Devils Roses 01 - Cursed

attention.”
    I nodded, but continued my scribbled flower garden. I felt a gaze upon me.
    My eyes darted to the right. The face staring at me took my breath away. He always took it away. His bright-blue eyes, sandy blond hair and sexy grin, always made my heartbeat quicken. Even then, when my soul was filled with the nothingness I had become, I noticed him. I was certain my heart was covered by at least a mile of frost and snow. I didn’t really know how he made it take notice of him.
    He grinned, mocking me. “Nice answer.”
    I felt my face heat up under his scrutiny. Miss Simms rattled on about the themes I’d given her. Her passion for Shakespeare was undeniable. She was single. Single female teachers should never teach English; this was my opinion.
    My eyes refused to listen to me and stole another glance at him.
    I surfaced when I saw him. He made the classroom grow brighter, and the work less mundane. My own foolish grin crept across my lips as I stared back at him. His gaze had remained far too long.
    Sometimes that happened. It was new.
    I shook it off and refocused on my doodles.
    I made myself forget that I had wanted him—before, when I believed in love. Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, before the real world crashed down on me and destroyed all my happiness and hope. Back then, I had been a girl with a dream. I had dreamt about him asking me on a date. I had fumbled my words around him. I had gotten lost in sentences when he walked by me. I had even forgotten my name watching him.
    He flicked something at me, pulling me from my spinster-like daze. I furrowed my brow.
    “ I might need a tutor,” he whispered.
    I smirked, “It’s too late for you Shane. Year's almost up.”
    A shy smile crossed his lips.
    I bit my lip watching it.
    That smile had once been my food.
    The bell rang, just as I opened my lips to ask him something humiliating and unrelated to tutoring. That happened a lot. It wasn't new, unfortunately.
    Miss Simms shouted homework and other things at us, but I jumped up and grabbed my books. I fled from the class.
    I hurried along to my locker. My hands fumbled with the cold, metal lock. When I got it open, I stood inside the safety of the locker door. With my face shielded, I took deep breaths and shook my head. Arguments filled my head, convincing me of things I didn’t honestly believe. Things like Shane had flirted with me.
    “ Aimee,” his deep voice spoke from the other side of the metal locker door.
    I panicked. I took my last deep breath and closed the locker. I smiled up at him, nervous of the small distance between our bodies. “Hey.”
    Why had he followed me to my locker?
    He took a step toward me. I backed up a step. He put a hand on my closed locker, taking another step closer, as if blocking my path. “I was wondering if you were going to come to my party this weekend?”
    “ What?” I'd heard him, I just didn’t understand.
    He looked down at me in a way I’d never seen before. His eyes held emotion that stretched beyond the simple question he had asked. “Aimee you haven’t been to a party all year; it's senior year.” His eyes grew serious. “You’re going away to university, and who knows how long before we see each other again. You know, all of us. I just thought, you know... ‘cause it's been a while since your mom and stuff.” He regretted it as he said it. I could tell. That didn’t stop the clenching feeling in my belly.
    I stuttered, “uh, uh, uh, n-no. Probably not coming, but thanks for the invite.” I was lost in the conversation. I wanted to jump up and down and shout 'YES' to the whole student body. I wanted to go to his party. I wanted him to continue staring at me the way he was.
    "Please." His blue eyes sparkled.
    I shook my head and turned away. I ran/walked as fast as I could. I needed space from him before I just grabbed his face and did what I'd always dreamt of. I would put my hands up into his hair and pull his soft-looking lips down on mine.
    My face was crimson. I needed a cold shower. Being around him had grown harder in the past month. I noticed him at every turn. He was always there.
    Why did he want me to come to his party? I never went to parties. Mostly, because I never got invited. My sister's boyfriend inviting me didn’t make me feel better about the invite. I didn’t understand how they were together, but they were.
    I shut my brain off, before I spent my day thinking about him. It couldn’t be helped, he