by Bella King
I liked Emma already. It was nice to know that somebody around here still remembered me. I looked different, but so did everyone else. I guess it was hard to forget faces.
Chapter 3
I didn’t get to see Mason until after my first few classes, and when I did, I didn’t recognize him at first.
I stood next to my locker, spinning the combination locker in frustration as I failed to remember the series of numbers that I needed to open it. I hadn’t had to deal with one of these things since I had started high school, and they were just as annoying as I had remembered them to be. My memory sucked.
The silvers numbers engraved into the blue-painted steel lined up to 6420 for the second time, and I jerked the lock violently in an attempt to open it. It clicked open this time, nearly taking the door handle with it.
I cursed the lock under my breath and dropped it beside me on the white tiles, flinging open my locker and tossing my bookbag inside. I had tried the same numbers before, and they hadn’t worked. I swear the lock was fucking with me.
I was so consumed in my rage at the lock that I almost didn’t notice the man standing right beside me, fumbling with his locker in equal frustration. It was the deep rumble of his masculine voice that first attracted my attention. It sounded like it should belong to a man much older than him.
“Fucking piece of shit,” he grumbled, tearing the lock off his locker and throwing it down beside him just as I had done.
I looked up at him. He was a tall guy, with deep brown hair and a square jaw that could have cut someone it was so sharp. His cheeks were slightly sunken and his eyebrows sat low over his eyes, giving him a look of constant intensity.
I was swooning over the man before I even realized who he was. I nearly fell back into my locker when I realized that I was looking at Mason.
My mouth opened and closed a few times before I could get any words out. I looked like a babbling idiot, but he hadn’t yet noticed me standing like I was about to fall over, moving my mouth silently beside him. “Mason,” I finally managed to exclaim.
His head turned to me as he opened his locker. He frowned, then his eyes widened in surprise. “Jasmine?” He asked, the same old crooked smile lighting up his face.
I nodded, not knowing what to say to him now that he was there in flesh and blood.
I used to rehearse over and over again myself professing my undying love to him in the mirror after I left school to care for my father. I swore to myself up and down that I would tell him how obsessed I was with him if I ever got back, and here I was, looking like a speechless fool in front of him as he smiled at me.
“Your hair is different,” he said, shaking his own and moving it out of his forehead.
“Yeah, we match now,” I said, smiling nervously as my heart raced. The drumming in my chest was nearly deafening, making it hard to think of what to say next.
“It’s good to see you,” he said, his eyes still wide as he looked me up and down. “I’m just surprised that you’re here. I can’t believe it.”
I nodded. “I wasn’t sure if I would see you again either,” I said, giving him a slightly guilty look. I felt bad for not having reached out. I should have been the one to do it, but neither of us had. Why?
Mason leaned into his open locker, propping himself up with a muscular arm on the inside. His bicep popped as it flexed. He had gotten pretty big since I last saw him. He was a grown man at eighteen years old now, but I was still astounded by his size. He was the small, sweet guy I once knew. That much was for sure.
He studied me, looking me up and down a few more times in total silence. I didn’t know why, but I felt like he was sizing me up like a snack, not like someone who he hadn’t seen in years. There was something off about the way he gazed at my body, lingering at my pale thighs and the soft V between my legs as he did another swoop.
I crossed my legs as I stood uncomfortably. Why wasn’t he saying anything? Did I need to be the one to break the silence? I cleared my throat, but there really wasn’t anything to clear. I just wanted him to stop looking at me so strangely.
“Um, so how have you been?” I asked.
He shrugged. “Same old stuff. I’ve taken up boxing,” he said, finally looking up at my face.
I felt a rush of relief when he finally made eye contact with me, but that quickly turned back to uneasiness when I saw the blankness in his eyes. They certainly didn’t glimmer the way they used to.
“Boxing,” I said, giving him a weak smile. “That’s cool.”
“Yeah, I wouldn’t mind if you came to watch me. I have a match tomorrow. I’m going to fuck this guy up good,” he said proudly, puffing out his chest.
The last thing I wanted to watch was someone get beat senseless in the ring, but if that’s what he was into now, I guess I could go. It wasn’t like I had anything else to do. I nodded. “That sounds good. Is it at school?”
He chuckled, “Nah, you can’t do that here. I practice down at a ring on fourth and second street. You know, the old 24-hour shop that used to be on the corner.”
I remembered it. We used to go down there late in the evening to get sodas and talk until the sun set. Then, our parents would make us come home, and we would drag our feet the whole way back. It was a precious time in my life.
“We used to go there all the time,” I replied.
“Yeah, well they closed the place, but if you go into the building, we have a club down in the basement where we’re having a match tonight. I’m going to win big this time. I can feel it,” he said, smirking like he had already won.
That sounded kind of sketchy, but I agreed to it anyway. I didn’t want to miss out on seeing what Mason’s new life was like. Emma was right that he had changed, but so does everyone. I mean, I wasn’t the same girl that had walked hand in hand with him down the hallway in my first year. I was all grown up, and so was he.
