by Yalu Taylors
“How about we pick a topic already.” I try to throw in my usual snarkiness, but it falls flat. Damn this guy has me on edge.
“How about we do this one on The Blueprint of Life?” He pulls his hair back from his face and ties it at the nape of his neck with an elastic band.
“Yeah sounds like fun.” We spend the rest of the lesson brainstorming ideas on our topic.
The bell rings signaling lunch and Hunter walks beside me all the way to my locker. I pretend he's not standing there and duck my head behind the locker door. I peek through the grill of the door and he's still there, patiently waiting. He's leaning with his back on Mariah's locker. Of course, he's waiting for Mariah. I turn my head and sure enough here she comes. My lips twist into a scowl as her horrible voice reaches my ears.
“Hi, Hunter.” I close my locker just as he grunts her name in reply. Spinning on my heel I head the opposite direction from the cafeteria. I pack my lunch, cafeteria food sucks. I walk down the hall and out the front doors.
Chapter 2
Crossing the carpark to my car, I notice footsteps behind me. Glancing over my shoulder I see Hunter not far behind me.
“Holy fuck! 1968 Shelby? Oh, it’s the gt500. Hello, baby, who do you belong to?”
Letting out a laugh I ask, “Do you two need a room?”
Hunter smiles “No but I need to meet the owner, so beautiful. Needs a bit of work though.” He runs his hand along Shelby's hood. I watch him for a moment as he texts someone on his phone.
I press my key fob and Hunter jumps. “No fucking way!” He looks at me like he's trying to figure out a puzzle. “She's really yours?”
“Nah I just stole the keys, thought I'd take her for a joy ride!” I smirk at him and pop the trunk; my art supplies are hidden in the boot of my car due to the bitch brigade always stealing stuff from my locker.
“Would you mind?” Hunter points to the driver’s seat. I’ve never let anyone drive my baby but lots of people want to sit in the driver’s seat with the engine running. I toss him the keys and watch as he gets in shifting the seat back as far as it'll go and starts the engine. Shelby purrs loudly and a little rough but it’s still a beautiful sound to my ears. The grin on Hunter’s face makes me think he likes the sound of her engine as well.
Hunter’s phone dings and he pulls it from his front jean pocket. My eyes wander to his body. Long legs clad in casual fit jeans. A tank top drawn tight over solid muscles that flex as he puts his phone back in his front pocket. Yup, he’s definitely going to be in my dreams tonight. He revs the engine a couple of times then leans over to pop the hood. Hopping out with the engine still running he ogles the engine. I shake my head and grab my sandwiches out of my bag. I eat while I watch him tinker with the car. I’m so enraptured by Hunter that I don’t even notice the other three guys standing next to me until one of them speaks.
“What’s wrong with the car?” I jump, like literally jump. My half-chewed food gets lodged in my throat as I stare at the guys in front of me. Two of them look almost identical, both with blonde hair and blue eyes, a single dimple on the left cheek as they smile. I look closer trying to find a difference. Twin one has darker eyes. He also has slightly darker hair. They both tower over me, roughly six feet tall. Twin one is wearing skin tight black jeans and a blue t-shirt. Twin two is wearing a black muscle shirt and skinny jeans.
I tear my eyes away from the twins and look at the other guy. He’s shorter than the twins, around five ten. His hair is an almond brown but what stands out most are his green eyes and high cheek bones. I flick my gaze up to his ears half expecting to see them pointy. His eyes are ethereal, the kind you’d expect to see on an elf on TV. Mr. Green-eyes holds his hand out. I grasp it lightly, my palm tingling at the contact.
“Braydon Jacobs. That’s Zack and Zayne O’Donnell. Don’t bother trying to tell which is which, it’s almost impossible.” Images flash in my head of me telling one of the twins off for dropping food in my car. I call him Zack in my vision. I turn my head to the twins. Dark eyes winks.
“Zack.” I point to the other twin, “Zayne.” Their mouths fall open. I wink at them then turn back to watching Hunter play with my car. He turns the engine off and goes back under the hood. Pulling a multi-tool from his pocket.
“How did you do that?” hunter asks as he looks at me from under the hood.
