The Nine Lives of Chloe King

She stared at her hands, which she held above her. Her fingernails were black and dark purple, complimenting her ivory skin. She scanned her palms, then turning them over to look at the two ponytail holders on her left wrist, one black and one red. She traced a scar just below her right pointer finger, then switched to the one following the length of her thumb. Both a pale red, and both unnoticeable unless you knew what to look for, or got close enough to notice.

Her silky hair splayed out beneath her on the pillow and she let out a sigh. Her first day here. In San Francisco. Tomorrow was her first day of school.

She couldn't wait.

...That was sarcasm. Get used to it.

She rolled over on her mattress and closed her eyes, prepared to sleep.

Shoot. Her first day of school and she was late. Lovely. She paused when she rounded a corner, blinking.

An obvious jock with blond hair and well-developed muscles had his hands on either side of a nervous teenager girl, whose blond curls hung past her shoulders.

It was pathetically visible that she was trapped and seriously wanted a getaway.

She was only a few feet away and could hear the jock's British accent as he tried unsuccessfully to seduce her. He leaned closer to kiss the girl, who was staring at him, more fearful than anything.

She cleared her throat and the boy snapped up, shooting her a glare that vanished when he got a full glimpse of her.

Her dark straight hair hung to her waist, crimson red streaks running through it and she wore flattering black skinny jeans with holes in the knees, flat black boots, and a zipped up long sleeve jacket.

The jock sniffed, noticing the smell of spicy cinnamon coming from her. It smelled nice.

She wore a black over-the-shoulder bag that hung on her hip and black shades hid her eyes. She removed them, clipping them onto the strap of her bag, showing impossibly emerald green that contrasted beautifully with her dark style.

A silver bracelet hung around her right wrist, gleaming and a tight black choker around her neck with a ruby embedded in the front, while a bunch of mini sapphires surrounded it.

"Hello," She greeted in a strangely smooth, melodic voice. "I'm sorry to interrupt but I thought rape was illegal in the U.S."

The jock's mouth parted, but he couldn't find any words, so he simply stared at her, dumbfounded.

The girl rolled her lips inward, her eyes darting around nervously.

"Alek!" The jock and the blond both looked at the stairs, where the call had come from while the third student simply watched them.

Their scents were different. Now before you ask, she doesn't know how she knows. She just has an overly-sensitive nose.

Especially the girl's. Along with the strawberries from the girl's shampoo there was something else...something she couldn't discern.

The person who had called Alek's name descended the staircase. She seemed slightly Mexican, but pretty nevertheless.

"Jasmine." He greeted, hesitantly.

"Who are these girls?"

"Tate," The arrival cut in. "I'm new to the school and got a little lost. I was quite surprised to find someone like him," She motioned to Alek. "Trying to rape her." She nodded to the chick.

Jasmine's glare darkened and Alek looked at Tate like 'thanks a lot.'

Tate merely rose an eyebrow, a small smile twitching at her lips.

"Chloe, go to class." Jasmine ordered. "You too...Tate."

Alek's POV

After Tate and Chloe left it took me forever to explain to Jasmine what had been going on and she finally let me get to class. Never thought I'd be so relieved to get there either.

I scanned the kids in the room as I made my way to my seat, feeling a pang of disappointment at not seeing Tate's face.

As the teachers droned on and on with various lectures I found myself picturing Tate. She was attractive, that was obvious, but something else about her pulled me in. Whether it was her bright, green eyes, her graceful qualities, or her athletic body, I just couldn't place it. And every time I saw her face in my mind I had to remind myself of the Curse. And the fact that she was human.

But still...

I found myself walking home alone after school; quite unusual for someone as popular as me, but the silence was welcomed. I needed time to think and clear my head. But I found myself sub-consciously following a familiar spicy scent until I heard it.

The most beautiful voice I had ever heard. Singing. A guitar was playing along, complimenting the voice nicely with a flawless combination.

