Remember Me

Chapter 10: Can't Stay Away

The next morning, Hannah got a call from her father. He excitedly informed her that he would be coming to visit the Institute because he was writing an article about Dr. James. Her father was a prominent journalist and if there was any profession she respected the most, Journalism ranked amongst the top 3. Journalists always exposed new ideas and she respected the fact that her father always told the truth. He never tried to embellish the facts in his articles. However, even the excitement of the chance to see her father wasn't enough to bolster her sprits. Trudging along to the training grounds, she did her best to seem happy.

An hour later, Hannah could be seen in mock combat with a werewolf from her own year as Griffin watched approvingly. Her opponent managed to pin her down but not without a considerable fight put up by Hannah. Naturally, werewolves were the stronger breed. However, sometimes Hannah was able to pin her opponent. Today was not one of those days. From her position on the ground, Hannah looked up at the array of colors dancing across the morning sky as dawn broke.

“Your head's not in it today.” Griffin spoke up as Hannah stood. She wore a black tank top and black tights to promote agility and speed. Her braid was coming undone. Shrugging her shoulders, she took a sip from her water bottle.

Unknown to many of the werewolves on the training grounds, a wizard stealthily watched from the bleachers. He watched Hannah as she grabbed a stick to use in mock combat. Her muscles were more defined than that of a normal witch. Female werewolves were lean and muscular with a hard feel to their body. This wizard would know. He couldn’t help but appreciate the sinewy look and slight definition of muscles along her arms and legs, recalling the pliant feel of her. She was so soft. Shaking himself from such forbidden thoughts, the wizard reached out towards where Hannah’s bag lay half open. He took out her cellphone, opening a small panel on the side of her cellphone, looking at the device attached inside the simcard slot which emitted information to his memory chip. He took the micro-device out. Quickly returning the phone to its rightful place, he spared one last appreciative glance towards the red-head. Her chest was rapidly moving up and down as she exerted all her strength against her opponent.

The wizard looked at her forlornly before beginning to walk back across the grounds to where he had been out for his morning run. It was pertinent to mention that before he resumed his jog, he crushed the device under his trainers with a satisfying crunch.

***

Hannah's POV

“What’s wrong sunshine?” Dad asked me as I simply swirled the contents of my cup.

After dad had finished interviewing Dr. James for his article, he had gotten permission to take Griffin and I off campus for coffee. Griffin had been talking nonstop about his classes, my classes, his near perfect grades…my deplorable grades…

 I just sat there mutely the entire time which Dad finally picked up on.

“Nothing's wrong Dad." I assured him. “I'm just a little tired today. I've been training with Griffin and the other wolves.”

That got my dad's attention. He leveled a harsh stare towards my brother. “Training with werewolves is dangerous Griffin. You posses a super-human strength that witches and wizards can't even begin to match. She could get hurt. I'm surprised the Head Trainer allowed it!"

Griffin squirmed under my dads gaze. He hadn’t expected to be on the receiving end of Dad's displeasure.

I cut in quickly before things got out of hand. “ Rafe’ and Griffin lobbied to get permission for a witch to train with them but the Head Trainer said that he wasn’t responsible for me. Griffin promised him that he would take care of me.”

“Usually it's either Rafe' or I who spar with her. Usually It's me because Rafe' is pretty strong being a purebred Alpha. I make sure to only pair her with the weaker wolves in mock combat.” Griffin finally spoke up assuredly. He glanced at me, thanking me for the quick save.

Dad's furrowed brows didn’t ease up however as he turned to look at me assessingly and then switched back to Griffin.

“Before, you wanted her out of your hair. When she’d follow you boys into the woods out back, you’d complain to your mother. All she ever wanted to do was be ‘one of the boys’. All you ever wanted was for her to go away. What changed?” He leaned back to assess my brother.

For a miniscule minute, I considered telling Dad exactly what had changed. Joseph. He had entered my life like whirlwind and turned the dynamics completely upside down.

“I decided I didn’t want my sister to feel left out.” Griffin grinned slinging his arm over my shoulders. “Moreover I wanted her to learn how to defend herself properly. The world is changing dad. We all need to be prepared. You know that as well as I." he said on a serious note.

Semi-satisfied with Griffin's answer, Dad shot me a speculative look. He then looked back at Griffin.

"I know you believe in the Council son, and whatever propaganda they feed you, but when it comes down to it, you’re only picking between two evils."

"The Council is the lesser evil.” Griffin stated firmly.

With that, my father dropped the topic. They had had enough arguments over this issue before. It didn’t do to have another one out in public.

I quickly switched to a lighter topic, inquiring after Mom. Dads eyes brightened at the mention of her name and the rest of our time together passed without a hitch. 

