Kiss of A Titan

Before the next lesson, Chloe and I found ourselves strolling in the hallway through the crowd of students roaming around the corridor in different directions, to our lockers which coincidentally were placed side by side together. We were careful enough not to bump into anyone tending to their own business and easily found our way to the corner where we intently wanted to keep our notebooks and other stuff ready for the day. For the first time, I felt a bit nauseous attending classes and a bit withdrawn from everyone except for the girls I met yesterday talking to Chloe. It had only been the second day and I was beginning to doubt if I was ever going to enjoy the semester like my aunt had believed I would though I had learnt a lot from Chloe and her friends including the girls I should be mingling with as a freshman.

I wasn't too thrilled about the whole adjustment thing but I had hopes that what they had been telling me was going to help my school year go smoothly without any hurdles on the way. The hall was a bit rowdy with nonchalant teens tossing rumpled papers from one end to the other. One accidentally flew past me and caught Chloe on the face as we tried to make our way through the noisy hall.

"Ouch! What the heck?", She yelled the moment the piece of paper struck her by the chin and I was startled by it as well. I laughed silently and resumed our journey. She ignored it even though she was furious with anger and followed behind me out of danger.

"Like I said earlier before I got hit by the face, Amanda and I are gonna show you around the school tomorrow, Just to make sure you get familiar with the facilities here in school and you don't get lost around", "Thanks but the last time you showed me around, things got messed up", I replied as soon as we arrived at the locker. We both opened our separate lockers at the same time and kept what we had to keep.

"There's a zero chance of anything bad happening, besides that, we're going to be there with you, so duly prepare for the tour", She asked me to keep her handbag in her locker. Just then, a guy came and wrapped his hands around her neck before pressing her against himself. His hairy arm was a bit tight around her nape but she didn't seem to be throttling in his unexpected embrace.

"Hey there, love", He said as though he didn't notice that I was standing next to Chloe. I was taken aback at his sudden intrusion into our conversation but what surprised me most was that Chloe wasn't upset by his rude approach. He let go of her as quickly as he had come and she turned to face him with a surprise look on her face. It was clear to me and to anyone standing next to the two lovebirds who kissed each other right before me that they were in a relationship and it didn't take me quite long enough to figure out that he was her boyfriend.

"Ryan, I missed you...I thought-", She said after he gave a long kiss on the lips but he interrupted her even before she could speak. Ryan's looks were a bit of a low standard compared to the guys I had seen including Richard and his rugged black jeans as well as his black bushy hair similar to that of a Mohawk which was clearly out of style and obviously told me that he was a die-hard fan of rock music.

"That I went to Florida? My mom somehow changed her mind and decided to let me spend the summer here in Houston though I'm not sure if she had canceled our plans of leaving town yet", "That's good to hear", She replied with a broad smile that got the front of her teeth showing below her lips which she had painted with a glossy pink lipstick. Ryan suddenly took notice of me staring blankly at both of them and scoured how I looked from top to bottom.

He was sure that I was different from his girlfriend by the way I was dressed up and that I was a total stranger whom he personally didn't want to be eavesdropping on in their conversation.

"And who might you be?", He asked after taking a critical look at my dress code which seemed less fascinating to him.

"She's a friend of mine and also my next door neighbor....", Chloe answered before I could introduce myself.

"And perhaps you are new here in school..?", "Yeah... Yes, I am. Today's my second day here", I replied shyly. Then he offered a handshake in return for my politeness as a gesture of his warm greetings. I shook his palm in spite of being nervous looking him in the eyes. His palm felt soft on my skin but a bit crispy enough for me to understand that he was a drummer.

"Good to know that, I'm Ryan... and judging by your looks, Chloe didn't mention anything about me to you", A malicious look appeared on his eyes as soon as he let go of my hand and tucked it into his pockets.

"No, she didn't", I said and grinned, ignoring Chloe who winked at me to tell him a lie.

"Is that so? Well, she should have told you that I am in the rock band", He said and wrapped his left hand around Chloe's waist. Then he pecked her cheek with his lips and bathed the side of her nape with a lot of tantalizing kisses and Chloe giggled at his passionate show of his desire to get into her pants right there in spite of the fact that we were in the hallway where a lot of oblivious teenagers who were passing by where we stood. To everyone including Chloe, his actions were seen as a normal thing for any boy or girl in a relationship and they didn't seem quite irritated by the way Ryan kept painting Chloe's neck with kisses that read a total lot of meaning. Then Chloe got tired of it and let out a weak moan as a protest against his lustful desires.

