"If you want to know how your girl will treat you after marriage, just listen to her talking to her little brother."
-Sam Levenson
Paul's POV
I watched Catia practically run out of the classroom, I sighed, frustrated. She obviously didn't appreciate my smugness. I smirked, remembering her blush.
"How'd it go, man?" asked Jared, rushing into the classroom. "Peachy," I snapped, walking out. "Jeez…Hope she's the complete opposite of you, Paul!" he yelled after me. "Idiot." I muttered, rolling my eyes.
"Paul!" I turned, foolishly hoping it to be Catia. It was just Mia Collins, a possessive sophomore girl with damaged bleached hair, and blue contacts, which stood out against her dark skin. She ran up to me, clutching my arm, her eyes shining excitedly, "Have you heard? There's gonna be a party at Liam's place, I was thinking maybe you could come with me?" she ended, batting her eyelashes at me.
I simply stared at her before saying, "I'm going to be busy tonight, Mia, perhaps you can find someone else to go with?" I shook her arm off as gently as I could before walking away.
I glanced back at her, "Did I seriously pay attention to girls like that?" I mused, shocked at my lack of good taste. As I turned back, I bumped into this albino teenager.
She fell back on the floor, her books scattering on the ground. She looked up, her pale pink eyes gleaming angrily, "I'm so sorry, here let me help you." I said immediately, kneeling down and gathering her books. She stood, watching me pick her books up. She grunted in acknowledgement as I handed them back to her, snatching the books from my hands. "Hey!" I called after her, she turned, "You're the new girl? Catia's sister?"
She turned fully this time, eyeing me up and down, "Yes." And then turned and left.
The bell rung, making me jump. I chuckled, remembering Catia jump at the bell's ring.
"Late," Mrs. Bluth groused, exaggerating the snap of the chalk against the board, "as always. Take a seat." "How'd it go?" Seth whispered to me as I took my seat. I simply glared at him, a sign for him to shut up. "Okay." He gulped, focusing on the teacher.
I diligently took notes while Seth just gaped at me, "Dude," he whispered, "You're actually paying attention!" "Mr. Clearwater," Mrs. Bluth called sharply, "continue your chatter and just watch me give you detention for an entire week!" "You can do that?" Seth asked curiously. "Don't push it, Mr. Clearwater." She warned. "Yes, ma'am." He gulped.
I smirked as soon as the teacher turned back to the board. Seth just looked at me in awe, "I am finally witnessing the change in Paul Meraz." I turned to glare at him, "Shut it, Seth." "Ok, ok," he held his hands up, as a sign of surrender, "It's just…I didn't think imprinting would cause such a change in you." "Mr. Clearwater!" Mrs. Bluth snapped sharply, heading our way with a pink detention slip. Seth groaned, getting up from his seat.
It was his last words, and not his scent, that lingered. I sighed. I couldn't help but agree.
The rest of my classes seemed to drag on, you can't imagine my joy when the lunch bell rung.
I stopped when I saw Catia sitting with Jared, Kim, and Jacob. "Hey look, she's there!" Seth whispered to me, "C'mon, hurry up, I wanna meet her." He tugged my arm, practically tugging me there.
She looked up, her brown eyes shining beautifully in the sunlight. "Catia, this is Paul Meraz and Seth Clearwater. Guys, this is Catia Ferreira." Kim introduced us, looking directly at me and winking conspicuously. "Yes, we've met. I have Paul in my first period class; and as for you, Seth Clearwater, it's nice to meet you." She extended her hand for a shake.
Seth shook it vigorously, "Nice to meet you as well!" he took a seat next to her, glancing sheepishly at me as I sat next to Jared, "Don't you have brothers and sisters that go here too?" Catia glanced around before shrugging and saying, "I guess they're in the library, they usually skip lunch." "So you sit by yourself?" Jared asked imprudently, shoveling his food into the big gate beneath his nose.
"No, I usually go with them to the library, but I decided to sit with Kim today." She nodded towards Kim. "Thanks, I feel honored to have you sitting with us." Kim grinned broadly.
There was a bit of an awkward silence after that before Jared glanced back and forth between Catia and me and asked, "So, Catia, tell us, is Paul any good at Art?" "I thought you dropped that class," Seth exclaimed. "You're in Art class, Paul?" Kim asked curiously.
Catia glanced up at me through her eye lashes and blushed slightly before picking at her food angrily, "He's ok, I guess… I've seen better." "Ohhh! Burn!" Seth and Jared laughed loudly while Kim tried to stifle her giggles.
"You're usually this witty?" I teased. Her eyes flashed as she looked into my eyes, "Only when dealing with ones who deserve it." She shot back sweetly.
Just then, Jacob came up, taking a seat next to me. He glanced at Catia, then back at us questioningly. "Jacob, this is Catia Ferreira; Catia, this is Jacob Black." Kim introduced them. "Hello, Jacob Black, it's nice to meet you." She said kindly, shaking his hand. Jacob grunted in response. "She's his imprint." Seth mouthed to Jacob.
Jacob glanced at her, then back at me, his eyes widening slightly before dying back down into the zombie he's slowly turning into.
"Why are you so down, Jacob?" Catia asked him. Her tone wasn't teasing, or pitying, or kind, just curious. Jacob seemed a little surprised as he looked up at her but just shook his head, "None of your business." He growled angrily. "Jacob!" I hissed viciously. His fists were clenched and beginning to shake.