*****

I trudged along the hallway towards magical theory class. It had been two days since Joseph’s rejection and I really didn’t want to see him. Unfortunately, today that was unavoidable. I stopped a few feet from our class entrance watching Joseph standing there talking to Laura, laughing with her as she threw her blonde hair behind her shoulders. Suddenly, he stopped to look at me as if sensing my gaze on him. Quickly, he grabbed Laura by the elbow, taking a turn so that they were no longer visible.

Great, now he was avoiding me. With a heavy sigh, I walked into class. Someone tapped me on the shoulder as I sat down. Turning, I saw it was Tim, a jr. wizard like me. His sandy brown hair falling around his shoulders along with the scruff on his beard gave him a ‘hipster’ vibe that many girls swooned over.

“Are you going to Vigo’s party on Halloween?” he asked excitedly. He handed me a small flyer.

With a start, I realized Halloween was only a few weeks away. My birthday. I definitely didn’t want to go to another vampire rave again, especially on my birthday. I shrugged my shoulders nonchalantly, taking the flyer and putting it in my bag. He must be helping Vigo organize it or something. Leaning back against his chair and balancing it on its hindlegs, he began talking again. “It’s going to be big. He promised lots of booze.”

“We all know you’re only going for Alicia.” I teased. Yes, his girlfriend was a vampire. It wasn’t unheard of for wizards to be with vampires. It was usually werewolves that strictly stuck to their own kind. That too because most of them had mates. In the event someone’s mate died or they didn’t meet their mate, werewolves preferred the magical community over the undead. Werewolves were immune to the high one could get from a vampire bite and couldn’t stand the smell of the undead. Furthermore, a werewolf’s bite was lethal for any vampire. The two factions just barely got along. This was one of the things the Institute worked to eradicate. Dr. James was a staunch advocate for the cause of ending racism amongst the factions, which I appreciated. One of the main objectives of our Institute was to eradicate the racism between these two factions and foster peace among them. And above these two factions stood the magical community. We thought we were better than everyone else because of our abilities. A bunch of misogynistic crap if you asked me.

“So will you go with me?” Krystal’s voice cut into my trail of thought.

“Huh? Sorry, what?” I asked. I hadn’t realized she had joined into the conversation and had been teasing Tim about the lengths he would go to to impress his girlfriend.

“Would you be my date?” She prompted.

“Oh! Um…” a little flustered, I wondered why Krystal would suddenly ask me. “Hey… you’re really nice and all but I don’t want to give you the wrong idea. I-I’m not…. I’m not interested in girls.”

Karen looked a little surprised and shot a glance towards the entrance of our classroom where Joseph was walking in to take his seat in a corner of our classroom where his desk had been set up to grade papers. Laura stood there and when she spotted Krystal she gave her wave. Krystal shook her head motioning towards me. She looked angry at Laura. Her gaze slid towards me in a smirk. Understanding dawned on me. The little jealous tripe. She probably gave Krystal some trumped up story about how I was crushing on her or something.

I made to get up, wanting to give this barbie a piece of my mind. That must have been so embarrassing for Krystal! A pair of hands belonging to Tim suddenly landed on my shoulders forcing me back down.

“Don’t do it.” He advised. “She’s not worth it. What a d**k move on her part though. Krystal’s so embarrassed!”

We all knew Krystal had just come out as lesbian and I  knew it must have taken her a lot of courage to even ask me. Laura was so mean! I caste a glance towards Joseph who was watching Tim holding me down. He looked angry for some reason. I whipped my head towards the front of the class as our teacher walked in. I definitely didn’t want anything to do with Joseph so I kept my head down to detract as much attention form myself as I could. As class ended, I rushed to leave the classroom. Tim walked with me and started asking me again if I would be at the party.

“I’ll think about it.” I murmured, trying my best to put as much distance between Joseph and myself.

“Hannah.” A steely voice clipped just as we reached the exit. I turned to look at Joseph angrily. He was holding up a paper in his hand. “We need to talk about this assignment of yours.”

Fuming, I glanced at Mr. Warren who nodded encouragingly. Probably happy that Joseph was trying to help me. Oh if only he knew that the only thing Joseph wanted to do was embarrass me. Tim began to walk out and Mr. Warren followed him. Looking exasperatedly at Joseph, I waited. He was probably going to make fun of me now.

“Forgotten about me already?” he teased lightheartedly. My eyebrows snapped together in confusion. “I heard you decided to swing for a different team only to see you cozying up to Tim, who by the way looks absolutely awful with that head of unkempt hair.”

I just remained silent, wondering where he was going with all of this. I really didn’t want to speak to him right now. He sighed realizing that I was not responding to his jokes.

“Hannah—“ he began as if to explain himself.

“Don’t.” I simply said holding up a hand to silence him. “Just don’t try to make me feel better Joe. I get it. I’m not as attractive or experienced as the girls you like to be with. I get it. I don’t need you to keep explaining my complete incompetence.”

“You think I don’t want to be with you because of that?” he asked perplexed.

I shrugged nonchalantly. “It’s the truth isn’t it? I know I’m not pretty or sexy and I probably can’t give you what you want anyway.”

