"Booh" Jordan's breath on my neck highly intensified my fury. I had just stepped out of Mrs. Webb's office, seething through my teeth.
I turned back and pushed him towards a wall, anger seeping through my nostrils. I held him by the collar of his shirt.
"Woah" He seemed truly surprised. "Do you wanna kill me now"
"Why are you stalking me" I snapped.
"I am not stalking you" He said defiantly.
"Well you definitely seem to hover too much at my side" I said , holding his collar tightly. I wish I could strangle him in one grasp.
"And that screams stalkerish?" He seemed amused.
"Yes it does" I affirmed.
"If you must know, you are the most helpless wisp of human I have ever seen . Your ass needs saving almost all the time. And I try to do my chivalric duty all the time. " He smirked.
I swallowed the retort forming in my throat.
"Do you like me?" I asked with a frown . The question alone had a stale taste in my mouth.
Jordan Files laughed. Long and hard. And I felt my face burn up into crimson. I released his collar and snatched my bag from his hand. I wanted to die of embarrassment.
"I don't have any fondness for redheads " Jordan said finally with the usual smirk adorning his face.
"Good for you" I said with all the dignity I had left. "Because I don't want to end up like Furla"
His face darkened and he said nothing. Who was Furla by the way. I would definitely dive into the library to find a note about this infamous Furla. Curiosity was slowly eating me up.
I turned to leave.
"Night " Jordan called "I wanted you to go with me to Tish "
I stopped and turned, masking a mounting excitement. I had never been to Tish. I mean, yes technically I had. Solstice had been held in the Tishian Stadium two days ago. But that was just one euphoric night and so yes, technically I hadn't seen the town. Cassidy had certainly regaled my ears with stories about Tish from her sneakouts with Peach.
"Do you have a gate pass?" I asked flatly. Students could not go out of the school environs without one.
"Do I need a gate pass" He sneers " I am afterall Jordan Files..."
"Of Moon Sol" I say flatly with a shrug "Well, what business do you have in Tish?"
"My mom is there. " He said simply. "Then we could grab a plate of Yokozuri after. "
Cass had also regaled me about Tish 's famous dish of cauliflower, the Yokozuri. I smiled broadly. Jordan did not seem amused by my enthusiasm. He was not his usual arrogant self since I mentioned Furla. Who was Furla.
_______________________________
A sleek blue car was waiting for us outside the school building. I hugged myself tighter, my eyes kissing the ground. A dozen girls had come out of various classrooms and corners, giggling and taking pictures with their phones. My stomach churned. As usual, Jordan Files was basking in the attention. He added more swagger to his already pompous strides. Bastard.
I got into the car hurriedly, wishing to step away from the scrutiny of the ogling paparazzi.
"One of the many perks of being a .." Jordan began
"Shut it" I snap.
The driver drove out of the school compound and steadied the car into the tracks leading us to Tish.
My phone rang. Barbie Mullen. Requesting a video call. I put it on video mode.
"Hi" I say perkily but it is my sister's face that shows up on the screen. I swallow irritably.
"Hi there, Schorlar" Her smile as usual is wide .
"What are you doing in Barbie's room?" I demand with a calmness I didn't really feel. Of course the slack lipstick on her mouth showed the she had been experimenting with Barbie's makeup kit and of course her clothes. I gritted my teeth.
Jordan uninvitedly smirks "Lot of things to do in a room".
"Well no one asked you, sucker". I snap at him.
"who are you yelling at" Barbie Mullen has appeared on the screen although Norma Jean could be seen hunched over her shoulders. Barbie is wearing her lemon shirt that we had twinned in last year. I swallow. One month in The Academy and I was already missing her terribly. Her blonde hair glistened.
"It was a guy's voice" Norma Jean growls with a saucy smirk.
"Wow" Barbie's grin is wide. It is identical to the one on my sister's face. "Are you with a guy ?"
"Of course not..." I begin to say , embarrassed, but Jordan was loudly weaving a song lyric.
"Definitely a guy's voice" Barbie says excitedly and gives a hi five to Norma Jean who squeals delightedly. "Can we see?"
"Pleasssseeee" Norma Jean drawls in a completely pathetic voice that irks me further.
"Please" Barbie implores further and I grind my teeth. I hate it when they gang up on me like this.
I flip the camera on Jordan Files who has plugged in an earphone and was scrolling through his phone, his mouth singing along to whatever nonsense he was listening to.
"Is that..." Barbie Mullen exclaims as I flip it back to me . Her eyes are round.
"Yes. Its Jordan Files" I say drily
"Like the Jordan Files " Norma Jean is unbelievably ecstatic.
"Of Moon Sol" Barbie adds, completely electrified.
"Yes. Unfortunately it is the cocky puss of Moon Sol " I roll my eyes.
