Zenon's Game Chapter 33

I stared up at Zenon. The boy I lived with this summer in a small cabin by the lake. 

He was s*e*xy. I'd forgotten just how hot he made me.  His steamy blue eyes contrasted against his dark hair and tanned skin. I traced his chiseled bone structure with my eyes, going all the way down to his smooth, pink lips.

He licked his bottom lip and smiled.

I let my eyes travel further down. A white shirt covered his broad shoulders. The sleeves were pushed up to his elbows, revealing his toned and strong arms. His jeans hung around his waist, secured by a leather belt, and his white shoes were unscathed.

"You ok, Candy?"

I struggled with the two versions of him: the Zenon everyone idolizes and the Zenon I knew this summer.

This was Zenon. Just Zenon.

"Maybe she's mute," a girl said behind me.

I held onto my plate of BBQ pizza like my life depended on it. I didn't belong here.

He radiated calm. His gaze was steady and peaceful. I used to relax in it, but now that serenity was impenetrable and intimidating.

"My record's clean. I haven't run over anything since your laptop," I reported.

Did I just say that? Giving him a status report like he's a traffic controller... What was I doing? 

He raised a dark eyebrow at me.

"Well done," he drawled. Sarcasm dripped off his perfect lips.

He didn't tolerate this. I could tell he was annoyed by my change in behavior. He liked it when I was myself around him. Now he could tell I was treating him differently.

He looked into my eyes and then stepped away from the doorway. That move was a clear sign:

Leave.

I wanted to bury my head in my locker like an ostrich. I groaned inwardly, pulling out a textbook for my AP Comparative Government class. I kept replaying my embarrassing encounter with Zenon in my mind.

Julia and I had lockers near to each other. I glanced over at her now, chatting with Cynthia and Lexi. They had spent lunch together and it seemed to be going well.

"Why are you still friends with her?" Lexi asked, pointing at me in a not-so-subtle way.

Julia answered awkwardly, lowering her voice so I couldn't hear.

"Isn't she the girl Kaden dumped?" Cynthia asked loudly.

Yes, that's me.

Suddenly, Khloe came running towards them, "Zenon's coming!"

Lexi reacted quickly. She took off her jacket to reveal more cleavage. The girls around us were getting excited. Apparently, last year he spotted a girl in the hallway and took her on a couple dates. She's graduated now but it was her 20 minutes of fame. Everyone wanted to be the next her.

The doors swung open and Zenon stepped out. He barely noticed that all the attention was on him. He had his entourage with him and laughed at something one of them said. It was a deep, contagious sound.

I recognized his black gym bag slung across his shoulder. And I recognized Axel among the guys. It was comforting. A reminder that this was the Zenon I knew. He was the same. 

...He drank my coffee, I ran over his laptop. He saved me from a bear, I saved him from a gang of angry gamblers...

I'll make this right again. I can do it. He's totally approachable.

I stepped forward and waved at him.

Zenon saw me and our eyes locked. I felt the rise in my chest from a quickening heartbeat. He was walking towards me...

And then he walked right past.

I looked stupid. Like a right fool. My hand slowly lowered to my side, rejected.

Khloe laughed out loud, "Someone's been dreaming too much over summer. Zenon would never look twice at her."

And that made me angry. Because Zenon had looked twice at me – we had matching bruises after the beach fight for God's sake! After all I'd done for him; taking care of the campers, cleaning the cabin, handling all his BS - he didn't have the decency to say hello.

Jerk.

I grabbed my textbook and slammed the locker shut.

"You're embarrassing me," Julia whispered, appearing beside me to calm me down, "Please stop."

"I was born like this."

It was an over dramatic response but at least it's paying respect to a good song #LadyGaga #bornthisway.

I sat in my afternoon AP Comp Gov class. I had chosen a seat towards the back, to the side, near the radiator – somewhere out of the way. Students started to file in, carefully picking their chairs for the semester.

I checked my email to see if I'd gotten any responses for the part-time jobs I'd applied for. I really wanted a gig at the Coffee Bean, but I didn't get it.

"He's here," someone gasped. It sounded like they were talking about a prophet.

I looked up. It wasn't a prophet.

It was Zenon Albert.

Zenon strolled in, 3 seconds before the final bell rang.

He was in this class?

Now if this was a cliché, he'd somehow end up sitting next to me and we'd be in an English class or somewhere where we'd read romantic novels and he'd say something deep and insightful...

Yeah. Not a cliché.

My life = Not cute.