Crimson Angel Read online

Second thought

  The Encounter

  The first thing that struck me in the morning was such a misfortunate. I bumped into Edmond at the school gate, with his two abominable mates beside him. They paused for a second when they caught sight of me. Then, they studied me carefully. Edmond raised his brows as if he couldn’t believe what he was looking at.

  I had tied my hair back into two infinitely long ponytails and wore my glasses. I looked exactly the same way before I met him. An archetypal school girl, probably the goody-goody.

  I had sworn never to drag myself into trouble ever again. Since I hang out with Edmond and his friends, I had been late to schools for ten times, skipped class for five times and failed in tests three times. I had already told myself a boy like him wasn’t worth for me to get in any more problems. I just needed to return to how I used to be.

  “Good morning, Alice.” Edmond greeted sarcastically. “You changed your looks, didn’t you?”

  I didn’t even bother to look at him. His used-to-be cute voice sound disgusting to me right now.

  I passed the school gate without a word. The boys mocked behind my back. I knew what they were thinking. I looked so stupid.

  All the way up to the homeroom, plenty of people threw weird glares at me. Most of them, of course, bore in mind the fact that I had been dumped by the most famous playboy in the grade.

  I kept on walking until I reached my own seat. I took out a book and started reading, ignoring everyone else.

  I was only awakened from my reading when Mr. Rapp entered the room. Just bout to stand up, I noticed nobody was up. Everyone was gazing ahead. Curiously, I looked in their direction and there in the front stood a boy beside Mr. Rapp. He was…Len!

  “Class, today we have a new transferred student to join us.” Mr. Rapp introduced and Len stepped forward. “Why don’t tell us briefly about yourself, Len?”

  Len nodded and grinned. “Hi, I am Len Faber. Nice to meet you.”

  Nobody made a sound. I could tell all the girls were bonded to his magnetic smile. As I said, he was beyond gorgeous.

  “Well, let’s see…” Mr. Rapp’s eyes flickered around the room searching for bare seats. In the room, there were only two empty seats- one at the back and one next to me. When Mr. Rapp began to lift his finger, Len said out of sudden. “I’ll take a seat there.” He pointed at my right hand side. My heart jumped a bit.

  “Oh, good, I was also thinking about asking Alice to help you out in case you have any problems. That would be better than you sit alone.” Mr. Rapp nodded and directed Len to the seat beside me.

  Len was looking and waving at me all the way as he walked towards the seat. I tried to pretend natural and avoided other’s odd stares. Something was making my heart beat so fast and I was certain the closer Len drew to me, the more thrilling I got.

  He landed on the seat and dropped his bag, taking out the textbooks.

  “Mind if I borrow a pen?”

  It took me a moment to react.

  “Course not.”

  I lent him a pen and wondered how a student could possibly have brought textbooks but not pens to school.

  “I haven’t bought any stationery yet.” He seemed to feel my doubt.

  “Why…”

  “Why am I here?” He read my mind again!

  “To study of course! It’s such a coincidence I’ve come to the same school as you.” Len whispered. “I told you we would meet again!”

  I didn’t really know what to say but some part of me was awfully convinced that it was not merely just a coincidence.

  The lesson lasted long. We did a couple of exercises in the class and I was amazed by Len’s cleverness. He was excellent and intelligent. He could answer to every challenging Mathematics question. Usually I was the best in Mathematics but I was totally taken back this time. I lost to him by the last question.

  “Want some explanation?”

  I did say I was self-centered, didn’t I? I shook my head firmly despite the truth I really didn’t get it.

  “Draw a tangent to the radius in the circle. Determine the slop of the radius and you will find that of the tangent. Use the two points you have previously found in the first part and you can deprive the equation of the straight line.”

  Before I could stop Len, he had explained the whole thing to me, so clearly. I tossed him a thankful stare and started writing on my notebook.

  Soon, the bell rang for recess and people darted out of the classroom in various directions. Some were surrounding Len like he was a superstar. Everyone seemed interested in this new boy.

  “Len, where do you live?”

  “Len, which subjects do you like most?”

  “Which school did you go to before?”

  “Do you have girlfriend?”

  All kinds of questions swung near me. I tried my best to concentrate on my fiction until I heard my name.

  “Be careful, Len, Alice is someone not to be offended.”

  Such words would only come out from that mischievous Tom’s mouth. I shot him an irritated look and immediately he shrugged.

  “See?”

  Len just smiled and I walked away from my seat.

  Far from behind, I could still vaguely hear their conversation.

  “Tell me about her.” I heard Len say. I blushed but didn’t stop walking.

  “Oh, Alice is very lonesome.”

  That Tom never learnt. One more word and he would completely offend me.

  “She doesn’t really get along with anyone. She doesn’t need friends anyway. Quite an independent girl.”

  I was near my limits right now. He was right about independence but I never said I didn’t need friends.

