Paradox - Progeny Of Innocence (bk2) (Paradox series) (13 page)

"Alright, time’s up," Mr Valdez shouted, pulling Grace abruptly out of her tantalizing daydream. "Finish up the page you are on and put your books on my desk as you leave," he instructed, shoving his book back into his briefcase.

Grace looked down at her page. There was no way she could have completed even half the questions, but to her surprise all the answers were neatly marked in the boxes on the edge of the page. She let out a sigh of relief and glanced across at Angela, who was busily putting textbooks back in her bag.

Angela met her gaze. "I’ve never seen you answer math questions so fast. Anyone would think that you had some inside help. Anything you want to share, Grace?"

"Nope," Grace answered shrugging and closing her book, "Actually, I’m as surprised as you are." She heard a chair scrape on the floor directly behind her. A moment later, Damon stood rigidly beside her, with his hand held out. She tilted her head back and looked up into his eyes. She thought about her daydream, his hand, the kiss. Surely he wasn’t going to bend down and kiss her, was he? She blinked, then returned her gaze to his outstretched hand and did the first thing that came into her mind. She placed her hand in his, stood up on her toes, and kissed him passionately on the lips.

Damon drew back quickly; he smiled awkwardly, and let go of her hand as though it had suddenly become too hot to hold. "Um... I was just wondering if you would like me to take your book up for you?" he said. "And your friend’s, too," he added, glancing at Angela. "If you would like?"

Grace’s mouth fell open. Her eyes opened wider still as she dropped her hand and fell back on the soles of her feet. She could feel the rush of blood to her cheeks as they burned with mortified embarrassment. She heard hushed voices, then laughing and sniggering from some of the other students. Some wolf whistled and applauded. She fumbled with her book on the table, and pushed it into his hands without looking. "Thank you, that’s very kind of you," she mumbled, falling back into her seat.

Angela said nothing, just a curt nod as she passed Damon her book.

"No problem," Damon said, moving to the front of the classroom to place the books on the pile on the teacher’s desk. He glanced around the classroom at the noisy students, and with just a look, they all fell silent and abruptly scurried from the classroom. Damon put the books on the top of the pile, and walked from the classroom without another glance at Grace.

Mr Valdez, oblivious to what had just occurred, gathered up the pile of books and walked out of the classroom behind Damon.

Grace groaned and let her head drop down on the desk in front of her, letting her forehead bounce gently on the desktop. "Let me die, let me die, let me die…"

Angela looked at Grace, stunned. "What was
that
all about, what were you thinking?" she asked incredulously. "Or were you not thinking at all?" she added.

Grace turned her face to look at Angela. She let out a sigh as she lifted her head off the desk and shook it. "I have absolutely no frigging idea," she groaned. "But I’ve never felt so humiliated or so embarrassed in my entire life." She buried her burning face in her hands. "I won’t ever be able to look at him again, let alone speak to him."

"Well, then," Angela said, happily patting Grace on the back. "Maybe that is a good thing." She stood up quickly. "Come on, let's go, Josh will be waiting for us downstairs for lunch. And I have suddenly got this huge appetite."

"Well I’ve just lost mine, for eternity, so you are welcome to eat mine, too," Grace offered, dragging herself up off her seat. "And why are you so happy about all of this?"

Angela shrugged. "Don’t worry, Grace, it really isn’t that bad, nothing that can’t be fixed," she replied. "At least you didn’t throw up on him!"

Grace frowned, "I think that would have been a lot less embarrassing than planting a kiss on Damon Draco in front of the whole class. God, what was I thinking?" she moaned.

Angela just nodded, not sure how to respond. "I will meet you in our usual spot, but I’ve got to go to the bathroom first."

"Sure," Grace replied absently. "Whatever." She just hoped that Damon and his friends wouldn’t be anywhere in sight, laughing about what had just happened in class. It was humiliating enough knowing that the rest of the class would be gossiping about her. By the end of the day, God forbid, the entire school would be laughing and talking about her, too. Could this day get any worse, she wondered as she shuffled out of the classroom behind Angela.

Grace sat down heavily on the timber bench and waited impatiently for Angela and Joshua to arrive. She dragged her bag off her shoulder and let it drop to the ground between her feet. Any thoughts of food were overshadowed by her feelings of profound dread. She glanced around timidly, looking for the stares that would no doubt be followed by laughter and pointing. The gossip machine would surely be fired up at any moment now, she thought miserably. However, to her surprise, no one appeared to be giving her a second glance. Well, not yet, anyway. She began to relax a little. Maybe it wasn’t going to be as bad as she thought it was going to be.

Then she heard laughter break out from somewhere behind her, and she froze. She planted a stern look on her face and turned reluctantly around, hoping the look on her face would be enough to put a stop to the laughter before it escalated. Anything was worth a try, and she certainly had nothing to lose. But she knew this was just going to be the beginning. This is what she was going to have to get used to until someone else did something even more pathetic than kissing Damon Draco on the mouth in math class.

