Tora (The Tora Trilogy Book 1) (8 page)

Bella tapped into her memory. “He’s got dark brown hair, chocolate brown eyes-”

“That would be Daniel.” Eva concluded.

“Oh would it? How come you know him? I’ve been here for five years and I’ve stopped associating with the new kids.” She said lowering her eyes. “Except you of course.”

“He didn’t seem like he was new.” Eva said, considering it. “Daniel looked like he knew the place fairly well.”

“Guys like to play it cool.” She said; chewing on a sour gum she’d plucked from the bag beside her. “How did you meet him?” Bella sounded curious and maybe a little jealous, her eyes drilling into Eva.

“He’s in my class.” She said coolly, trying to rub off her intense satisfaction for the handsome guy. Eva still couldn’t shake the visions she had of the other night. Of Daniel and her swimming together in the moonlit waters of the lake. She decided she’d keep that to herself.

A smile played on Eva’s lips. Even when Daniel was absent, he was capable of giving her the butterflies.

Eva glanced up expecting her roommate to draw conclusions, but Bella hadn’t noticed. She was staring at something outside the window closest to her.

“Sounds mysterious huh?” She turned her attention back to Eva.

“Want a sour chew?” She offered.

“No thanks.” Eva desperately wanted to know what Daniel wanted and why he was asking for her.

Bella grabbed a mag from the box set in front of her bed, dragging it onto her lap, pulling a nail file from her pocket.

“Bella, what sort of guys are you into?”

“Hmmm.” She seemed to consider the question as she positioned herself on the bed.

“Someone who’s nice, has a six pack and has gorgeous dark brown hair with a hint of stubble.” She snorted, then started coughing, reaching for her asthma medication.

“That fits the description of Daniel.” Eva said softy, but sensed Bella had heard.

“But something tells me he’s a creep.” She quickly added, remembering how out of the corner of her eye, he had been watching her. Eva didn’t want Bella to get the wrong impression.

“I’m no stranger to creeps.” Bella confessed, then said, “Everyone around here is a little creepy. You’ve got to expect that if you’re at Combe Bank. The kids here are off the Richter scale!”

Bella didn’t look too bad though. To Eva, she didn’t seem to wear the hardness that she’d seen on other kids here. She was fairly normal, the sort of girl Eva had been used to seeing all the time back at Margate. Actually, she was the first blonde girl she’d come across here. When Eva had first bumped into her, she seemed easy enough to figure out; commercial pretty, skin that radiated a glow wherever she went, shiny glossy magazine suitable long hair, the body of a model. Her high voiced edged with narcissism convinced Eva that she was the bitchy type. The only thing that surprised her, was her being here amongst a group of opposites. But her judgement had been totally wrong. Bella was actually really nice.

“But you don’t look bad.” Eva said, but when Bella smirked, she realised how stupid that comment must have sounded.

“I know what you mean.” She said, nodding. “There really is one category of kids that belong here. And that’s the Goths.” She announced. “You see them everywhere you go. There are a select few that are worse than that, who are locked up in here somewhere under tighter security controls.”

“Really?” Eva had seen guys and girls with bangles all the way up their arms, piercings studding every uncovered piece of skin and ugly tattoos that made them look rough. And it hadn’t taken long for her to figure out that she probably should stay away from them. But why were there some locked up. Was this a maximum security prison?

“You don’t know?” Bella furrowed her brow, looking confused for a moment.

“No.” Eva admitted.

“Wow.” She paused, her eyes widened and narrowed, processing her surprise and talked on. “When I got here that was all the kids were talking about. “We call them the ‘fetters.’ You know, kids who’ve played a role in domestic terrorism, chopped their parents up, lit fires, all the extremes are right here-”

“Shut up.” Eva snapped.

“I’m serious.” Bella said mid-laugh which made Eva doubt whether any of this was true. She didn’t want to believe any of it. That the worst offenders in Florida attended this school was a worrying thought. What would she tell Michelle? Had she grossly underestimated what Combe Bank was dealing with? Otherwise she would never have sent her daughter here? Not when there were psychos left right and centre. Right?

Just as she was beginning to get to grips with her new home, Bella had said that, which had put her back to feeling on edge.

Eva remembered how Ariana had said the other day that everybody had a story here. How did Bella, Avan and Daniel get here then?

“This place has a bit of a reputation when it comes to the kinds of people they hold here.”