"Ryan, Stop it...", She groaned and somehow succeeded in pushing him aside. He obliged as soon as he noticed that she was against his eagerness to get under her skin and he didn't seem upset neither was he angry that she nudged his head away from her neck.

"Gosh, I miss you!",

He exclaimed, not yet satisfied with feeling the softness of her body.

"I do too but you needn't shout it out loud for everyone to hear you", "You know I really don't care what others think about me", "Yes, I know that but you should also know that foreplay before sex supposed to be in the bedroom, not right here in school", "Anywhere you want it, Love....I'll be ready to give it to you", He answered by fondling her chin with the roughness of his thumb. Chloe's eyes sparkled at his charming words of lustful intent. Then she drew him close enough for him to feel the softness of her chubby breast beneath her dress pressing against his sturdy chest with her back resting against her locker whilst their heads were joined together. I ignored them and went about arranging things inside my locker when someone with a bunch of paper flyers in her hand, came to me after sharing some of it to a few bystanders strolling in the aisle of the corridor.

"Hi, there, Newbie", She said cheerfully as she appeared out of the blue and stood beside me smiling ecstatically. I was startled by her remark as well as her unexpected arrival which disturbed Chloe's private time with her boyfriend. "Huh....Hello", I managed to speak even when I was confused. She looked a bit Asian with stylish loose bangs braided to cover most part of her forehead which somewhat danced with every bit of her excitement

"Hi, I'm Maggie...I can see that you're one of the new students we have here in Houston this summer", She said and peered straight at me with her round eyes which sparkled at her every word.

"Right... How did you know I am new here?", I inquired not willing to share anymore personal information with a total stranger.

"Trust me sweetie, I can tell just by the way you look from miles away and the way you smell", She replied and sniffed the air twice to emphasize her point.

"The way I smell? But I smell fine", "Her cologne's fine and that's very creepy, Maggie", Chloe intruded folding her hands while Ryan stood where he had been standing earlier but Maggie ignored them and resumed talking to me. "I'd love to stick around to know your name but never mind. Here's an invitation for the drama club", She said and handed me one of the flyers. I received it but Chloe snatched away from my fingers before I could read the information on it. "If you're interested, please don't hesitate to contact me as soon as you can. We seriously are in desperate need of confident teenagers willing to audition for the school theater this year", She said and walked away even before I could voice out my opinion. Chloe clung to the paper and kept her eyes glued on it while Ryan stood beside her, peeking on the printed words on the flier. I watched Maggie leaving to the stairs where she distributed almost all her flyers to the people she met at the threshold of the staircase till she disappeared to the stairs above us.

***

There was still enough time for everyone roaming the corridors to hang around with each other since the next lesson has not started yet and at the far corner of the rowdy passage, a short distance away from the main exit door which was open for anyone to go ind out of the school premises, was Richard chattering with his friends from the athletic team. He was with Clyde and another tall friend of his. Between the trios, Clyde was the shortest though he was a head taller than any average heighted teenager attending the school.

"So, what exactly did Coach say?", Richard questioned with all eagerness after he was told of the recent news that was delivered to the athletic team the previous day during his absence from the first practice his team had for the new semester. "That another tournament will commence very soon and we'll be partaking even if we don't have enough time to prepare", "Be serious, dude. We all know some of our teammates won't be joining us this session", "And we know Coach is already aware that our team is lacking athletes, why did he-?", Richard rejoined with a question.

I have no idea what's he thinking but that's what he told everyone at yesterday's practice", "This sucks, dude", The tallest among cursed and his eyes wandered off from his two friends to the other end of the hallway.

"I gotta have to talk to him in person", "It's no use", "But someone has to talk to him about his decision", "We already tried but he was adamant about the whole thing", "Maybe we ought to try harder", Richard said indignantly and adjusted his backpack which he wore on his left shoulder. He somewhat noticed that his two friends had diverted their attention away from him and were looking over the heads of people walking by in the hallway towards the other end of the corridor. He turned as well to find out the center of attraction with his eyes till his eyes randomly fell on me having a conversation with Chloe and Ryan.

"The school really did had a lot of new entries this year", The other boy named Linder remarked as the three of them kept watching me from afar. Richard remained quiet and kept watching blankly even though a whole part of him advised him to stop staring with his two friends. He usually avoided looking at people intently like Clyde often does but this time around what he saw compelled him to peer squarely. They kept quiet for a while observing our conversation particularly Richard who refused to say that he knew who I was but little did he know that Clyde recognized me even though it first appeared vague to him.