"Who is cocky?" Jordan has removed his ear plug and was glaring at me sweetly. Have I told you he looks kinda intimidating when he's not smiling. With those weird ice cold eyes planting unspoken threats on you.
Barbie and Norma Jean are about to say something which I know will most likely be starstruck rantings so I mutter something about bad network and end the call hurriedly.
I turn to face Jordan "I ain't cocky. So that leaves just one very predictable person."
What he does next is very 'unpredictable'. In one swift moment, his lips grazed my neck. I shivered. But not from cold. His mouth brushed my neck again . I jolted, but the car lurched with me, throwing me against his shoulder.
"Careful," he murmured, steadying me with a hand on my thigh. His palm lingered. Warm. Heavy. Intentional.
"Jordan ...." I hissed, but the word broke when his thumb traced slow circles just above my knee.
The driver shifted in his seat; Jordan leaned in, pretending to whisper. His breath grazed my cheek, my jaw, the corner of my mouth. My thighs felt warm and my stomach did a treacherous flip flap.
I tried to move away, but the space was too tight, my body betraying me, brushing his chest, his lips nearly grazing mine every time the car hit a bump.
"You're shaking," he said in a very low whisper, the trademark smirk curling his mouth. "Don't blame the road for that."
Another jolt, and his hand slid higher. I gasped, clutching his sleeve to steady myself. He stilled, but didn't move away, his mouth close enough that I could taste the heat of him.
When the car pulled to a stop, I cupped my face , a thousand undignified grovelly voices racking my chest, wanting more , wanting this, wanting him. God. What was happening to me.
Jordan extracted a face cap and a pair of dark glasses. I looked at him inquisitively.
"So I don't get wolfed down by the paparazzi" He shrugs .
"Duh" I roll my eyes.
___________________________
Tish was nothing ordinary. I could sniff it's essence even before we stepped into it. The town stretched before us outrightly, and even the bustle could be perceived. In every word of it, Tish was alive. It was not tainted with the gloom that haunted The Academy.
Jordan Files had grown distant while we walked. He walked sullenly, always a step ahead of me. Surprisingly this sulky side of his felt strange, as if I was walking with someone I barely knew. I paused in my thoughts, wondering how much about Jordan I really knew.
Narrow, uneven streets twisted between brick-and-wood buildings, their rooftops pointy as if they sought to reach the heavens. The sharp , shrill voice of vendors pierced the air, hawking dumplings, baked bread and glimmering fishes whose silver scales caught the sunlight. Children darted past us, in shiny little bicycles that bore all the euphoria of childhood and none of the strains of growing up. Cabs slid in and out . I stared too long at the busy streets, laughed too loud at the children and literally wanted to lie down in the basking sunlight.
Tish was alive.
Jordan led me to a large, grim building whose interiors were a direct contrast to the gloomy exterior. It was a vast restaurant, with several glass windows and dazzling bulbs and shiny neat chairs and tables. We took the table close to a window and sat. I stared at Jordan who sat directly in front of me, his face had somehow relaxed a bit. But his silence was infuriating. My stomach tightened. Somehow the annoying, arrogant, sarcastic and stalkerish Jordan Files was a much better pick anyday than a sullen one.
"You look like a piece of ass" I said sharply, bored to death with his silence. He removed his glasses . His frozen eyes stared at me intensely for a bit then he smiled. Strange, but it was relieving actually.
"I am always tensed each time am about to meet my mom" He said quietly.
"Why?, your bad habits flattened out her love for you?" I asked flatly.
"Look, it's Jordan and Night" Someone called loudly.
I turned in time to see Peach Thubman bouncing in radiantly with Harmon , that Tishian Vamp that had disappeared in the woods when the Corvoth attacked. Harmon was smartly dressed and was even more vampish cute in daytime. I got a good stare of black hair and a bold neck.
"Are you aware that crushing on a Tishian Vamp is a suicide mission?" Jordan whispered.
I scowled " Why? I would die of his cuteness overload or what?"
"They have a very nasty abhorrence of redheads and they are very unreliable" He smirked .
"Oh, so you two have two traits in common" I cocked an eyebrow.
"And then there is Peach who's obviously obsessed with him. Where would you fit in?" He said with that bold note of finality.
"Anyways I don't see how my crush on Harmon is any business of yours" I sneered.
"You do admit you have a crush on him" His face darkened a bit and his hands on the table began to twitch violently.
"Please don't do the morphing thing here" I said, half scared and about to be half dead with embarrassment if Jordan was to morph into a werewolf right here in a crowded restaurant.
Peach and Harmon had somehow bounced over to our table. Jordan settled back into humanity in the blink of an eye, his ice cold eyes seemingly bored and hovering over Peach and Harmon with unconcealed amusement.