“Do what?” I look at his hands, now covered in grease. Anything to avoid looking at those luscious lips.
“Tell which twin was which.”
“It’s a secret!” I smirk at him and he laughs.
“Turn the engine over again.” I move to the driver’s side just as Zack jumps in the seat. He leans over and drops his food on my seat, my vision playing out.
“Oi Zack! clean up your fucking mess. That’s genuine leather douchebag.” I growl. Zack’s head whips around to me, he slowly lifts his hand and wipes the food off the seat onto the floor. Getting annoyed, I close the distance between us and slap him upside the head.
“You’re vacuuming that up later.” He smirks at me just as Hunter calls out for the engine to be started again.
“You hear that guys? I scored the first date.” I blink and my head rears back. “What the fuck?”
“He’s joking. Aren’t you Zack?” Zayne sits down in the passenger seat and smiles timidly at me. “Beautiful car you have. If you like I could pull that ding out of the door for you.” For the second time in two minutes, I’m shocked by a twin.
“Just how would you do that?”
His smile broadens, “Our family owns a car restoration shop.” Oh my god, I’ve died and gone to heaven. Four hot guys and they all know a lot about cars. I finally might be able to get this old girl fixed up how I want her. I pat the side of my car.
“You hear that girl, they like us so much they want to shower you with gifts.”
The boys' talk shop for a while but then hell on earth walks up to my car and I swear I heard the guys groan. Mariah, Destiny, and Charlotte smile at the guys and glare at me.
“Hi, Hunter!” Mariah says in a sickly sweet, happy tone.
“Mariah.” He grunts. I bite my bottom lip to stop from laughing, the last thing I need is her attention on me. Destiny slithers up to Zack and smiles at him trying to be coy.
“Hi, Zayne, right?” Zack smirks and winks at me.
“Yup.” I again have to hold in a giggle. Charlotte runs her hand along Braydon’s arm. For some reason, all the attention the guys are getting from the girls is starting to annoy me.
“You know I’m free Friday night if you want to take me out.” Braydon rolls his eyes and laughs. He actually laughs at her. Well that makes me feel a little better.
“Nope, I’m busy Friday.” I hear Zack fending off an offer much the same way. I glance at Hunter when he mentions my name.
“Sorry Mariah but I’ve already got a date Friday night. Tess here already agreed to be my date.” He wraps his arm around my shoulder and I stare at him, my mouth agape. Mariah sneers at me and huffs before walking back to whatever hell dimension she came from. I shrug off Hunter’s arm and turn to glare at him.
“I am not going out with you and I don’t appreciate being used as a way to fend off the bitch brigade. You’ve just made Mariah angry at me. Asshole.” I snatch my keys out of his hand. The twins get out of my car and once they shut the doors I click the lock. The bell rings and I rush back towards the school buildings. I’m not sure if I’m angrier at him for using me as an excuse or that it wasn’t true.
Just as I’m going through the front entrance doors the twins appear beside me. Zayne grabs my timetable out of my hands and writes something in several places. I don’t bother trying to see as I have the thing memorized anyway. Joys of having a photographic memory. I head straight to the chemistry lab and Zack and Zayne follow me. Zayne hands me my timetable and I glance down at it as I walk into the classroom. He’s marked the classes I have with each of the guys. I glare at the piece of paper, scrunch it up and
throw it back at him.
Zack and Zayne move to sit with me at my back table. In chemistry, it’s usually four to a table but there’s an odd number of students and I usually sit by myself, just like in Biology. Before I sit down, I hear a happy squeal at the front of the class and look over my shoulder. Mariah, Destiny, and Shaun are standing in the doorway. I watch as the two girls rush over to my table and sit in the last two seats, right next to Zack and Zayne.
I glare at them as Mariah says, “Go away Freak.” She waves her hand dismissively. Not in the mood for a fight I turn and sit down at the table in front of my usual one. I hear movement behind me and am startled when Zack and Zayne sit down on either side of me. Zayne wraps his arm around my back and leans his head on my shoulder. “We’re with you, Babe.” I shrug his arm off me and glare at him.
“Don’t call me Babe.” I snap as I see Shaun sit down in the remaining seat on my other side. I turn from Zayne and glare at Shaun.
