Page 9

not a snitch

I t was one of our longer breaks between classes.

We had the option to stay in class or go to the cafeteria for a snack.

Jamiel followed me to the other classroom, where some students were sitting around studying or talking to each other.

I found Reaper sitting in the back, studying her notes for our upcoming test with her glasses on.

She wants to play, so I’ll bloody play.

I sat on the desk in front of hers, putting one of my feet on the chair and the other on the floor. Jamiel leaned against the wall near us. Her classmates whispered to each other, afraid for Reaper.

She didn’t even acknowledge me, and it pissed me off.

I took out my container and swallowed a pill.

Reaper's eyes moved from one side of the page to the other, rereading the same sentence over and over.

She was either nervous by my stare or didn't understand the content.

She pretended to write, not knowing I could see she was rewriting the same thing again.

Maybe that's just how she remembers things.

“I’m bored,” I said. “Entertain me.”

“Maybe later.” She didn’t even look up from her notes.

I kicked her papers off her desk, turning everyone’s heads towards us. “Now.” Finally, her eyes met mine, and I smirked. I pulled out my butterfly knife from my pocket, playing with it, and a few people gasped.

“Or what? You’re going to stab me in front of everyone? ”

Jamiel tossed me an apple.

“You would like that, wouldn’t you?” I began peeling the skin off the apple.

She put her chin in her hand and gave me a smile that made me pause. “Only if it’s by you.” And she meant it.

I let out a light chuckle. “Good girl.” I continued to peel the skin, letting it fall onto the unlucky chair. “If I call on you, you’re going to come to me.”

“And why would I do that?”

“Because I said so.” I cut a slice of the apple and stabbed the centre of it with my knife, offering it to her. “I’m going to make you my dog.”

Reaper didn’t hesitate to lean forward and take the apple off the blade with her teeth.

She stood up and put one knee on her desk, holding onto the top of the seat between us, and leaned close to me.

She tilted her head up, waiting for me to take the other half.

I moved towards her and bit the exposed half, our bottom lips nearly brushing against each other, but didn’t touch.

A mistake.

She won.

Again.

“Sheesh,” Jamiel sighed.

“You’re already mine,” she laughed. “So I don’t know how this is going to work.”

“Don’t piss me off,” I growled, tossing the rest of the apple back to Jamiel and he caught it, taking a bite of it. I licked the juice off the knife and for a moment, I thought I saw Reaper’s eyes gleam a soft red. Must have been the light or the drug I took earlier.

“Hey, Cel, is Hyacinth bothering you?” one of the boys asked with his arms folded in front of him. A few of his friends came around as well, and one of them helped pick up her things off the floor .

“No.” She smiled, sitting back down in her seat, her eyes never leaving mine. “He’s leaving.”

I narrowed my eyes at her.

“Excuse me, boys.”

I rolled my eyes.

“This isn’t your classroom,” the teacher said.

Putting my hands in my pocket, I hid my knife from the teacher.

Jamiel left first, but I wasn't done. I got up and put a gentle hand on top of Reaper’s head, causing her to lift her head up towards me.

“You're playing a dangerous game,” I warned in a low voice.

“You should stop before it goes too far.” If she stopped messing with me, if she would just submit to me, I would leave her alone.

The spark in her eyes only grew with her smile.

The teacher raised her voice once again. “Hyacinth, I will not be asking you again. If you do not leave right now, I will be sending you to the principal's office with a pink slip.”

But even as she scolded me, I never left Reaper's eyes. I pulled my bottom lip into my teeth, keeping myself from smiling along with Reaper, before standing up again and leaving the room.

***

“She wouldn’t come when we told her to,” Jamiel said as I smoked my cigarette during our lunch break.

“And why not?”

“She told us you had to come to her instead,” Lin explained in a low voice.

They waited, afraid of my reaction, and I let out a smoky laugh. “Stubborn.” I tossed the last of my cigarette away and sauntered inside the school in search of Reaper.

I’ve only seen her in the cafeteria a couple times before, so I was a bit surprised to see her sitting with a group of people, with only a cup of water .

I glared at the person next to her. “Move.” They didn’t need to be told twice, and I sat down, facing her.

The table shifted uncomfortably in my presence, my friends standing behind me, ready to be entertained. “Why didn’t you come?”

“I’m not a dog,” she replied, sipping her water.

I titled her glass up and it spilled all over her. Her friends gasped, quickly offering her tissues, while my friends snickered.

“Childish,” she muttered, dabbing her chin with the back of her hand.