The ass, the totally completely inconsiderate ass began to laugh at me. I looked at him, my ire mounting steadily.

“Go ahead and laugh at the ugly virgin.” I said and of their own volition, tears began to fill my eyes. Frustrated at my inability to control my emotions, I quickly turned to leave. He was in front of me almost instantaneously, trying to stop my departure.

“Hannah.” He said harshly. “If only you knew how wrong you were. You i***t. It’s because I like you too much that I’m trying to keep my distance!” I looked up at him taken aback by this proclamation. He shook his head in disgust. “Who told you you were ugly? Do you want to feel how much you turn me on?” he threatened.

A little bewildered, I stared at him as hope soared in my chest.

“I’m not good for you.” He implored. “But Hannah… If I could, I’d have you on that table over there, with your skirt hiked up to your thighs kissing you senseless.” My heart soared at his statement. I took a step closer to him but he took a step back. “I can’t. I’m involved in some seriously dark stuff. We can’t… I can’t let you get wrapped up in any of it. You think you know me but you don’t. I’m doing what’s best for you.” he warned.  

“I don’t want what’s best for me.” I challenged, moving forward again. I wanted him. “I want to be with you.” I said. I stepped forward again. He took a step back and hit the wall.

He looked at me for an agonizing minute before I took the initiative and crashed my lips against his. It was exactly like last time. Fast, aggressive and urgent. It was like I was water and he was just emerging from the Sahara. He gripped me so tightly I dazedly wondered if I would have to cover the bruises on my arms. It was like he was afraid I’d disappear.

 When he pulled  back, he groaned. “No matter how much I tell myself to stay away, my body Hannah… it doesn’t listen.” He moved to push me away. I stood my ground.

“I want to be with you.” I said again.

Joseph looked at me for a minute before shaking his head no. “Hannah, I’m treading dangerous waters right now. I don’t want anyone using you to get to me. I can’t tell you everything but what I can tell you is that you could get hurt.” He ended.

So it was true. He was in-line with the League. That was not the most startling fact to me. The most startling fact was that I still liked him. The knowledge that he was involved in a supremacist organization did nothing to curb the appeal I felt for him. Tamping down on my self-disgust for still liking him, I clutched him tighter, the soft material of his shirt clumping in my hands.

“We don’t tell anyone.” I replied, leaning into him. He allowed his hands to graze my back up and down absentmindedly. Butterflies erupted in my stomach. “But you have to leave Laura.” I ground out.

He laughed at that.

“She’s not my girlfriend, don’t make me repeat this every time!”

“Then stop sleeping with her!” I said hotly.

“I haven’t slept with her.” Joseph chuckled. I looked at him disbelievingly. “Recently.” He amended with a defeated incline of his head. I still looked at him skeptically. “Why else did you think she started that rumor about you?” he inquired. “She was jealous. She saw me staring at you a few times… she caught me looking at some of your pictures in your phone too.”

I looked at him a little shyly before standing on my tiptoes to give him another kiss. This one wasn’t as rushed. It was slow and sweet as we savored the feel of each other. Everything with Joseph was so intense, his sweet slow kisses were drugging.

He picked me up and without breaking contact, sat me on one of the desks. His hands pressed into my skin as they roamed upwards, bunching my skirt above my thighs like he’d threatened too. Then his hands moved even further up to start unbuttoning my shirt. I pulled back immediately, instinctively, breaking the kiss. He grinned at me in understanding, letting his fingers fall away from the task.

 “I need to stay away from you.” Joseph admitted, holding his hands up defeatedly. “But my body isn’t exactly listening to me.” He let his eyes linger at the skin exposed from unbuttoning the first few buttons. Looking up at my eyes, he looked at me seriously. “I don’t want to corrupt you.”

I laughed at his admission. “But I want to be corrupted.” I replied a little mischievously, jumping down from the desk.

“Hannah.” He said warningly. “We can’t let this happen again.” Adjusting the straps of his messenger bag on his shoulders, he watched me begin walking out. I knew he was going to wait for me to leave first.

Waving off his comment, I smirked at him. Now that I knew he liked me too, I wasn’t going to let him get away so easily. Call me aggressive but I was not going to let up. I know a lot of girls wanted to be pursued by a guy but here I was turning the tables on age old anti-feminist notions that girls should not go after the guy they like.

“What are you doing for your birthday?” Joseph asked as I began to walk out of the classroom.

“Maybe going to a rave.” I teased. “With Krystal.” I added for good measure.

“That’s actually kind of hot.” Joseph admitted. “Can I join you girls? Except, let’s skip the rave and get to the good stuff.”

I rolled my eyes at his typically male reply.

“I’ll see you tonight Joe.” I called behind me. “Same place and time. You can help me fix that paper you were just now ‘talking’ to me about.”

I could hear his laughter from the hallway as I walked towards the cafeteria.

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