Chapter 3

"Mate? What does that even mean? Why does everyone keep saying that?" Mr. Taqi looks at me in confusion. "You don't what a mate is?", things seem to click in his mind like he found a major piece of the puzzle. I shake my head, "Is that why you attacked Orion and Alexzander?" he asked. Orion and Alexzander? I didn't... Just then, images of what happened earlier in the hall flash through my mind as they were the only people I 'fought' today. "You mean the hallway stuff? It was self defense! They were creeps! Strangers! And they kept touching me!", I rambled "I didn't know those guys were your friends..." Mr. Taqi just stared at me for a couple seconds before breaking out into a fit of laughter. "Those idiots!" Why is he laughing? "Mr.Taqi, what is so funny?", I say still looking up at him. This caught him off guard, however. "Mr. Taqi? Well that's a new one." He chuckles. "How about we drop the Mr. but you can keep the Taqi."

"Are you sure? But isn't calling someone Mr. a sign of respect a--",Mr- I mean Taqi put his finger to my lips to shush me. "You're so cute when you ramble! The guys are gonna love you!" Taqi exclaimed. That's when I realized that he can totally see my face. My ugly face. I hurriedly put my mask back on as well as my sun glasses much to Taqi's dismay.

"Hey! Why are you putting those back on?" He asks. His hands reaching towards my face to take them off. I leaned back some, to avoid his touch. "Because they are comfy?" I didn't mean for that to sound more like a question than an answer. He just looked at me quizzically. "Why are you lying to me?", he asks, "we're supposed to be mates." At this, I could sense a bit of anger coming off of him. I became quite frustrated with all these people telling me that I was their mate. "You act like that's supposed to mean something to me, but I don't even know what that is!", I try to say in hushed tone. "And besides, I don't like being touched..." I knew this was a lie. In fact I love it when he touches me, I just can't let him know that.

I raise my hand to get Dr. Williams' attention. "Yes Tobias?" I gulped before asking, "C-c-can I go to the library?" Dr. Williams crossed his arms over his broad chest and leaned his hips back against his desk. "What for?", he asked. "W-well, I just w-wanted t—", before I could even finish, Dr. Williams interrupted me. "Oh come on, you're gonna have to speak louder than that." A smirk played at his lips. At this, I became flustered. Was he serious? Is he messing with me? "I want to go to the library to do some research sir", I answered back. I admit, my aggravation was getting the best of me, at this point, and it came out with a bit of ...attitude, maybe... I could see Taqi from the corner of my eye, he seemed quite... shocked? I don't know, I just want out of this room.

The chatter in the class died down as the students turned to look back at me in surprise. Dr. Williams just cocked his eyebrow. "Why can't you use your laptop, Tobias?" I hate how he says my name. It's unnerving, almost like he knows something about me that I don't and he's teasing me about it. "I'd rather look up my information through actual text from real pages instead of using a laptop..." I trailed off. He was quiet for a couple seconds, like he was debating in his head whether or not he should let me go. You know... the longer I stare at Dr. Williams, the more this man looks familiar. Have I met him somewhere before? Earlier, I thought maybe his attitude or his demeanor is what seemed familiar. But, now that I think about it, it's actually him.

I tried hard to place him somewhere, so hard that I didn't even hear what Dr. Williams had said. "Tobias!" Dr. Williams slightly raised his voice. I jumped a little bit, startled at how he shouted my name. Anger seemed to flash over his face for a second, before his famous smirk replaced it. "I said that you have my permission to go to library".I quickly nodded before gathering my things to leaving the room. "Where are you going Qaletaqa?" I turn to look behind me as Taqi had gathered his things to leave as well. Taki looked at Dr. Williams with a look of confusion, "To the library with my partner." Taqi made sure emphasize the word partner. "I gave permission to Tobias, not you." Dr. Williams didn't seem to care. Taqi narrowed his eyes at the teacher. "I'm going with my partner to the library to do some research. How else are we going to start on this paired project?" Taqi growled out. His scent was changing and was almost suffocating. At this, Dr. Williams had backed off, sensing the danger in the atmosphere. I began again to make my way out with Taqi following behind me.

Once I was out. I rested my back against the wall and closed my eyes. I just need a moment to collect myself a little bit. It didn't help that I could feel Taqi boring holes through my face with his burning stare. "What?" I ask with my eyes still closed. "I thought we were going to the library." He says. I open my eyes to see that he was waiting for me to follow him. "So where is the library?" I ask him trying to find something to talk about. "It's actually at the edge of campus so, about a ten minute walk, give or take." Great! This is going awkward!