Chasing Shadows | ✓

Part Two: Chapter Five

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a smile of heaven with fire in her eyes

she was an angel but so was the devil

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"I HATE YOU."

"No you don't."

"I really, really do," I argued back, but a sneaky smile curved on my lips, one which didn't go amiss.

Noah and I sat at the back of Art class, bickering back and forth as we waited for class to begin. A loud buzz had filled the room, none of which I could make out. A chilly draft wafted in from the open window, causing small goose-bumps to rise on my exposed skin. Noah was leaned back in his seat, dark eyes locked on mine in a careful gaze.

"I'm too cute to hate," Noah smirked, leaning forward in his seat with his hand tucked under his chin.

"Ew," I laughed and pushed his forehead away from mine, "Get away from me. Haven't you heard of personal space?"

"No, sorry," he shot back, but backed away a few inches into his seat.

"I'm going to fail this class though," I moaned, throwing my head up towards the ceiling, "I can't draw anything besides a stick-man."

"Are you sure you can even draw that?" he asked, raising a brow.

Without hesitation, I shoved my sharp elbow into his side, causing him to let out a small oomph.

"Not all of can be artistically gifted," I sighed, "I was born with other talents obviously."

Noah crossed his arms across his chest in disbelief, "Like what?

"Like. . . Lots of things," I stumbled, laughing, "It would take me all day to list them out."

"You can't even give me one example," Noah snorted with a shake of his head.

"Uh, okay - have you heard my singing?" I asked, pointing an accusing finger in his face, "I'm the next Madonna of this era -"

"You suck at singing," he interrupted in a dry tone, "You make my ears bleed when you try."

"You haven't even heard me sing," I protested, "I'm really good!"

"You did that school play once, remember the Christmas one, six years ago?" he coughed into his fist to hide his growing grin, "You have it on tape at home?"

My eyes doubled in size, nearly bulging out of their sockets.

"You saw that?" I asked, horrified, "Who showed you?!"

My blush burned through my cheeks and my face felt like a hot oven. I suddenly felt awkward as I attempted to hide my rosy cheeks behind my fingers.

"Your mother may have given me a sneak peak one day while you were in the bathroom," he confessed, belting out a laugh when he noticed my stricken expression, "Don't worry, I thought it was pretty cute."

"How am I supposed to look at you ever again?" I cried, shoving my face into my hands, "That night was so embarrassing."

Our school had decided it was a good idea to host a Christmas play - none of the roles of which I had gotten. Determined to have some role, I pretended to cry until the teachers gave in out of pity and offered that I could sing one of the songs. While at that time I had been delighted, once the night came and I had to stand in front of a huge audience of parents and teachers, I ended up freezing and hiccuping my way through the lyrics, before trying to run off stage, and tripping flat on my face.