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"Ruby, its dinner tih the door

I pulled it open

"Why aren’t you dressed?" he asked "Have you been asleep this whole tiry or annoyed; I think he was

"Giveover to th, flowy, Athena styled dress I raced to the bathroom, ripped off my clothes and slid into the dress I brushedthat I didn’t brush it thisas my brush ripped massive knots froht mascara, I was done I slipped into a pair of black flats and opened the door again Eli didn’t say anything, he didn’t have to His loss of breath and long gaze said it all I looked good

"We’re late for dinner," he said, clearing his throat With a broad s hall

"I’erous; I don’t need to be escorted"

"You are dangerous and you do need to be escorted"

I guess I did attack another student, but still that didn’t mean I would attack other students

We made it to the hall As I entered, soasped, and some even stared at me in fear Apparently, at my level of detention, I wasn’t allowed to sit with friends or near other students Eli and I sat at the far end of the roole table, well away froers on Turkish buns were placed in front of us

"Ugh, just h the door My eyes focused directly on hers, no matter how much concealer, foundation, and eye shadow she had used, her bruise stood out like a sore thuure out whether she had a concussion from the hard hit to the head or if she was just plain stupid She spotted nity back As long as Eli was here she knew I couldn’t touch her

"How dare you!" she boomed A few people close by heard her and stopped to look but no one else paid attention

"Raina," Eli warned, rising fro her path to me

She stopped in her tracks and peered around Eli to look me dead in the face "You are a psychopath!" she yelled This tiazes to us

"Brilliance is irowled in frustration

Eli signalled Sera over; she walked over casually but quickly, trying not to draw anyher slowly to the far end of the roo to do? What could you possibly do to hurtat us now, including the teachers A few students yelled fight, some histled, and others watched silently

Raina’s facial expression ht with me, we both kneould co Raina and her vindictive personality, she was going to try and dig up some dirt on me She played mentally not physically It was safe to say I was Raina’s neorst eneh, I clearly wasn’t afraid to throw the first punch or the last She turned and thundered to the other side of the room

Eli sat back down in his chair, I followed suit "You need to control your teer

"Me? She provokes nore her"

"I try to, but she keeps pushing"

"Let nore people? That’s useless; teachby the size of her black eye, you already kno to fight"

"Punching a skank is easy; I need to learn how to take down vael"

Eli flickered an expression of disapproval when I swore, but he didn’t bother pullingto happen That’s why you have et all the fun"

Eli flashed a sexy s ain

Most of the time I was unsure about how Eli felt about ettable, but since then he has hardly given any indication of how he feels aboutwe connected, but I wanted more, I wanted to be on a physical level with him

I cared for Eli, a lot more than I should, but I wasn’t sure whether it was lust or if ood looks We continued to eat dinner in silence Eli texted a few tiround cell Caht about her She had been so sad and frustrated with ain but I was afraid

"Rubes!" called Rylan, walking over to us

Eli shifted in his seat and watched Rylan cautiously

"Wow! Did you see the da embarrassed "I’ht now"

"Oh okay, well I’ll see you--"

"Actually, Rylan, sit Keep her coot up from his chair and walked out the door I stared after hi with gossip"

"What’s new…"I mumbled

Rylan didn’t seem to hear me "I didn’t come over here to talk about that, I actually came over here to tell you that every year we hold a dance and it’s coether?"

I al on Wow, this ard Rylan was cute and wore cologne you could get lost in, but I didn’t want to be his date, for anything, at any stage in uy who made my stomach flutter, as polite and respectful to everyone because he didn’t think of anybody as beneath hiain but si to do I wanted someone that cared about the injustices of the world and tried to help even if the issue didn’t affect his life; I wanted a man like… like Eli I had answered s I felt for Eli went deeper than his appearance, he had beenthat had happened to me these past few days and he didn’t have to be

"This is honestly not what I was expecting," said Rylan

"Rylan, I’ with Hunter," he replied, bluntly

"No I’oing to be a dance"

"Then just coht you liked me"

"I do, as a friend, but I--"

"--that day in class, you… I thought you were into me," Rylan interrupted

I stared at Rylan blankly

"Never ht back to the day I met Rylan in class, had I really flirted with hi up toand threw od, why me?"