The awakening, p.27
The Awakening, page 27
part #1 of Eve Series
“Oh, I don’t. I have an interview with the med school board somewhere in
this building. I’m applying for early admission to the medical program.”
“Planning on skipping another grade, huh?” She chuckled. “Good for you.”
“Yeah, well, it’s super competitive.” Beads of sweat began to form on his
forehead, and he took a deep breath. “Wish me luck?”
“Luck is for idiots.” She winked. “You’re the smartest guy I know. You don’t
need luck.”
Armaan grinned and wiped his hot, sticky face with his giant sleeve. But as his eyes made their way from Eve to the hallway behind her, his childlike smile
disappeared, replaced with a perplexed scowl.
“Armaan, you okay?”
“Those girls over there.” He paused, pointing behind her at whoever had
captured his attention. “They’re staring at you.”
“Everyone stares at me, Armaan.”
“Not like this.”
A terrible tingle crawled up Eve’s spine, and her shoulders became rigid.
She could almost feel them behind her, lurking like awful shadows. There was
no doubt in her mind—she knew exactly whom he was talking about.
“Are they blond?” she grumbled. “Is one of them especially—”
“Hot? Enticing? Chesty?”
“I was going to say angry, but thanks for the superlatives. And chesty?
Really?”
“They’re headed this way.”
“God help us.” She grimaced. “You should get out of here. I can handle
them.”
He ignored her, still gawking at the blond duo, when suddenly his
expression changed yet again, this time into a shrewd smirk.
“Looks like you won’t have to. Your knight in shining armor is here to save
the day.”
“Knight in shining armor?”
Eve finally turned, daring to see who loomed behind her. Madison and
Hayden were only a few yards away, but they remained still, their bodies
frozen, their mouths hanging open in surprise—it was Jason who now walked
toward her. He wore a crisp white shirt and black tie—a stark contrast from his
usual t-shirt and lounge pants—and as he made his way down the hall, Eve
could’ve sworn that the sun glimmered through the windows a little bit
brighter.
“He looks awfully happy to see you.”
Eve slugged Armaan in the arm before he scurried away, leaving her to talk
with Jason alone—or as alone as they could be in a crowded corridor.
“Hey,” he said, shoving his hands into his pockets almost bashfully.
She smiled. “You look—”
“Stuffy? Boring?”
“I was going to say great. Debonair, even.” She picked at her cuticles. “So,
you’re finally free. How does it feel?”
“It feels weird, honestly. People keep staring at me. Some whisper, some
look scared.”
I know the feeling, she thought to herself.
“Where did you go this morning?” he asked.
She glanced nervously behind him. Madison and Hayden were still watching them, and she prayed to God that they were out of earshot.
“I overslept. Missed my first two classes, left in a hurry.”
“Oh, sorry about that. Kind of my fault, I guess.”
She hesitated. “I’m not,” she finally managed to say. “Sorry, that is.”
Jason grinned and relaxed his shoulders. “I was hoping you’d say that.” He
fiddled with his pocket. “Hey, I have a question for you.” He pulled out a slip of paper and presented it to her. “What is this?”
Eve’s heart stopped. It was her flyer—her infamous Chimera Bitch photo.
She could hear Madison’s victorious laugh in the distance but ignored it. There
was nothing for her to say, so she just stared at the flyer, her eyes empty and
her lips silent.
“What’s going on, Eve? Are people giving you a hard time?”
“I thought those would be gone by now.”
“Is this why you’ve been so stressed lately?”
A wave of dread flowed through her, festering in her stomach until she
could’ve sworn she was going to be sick. She looked apprehensively into his
eyes.
“They know I’m a chimera.”
“Who?”
“Everyone.”
He glanced around at the passersby as if searching for answers. “Is this because”—he paused, his face dropping instantly—“is this because of me?
Because you were tutoring me?”
“Jason, it’s not your fault.”
“God, if you hadn’t met me, this would’ve never happened.”
“That’s not true. Heather knew since day one. It was inevitable.”
“And the flyers? Who was behind that? Was it Madison?”
“I can only assume.”
“You sure everyone knows?”
“Positive. I’m the juiciest piece of gossip this campus has to offer.”
Jason took in a long, deep breath, still eyeing the passing students as he anxiously ran his fingers through his hair. Finally, he crumpled the paper in his
hand and leaned in toward Eve, lowering his voice to a soft whisper.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
A sharp pang of guilt pierced her ribs, but she tried to remain firm. “Jason, I
was trying to protect you. You had enough to deal with—”
“Eve,” he interrupted, clenching his jaw, “I like you. I like you a lot. I thought last night proved that.” He leaned in even closer to her, his once kind
eyes now stern and focused. “I want you to be honest with me. I want to be there for you.”
“I’m a big girl, Jason. I can take care of myself.”
“I know that, Eve. But you shouldn’t have to do it alone.”
