His gaze drops to me, and my breath catches at how dark his eyes are. How aggressive. He’s never felt taller and broader than he does now, like some sort of a bear. Angry bear with flaring nostrils, pounding heart and furious veins running up and down his neck.
“He wants you,” he says, his words slurred, garbled. He heard it, didn’t he? He overheard Duke inviting me to his stupid party.
“He doesn’t.” I shake my head and push him back. “You need to back off, okay? Just please back off.”
Of course, he doesn’t move. He puts his hand over mine, staring down at me with a fierce frown and whispers, “You’re mine.”
His touch stuns me more than Sky’s shocking revelation. He touched me. In public. Like, in front of all these people. His rough, big hand is on my small, pale one.
My heart’s going to burn out any second with how fast and hard it’s pounding. It’s afraid, terrified. And my body? My body is going to burst into flames with how much I want to throw my arms around him and tell everyone he’s mine, and I’m his.
God, I’ve never hated this town, my mom more than this moment. I hate them. I hate them so much.
Somehow, I manage to string together a few words. “We need to move back, okay? Just move.”
It’s like he doesn’t understand me, or maybe he does but he ignores my words. He stares at me with such sheer need that I’m completely convinced that everyone is going to find out now.
“But you’re mine, aren’t you?” he whispers fiercely, for my ears only, and squeezes my hand, making my heart squeeze with the same force.
But before I can answer him, the apocalypse is upon us. Teachers descend from every which way, and they are insanely mad, especially when they see Abel. The entire corridor bursts into chaos. Shouts and shrieks and bodies crashing onto each other. Everyone has their own story and in all the stories my Abel is the villain. Sky, too, apparently.
One of the teachers separates Abel and me, and our hands break contact, immediately leaving me cold. I stare at him over the crowd, rubbing my bare arms as if the warmth has been sucked off from the space.
Next thing I know, they’re taking Abel and Sky away. Sky’s struggling but Abel doesn’t seem to care. He goes easily like he always knew this would happen, people would point fingers at him, no matter what. As they turn the corner, Abel glances over his shoulders and our eyes meet for the last time.
***
Apocalypse.
Decimation. Armageddon. End of the world. I never thought I’d see it in my lifetime. I always thought it was in the distant future. If there is a thing called Apocalypse.
I personally call it the dark times. The term I stole from none other than Mrs. Weatherby. I don’t know if it’s similar to what happened after people found out about David and Delilah, but it sure feels like the darkness will never end.
The sun hasn’t been right ever since the incident at school months ago. Somedays it’s hiding behind the clouds, leaving the earth cold and gray, and on others, it’s too much, the sunbeams almost scorching the grounds.
I told the principal that it wasn’t his fault. I told them and told them over and over again. Abel didn’t do anything; he didn’t even touch Duke. Even Sky is innocent. She was minding her own business. It was Duke who provoked Sky. That fucking bastard. Yes, I’ve been swearing now. It’s okay. I’m not afraid of going to hell.
That day in school, nothing really happened between Duke and Abel. There were no actual fists involved. The argument, or whatever it was, was sort of minor, probably detention-worthy. So nobody could do anything.
But did that matter to my mother? No.
She still hit me for defending Abel in front of the principal. Everyone saw how my hand was on his chest, and how he covered it with his own hand. Obviously, she found out and grounded me for weeks, and it would’ve turned into months if my dad hadn’t interfered.
“Do you want to starve her to death? Have you looked at her lately? She was just helping her best friend and her schoolmate.”
“I don’t even want to think about that savage Skylar Davis. Her mother should know better than to let her run around like that. And that boy is not another schoolmate. They should’ve listened to me when I told them to reject his application. That boy shouldn’t even be here. He should be —”
“Can you leave it alone? He’s just a boy. He has every right to go to school, if he wants to.”
“Are you listening to yourself? Did you forget who his parents were? Siblings having an affair. Do you understand how sick that is? You have a sister. You have cousins. Can you even imagine such a thing?”