Icy A

Chapter 9

“Somehow, you don't look surprised to see Andreas here,” Kelly observed in a forced calm tone, from where she sat at a vacant table, her head resting over her joined hands. Her eyes narrowed in suspicion at her best friend as she waited for a response.

“Because I knew?” Came Maria's sheepish answer.

Kelly allowed her time to put the tray on the table and sit down in front of her, before groaning an annoyed “Why didn't you tell me?”

“Well, Blake only told me this morning so…” she told her while waving at someone and inviting them over.

It was Felicity who came, soon followed by the devil himself. While the redhead sat next to her, Andreas sat next to Maria. Kelly was thankful for the distance, but she wasn't sure she was going to be comfortable anyways. Looking at her friend while they talked made it impossible for her not to see him after all.

“Sweet,” Kelly muttered, while picking at her food and wondering where Dan was.

“You look ill at ease,” Andreas observed in a blasé tone that was so beyond unnerving, Kelly couldn't even describe it.

She knew he was talking to her, and she didn't bother feigning ignorance.

“Can't you say uncomfortable like everybody?” She rolled her eyes before stubbornly looking away from his handsome face.

“You look uncomfortable,” he repeated in much the same tone.

“I only got myself a vampire stalker, what's there not to like?” She replied in a falsely sweet tone, her smile sardonic, her eyes narrowed.

He ignored her in favor of looking ahead of him, and she had to keep herself from throwing something at him. Being such an outgoing girl, Kelly had always had trouble dealing with introverted people. She found them hard to understand, and could not fathom why someone would rather keep quiet than explain their feelings. But then again, some matters could make even the boldest person shy. Andreas, however, was just closed off.

And that left her constantly confused and annoyed at the same time.

Then, just as she bit into her first forkful of lasagna, Jerry sat in the vacant chair next to her. And she realized right then that Andreas had not ignored her out of spite, but because he was looking at her basketball-crazed friend.

“Err, hey,” he greeted awkwardly, not unaffected by Andreas's blank stare.

A chorus of Hi's welcomed him to the table, but her vampire stalker only nodded curtly.

“You must be the scientist everyone's talking about,” Jerry began conversationally before biting into his food.

“Yeah.”

She sensed Jerry fidget in his chair a little bit, the atmosphere more than awkward.

Maria, being the sweet little thing she was, decided to explain, “He's a friend of Blake, so I invited him to sit with us.”

“A friend of Blake, huh?” He repeated, voice hollow, as he squared his shoulders for some reason.

Well, at least, I'm not the only one who doesn't like him, Kelly mused in triumph.

“I am a vampire. If that's what you're wondering, warlock,” Andreas stated matter-of-factly after a minute or so of silence.

Kelly's gaze snapped up at that, just in time to see Jerry's eyes widen in panic as they shifted to her face.

So Jerry, too, whom she had known for years, belonged to the darker world she only discovered a few days ago. “I know about the supernatural,” she reassured him, flashing him a small smile.

“I prefer Jerry,” their friend hissed then through gritted teeth in response to Andreas’ earlier statement.

“Hey, Mr. Patera,” the sultry greeting reached them before their whorish art teacher came into view, “wouldn't you rather sit with the staff?”

Kelly watched his face attentively, trying to read anything in it, but to no avail.

“I'm okay, thank you,” was Andreas’ dismissive reply.

“Surely sitting with the teachers is better though,” she attempted again, while her eyes shot daggers at Maria.

She had already tried to get into Blake's pants, in the short time he had taught French, and she had become nastier towards Maria ever since. And it looked like she blamed her for the Greek hunk's refusal as well.

“I'm okay.”

“He's family,” Felicity told her in a pleasant tone, a wry smile stretching her lips.

“You have family in Greece?” The teacher's eyebrows shot up incredulously.

“I'm full of surprises,” Felicity shrugged, her smile widening.

“Ah well, I'll leave you to catch up then,” she let out reluctantly before sauntering away.

“Bye, bye,” she waved at her.

The table exploded in laughter the moment she was far enough. Andreas, on the other hand, munched on his pizza the way he did everything – silently, calmly, emotionlessly.

“Hey, everyone.”

The moment the deep melodic voice reached Kelly's ears, she snapped her head to the side, relieved to see Dan at last.

“Hey, you,” she replied good-humoredly, “where've you been?”

“Chemistry,” he sighed, dropping into the chair next to Maria, the only empty one, “I made a mess. The teacher made me clean it.”

She giggled at that, “Serves you right, clumsy!”

He stuck out his tongue at her. “You know you love this clumsy.”

“I do,” she readily agreed, a smile tugging at her lips.

Looking at her friend, she found Maria's eyebrows slightly knitted, and her teeth worrying her lower lip. She looked like she wanted to say something, but for some reason she didn't, which wasn't like her.

Kelly frowned a bit at that before her gaze shifted briefly to Andreas. She found his face as expressionless as ever, his eyes as impassible as ever, but for some reason, he looked stiff.

Was it just her imagination?

A quick glance downwards, however, showed her his clenched fists, and proved her suspicions right.

Now, that's a first, she bit back her snarky comment at the last second, for she realized he must not like Dan very much at the moment.

The problem was she loved Dan.

“No funny business, Patera,” she muttered under her breath instead.

Andreas' gaze met hers for a total of three seconds before he averted it. He then excused himself from the table, and left the cafeteria.

Making him leave had not been her intention. She just didn't want him to do anything to her boyfriend. Surely, that wasn't too much to ask.