Chapter 2
Saskia
My hands are pulling at my hair, it needs to stay in place, and the rain isn’t helping at all. The humidity is making my normally straight hair stand up much higher than I want it to. My clothes are already shitty, I don’t need to add to the list for my first day back at school for the year. It’s my second to last year of school and I’ll be officially done. I can leave this town, and leave everyone in it. I’ll only miss two people—Livia, my cousin and Robert, my only friend.
My hands run down the front of my clothes again, trying to magically rid the water like I can do so with only my hands. It does nothing except make me not watch where I’m going, which in turn leads me to run into a very hard body, one that does not belong to Livia. She’s one of the only friends I confide in apart from Robert, who, let’s face it, bats for the other team.
“It’s only water.” His voice sends a shock through me.
It’s odd, no one has really taken my attention before, despite Livia trying to set me up with so many. None. Now, all of a sudden, my skin prickles, the hairs on my arms and on the back of my neck stand up like little soldiers.
My eyes finally start to move from looking at myself to whoever’s attached to that voice. He smells of oranges and something else I can’t quite place.
“It won’t harm you. I, on the other hand…”
My mouth drops open, and my eyes shoot straight to his. He’s taller than me, about a head taller, and I’m already pretty tall for my age, but that isn’t what I noticed first. It’s… him. Not his looks, though he’s the best looking senior in this school. He started last year, and he’s one year my senior. Livia’s age. She’d spoken of him I’m sure, and I’d paid no attention as per usual.
Boys just… aren’t my thing.
He’s smirking, his words are playful. But it’s what’s behind his eyes that holds me still to that spot, staring at him as if he’s the most magnificent creature in this world.
Maybe he is.
Maybe he isn’t.
“Saskia?” He says my name and it shocks me he knows who I am.
How does he know me?
Ryken’s chased by the girls and loved by the boys.
And as I stand in front of him right now, I can see behind those eyes which are magnificent in every way, including the darkness that lurks behind them. He’s fighting his own demons. I see them because I’m always fighting with my own.
Someone nudges my back, pushing me further into Ryken. His hands touch either side of my shoulders, holding me up so I don’t entirely fall on top of the guy.
“Sass,” Livia yells my name from behind me. She acted before as if I weren’t there, but her eyes soon hone in on his as I stand and watch.
Watch as his demeanor changes.
He straightens his stance, blinks a few times and instantly those demons that I noticed seem to disappear. A mask is in place. Stepping back, so I’m not as close to him, which I need to do because his scent is suffocating me and making me want to kiss him, I watch.
Who the hell kisses someone they just met?
And who the hell thinks of kissing someone because of their smell alone when I’ve never kissed anyone before?
Oh yeah, that’s right. Me.
“Ryken, I see you’ve met Sass.” She’s doing this thing with her hands, twirling them at her sides, while playing with the hem of her skirt. Averting my eyes from her, I look back to him. I still haven’t said a word. What can I say? Thank you for letting me bump into you so I can find out if I’m a normal girl who is attracted to boys. I seriously think I may not be a normal girl. His eyes find mine, and I see it, for a second before it fades away just as fast. If I weren’t looking into his eyes, I would have missed it. Those demons.
My mother would get high and tell me I had demons floating in my eyes, then tell me when she was sober she didn’t mean it, but I should always look closely into the eyes of someone I meet because their eyes will tell me a lot.
Ryken’s eyes tell me he holds secrets he likes to keep close to him.
“Does she speak?”
I raise an eyebrow at him. His smirk falls into place, and I feel like melting, right here and now, but I don’t. Because when I turn to look at Livia, she’s melting enough for the both of us. No need to make a lovesick fool out of both of us.