“She looks familiar, doesn't she?", Clyde asked and nudged Richard's shoulder. Richard didn't respond and seemed to have dazed off.

"You know her?", It was Linder who asked.

"I think I do....Richard, doesn't that face remind you of someone we met some days ago?", He inquired further but Richard was still silent. Clyde noticed that Richard had gone dumb and knew at once that he was hiding something. He was perplexed at Richard's silence and wondered what he was ruminating about. Then a malicious thought to irritate Richard further came into his mind of which he knew would be the best way to provoke his friend to speak to them. "Lori would be mad if she finds out you already started liking someone else", Clyde commented, tucking his two hands into his pockets.

"What I do doesn't concern her anymore....We already broke up remember", He mumbled, still frowning. He turned to leave but he halted at Linder's unexpected intrusion.

"Oh...They are coming this way", Richard turned back and saw me heading straight to where he stood in between Clyde and Linder. I knew from the look on his face that he was astonished beyond words that I was walking straight to meet him with the books I wanted to take for the next lesson in one hand while Chloe and Ryan were trailing behind me.

"And she is staring at us. It's her, right?", "Who's looking at us?", "I think that's the same girl we met in that quiet neighborhood after the car broke down on our way back from the Tennis court", Linder explained with a bit of triumphant smile on his face and he quickly adjusted his denim jacket as I was approaching. Richard's face suddenly turned sour after hearing what Clyde had to say behind my back and I was beginning to doubt my earlier decision to confront Richard regarding his knowledge about me. A chance that I had been desperately waiting to confirm something he and I knew too well to have happened between us.

A traumatic incident which I had fought hard to keep away from my thoughts and which I had dreamt of all night in my bedroom since the day it happened and his appearance in the dream was definitely the mysterious part of that incident. I haven't figured out how to deal with it. Before coming to school in a taxi in the morning, I had made up my mind to talk to him about it because I was finding it hard to get him off my thoughts for the past two days I had seen him in person ever since that incident occurred a few weeks ago.

Though I knew the best he could do was to deny that he wasn't the one I saw that day, I was eager to confirm if what I had been dreaming about was a mere fantasy or an illusion. I had kept this all to myself the entire time I was hanging around with Chloe. Even my aunt tending to my needs didn't know about this nor anyone else had an idea of what I was about to do when I caught him leaving behind his friends who were staring directly at me.

It was only after I had walked up to Richard and his two friends that Chloe realized my intentions to meet up with Richard but she had no idea of what I was going to say until the words came out of my mouth. Richard clenched the right strap of his backpack tighter and falsified a frown the moment I stood in front of him. I perceived he didn't want to have anything to do with me neither was he in the mood for any conversation from any girl especially from me. His countenance made me regret showing up in front of him but I had already crossed the Rubicon by coming to talk to him in person right in front of his friends whose faces weren't helping the situation I had foolishly landed myself in.

I felt extremely nervous at their gaze as they stood waiting for me to speak, particularly Linder whose blunt expression was far grimacing than Richard. I almost started daydreaming again if not for Chloe who touched me by the back to speak up. "Huh....Hey, Richard...It was you, right?", I mumbled, not minding the fact that I was more straightforward than I should have done. Clyde and Linder looked at each other in confusion whilst Chloe and Ryan were surprised as they were apart from Richard who knew what I meant but he definitely shrugged and refused to speak up.

"Well...that's too straight to the point", Ryan muttered from behind.

"What nonsense are you babbling about, girl?", Clyde intruded rudely. Chloe couldn't defend me because she too was confused as to what was going on.

"Maybe what she meant to say, is that she's admiring Richard", Linder added and smirked shyly.

"No! That's not what I wanna say", I said vigorously.

"Then what do you want with us?", "I...just want...to confirm something from him, that's all", Richard knew I was nervous but he wasn't making the situation any better by remaining silent. Even Chloe and Ryan were beginning to suspect that Richard and I knew something that they didn't, including his two teammates.

"Don't waste our time and say whatever you want to say", "I.....wanna know if you were the one who saved me that day at the park", The words loosely came out of my lips even before I could stop them from coming out of my lips. All three boys including Chloe except for Richard were spellbound and couldn't utter a word since they were waiting for Richard to react to what I said. We all stared at Richard expectantly waiting for him to speak but all he did was to look straight at me, the same look he had on his face ever since he first saw me in the classroom the day before.