When Bella noticed Eva’s judgemental stare, she downgraded her tone. Bella lowered her eyes.

“I’ve been here for a year now, and we haven’t seen any such atrocities here. She shrugged. “I guess there’s a bonus to having 24 hour security around here. It puts people off.”

It still didn’t make her feel any better.

After Bella finished her bag of sour chews, she tossed it into the bin across the room and almost missed.

“Aced it.” She grinned.

“Hey, what are you doing up so late anyway by the way?”

Eva looked around the room for inspiration. Her eyes fell on one of Bella’s textbooks. “I was reading. I got a bit carried away I guess.” Eva lied.

“Oh. So you’re the reading type, as Miss Mill would say. I never manage to keep my eyes open this late unless I have a drink.”

Eva didn’t know what she was doing up this late either. Now that Bella had pointed it out, her eyes were starting to droop.

“Hey, you missed one heck of a party!” She enthused. Bella’s eyes beamed in memory and her lips curved into a wide smile. “Although Ariana was pissed with you not being there.”

“Oh my god.” Eva gasped.

Ariana had been the last person on her mind. She felt bad because she had promised her the other day that she would be there. After Daniel had been asking for her to, she kind of wished she’d let her socks down. There wasn’t much fun to be had these days, and now that Michelle wasn’t around to guard her she should be trying to relax a little. Maybe if she tried, her headaches, shadows and nightmares would stop altogether.

“I’m going to sleep now.” She mimed a dozing off head action and pulled her pj’s off the rack.

“Night then.” Eva returned a smile.

When Bella began to undo her day gear, Eva turned her head away politely and focused herself on getting ready for bed.

Frosty air shimmied in through the window. Outside, snow was onto the willow trees that dangled outside their window. Lights from other dormitories could be seen vaguely amongst the foggy night air. Snow formed small piles over the leaves of branches and transformed the gloomy night into a magnificent wonderland.

But even after she tucked herself in bed, she couldn’t shake away what Bella had said about Daniel. That he’d been asking for her. And he knew her name. Now all that kept buzzing around in her head was who was this guy and how did he know her?

Seven

~†~

Paige dropped by at 5.30 sharp just like she promised.

Meanwhile Eva had somehow lost track of time.

“Hey!” She embraced her like an old friend. She sounded so excited and energetic.

Eva smiled thinly. “Hey Paige.” But she was feeling the opposite of enthusiastic. Today she had completely zoned out. Tiredness had prevented her from focusing in class. She had also hitched a warning from Francesca from sleeping during the lesson.

It was the first time Eva was jetting off to a real party – well not exactly – Coome Bank’s rare prom – but it had to be pretty good if that was all Paige had been talking about all week.

Paige looked stunning and confident in her yellow strapless dress, but Eva was having second thoughts about going.

Reading Eva’s painted depressed expression, she scanned Eva’s outfit – jeans, long sleeve t, and joggers.

“You can’t go looking like this.” Paige gasped.

“I know.” Her cheeks felt hot.

“There has to be something in your closet.”

Before Eva could argue, Paige was already roaming through her closet digging through her clothes.

Finally after a long moment, she ducked her head up holding a dress covered in a plastic overlay and said “Perfect! This will look smashing on you.”

It was a coral blue semi sequined sweetheart mini dress that Eva had completely forgotten about. Neither had she remembered packing it.

After fitting the dress, she slipped on a simple necklace and looped her long wavy hair into a messy bun. Standing in front of the mirror, Eva couldn’t believe how different she looked when she threw aside her casual clothes. She couldn’t stop smiling. The coral blue worked its way seamlessly with her pale skin and the sleek outfit hugged her body in all the right places. Her dark brown hairstyle didn’t look bad either. Having teased hair; some stray strands falling loosely over her ears was kind of sexy and she liked it.

Paige trotted over and gave her a look of approval. “Eva, you look stunning!”

“Thanks, but you’re the one who look’s amazing!”

“Oh stop it!” Paige glanced at Eva wildly in an expression that meant: are you serious?

Eva had to hope that was a joke.

Paige Penrose was easily the prettiest girl in the grade. Some girls overdid the glam to the point where they looked fake and stood out merely as a spectacle. But Paige was naturally beautiful. Her skin was a radiant glow of even healthy colour, fully curved lips and her best feature; brown bold eyes that would captivate any guy.

