บท 4: I Hate Mondays (Loki)
(Loki)
I walked into the main school building just as the bell rang for morning break. The hallway was quickly filled up with students, most of whom wore the school’s navy blue uniform. Thankfully beginning my last year of sixth form, my year and the one below could wear our own clothes. So today, I wore ripped dark grey skinny jeans, a tight black tee and my signature leather jacket.
As I walked through the busy hallway, I was aware that most people’s eyes were on me. You would think I would have been used to it by now, being Running back for our local team, an upcoming lead vocalist and being the kind of guy I was. But honestly, it was not something I thought I would ever get used to. The crowd parted for me as the red sea. Random people greeted me as I walked past, nodding and waving in my direction. I smiled and winked at a few of the girls, Girlish giggles and whispers following in my wake. Finally, I made my up the stairs heading toward the sixth form common room.
My usual group were lounging on the sofas by the football table. Unfortunately, they were always obnoxiously loud and messing about, causing a significant separation between our group and everyone else.
“Morgan!” Shouted Asher as soon as I entered the room. I grinned at them as I strode over, greeting a few of the guys with handshakes. Alisa, who had previously been sitting on Adam’s lap, walked over to me, encasing me in a long hug. “Hey, I haven’t seen you since the gig. How is everything?” She whispered, her arms still wrapped around my neck. I shrug. “I assume Ads filled you in”, I reply, pulling back enough to look in her frosty blue eyes.
“Break it up, or Adam is going to beat your arse for flirting with his girl”, Shaun teased. I laughed, shaking my head. “Later”, She whispered before moving back over to Adam. His arm was going protectively to her hips. It almost made me laugh. I might have had a reputation for being a bit of a player. But that didn’t mean I was interested in my best mates girl. She was like my sister in law. Besides, she wasn’t my type.
“Better not be forgetting about me”, called Cheryl. I reframed from rolling my eyes as I turned to her. Cheryl, the School’s queen bee, was smiling up at me. Her platinum blond hair falling to her arse, her giant fake tits pushed up in a small strappy crop top and a skirt barely covering her arse. “Hey, babe”, I replied, with a half-smile. She pushed herself into my chest and wrapped me in a hug. I hug her back and spot Scarlett over her shoulder.
I had forgotten she was starting Sixth former this year. Scarlett was standing by the door talking to my sister. A folder pressed to her chest. She looked hot. She was wearing a long-sleeve off-the-shoulder jumper, a skater skirt, knee-high lace-up boots and a beanie. Sensing my gaze, she looked up, her olive-green eyes finding mine. I shot her my best pantie dropping smile. She didn’t return it. Looks down, seeing Cheryl still nestled in my arms, quickly looking away. Her face was hidden from my view. I let go of Cheryl and slipped out of her grasp. The girls found themselves at an empty table, furthest away from my own group. “I’ll be back in a sec” I muttered, making my way over to Scarlett’s table.
“Where are you going?” Cheryl protested, but I didn’t bother to reply. I did, however, hear someone in the group mumble along the lines of “he’s finding his next fuck”, which would have usually ended in a half-decent retort from me. But not today, not when my sights were locked on Scarlett. She didn’t look up at me as I approached, though I knew she was fully aware of my presents. Storm looked at me, then back at her friend, muttering something I couldn’t quite hear. My group were shouting shit from behind me and wolf-whistling like a bunch of school girls. I’m sure Adam appreciated it.
“Hey, Hun”, I greeted them, directing my attention to Scarlett. She ignored me, pretending to be looking for something in her bag. An amused smile spread across my face. I crouched down beside her, my hand reaching out to touch her arm. But she pulled away before I could.
“What do you want, Loki?” She commanded her voice low, so only the three of us could hear.
“Am I not allowed to come and talk to my favourite year 12?” I defended, pretending to be hurt by her dismissal. She finally met my gaze, her eyes hard.
“I’m not your favourite year 12, and we don’t talk at school. Shouldn’t you be busy hooking up with boobs for brains over there?” She countered.
“Ouch! I can see someone in a good mood. Woke up on the wrong side of the bed or just hungry?” I teased. My sister turned to me with a look of concern on her face.
