Wingless and Beautiful

Chapter Twenty

A week later on a Monday, I walked the corridors to my locker. I felt like something was different. I didn’t feel like anybody’s attention was on me at all. Like something else captured their fancy and I was old news. I was able to put a smile on my face for a change. I felt invisible.

When I reached my locker, I saw Denise. She had a frown on her face.

“What’s wrong with you today?” I asked her.

“Everything!” she said in a frustrated tone.

“Okay, can you at least name one?”

She sighed. “My cousin.”

Over the last few months, she kept mentioning about a troublesome cousin, but she never really wanted to discuss it. Now, I wonder what happened that gave her a foul mood on my first good Monday morning.

I felt an arm around my shoulder and I didn’t have to guess who it belonged to.

“Good morning, ladies,” Chaise greeted us in his usual cheerful attitude. For almost two weeks now, the three of us looked like a threesome. Wherever Denise and I were, Chaise would follow. He never missed an opportunity to try to charm me. But nothing had changed. I still liked him as a friend and I told him that every day. But I had grown comfortable with him. I had started trusting him. I found that we operated on the same wavelength most of the time. He could make me laugh and I realized nobody dared insult me when he was around. If somebody did, he would not hesitate to scowl at them and his murderous stares alone were enough to send anyone running the opposite direction. Some kids in our school regarded him as some sort of royalty. “How are my girls today?” he asked both of us.

“I’m happy,” I said smiling up at him. “For the first time in what seemed like years, I’m not the talk of the town. I’m a fly on the wall. Nobody cares about me. And that’s the way I want it.”

Chaise and I both stared at Denise. She sighed and said, “Yeah. That’s because there’s a new talk of the town.”

I raised a brow at her.

“My cousin decided to live among the lesser mortals again,” she said.

I stared at her blankly. Chaise also didn’t look like he knew what Denise was talking about.

“If gods live among us, he would be one of them. And he knows it. Unfortunately, so do my parents and everyone else around me.”

“Sorry, sweetheart,” Chaise said. “We still don’t get you.”

Denise sighed. “Prepare to be dethroned, Chaise Anderson. Somebody just checked in to the campus who’s a bigger king than you are.”

Chaise rolled his eyes. “As if I care,” he said. Then he turned to me. “As long as I’m the king in your world, I don’t mind.”

I faked a cough. “Nothing’s changed, Anderson,” I said “Better luck next time.” I laughed and took Denise’s arm. “Come, we’ll be late for our class. I’m feeling positive today. Remind me to thank your cousin later.”

All throughout the day I had been hearing about a new guy’s arrival in our school. Apparently, he was swoon-worthy, mysterious, snob, really rich and totally hot.

I didn’t understand why Denise wasn’t happy or proud about that. I never had any cousins. I’d always wanted one. I wondered why she thought he was a curse to her.

Denise was nowhere to be found during lunch, so I shared our table only with Chaise.

He sat on the chair beside me. We were both facing the window, our backs facing the rest of Leighton High’s population. I preferred it that way. I didn’t want to see any of my schoolmate’s face when I ate.

I ate my lunch in silence. I didn’t mind Chaise beside me. His arm was slung at the back of my seat. He was comfortable to be with and he learned how to sync with me. He knew there were times that I enjoyed my thoughts to myself.

“Freaking hooootttt!” some girl behind us said. The other girls with her agreed and they all sounded like they were drooling.

Yep. High school drama. Soap opera every day!

Chaise rolled his eyes.

“I don’t think they were talking about you, you know,” I teased.

He chuckled. “I know. It’s the new guy.”

“I hope your ego’s not hurt, though.” I hadn’t seen Denise’s cousin yet. But I’d been hearing a lot about him. Many of the girls who had seen him already fancied themselves in love with him.

Chaise put an arm around my shoulders again and gave me a gentle squeeze. “Of course not! The prettiest girl in school is still sitting here beside me. He should actually be jealous of me.”

I gave him a gentle push. I know he was teasing. But words like that actually helped build a little confidence in me. For a few seconds, even with my scars, I didn’t feel like there was something horrendous about me at all.

Before I went to class, I decided to make a stop by my locker. I was hoping to see Denise and ask why she wasn’t able to join us for lunch. Chaise decided not to walk me to class today, which was fine by me. I was positive no one would harass me along the way. Even if somebody did… I’d perfected the skill of ignoring them. This was high school. I was just passing through.

But apparently, some people just couldn’t resist. I know these kids hated me and they liked to make fun of me. And seeing me unprotected by either Chaise or Denise was just too good for them to resist.

As I walked down the hall, a few meters from my locker, somebody deliberately put their leg on the way, causing me to trip. Sometimes, I forget that I was clumsy.

Shit! I knew I was going to fall face first on the floor. I braced myself for the pain that would follow. But just as I was about to lose my balance, I felt something wrap around me, catching me, preventing my fall.

I caught a whiff of sweet, masculine perfume as strong arms held me tightly, securing my balance. The hall seemed to have frozen, and I was sure that all eyes were on me and the person who caught me.

The first thing I saw was a red jacket on broad shoulders. It was a guy who caught me. He kept his arms around me, and they felt so warm… so safe… and in a weird way… so familiar.

I dared myself to look up his face and what I saw made my heart stop beating at once. My breath caught in my throat and I fought the urge to faint right then and there.

He was looking down at me with those beautiful blue eyes that felt like they could see through my soul.

An eternity seemed to have passed us by. Everything stopped moving. I couldn’t hear anything, couldn’t see anything. Only his handsome face.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

I couldn’t find the courage to speak. I fought the tears that threatened to well up in my eyes.

He settled me on my feet. The moment he released me and stepped away from me, I was taken back to reality. I stared at his familiar face, which now has a frown on it. Somehow, something was wrong. He looked… annoyed. At me.

I stared back at him with a confused expression on my face.

“Take it easy, okay?” he said in a cold voice. And with that, he walked away, stealing a sideway glance at the girl who tripped me deliberately.

I didn’t understand what just happened. He looked right at me, but somehow, I felt like he looked right through me. I stared at his back as he walked down the halls, oblivious of the sighs of the girls around him, careless of the way they were staring at him with hopeful eyes. He was walking a perfect straight line with absolute precision and confidence.

No… Hunter Vaughn was not blind anymore. But somehow… he made feel like he could not see me at all.