Then the door opened again. Ariana stood in the doorway wearing a small black dress, almost the colour of her short hair. She was blocking someone behind her that Eva couldn’t see.

“Hey Ariana.” Eva said.

“Hey you two.” She said shuffling towards them.

“Not you mister.” Paige shook her head, miming a swatting motion and moved to block the doorway.

Eva heard a groan. “Hey how come you guys get to –.”

“We’re girls Avan.” Ariana cut him off, sneering and snorting at the same time.

“Too right.” Paige agreed.

“And that means no boys allowed.”

Ariana and Paige broke into hysterics after they shut the door.

“Hey don’t you think that was a bit harsh?” Eva didn’t see what was so funny.

“Avan
can
wait to see you.” Besides you’re not quite ready.”

~

Ariana, Paige and Eva passed through a crowd gathered in the hallway outside St Nicolas Hall. From the floor to the high ceiling, the thick fog got more intense; plumes of smoke rising from ash lit cigarettes. She tried to avoid staring at the group of creepy onlookers who gave her the shivers.

Dressed in dark clothing, head to toe, they had their own makeshift theme going on. It tied in well with Coome Bank’s school colours, which were mostly blacks and greys.

Apart from the pretty dire presentation from the outside of the school hall, the party had been organised pretty well.

Inside the hall was completely different to how Eva had imagined it.

Traditional black and greys were swapped for pops of colour here and there. Bunting hung from the ceiling in colourful strips, giving the room a homier feel. This was just what Eva had seen on TV shows. To give a romantic feel, white fairy lights were placed purposefully over the dance floor.

Oddly enough there were African drummers cooped up in a corner faraway supplying the entertainment, but the loud DJ music almost completely washed out the sound of the beating drums.

“We’re the hottest leaves here.” Paige said as she steered the two girls towards the dance floor.

“Oh God, look who it is.” Ariana mumbled vaguely, steering clear of her path.

Taya, wearing an over extravagant black mini-dress was heading to the other side of the dance floor. Her hair flowed down to her waist. When she caught their eyes, she sulked, looking somewhat annoyed when she saw Eva. She must have recognised her from the other day.

“Wow.” Paige said a little bit too loudly, as she caught up to her.

“Taya you are a stunner.” Her jaw dropped.

“Oh, I know.” Taya flipped her hair to the side and sized both of them up. She put on a smile that was forced, then decided she could no longer hang with a bunch of losers.

Then she barged in between them like she could no longer play the nice game and headed for the bathroom.

“What did you say that for?” Eva asked as soon as they were out of earshot. “You don’t like Taya.”

“Just kidding.” Her smiled vanished in an instant to something more sinister. “Taya is such a snob.”

More like a bitch, Eva thought, to be more precise. There was something about her that made her skin crawl. She was barely even human in the way she lacked humanity. Cold blooded.

Then she shrugged adding, “I get satisfaction from being nice to people, you know. Especially Taya. She can’t handle it when I do that. She’s so god damn sinister all the time. I feel the need to bring out the kindness in her. Have you heard the saying? I practically live by it. Kill em with kindness.”

Eva smirked at the relaxed Paige. Somehow she managed to keep her cool and calm at the same time, while achieving a kick in messing with narcissistic girls like Taya.

Avan was looking lonely on the sideline, until he spotted Eva and his eyes lit up.

“Hey Avan.” She sat down beside him and watched everyone else getting into the groove of the music. Avan wore a sharp suit with a nice tie. He looked relaxed like he always was, and a little awed at Eva as well which meant she must of looked pretty good.

“Are you just going to sit down and watch everybody else dance?” he asked.

“I guess.” She shrugged.

“Oh come on. You can’t come to a dance without taking part.”

He had a point there.

Avan leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. Eva moved, sitting up straighter. It wasn’t that she didn’t like the idea of being with Avan; she didn’t want him seeing how bad a dancer she was.

But when she saw Taya walking towards them, she decided she would rather dance with Avan then let Taya get involved.

“Let’s go then Avan.” She said quickly, and slipped a wry smile.

Avan stood up and extended his arm out to her like a true gentleman. “Would you care to dance, Eva?”

“Sure.” Eva said, taking his hand and Avan led her to the dance floor.

By now the floor was almost completely full. There were still a few scattered around the bleachers, but those were the nerdy kids with dandruff.

