I skirted around him and walked in the direction of my locker. I heard him follow behind me.
"You should be thankful that I noticed you, Nina," he snarled. Jack was trying to get my attention again, but I ignored his acrimonious remark. I put away my books as quickly as I could so that I'd be ready to leave.
"You'll regret it," he said again.
"No, I won't," I said. "I have dated guys like you before. I could see the same patterns."
"Girls will always be just girls," he said suddenly. "You will eventually come back to men."
This time, I stopped whatever I was doing and turned sharply to face him. "What did you just say?"
Jack recoiled at the fury in my eyes. What was it with the male species? What gave them the idea that a woman is destined to satisfy their emotional and physical needs?
"Listen carefully, Jack Conner, I will never be just a girl. I refuse to be as simple as guys like you want me to be because I am important and I will be unapologetic about myself. Screw you for trying to make me feel otherwise!"
Jack looked at me with wide eyes. He was stunned by all my frustrated streams of emotions.
"I'm...I'm sorry, Nina," he said, holding his hands up as if guilty. "It's just...It's just I have never felt this way towards anyone before. I promise I will change for you."
I scoffed and shook my head to myself in utter dismay.
"You should change for someone who loves you back, Jack. One day you'll find that person, but I'm not the one for you," I said and then walked away.
~*~
Jordan and I went to a nightclub called Crysis. I didn't know why she picked this place. Maybe the name sounded like 'crisis', which kind of suited the mood. We each started off with two vodka and tonics, followed by some cocktails. The music wasn't too loud. Maybe, it was still early so people weren't too eager to dance and go wild just yet.
"I come here once in a while," she told me. "They don't bother to card you even if they know you're underage."
"Oh," I said.
Jordan rattled the ice in her glass.
"You ought to unwind, Nina," she said, turning to look at me. "Girlfriend, family, school—just throw them all out the window."
"Did you notice that you said 'girlfriend' instead of 'boyfriend'?" I asked, feigning offended. "You think I'm gay?"
"I saw the way you looked at Allecra Knight. Girls who look at her like that are not completely straight," she said. The mention of Allecra sent me a pang of sadness.
I drank my third glass of vodka. Jordan ate pistachio as her eyes kept looking at me.
"Tell me what is troubling you, Nina," she asked.
"It's not worth telling." I shook my head.
"It's not worth bottling up your feelings inside either," she said. "Come on, let's talk about whatever that comes to your mind. It doesn't have to be your problems."
"Can I ask you something then?" I asked, earning a nod from Jordan while she was still busy cracking nutshells. "If you fall in love with someone with a physical abnormality, say... if he or she has six fingers, do you mind being with that person?"
Jordan stopped chewing. She pursed her lips.
"I don't think I mind," she said at last.
"What if that person has three breasts?"
Jordan almost choked. She stared at me like she was trying to tell if I was still right in the head. I didn't even know if I was still right in the head myself.
"Well...I don't know," she said slowly.
"Why not?" I said. "You don't mind being with someone with six fingers, but why not someone with three breasts?"
"Because it's hard to imagine, Nina, unless you're talking about some kind of alien," she said. I frowned at how spot-on it was.
"What if it's someone with two sexes?"
"Oh, god, Nina!"
"Just answer me, please," I said.
"It depends," she said. "If that person can make me fall in love, I think they deserve that same amount of happiness they have given to me. I will do whatever that makes them happy, too."
"What about making yourself happy?"
"If your feeling is reciprocated, then what goes around comes around." She shrugged.
"And will you do something you don't want to do just for that person, too?"
"If that person really loves me, I don’t think they will make me do something I don't want to," she said and turned to me. "But Nina, if you can experience the feeling of doing something you don't understand just for love, then you have found the true essence of it."
Jordan may be right, except I knew my feelings would never be reciprocated. How egotistical I was to think that I could affect her that much. Thinking about it made me want to have another drink. I called to the waiter and ordered a fourth round of vodka.
"You know if you get too drunk, the morning after won't be all sunshine and flowers," Jordan reminded me.
"There won't be any sunshine and flowers even if I'm sober."
"Nina, how bad are you feeling right now?" she asked rather seriously.
"Bad enough to melt all the tigers in the world to butter," I said and Jordan laughed.
"Oh, great! Now we better go," she said and signaled to the waiter to get the tab.
"Are we leaving now?"
"I don't think I could carry you all the way to my car after this."
"But I'm not drunk!"
"Oh yeah, one of the biggest lies in the world," she said. "Now, come!"
She pulled me from the stool, and in a minute, we left the place. Outside, we strolled along a lighted pathway in the park.
"Are you okay?" she said.
"Hey, I came from the land of vodka. A few shots do nothing," I said and missed a step, but Jordan steadied me back.
"Sure," she said. "Not drunk at all!"
"You don't believe me, Jordan? You don't believe me?" I said. "I can climb the tree to prove it."
Unfortunately, there was not a single tree nearby. Jordan reassured me that she believed my ability to climb trees, so I decided to drop it. Then we reached a wooden bench in the park. Jordan sat me down and magically produced a bottle of water and told me to drink the content slowly. After a long while later, the earth felt less unstable and I stopped seeing double.