Jake turned his glare to me, I shook my head slightly, not wanting him to shift. He stood up and left.
"Excuse Jake, he's actually a really nice guy. He's just kind of…going through a hard time right now." Seth apologized, "Excuse me; I'll go check on him." He nodded at us before leaving.
"Really sorry about that, he really is a nice guy." Kim apologized, on the verge of tears, embarrassed. Jared squeezed her shoulder comfortingly.
Catia shook her head, causing her brown waves to shake in synchrony, "It's fine, Kimberly, no need to apologize. I only asked because I'd understand, I was once in the state he is currently in." she explained patiently.
"What happened?" I asked, not being able to stop myself from asking. She looked at me patiently, before shaking her head, a ghost of a smile lingering on her lips.
The bell rung, "Oh, saved by the bell!" she grinned slyly at me, before waving and leaving.
I growled, frustrated. Had a man hurt her the way Swan did to Jake?
"She's really nice, Paul, you got yourself a keeper." Kim winked at me, "Be good to her, or I will castrate you." She threatened before smiling sweetly, "Bye!"
Third-Person POV
Catia chuckled slightly, heading down the hall towards the only class she had with her brother Franco.
Paul Meraz certainly was a handsome boy. And what happened to the man you last thought that of? She asked herself bitterly, wiping the grin off her face. "Hey, woman." Franco greeted, kissing her forehead. She smiled warmly at him, being one of the few people she smiled for, "Hey, irmão, how was your day?"
"Quite well actually, I have a long list of girls just waiting for me to say 'yes' to their desperate pleads of going out with them." He smirked smugly. "Wipe that smile off your face, garoto, I have admirers too!" she protested. "Uh-huh, sure." He smiled down at her charmingly, throwing his arm casually over her shoulders as they walked into class.
The teacher greeted them warmly, "Why don't you say a little bit about yourselves?" Catia and Franco looked at her, puzzled. "Where do you come from? How old are you? That kind of stuff." The teacher encouraged.
It was obvious Franco wanted his sister to go first, nudging her forward.
Spineless coward! In her head, she had kicked his manhood, smashed his head into a wall, and broken his nose. All at once.
"Oh ok," she faked a grin, pretending to be shy, "My name is Catia, I came here from Mexico, I'm 17 years old. And that's about it." She stepped back, giggling slightly at the amused look on Franco's face.
"Um," he cleared his throat, faking nervousness, "My name is Franco, I came from Mexico, I'm 18 years old, and um…I think that's it."
"Ok thank you for sharing that," the teacher said, "Please take your seats." "You're not the only one good at acting." Franco whispered to Catia. "I'm the best, Franco, shut up." She sniped, leaving no room for argument.
"Made any friends?" Franco asked, taking notes in his perfect calligraphy which Catia had always been secretly jealous of. "I met Alex Bruno, he has a stuttering problem, he's very pleasant; I have him in my first period class. And Kimberly Walker, a sweet girl she is," she whispered back, grinning, "and her boyfriend Jared Cameron, he's a little bit of a dork. You wouldn't believe a relationship like theirs would ever exist, you should see the way he looks at her!"
Catia shook her head in disbelief before continuing, "And I met Paul Meraz, he's a cocky bastard, not very interesting."
She immediately moved on to the other people, not wanting Franco to notice her blush or her heart rate increase, "And I met their friend Jacob Black, he's sad, Franco. Not like 'oh-Selena-Gomez-is-dating-Justin-Bieber-sad' but sad sad."
Franco observed her grin as she listed the people she met, and noticed how little she said about this Paul Meraz.
Catia recognized his observant look, especially when she told him about Jacob. "He reminds me of when I was…broken." She added softly.
Franco grimaced as he remembered Catia's broken look. Tear-stained, pale, and eyes filled with despair before dying into having no shine, she mourned for her boyfriend Ixia. After that loss, Catia was never the same. She took her time to trust people. She would smile for a few amount of people, usually being only family. She was scared now. She didn't know it but she was scared.
"Perhaps you could help him." Franco said finally, swallowing the lump in his throat.
She smiled gratefully at him, squeezing his enormous hand. "When did you start to grow up?" she joked.
"Everything alright back there?" Mr. Barrett asked with a stern frown on his face. Just because they were new didn't mean they could talk in class.
"Sorry, Mr. Barrett, we'll be quiet." Franco apologized smoothly. Mr. Barrett grunted before getting back to his lesson.
"And what about Paul Meraz?" "What about him?" Catia shot back smoothly, raising her brow at him. Franco raised his brows at her, "Not much to him, eh?" "Yes, Franco, not much to him." She hissed.
"Really? Doesn't seem like you want to talk about him." "Probably because I don't." she sniped. Franco nodded understandingly, with a smug expression on his face. She glared at him, but he was back to innocently taking notes.
"Babaca." (asshole). She disguised her insult with a yawn. As she stretched her arms over her head, she smirked at Franco. "Mature, Catia, very mature." He said rolling his eyes, "I still think you just might like him." Catia scowled angrily, her brown eyes beginning to shine a pale amber color.
"Calm down, gattino," (kitty) he chuckled slightly, "I'm kidding. You're as heartless as you want to seem." "Thank you." She sniffed, tossing her magnificent head proudly.