Avan placed one hand around her waist and held her hand in the other. She didn’t know what to do. It felt weird to just stare back at Avan’s mossy green eyes. She felt nervous. They were moving slowly in small circles and Eva focused on getting her movements right. Avan was relaxed, looking calm and comfortable, but Eva felt stiff from the start.

But with his hand guiding her, she relaxed a little and smiled, trying not to blush.

“Are you enjoying tonight?” Avan asked, watching her intently. He must have noted a subtle change in her expression, but she wasn’t really paying attention. She felt far away. Avan was handsome, but just being in his arms didn’t feel right. She was distracted by something else that bothered her.

Over her shoulder, Taya was dancing with Daniel. She kept laughing and batting her eyelids and Eva swallowed her jealously.

If only she could take her place and be in his arms.

“Eva?” Avan asked.

“Yes.” Eva stopped looking at them and tried not to appear to alarmed she turned her attention back to Avan.

“Is everything okay?”

“Absolutely fine.” Eva said quickly, hoping he wouldn’t read any more into it.

“Are you cold?” He asked.

“It’s a little chilly. But nothing I can’t handle.”

They kept dancing until the song ended and then Paige and Ariana raced up to them.

“Hey guys do you want to go the bar? They’ve got free drinks until they run out.” Paige asked.

“Seriously?” Avan grinned. “I’m out.”

“I’m fine.” Eva said, looking over at the bar. Everyone had cottoned on and most had left the dance floor.

“Okay.” Paige and Ariana scooted to catch up to Avan and Eva sat down on the sideline.

Feeling bored and lonely, Eva resorted to people watching. There were a few kids she had recognised from class; a girl with tattoos and a guy with tattoos doing some fast pace dancing that looked strange. Beside them, a group of girls were having fun dancing together and she saw Bella dancing with Drake, Daniel’s friend.

Then she saw Daniel. Wearing a slim fitting black shirt, and dark jeans, he looked good.

Eva felt weak at the knees and she had to grip the bench for support. Against her will, her mouth curved into a smile and immediately she hated herself for it.

His eyes met hers and he walked over towards her, surprising Eva with his direct approach. Even though she’d been around him a lot lately, he never seemed interested in making contact with her. But something had changed in his expression tonight. His eyes were darker than she’d ever seen them. Almost smouldering as they burned into her.

“Why do you look at me like that?” She asked as he stopped in front of her.

“If you don’t like it I can stop.” He offered.

That was tricky. If she admitted to him she felt uncomfortable than he wouldn’t look at her at all. But if she told him she was fine, that was like admitting he’d got to her.

“You didn’t explain why.” She shot back feeling flustered all of a sudden.

Daniel blinked a few times and swallowed. “Everyone looks at you like that. You’re very attractive.”

Wow.
Eva didn’t know what to say to that. She looked at her feet and blushed.

“That’s kind of weird” Eva hoped to fight back, but her voice was weak.

“Do you wanna dance?” Daniel asked flatly. For a second Eva thought she hadn’t heard right.

“You’re asking me to dance?” Eva asked.

“Yeah.” Daniel shrugged.

“If you insist.”

He took her hand and led her towards the dance floor. The band started playing ‘Oh what a Wonderful World’ by Louis Armstrong and Eva felt like she had just entered the perfect movie moment.

There was barely anyone else on the dance floor apart from them. Although she was nervous, it felt wonderful to be near him.

Daniel slid one arm around her waist and held her hand in the other. She tried to ignore how warm his arm felt against hers and tried to focus on getting her movements right. They were only moving in small circles but everything felt intense.

When she had the courage to look into his eyes, she saw something change. She wasn’t sure what it was, but they definitely got darker.

For a while they didn’t say anything. All they did was look at each other. It felt like the perfect moment. Daniel lifted his hand and twirled her body into a spin. Surprising her high heels had held up and she was capable of dancing in them without her feet tiring.

Daniel placed his hand on the small of her back. It felt wonderful – his warm, firm hand felt reassuring, like he wanted her there.

But just when everything felt right, she was roughly pushed aside, out of Daniel’s arms.

“Daniel.” Someone said in a soft voice.

After stumbling a little, Eva whipped her head around to see what had set her aside.

Or who.

It was Taya.

She had her arms wrapped around Daniel firmly trying to shield his vision of Eva.

You bitch.
Adrenaline pumped through her veins.
Don’t you dare take that away from me!

She must have been watching Eva too, because when her eyes met with hers, she was smiling. But it wasn’t nice at all.

She can’t just get away with that.