The Awakening: A Witch-Vampire Romance: Feel the Heat. Read online

  What I see when I get another clear view of his smexiness makes me huff inwardly. Of course he is surrounded by all the beautiful people that take up the top shelf of our tiny town, but he seems to only have eyes for me. Again, he is staring at my face like he knows me or like there is something stuck on it. I try to discreetly wipe away whatever has caught his attention once again. He just smirks at me and continues to lock eyes with me. Today he has his long, almost-white hair tied back with a leather band, is wearing light wash jeans that probably cost more than three times what Jessa’s car did, a black faded rolling stones tee that hugs his massive arms and chest, with leather cuffs on his wrists. It makes me wonder what he rode to school in or on.

  As we pass by I can’t help but snark in his direction.

  “Stare much?”

  He just does that annoying eye brow lift and leers at me. I swear his eyes are as familiar to me as my own. They have haunted my dreams for years. Not that I would tell anyone else that bit of news.

  To hide my inner turmoil I roll my eyes and stroll on as if I have all the confidence of a supermodel. So not. Jessa is watching all of this and stays silent for once. I can’t wait to hear what she has to say about him once we reach a fairly quiet space. It is so not normal for her to be so closed-mouthed about anything. Maybe she is struck mute by his seemingly physical perfection. I wouldn’t doubt it. He seems to be charming the masses, judging by the horde of giggling priss-bots surrounding him like a lynch mob.

  When we reach just inside the front doors, Jessa pretty much explodes, not even noticing that our three peat is waiting for us. Devon is the third of our friendship triangle, and is one of the most attractive guys in our school. He has sandy blonde hair, deep, rich chocolate eyes, kissable lips, and stands well over six feet tall. To the dismay of most of the priss-bots, Devon doesn’t swing the girly way. Doesn’t stop people from thinking we three have some kind of friends with benefits on the DL?

  “OMG Ella! Why the fuck didn’t you tell me that you knew Thor out there? He was practically eye fucking you while he was surrounded by the hordes!”

  I try to quiet her. Not that it helps.

  “I don’t know him. Jeeze can you be any louder? He just busted in on my father’s sermon yesterday morning. I mean, literally kicked open the doors then gawked at us all and strolled away. I haven’t ever talked to him. I swear,” I tell her in an exasperated voice.

  Devon decides to get into the convo.

  “Okay. Who, what, and where are we talking about?”

  “Pshhhh, Ella has a new boyfriend. He was all but drooling at her, while he was surrounded by some prissy bitches. Can you believe that shit? I’m so jealous. He was most def, bitable,” Jessa mimics tearing into a steak as Thor passes us down the hallway with his groupies trailing behind.

  I look at Jessa and try not to laugh because Thor decides at that moment to look over at us and catches her gnawing on air.

  “Okay, let’s get our shit together and go. We are all going to be late for our first official senior class,” I huff.

  I turn around and start strutting in the opposite direction, hoping they will take the hint and follow me.

  “What do you guys have for your first class,” Devon grabs for my schedule.

  “English Lit. with Mr. Sizemore. You,” I reply.

  “Same. Well, ladies, let’s haul it so he doesn’t blow what wad he has left,” Devon suggests in a playful tone.

  He links arms with us and we start down the hallway, dodging students left and right. We get to the door of our class and guess who just happens to be sitting in a seat right by the door? Yup, you guessed it, Thor in all his glory.

  Devon pulls us to a stop as if stunned.

  “I thought he was into you, Ella. Why’s Sabrina Queen Priss-bot all up in his shiz?”

  Wait! Sabrina will be here in this class as well? How in the hell did I not know this?!

  “Babe, does it really matter? Someone that pretty doesn’t stay untouched for long in this meat market we call Pinewood,” Jessa says, rolling her eyes as she heads down the row of desks toward the back of the room.

  I feel eyes burning into my back the entire time it takes me to find a seat. His or Sabrina’s, it really doesn’t matter. Like I can really compete with her superior status. So I push it to the back of my mind and content myself with thinking of all the lovely STD’s he is going to catch when he dips his wick into that well used pool.

  Mr. Sizemore rushes into the room seconds ahead of the bell, sweating and panting, his hog jowls wagging.

  “Attention. Attention. I said, quiet, class,” he fairly shouts.

  “Let’s get underway shall we? This year is going to be tough. This is not a free pass class. I fully expect you to take notes and read the required reading each night.” He looks at everyone in the room until his eyes land on me.

  “YOU,” The professor shouts when his eyes land on me.

  “Yes, Mr. Sizemore?” I cringe at the attention of everyone in class turning my way.

  “Please come to the front of the class and pass out the syllabus for this semester.”

  I shuffle my feet to the front of the room and take the stack of papers from the teacher, turn to each row and hand stacks to each student in the first seat for them to pass back. On the second to last row I meet the eyes of Thor and I swear that he is searing into my soul. What is it about him that overwhelms me? Guys just don’t affect me like that. My parents had a no dating rule all the way through high school. I know, no surprise there. I haven’t really had a boyfriend before. So I don’t know how to deal with the turbulence that he is causing. I break the connection and move to the next row. Sabrina is giving me the evil eye. Not a very pretty look for her. What is her problem? It isn’t like she has any competition for the guys in this school. Queen bee needs to chill.

  Soon enough the bell rings and we are all gathering up our new texts and scrambling to leave the room as fast as possible. Jessa is babbling about something as she walks out beside me. Devon looks like he is lost in his own thoughts, as usual. Boy is a deep thinker.

  “Ya know, I think Sabrina was jealous of you, Ella. Did you not see the looks she’s been giving you all class? I swear I was waiting for her head to start spinning!” Jessa starts cackling at that moment, drawing all eyes to us. Including Sabrina’s, as she strides by and shoulder checks me.

  “Watch where you’re going, skank,” she spews at me as she passes.

  I decide to put my foot in it by yanking Sabrina’s messenger bag back as she passes by. “You watch it, you Barbie wanna be! Or did you want to taste my boot in the back of your throat,” I snarl into her face.

  “Whatev,” Sabrina sneers as she cats down the hall.

  I just stride slowly with my head held high toward my second class for the day. I’m not normally like Jessa, brave enough to stand up to the masses or brave the hordes of drama. I am more of a ‘go with the flow’ type of girl. It isn’t like I can actually win against Sabrina anyway, so what’s the point? When we get to the door of our next class, Jessa is smiling at me.

  “Way to go you! It’s about time that you started fighting back and not taking her shiz!”

  “Jessa, you know why I don’t always stick up for myself. The last time I got into trouble at all, my parents went postal and locked me in my room for a week. Literally. Lock. Key. And bolt. I was only allowed to leave for church services and to eat whatever they deemed I deserved to eat that day.”

  “I know, sweets, I just wish you had something better to look forward to going home, too. Emotionally abusive bastards.”

  Devon chooses that moment to join in with his two cents.

  “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. Beside
s, 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 rest 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 sit 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 looks 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 slams 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 jumps 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 gives 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 turns 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.

  “Anywayzzzz! 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 get 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 puts 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 smiles 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.
r />   “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 drops 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 smiles 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 turns 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.