Regardless of his new hobbies, he seemed to be okay. He was even more handsome than I had remembered him, and he had a body like a Greek statue. That alone was enough to make me forget about Emma’s warning. I scribbled my phone number down on a piece of paper that I had torn from my science notebook and gave it to him.
He looked down at it, then back up at me, his eyes once again tracing the curves of my thighs and bouncing hungrily over my breasts. I tried to ignore it, giving him a nice smile before I continued off to class.
“I’ll see you later,” I said, closing my locker and bending over to pick up the lock that I had thrown on the ground. I fetched his for him too, and his eyes followed me down. I felt the green orbs in his head burning holes into my cleavage as I fumbled to get the locks, bringing my long red nails down painfully on the tiles.
I stood up, handing him his lock. My hand lingered on his, feeling the sting of a tiny electric shock as I handed over his property. His hand was rough and manly, not like it had been before. I spun around, trying to hide my flushed cheeks from him, returning the lock to my locker and walking away quickly.
Chapter 4
The tennis ball hit my racket on the metal frame, vibrating the handle and falling short of the net. I sucked at tennis, and I quickly remembered why it had frustrated me so much before.
“So, are you liking it back here at Windsor Elite?” Emma asked me as I went to retrieve the neon green tennis ball from the court.
“I don’t know yet. It’s weird to be back, honestly,” I said, bending over to retrieve the ball. My hand clasped around the warm green fuzz as I lifted my racket-holding hand to my face to wipe the sweat that was threatening to trickle into my eyeball.
The heat of late summer was starting to get to me now that I was back at school. I hadn’t been very active while I was studying from home, only going for walks in the evening once the sun was low enough.
I used to be a big fan of summer because of how much time I had free, but while I wasn’t at school my father had occupied most of my time. As his condition worsened, I found myself spending less and less time out
side. Life wasn’t as fun as it was when I was carefree with no responsibility.
I suppose I was back to that though. I swung the racket into the air and slammed the tennis ball too hard, not concentrating on my shot enough. I never had much muscle control. I always managed to hit the damn thing too hard. That was the frustration coming out to overrule my common sense.
“You’ll get used to it,” Emma said jogging to retrieve the ball from behind her.
I couldn’t tell whether she was referring to school or to tennis. Both of those would take some getting used to, but I planned to continue them. It wouldn’t make sense to give up on something just because I was a little rusty.
“I don’t know if I can get used to the new Mason, though,” I said as Emma walked back with the ball.
She shook her head. “Don’t talk to that guy. I told you. He’s no good anymore.”
I shrugged. “He seemed alright. Just a little weird, that was all. I’m not really used to anyone at the moment.”
“You’re better off finding a new guy to swoon over. Mason is a total dickbag now,” she replied, hitting the ball over to me.
I landed a clean hit on it, but once again sent it too far. “He stared at me funny, but he was nice. He even invited me out tomorrow.”
Emma was halfway to the ball when she spun around. “He asked you out?” She said looking surprised.
“Just to see him boxing.”
“Oh no,” Emma said, throwing up her hands. “You better not go.”
“But why?” I asked, wiping more sweat that was pouring down my face. The heat was too much handle when we were standing still. I needed some water too. I walked slowly back to the benches to grab a towel and my water bottle.
Emma followed suit, joining me without bothering to grab the ball. There was shade at the benches, which both of us needed if we were to avoid getting sunburned. We were both cursed with pale skin, and I was certain that I was already a bit toasted.
I sat down on the bench, trying to catch my breath while at the same time pouring more water than I could swallow into my mouth. The first few gulps tasted like salt, but I soon found a more pleasant flavor as I washed away the initial sweat from my lips.
Emma leaned over to me, patting me on the back as I drank. “Your playing is as bad as I remembered it,” she said with a silly grin.
I nearly choked laughing. “I’ll get better,” I said after spitting out some water.
She laughed with me, but grew serious as she addressed my question. “Mason took up boxing last year, which was fine at first until they kicked him out of the school’s boxing league for being too violent. Apparently, the boy has a temper.”
“Really?” I asked, finding that hard to believe. “He was such a sweetheart back when I knew him. He even got picked on sometimes but he never got aggressive.”
She shrugged. “The boys here aren’t very nice. I think after you left he started getting worse. After he got beat up by a group of them, he took up boxing, but he took it too far. Maybe he wanted to prove that he wasn’t weak anymore, but he ended up breaking some guy’s nose, and they took him out of the boxing club.”
“But he’s still boxing,” I said, not understanding her fully.
“At some shady underground place where they get paid cash to beat the shit out of each other. That’s not boxing. It’s fighting,” she said, disgust on her pink face.
I could picture all of it. I saw Mason getting beat up by those rich assholes that ran around the school like they owned it. I saw him picking himself up, swearing that this was the last time they would do this to him. I saw him training, getting pumped, getting strong, but I never saw him taking it too far. That confused me.
“Are you sure that’s the whole story?” I asked.
“You can ask him yourself, but be careful not to make him angry,” Emma said, taking a sip of her water.
“Nonsense, he wouldn’t hurt me,” I said, offended that she would even hint at that.
“I wouldn’t be so sure,” she replied.
