Imperfectly Yours: His Slave Series

Five

I hated school but, in this moment, as I sat at the kitchen island with a hot mug of hot chocolate in front of me, I simply realised that I hate school.

And no, it isn’t all the boring classes or the teachers shoving workloads of school homework and assignments down our throats that was the issue. It was Keith freaking Michaels. That son of a b***h was late… again and I had no idea why I was still waiting for him. I could have walked to school or used the public bus but no, I had decided to wait for him and now I was going to be late.

I sighed and looked at the time on my phone again, 7:20 and class started at 7:30. Ten more minutes and I would definitely be late, yeah me. Taking a sip of my hot chocolate, I contemplated just making a run for it but considering the school was a thirty-minute walk and a twenty-minute run from my house, I was royally screwed.

My phone vibrated on the table and I picked it up in a hurry hoping it was him telling me was outside but alas, it was Aliyah. I sighed and answered.

“Hey.”

“Where are you? Class is about to start soon and if you do not get here in the next eight minutes then are going to be tardy and then that will go on your permanent record.” She practically said that all in one breath and I could feel her start to panic. “We had all agreed that none of us was ever going to be late and surprisingly Kate hasn’t been late.”

There was some protest in the background and I knew that Kate was there. “I know but it isn’t like I wanted this. Blame it all on Keith freaking Michaels for making me late.”

Just as I said that, there was a loud honking coming from outside. I grabbed my bag and dashed outside where Keith was waiting on his motorcycle, helmet in hand while he leaned against it.

“Looks like my ride is here, I will fill you both in on everything,” and then I hang up.

I walked over to where he was stood and grabbed the helmet from his hands, there was no time to talk and tell him what a complete i***t he was making me run late because I needed him to get me there before the tardy bell. I hopped on and waited for me.

“Well, what are you waiting for? We don’t have all day you know,” I said with a huff.

Keith looked stunned for a split second and then he regained his composure. He nodded his head and hopped on and before long, we were pulling out of my driveway and zooming past my street.

We pulled in the school parking lot with just a minute to spare and I ran all the way into the school without even caring whether Keith was following or not. I was not going to be late and I was going to make sure of that.

Aliyah and Kate were waiting for me with batted breathes and when they saw me, Aliyah practically ran into me and pulled her into her arms before she grabbed my hand and started pulling me towards class. I looked over at Kate and she shrugged as she followed behind us.

                                                                                    *********

Kate pulled me back as we were making our way to the next class. It was by luck that I had actually made it to my first class and wasn’t late. “Come on, tell us. I have been dying to hear how yesterday and this morning went,” she said.

I looked at her and ignored her as I walked to join Aliyah. I wasn’t ready to talk about anything that related to Keith and it seemed Aliyah felt the same way.

“Come on, you can’t ignore me,” she yelled from behind.

Aliyah rolled her eyes and turned to me, “Just ignore her, she can pester you all she wants but just keep ignoring her,” she hooked her arm with me and smiled.

“I heard that Ali and don’t think for one second I will let this go,” Kate yelled from behind as Aliyah and I entered the biology lab.

Aliyah, Kate and I sat together and waited for Mr. Wallace who was hunched over some books at the front of the lab. He stood up just as Keith walked into the room and shot him a disapproving look while Kate nudged my arm. I rolled my eyes.

“Okay, so today’s lab isn’t going to be anything too difficult for you,” Mr. Wallace clapped his hands to get our attention.

I hated biology, I have no idea why but I did and one thing I was forever thankful for was the fact that it was Aliyah’s favourite subject and she was my lab which meant I could never fail Mr. Wallace’s class. It was a win-win actually because I was with my best friend and I wasn’t failing, my parents really ought to be proud of me.

“I hate it to be the one to break it you like this,” Mr. Wallace looked around everyone was confused. Aliyah and I shared a worried look. The man was known for his unconventional ways of teaching that many students didn’t like. “My lab assistant was supposed to have posted the new sitting arrangement yesterday but looks like he forgot.” Sitting arrangements? What the hell was this man talking about? He clasped his hands together and turned to look at each one of us before he continued. “All of you know your lab partners and you have been sitting together for so long but the school administration has brought it to my attention that you have to socialise and know each other.”

Everyone was groaning because we knew where this was going. Immanuel raised his hand and he was pointed, “Sir, but that isn’t fair. Why should we be made to socialise with people we don’t know and don’t want to know? Shouldn’t it be our choice and not yours?”

Kate rolled her eyes while Aliyah shook her head. The class erupted in murmurs because even though Immanuel was a pain in the arse, he did bring out a fairly good point.

Mr. Wallace sighed and wiped his face with his hand showing just how old he was. “Immanuel, that is a good question but if you want answers then please go and talk to the Principal,” he said coolly. “Every week you will be rotated and given a new lab partner until you have all been paired up, am I understood?”

I sighed and grabbed Aliyah’s hand under the table, I didn’t want to be separated from her and when she squeezed back my hand, I knew she felt the same way.

“Aliyah and Jay,” Mr. Wallace called and everything shattered around me. I could no longer hear what he was saying as I sat there and watched my best friend pick up her bag with a sunken face and head over to where Jay was sat.

He kept calling name after name and assigning them new lab partners but I couldn’t care less. I was already thinking of ways I could get him to let me switch and have Aliyah back.

