The Awakening: A Witch-Vampire Romance: Feel the Heat. (3 page)

“
So, chicas, have we picked who our victim is going to be this year? Poor tools don’t stand a chance when Jessa gets her claws sunk in.”

“Shut it pretty boy.
I’m not that bad,” she cackles.

“
I’m thinking she should go after Brandon Jefferies. I hear he moved back and is attending here also. Besides, Sabrina dumped him over the summer. It would burn her bloomers seeing him with someone else. Especially Jessa,” I smirk and wink at her.

“I think
we should pick a potential for Ella this year, also. I mean we
are technically adults
and we need dates to keggers and football games, not to mention prom. But we’d have to get it past the parentals,” Devon says. He is always the resident genius.

As if I need any more drama at home.
Pfft.
“Okay,
enough
about my lack of love life. We need to book it. I can’t be late on the first day.”

“St
. Ella with her perfect grades, perfect attendance and perfect punctuality, I bow to your over bearing will,” Devon says, always the jokester.

If only he knew the hell I would catch at home if I
am outwardly anything else but perfection. My parents expect to live the life of the Cleavers. Perfect. Perfect. Perfect.

The r
est of the day passes pretty quickly and before I know it, we are meeting in the quad for lunch. I haven’t seen
Thor
or his groupies since my first class. Sabrina seems to be tailing me though. I don’t know what her problem is. I mean I don’t even exist on the same shelf as she does in our town, but every time I turn around or peek over my shoulder, yup, there she is, trollin’. I just don’t find myself that interesting.
Wonder what she’s up to,
I think.
Nothing good, that’s for damn sure. Great more shit to buckle under
.

I turn and look
right at her. I smile a sweet as a sugar cookie smile.

“Stalker much?”

She jumps as if startled by being caught trailing me and scurries down the hall toward her fellow glamazons. Yeah, I know I said I wasn’t much for making trouble, but enough is enough. She is starting to skeeve me out. She has always rubbed me the wrong way. On the outside she projects this pretty little bitch, but if you look into her eyes long enough you see nothing. They’re totally blank. She just isn’t the nicest person either. Last year, when one of her friends decided to hit on her ex-boyfriend, she made the poor girl’s life a living, waking hell. Taunts and rumors are one thing, that’s basically a normal part of high school for some kids, but getting the breaks cut on her new Civic?
Yeah
. You’re seeing my point. Carly is still in a coma from hitting that tree straight on when the breaks in her car faulted. The police said the lines had been cut straight through. Too bad they could never prove who did it. Of course Sabrina and her horde were the first to start vying for sympathy, taking flowers to Carly’s ICU room and hugging the parents.

It didn’t surprise me in the least that Sabrina and Brandon ended up going to prom together
, not even a month after Carly’s accident. Rumor had it, at the time, Brandon was going to ask Carly to prom. I’d say that Sabrina got her message across with the subtlety of an eighteen wheeler. You don’t
ever
mess with anything that is or even was hers. So yes, it is skeeving me out being the object of her obsessive hatred, and that is putting it mildly.

By the time
I get to the line to get some food, Devon and Jessa have already come and gone. I pick what I want to eat from the mass of nastiness in front of me, then I turn around and see them sitting at a table close to the main Caf doors. They look to be deep in gossip as I pull up a seat and start digging through my
appetizing
lunch. Jessa is picking at her nuked pizza that she had gotten in the main lunch line. Devon looks to be enjoying the hell out of his salad that someone had smuggled him in from one of our local restaurants. Lucky bastard. I am stuck with a soggy ham and cheese sandwich from the lunch cart.

“So guess what I heard? I bet you will never ever
, ever guess!” Jessa is biting at the bit to tell me what she heard.

“I really have no idea what the latest
is, Jessa. I’ve been trying to keep my head down.”

“Well you know that new guy
,
Thor
? Well his
real
name is Jaxx and he turned Sabrina down flat. She was all up in his shit and he told her that he likes girls that aren’t quite so desperate!”

“Ha
,” Devon practically spits his milk out his nose, which causes all of us to laugh horribly loud. He leans forward and Jessa and I lean in close.

“Has anyone told him what happens when Sabrina doesn’t get what she wants? I mean
, look at what happened to Carly. I mean, sure, she was a snatch, but no one deserves that shit.”

We all s
it there in stunned silence for a long moment,  digesting what he has just said.

“Well,
I don’t think he has to worry about her too much. It seems that she has her sights stuck on me. She’s been stalking me all over the school,” I comment.

Jessa actually look
s scared by this. We might snark at Sabrina like I did this AM, but neither of us would ever want to be that psycho’s target.

Someone slam
s down a tray on the table beside me, making us all jump. I look up into the lightest blue eyes I have ever seen up close.

We all stare at the new comer until he is finally forced to introduce himself.

“Hi, I’m Jaxx. Do you mind if I sit here,” he asks with a friendly smile.

Jessa jump
s in, acting like her normal peppy, sarcastic self, “Sure, hunk muffin. Anyone that turns down
Queen Psych-ward
is always welcome here!” Her voice is full of glowing adoration.

He g
ives her a confused look and turns to me. “So…,” he drags out the word. “It’s cool, then?”

“Sure.”
I shrug as if I don’t care either way. Then I hold out my hand to introduce myself.

“My name’s Ella,” I
say in a quiet voice. Whether I want to admit it or not, I am seriously nervous.