She didn’t take the tissues, instead reached for one of her friend’s pencil cases, searching for a marker.

Reaper turned to me. “You want my number, right?” She pulled me towards her by my tie and began writing on my neck and I let her. The marker tickled, but I didn’t react to it. I stared at her face, eyes squinted in concentration. “There,” she said, releasing me.

The people around giggled and my friends could barely contain their laughter.

“What did she write?” I touched my neck as if I could feel the ink.

“She drew a picture.” Iri laughed.

I swear I’m being tested.

“I’m sure it’s life sized, but maybe I was a bit generous and made it too big,” Reaper taunted.

I gave her a bored look. “Unimaginative, aren’t you?”

“Don’t worry.” She stood up. Even then I felt like I was looking down on her and leaned towards me. “It’s not permanent.” The last thing I expected was for her to run her tongue up my neck.

Bloody hell. It sent chills down my spine.

“It’s gone.” She smirked.

I caught some people staring and a lot more glaring at the interaction. Very bold of you, Reaper.

“Oh, sheesh.” Lin and Jamiel groaned.

I pulled her down to sit on my lap, snatching the marker from her. She was calm, too calm, as I pulled one of her sleeves up to her elbow. There was a bruise on her wrist, so I took her other arm and slightly lifted the sleeve up. Same mark.

These were old bruises, healed but left a mark. How long and tight was she tied up for?

I gently grazed my finger over the mark. “Who did this?”

“No idea.”

I met her eyes. “I don’t like liars.” People only lie when they’re afraid.

“Why would I care what you like?”

I couldn’t help but smirk. “I think you will.” Then I turned back down and began writing on her arm, wondering if she was going to explain the source, but she didn’t.

Reaper took a peek at the letters I wrote. “For someone who can do decent eyeliner and paint their nails, your handwriting sucks.”

“Yours isn’t any better,” I muttered, dotting the ‘i.’ “Now everyone will know you belong to me.”

“Hyacinth.” The tiny hairs behind my neck stood. How does she make it sound so sultry? “I drew art on your skin and you just wrote your name? How boring,” Reaper sighed.

I wouldn’t call her work ‘art.’

“Read it again.” I needed to hear my name from her voice.

“Did I say it wrong?” She squinted at the ink.

“Say it.”

“Hyacinth,” she whispered.

“One more time,” I muttered .

She turned to look me in the eye, a slight, knowing curve at the edge of her lips as she said slowly, “Hyacinth.”

Oh, fu—

“Hyacinth, Celestine.” A teacher stood at the front of the table, folding his arms across his chest. “PDA is not tolerated at the school, get off each other or I will be giving you both detention.”

I was surprised the teacher warned us. They usually just skip right to it, but I assume it might be because Reaper was still the new girl, having only been here for a month now.

Reaper wrapped her arms around my neck and held me closer to her. “Not tolerated?” Her lips were just centimetres from mine and I don’t know why I wasn’t pulling back from it. She stared straight at the teacher as she did so. “At all?”

A part of me hoped she’d come closer, but our lips never touched. She smelt really good. Too good. Sweet almost like honeysuckles but… Better.

I felt my body heat up, my heart pulsing in my ear, and I couldn’t help the smirk on my face. The teacher, however, wasn’t amused and took out the pink slips from his pocket, writing both our names on it and handing it to us.

Reaper took the slips with her teeth and the teacher’s face flushed before quickly rushing away.

She’s really asking for it.

Reaper got up off me and put my detention slip inside my shirt as if she just paid a stripper. “See you in detention.”

I was left completely and utterly stunned. And they say I was the troublemaker of the school. Once she was out of the cafeteria, everyone continued their chatter and it was only then that I realised everyone had silenced to watch us.

Lin clapped a hand on my back, bringing me back to reality, and laughed. “She really left you speechless. ”

I looked at the people at the table, her friends–or at least the people she sat with today, whispering and giggling about me to each other. I stood up and my friends followed me out of the cafeteria.

“She’s insane,” Jamiel commented with a laugh.

I reached into my shirt, taking out the pink slip to look at it. Her dark red lipstick and sparkly gloss stained the paper along with four holes pierced into it.

She has some sharp teeth.

***

I made it into the detention room a bit late and Reaper wasn’t there yet. I handed the slip to the supervisor, and she brushed me off, reading her book as I took a seat. Half an hour passed and Reaper still hadn’t shown up. Was she actually skipping? Was her plan just to get me in detention?