When she glared at the group of laughing students, to her complete surprise and disbelief, they were not laughing at her but at a girl who was oblivious to the trail of toilet paper that was caught up under her dress and was trailing behind her like the long tail on a kite. Grace smiled, grateful that the laughter had not been directed at her. Then she felt guilty at finding humor in the other girl’s embarrassing predicament. She wondered if the girl would feel similar remorse toward her when she eventually heard that Grace Connors had kissed Damon Draco in class. She shuddered at the humiliating memory and turned away.

"Can I sit with you?"

Grace turned quickly toward the voice.              For a moment she just stared, not sure if she could completely trust what she was seeing. Damon Draco! Don’t panic, don’t panic, she told herself repetitively. She took a quick glance over her shoulder, just to make sure he had in fact been talking to her. "You’re talking to me?" she asked.

"I am. Do you mind if I sit with you?" he asked, indicating the vacant spot on the bench beside her.

Grace was so very rarely alone that he knew he had to take full advantage of this opportunity. He had to make sure, that this was really her.

She shuffled along the bench a little to make room; pushing her bag along awkwardly with her foot. "Um, sure, I guess so. If you really… want to," she stammered.

He sat as far away from her as humanly possible, giving her a cautious sideways glance.

Grace frowned. "You know. If you’re worried about me kissing you again, you really ought not to be, because I’m not going to."

"I’m not worried. I just don’t think it would be a good idea," he said with a stern look on his face.

"Well, for what it’s worth, I’m sorry, it won’t happen again, I can promise you that," Grace blurted.

Damon smirked at her in a mischievous, secretive kind of way, making Grace feel grateful that she had been sitting down.

"Well I hope that is a promise that you won’t mind breaking," he said with a glint in his eye.

Grace returned his smirk with a steely scowl.

Damon chuckled. "Listen, if it makes you feel any better, I didn’t object to you kissing me, not at all, in fact… it was quite nice," he said, smiling at her.

Grace’s mouth fell open. Then, with horror, she could feel her cheeks begin to color and quickly turned away. Was he making fun of her, she wondered?

"Now I feel I should be apologizing to you, Grace. For making you feel so uncomfortable," Damon stood. "I should probably go…"

"No," Grace said, turning back to face him. "I want you to stay, just talk, I mean, if you would like to?"

"I would, very much; I have wanted to speak to you for quite some time," he said, sitting back down, a little closer to her this time. "But I’m worried that it may not be… safe."

Grace felt the hair stand up on the back of her neck, but resisted the urge to reach up and rub her neck. "Safe?" she asked, frowning at him. "How do you mean, safe?"

"Hmm, probably the wrong word. I mean your friends, my friends, I don’t think it would… work," he said, raking his fingers through his hair and glancing around at the other groups of students nearby. His gaze found, and paused on, Theria, Caleb and Lyssa standing over by the far wall of the cafeteria. They had not seen him yet.

"Gum?" Damon asked, producing a stick of chewing gum.

"Sure," Grace answered, taking a piece from the pack. She tore off the paper wrapping, placed the gum in her mouth and began to chew. "Weird taste, what flavor is it?" she asked, trying to read the torn wrapper.

"Mistle-" he began. "Herbal chewing gum," he said. "Do you like it? It is an acquired taste, no sugar."

Grace nodded. "It’s okay, I guess," she replied, studying his face. He looked so confident, tall and so very good-looking, she wished that she could feel like that, confident, and popular. She knew she wasn’t the only one that watched Damon. Most of the girls in school had taken a fancy to him the day he had arrived. All the girls in her class had giggled and fluttered their eyelashes at him when they flocked around him to introduce themselves. She had decided that if Damon had ever bothered to speak to her, she would refrain from all the giggling and fluttering of eyelashes. Grace squirmed; she had done something far worse than giggling. She had stood up and kissed Damon on the mouth. The mouth! She moaned as she relived the humiliation. What had possessed her to do such a stupid thing? Why, the voice in her head asked?

Damon studied her, and then smiled. "This is nice, talking to you like this."

Grace began to relax. "Yeah, it actually is."

Caleb noticed them first, and tilted his head slightly to listen. He frowned and wondered why Grace’s thoughts were so hard to understand.
They were coming out of her head in random spits and spurts, a muddle of words and incomplete sentences.

Damon smiled and fought the urge to chuckle when he heard the discussion Caleb, Theria, and Lyssa were having. "The girl is an air-head; I can barely comprehend her thoughts at all," Caleb muttered. "Only the dribble that is coming out of her mouth. Anyone would think she has never spoken to a guy before."

"Your friends," Grace asked, "the Goths…" She stopped herself, wondering if he would find the term offensive.

"Oh, it’s fine. I'm pretty sure they don’t take offense at the title, if that’s what you’re thinking. On the contrary, I think they actually like it," he said, instantly putting her mind at ease.

