Alizeh's scream wakes me up. She is calling my name, clutching me closer to her.
And the first thought in my mind is if I am the hero or the villain in her dream. Shut the fuck up and wake her up, cunt. If being a cunt was a sport I would be the nation's goddamn pride.

I clutch her closer to me. This isn't what I do. Usually.

Every time she had nightmares in the past. I would just watch her till she screams and passes out in exhaustion. I wanted every one of her nightmares so what's the use of comforting her when she had them?

Today is different. Today she is calling my name for help. Fuck.

I wake her up. She looks at me emotionlessly, says sorry and tells me to sleep.

"What are you hiding Alizeh?"
She averts her eyes and turns her body to the other side.

"Who was it, in your nightmare?" I say as I pull her body to my side and lay on top of her, caging her.

"Wow Zo, are you jealous of my nightmares now? she asks shaking her head. Then I realise her entire body is shaking.

"Damn straight I am" No shame.

Alizeh

"I am really tired let's go to sleep." I say.

He stares at me and puts my body flush against his naked one.

"I can't breathe Ace" I say smacking his chest.

"Not my problem baby." I can't even look up to see his idiotic smile.

He kisses my forehead, trailing his fingers on my lower back, making circles. And then cups my butt.

"Stop it" I murmur.

He doesn't stop. But I go to sleep.

I wake up with a yawn and an inability to stretch my body because he is holding it too tight.

At least he has given me enough space to look at his face. I stare at him. His jaw is sharp enough to cut diamonds. He looks so dangerous. Menacing. Even in his sleep. Cruel, even in his silence.

He opens his eyes and stares back at me.
Wordlessly, I get up as he watches me. My every move.
When I come back I realise he jumped out of the window into his room.
Good riddance.

I open my eyes in the mirror and try not to scream. There are hickies on almost every part of my body. My neck. My chin. My shoulder. My breasts. My stomach. My thighs. He even gave me hickies on my back, for godsake.

I look at the Z under my breast. Dangerously close to my heart.

Kissing Zohravar is like standing on the edge of a cliff. Beautiful view but you know it is deadly. Still the dangerous part of me wanted to hurl myself down and meet my own demise. As I fall and he watches me.

I push myself on my bed where I smell him.
And then break down. Because sometimes our favourite things are the only ones that can make us cry.

I go to school today, hoping it would be bearable. I have been called Zohravar's slut atleast 50 times till now. The worst part? This rumour has been spread by the devil himself. To keep any competition away.

I reach my math class ten minutes late and what do I see? Zohravar and Anoushka sitting together. Wow.
Till now he sat behind me in every class of mine. I wonder why the change of heart.

I have concealer all over my neck to hide the marks he wanted to see.

I consider sitting far behind them as my safest option no matter how difficult it is to see them together.

As I am going to pass them, a boy calls my name and I turn around.

"You can sit with me" he shouts so loud even the teacher turns around.
I muffle my laugh as I go sit next to him.
"Hey I am Alizeh."
"Hi I am Isaac and I just moved here." That explains why he isn't scared.
I feel like I have seen him before but I don't remember where.

Well I am gonna make the most of the situation.
His eyes sparkle like a Christmas tree. Cute.

I check him out. He definitely doesn't play any sports but he is pretty cute.

"Do you play any instruments, I play the guitar and the piano." he whispers. That explains it.

"Oh wow. No I don't." I don't tell him I haven't even held a guitar in my life.

Zohravar

I grit my teeth as I catch Isaac and then Alizeh blatantly check each other out.

All my classmates look at me nervously and Zain gives me a slight shake of his head. Like he can fucking stop me.

I look at her and see the pony she is wearing. She has covered up all my marks. Except she missed the two on the back of her neck. I grin.

Alizeh

Turns out me and Isaac have nothing in common. But I am attractive. So I keep him interested. Boys are just too easy. He seems very interested in me and Zo but I tell him there isn't anything to start with.

The lesson ends and I rush out of the class with Isaac.
I don't look, speak or even pass by Ace for most of the day. But I know his eyes follow my every move.

I sit on the table with Isaac and munch on the disgusting school pizza. Isaac is asking me twenty questions that I answer half heartedly with one word. He gets the cue and stops making me uncomfortable as I hear snickers.

A poor guy is the object of Anoushka's brutality as she makes boring comments on his appearance. I glance at Ace when I see him looking at Isaac with a glint in his eye. It's strange. He breaks the stare.

He looks around on his table. Unaffected. Bored.

All the teenagers stare up at him like he is God. They admire him, beg for his validation.

Then I realise our story could never be a fairy tale. A mere mortal and a god? They never mix.

I feel bile rise through my throat as the realisation sinks deep into me. I rush to the loo when Isaac shouts my name and pour all the contents of my food out. The nasty bitter aftertaste hits me as I cringe and pop a gum. I breathe in, maintain my dignity and wash my face.

"Since when are you doing this?" Raina asks, looking at me though the mirror, sympathy lacing her voice.

"Doing what?"

"It's okay, I understand. I am here for you. I don't know why you have body image issues because you are by far the most beautiful girl I have ever seen." She thought I was- Oh god.

Why are humans so fucking annoying.
I look at her. Face caked with at least 2 pounds of makeup, a push-up bra, hair extensions and two cut marks on her wrist. Probably because her boyfriend cheated on her. And a lecture on body positivity? Wow looking at her gives me a whiplash.

"I am here for you" is like the dumbest thing I have heard. Are you gonna be the one losing hair when I go through chemotherapy if I get cancer? Or are you going to be paying my loan when I drown in debts? Or maybe when Zohravar potentially kills me, will you be the one turning him to the cops? No you won't.

So just shut the fuck up and move on with your life. No one is here for anyone. So stop pretending to be something you can't.

"Thanks" I say as she walks away not before I see her phone screen.

Of course. She took a video of me puking. Well if she posts it online it would be fun making people guess what I ate before this.

But I stop. Raina was sitting on Zohravar's table earlier. Plus it's a little fishy that he isn't hear outside the loo to mock me.
Ugh why is he so infuriating?

My questions are answered soon when the devil himself walks to me as I look for spots to run away. I ignore him passing by him as he quickly walks beside me. Of course the video was for him. I wonder what he had said to her to make her video me.

"Pregnant so soon?" he asks as I look at him if he is out of his mind. I know he would do anything to tie me down to him but this was a low even for him. An unwanted kid?

Well it wasn't possible anyway. I wasn't going to be the one to tell him I am on birth control.

"I would rather have babies with my dead dog." I say as I walk away.
Plus I hated babies anyway. They were whiny, too dependent and could end up as serial killers.