Lina Fischer - The Falling of the Stars

He chuckled. “Oh god, please, you couldn’t keep your pretty mouth shut and decided to tell everyone that I was at the ball,” he said, now getting angry as well.

“Why wouldn’t I? Are you that ashamed? I just really can’t understand you, what’s your deal?” I said, raising my voice.

“What’s my deal? Funny, what’s your deal?” he gave back sarcastically.

“You are unbelievable! I will not come with you, and don’t you dare talk to me again,” I threatened him.

“Stop being a brat and follow me, we’ll be late for class,” he said impatiently.

“Stop telling me what to do! I’m tired of getting told what to do!” I said even louder as our argument got more heated.

“Come with me now or we’ll both be late!” he said. When I didn’t obey, he took a step towards me and grabbed me by my wrist. I hissed at his grip on my bruised skin. He looked down at my wrist and for the first time I saw that he was shocked that he had hurt me. “I didn’t mean to I swear–”

I interrupted him. “I don’t want to hear any of your dumb apologies. Let’s go to class,” I said hastily.

He looked troubled, as if he didn’t know that he hurt me. Was it his intention to hurt me, or not?

History

I entered the classroom and was surprised that there were so many people in one room. It seemed as if a bomb went off, and everyone was throwing things at each other.

I searched for a place which wasn’t already taken, and of course the only one left was the seat next to Nathaniel. This can’t be happening, I really need to focus on my classes because I’m a beginner, and I definitely can’t do that next to him. The crowd started to sit down and calm down as the professor came through the doors.

“Hello everyone, excuse me for being late, I just had a chat with the headmistress,” he said, obviously in a hurry.

As I raised my hand, Nathaniel shifted over to me and whispered, “Already tired of me I see,” he said with an amused voice.

“Can you blame me?” I said with an attitude I didn’t knew I had.

“Well, I certainly like a challenge, don’t you?” he said.

“Oh you’re on, but I swear if you even think of distracting me I’ll chop your head off,” I said, and almost couldn’t hide my smile.

“The feeling’s mutual,” he said, leaning over. I shoved him back but nothing happened.

This boy is strong it’s unfair. I looked over to him and there was that feeling again that I was sure was just a mistake.

The butterflies in my stomach would say otherwise. Turns out Nathaniel is an excellent student and knows much about the history of lighters.

“Alright class, split into pairs and talk about your opinion on demons,” Professor Mitch said. I knew that something like this might happen. Nathaniel came closer to me, and I tried to put as much space between us as possible.

“What is your opinion on demons, Astoria?” he said seriously and the butterflies flipped in my stomach as I heard him say my name.

“They are bad… I guess?” I hesitated before I asked him, “What do you think about demons, Nathaniel?”

“Well, Astoria,” he pointed out, “many people have died because of them, and they are a big danger especially for the first world – the history behind that isn’t the thing that counts, it’s how it is, and instead of learning about the history we should rather get to know more about them and how to properly kill a demon,” he said surprisingly with a serious tone.

“Wow, I did not expect you to be that serious on a topic like this,” I said, smirking.

He didn’t say anything more and I knew that I probably shouldn’t have joked about it.

Should I apologise for saying that? No, I don’t owe him anything. We sat there in silence as the lesson passed by, turns out we really don’t learn that much in this class.

“Now class, you are dismissed. I wish you a nice day!” Professor Mitch exclaimed, and everyone left the room in a rush. Nathaniel was already gone by the time I finished packing up, and I ran after him.

“Nathaniel!” I said loudly, hoping that he’d hear me. I’m sure he did, but he decided to ignore me. “Nathaniel, stop!” I said even louder as I grabbed him by his arm.

“What do you want Astoria?” he asked, annoyed.

“I wanted to say I’m sorry for earlier. I shouldn’t have mocked you about it, but I didn’t know that it was such a sensitive topic,” I said, and his expression softened.

“You couldn’t have known. Just please leave me alone, I don’t want to be with you, do you understand?” he demanded.

“God, you really think you are better than everyone else don’t you?” I said, frustrated that he distanced himself from me again.

“Get over it Astoria, you’re nothing special and you don’t mean anything to me, so move on. Go get your pretty boy Eden, he’s head over heels for you anyways,” he said in a tone I couldn’t quite place. The argument was getting under my skin, so I just left him standing there.

Who does he think he is, to be so charming yet such a pain in the ass? One minute he’s flirting with me and the next he’s saying I don’t mean anything to him. He certainly means something to me; he’s hiding a secret, and I will find out what it is.

Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».

Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.

Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.