Zenon's Game Chapter 142

Well, that last part was true.

Friday night

The night before my exams, I was studying at my desk. My lamp flickered from time to time, near its last gasp. A gentle knock sounded at my door.

Before I could answer, the door opened. Zenon strolled in.

If only he knew how often people at school talked about him.

He was glancing at something over his shoulder and turned towards me with a smirk. He'd broken into my house, likely through the unlocked front door.

We really need to get that fixed.

"I wanted to give you good luck," he said, indicating the piles of notes I was buried in.

"And how are you planning to do that?" I asked in return, taking my headphones off.

Deep house playlist gets me through studying.

Anyway, that was clearly the question he wanted me to ask. His eyes turned a darker blue, elusive and roguish. He came behind me and his hands gripped the chair I was sitting in. My heartbeat just got louder.

He leant my chair back and kissed my lips.

It was a spiderman kiss, my top lip touching his bottom one. Our smiles curved in the opposite directions. I reached out to grasp onto his face, when he pulled away.

"The bed's there for a reason."

I laughed and reluctantly shook my head, "I need to study."

"Do you really think you can concentrate now?" he teased, "Because I think, you're picturing me kissing your body-"

"OK." I shoved him back towards the bed and he obliged.

The room was filled with s*e*x*u*al tension. Maybe he could see it too. How I felt was an unsafe combination of heat and magnetism. A crackling energy.

The bed sheets creased underneath us as we peeled the layers off of us. I didn't want to let go of him, though it was really me locked in his embrace. He moved so much smoother than I did. His hands moved down my whole body.

What did he do to me to make me hear my own heartbeat?

"Candace," Zenon broke apart, breathing heavily, "Tell me if you can't continue, because this has become a tease."

I didn't want to say it. "Don't you have a dinner?"

And don't I have an exam?

"Sh*t," he cursed and lazily pulled out his phone. He saw the time and sighed, "I'm late."

I sat up and looked around for my clothes.

He pulled his shirt over his broad chest and said, "I'm glad we're going to the lake house tomorrow." After he was dressed, he walked towards the door, "No distractions."

I took a shower before bed and that's when I heard the sound of his engine. Loud music accompanied his black jeep wrangler as it turned onto his driveway.

I heard a girl's laughter and walked over to my bedroom window. What I saw next, surprised the h*e*l*l out of me.

Bianca stepped out of the passenger seat of his car and walked into his house. She'd traded her sneakers for a pair of high heels.

Twenty minutes later, another car pulled up and more people showed up.

Trust Zenon to throw a mini house party the night before my exams.

The day of the test

I slept seven hours last night.

Zenon had invited some of the guys over to drink and they promised not to disturb me. I heard them shushing each other loudly at 1 AM as they stumbled out of his front door.

My window was stupidly open.

Now, this morning, I glanced out the window and couldn't see him. He must be fast asleep in his bedroom. I closed the window shut and cleared my mind. This morning was about my future.

I didn't have time to entertain the pettiness. Bianca. Stacey. The rumors.

No time.

My exams. I had a tense feeling in my stomach as the nerves started to build. I made sure to pack my ID, watch, a couple extra pencils and my calculator. A banana too.

"I can always retake," I whispered to myself, as I lugged the duffel bag and my backpack down the stairs.

"CANDACE! WHY DO YOU HAVE TO INTERRUPT?!" Heidi yelled at me as I entered the living room.

She was half dressed and with a guy. I couldn't tell who.

"I'm not, Heidi. I have my SAT-"

"Everyone thinks you blackmailed Zenon into dating you! I knew you couldn't-"

"Now's not the time," I interrupted her, waved at the na*k*ed guy and walked away.

It was early on a Saturday. The sun wasn't fully up yet and the school's parking lot was nowhere near as full as it usually is.

So the last thing I expected to see when I stepped out of my car... was Axel.

Everyone here was coming for the test. There wasn't much chatter or noise. People were walking with nervous expressions, in sweatpants and with a binder of last-minute revision notes.

But there he was: Axel Thomas, drinking beers on a lounge chair.

"What are you doing, Axel?"

"I'm pregaming the SATs."

That's a thing?

"Haven't you already taken them?" I asked him.

"I lost the game last night and the loser has to fake take the SATs," Axel responded, taking another swig, "I also think it's Zenon's way of making sure one of us wishes you good luck."

I smiled from ear to ear.

Five stressful hours later

"Axel did not get in," I spoke into the phone, walking out into freedom with a group of other test-takers, "Everyone needs to register in advance."

The day was a lot brighter now than when I had walked into school hours earlier. Relief washed over me at having finished. Freedom.

I heard him chuckle on the other end of the line, "You liked that, then?"

"It was funny," I smiled, putting the phone to my other ear.

"You told me I couldn't make you smile this morning."

"I guess I was wrong."