  “It’s normal for you to be interested in her. She’s undoubtedly the prettiest girl in the class after all.”

  I was right about beauty being the common topic among boys.

  “But tell you something, recently, she’s dumped by Edmond in the next class so she’s….”

  WHAT!?

  I couldn’t hear any more of it. Dumped. Dumped. Dumped. Why was I the one to be dumped? I should be the one dumping Edmond!

  ER…flushed with rage, I stormed out to the corridor.

  Seconds later, I was rushing towards the library when Len caught up with me. He still carried that grin on his face.

  “Alice, where are you going?”

  “To the library! Can’t you see?” I retorted. I was so exasperated that I almost called him stupid.

  “Well, are you bothered by what they said? You heard them, right?”

  “Never mind.” I looked around as if I could care less. Len should have known I could hear everything they talked about back there and yet he still asked questions about me. Did he just try to upset me intentionally?

  “I didn’t mean to upset you. I just wanted to know about you.” Len defended guiltily.

  “Well?” I turned to stare straight into his eyes, my arms crossed. “You can ask ME anything about me.”

  “Really, I thought you were in a bad mood to speak.”

  It was true though. I was still in utter frustration to talk to anyone, even new companions. “That’s one of the reasons why I hate schools.” Len dropped his voice and leaned forward. “All those rumors and prejudice from peers.”

  “We face them no matter what.” I said. “Even if it is not in school, this kind of things is everywhere.”

  “You’re quite right.”

  Len followed me into the library. With him beside me, peculiarly I felt much more relieved.

  “You like books?”

  I nodded. Books are something I find the best way of entertainment. With Edmond, my life was all about dating and going out. Now that I was back to myself, I was a bookworm again. People could judge and tell you what they thought but inside the dreamy world of the books, the earth was mine. Even a practical person could imagine somehow.

  “I knew a place where there are millions of books more than here.”

 
“Really?” I exclaimed, my eyes glittering with greed. “Where?”

  Len just made a faint smile. “I’ll bring you there some other time.”

  Some other time. Boys always say that. That is always a fake promise. They convince you they will do something some other time but they never really achieve it. Edmond was like that. Up till now, he still hadn’t brought me to that newly-opened arts museum.

  “You suspect me, don’t you?” Len’s brows furrowed.

  I was beginning to feel queer. How could he understand every one of my thoughts? That was suspicious enough.

  “I give you my words.” He flew me a promising smile. I swore I did melt inside. “A word spoken is past recalling. I will bring you to the place with the most collection of books in the world.”

  I smirked. There were no places with that many books in this town or near where I lived. So, where was he going to bring me? Was he just attempting to cheer me up?

  “Why, you have got to believe me, Alice.”

  “I do believe you.” I mocked and strolled towards the shelves.

  I was scanning through a couple of novels when Len let out a funny sound.

  “That’s interesting.” He had picked up a book and was flipping through the pages at the highest speed I had ever witnessed. I never thought he was reading it in the beginning.

  “What?” I took a look at what he was holding. Guess what? He was reading twilight.

  “This is… cool.” Len complimented. “I’ve never come across this kind of books.”

  Right, a minute before he was boasting about knowing the place with most books in this world and now he was telling me he had never heard of twilight before. That was…

  “So, they do think of vampires that way.” Len was still grinning at the book.

  “What way?”

  “Do you humans think vampires always quarrel with werewolves?” He had said it so seriously that I began to feel chill.

  “We humans?”

  “That’s not necessarily true. We don’t conflict with werewolves, but rather ourselves.”

  “What are you talking about?” This guy was so hard to reach. Was it one of his tricks? I couldn’t understand him a bit and yet he could read my every intention.

  Len burst out laughing. “Got you! Look at you, you look all lost and…”

  “Enough!” I was used to people teasing me but I never expected Len would be one of them. I stood motionlessly for a second with tears welling up in my eyes even though I knew it was just a joke. The next moment I was out of the library weeping and Len was chasing after me.

  “Alice, wait up!” Len was bawling behind me. “I’m sorry!”

  I didn’t stop or even turn around. I thought I was losing him when, suddenly, he stood in front of me.

  “I said, stop, Alice.”

  I stared at the ground, refusing to look at him. His unbelievable speed still sent me wondering.

  “Alice, I was just trying to make you laugh. I didn’t know you would cry instead. I am terribly sorry.”

  He didn’t fully understand me after all. I shook my head. It wasn’t his fault. I was just a bit sentimental these days, probably because of Edmond!

  “Look at me, won’t you.”

  I did as told, my eyes reaching his handsome face. It was so embarrassing to let someone see me cry. Even Edmond had never seen my tears.

  “There.” Len tucked a handkerchief into my hands. “You are such a crybaby. Are girls always like that?”

  The bell rang for the third lesson. We should head back to the classroom.

  “Come on, don’t let me scolded by teachers for my first day.” Len joked and gently took my wrist.