chapter viii

CLEO'S P.O.V

"I don't think we have introduced ourselves before. Hi! I am Dylan Weldon, Eva's boyfriend" Dylan smiles down at me and offers me his hand for a handshake.

"Cleo Summers" I reply back with a smile of my own before shaking his hand.

"Alright peeps, let's party till we drop" Eva grins at us enthusiastically and pulls our arms towards the raging and wild crowd. Yup. A crowd. Surprise there. Should I let Eva know my intolerance towards crowd? Nah. She'll probably laugh in my face.

A group of guys holler for Dylan and he waves us goodbye not before pecking Eva on the cheek and promising to meet later. Eva picks up two red cups and shoves one in my hands.

I take few gulps and stifle the urge to say yuck. I scan the crowd as I brush a hand down my satin maroon skater dress. Typical high school party. Cheap beer, hormones running high, dancing being confused as grinding, drunk people throwing up on every possible furniture and how could I forget. Lot's of gross make outs going on in places which were still puke-free. Yet. I thought with a chuckle when I see a guy emptying his guts out right on the couple busy sucking each other's faces.

Eva nudges me with her shoulder and gestures towards the make shift dance floor. Hit songs and edms were being blasted through the speakers as people cheered and danced to it's rhythm. I take one last sip before throwing away my empty cup in the trash bag which was overflowing with all the red cups and god know's what.

I follow behind Eva as she skilfully manoeuvres us to the dance floor. We shake our body to the beats of the sound and soon a group of friends joins us knowing who Eva is. After sometime, I excuse myself to go get some water and Eva nods not really paying attention as she groves her body to the sexy song. I grin at her before turning on my heel and heading towards the kitchen.

I patiently wait my turn before grabbing a sealed water bottle. Just as I turn around two guys bump into me might I add intentionally. I scoff before pushing one out of my way but instead they both come to stand in front of me blocking my exit.

"Where do you think you are going, sweetheart?" One of them purr's with a smirk on his face.

"Obviously away from you. Move" I snap.

"Not on our watch". The other guy snickered taking a step towards me. I meet him halfway with my mouth twisted in a scowl.

"Oh yeah? Would love to see you try" his step falters a bit seeing as his threats were being derided by me. Yeah if those were even considered threats to begin with.

"Trust me you don't want to" he tries to intimidate me but I poke a finger in his chest and jut my chin out. Before I could say anything someone jumps in front of me, standing like a rock between me and those guys.

"Stay the f*ck away from my girl" Shane growled or tried to and held onto the kitchen counter to maintain his balance. The guy was so f*cking drunk, he had to blink several times and squint his eyes to gain back his focus. Shane gave a subtle thumbs up to his friends who grin back at him. Now if it was that subtle then I wouldn't know, but I do. The jerk got his friends to harass me and then had the nerve to play the hero. I shoved Shane towards his friends, all trying to catch their balance before making my way out.

I am so frigging pissed. What does the guy has against me? Why is he so hell bent on getting on my nerves?

A hand latches around my arm bringing me to halt. In a panic state I wrest it out of the hold. Shane grins down at me, checking me out with his bloodshot eyes. I roll my eyes and try to step past him but he holds his hands out on either side of him.

"Damnnn Cleo! You look fine tonight. And all this just for me. I am truly flattered hence why-" Shane stumbles and shakes his head with a frown before recovering quickly.

"-I have a reward for you" he grins before leaning my way with his eyes closed halfway. I curl my lips in disgust before connecting his jaw with my clenched fist. The blow sends him bolting down. He knocks into people behind him. Some try to help him up others move out of his way to avoid any contact. However one pair of eyes catch mine and I stiffen.

I ignore Winston's burning gaze and turn around to leave but his voice stops me.

"Blaze, what was that?" His voice didn't give away his obvious fury towards what I did to his friend. Instead his voice was cold and controlled.

"Ask your a*shole of a friend there" I grit out matching his glare with my own.

"Can I? I don't think so because you thought it was a good idea to punch a inebriated person leaving them almost unconscious. Still think he is in a position to entertain my questions?" Winston kept a reasonable distance between us. Not too close to threaten me and not too far to give me a chance to escape. I don't know what annoyed me the most. The fact that Winston was accusing the wrong person or the fact that the wrong person was me.

I think I have had enough drama for the night and possibly for my whole life. I am not going to sit around taking sh*t from people. Or getting involved in this crap. My right hand ached like a b*tch no thanks to his stupid friend.

"You wouldn't be throwing around words against me if you knew the true situation here, Winston"

"Then tell me" he roused me with a daring look in his eyes.

"Your friend got two of his tools to harass me and then out of nowhere that waste of oxygen had the temerity to play the hero. So please get your facts right before you go throwing shade" I shake my head and his brows furrowed.

"F*ck. Like I had no idea-"

"No sh*t" I add.

He playfully glares at me for that but knew he couldn't exactly say anything right now. "Anyways I apologize on Shane's behalf. He can lose it sometimes". Winston cringed as he ran a hand through his hair. He raises a brow when he checks out my shell shocked expression.

"Yes Blaze. Against the popular belief, I do actually accept my fault" I chuckle at his sarcastic reply and he winks at me.

"As surprising as it sounds?" I add teasingly.

"Yes Blaze. As surprising as it sounds" His eyes twinkled and the corner of his lip turned up in a half smile.

"Stop calling me that" I point with a frown.

"What? Blaze?" He smirked.

"Yes exactly that. Because when you say that all I can think about is how I want to blaze you up. What's your reason?" I couldn't for the life of me understand his fascination with this highly weird nickname in relation to me.

He reaches a hand out and taps my forehead with his finger "Blaze is a wild fire. It's consuming but dangerous. Singed if touched. But dazzling to watch. Just like you, Cleo Summers and that's when I have only learned some about you-"

His smile morphed into a grin, "-Just makes me want to know you more"

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