B0079G5GMK EBOK (10 page)

“You hex! You didn't tell me
about this,” she
whispered excitedly.

“Stella!”

“For real! Where have you kept him?” she hung onto Clarissa.

“It's nice to see you, too,”
laughed Clarissa
and quickly hugged her best friend. “He is just a frien
d and besides, I'm totally sure
you've se
en him before,” she
sighed coolly.

“I sure have not!”
hissed Stella
. Emilie turned from the front of the class and smiled knowingly.

“I'm sure I have never seen this one, so don't even try to bluff me,” Stella put one pin on Clarissa's hair and tapped her nose with her black-and-white checkered nail.

“So, does friend mean a friend or a friend who could pos
sibly be your boyfriend?” she
bustled.

“A friend! Do you think I have some kind of harem in my house?”
snorted Clarissa
and looked at Stella as if hurt.

“Well, no, but every time I think I know your moves you pop up with some awesome guy. You could share them with
your friends, you know,” she
said innocently.

“Stella! Have you lost your mind?”

“Yes! So, can I have him, if you don't want him?” Stella looked imploringly at Clarissa, but her eyes
were gleaming
with laughter.

“Help yourself,” Clarissa whispered and laughed. Then she turned to face Jonas, whom she knew had heard all of their conversation.

“Jonas, may I introduce you to my best friend Stella. I have just handed you over for her own use.”

Stella sighed, terrified, and held her breath as she looked at the stunning Jonas.

“School might not be as boring as I had thought, after all,”
said Jonas,
and smiled at Stella.

“Jonas! Behave yourself! Best friend means no touching, okay?” Clarissa snapped and slogged him with her booklet.

Jonas bowed at Stella and she
laughed.

“You two are impossible,” Clarissa mumbled and hid her smile that kept coming to her lips.

“Feel free to use me anytime you like,”
sighed Stella
, thrilled, and looked at him temptingly.

“Stella! Why do I even bother? Just get a room!”

“Not a bad idea,”
said Jonas
in his low voice and lightly touched Stella's wrist. “Do you always match the color of your clothes with your nails, or was this just for me?”

“Always,”
drooled Stella
. “I even dye my undies.”

“Off!” Clarissa ordered in her mind and Jonas backed off, grinning wildly at Stella.

“By the way, where have you been? I haven't seen you the whole week?”
asked Stella
quietly.

“Later, I promise.”

“Not
with “a friend”, right?” she
asked and dug out a nail polish from her bag. “Adam has been looking for you,” S
he continued, seemingly blithe
.

“What do you mean?”
asked Clarissa
.

“Well, not exactly looking, I mean he hasn't asked or anything like that. He's just been watching the door, like it's the most important thing in this stupid school. And when you didn't show up, he got pissed, and I mean really pissed.”

As Clarissa said nothing, Stella continued.

“At the canteen, he barely touches his food and when he's at the school y
ard, well I'm not sure you want to
know. I'm just saying, he radiates almost unbearable danger and even the chicks who follow him have disappeared.”

Clarissa looked at Adam and searched his face, but he was staring at the black-board with a very bored look on his face.

“One of his brainless dolls tried to talk to him yesterday, but
he snapped something so scary at
her that they stopped trying. They let him be after that,” Stella touched Clarissa's hand and got serious. “I'm afraid of him, too. I don't get how you dare to play with him.”

“Well, that game is over, you can be sure of that. Adam and Brianna are a couple, so Adam's moods of rage are her concerns now,”
said Clarissa
uneasily.

“What! That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard!”
yelled Stella
and looked around her, scared. Adam glanced at her and smiled lightly.

“Brianna was here last
week and she was like a rabbit
when she saw Adam. She barely had courage to come to the same class and the teacher literally had to force her in! And you know what, when Adam looked at her, I was sure she was going to faint, and not of joy. You c
an be sure of that, too,” she
whispered.

“That can't be true! Brianna called me and told me in very straight terms that she and Adam were a couple,”
snapped Clarissa
. “Actually, she told me that Adam lives in her house and spends all his night
s in her willing arms,” she
hissed and took the flashy bottle of pink nail polish from Stella's hand.

Adam
was now looking openly
at them
.
Clarissa winced. He shook his head and turned away laughing.

“And you believed her?”
said
Stella
, rolling
her eyes.

“She took an oath on that, so yes, I believed her,”
said Clarissa
, hurt.

“Well, wait until you see Brianna. I guess she has to come
to school at some point. I would bet on my life
that she lied to you.”

Stella grabbed her polish back from Clarissa and without any shame, took one of her high heeled mocha shoe off. Then she peeled the thin sock away, revealing a very beautiful, sleek leg and dropped the sock carelessly next to Jonas's chair. In a moment her toes
were glowing
pink. As they waited for her toes to dry, Clarissa fell into her thoughts.

If Brianna
had
lied, Adam was free to be with her, right? So why did he just keep staring elsewhere, and didn't even try to approach her? Had he had enough of her already or was he too afraid of even trying to get closer to her? Did she even want him to try? Clarissa looked carelessly at Adam. He
was chewing his pen and staring
at her greedily. But when her eyes met his, he turned his head and kept his gaze on the board. Weird. A small spark of hope flashed inside her. She loved Adam but she didn't know what to do about it. She didn't care what the others had said about him. She loved him almost as much as she was afraid of him, and yet she was ready to push her fears aside if he would only see her.