“Leave her alone”, She warned me. I held up my hands, open my mouth to say something when she cut me off.
“Maybe I just hate Mondays? Why are you suddenly interested in my life?” She questioned. I blink, taken back by her bluntness. The truth was I had always been interested In Scarlett, maybe not always attracted to her. But she was way different to all the other girls I knew. She had a good chat and didn’t pretend to be anybody other than who she was. She challenged me, something I sure as hell wasn’t used to. Above all, she was family; I felt protective of her.
I didn’t know how to answer that question, and she knew it. “Now, if you don’t mind, I’m going to head off to class”, She concluded, gathering up her things before pushing past me. Storm following after, jogging to keep up with her friend.
I walk back to my own table, still stunned. The guys were grinning ear to ear as I approached, everyone that was except from Adam. Who instead was giving me a death glare. I frowned at him; what?
“Did Loki Morganstar just get rejected?” Shaun teased.
“Man, I know your pain. Scarlett’s been rejecting me for years,” Asher laughed. I could feel Cheryl and her minions glaring at me.
“It’s not like that. Besides, Scar rejects you because you’re an insufferable fool,” I shot back, earning a laugh from the group.
“What is it like then?” Adam interjected; the guys quiet down, everyone looking between us as Adam stairs me down.
“She is your sister, bro. I’m just looking out for her”, I shrug off. Just then, the bell rang. I was saved by the bell.
(Scarlett)
My encounter with Loki had me on edge for the rest of the day. I hadn’t expected him to acknowledge me at all in school; he never had before. He was the bad boy and Running back, making him every girl’s wet dream and every guy’s best mate. In comparison, I was a social outcast with anger issues. So I wasn’t surprised when our encounter became hot gossip. It annoyed me that my first day back in a new year was met with such petty things, but that was the joys of high school.
People kept looking at me and whispering, not too discretely, I might add. I heard 100 different rumours, all saying different things. Some said I was his secret girlfriend, while others referred to me as a Whore. That I rejected him or claimed I was blackmailing him. It generally worried me how news circulated in this school. I was just glad he was the year above, so we shared none of the same classes—my classes were primarily uneventful apart from the prying eyes and whispers. But nobody at least said anything to my face, thank god.
I walked into my tutor group, arriving before most of the other students, as it was only next door to my last class. I took a seat in the second row, placing my bag on the chair closest to the wall. While waiting for everyone else to turn up, I pulled out my phone and sent a text to Storm.
Class sucked without you :( Let’s go out for lunch. I am avoiding your brother xoxox
The teacher walked in. “Phones away, you can gossip during lunch. This is not a free period” Mrs Dew appeared at the front of the classroom, carrying her handbag and notebook. I was surprised to see her; she had been my favourite teacher. I didn’t know she taught above year 11. “Lots of familiar faces I’m glad to see. For those of you who don’t know me, I am Mrs Drew... Asher, you are late” I turn around, and sure enough, there was Asher, a sleepy smile on his lips.
“Sorry, Mrs, I was in the music block”, He apologised. She waves him off. Asher’s eyes falling on me as he walked down the rows, his smile widening. Asher takes the seat in front of me, twisting around, so he’s only half facing forward. “Look who it is. I missed having you in tutor last year”, he whispered to me.
“I’m surprised to see you; I didn’t know Sixth form tutor was mixed”, I whisper back. Asher was in the year above me, and we had been in tutor together from me joining in year seven till him finishing year 11. I had to admit it had been boring last year on my own without him.
“As you should already know from previous years, this 30 minutes is used to share news, give feedback and tutor you,” Mrs Drew tells us. “I know you have a reduced timetable from normal school hours, but you are still expected to attend three of the five sessions every week” She goes over to the computer and logs on, loading up the register.
“How are you after Saturday?” Asher asks, leaning on my table.
“I’m okay”, I answer quickly, not wanting to talk about it. He nods, though he doesn’t seem convinced.
“What happened between you and Morgan this morning? I heard some crazy rumours,” He teases.
“Which one?” I chuckled.
“My favourite was that you rejected him because you’re a lesbian and ran off with his sister”, Asher grinned. I laughed, shaking my head. The teacher started calling out names.
