Spellbound

His eyes were black as a black hole, sucking her in and her breath. She found it hard to look away. Everything and everyone faded, making them the only ones in the toom. The last time he looked away, but this time, he held her gaze.

Her breath hitched when he raised his eyebrow and like she was non-existent, he turned to one of the boys in the group that was speaking to him. She picked up the smile that flashed on his face when he responded.

The spell broke when Hailey's words reached her. Retrieving her eyes, she focused them on Hailey and her unfinished meal before her. She was able to finally release the breath she had been holding all this while

She felt the fear that crept into her bones when that boy turned to look at her.

Fear? When last did she get scared or fearful?. How would she be able to explain to herself that it was his blank expression that made her scared?. Or maybe she was just getting it all wrong.

It was probably not the expression that pushed her into fright. It was something else that she was not fast enough to unveil.

His eyes. Yes, now they were black but in the class, she had seen a color shift. Black to red and black again. Yes, that could be it?. The fear couldn't have gone past the fact that he had locked his gaze with her and she was unable to get out of it as though she was spellbound. But why did she have this feeling that the fear was coming out of the depth of something that she had ignored? Something that had trigged the dread in her.

The hatred. No, she didn't feel it. It was almost as if the fire had mellowed down. Curiosity had overwhelmed the hate in his eyes.

' - I wonder how he's able to it '. Her thoughts, shattered when she heard Hailey's vivid voice. He is a member of the most troublesome students in our school, yet he tops his grade each term. One would wonder when he got the time in his hands to read when all the time he had was used to hatch trouble'. Hailey sighed and continued eating.

Intrigued by her words where she had earlier missed the first sentences, she looked at her for a while before asking. ' He?. Who? .' She saw Hailey face the group of boys and after a long silence, she turned to her.

'That boy with a buzz cut'. After whispering her words she held the bottle of coke to take a slip.

Diva looked straight ahead to the group of boys. She could hear the clinking of cutleries reducing as some of the students that were the first sitters in the hall had gone back to their classes. Hailey had told her that if the lunch break was over, a bell would ring in the dining hall. Very fortunate that it was yet to ring.

She searched amongst the four boys for the one Hailey had described. Her eyes widened as she saw him. 'Just take a look at him. It's so absurd that even after his frequent visits to the detention room, he remains the teachers' favorite. I get dad's scolding each time he sees my results because of him '. Diva could see it. The anger in her eyes towards the boy who had been locking gazes with her since morning. OK, so that means that Hailey was the second place in their class, right?.

' So?. Does that mean that you.....? '.

' I was always the first. The topper in our set.... until he came along and ruined everything. Now some of our classmates make fun of me, asking me to be like him. He doesn't need to wear glasses to be intelligent and smart, they would say.....like their grades are even close to mine. Be like Emma. Try to be like him maybe you will be able to surpass his grades '. She hissed after she mimicked them.

Diva turned to him again. She did not know what to say to ease the anger. It was probably right that she let it all out. 'Keeping things to heart was not good for the body, soul, and mind'. Her grandma had told her.

She knew he could feel her gaze on him but he did not spare her a look. Sighing, she continued eating, filling her stomach and leaving little on her plate.

And whilst she sipped on her coke with her eyes on Hailey and a smile on her cheeks, as the latter had out of the blue cracked a joke to ease the tension in the air, the buzz cut boy, Emma, looked up from his food and his gaze landed on her.