Mom had said Adam had tied her to
him by force, but she didn't care. She knew he was the one for her a
nd she truly loved him, however
madly. And even if she could never have him, she couldn't deny her feelings. Not anymore. She had to let Joshua go. She cared for him and if Adam didn't exist, she might
have loved Joshua, but now that
she felt so strongly for Adam, she could never love anyone else. This morning, she had been so sure that she wouldn't care about Adam and that no matter what she could choose Joshua and live happily ever after with him. But when she saw Adam, she knew that was a lie. There was not a man in this universe who could compete against Adam. Everything about him tempted her and she found her mind thinking about strange things. Like what it might feel like, if she could be with him for eternity. Or would she always feel like this? How would it feel if he peeled off one of her socks and looked at her toes? Would he think her legs were beautiful? Ugh. She shook her head. She was losing her mind! This really had to stop!

Jonas laughed deeply
and inter
r
upted her thoughts. She looked at him and saw to her horror that his hand was holding Stella's. He brushed her fingers lightly with his lips. Stella giggled limply.

“Jonas!” Clarissa screamed. “What are you doing?”

“Sniffing,” Jonas answered and laughed.

“Sniffing?”
repeated Clarissa
, bemused.

“Stella smells so good.  I'm trying to guess what perfume she wears,”
laughed Jonas
.

“Seriously! Stop that right now!”

Jonas dropped Stella's hand reluctantly, but couldn't help but smile arrogantly at her. Stella sighed ecstatically.

“I do like your friend,” she
sighed.

“I don't doubt that,” Clarissa mumbled
,
and tried to concentrate on her biology book.

The day passed surprisingly fast. Stella and Jonas flirted with each other and Adam sta
yed away from Clarissa. She
would've wanted at least some attention from him and tried to glance at him secretly whenever she could, but he stayed away. Before the last class
, something strange happened
that bothered Clarissa for a long time after the day.

She
was sure she saw Brianna standing outside the school. She
was glancing
fearfully around and seemed to be hiding from someone. Every time s
omeone entered the yard, she start
ed and hid herself. She didn't care where she went and Clarissa was sure that she actually saw Brianna hiding in a bin once, and that was weird. Clarissa got up surreptitiously and pressed her face to the window. Brianna was acting like some frightened animal and that, if nothing, felt so weird. Brianna was not like that. She was very confident and self-conscious. She had always been, since Cl
arissa had known her, so why was
she act
ing
like that? What made her so frightened?

Brianna met Clarissa's gaze through the window and jumped. She looked so hor
rified and so scared of her
that Clarissa couldn't possibly understand why. She had never insulted her except when she
had
teased Adam, but that was just normal. Somehow something had made Brianna fear her and that felt really peculiar.

Clarissa turned thoughtfully and met Blake's eyes. She tried to smile at him and went back to her place. Stella looked at her, but as she seemed to be all right, she continued her coo with Jonas. Adam stared at her as well, and the look in his eyes was totally bizarre. Clarissa tried to wipe his mind carefully, but he pushed her gently away and got up. The teacher looked at him, obviously angry, but she was too scared to say anything. Adam disappeared from the door without even glancing behind. Clarissa sighed, frustrated. Thank God the class would be over in six minutes.

The next morning Clarissa rushed to the car. Every minute she could have with Adam was worth being at school on time. Joshua an
d Blake hung around the car talking
silently. Jonas was nowhere and Clarissa sighed, annoyed. She should've guessed. He was still sleeping. Damn! Now they had to wait at least half an hour before they could go to school.

Clarissa flung her bag on
the back
seat and banged the door shut
demonstratively. She stayed next to the car and as she dared not look at Joshua, she focused her anger on Blake.

“Where's Jonas? Why didn't you wake him up? We're gonna be late! We have only twenty minutes before school starts!” she yelled.

“Calm down,”
said Blake, smiling and avoiding
the lightning being
blown out of Clarissa's eyes. “
Jonas left long before us.”

“What! Why didn't you say so earlier and why didn't he w
ake me up? Hurry now!” she
screamed and dashed to the car.

Blake opened the front door
slowly with exaggeration
and glanced a warni
ng at Clarissa. Joshua was sitting in the driver's seat, looking
like a storm. Clarissa pressed her fist close and counted slowly to twenty. She had to calm down, or else she would expose herself. What would they think if they knew how much she missed Adam? Adam had done nothing to make her love him. He had assaulted her and she should hate him,
but she couldn't. The others were doing
everything for her and what did she give them in return? Nothing. She would carelessly exchange all of them for Adam, if that were possible. She didn't need other men. She needed only Adam, and even if he
had really tied her to
him in a wrong way, that wasn't enough to stop her. She wanted him and was ready to do anything to get him.

Clarissa concentrated her thought on the trees that flashed past and
tried to think of anything
but Adam. That wasn't easy. Images of him flashed in her mind. Adam kissing her gently and looking at her with his black, dangerous eyes. Adam with his motorcycle. Stepping on the gas after school,
the
top
of his black hair curling slightly
from th
e moist autumn weather. She
shook her head and faced Blake's lashing eyes through the mirror.