Beautifully Scarred

Chapter 3

°•°•° Shy people notice everything but they never get noticed °•°•°
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Oscar
*****
The first week of my senior year is....borning to say the least. And wouldn't you know that I already have detention. I hadn't been caught sneaking out of class but someone had seen me sneaking into the girls dorms. Even if it was true, it was just a rumor and no one could prove anything. As usual. But I had still missed a class and I had gotten detention anyways. Fine.
As long as no one called Lex or Mia over it, I would sit in D. Hall on this Friday afternoon. I could catch up with my gang later on. I enter the silent library, with a slow lazy stroll. Mr. Harper sits at a long table. I take the seat on the far end. Not wanting to be too close to the smelly old man. I'm not sure why the headmaster would have this teacher on D. Hall duty, considering how easy it is for the man to fall asleep but he is here nevertheless and surly he will be out for the count soon enough.
He watches me closely as I take out my notebook and finish up my missed assignments. Five minutes.
That's all it takes.
And Mr. Harper is completely unconscious.
Grinning smuggly, I pack up my belongs and stand from the table. The late afternoon sun shines in from the stained glass windows, and a shadow blocks the brightness from my eyes. I glance up to the second level and find the blocker of light.
It's her.
The girl from Monday.
The one I knocked down.
The nobody.
She is standing on her tip toes, reaching for a book. She tries her best but is unable to reach it. I take the stairs two at a time. How often had I looked at the faces in the halls this week, hoping to catch a glimpse of her. Wondering where she could be?
And now.... here she is.
She does not see me coming up behind her. So, it's little surprise, that when I reach up for the book she so desperately wants that I hear a sharp intake of her breath.
She spins around.
Our bodies so close, that when she turns, her breasts touch my chest. Well, my lower chest. I remember how short she was but I hadn't really realized how large I would seem standing next to her.
She jerks away. The touch being inappropriate, yes, but instead of being embraced by it, the look in her eyes is..... full of fear. Almost as if I had struck her.

And I find myself apologizing for something that isn't even my fault, or hers really.

"I'm sorry. I just thought I could help you out. Here...." I hand her the book. She doesn't take it. I frown at her frozen state. "Don't you want it?"

She still refuses to meet my gaze and to be honest it's starting to get on my nerves. The book falls to the floor with a loud thud. But it doesn't wake the snoozing teacher below.

"Fine. Whatever," I snap bitterly.

I turn away from her, taking two steps away, before I hear a soft, "Thank you."

I stop in my tracks. Her voice. So unsure and soft.
I glance over my shoulder. She holds the book in her hands. Her face downward.

"Why don't you look people in the eye?" I hiss, still iterated.

She shrugs her small shoulders. But does not speak.

" You have a voice, ya know. I heard it just seconds ago. Use it."

She flinches from my tone. Guilt fills my chest. But before I can apologize to her again, she speaks.

"I find it hard to look people in the eyes. I can not help it."

"Are you afaird? Of everyone that comes near you?"

"No. Just you."

I'm taken back. "Me? Why are you afaird of Me? I've never done anything to you. Expect knock you on your ass, which I said I didn't mean to do."

She nods. I notice again how very pretty she is. Her long blond hair hanging over her shoulder in a lose braid. Her blue t-shirt does nothing for her figure but I recall how nicely she had filled out that school uniform.
But as to my question, she gives a weak smile.

"I can't explain it. You just do."

I take a step towards her and she takes a step back. Bumping into the bookshelves behind her.

"Try too," I urge her on.

She has a look of panic in her emerald green eyes. But she takes a deep breath and calms her nerves down. I can tell she is trying to be brave and fight her shyness.

"I find it hard to breath around you. Like all the air has been sucked out of me. It was like that, that day you ran my over. And it was just now as well."

Hard to breathe? I make her so nervous that she can't breathe? Surely, she must desire me then?
I take a step closer. She has nowhere to go, her back against the bookshelf.
Her eyes stay on her hands. I see a shudder in her frame.

"Does your heart race when I come close to you?"

I inch towards her.
She nods.

"And heat fill your cheeks?"

I stand now, inches away from her. I see her chest rise and fall.

"How do you know that?" She asks. And finally she looks up at me with those amazing green eyes.

I grin down at her. "Because I understand what it feels like to want someone."

Her thin golden brows come together. I explain farther.

" You want me."

Red hot flames fill her cheeks.

"No," she says panicked. "No. I do not 'want' you. What I want is for you to leave me alone."

She turns away. Making her way back over to her spot where she had been studying. She snatches up her backpack and starts to walk away. Then stops. Turns. And drops her backpack back down.

"I was here first. I shouldn't have to leave, you leave," she snaps.

I laugh. "So, the fearful little girl has a backbone after all! I'm impressed."

She gives me a glare, that I find annoyingly cute.

"Just because I'm shy doesn't mean that I'm a push over. Go away," she dismisses me without another thought.

She sits back down at her table. Determined to ignore me and pretend to be reading her book.
She has surprised me. I hadn't expected her anger. Or her pride to show up. She hadn't liked the fact that I called her out on her lust for me. But somehow I'm not sure she even realized what she was feeling until I told her. Could she really be so ignorant of her desires?
Of sex?
Lust?
I should teach her.
The idea thrills me.
She sighs.

"What is your name?" I ask.

She rolls her eyes. I ask again. She raises a brow but doesn't pay me any attention. I ask again. And again.

"If I tell you, will you leave me alone?" She hisses through her teeth.

I grin. "For now."

She takes a deep breath and turns in her seat to face me.

"Arabella."

(I know I have been away. I will try to do better. Thanks for reading.)