Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 67355 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 337(@200wpm)___ 269(@250wpm)___ 225(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67355 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 337(@200wpm)___ 269(@250wpm)___ 225(@300wpm)
I stumble backward and I was certain I was about to fall on my ass, but two muscular hands gripped my arms. Turns out, the wall is actually a body.
“Sorry,” I muttered as I attempt to pull away but the grip tightens.
“You need to watch where you’re going, hobbit.”
My heart seizes. That hauntingly deep voice…
I’m almost too scared to look up but I find myself craning my neck to meet the mocking gaze of the devil himself.
Jackson Champion.
2
ZORA
They say Lucifer is a beautiful man. That’s how he’s able to tempt so many people to sin. And Jackson Champion is no different. He is the epitome of what most people would acknowledges as handsome. Despite my utter loathing for him, even I’m not blind to his appeal.
He stands at 6’4 with broad shoulders, and corded muscles rippling throughout his body from years of competitive swimming. This is knowledge I wish I weren’t pertinent to, however, there’s a large poster hanging in our school’s gymnasium of all the star athletes in their respective uniforms along with stats.
Whoever thought that was a good idea had to be out of their minds, because whenever we were forced to attend a pep rally, there he was, front and center in a tiny pair of swim pants, built like one of the Avengers.
He has a full head of thick black wavy hair that falls just below his ears. A stray tendril can often be seen casually caressing his forehead. His jawline is disgustingly chiseled, seeming to be craved from granite by a master artist.
When he smiles with straight teeth so blindingly white, he could charm a flea off a dog’s butt. Not my words. I overheard some teachers talking about him like a couple of groupies and one of them used that phrase.
Eww.
Most of our brain-dead classmates voted him as best looking and most popular for the senior superlatives. Because most of the kids at my school suffers from brain rot, they hang on his every word and treat him like he’s descended from heaven. In my opinion the only award, he deserved was King of the Jackasses.
He’s a freshly plucked honey crisp apple with a rotten core. And smack in the middle is an evil worm.
He stares down at me with eyes I’ve never quite figured the color of. In certain lights they appear green and other times blue but now they’re a perfect blend. Aqua. Yes, that’s it. He has aqua eyes.
My breath catches in my throat and my palms grow sweaty.
I attribute these reactions to the steady buildup of an oncoming anxiety attack. I don’t consider myself a nervous person in general, but this seems to be the effect he has on me.
As big as this monstrosity of a house is, I’d hoped I wouldn’t run into him, but apparently luck isn’t on my side tonight. I want to cuss him smooth out but I’m on his turf and I’m certain he could snap his fingers and his minions would descend upon me and make this already uncomfortable experience even more unbearable.
I mentally tell my feet to move and walk around the big obstacle he’s created with his body because for some unknown reason, he’s decided to block my path. Not to mention, he has yet to let go of my arms.
But my legs don’t cooperate, and we find ourselves in a standstill, staring into each other’s eyes. I’m not sure how much time has passed but a pinch at the base of my head threatens to become a full-blown cramp from me craning my neck to meet his gaze.
“There you are, babe. Where have you been?”
As if my night couldn’t get any worse. I was worried about his flying monkeys, but I should have known the Wicked Bitch of the West would be lurking somewhere in the shadows. Teagan Richards. The second worst person in the world.
She has never had a kind or civil word to say to me and I’ve always done my best to either avoid or ignore her. Because her head is so far up Jackson’s ass she probably knows when he has to take a shit even before he does.
She’s decided that making me her target for constant harassment is acceptable. Most of Jackson’s friends have been unkind to me throughout my high school experience but Teagan has been particularly heinous. When she’s not making fun of my weight, clothes or looks, she’s being the queen of racial macroaggressions.
She’s slick enough not to say anything blatantly racist but she definitely knows what she’s doing when she bates me and then acts scared like I’m about to get violent because that’s what ‘people like me do’. She’s so gross but I take comfort in the fact that she’s another person whom I’ll never have to see again after tonight.
When her beady hazel eyes falls on me, her lips droop into a ferocious frown and her nose scrunches as if she smells something particularly foul. She stares pointedly at the grip Jackson still has on my arms.