“Loki Morganstar?” She called, pulling my attention away from my conversation with Asher. Did she just say?
“Here”, Called a familiar deep voice. I almost jumped out of my skin as Loki pulled out the chair beside me. I hadn’t even heard him coming.
“Nice of you to finally join us. You’re over 10 minutes late, “Mrs Drew remarked, hands-on-hips.
“Sorry, I was helping Miss Gauge with a music lesson”, He excused, lounging in the seat beside me, his leg brushing my own. Making sparks dance over my skin.
“I will talk to Miss Gauge. Don’t make a habit of being late to my session,” She directed before continuing with the register. I could feel Loki’s eyes on me; I turned slightly to meet his gaze.
“Hey Princess”, He flirts, a pantie dropping smile on his lips.
“Is there something I can help you with?” I ask, irritated. Aware of more than one person watching our exchange. He chuckles before turning to Asher. “Does she talk to you like this? Or am I the lucky one?”
“I don’t know, man. There is some mad tension between you two” He laughs loudly. Earning him a glare from Mrs Drew. “There is no”, I hiss at him. Loki smirks, raising a brow at me, before looking back at Asher. God, I wanted to slap that stupid look off his handsome face. Why were the gods so crawl?
“Now, in pairs, I want you to do this group activity,” Mrs Dew says, Handing out sheets of paper. “Asher, you can work with these two as we have an odd number in today”, She directs. I pick up one of the activity sheets and almost groan out loud. It was a team-building exercise, where one person had to ask yes or no questions to guess what the object was. But of course, it was all educational.
“Okay, you two guess first,” I tell them, twisting my seat so they couldn’t read my paper. My knees pressed up ageist Loki’s because he refused to move backwards.
“Is it an object?” Loki asked.
“Yes”
“Is it in this room?” Asher Questioned. I look around but don’t see one. This was an English classroom, after all.
“No... And yes”
“Is it intractable?” Loki.
“Yes,” I said quickly. They both nod, thinking. A silence falling over our group.
“Is it useful?”
“Yes, very”, I confirm, nodding.
“Is it related to a specific subject?” Asher asks, “Like more so than others.”
“Yes”
“Science?” Asher. I wobble my hand in response to say kind of.
“Maths?” Loki asks quickly.
“Yes, defiantly”
“Ruler?” Asher.
“No”
“Calculator?” Loki suggests.
“Yes!” I grin, clapping my hands. Loki returns my smile, his hand casually brushing over my leg, making sparks ignite over my skin. I look away from those piercing black eyes, sucking my lip into my mouth biting it gently. God, how was I going to survive a whole year with him in my tutor class?
“My turn”, Loki announces, snapping the other paper from Asher; he scans it before nodding. “Go”
“Is it an object?” I ask, turning back to him.
“Yes”, He grins, a mischievous look in his dark eyes.
“Is it in this room?” Asher interjects.
“Yes”
“Is it something you use?” I ask, “Like a pen or book.”
“Kind of”
“Is it something everyone can use?” Asher.
“Technicality, yes, but socially no”, Loki answers. I raise my eyebrow at him, seeing where this was going.
“Is it written on the paper?” I ask.
“No”, That smile tugging up.
“You’re not supposed to make one up, do what on the paper”, I hiss, slapping his arm. He laughs, dodging as I go to hit him again.
“Where would the fun be in that?” I shake my head at him, looking at Asher, who only shrugs. “Keep going”
“Is it inappropriate?” I ask.
“Most defiantly”, Loki replies, his eyes trailing over me. I close my eyes, begging God to give me strength to reframe from smacking this boy to china.
“Is Scarlett wearing it?” Asher chimed in.
“Yes,” Loki grinned. I opened my eyes, not believing where this was going. In the middle of class!
“Bra”, Asher calls quickly. Loki shakes his head, laughing. His eyes w were watching me. “Panties”, Asher tries again. Loki’s eyes trail ever so slowly down my body.
“Nope”
“Well I, ’m glad at least you’re not thinking about my undergarments”, I snap, giving him a sarcastic smile.
“Who says I wasn’t?” he teases.
“You are such a goddam flirt”, I laugh bitterly “.Does that really work for you?”