"Whoa, I'm a wreck," I murmured.
"Any drunk person is a wreck, don't worry," she said and placed a wet towel over my forehead.
"My first time getting wasted, though," I said.
"You're quite strong for a first-timer," she said as she kneeled in front of me. "Now, please tell me what turned you into this?"
"You really want to know my dirty little secret?"
She nodded and her eyes were fixed on mine.
"I am in love with an alien girl," I said, "and she wants me to have her baby."
"I'm not sure whether I should spank your butt or laugh my head off first," Jordan said and then she broke into laughter and I joined her. After all, my life felt like a joke. We laughed until we couldn't breathe and then we stopped.
"No, I'm serious," I said but then I started hiccupping. Jordan laughed again.
"Come on, let's get you home, princess," she said. "I'm not the knight you're expecting, but as of now, I will have to assume the role."
"No, I don't want to go home," I protested and staggered to my feet. Jordan put an arm around my waist.
"It's the Knight girl, isn't it?" she asked suddenly. "The hot blonde one, I might add."
"How did you know?"
"When you looked at her this morning, I just knew something wasn't right," she said. "What did that girl do to you?"
I shivered and wrapped my arms around her neck. In that moment, I was suddenly in need of human warmth.
"I love her, Jordan. I love her, but I also hate her. Do you understand? Do you?" I said and broke into uncontrollable sobs in her arms. Jordan smoothed my hair and rubbed my back gently.
"I do, Nina. I do," she comforted me. "It might sound crazy, but all I want is to see you happy again. You s
eem like someone who could be loved by just about anybody in the world. That girl has to be stupid to reject you."
"It's the other way around," I whispered and pulled away. "I was the one who rejected her."
Jordan looked confused.
"But...why?"
"Because I'm a coward," I said and then cried again. We stood holding each other like that for a long moment.
By the time we got back to Jordan's car, it was around ten o'clock. I felt better after a bottle of water and a good hearty cry later.
"I'm hungry," I said. "Let's have pizza."
There was a small Italian pizza joint around the corner.
"Not a bad idea," she said and we turned to head there together. We ordered pizza Margherita and soda. We went back to the car again. Jordan searched for the car keys while I was eating from the pizza box.
Then we got inside the car.
"You sure made a fast recovery," Jordan noted as I was sipping my drink.
"Russian girls are tough, you know. Besides the pizza was so good, it unclogged me." I grinned and sipped my soda.
"Yeah, tough girl, you’ve got tomato source on your face," she said with a giggle.
"Oh, where?" I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand. Jordan pulled out a tissue and dabbed it on my lips. But when she was done, Jordan still gazed at my face. Her hand gently caressed my cheek.
"Jordan..."
"I will never hurt you like her," she whispered. Our eyes met in silence. Both heads began to tilt as our faces drew closer. Just before our lips touched, I heard the door opened at my side. My head turned when a hand pulled me by the wrist out of the car. Out of instinct, I struggled against the vise-like grip, but only to find myself crushed against the soft chest of a tall figure. Allecra's face stood out like the moon in the sky. Her eyes blazed like a deep glowing sea.
"Allecra?" I said amidst the shock. She seemed to have the knack of finding me in unexpected places. Was she stalking me? I heard Jordan got out from the other side.
"What are you doing?" my friend said.
Allecra turned to her and then back at me. Her expression was the same one I spotted the day she almost killed the guy who had harassed me. I twisted my body around and broke away from her hold, but Allecra wrapped her hands around my waist and pulled me back against her roughly.
"Nina!" Jordan was going to walk over to me. "Let her go!"
"Tell your friend, you're coming with me," the smooth voice whispered in my ear. Suddenly, I felt the chilling terror and feared for the safety of my innocent friend.
"It's—It's okay, Jordan," I said, too startled to give any more explanation. "I will see you at school."
After I said that, I felt Allecra's strong hands steer me around, almost dragging me like a ragdoll away from the car.
"Nina!" Jordan called after us. I looked over my shoulder to her.
"I'll be fine. Please go home, Jordan! I'm sorry," I said.
The next thing I knew I was inside the black car again. What was worse was Allecra's cold eyes glaring at me.
"You will never do that again, you hear me?" she said.
"That’s none of your concern!" I snapped.
"Everything about you concerns me!" she retorted back.
I fell silent. She turned away as her hand swiftly started the engine. The car revved deafeningly for a good two seconds before it jerked forward. If that wasn't a sign of jealousy, I didn't know what was. But why should she be jealous? Surely she had no care about me. And now all I could do was staring at her in confusion.
"Where are you taking me?" My words came out less hostile than I had intended. I heard Allecra took a deep breath for a second before glancing at me again.
"I'd like to have a talk with you again," she said. "But first, we have to go somewhere quiet.”
CHAPTER 15
“Please, stop the car now," I demanded. “I need to go home."
Allecra ignored me. Her lips still pressed together into a tight line. Her bright turquoise eyes kept staring ahead. The car was accelerating way too fast down an empty highway street. Was she trying to get us killed or something? I bit my lips in exasperation, glaring at her with extra force to get her attention.