“Kate and Summers,” he called and Kate popped her gum before she threw her bag over her shoulder and marched over to where Summers was. No one really knew what Summers’ first name was, all we knew was that he was Summers and that seemed to have stuck since 10th grade.

“And finally, we have Macy and,” Mr. Wallace looked down at the paper he was holding and gave me a sympathetic smile and I knew, I just knew who I was being paired with and all I could do was pray to whatever higher being was out there to just kill me know. “…Keith.”

I sighed and picked up my bag then quickly walked over to the back of the lab where Keith had his legs propped on the chair next to him showing off some really expensive Adidas’ shoes. His jacket was open with his shirt sleeves rolled up to the elbows while his hair was a complete mess as if he had been running his fingers through it one to many times.

Not wasting any time, I pushed off his feet and sat on the now empty seat. Eyes forward Mace, keep your eyes forward and don’t look at him no matter what otherwise you might just end up strangling him and getting expelled and imprisoned for life for committing a crime.

“Now that that is out of the way, let us start learning,” Mr. Wallace walked back to his station and pulled out of equipment as we as a specimen. “We are going to look at the internal structure of a frog today so I hope you all brought your wits with you. One by one you will come in front and collect your sample specimen.”

I groaned, I hated this, I hated every single thing about it and it wasn’t just the fact that I was stuck with the devil himself or the fact that he was looking at me intently. The first group went and took their specimen while the rest grabbed their lab coats and gear. Once I was fully in my lab gear, I figured Keith wasn’t going to be moving from the way he was comfortably stretched, I went to the frond and grabbed our specimen then came back.

I stopped for just a second and stared at him in surprise. Keith had his lab coat on as well as his gloves and goggles and I would be damned but the devil actually looked… attractive that I was so gobsmacked until he had to open his mouth and ruin the moment.

“Like what you see princess?” he asked with smirk.

I rolled my eyes and placed the dead frog on the table. “Hardly, I was just thanking the heavens for making you cover your ugly face, wouldn’t want the frog to wake up and hop away due to it,” I shot back and internally clapped myself for thinking quick on my feet.

“I’m sure if anyone is going to scare the frog o life, it’s you with your lame arse attempts at comebacks,” Keith said coolly then he leaned in, “But don’t worry, there’s a place for where little criminals belong and that isn’t operating on a dead frog.” His breath fanned my face and I felt chills run down my body.

There was something about being so close to him that was setting me off and not in a nice kind of way. I curled my hands into fists while taking a deep breath and reminding myself that I did not look good in orange, it was my least favourite colour while making a mental note to have a talk with Mr. Wallace after class to switch me. Heck, I was even comfortable working with Jay, anyone but the devil himself.

I smiled at him and turned to the front where Mr. Wallace was explaining what we had to do. He grabbed something, I have no idea what tool that was and explained how you need to be careful when cutting so that you don’t cut a major artery or something like that. I grabbed the first thing I thought looked like it.

“You want to use forceps to cut open a dead frog, really?” came Keith’s annoying voice.

I looked down and what I was holding and realised I didn’t grab what I thought I grabbed and I started panicking. I looked for the right now but I had no idea which one was the right now and I didn’t want to look like a fool in front of Keith. He was never going to let me live it down.

A sharp object was handed to me and I looked over at Keith, he had his hand outstretched with a blank face on. “Use this instead princess.”

I nodded my head and took the object from him then started cutting into the frog. Cutting wasn’t the problem, I was so used to doing this whenever I cooked fish that it came naturally to me.

“You seem to know what you are doing,” he said were too close to me. “Where did you learn to do that from?”

I shrugged in response as I finished cutting through the frog. “What next?” I looked up at him and he had an impressed look on his face. “What? You are way too close in my personal space.”

Keith pulled back from me only to move in way to close. His face was only a few inches from my face. “Why? Does me being this close to you make you uncomfortable?” his breath fanned my face.

My heart was beating way too fast and I could feel my throat getting dry. This was the first and I didn’t like it, I didn’t like how he was affecting me and he knew it that was why he was doing it, just to get under my skin.

“No snarky comeback?” he asked even way to close than he had been before. When did he get so close? Was I imagining things or did his eyes drop to my lips for just a split second?

“I…I,” I was stuttering, because of a freaking boy for crying out loud.

Keith pulled back and his breath was coming out heavy, “Got you princess. I now know your weakness.” Then he grabbed the thing from my hands and opened up the frog as if nothing had just happened. Well, technically nothing did happen and I mentally face-palmed face for even considering it.

The rest of the class went by with Keith making passes at me but also insulting me at the same time. However, the guy knew his biology and with me being hands on, we made a great team but I was never going to tell him that. I would rather die than have him know that he was great lab partner and he wasn’t dumb, in fact, he was actually smarter than me which gave me another reason to not like him. He had the looks, the money and now he had the brains, life really was that cruel as to give all that to one person.

I took off my lab coat along with everything and packed my bag, wanting nothing more than to be far away from Keith. I had enough of him for one day.

“Don’t forget we have lunch plan princess, same place, don’t be late,” Keith said as I joined Aliyah and Kate for the rest of my morning classes.

Life really hated me.

“Look at you living the life,” Kate said just as we walked out of the lab as she threw Keith one last glance. “You have to tell me everything. Like everything.”