An Untiled Tragedy [Part 1] Introducing

Damien Reeves sat with his body crouched over his desk, feverishly working on a sudoku puzzle. The process of elimination; that’s all there was to it. Playing the role of the classic ‘new kid in school’, he took a seat at the back of the class. He made an effort to look busy, distracted, so that people wouldn’t bother him. He wasn’t the type for awkward introduction. His frustrated gaze was ripped from the page as a familiar figure appeared in the doorway. He had seen her around the hallways earlier that day. A girl with hair that was a shade that almost matched his own, but slightly lighter. She had a slim figure, not scary slim, though. Natural. He was sure that if he took the effort to look around, he would find that his eyes were not the only ones fixed on the girl who was now walking towards a desk that was two rows in front of where Damien sat. She wasn’t smiling; instead, she looked just as irritated as he felt. He stood up and leaned over behind her, poking his head over her shoulder.
“You okay?” he asked, casually. She started and turned her body towards him.
“Um, yeah,” she stuttered a response, looking slightly annoyed. She added, “thanks,” and turned back to sort out her books.
“I’m Damien,” he said, sliding his body over the desk smoothly and taking the seat next to her.
“Helena,” she replied, not bothering to look up.
“Nice name,” he smirked. This time, she looked up and opened her mouth to say something, but the words caught in her throat when her eyes met his. The dark waves of ebony hair fell over his piercing blue eyes as he held her gaze. Her eyes were hazel – more gold than brown. This time, she smiled slightly, thanking him for the compliment.
“Are you new here?” she asked, scrutinizing his appearance. He answered with a nod just as the teacher walked in. Damien stood up and walked back to his desk. Helena’s eyes followed him as he stood, wondering if he would come back to sit beside her, but he didn’t.
“Hello class, I’d just like to start off by saying how thrilled I am to be teaching you lovely bunch this year,” from his voice, it was apparent that he meant the complete opposite. Sarcasm and dullness dripped from his voice as he went on, explaining the curriculum to the apathetic class. Helena found herself struggling to listen to the lecture, as she found that her mind kept dazing back to his blazing eyes. She dared a glance over her shoulder. Her eyes met with his and she spun her head back around, flushing. She clicked at her pen and began scrawling gibberish in her open notebook, desperate to concentrate on something else. Despite her wild attempts, she felt his eyes bore into the back of her head. She looked around the classroom. This was her only class that she had where she knew none of the other students, and that made her shuffle in her seat uncomfortably.
Her notepaper was almost completely covered with deep indentations left from the pen, which she clutched tightly, by the end of class. She glanced up just as the mysterious boy was walking past her, blushing again as he winked and murmured “see you around”. Feeling the blush creep back onto her face, she gathered her books and made her way sluggishly out of class. There was a girl waiting for her by her locker. She wore her shoulder length golden blond hair curly today, Helena noticed.
“Uh oh, I know that look. What’s up?” Laura asked, leaning against the locker next to Helena’s.
“It’s nothing… just a guy in History,” she said, frowning. Laura persisted her to go on. “His name is Damien,” she muttered, “he has lovely eyes.” Her lack of knowledge seemed to disappoint her friend as much as it did herself.
“Would I know him?” Her ivory face puckered in curiosity, looking around the halls as if she would know him from sight. Helena shook her head.
“He’s a new student, that’s all he told me,” she attempted to cover up the disappointment, but failed. Laura grinned and closed Helena’s locker for her, and together they walked towards the cafeteria.

  

Damien walked into the cafeteria, not sure if he really wanted to be there or not. He hated the feeling of having practically everyone staring at him. He could hear them whispering to each other.
“Damien right?” said a voice behind him, making him look over his shoulder. A girl was standing there and behind her, not too far off, a large pack of girls huddled and giggled, watching them.
“Yep,” he said cautiously, coming to a stop and raising his eyebrow.
“I’m Kenzie,” she said, looking down at her shoes, blushing. “I just noticed that I hadn’t seen you around school before, so I figured you were a new student…” she trailed off looking up at him.
“Yeah, I am,” he said, running a hand through his dark hair. Her smile brightened.
“Would you like to come sit with my friends and I during lunch?” she asked, expectantly. He took another look at the girls behind her and cringed.
“No thanks,” he said, turning and walking away, leaving the girl with a mortified look on her face. He was looking for one person in particular, and after a few moments of peering around the crowded room, he found her sitting huddled closely with another girl, peering around suspiciously. He walked down and sat next to her, smiling.
“Is that him?” asked Laura casually, propping her head up with her hands, pointing at the boy sitting across from her. Helena could feel her face grow hot. She kicked Laura from under the table, making her bite down on her lip to keep from exclaiming in pain.
“Who?” Helena asked innocently. She saw Damien smirk out of the corner of her eye. Laura seemed to catch the glance.
“Uhh… oh look who it is!” she exclaimed with unnecessary enthusiasm. Another girl came and sat down next to Laura, shrugging her bag off her shoulders. She never went anywhere without it.
“I can tell that this is going to be the longest school year ever,” she mumbled, looking up. She stared dumbly at Damien, having noticing him for the first time. She looked to Helena and Laura for some sort of reassurance in their eyes, but they looked just as bewildered as she did.
“Hi, I’m Damien Reeves. New to this school,” he smiled, momentarily dazzling the girl.
“I’m Catherine,” she said, shooting Helena looks that said who is he?!
“Damien is in my history class,” she explained, “we spoke… briefly…” she trailed off, feeling a blush creep to her face. Catherine nodded, smiling.
“How do you like it here, Damien?” she exaggerated his name, pulling an apple out of her bag and taking a bite.
“Well… I only just got here on the weekend,” he said, shrugging, “I haven’t really adjusted yet.”
“Did you come from a small town?”
“No, the opposite, actually.”
“Oh, then this must be a big difference for you,”
Helena and Laura exchanged amused glances.
“Yeah, it really is,” he said with a laugh.
“Maybe Helena can show you around,” she said deviously; Laura giggled. Damien smiled at the thought of the idea and looked at Helena, who was staring daggers at her two so called ‘friends’.
“That would be great, if you could,” he said to the girl.
“I don’t know…” she responded coolly, “I’m kind of busy this week.”
A flash of disappointment and irritation crossed over Damien’s face and he pursed his lips.
“Fair enough… maybe some other time then,” he said, looking down at his untouched tray of food.
Laura and Caroline shared a knowing glance and pushed away from the table.
“We have to go get our stuff for next period,” said Laura, skipping away with a wink. Helena felt herself blush again and let her gaze fall back to Damien who was now staring at her with bright eyes.
“So…” she murmured awkwardly.
“So, Helena, are you single?” he asked casually. The question caught her off guard.
“Er… no, I’m not, actually,” she replied hesitantly. She saw his smile thin out and was suddenly aware of all the people in the cafeteria who were staring at them with great interest and suddenly felt self-conscious. “I should go get my books,” she mumbled, standing up with her also-untouched tray in hand. He didn’t reply. Without another word, she walked away from him. Something about his pained stare almost made her feel contrite towards him.