As well as three private rooms on the ground floor and a row of long line desks for students to study at. The back wall is a mixture of stain glass windows and exposed brick and it takes my breath away. The upper level holds very little interest for me, and I presume I would find the Shepherds there if they ever entered a place like this.
The librarian is a sweet old lady, until she looks at you and you realise her stare could freeze the blood in your veins. You can tell she doesn’t take any nonsense in here and I love her for it.
I wish I had a free period so I could spend a few hours here just scrolling through the thousands of books contained within the walls, but unfortunately I only have ten minutes before my class starts and being late is not looked on fondly in this prison, I mean, school.
I grab my necessary reading and pretty much jog down the hall to my next class.
By the time lunch comes around, I’m cream crackered. Because of my IQ and—according to the score—high intelligence, they shoved me into the higher tier classes. If only my education meant anything to me, I don’t even know what I want to do when I leave here, other than discover the bloody truth.
I sit down at my table, after grabbing a shepherd’s pie and yet again, my appetite has deserted me.
I’ve had enough already and when yet another shadow falls across the tabletop, I’m almost ready to blow.
“What now?” I snap, as I throw my head back and look up and then up some more.
Holy crap, who is he? He has sandy blonde hair, with baby blue eyes. An oval shaped face with a slightly pointed chin, although his jaw is still strong. A straight nose with eyes just the right distance apart and yet again, lashes that should be made illegal for a guy to have. Genetics do not play fair.
He has wide shoulders, with muscular arms. I swear I can see his pecs bouncing through his tight shirt and his waist tapers just as it disappears beneath his trousers, damn this boy is yummy. And he has to be at least six-three.
“Whoa take it down a notch love, I was just looking for a place to sit,” he says with a shit eating grin on his face. What’s he up to?
“It’s not like I can tell you where you can and can’t sit,” I reply, before returning to my plate.
He plonks himself down opposite me, and I notice that he does the ‘come here’ motion with his hand. I slap my hand against my head as three more people come to join us, and I regret not telling him where to go. Clearly my hormones had taken over for a moment there, and now I am stuck here with a bloody group of people. Unless, I just get up and walk away.
I’m contemplating it, when my eyes glance up and my mouth drops open, the angry pixie is sitting with me. Okay, now this could be interesting.
“I thought you didn’t want me to sit or speak with you, aren’t you breaking one of your own rules?” I ask, as she smirks at me before tucking into her food.
“Don’t worry about Trixie, she’s mad at the whole world and everyone must suffer for it,” says Mr. Dreamboat.
“For the last time Elijah, my name is not Trixie,” she bites out and I can’t hold back my laugh.
It draws a lot of attention but I don’t care, if it’s funny I will bloody well laugh.
“What tickled your funny bone?” asks Elijah, his eyes sparkling with his own mirth.
“You call her Trixie, it’s funny cause I’ve been calling her the angry pixie ever since I met her yesterday.”
Her cheeks redden and Elijah suddenly jolts, and I’m hazarding a guess that she’s just booted him one right under the table.
“Come on guys, introduce us already and then you can tell the pretty girl why you’ve suddenly changed your mind,” says another guy as he drops down beside me.
Elijah glares at him, but I refuse to read too far into it. I don’t care what the world says, guys are just as complicated and confusing as they feel us girls to be.
“I’m Elijah, the pixie here goes by Ivy but Trixie the pixie has a much better ring to it,” he gets a punch this time which makes him laugh deeply before he continues the introduction.
“The runt on your left is Noah, and last but not least, we have Amias. So, what’s your name beautiful?” he asks as he waggles his brows.
“It’s Henleigh,” I reply, as I look over the other two.
Noah is far from a runt, he may not be as broad as the others, but he is still toned in a less, gym obsessed way. Definition is clear to see through his shirt, but it isn’t straining and threatening to blow a few buttons. Hard to guess his height whilst he’s sitting, but I could definitely get lost in his chocolate-brown eyes, damn!
But seriously, he is model worthy with long hair on top but buzzed at the sides and a cute boyish smile on his face. He’s all kinds of contradictions in one.
And then there’s Amias, his eyes are so dark I swear they’re black, with short messy hair and a ruggedness that gives me the impression he wasn’t raised in the safe neighbourhoods either. He’s got tanned skin as though he spends a lot of time outside and I never thought I was a fan of facial hair, but his goatee has my fingers itching to run themselves through it.
Okay that’s it, I’m ignoring these guys before I start having anymore inappropriate thoughts. I do not have time for this, plus I can’t stop thinking about that Harrison guy. I just want to head butt a wall a few times and try to knock some sense into myself.
“Henleigh Monterey I like it, did you know there’s a cheese called Monterey Jack?” asks Elijah and my middle finger shoots right on up.
He holds his chest as if I’ve shot him while the others smirk, he’s the comedian of the group then and clearly loves a bit of drama.
“Tell her then Ivy,” says Amias and his voice reminds me of melted dark chocolate and coal crackling in the fire. It’s warm, it’s hot and too damn sexy for my health.
A seventeen-year-old’s hormones are not easy to handle, and just because most of the kids where I grew up were sleeping around and losing it before the age of sixteen does not mean that I plan to.
“You’ve got Chelsea and Britney stewing over the way you fobbed them off. Octavia automatically hated you the moment she saw you, if you’re better looking than her then you’re an enemy. Plus her beau was definitely checking you out during form room.”
That’s all she says as she stares at me, but it doesn’t exactly explain why she’s suddenly at my table.
“Look, I made an assumption that you would join with them and treat everyone else like we’re lesser than you. But the way you talked to them shows you really don’t care about being in the popular circle,” she continues, staring intently at me.
“What about that twat Harrison, seriously what crawled up his arse and died?” I ask without keeping my voice low and everything goes dead silent.
I look up to see the four of them staring at me, in a mixture of shock, mirth, and awe.
“A twat hey,” comes the rumbling of Harrison as he spins my chair around so I’m facing him.
“Shove off Harrison, she’s allowed to speak her mind,” says Elijah standing up.
“I thought I made myself clear earlier Monterey, I do not want to hear you speaking my name. This is your final warning don’t cross me,” he says, before heading back to his table.