Chapter Two// Innocence

"Flora!" Melanie sighed exasperatedly.

"I was looking all over for you — it's an emergency!"

Flora quirked a brow and gave her slightly over dramatic best friend a pointed look.

Melanie only had a million "emergencies" a day.

"A. New. Boy." Melanie enunciated each word as she attempted to regulate her breathing.

"He's hot, and I mean hot."

Flora felt a crimson tint making its way up to her cheeks.

"He's alright," she lied, hoping Melanie wouldn't notice the heat that spread across her body at the mere thought of Alex.

"Alright!?" Melanie shrieked, causing the gaze of a few passing students to shoot towards them.

"Keep it down!" Flora spoke in a hushed and hurried tone. The last thing she needed was a lurking Alex's ego to inflate any bigger than it already was.

"He's hot! He's easily the hottest guy here."

"So he's hot, big deal," Flora said more to herself than to Melanie.

"I-I think I'm in love."

Flora rolled her eyes.

"It's not love Mel, it's infatuation."

"What's the difference?"

Flora bit back the urge to roll her eyes again...or laugh— she's not sure which she wanted to do more.

Flora couldn't fathom it. How could Melanie be so smitten by some guy because of his muscly arms, piercing blue eyes, thick hair, tattoos, and—

"Flora?"

"Mhmm," She hummed, regaining her faltering composure.

"Did you hear what I said? I can't do lunch today."

"Why?" Flora snapped, fully re-focused. She didn't have many friends here, and she certainly didn't fancy eating alone on the first day of senior year.

"Detention," Melanie scoffed, like the word itself left a bitter taste on her tongue.

"Detention? Mel, it's the first day of school."

"I maybe, might have, definitely, purchased a copy of Mrs. White's test answers from her last year's student," Melanie admitted with a hint of guilt reaching its way onto her face.

"Mel!"

"What! It was for the whole year... How could I say no? Plus, he gave me a discount because at that graduation party I dragged you to last summer, him and I totally hooked u—"

"Okay!" Flora could really feel the heat in her cheeks now.

"You're too innocent, Flo," Melanie laughed.

Just then the bell rang for lunch.

Half the day was, thankfully, officially over.

Melanie bid me a solemn goodbye, before dragging her feet towards detention. Flora couldn't help but smile— only Melanie could manage to get detention on the first day back.

Flora grabbed her lunch and book from her locker and decided to eat outdoors today. At least that way fewer people would see her eating alone.

She spotted a tree at the edge of the field, making her way over to it with her nose practically stuffed inside her book, she almost missed the tall, dark figure that crept behind the tree's thick trunk.

"You scared me!" Flora gasped, clutching the book tightly to her chest as she released a shaky breath.

Alex.

A smirk tugged at his lips as he took a step closer.

"I'm scary to you? I thought I was 'hot.'"

A blush instantly rose to her cheeks at his words— he had heard her earlier in the hall.

"I- ugh-"

She was truly at a loss for words— too embarrassed to even meet his eyes that practically burned a hole through her skin.

"Use your words, princess," Alex tsk'd, making an unholy sound with his tongue.

His dominant nature threw her off. It made her feel... strange.

Flora felt an odd sense of submission around him. She wasn't quite sure if she hated it or found it kind of intriguing.

She couldn't deny the physical effect he had on her— but why him?

Sure, she met plenty of attractive guys— granted not as sexy as Alex— but they had never made her feel so... so heated.

"I was just saying that to-ugh appease Melanie," Flora stuttered under his intense and smouldering gaze.

She took his close proximity as an opportunity to truly study his features. His eyes were blue— ocean blue— like the deepest depths of the waters. She felt like she was swimming in his eyes each time they moved in her direction. His hair was dark— which proved a nice contrast to his eyes. His cheekbones sat high, his jawline was sharp and prominent.

And his tattoos.

They were plentiful— she didn't know where to look or where to start. They seemed meaningful, like each marking held significance— told a story.

"You stare a lot," he said mater-of-factly, pulling her from her trance.

Once again her cheeks begin to sport such a crimson red that she began to fear he would think it was her natural shade.

Flora cleared her throat, determined to regain at least some semblance of composure.

"I'm sorry," she muttered quietly, "I was just looking at your tattoos."

Alex tensed slightly— just enough that Flora took notice of it. But just as quickly he regained his confident demeanour.

"What's the story— I mean behind them all?" Flora asked timidly, referring to the ink that stretched across his skin.

"Wouldn't you like to know." His aura hardened and his arrogance returned.

"I—I just was curious," she answered meekly.

Alex's jaw ticked at the softness behind her voice.

He scoffed and crossed his arms across his chest, the involuntary flex revealed his muscular biceps.  

"See you around," Alex said, blatantly disregarding Flora's question.

Though, a small smirk played at his lips before he spun around a walked away, leaving Flora to bask in the strange feeling he always seemed to leave her with.