Chapter 91 Ch. 61
Zara's eyes shot to Ethan's; she fought the urge to raise her eyebrows at him.
Was his family a part of some gang?
How many more secrets did he keep carefully hidden?
"Why are you and Prunella looking at him?" Noah chuckled, confused.
"We're just shocked," Prunella said dryly, giving Noah a small smile. "That's why we're looking at each other—shit, we've got class."
The shrill noise of the bell made Zara roll her eyes in annoyance. School was rinse and repeat, and she just knew that she wanted the holidays to come.
"When's your next race?" Prunella linked her arm with Zara's, leaning slightly on her as they walked. The boys fell in step beside them.
"This weekend, actually. Saturday," she groaned. "Quarterfinals."
"Shit, that's important. Prepared?"
Zara shrugged. "I mean, not to brag, but..."
Prunella laughed heartily. "No, you're definitely bragging."
They walked into the lab, and due to a class swap, they were having chemistry first period. Students were milling around, picking out lab stools. There was no teacher in the lab yet, so most people didn't settle down.
"The lab is not a place for misconduct!" yelled the teacher as she stepped into the class. Her harsh eyes scanned the crowd of students, her lips pressing into a thin, grim line. "We have an important practical session scheduled for today; I'm sure you got the emails I sent out?" she asked.
Some students murmured in the affirmative, while a good number of them did not seem bothered about it.
"It's why I am using up the time of two teachers; we swapped things around for today—please be with your respective lab partner!"
Zara gave Prunella a quick hug and then went over to her lab partner. "You changed your glasses," she commented, smiling at him. "It looks nice."
"Thank you," he responded, his cheeks flaming red.
Ethan rolled his eyes at the interaction, feeling jealousy run through his veins. He went to the side of the lab where he always had practicals, and cold rushed through him.
Yvette was dead.
He sucked in a sharp breath, suddenly feeling so exposed.
He didn't really like her—well, except when they were dating. But it was attraction; it was the perfect relationship for the school. Track star, school's queen bee, and member of the student committee. She was beautiful, he could admit that. Her behavior hadn't always been the best—most would call her a bullying bitch—but still, there was a part of her that still resonated with him.
And he knew she was broken: toxic parents which in turn made her toxic.
When she had broken up with him over a fight for the hundredth time, he wasn't bothered. And she had come back a week later, saying they belonged together, they were perfect. But he didn't want to continue because he didn't really feel much.
And because his life was already enough of a lie, the spotlight was getting too much; he wanted to be just him.
So he refused—she ignored him for like one month, and then a week after, she flirted with him like they'd just met. It was a continuous thing, but he shook off her advances and acted like nothing had ever happened.
Now standing in front of the setup, he smiled sadly. Maybe her pathetic flirting wasn't so bad after all.
"Oh dear," Mrs. Lawrence sighed, looking at Ethan.
The atmosphere in the class changed. For good reason.
"Your partner—do any of you mind having an extra person in your group?"
More than half of the class did not mind—after all, he was Ethan Moreau.
"Great, Ethan, pair yourself up with any group."
Without hesitation, he walked over to Zara.
She shot him a look. "Of all groups, Ethan?"
"You two look like you know what you're doing," he shrugged. "So, here I am."
His eyes flicked to the boy, and he could not help but glare at the way he looked at Zara.
"I swear, I should not have gone with sciences," Zara groaned at the cafeteria table. "Today was hell."
"Yeah, three-hour practical, I feel like I burned twenty-five hundred calories," Prunella grinned.
"I'm glad it's over," Noah sighed. "I wouldn't be in the sciences if it weren't for my parents—how about you, Ethan? Why sciences?"
He shrugged.
What was he going to say? That he had been in sciences and in the arts several times. That he knew too much from attending school for over a century?
"Just felt like it," he yawned, and pulled out his phone. He wasn't the slightest bit interested in the food in his presence. He scrolled mindlessly, zoning out Noah and Zara who talked on and on about the prom planning. Noah was trying to convince her to come on board.
Ethan was tired of the constant feeling of jealousy he felt whenever it came to Zara. He looked up from his phone briefly, his jaw grinding as he saw how carefree she was with Noah, her hand on his chest, adjusting his clothes as she spoke to him.
Fuck. He wanted to just rip them apart from each other.
Noah caught his gaze just then and furrowed his brows. For a heartbeat, he could’ve sworn Ethan’s pupils looked darker, like there was a blood-red color in them. He blinked, and it was gone. "Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Nothing," Ethan shrugged.
"Where's your friend? He basically started school, and then disappeared," Zara suddenly said to make the tension dissipate.
"No idea. He's like that," shrugged Ethan. Jace was not someone who liked to be stable, especially in a humanly place.
"He won't be graduating if that's the case," Noah snorted.
"He's crazy intelligent," Prunella laughed. "He'll graduate. You just watch."
++++++
"Hey, Zee." Noah jogged up to her, a basketball tucked underneath his arm. He had changed into a training outfit. He sank on the ground beside her as she tied her shoelace. Sweat beads were gathered across his forehead from the blazing sun.
"What's up?" She looked up at him and smiled. "Shouldn't you be at practice?"
"I've got a few more minutes. I wanted to ask you something... More like... talk to you about something."
"Sure, what's up?"
"I'm kinda... worried about you and..."
"Why are you worried?"
"You and Ethan. Something about you guys is off, and it's almost like he's always watching you, scared that... What if he's dangerous, Zee?"
If only he knew, Zara thought to herself.
"Is there something else?" Zara asked. She looked up at Coach Ayers and gave a tight smile. "I'll join you guys soon, this is important, ma'am."
"Actually... there is."
"Okay?"
"I know I insinuated you're crazy for thinking Ethan might be a vampire, but... What if he is?"
"He's not. Those don't exist," Zara said too quickly, avoiding his eyes. Deep down, she wondered where this was stemming from. What suddenly made Noah start believing that theory?
"He was staring at me, and I swear his eyes turned red."
Zara froze for a second too long, then she gave Noah a smile. "Really? Are you sure that's what you saw?"
"Yeah, and why do I have a feeling you and Prunella are in on whatever the fuck this is?"
"What do you mean?"
"Today's not the first time I'm talking to you guys about something, and then you'll look at him—tell me, Zee, is he a vampire? Is he the serial killer? I mean the bite in the neck; news outlets are saying it's some sort of new medical device to drain blood, but vampires drink blood, and..."
"Do you know how crazy you sound?"
"Crazy?" Noah scoffed, and then started laughing. "You came to me with the theory first. And suddenly you no longer believe in it?"
"Noah, I've got to go. Quarterfinals are this weekend. I'll see you later, okay?" She kissed his cheek and patted his head, then sprinted across the field to meet her coach.
Her heart was pounding in her chest hard.
Noah was her best friend, and she should have been able to tell him, but what good would it do if she was only going to be putting him in danger?
Ethan's father was out to kill whoever knew, so wasn't it best to keep Noah out of the loop?
He's already suspecting, a voice inside him whispered. He can still be killed.
"Zara, what did I just say to you guys?"
"Um..." She trailed off, looking around her teammates for help. They said nothing—of course, they kept quiet. None of them liked her that much.
"Your mind needs to be present, okay? Quarterfinals are this weekend. I don't need any of my athletes who made it that far to start slacking."
"Yes, ma'am."
A/N
my apologies for lack of updates. I got overwhelmed by exams. I'll be uploading as much chapters as possible today. 🥹💕