“He can’t be that bad,” I said, shaking my head. “I just don’t believe that.”
“All I’m saying is that you need to watch out for that guy. Listen, there’s plenty of other smooth-talking fuckboys with brown hair at this school. Give one of them a try,” she said tossing her hand up.
I chuckled. “I don’t sleep around,” I said.
“Then don’t fuck with Mason,” Emma said, his voice growing desperate. “You’ll either be heartbroken or knocked up in a week. Probably both.”
“Damn,” I said, but I didn’t want to listen to her anymore. I knew that the boy I had left hadn’t turned into a total monster. There was a good man in there, and even if he had gotten a little rough around the edges, there was a way to bring out his good side. A bit of love never hurt anyone.
“So, do you want to finish playing, or is that enough for you?” Emma asked, breaking up my thoughts.
“I’m just going to slide home. I’m fucking tired,” I said, squirting the last bit over water in my bottle over my flushed face.
“Good call. I need to practice a bit more, but I’ll catch you at school tomorrow,” she replied cheerfully.
“Alright, have fun,” I said, not imagining how anyone could have fun when it was so hot outside. For how late in the summer it is, it hadn’t cooled down one bit. I was looking forward to autumn.
Chapter 5
I wished we had moved out of the house when dad died. It was strange having to walk past the room that he always sat in, staring off into space with his cup of coffee in the morning. He had taken a liking to the guest room during the last year of his life, but nobody really knew why. There wasn’t much in it.
My mother always said that he liked it because the chair there was comfortable, but I didn’t think so. I had tried sitting in it one time, but it was too hard for me. I didn’t see how he would think that we pleasant.
I tried asking him one time, but he didn’t talk much after he began to lose his memory. It wasn’t that he couldn’t remember how to speak, it was just that he didn’t care for people that much anymore and didn’t like talking. He had told me that it was quiet, and then he stopped talking.
Every room in the house had been quiet during that time. I didn’t make much noise, and my mother was at work for most of the day. Maybe he was talking about the loudness of the distracting furniture in every room. Maybe that was overwhelming for him. I didn’t know.
Being old is a strange thing. My father was quite a bit older than my mother, and that’s why he was taken from us so soon. They had a wonderful life together from what I witnessed, but I didn’t get to keep dad for long. I missed him most days, but at the same time there was a weight that was lifted when he had finally passed. I felt guilty about feeling that way.
I went to my room because my mother still wasn’t home. She had taken to working later in the day after dad died. Coming home to this house didn’t feel great, but I was used to being there all the time. I didn’t avoid it the same way she did, but I still wanted to move.
The problem was, my mother didn’t want to move until I was done with school, so I would have to keep coping with the dead stillness in the house until then. I had a feeling there would soon be too much on my mind for me to care, however, because of what was going on at school already.
My mind went back to Mason as I removed my clothes and got in the shower. I didn’t usually shower so soon after getting home, but I was covered in sweat and I wanted to douse myself in cool water to bring myself back down to a normal temperature. I couldn’t stop sweating after tennis practice.
Mason, he was different, but I expected no less than that. Three years are enough to change someone entirely, but I didn’t see what Emma saw when I was around him the first time. I suppose a second impression was warranted.
The man was a lot taller, more aggressive, or so I was told, and kept looking at me like he wanted to do something dirty to me. I didn’t know why he
led with that impression, but that was what he had chosen.
Now, we were all adults here, but starting off after three years with an immediate admiration of my physical body, with very little acknowledgment of who I had become or what I had been through was rude, come to think of it. Mason wasn’t keen on manners, but he hadn’t been cruel to me.
I was determined to dig further into what had happened and why he had left such a bad taste in Emma’s mouth. It was possible that they had been romantically involved, but she didn’t seem like the type to go after guys like that. She had talked a bit about fuckboys, so maybe she did get around these days. I felt it rude to ask, but I would probably discover the truth sooner or later. It’s hard not to hear gossip when you’re at school for eight hours a day.
I hopped out of the shower after a few minutes of cold water. It was about as much as I could stand. I always enjoyed a cold shower after getting so hot and sweaty, but I could never stay in for long.
My timing was perfect, because as I got dressed, I heard the sound of the keys slipping into the front door. My mother was back home, and would probably want to hear about my day.
I threw my wet hair up into a bun and rushed down the stairs to greet her.
Chapter 6
I sat in front of a plate of overcooked vegetables, dry chicken, and brown rice. For some reason, my mother had insisted that I relaxed and that she cook dinner, which was a mistake. I was a far better cook than she was, and that was apparently before I even began eating.
I met the food with a smile and a nod at my mother though, complimenting her on her culinary skills so as not to offend her. I think we both knew that it wasn’t the best, but I appreciated her enthusiasm on my first day back at school.
“So,” my mother said, two bites in. She looked up at me, her hair the same dark brown as mine. “How was your first day back?”
I shrugged. “Easy.” That was true. After having private tutors, I felt like I already knew all the stuff they were trying to teach me in class. In fact, I had learned all that in my first year of tutoring. I was well into college-level studies. High school was a step backward for me, but I still needed my diploma to prove it.