Eve bit her bottom lip and picked at her cuticles, her mind racked with frustration. She told herself that he was wrong—that he was being
unreasonable and demanding—but it was an unconvincing lie. He cared for
her, and regardless of how foreign it was for her to feel this way, she knew that
she cared for him, too.
Jason smiled slightly, sensing her inner conflict. “I want to see you tonight.”
“Wow, you don’t waste any time, do you?”
He laughed. “Friday night is poker night with the boys. We all get together,
have a few beers, shoot the shit. I want you to come.”
“To guys’ night?”
“I want you to meet my friends. What do you say?”
His voice was steady, but she could see in his eyes that he was nervous. The
situation felt surreal, like an excerpt from someone else’s life—anyone’s but Eve’s.
She raised her eyebrows assuredly. “Prepare to lose all your money.”
“Prepare to eat your words,” he laughed. His smile was a relief to see, and
for a second, Eve felt as if nothing had changed—as if they were still in the isolation wing, just the two of them. He reached out and wrapped his hand around hers, caressing her palm with his fingers, and just as she was about to
relish in the moment, she stopped herself. Behind Jason’s shoulder only a few
yards away stood Madison and Hayden—still. They were unapologetic in their
gaping, their faces dripping with hatred and rage, and suddenly she realized that things were very, very different. Jason and Eve were on display for all to
see.
“Is something wrong?”
Eve nodded at the two girls. “They’re watching us.”
He glanced over his shoulder at the twosome, who in turn quickly looked
away. A confident smirk graced his face; he took Eve’s hand and brought it to
his lips, kissing it softly as he stared into her eyes.
“Let them watch.”
Eve’s heart thumped loudly in her chest, beating so forcefully that she felt as
if it could move her entire body. She heard the girls gasp aloud, but she ignored it, feeling almost entertained by their reaction. With one last nod, she
turned from Jason and headed for her next class, passing Madison and Hayden
along the way and giggling at their expressions of uncontained shock. Before
she had made it too far down the hall, she stopped and turned toward Jason one
last time.
“Jason,” she called. “You said there’ll be beer tonight?”
“Yeah, why?”
“You do know chimeras can’t get drunk, right?”
He hesitated momentarily and then chuckled to himself.
“No, I didn’t… but that explains a lot.”
***
Eve pulled her blouse over her head and tried to fluff her hair into place. As
she stared at herself in the mirror, applying the last bit of blush to her cheeks,
she couldn’t help but notice an ugly scowl in the corner of the reflection.
Madison was lying on her bed, idly flipping through the digital pages of her scratchpad magazine, but her eyes were focused on Eve, glaring resentfully.
Eve ignored her, continuing to play with her thick locks and attempting to stifle
her uncharacteristic excitement.
An abrupt knock at the door startled both girls. It was Jason, his eyes bright
and his hand clasped around an economy-size bag of chips. He smiled at Eve,
hardly noticing Madison’s horrified face in the background.
“Hey,” he said, softly. He peered over her shoulder into her room. “Need a
minute? I can wait—”
“No,” Eve blurted. She glanced back at Madison, who was now angrily
grumbling under her breath. “Let’s just get out of here.”
As she closed the door behind her, Eve thought she could hear Madison
mutter “bitch” under her breath. It didn’t matter—she had a night of poker and ineffective beer ahead of her. Jason glided his hand down her wrist, tightly wrapping his fingers around hers, and in that moment she forgot about
Madison completely.
They took the elevator down to the lobby and waltzed out into the courtyard.
It was late into the evening, and aside from the light of the streetlamps, the entire university was covered in darkness. A sense of calm lingered in the cool,
autumn air—the protestors were nowhere to be found, and most students were
tucked away in their dorm rooms—and Eve took in a deep breath, relishing the
rare moment of peace. Jason pressed his free hand against the small of her
back, guiding her as they rounded the student union and shuffled across campus.
“Where are we headed?” Eve asked.
“The law and ethics building.”
“So, we’re about to gamble—in the law and ethics building. Tell me you see the irony in this.”
Jason laughed. “The place has been under renovations for over a year now.
They’re adding a wing or something, I don’t know.”
“It’s empty?”
He nodded. “No faculty, no patrolmen—just a bunch of dumb guys losing
their parents’ money.“
Soon, the building was only a few yards ahead of them. Its courtyard was
littered with rows of scaffolding and piles of dirt, and Eve could see the unfinished skeleton of the additional wing jutting from the building’s side.
“You could lose your parents’ money in your dorm room, you know,” she
teased, following Jason to the back of the building.
“Not enough space for everyone. Besides, they’re all pretty rowdy, and loud
—none of us are trying to get busted for drinking and gambling.”
“But breaking into school property is totally fine,” Eve quipped.
Jason stopped in front of a grey door labeled “Staff Only” and jiggled its handle. The door promptly creaked open, and he turned to Eve and winked.