"You never know when love will stri-ike

You never know when your heart'll fly-y

But just in case it's love at first si-ight

Always look into their eye-eye-eye-eyes.

And you always wanna ma-ake su-ure,

so see if you notice the little de-ta-ils.

Like the way their face lights up when they smile,

Or how they hide behind sarcasm when they're hurt.

Following the song, Alek found himself at an open window, staring at Tate's back as she sat on the far edge of her bed, a guitar in her hands.

You can never be sure,

but if you are and you know he's the one,

that he's whose taken your hea-art,

that he's whose stolen your love,

then don't just sit there and wa-atch,

stand up and fight,

get the guy,

or at least you can die-ie try-ying.

Suddenly Tate stopped, tilting her head she sniffed, sniffed the air, then turned, only to see Alek standing right behind her. Her eyes widened.

She stood, setting the instrument, which was shiny black with swirls of dark purple all over, on her bed as she faced him.

"You know there's this new invention called knocking," She glanced at the open window behind him. "And a door."

He shrugged. "Yeah, but what's the fun in that?"

"Not getting shot."

Alek chuckled.

Tate rubbed the back of her head. "Um, how long were you there?"

"Long enough to know being a singer is a very high possibility for a future career. What song was that anyway? I don't ever remember hearing that one before."

"U-Uh, I wrote it. Nice to have your input, though."

"Anytime."

Tate hesitated. "You know, I've been hearing me sing it all the time, but that doesn't really help me so would you...?"

"Ah, I don't really sing."

Alek almost died then and there seeing the look of intense disappointment on her face. And knowing he caused it.

He sighed. "Alright, fine. Gimme the lyrics."

Her eyes immediately lit up and she scrambled for a piece of paper on her pillow. Snatching it up she handed it to him happily, then picked up her guitar.

He focused on the words and managed to get them out of his mouth in the correct order, though in the correct key he wasn't sure.

The guitar matched the notes perfectly, not one mistake or screw up.

When he finished he looked at Tate for an opinion.

She was staring into space, thinking about something he wished she would explain to him.

Instead, he stuck to waving his hand in front of her face.

"Hey, Earth to Tate."

She snapped up. "Oh, sorry Alek. You sounded pretty good...for a rapist."

He groaned. "About that, I wasn't raping her. I was flirting."

"Whatever you say." She stood, taking the paper from him.

When she met his gaze time seemed to stop, standing still to where it was just the two of them. No thoughts ran through either of their minds, no thinking about their next move...or the consequences.

Alek bent down the mere inch it took, pressing his lips to hers. They were unbelievably soft and gentle and he tasted the grape from her chapstick. His tongue slid along her closed mouth and slowly she opened, allowing him access. As the kiss got deeper his hands wound around her waist while hers fluttered up, almost reluctantly to his neck, clasping themselves together. A battle for dominance ensued which he eventually won, but the drawn-out-bout left him breathless. His eyes had closed of their own free will as he pulled her closer and closer, until not even a strip of paper would fit between them. Her body molded perfectly against his own. Then his eyes shot open and he pushed Tate away with more force than intended. She crashed into the wall, wincing as she slid to the ground.

Her gaze, surprisingly not angry with the rough handling, instead confused, looked up at him.

"Alek? What happened?"

He stared at her, an emotion of pure horror written on his face.

"Oh no...oh God no..."

"What's the matter? Are you married or something?"

She stood slowly, pressing a hand to her temple gingerly.

"Oh, God, Tate. You can't die. Not because of me."

"Die? What the heck are you talking about?"

He just shook his head, turned, and fled from the room.

Okay, that's the first chapter. Tell me what you think. I know that you probably think it's too fast as a relationship, but there was that talk about Mai knowing exactly who their mate was at first sight and all that, so I figured for them, it's perfect. Except for the fact that Tate's not Mai. But Alek is so I mostly wrote it from his point of view. Oh, and the song is mine so if any of you try to copywrite it there will be HELL TO PAY. Thank you. Please read and review, while you're at it.