"You got the wrong person.....I'm not the one you're looking for", He said finally after a prolonged silence and walked away leaving first. His friends followed soon afterwards and left me standing there with Chloe and Ryan watching them heading to the opposite side of the hallway.

*I**

Richard wasn't seen hanging around the school premises with his friends the following day nor was he present in the class the entire week after our brief talk at the hallway which ended badly, in a different way that didn't meet my expectations. His absence was seemingly a possible indication to those who witnessed his unwarranted denial that he wasn't too happy with the way I had confronted him. Though it was only what I deduced when he didn't show up in class the next morning and the entire school week.

Before Saturday morning, I was already feeling disappointed about how things went after confronting him. He may have reacted negatively when I confronted him but I couldn't blame him for his actions that was bound to happen since I had caught him off guard by confronting him which startled him a little though he didn't show it when he wasn't in the mood to have a discussion with the new girl in his class.

After his reaction that day, there were only two conclusions that I kept battling to come to terms with which had to do with his response and I was beginning to doubt if truly he was the one who rescued me before the cops arrived in the scene or was it just my traumatic thoughts about the incident playing tricks on my mind.

I pondered deeply about this in my sleep the night before Saturday and was still lost in thought about it as well the following morning till it was midday when I was left alone, getting myself busy with some of the assignments I got from class in my bedroom after aunt had left the house with her two kids to the mall by the time Chloe came to see me at home taking along with her, Amanda and her other friend, the third girl whom I met talking with Chloe and Amanda the very first day I started schooling in Houston High.

"Ding, dong", The buzzing doorbell gently announced their presence outside the living room and it took me quite a few seconds to figure out that someone else was standing outside the door downstairs. I got up from bed, still dressed in a loose blouse with over half of my hair all messed up and headed downstairs to see who it was that was ringing the doorbell. My guess that it was Chloe turned out to be right when I saw her standing at the porch after opening the door but she came with Amanda and the other girl whom Amanda had told me her name was Ruth, the day before Saturday.

They were all dressed stylish for a party particularly Chloe whose outfit outshone the others but it was quite peculiar that each three girls brought along a knapsack for themselves even though it was clear that they were all going to a party. "Oh, this is unexpected", I said as soon as I stepped out of the house onto the front porch.

"Yes, we know that", Amanda, who was standing behind by the stairs was the first to respond.

"Chloe, seems to me that you three are going somewhere", "Obviously, yes but there's no time for us to talk right now", "Really? Then why did all three of you show up at my front door all dressed for a party?", I asked to scour each of their fancy fabrics with my hands folded.

"We came to take you along with us to.......", Amanda said excitedly but Chloe and Ruth glared at her in a way that sent chills down her spine. The smile on Amanda's face faded off at the scary look of the two girls as soon as it appeared on her face and I became even more curious to know where the three girls were planning to spend the weekend since it was already past the observations for all of us that they were going somewhere they didn't want to tell me or perhaps were finding it hard to decide among themselves to inform me. I didn't like the way Amanda was forced to shut up by her friends who sneered at her for saying something that she shouldn't have mentioned.

"That's not it, Rosalie ", "Then Chloe, tell me what's going on", I said with my hands folded against my stomach.

"We haven't decided yet if coming with us to a party at Richard's house this afternoon would be best for us", "Chloe told me what happened when you met Richard and I wasn't happy at all", "And you think I would mess up if I join you?", I deduced looking at Chloe on the face.

"I know you might get upset about it but it's the truth. I feel you shouldn't come because it might upset Richard too", Chloe replied avoiding eye contact.

"You shouldn't have come in the first place if that's what you guys think", "Don't get the wrong idea that we want to take you with us. We only came to tell you about it so that Chloe here would get satisfied not hurting your feelings", "Ruth's right. We don't just want you to get hurt when you gonna find out later that we went somewhere important behind your back", "So not helping, Chloe. Even though it was your idea we asked her about it, I get to decide if she's coming or not", Ruth said fervently.

"But Ruth, we can't just leave her and have all the fun. She needs to get what it feels like hanging around with boys instead of being bored staying at home all day", "So, what do you say, Ruth, huh? Can she come or not?"

Chloe asked. I kept quiet and thought about her offer. Attending Richard's party will be a perfect chance for me to speak to him privately even though there might be too many people there to hinder my plans to hear the truth from him directly without any encumbrances not to mention that he might be distracted by the people there.