GUYS, I am so honored by all the favorites, follows, and reviews already! You're all so amazing- THANK YOU.
Another thing: I've decided to create some Pinterest boards "bringing" to life some of my leading ladies in my main stories: this one, Unhinged (an Embry x OC story), and Defining Me (my first Harry Potter fic). I will be posting the links to these boards on my page in case anyone is interested in checking them out and getting a better feel for some of my OCs.
Thank you again, from the bottom of my heart, for your support! Enjoy :)
II. Divine Decree
"Miss Nash," the sound of their English teacher's voice broke through the haze that swallowed them, and Nina broke their eye contact, swallowing hard and turning her jaw to the side. She inhaled deeply before facing Mrs. Locklear, raising an eyebrow innocently.
"Everything alright?"
With that question, she became painfully aware of all the sets of eyes on her, though for some reason, her mind was only intrigued by one. She pursed her lips and crinkled her nose as she nodded curtly, swallowing again.
"M'hm, just tripped on something."
She wordlessly slid into her seat and rolled her eyes at herself, already preparing to zone out of the day's lesson. Her mind was foggy, albeit one image so foreign that she found herself narrowing her eyes with confusion. She slid slightly lower in her seat and pulled her jean jacket closer to herself, trying to find anything to break the thought- pulling on the strings of the thin sweatshirt beneath the jacket, nibbling on the edge of an otherwise perfectly shaped fingernail. And yet, despite her greater efforts, the look on Jared Cameron's face continued to resurface.
It was then that she noticed a strange sensation twinkling across her cheek; she imagined it growing red under the pressure of someone's stare. With a deep inhale, she faced the seats lining the windows and was met with a set of curious brown eyes- the same ones that were somehow popping up in her head as well.
She quickly turned back to the board.
"... once we get through the first few chapters, we'll start our first project of the year…."
She zoned back out.
By the time the bell rang, she was ready for the floor to open up and swallow her whole. A strange knot of guilt had worked its way into the base of her throat like a wad of cotton balls, yet she couldn't even place where such a thing had arisen from or who it was in regards to.
She was nearly to the door when she first heard his voice.
"Hey! Uhm, Nini, is it?"
Her eyebrows pressed together as she turned to face him, her head tilting slightly.
He was scratching at the back of his head with one hand, and the other was clumsily jammed into his front pocket. Observant eyes noted the way that an eyebrow of his was quirked slightly- perhaps from nerves? His face was quite angular, yet his cheeks still held a soft roundness, similar to that of a child. Despite Kim's nearly lifelong obsession, she realized she had never really quite looked at him before.
"Nina, yeah," she nodded, a hand nervously raking itself through her hair, the silky strands easily slipping through her grasp. "What's up?"
"Uh," he pursed his lips- full, like her own. "I'm Jared."
She raised an eyebrow, "I know."
He breathed out through his nose and dropped his hand to his side, one eye squinting slightly, "Yeah, that was dumb," he chuckled, "of course you know- small school."
Nina nodded, noting the empty classroom around them and taking a step backwards. He matched her movement almost simultaneously.
"Sorry, do you have to catch the bus?"
"No, no," she shook her head, "I just, uh, don't want to make Kim wait," she shrugged, "she's my ride."
"Kim?"
Her eyes twinkled slightly, a smirk daring to appear on her lips, "Yeah, you know Kim."
He raised an eyebrow, playfully narrowing his eyes at her- she nearly grimaced at the way it reminded her of an action of her own.
"I'm gonna go," she breathed out nervously, turning and beginning towards the door. His steps instantly fell in with hers.
"Yeah, yeah, I'll walk with you," he smiled.
She felt her own eyes narrow, but she avoided meeting his as they began to walk. An awkward silence lingered between them, and she could only begin to imagine the look on Kim's face when she led him right to her. She nearly giggled at the thought.
As if on cue, they rounded the corner towards her locker, and Kim's jaw nearly hit the floor.
Nina smiled with relief at her friend and quickened her pace to reach her.
"Hey, you," Nina forced a wider smile at Kim, raising her eyebrows up with intent.
"He… hey," Kim murmured out, her eyes trailing on Jared as he joined them.
"See, Jared," Nina turned towards him briefly, "you know Kim, my girl," she playfully tossed an arm over Kim's shoulder, pulling the slightly taller girl closer to her side. With one reassuring squeeze at Kim's arm, she smiled cheekily until her eyes were squinted shut. When she opened her eyes again, she grew strangely unsettled at the way his hadn't seemed to have left her face.
"Yeah, uh, hey Kim," he finally managed out, eyes flickering in her direction for only a moment.
The air around them grew thick, despite that the crowd in the hallway had thinned out.
"I've, uh-" his hand wove its way through the longer hair on the top of his head, fingers nervously spiking up the front, "I've gotta get to work, I'll see you guys around."
"See ya," Nina muttered. Beside her, Kim was deathly quiet.
Jared was only a step out the double doors when Kim spun on Nina, mouth dropping open and squeals pouring out. She grabbed at Nina's upper arms, gripping them tightly with excitement.
"Did you see him?" She loudly whispered, eyes nearly bulging.
Nina laughed, tipping her head back, "Yeah, I saw him, Kimmy."
They began towards the parking lot, Kim babbling about how handsome he was, and all Nina could do was pick at the occasional piece of lint on her leggings and try to ignore her mind repeating the scene in English. They were most of the way to her house when she decided not to mention it to Kim- there was no reason to make her overthink the mild scene.