"If you keep going at this speed to God knows where I have to assume you're kidnapping me," I said again in a threatening voice, but the car didn't decelerate. If anything, the needle on the speedometer dial kept rising, and it scared me.
"If I'm kidnapping you now, what can you do about that, huh?" Allecra asked, turning her gaze sideway at me. Her brows knitted in the midst of mockery and frustration. It was hard to believe in a time like this I still found her shockingly attractive.
"Pull over, Allecra, or I'll call the police," I tried to speak with a considerable amount of boldness.
Allecra let out a laugh and just shook her head.
"As much as my sister insisted, I wouldn't do that. Maybe not yet."
"Wait, your sister wanted you to kidnap me?"
The prickling fear began to creep into my body like chilling frost. Allecra didn't answer my question. I remembered seeing both of them arguing this morning. Was it something in that regard? Allecra wasn't one of those psycho aliens with impregnation fetish, was she?
"Stop staring at me like that, you could burn holes." She scoffed without looking at me. Then her hand pushed the clutch expertly as she steered the car off the road. The pebbles under the tires made crunching sounds when we came to a crawl.
I realized it was where she had found me that night. Below us was the golden sea of tiny houses and streets. Allecra pressed on a certain button next to the dashboard and the roof fell away, folding automatically into the rear trunk. She cut off the engine. The quietness of the cold night pervaded us.
"I just want to talk about you and me again." Allecra's voice was very low against the night breeze.
"There is nothing to talk about," I told her. "Whatever it is that you think we have is over."
"Is it because you wanted so badly to be in bed with that girl?" she said acidly.
My jaw flung open as I looked at her. I almost didn't believe my ears.
"Jordan and I are just friends!" I growled.
"Didn't look like that when she tried to shove her tongue in your mouth," she shot back, her eyes still glaring like bright jewels. I gritted my teeth.
"If I want to sleep with her, it's still none of your business," I hissed and then raised my chin up daringly. "At least, she genuinely cares about me."
"I'll make sure she cares no more." Allecra's cold words hinted a dark intention, and I recoiled from the idea of Jordan getting hurt.
"Don't you do anything to her," I muttered protectively. "She's my friend."
“I still won't let anyone touch you like that."
"Oh, so only you can?"
The light in her eyes shifted as she glared at me. She reached over and grabbed my shoulders, pulling me forcefully towards her. Our noses almost touched. I tried to pry her hands off, but it was like wriggling out of a lioness's grip. Those gem-like eyes bored with heat into mine. I fought against the fear that tried to overpower me.
"You've tormented me enough, Nina," she muttered in a low frustrated tone. "It could have been easier if I just let my sister handle you in the first place."
"What were you going to do to me?" I snapped back. "Abduct me to your spaceship and force yourself on me?"
Allecra's jaw tightened at my words. The look on her face morphed from anger to pain. Her piercing turquoise eyes glittered with moisture. She looked genuinely hurt. Allecra Knight in her most vulnerable state was something I never expected to see. Then she let go of me and turned her face away. With her arms on the steering wheel, Allecra leaned her forehead against it and gave a long drawn out sigh. For the first time, she looked exhausted and defeated. A spark of worries ignited in my heart.
"Allecra..." I called out, but she kept quiet for a long while. I could hear her soft panting. Her long blonde lock fell loosely like a waterfa
ll around her shoulders, and I felt the urge to run my fingers through those silky strands, but I restrained myself and kept my emotions at bay.
Allecra let out a humorless chuckle.
"I should have left long ago," she said. "I don't know what to make of you. It's not what we've planned."
I frowned, unable to understand it.
"If you wish to leave, surely no one's stopping you," I said.
"That is where the complication started, Nina," Allecra said bitterly, looking up at me now. Her eyes were softer but still bright with intensity. They kept me frozen like a mouse in the eyes of a snake. "The first time I saw you, it was a tremendous shock to me. Then when we were in the dark attic, I came so very close to nearly take you then, but I couldn't bring myself to hurt you like that."
I shivered under her intense, glowing gaze. Allecra looked away again as if she was ashamed.
"You were trying to make me remember what I saw between you and your sister," I said. "Why did you want me to remember it again?"
"I wanted you to hate me and be scared of me so that you would stay away," she said. "I was hoping to rely on your willpower, and it worked. But then this happened. I'm just too weak to let you go."
"But—why me?" I whispered softly.
"Remember what I told you?" she asked. "I would have to leave you if you couldn't give me what I wanted. It would hurt you. But now I can't make myself leave even when you rejected me. I crave your company too much I can't keep myself away from you anymore."
My mouth went dry.
"What am I to you exactly, Allecra, other than the potential one to breed with?" I said. I was proud of myself for sounding unaffected and detached enough.
"I wish I could understand human emotions better," she said. "I know it's extremely important for you to decide whether to mate with me. But Nina, if we're together, we can talk it out. We don't have to rush."
Her voice sounded astonishingly convincing. I already felt my heart soften by her words, but I tried to recompose myself.
"No, I meant what I said, Allecra," I reminded her. "I can't make babies for you, and that's that."
"You can't?" she asked.
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