Damon knew that Caleb could hear the thoughts of every teacher and student in the vicinity clearly. He knew he would have to tread carefully, watch every word. The mistletoe in his veins would not work nearly as effectively as it did in Grace’s.
He knew it would be dangerous if Caleb and the others focused their attention too closely on Grace.

"And you, do you find the term offensive?" Grace asked inquisitively.

"Not at all," Damon replied. "I don’t let such things define who I am."

Grace nodded.

'Way to go, Damon, the girl’s gagging for you,'
Caleb said silently.

Caleb’s body smashed hard into the brick wall behind him, winding him. He chuckled. '
Clever trick, Damon, you will have to teach me how you do that.'

'Stay out of it, Caleb'
… Damon replied silently, knowing that Caleb was reading his mind.

Caleb laughed and relayed the conversation to Theria and Lyssa. "But enough," Caleb said. "This is boring, let’s get out of here." He pushed himself off the wall.

"What about Damon?" Lyssa asked.

"He obviously has other plans with his sweet little human; he’ll catch up when he is ready. Come on," Caleb repeated, pulling Lyssa along after him. "Let’s go."

Theria glared at Damon in warning, reminding him of the rules. '
Not on school grounds
,' she instructed in her high-pitched tone as she followed Caleb and Lyssa without another glance at Damon.

Grace, unable to resist the urge any longer, reached up, rubbed the goosebumps on the back of her neck and sighed.

"You alright?" Damon asked. Then he froze as a small trickle of blood ran down Grace’s top lip. He turned his face away quickly from Grace for a split second. '
Cut it out, Lyssa
,' he shouted silently with just the hint of movement twisting his lips.

Lyssa flinched at the angry tone of his words, but obeyed. '
God, Damon, I was just having some fun,'
Lyssa sulked in silent reply.

'Then go jump off a cliff,'
Damon retorted.

He turned back to face Grace. She was staring down at her hand; she had a smear of blood on her index finger and small droplets of blood on her denim skirt.

"Um, you have a nosebleed, here, let me help you." Damon said, taking a tissue out from his pocket. Holding Grace’s chin in his fingers, he gently dabbed her nose and wiped away the blood.

She studied his face as he fussed attentively over her bloodied nose. She wanted to stroke his face, just to make sure he was really human and created with actual flesh and blood. His face was warm and welcoming; his eyes were yellow and mysterious. She thought of a cat and a canary. He was the cat - she was the canary.

He looked into her eyes and held her gaze. She frowned at him, and he felt her chin tremble in his fingers.

"It’s okay," he murmured, trying to reassure her. "I don’t think it's anything serious."

Grace flinched; feeling embarrassed, she took the tissue from his hand. "I can do this." She dabbed the tissue under her nose. "I have no idea how this happened," she said, shaking her head.

"Probably the humidity, it has been very hot," Damon offered in explanation.

"Yes, you are probably right," Grace nodded agreeably.

"You seem fine now though; I think the bleeding has stopped."

"Grace?" Joshua asked in alarm. "What’s happened, why are you bleeding?’

"Yes, why are you bleeding," Angela echoed. "Did he do this?" She asked, glaring at Damon.

"No!" Grace said, jumping to her feet. "I got a bloody nose, that’s all. Damon was just… he gave me this tissue... see," Grace said, holding the tissue out defensively. "Damon. This is Angela and, well, you know Josh, he is in your Gym class," Grace said, momentarily forgetting her bloody nose.

Damon stood and offered his hand. "Angela, it is so nice to meet you."

Angela nodded, "Damon," she replied, ignoring his outstretched hand.

"Joshua, nice to meet you, too," Damon said, taking the hand Joshua offered.

"Likewise, and you can call me Josh. Only these two here call me Joshua. And that's usually when they’re pissed at something I’ve done, or said..."

Damon nodded and released Joshua’s hand, then waited for a moment, trapped in the silence that ensued. "Well, I had better go. It has been nice meeting you all. Grace, I will call you after school, if that’s okay?"

Grace nodded mutely and offered him back the bloodied tissue.

"Oh, thank you, but no," he said, shaking his head. "I think I’ll let you hang onto that…" Then he turned quickly and stalked away, leaving Grace, Angela, and Joshua staring after him. Grace was the only one smiling. Her eyes sparkled with feverish hope and anticipation.

Grace slapped her forehead in frustration. "Jesus, can you believe I just tried to give him back a bloodied …?"

"No, not really," Angela replied. "Why did you do that?"

Grace shook her head. "My brain’s gone completely to moosh."

"I hope you know what you’re doing, Grace," Joshua said, studying her.

Never, in all the years that he had known Grace, had she ever looked as radiant, as beautiful, yet gullible as she did at that moment. He realized that had he not loved her like a sister, he may have had other deeper feelings for her.

Grace said nothing. She had no idea what she was doing.

"She doesn’t have a clue." Angela mumbled under her breath, just as the bell sounded.

"Damon Draco wants to call me. Can you believe it?" Grace said, tossing the bloodied tissue in a garbage can.