.
.
.
"What?" I asked, stepping back from him, feeling my body tremble with an unfamiliar fear, "No freaking way, Vampire!"
He raised his carved brows further in amusement, as he tucked his fingers into the pockets of his cargo pants, his head tipping backwards in arrogance, black hair laid over his electric eyes.
"Wow. That's new," he drawled out, eyes fixed on me.
"I didn't ask you to save me," I said quickly, and felt like the worst ingrate, but I knew it was way better to do this, than to actually acknowledge that I owed him my life, "I'm a good swimmer. I would have jerked away from her."
"Did you say jerk? Surely you're not daft enough not to know what natural habitat means."
"No, I'm not! You haven't even seen me swimming, have you?"
He gave a look of slight disgust.
"For some unknown reason, I don't think I want to see that."
I felt stung, "Yeah, some dumb unknown reason. Whatever. I would have saved myself!" I said, hitting my chest.
He shrugged, "She already enchanted you into believing she'd give you some kind of oxygen." Hayden walked past me to the water slowly.
I shook my head, turning to watch him, "Maybe you didn't know, but my dad's a really freaking good vampire, and I can tell when he's enchanting me, even though he's that good…"
He suddenly stepped into the water, with all his clothes on. He went underwater entirely, making me gasp, and for some weird reason, I stepped backwards instead of forwards.
However, he came up, and slicked his wet hair back from his face, the moon shimmering on his wet face, "and who told you a good enchantment won't make you realize you're under an enchantment? A good enchantment is the one where you're aware you're being enchanted, but still can't fight against it."
Oh.
It meant Dad was just that good.
I folded my arms, "Whatever! I can fight against…"
"Come," he suddenly said, and his voice echoed in my head, sent a vibration through me.
He looked at me, blue eyes piercing through my soul, his dripping lips looking like they were teasing me to taste them, "Swim with me. Let's drown."
My feet came out from underneath me, taking the first step forward.
Damn it! No! Damn it! Stop, Ceci!
I tried to hold my ground, but his next word shattered it all.
"Cecilia," he called.
Not my name. The way my name seemed to move on his lips. It felt like my name was destined to be called by him. What the 'F' was this? I walked straight into the water, my hands on his shoulders as I looked up into his eyes, and then his smirk grew long, before he actually laughed.
My God. Did I tell you my heart stopped? His laugh. His slightly pointed canines.
He slapped my hands off lightly, and walked out of the water.
"I guess you'll be floating dead, as the tragic victim of a Selkie by morning," he said without looking back, hands in his pocket.
"Damn it! What was that?" I jumped out of the water, the enchantment broken, replaced by a shallow anger, "you don't get to do that to me!" I shouted, looked at the water, and jumped further away, following him furiously.
All that fuzzy feeling in my chest was just fear mixed with his enchantment. Yeah, that's what it was.
<<<
Should I say that's what I thought it was? Because yeah, the next day came, my first day in school, and all I could do was stare at was him. It wasn't like some kind of crush or something… no. It was just my brain trying to figure what made him so attractive. Was it the way he was so nonchalant about everything, or the way the sun rays made his eyes sparkle? Or his really neat uniform?
His shirt was missing just two buttons, his black tie with slanted silver stripes knotted loosely, and his black jacket on the desk. He stared at the teacher with crossed legs, the sun from the window flinging its rays across his face.
My uniform was different. I mean, I got two uniforms—purple and black, but it was explained to me that they had two uniforms for identification. Black was for all creatures with fangs and claws in whatsoever shape or size they took, while purple was for all creatures with magic in whatsoever form it came. I had two because I may be taking courses from both departments.
"Yeah, yeah! I know you're all hyped up about the ball," the teacher's voice broke through my thoughts. She was wearing a white shirt and dark pants, showing off a perfect curvy figure, "but see! You have to know that despite this being some romantic moment for some of you, there's the danger, and it won't stop if you guys don't stop being each other's predators!" She said, her blonde curls bouncing at the top of her head in her high ponytail, while her hands gesticulated her words.
"Oh come on, Miss Flower! It's all about the thrill!" A guy from the back whistled, and I turned.
He made eye contact with me, and squinted, "Who's that?" He said loudly, and I nearly jumped in my seat.
"Oh yeah, yeah! Guys, it's unheard of, but we have a new friend two weeks into the session! Come on, baby. Introduce yourself!" She said, and all eyes turned on me.
I rose shakily, smoothening my short, pleated purple skirt, before walking to the front of the class.
My heart was pounding! I mean, legit pounding, guys! It was like being called to stand in front of a panel of judges. I got sweaty fingers, and against my will, my eyes kept sliding to Hayden, who looked like he was bored of the whole thing.
Natalie and my roommates were seated in different spots around the class, while the Selkie who nearly murdered me smiled warmly at me in the front. Like nothing happened last night.
"My name is Cecilia Perez, short for Ceci. Yeah, I'm perceived to be a mortal, but obviously not, and I understand you all will be making some weird bets amongst yourselves about who gets to do something horrible to me, but may I tell you: I will not stand for it, okay? You do not want to mess with me."
Guys! Was that me!? Was that me?
Who said those words? Where is the power? Do I have the power? Why did I have to bluff?
I looked over at Hayden, and saw he had an amused smile on his face.
Damn, no, no.
I just put myself in the spotlight.
A powerless deer for the tigers to chase.
All…the tigers.