“Hey, you were the one that mentioned it. I can’t help if I am a visual person,” He grins, like a goddam Chester Cat. The worst thing was he looked sexy as hell doing it. His black eyes filled with mischief.
“Get a room!” Asher called, pretending to puke. I shook my head at them. Animal. Men were such goddam animals. So why am I still incredibly attracted to him?
Loki led forward and whispered in my ear, “Give up yet?” his breath tickling my skin. A shiver running up my spine.
“I won’t play your games”, I whisper back. My heart was beating a mile a minute. Why was I flirting right now!
“Shame”, He replies, leaning back on his seat, a cocky smile on his face. “I like games”. I looked away, trying and failing to compose myself. I bit my lip hard, suppressing a moan. He is the bad boy. This is what he does. He is only interested in you because you are off-limits. I noticed Asher was looking between us so intently that I swear if he looked any harder, he would go blind. The bell rang.
I jumped to my feet so fast that my chair fell over. I snatched up my bag then turned to leave. But I couldn’t. The rows were so tight that Loki was blocking my exit. Shit. He seems to realise this, too, taking his sweet goddam time to get up, pretending to sort out the papers. Fuck this.
I sat up on the desk behind ours, and careful not to flash, everyone swung my legs over the other side. The room was almost entirely empty, and I rushed over to the door.
Quicker than it should have been physically possible. Warm big hands curl around my waist, pulling me back into a hard toned chest. I yelp in surprise. Falling back ageist him, my body weak to his touch. I knew I should have been pissed that he was getting in my personal space so soon. But I wasn’t. Maybe that said a lot more about me than I wanted to think about right now.
Sparks erupt over my skin, heat flooding through my veins. His touch was possessive. Loki lowers his lips to my ear. His minty breath kissing my skin. I bite my lip to suppress a whimper. “You never guessed what it was”, He whispered, his voice deep and husky, like a bedroom caress. “I was talking about your skirt. It’s a little too short to be appropriate, don’t you think?” He breathed, his fingers tugging gently at the fabric. I sucked in a shaky breath. Unable or unwilling to move away, I didn’t know. “I’ve seen shorter,” I remark, my voice surprisingly steady.
“If you bent over, you would be giving everyone quite the show”, Loki teased. His other hand was gently brushing the hair off my shoulder. His face inching slowly closer to my neck. I closed my eyes, his breath sending goosebumps over my shoulders.
BUZZ. BUZZ. BUZZ. My phone started vibrating. Pulling me out of my trance. Loki pulled back, stepping away from me. I start searching through my bag, my fingers finally stumbling on it. Not checking the name before I press answer, pulling it up to my ear.
“He-hello?” I say.
“Scarlett, where the hell are you?” Storm voice burst through the phone. Shit! I had forgotten.
“Sorry, I got held up. Where are you?” I replied, walking away without acknowledging Loki or whatever the hell just happened between us. I didn’t look back as I rushed down the corridor.
“I’m by your car”, She answered. “Did you run into my brother?”
“What?! Why would you ask me that?” I retort, a little too defensively.
“I heard from Barbie and Co that Asher, Loki and you are in Mrs Drew’s tutor group. That you were all sat together” I start down the steps. Barbie was our nickname for Cheryl because she was more faker than a Barbie doll and all her minions looked the same.
“Oh, wow! News travels fast at this school,” I comment out loud. God, I hope nobody saw us alone together. The rumours were getting excited shit already without adding that little detail.
“So, are you, friends, again?” She asked sweetly, her voice hopeful.
“Were we ever friends, to begin with?” I deflect, reaching the double doors that lead to the parking lot.
“Well, all four of us are like family”, Storm chimes, like a fairy tale princess.
“I wouldn’t class Loki as my brother”, I object, shuddering with disgust at the thought. Brothers didn’t touch their sisters like that nor make your blood quicken the way Loki did.
“No. what about uncle?” She suggests. I see her come into view and wave before disconnecting the phone. When we are closer, I finally reply. “Does that make Adam my dad?” I consider, opening my arms to hug her. She hugs me back. “He does act more like your dad than your brother”, Storm admits.
“I don’t know. I don’t think a dad would give me booze. Maybe like a stepdad or something,” I laugh, opening the car door.
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