“I’d hardly call this breaking in.”
Eve chuckled, taking one last look across the campus before quickly ducking through the entrance with Jason. The door closed behind them, and
immediately they were surrounded in a thick veil of black. Eve could hear the
slight rustling of Jason’s clothes as he retrieved his phone from his pocket and
then illuminated the space ahead of them with its screen. Finally she could see
where they were: the back of a hallway, its walls covered in loose plastic tarps,
the floor coated with dust and lined with buckets and equipment.
“This is kind of—”
“Creepy?” Jason interrupted.
Eve smiled. “Dynamic.”
They headed down the hall, laughing childishly as they clumsily maneuvered
around the debris in their path. Rows of doors sat along either side of them, each one marked with an empty nameplate, and Eve assumed they were in the
office wing of the building. Soon she noticed a door, slightly ajar, with a stream of light pouring from the opening. Jason cocked his head in its
direction.
“So, it’s kind of a big group. They can be obnoxious at times—a little snarky
and sarcastic—”
“Jason, do you realize who you’re talking to?”
“I just don’t want you to feel uncomfortable.”
“God, you make it sound like there’s a horde of barbarians in there,” she scoffed. “Come on, they can’t be that bad.”
Jason opened the door, only to reveal a nearly empty room. Three boys—
one small and scrawny, another tall and slim, and the last round and portly—sat
on the opposite side of a makeshift plywood-board-turned-poker-table, sipping
beers in total silence.
Eve scanned the room, her nose wrinkled with confusion. “This is your ‘big
group’?”
Jason was even more perplexed than she was. “Where is everybody?”
The smallest one hesitated, his face visibly apprehensive. “They… couldn’t
make it?”
“Come on, we’re all adults here,” the tall one chimed in, rolling his eyes.
“They weren’t exactly feeling the whole chimera thing.”
Jason paused. “Oh.”
“I think one even dropped the abbrev,” the tall one continued. “Called you a
chime.”
Jason shrugged his shoulders. “Oh well,” he mumbled, pulling a seat out for
Eve and taking one beside her. “Screw ’em.”
“Amen to that.”
Eve glanced at her surroundings once more. She could tell the boys had been
using the room for quite some time—the entire space was dimly lit with
portable lamps, and all of the remaining loose tools had been carelessly
pushed toward the walls—and then she noticed the line of extra folding chairs
neatly stacked in the corner. She turned to Jason, who offered her a reassuring smile.
“Eve, this is my band of bastards. Everyone, this is—”
“Evelyn Kingston,” the tall one cut in. “We’ve seen the flyers.”
Eve grimaced and sank lower in her chair.
“Relax.” The boy took a swig from his beer before he continued. “At least it
was a good photo—never mind being vilified across campus.”
“This is Percy LaFleur,” Jason explained. “We’ve known each other since we
were in diapers.”
“Yeah—same nanny. Same silver spoon.”
Eve took a good look at Percy: he was long and lean with chiseled features,
sharp cheekbones, and a handsome face. His eyes were a deep brown,
practically black, which matched his black fitted thermal and dark designer
jeans. His entire look was one of immaculate grooming: his skin was flawless
and smooth, and his jet-black hair was styled into a perfectly coiffed
pompadour. The only hint of disorder in his appearance was the mess of steel
rods that hung from his heavily pierced ears.
“We grew up together,” Jason added. “My folks are friends with his
grandparents.”
“Friends with benefits—money and power, that is. Not the other kind of
benefits.” Percy winked. “My grandparents founded LaFleur Fusion Power, so
they’re all in the same pretentious New York social circle.”
“LaFleur…” Eve murmured. “Isn’t your mom pretty famous?”
Jason chuckled under his breath. “That’s an understatement. She’s—”
“Alicia LaFleur: heiress. Socialite. Single-handedly kept the tabloid industry
afloat with her drunken party girl antics for sixteen years.” Percy casually shoved a fistful of chips into his mouth and spoke between loud crunches. “But
don’t get me wrong, I love my mom. She’s like the baby sister I never had.”
Jason grabbed a beer for himself and slid one to Eve. “Heard of his dad?
He’s a Puerto Rican telenovela star.”
“What does she care who my parents are?” Percy scoffed. “I don’t even care.
I’m bored already.” He turned to Eve and flashed a smug grin. “Look, all you
need to know about my folks is that I’m their incomparably attractive,
exceptionally magnetic, gay spawn. That’s what really matters.”
“He’s humble, too,” Jason smirked.
“Honest. The word you’re looking for is honest.”
Jason pointed his beer bottle at his smaller friend, who was busy distracting
himself with a lighter, apparently mesmerized by the tiny, flickering flame.
“This is Michael Sanchez. He’s my roommate.”
“Everyone calls me Sancho,” the boy explained, his gaze parting from the
lighter for only a second.
Eve liked him instantly; he was a shorter, skinny boy of Filipino descent, with
