer.

“That’s it!” Ayden snarled. “How about I stick my thorny bush up your-”

“Ayden!” Mr. Shapiro interrupted. “Now, that’s enough of this charade!”

“Thanks, Shapiro.” The guy
laughed. He carefully placed my hand back down on my desk. “I think he was hitting on me.” He turned, smiling at Ayden.

The class broke out into a roar of laughter. Ayden shrunk in his seat with his head down. He’d never been embarrassed publicly like that before. I’m sure there had been many chances, but no one had ever been brave enough. People didn’t really mess with jocks like him. I even saw Mr. Shapiro’s lips forcing themselves not to smile.

“Class!” he shouted out over the laughter. As the class calmed down, he spoke again. “After Shane takes a seat, we’re going to open our books to page twenty-three.” his tone turned serious.

“Shane.” I purred. I
then melted in my chair and put my hand against my chest. From across the room, he shot me a wink when I said his name.

ey, Rose.” Tanya teased. “I just told Markus about what happened in first hour.” Tanya cut in front of me at the lunch line and Markus slowly eased beside me.

“I wish I could have been there!” Markus said. “I can’t believe Ayden got punked!” He threw back his head and laughed.

“Have you seen Shane around?” Tanya asked with her eyes scanning the lunch line.

“Yup.” I muttered. “He’s in between the Barbie girls.” I pointed at the table near the exit where Ashley and Jennifer’s bodies were seated so disgustingly close to his. They weren’t that pretty in the face and I didn’t think they had even a small percentage of fat in their bodies. Their poufy blond hair probably weighed more than they did. The only way either of them could get a guy’s attention was with their overly flirtatious behavior, which always involved touching and sticking out their chests.

“Gross.” Tanya spat. “Look how far they’re sticking out their boobs!” Her face scrunched in disgust.

“They’re sluts with four L’s…
slllluts.
” Markus made sure to exaggerate the ‘L’ sound.

Shane looked like he was enjoying the attention. His irresistible smile never ceased. Especially as Ashley flipped her hair back exposing her cleav
age a little more. The girls didn’t look right being next to Shane’s perfection.

“Next!” Lenore the lunch lady called out. Her white hair was up in a messy ponytail and it wasn’t one of the ones that were in style. I was talking about the ones you would get if you slept with a ponytail and didn’t bother to fix it in the morning. Her apron had food splatters all over the front and some stains looked like hand prints. My guess was
, she wiped her hands on her apron instead of washing them.

I grabbed my plate and utensils. The selection looked okay. As I scooped up what looked like meatloaf patties sitting in sauce, I couldn’t help but cast a glance in Shane’s direction. I was so confused. Well, all he had done was compliment me. And in doing so, made me forget about everything else that existed. Could he be doing the same thing to them? The Barbie girls? I rolled my eyes. He wouldn’t have to try too hard. Just saying hello to Ashley and Jennifer got them excited.

“Forget about it.” Markus insisted. “That’s just how some guys are.” He gently pushed me forward to move the line along.

I skipped the mysterious soup and served myself salad and some scary looking meat patties. I couldn’t wait to eat outside to avoid that vulgar display.

Shane was near the exit. As we walked past him, I turned to Tanya to avoid looking at him and spat out anything that came to mind.

“So, th-the meat looks good.” I stuttered. No, it didn’t. In fact, I didn’t even think it was real meat. The group of kids walking in front of us stopped before they stepped out, blocking my exit. Now
, I was stuck behind them. Great.

“I didn’t get the meat,” Tanya said. “I just grabbed a couple of apples and some chips.” She raised one of the green apples to show it to me.

“Yeah, I didn’t get it e-either.” I was still stuttering. My nerves were really getting to me. Once again, I gazed at Shane running his hand through his silvery hair. The strands bounced right back into place. I knew he was too good to be real. There had to be a flaw and his flaw was probably like most other guys; he was just chasing.

“Yes you did. You loaded up on the patties, Mindy.” There was concern in
Tanya’s tone.

The group in front of us still hadn’t moved. They were calling out to Shane to get his attention. The Barbie girls looked bothered by the interruption. Shane winked at me, but I wasn’t falling for
that
again. I couldn’t stand it there any longer so I pressed my tray against Markus’ back. He innocently turned to me with his eyebrow raised.

“I heard about what happened in first hour...”
a guy commented.

Crap. Th
at situation was about to get uncomfortable. Markus looked back at Shane and Shane leaned back in his chair effortlessly, turning an eye on him. I pressed harder against Markus’ back with my tray. He looked at me with confusion as I jetted my eyes towards the door.

“Oh.” Markus realized. He tried looking around the group to see if there was an opening we could squeeze through. I didn’t see any, but that didn’t stop him from gripping his tray and making his own way through the group. I followed closely behind with Tanya stuck to my back. We finally opened the doors and stepped out of the crammed cafeteria. I took a whiff of the fresh air and could almost taste the freshly cut grass as I inhaled. Plenty of room to breathe out
there.

“Thanks, Markus.” I told him. “My next step was to break the tray over your head,” I playfully added. He really was a lifesaver though. I could always count on him to get me out of a jam.

“Where do you want to sit, your majesty?” he jokingly asked.

“I don’t care!” I laughed out.

I felt better. We sat at a bench under a large tree, the leaves providing a cloud of shade around us. And the smell of the freshly cut grass danced around my nose.

“So, you’re still with him?” Markus asked
, interrupting my peaceful escape.

“Oh. Back to
that
conversation,” I mumbled. I picked up my fork and played with my salad. With the other hand, I cut the bright red cherry tomatoes into halves with the butter knife.

“I don’t get you Mindy,” he continued, “either you’re with him or you’re not.” He popped open his can of soda.

“I’m not.” I irritably said. I jammed a fork full of lettuce leaves, a tomato piece, and a cucumber slice in my mouth and chewed roughly.

“I can’t believe you’re doing the whole friends–with-benefits deal with him.” Markus had anger in his voice.
“He’s just using you, Mindy.” he gestured his hand towards me.

“It’s convenient.” I blurted out. Not a good choice of words.

“Convenient for who?” He set his soda down. “When he has an itch, he comes to you for a scratch?” Markus snapped.

“There are no responsibilities. No attachments. We’re just having some fun.” I said.

“I know you don’t want this Mindy.” Markus calmly said and leveled his eyes with mine.

“How do you know what I want?” I demanded.

“Really, Mindy…really?” Markus raised his eyebrow up at me. He was right, he knew me too well and he knew that wasn’t what I wanted.

“I want a boyfriend.” I softly admitted.

“Then what’s the point of doing this? Get one.” he ordered.

“Do you see anyone lining up to ask me out, Markus…” I continued, “…yeah, sometimes guys check me out and I will occasionally have a crush here and there.” I looked down at my salad and picked the purple onions out, placing them into a pile on my plate. “No one wants to date me. And I feel stupid for getting all excited over Shane. He ended up being just another jerk. He probably says the same lines to all the girls.” I tacked on, sadly.

“You really are a great girl.” The sincerity was clear in his voice. Markus turned to Tanya. “Right?” he raised his voice a tad.

“Yeah. Of course!” Tanya said. She finished sending her text message and set her phone down. “Well, I don’t even think it’s a big deal. Let her explore…
dad,”
she advised, with a hint of sarcasm.

“I’m not telling her what to do.” Markus explained.

“Well it sure sounds like it!” Tanya raised her voice.

Before I knew it, I was out of the discussion. Markus and Tanya started thrashing back and forth at each other. They always ended up arguing like an old married couple. I tuned them out.