He smiles at me and says, “Mind if I join in on the fun?”
Mariah snorts and whisper yells, “Freak thinks she’s beautiful just because those guys think she’s easy. What a slut.”
“Don’t hate on me just because I’m beautiful. Hate on me because your boyfriend thinks so.” I snap without thinking. Zayne’s whole body goes rigid and he glares at Shaun. Whoa, what is his problem? I look over at Zack and he’s glaring at Shaun as well. If I didn’t know better, I’d say they were both jealous of the attention I gave him. Might have to test that theory later. No, wait! What am I thinking? They are annoying, and I don’t want them around.
Mr. James struts into the classroom wearing his usual black business suit and sunglasses. He's the youngest of all the teachers at 27, his deep brown floppy hair and bright green eyes have made many of the girl’s swoon.
“Afternoon class, today we’ll be doing the Briggs-Rauscher reaction experiment. Lab kits have been placed in the desk drawers. All ingredients are there, now get started, while I explain what happens. Oh, and don’t be stupid with it. The end result will stain your clothes and skin.”
I open the drawer in front of me and pull out the ingredients and the instructions list. The boys argue over who gets to do what. I notice there are four steps to the experiment. “Hey morons, there are four steps so we all get to have a turn, now stop acting like five-year old’s and let’s see what this crazy teacher is getting us to do.”
We all put our goggles and gloves on and I pass the beaker to Shaun to go first, working our way down the table so the experiment finishes with Zack. Shaun stirs the Potassium iodate into the water and then the sulfuric acid. He dilutes the mixture then passes it to me.
I carefully do my part and we all watch as the solution turns yellow. Zayne goes next and the solution turns red. Zack gets all excited as he adds his mixture and the solution turns a very dark Blue. As we watch it goes even darker, so the blue is almost black. I’m so distracted by the solution and the teachers talking that I don’t even notice Mariah, leaning across her table. She splashes some of her solutions onto my shirt. The solution is warm but the shock of getting something tipped on me has me jumping out of my seat and raising my fist to punch her.
Before my fist makes contact I'm being spun around to face Zack. Zayne peeks under the back of my shirt. I'm wearing a skin-tight tank under my loose tank. He grabs the hem and yanks my top off. The shirt muffles my squeak of surprise. I feel a cold liquid on my back, then gentle pressure as Zayne cleans the solution off. “No burn. Looks like we got to it quick enough, it shouldn't stain your skin.”
Mr. James finally pays attention and comes running over to see what happened. After surveying the damage, he says. “Quick thinking boys. Well done.” He claps Zayne on the back and goes back to the front of the class. Zayne wraps my now ruined shirt in a plastic bag and motions for me to sit back down. He turns to Mariah and if looks could kill she'd be six feet under in a blink. I'm still dazed by all the attention but my heads not fuzzy enough to have lost the edge in my anger.
Zayne turns back to face me, and I smile weakly at him. “You okay Babe?” I shrug my shoulders.
“Cold but yeah I'm good.” Zack leans down and tugs a hoodie out of his bag. He stands up and moving to stand right behind me, he gently pulls the hoodie over my head, dressing me like a child. He goes to grab my arm, but I wave him off, doing the rest myself. My red cheeks must amuse the twins because I see humor twinkling in their eyes, as they sit back down. Class continues with Mariah scowling behind me and Zayne leaning into my side.
“If you bring your car over this afternoon we can see about fixing that ding.” I think about it for a few moments. I’m going to have to get it fixed eventually, might as well take them up on their offer. I tell him my number and he sends me a text with Zack's, Braydon’s, and Hunter's included. I glimpse Shaun messing with his phone beside Zayne, but I ignore him.
After class, the twins walk me to Art. The art room is set up like a studio, no desks, just easels strategically placed around the room. The twins say their goodbyes and I head over to my usual spot. Just as I'm getting my supplies set up, someone places their hands over my eyes. My first instinct is to elbow the person, but I catch the smell of coffee and musk. I remember Braydon has art with me and take a chance that it's him. “Hmm, Big green eyes, looks kind of like an elf.” I hear his laugh as he removes his hands.
“I'm not sure if that's an insult or a compliment.”
