Chapter 51

Lila actually jumped a bit in surprise at the sudden atmosphere of sound flooding her ears. I smiled and focused right back on my work as Eve turned to her in confusion.

"You okay?" Eve quietly asked.

Lila grinned at her and sighed happily. "Yeah," she replied. "I think I'm more than okay."

Lila then reached into her backpack for her hair brush to straighten her hair. I don't think she could've made it anymore obvious to Eve. Eve herself then glanced over at me with a cheeky smirk. She certainly knew.

The rest of class went as smoothly as could be expected. Just before lunch time, the other students began to stretch out and converse with one another. Eve finished up her work and then casually dropped her pen on top of her notebook. She and Lila looked at each other almost in sync, staring for just a moment before they shared a laugh. Eve then smiled as she looked back at me. I waved cutely to her, just as she had done yesterday.

I then felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around to see Jennifer looking over at Eve, then back at me.

"You did it with her, didn't you?" she quietly asked me with a cocky grin.

"Why?" I replied as I rested my elbow on her table, and put my head in my hand. I stared at her with a sensual gaze and lowered my voice to match my expression. "Are you jealous?"

"No," she remarked, mocking me by imitating my posture. "I was just asking, asshole." The two of us faced off mere inches away from each other.

I chuckled and grinned. "You have such a huge crush on me, huh?"

"In your dreams...," she quietly said.

"You're always in my dreams, Jennifer," I remarked with a cocky smirk. "All - night - long..." She frowned to try to off-set the amused grin she had on her face.

"Gosh, I want to rip that smirk right off your face," she spoke.

Our ears were then flooded with the bell for lunch. Most of the other students started to chat as I got up from my seat along with them.

"See you later," I said to Jennifer with a smirk.

"Burn in hell," she pleasantly replied with a gentle wave. I quietly laughed, slipping behind my table partner's chair and then headed over to Eve.

"Hey," I greeted her as she unhooked her lunch bag. She looked up at me with a smile. I then looked over at Lila who also smiled at me as she held her lunch bag behind her back and casually strolled away.

"So...," I continued, "I'm guessing you know."

"Yeah," she replied, pushing out her chair and getting to her feet. "Sorry about letting it slip. I didn't really mean to tell Lila, but... what can I say? It was exciting." The two of us grinned and chuckled. "When I did tell her, at first she thought I was joking. Then, she had this look on her face like... she just had to know. She had to find out what it was like all of it."

I looked over and saw Lila anxiously swaying back at forth. She was watching Eve intensely.

"And it looks like she can't wait to talk to you about it," I remarked. Eve looked over at her friend and snickered. She smiled at me before giving me a gentle hug with one arm.

"See you later," she whispered and placed a kiss on my cheek before she slowly turned away and walked out of class. I sighed happily, always feeling great about being in her company. I admired her from the back for a moment before I noticed Jennifer looking at me. She then pointed at Eve before sticking the same finger through a ring she made on the other hand in a 'fucking' motion. I shook my head and waved for her to go away, trying not to laugh at that.

As I began to depart from class myself, I noticed Talia still hadn't left yet. So, I decided to pay her a visit.

"Hey, there," I greeted her as she worked to unhook her own, fancy, reusable lunch bag.

"Hey!" she happily exclaimed with a huge grin. "You have lunch in the cafeteria, right?"

"Why, yes, I do," I replied with a posh accent. She giggled in response.

"Would you like to walk me there?" she asked, her eyes sparkling with excitement.

"Absolutely," I said with a grin.

She quickly sprung to her feet and merrily walked with me out of the classroom. Fortunately, the hallway wasn't too terribly crowded. As we made it out, she pleasantly surprised me when she took my hand in her own. I curiously looked over at her.

"What's that for?" I asked. She giggled softly.

"It's for how awesome I think you are," she warmly replied as she looked at me with a gorgeous smile.

Gosh, she was so sweet. That was one heck of a great feeling.

We headed down the stairs, hand in hand, and made our way out the door. Once outside, her hand slid further up my arm before wrapping her other arm around mine. I watched her grinning happily as she placed her head on my shoulder. She sighed happily, reaffirming her grip around my arm as we on kept moving. I was so elated to experience how wonderful she was, and she somehow knew exactly how to make me feel just the same.

It was a brief, yet delightful walk to our destination. I opened the door to the cafeteria and allowed her to go ahead of me. She let go of my arm and turned to me with a happy sigh.

"Well," she spoke up as the door closed behind us, "looks like we're here. Thanks for that really nice walk."

"It was nice," I replied with a smile. She giggled again.

"I'll see you later, Anthony."

"Looking forward to it, Talia."

She reached out to me and let her hand slide down my arm. Then, she headed off to go see her friends. I happily gazed upon her for a moment before walking off to go get my own lunch.

My friends seemed to be eagerly awaiting my arrival as I approached them.

"Hey, man!" Brandon greeted me.

"Hey," I replied to him as I took a seat. Nora blushed slightly and smiled at me as I looked at her. At the same time, Frank had a rather suspicious look on his face while keeping his eyes on me.

"So," Josh spoke up with a mouthful of food. "Saw you walk in with a new girl. How many girlfriends do you have?"

I snickered and rolled my eyes before taking a bite of my sandwich.

"We were actually going to talk about the fight yesterday," Josh said.

"Yeah," Brandon chimed in. "You handled yourself damn well! Nora agrees with us on that." Nora sighed quietly, closing her eyes as she nodded.

"I... will admit that," she said. "I was really scared you were going to get hurt, but I had no idea you were so good at defending yourself!"

"The boy was like a bullet with those moves!" Brandon joked, holding his hands out in a karate pose while the others laughed. However, not even a chuckle spilled from Frank's lips. Instead, he folded his arms across his chest and sighed in annoyance.

Nora curiously looked at me as she remarked, "I'm surprised your bruise from yesterday healed up so quickly."

"It has?" I wondered, holding my previously injured cheek.

"Yeah," she said as she dug through her lunch bag. She pulled out a pocket mirror and flipped it open before pointing it toward me. "Check it out."

"Wow," I uttered in surprised as I slowly rubbed my cheek, "it really did heal up."

"Nice," Brandon said. "You're like Wolverine with that healing factor. I bet you got an adamantium skeleton in there somewhere, too, huh?"

"Sure do," I turn to him with a grin. "And claws that come out of my hands," I added as I held my fingers out like claws. Brandon jokingly leaned back, protecting his face from me. The others laughed while Frank just shook his head. As I looked over at him, I couldn't help getting the obvious feeling that Frank was annoyed with me. I had no idea what I could've done to him.

Once we finished our lunch, we got up and all said our goodbyes, all of us besides Frank. Nobody else seemed terribly worried about Frank's demeanor so I figured I shouldn't be either. I threw my tray away in the trash and waved to them. We then went our separate ways or so I thought.

After I got outside, I casually placed my hands in my pockets. I decided to go and pay a quick visit to Eve and Lila before class resumed. But as I got around the corner, a hand quickly grabbed my shoulders, pushing me against the wall.

To my surprise, it was Frank. My jaw hung agape as I looked at him in sheer confusion, wondering what was going on.

"You and I need to talk," he sternly said, "one-on-one, man-to-man, right now."