Beauty and the Beasts

Jealousy

Jasmine immediately moved away from Andrew, her eyes wide. "Zane. I..I mean, Sir. You are here."

Zane's eyes raised up to Andrew, who was now standing one step behind Jasmine, his eyes thin, and a little sinister.

"What are you doing?" Zane asked again, forgetting his teacher persona for a minute.

She swallowed hard. "Uhmm...Andrew was hurt last night and..."

He didn't wait to finish hearing it, before he walked to her, grabbing her hand. She gave a small yelp as one hand came over the towel.

"Zane, it was..."

"How are you comfortable with that guy, the both of you alone in here? Look at what you are wearing!"

Jasmine swallowed, fully aware of Zane's point. She was on a towel, and Andrew was capable of anything. At least, from what she had seen.

But he didn't. That was what mattered. He had done nothing.

"He didn't do anything."

"How does it matter? Are you waiting for him to? You are coming with me."

Suddenly, Andrew held on to her other hand, stopping Zane from pulling her away.

"How is it any different? You are about to pull her out of her house in only a towel. I wonder what the school would think if they heard this."

"You should worry about yourself, Andrew. You are practically a murderer right now."

"Zane, he didn't do it and he is a really nice..."

"Shut up, Jasmine!" He yelled, letting go of her hand, his eyes wide. If he still had his wolf with the sort of anger he felt, he was sure he would have grown fangs already.

"Zane..."

"What are you? Naive or blind? How can you not see that he is dangerous? What is he playing on you? The pity card? How protective is a friend that he would willingly beat up a guy and then kill him..."

"I told you he didn't do it!"

"I said, shut up, Jasmine! It disgusts me to see you so naive, so shut up!"

She swallowed, tears streaming down her cheeks now, her teeth slightly gritting. Zane sighed, trying hard to tame his anger.

"All I want is the best for you. And that is certainly not this guy, alone with you, while you are on a towel. Even if you were fully dressed, even if you both weren't alone."

She swallowed, turning to him. "You are not my dad."

"And I am not trying to be."

Her lips pursed, and without a word, she ran into the only room in the house, locking herself behind the door. She went straight to bed, her eyes closing as tears streamed down her face, pangs of both guilt and hurt making their way through her chest.

Zane turned to Andrew, his glare menacing. "Get out."

Andrew gave a small smile. "I have always wanted to see how long she takes to forgive someone. You see, I intend to offend her quite a lot of times. Hope you find out for both of us."

Zane tried to keep his anger in check, or he could already see himself mauling Andrew, tearing him apart and using his blood to paint the walls.

He watched as the other left, his anger immediately deflating. Slowly, he walked to the room, his steps slow.

"Jasmine?"

She didn't reply, and he sighed. "I am sorry. I will see you in school."

She listened as his footsteps faded away, and once again, she was alone in the home.

Jasmine sat in the cab, her head resting on the window, her eyes closed. She had almost bailed out on school, since for sure she would be seeing both Zane and Andrew, and those were people she didn't even want to deal with now.

She understood Zane was only looking out for her, but she didn't think he had the right to be that angry. After all, he was simply her teacher, nothing more. She hadn't even started walking for him yet.

She swallowed, then gave a small sigh. And to think she had been in such a good mood. The whole thing would have looked weird, after all, she was in a towel, Andrew's hands wrapped around her. Yes, definitely weird, but she wasn't that kind of person to Zane.

He probably saw her as a little girl who didn't know how to protect herself from big bad wolves, and he was just being protective of a stray girl with no parents.

The thought hurt more than when he had yelled at her.

She sighed, as the cab stopped, and with draggy feet and reluctance in her steps, she made it to school. She kept her head down all day, happy that Andrew hadn't come after all.

Zane came to class twice, and each one, she snuck glances at him, to check if he would look at her.

He had only once, and she had held his gaze, something passing between them. But it only lasted a fleeting moment, because he immediately turned away, adjusting his glasses.

She sighed, wishing for school to be over already. For some annoying reason, it seemed to only drag on and on, until she thought she would go insane.

Finally, the day was over, and she packed her bags. She contemplated waiting for her birthday tomorrow to go look for a job. After all, she didn't think she could handle being in the same space with Zane any longer.

She walked out of the hallways. Most of the students had already dispersed, a few staying back for practice or just for the sake of it.

She started to walk away, when she saw Zane standing in front of his car, his arms crossed. His shirt was open again, and she could see his tattoo, the tops of his chest, the skin underneath.

His hair fell to one side, the clear reading glasses sitting on his nose making him look like the sort of professors that had you sinning for them.

And she would sin for him.

She swallowed then started to turn away from him.

"Jasmine. Don't be stubborn."

She turned. "What? You don't think I am able to take care of myself?"

His eyes squinted. "Maybe you should have seen that in 3D."

She gave an exasperated sigh. "I understand how it looked, and that is fine, but, what is it to yiu? You and I do not have the sort of relationship that would make you be jealous or worried about stuff like that. I am going to be a full adult tomorrow, I certainly don't need you babysitting me."

His eyes darkened a little, and he let out a small sigh, before he moved, then opened the driver's door.

"Get in the car, Jasmine."

Without another word, he entered the car, waiting behind the wheel. Against her will, her feet started to move, and she slowly covered the distance, then got into the passenger seat.

He didn't say a word, before he drove out of the school garage.