“If it was a compliment, you'd know it.” I smirk at Braydon and his smile lights up his whole face. He stands behind the easel to my left and pulls out his own paint set. The teacher Mrs. Snow rushes into the room. Her messy grey and pink curls fluttering around her face make her look like a tiny fairy. Her long flower dress’ skirt billows around her as she twirls around looking at each of the 12 students in the class.
“Welcome, welcome, today's muse will be arriving shortly. He generously volunteered to model for our artistic talents. I hope you all have your preferred mediums ready. Our humble headmaster has donated a cupboard full of supplies for those who don't have their own.” She claps her hands excitedly and continues speaking fast. “Go, go help yourselves. We'll have 40 minutes to make our model look his best on your canvases.” Just as she says this in walks Hunter.
His cheeks slightly flushed. My mouth gapes open as he grabs a stool and sits in the middle of the room. “Come, come don't be shy, show us that fabulously sculpted torso.” Hunter lifts his shirt over his head with one hand, a move that appears casual, but he must have practiced the it for hours to do it so flawlessly.
“Close your mouth Tessie, Hunter's done this before at our old school, you'll give him a big head if you keep staring at him like that.” The way Braydon says, ‘Big head.’ Has me thinking of a different body part. The blush covering my cheeks spreads as my thoughts take a trip into naughty territory. Braydon's laughter has me shaking my head to clear it of the mental image.
I grab a pencil and begin to sketch. Purposely avoiding looking at my subject. With my picture-perfect memory, I only needed to see his pose once to be able to transfer his likeness onto the canvas. I’m so lost in the image in front of me that I don't hear the bell ring. I also don't notice Hunter and Braydon standing behind me. They watch me as I work, staying very still and quiet.
Finally, I put my brush down and blink in confusion.
“Hand it over, Hunter.” I spin around shocked to see them there. Hunter hands a twenty dollar note over to Braydon. The exchange is done with a smirk from Braydon and a grunt from Hunter. I study the two as they stand side by side.
“You're brothers, not twins though.” I tilt my head slightly at Hunter. “You skip a grade?” they both laugh.
“You're very intuitive.” Hunter states as I pack my art stuff away.
“Talented too.” Braydon says as he examines my painting of his brother. Braydon slings his arm around my shoulders. I shrug off his arm and head out of the classroom. I sigh as I notice them following me.
> Hunter and Braydon walk me to my car. I climb in the driver's seat and readjust my seats position. I check my mirrors and Hunter jumps in the passenger seat. My eyes follow his movements as he buckles himself in, the question clearly written on my face.
“You still want us to help fix the car, right?” I hesitate, and he reaches for the button on his seatbelt.
“Wait.” Instinctively I grab his hand to stop him. The contact of skin on skin makes my whole-body tingle. I stare at where my hand is. Why the hell did I stop him? I’ve been trying to ignore them since lunch time. Shaking my head, I let go of his arm.
“Come on, we don’t want anything from you, just the pleasure of your company while we fix this old girl up. I'll navigate.” His eyes twinkle with mirth. “Unless you're going to let me drive.”
“Oh, hell no! Running her motor is one thing but no one drives my Shelby.” I put her into gear and take off squealing the tires slightly as I exit the school parking lot. I glance over at Hunter and his smile distracts me. Focusing back on the road I listen to his directions. We pull up in front of a two-story redbrick building. The front facing the street has four garage doors. Hunter directs me to the one on the far right.
He hops out and taps the door a few times. I count to ten as the door rolls up slowly. I'm not sure what I was expecting but the clean and tidy open space was not it. All along the back wall are bright red and chrome tool chests. Not a speck of grease anywhere. I slowly drive into the area, Hunter guiding me in. After putting the car in park, I hop out and stand there unsure what to do.
Hunter walks over to the door set in the back wall, he motions for me to follow. As I walk behind him I notice he has a slight limp. “What happened to your leg?” He sighs and turns to face me.
“I lost a bet.” He appears annoyed with my questioning, so I just let it go. He’s silent as we exit the building. Where the hell are we going? Why am I even following this guy? I should turn around, get in my car, and go home. I’m so lost in my thoughts I don’t even notice when he stops right in front of me, I barrel right into his Back.