When
our hands touch I swear I see a light glow between them. It looks like green sparkles mixed with moonlight. The new guy, Jaxx, pulls his hand away so fast you would think I burned him. All I felt was a pleasant hum of energy. Freaky! I look from Devon to Jessa to see if they had seen anything unusual, but they are off in their own little gossip bubble.

Jessa turn
s to Jaxx and asks if I’ve told him what my name is short for
.

Ugh,
can this get anymore humiliating?

“It’s really unusual. I don’t know why she shortens it.” She shrugs like I completely baffle her. I assure you, it’s a mutual feeling.

“Anyw
ayzzzz! Since our little raven isn’t talking,” Jessa giggles, “Arabella. See, it’s pretty.” Jessa turns to me with a snarky smile and a wink.

Jaxx refocuses his attention on
me and I am sure that I resemble a tomato at this point. “Little raven,” he says with a quick smile. “I like it. Why don’t you go by your full given name? It suits you,” he speaks in a very cultured but quiet tone.

Before I g
et a chance to answer, there is a loud cackle from someone standing right behind me.

“Don’t you know
, Jaxx? Ella is short for Cinder-
Ella
. She just doesn’t want anyone to know how truly skanky she really is. Her parents don’t even want her,” Sabrina says with such nastiness in her voice that I actually inwardly cringe.

I turn around slowly to look into Sabrina’s vacant brown gaze. I
am so pissed that I start to shake. Then the table starts to vibrate under my hands.
WHAT THE FUCK!?!?
I think.

Jaxx put
s a hand on my knee under the table and his touch seems to calm me. I look at his face and mouth a silent thank you. But I am out of my seat before the silent message leaves my lips and am charging around the table. I march right up to Sabrina and get in her face.

“Listen
, I don’t care if you try to cut my brake lines like you did your ex best friend! I’m going to shove my boot so far up your ass, you’re going to taste black leather for the next week,” I seeth.

Everyone around the Cafeteria
is deadly silent. This is the first time anyone has
ever
called Sabrina out on Carly’s accident to her face. I mean sure, we have all speculated, but never like this.

Sabrina slowly smile
s the most devilish smile.

“
Ella, I think you’re a tad deluded dear, but you can bet on that you will get yours,” Sabrina snarls. I swear I can actually see smoke coming out of her flared nostrils.

She
turns toward Jaxx and starts to simper as I make my way back to my seat. She starts smiling a mile wide grin, and is trying to climb into his lap.

“Jaxx baby
, why are sitting with loosey goosey and her herd, when you can be cuddled up with me for the next hour?” She actually starts to talk in a baby voice…
Do guys actually find that attractive?

Jaxx just drop
s his knees and Sabina falls to her ass on the nasty Caf floor.

“I already told you Sabrina, I’m just not interested. But if you insult my new friends again, I can guarantee this will get interesting.” There is anger entwined throughout his tone. You can see the traces of anger just by glancing at his too handsome face.

He smile
s politely at her back as she huffs away, followed closely behind by the priss-bots. As she saunters away she turns her head to look over her shoulder and give me an evil glare. Shudder.
Freaky bitch
.

During the whole convo and confrontation
, Devon had been slinging his head back and forth like he was watching a tennis match. If I weren’t so freaked out by everything, I would find the look on his face hilarious. Evidently the new guy finds my best friend amusing because he smirks before he begins to speak.

“Hi, I’m Jaxx,” Jaxx
introduces himself to Devon since he still seems to be struck mute. But you can’t keep Devon’s mouth closed for long. They soon start bonding over boyish things. Cars and such I’m sure.

I check my watch and realize that my hour for lunch is almost over.
I realize that with all the drama, I didn’t even get to eat. Oh well, I don’t like soggy ham and cheese anyway. When we all rise from the table to drop our leftovers into the garbage, I notice that Jaxx is even taller than I’d first thought. He towers over my 5’11” frame. He has to be at least six foot four, maybe five.
Wow, dude is tall
. I can’t help but to cough a small laugh at my inner monologue.

Jaxx turn
s to look down at me. “It was nice to finally meet you, Arabella. You definitely make a memorable first impression.”

“How so? I barely said a word during lunch
,” I ask him with confusion lacing my voice.

“That’s true
, but not everyone would let the bird fly in the middle of a crowded church.” He laughs to himself as he walks off.

Jessa and Devon corner me on
the way out of the Caf and ask me what Jaxx was referring to. “Why didn’t you
tell
me that was how you had met
Thor
? How can you not share in all that hotness,” Jessa complains.

Devon remain
s quiet for once. He is too engrossed in watching Jaxx’s jean clad bum as he saunters away from us.

As we stroll
back toward the building where our last class of the day is held, I give them a recount of what happened at the chapel the day before. When we reach the hall where my locker is housed, I notice there is a crowd of gawkers surrounding it. I fight my way through and see that someone had used a black marker to write something across it.

WATCH IT
CINDER-ELLA OR YOU MIGHT GET SHANKED WHEN YOU AREN’T LOOKING! KISSES!

“What
the fawk?” Yup, Devon about summed it up.

Jessa turn
s to me with a slack look on her face. “I bet you twenty dollars this was Psycho Queen’s handy work. Or one of her bitch squad.”

I look away fro
m the locker door long enough to glance at the crowd surrounding us. I doubt anyone saw anything. Even if they did, no one would dare say anything against Sabrina or her friends. Everyone knows what happens when you step over that line.

The warning bell
rings and the crowd starts thinning. Jessa runs to get the Janitor while I go to the office to report my vandalized door to the administration. Not that it would do any good, even if Sabrina got caught with the marker in her hand. Her mother is President of the Board of Education.