Kim's car slowed as they neared Nina's front yard, and she inhaled deeply, mentally preparing herself for whatever lay next. After a remark was made with regards to the previous weekend's stay, she decided to rough the first night of the weekend at her own home. As she put the car into park, Kim faced her with a sad smile, reaching a hand over and squeezing her kneecap reassuringly. With one more forceful swallow and a sharp nod, she grabbed her backpack from at her feet and swung the door open. Her vans hit the blacktop with determination, and she tucked her head down as she approached her small house.
With just one kick at the sticky front door, she was in, the smell of stale air hitting her. She shut her eyes for a moment and reminded herself that there was only eight months left of senior year.
Her eyes were stuck to the floor as she wove her way into her room, shutting the door tightly behind herself and locking it. Once in her room, she breathed a sigh of relief- nowhere near the depth of when she entered Kim's home, but it was better than the rest of the mobile home.
She lit a candle- pine- and turned on the radio softly, kicking off her shoes and falling onto her bed.
It was just minutes later when the front door clicked open, and the dread washed over her like a scorching hot shower. She resisted the urge to roll her eyes- saving it for another, better deserving, occasion.
"Nina!"
She groaned and rose from the bed, wandering to her door and leaning against it before she called out a reply.
"Yeah?"
"Come out here."
She breathed in deeply.
"No thanks, I'm working on homework!"
The house fell silent, her radio suddenly becoming a nuisance. Her mother's bedroom door shut, and she clicked off the radio, plopping back down into her bed, face down this time. At some point that evening, she woke up, still in her school clothes and atop her blankets. She rolled over with a groan and looked out the window before at her clock.
7:27 pm.
She took a moment beside the door to pause and listen for any activity, and when there was none, she crept out of her room and through the living room, kicking a pile of magazines as she went- even glaring at them briefly for effect. The smell of alcohol met her as she entered the kitchen, and she glowered at an empty bottle on the countertop.
No time was spared as she grabbed a container of microwavable mac n' cheese and flung it into the microwave, flinging the door open and snatching it out before the timer could run out. With one more grimace around the room, she hurried back to her room and locked the door behind herself.
As the coming days came and passed, she became strangely aware of the frequency with which Jared Cameron began to pop up, both literally and within her head.
On Monday morning, he had been conveniently leaning against a locker just a few down from hers when she approached. She resisted the urge to raise an eyebrow and began opening her locker.
"Hey, Nina."
She nearly choked at the way that his voice made her breath catch, and she hid behind the cover of her locker door for a moment before she shut it and faced him.
"Hey," she looked around at their classmates passing them by, "what's… what's up?"
"Well I was just, uh-" he ran a hand through the top of his hair, and she vaguely recalled the fact that his hair was once longer, "I was thinking about that English project over the weekend. Would you wanna be partners for that?"
For a second, all she could do was look at him, confusion dancing across her pretty face.
His eyes were strangely transfixed on her face, but she disregarded that quickly and hoisted her bag higher, leaning her shoulder blade against her locker's door.
"What project?"
He chuckled, one edge of his mouth curling up further than the other, "You don't pay much attention in class either, huh?"
"I don't need to," she shrugged, her fingertips finding a split end and toying with it.
"Well we've got a project coming up- pairs," he offered, gesturing with a hand, "I figured we'd partner up?"
Once again, she could do nothing but look at him. Suddenly, a boy she had known of nearly her whole life was wiggling his way from background character to the front burner, and this in itself was perplexing. She much preferred to only regard him as Kim's unrequited lover.
The warning bell rang, the hallway suddenly seeming emptier, and her eyes came back into focus.
"Uhm…" she brought her lips into a thin line as she shrugged, "sure, I mean, you already know more about it than me."
His face lit up in a pleasant way and he nodded, chuckling once again, "Stick with me, I'll show ya the way."
She breathed out of her nose sharply and felt as her lips quirked upwards slightly.
Kim vibrated through lunch upon the reveal of the English project partnership, clapping her hands together excitedly and leaning towards Nina over the table.
"Oh, Nina!" She gushed, cheeks glowing, "do you think you could mention me? Maybe just once?"
Nina grinned, snagging a grape from the baggie in front of Kim and popping it into her mouth, "Just come help us, I'm sure I'll need it to get through this anyway, he doesn't seem like a promising partner- no offence, of course," she smirked playfully at the way Kim's mouth twitched with frustration. She remained silent.
"Oh come on," Nina chuckled, reaching across the table and pinching at her arm, "you said he sleeps through class most of the time, don't be so defensive."
Kim held onto her indifference for just a second more before she broke, a gentle grin returning to her face.
"Well, I will be more than glad to help the cause," she scrunched her nose as she plucked a grape for herself, giggling at her own humor.
Soon enough, English came, and Jared was leaning against the doorway when she arrived. His body took up the greater half of the space, and Nina was hyper-aware of the way his eyes landed on her and remained there, a smile overtaking his face as they entered the room side-by-side.
"Hey partner," he chuckled, stopping at her desk as she settled into it.
She raised an eyebrow slightly at him and brought her chin to rest in the palm of her hand, propped up by her elbow.
"Your place to work on it?"
Her lips pursed to the side and she casually shook her head, resisting a chuckle, "Yeah, no. Try again."
Jared's eyebrows raised slightly before his eyes narrowed, roaming freely around her face. She held his stare. He matched her expression and inhaled, breaking eye-contact and letting them graze the room in thought.
"I…" he tilted his head from one side to the other, "I've got it covered."
She hummed a response as the bell rang, and he hesitated in the direction of his desk before turning and stooping back down to meet her gaze.
"How about you give me your number, and we'll go from there," he smiled.
Nina stared at his face once more, curved smile and eyes full of mischief, and a sudden thud within her chest somehow forced her head into a nod.
The glow of his smile illuminated what she once would've considered a dreary classroom.