AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You literally snuck out of the academy of stress,” she said softly. “Maybe…maybe this isn’t a bad thing.”
I jerked my head back like she had slapped me. I opened my mouth, then shut it. I wanted to say so much, but my words were weapons right now, and I would rather not say a word. So, I left.
Embyrlyn
Rocky‘s free period was right after lunch. As long as I timed everything perfectly, I might be able to get to his classroom, give him my proposition, and make it to my math class before being late. He might not have an answer for me right away, but he would have time to think it over.
I decided to ditch my training session and the rest of Lit in order to go back to my room and sleep. Thankfully, there were no dreams of Kazu-sensei. There weren’t any dreams at all.
After a quick snack break, I finished up my post-break classes before heading to lunch. Breaded chicken and steamed vegetables was for lunch, and I made sure to fill my plate with mashed potatoes drenched in gravy. I barely touched my breakfast, and it was catching up to me.
Despite my hunger, I ate slowly. I glanced over to where Felix and Misty sat. I couldn’t fathom how she could possibly be into Felix — this was the same kid who used to have farting contests with himself back when we were fourteen and on missions that required travel and camping outdoors — but as I forced myself to look at him from a different perspective, even I had to acknowledge he had grown up. And maybe I could understand why Misty liked him.
A pang of disappointment hit my chest unexpectedly. It would have been so easy if he had been single. If I could just proposition him…
But no.
As much as I hated the thought of Kazu-sensei being right, Felix wouldn’t have been the right person to do this with. We already had too much of a history simply because of what we had gone through as friends. And Felix had had a crush on me; sex would have made things awkward between us, and that was the last thing I wanted.
Because, at this point, Felix was my best friend.
Granted, Felix was my only friend, but still.
Gods, I was pathetic.
I picked at my food, trying to eat more than I wanted. That hunger that had compelled me to like food on my plate had quieted to a dull murmur. I knew I needed the sustenance, I needed to fill my body with something, but each bite of food tasted like ash.
Fuck. Fuck Kazu-sensei and making everything in my life so damn complicated.
The seconds continued to tick away, and I could hear the clock in my head line the buzzing of an annoying insect who wouldn’t just go away. Each second that passed was a second closer to leaving on a mission I didn’t know what to expect. Each second that passed was a second closer to having my virginity ripped away from me in a way I couldn’t fight back. I needed to do something about it. I needed some facade of control, even if it was small.
“Hey.”
I snapped my head up, only to look into the honey-brown eyes of Rocky, sitting on the plastic bench across from me. The fact that he was able to move without me detecting him either proved just how stealth he was when it came to movement, or just how out of it I was. Or maybe it was a good mixture of both.
“Hey,” I forced myself to say when I realized I hadn’t spoken.
Rocky scanned my face for a long moment, silence hanging between the two of us. There was something about his gaze that compelled me to straighten up, to keep my hands in my lap, to refrain from fidgeting. I wasn’t sure what he was looking for but I waited without saying anything. I didn’t even fiddle with my fork or force myself to eat anything.
“I heard your announcement in the tavern last night,” he finally said, propping his elbow on the surface of the table and resting his chin in his palm.
Immediately, my cheeks began to turn crimson. The pinch in the muscles hurt more than when I fake-smiled for too long.
Of course he heard my drunken announcement. Why would I expect anything else? Maybe Taskashi-sensei was right about something else, and I was just way in over my head when it came to this.
I didn’t want Kazu-sensei to keep being right about things.
“Do you still need…assistance?” he asked.
I snapped my eyes at his face, furrowing my brows as I did so. Now it was my turn to study him, to remain silent all while looking for an answer on his chiseled face to a question I couldn’t figure out.
“Are you making fun of me?” I asked instead.
He cocked his head to the side but didn’t lift his chin from his palm. The gesture appeared lazy. “Why would I do that?” he asked.
“Why would you ask about that?” I countered.
“I feel like my question is pretty self-explanatory,” he pointed out.
