Isla’s mouth dropped open in utter disbelief, watching as Joyce seated herself on the furthest corner of the classroom, a good distance away from the two of them.
“Well, there goes my faith in humanity!” Isla scoffed, flipping her platinum blonde hair over her shoulder. She set her face into a stony expression, facing forward and not acknowledging Asa as he lowered himself into the vacant chair next to her.
“I wanted to apologise,” he said.
“By scaring my friend away?”
“Come on, Isla. We both know she was no friend. You definitely forced the poor thing to sit next to you.”
She snapped her head to the side, glaring at him with such venom in her eyes. “Is this your version of apologising?”
He grinned and threw an arm over her shoulders, pulling her head towards him and rubbing his knuckles against the top of her head.
“Let go of me. Ugh! Let me go, you asshole!” she growled, slapping at his arms and shoving him away with as much force as she could muster.
“What’re the magic words?” he teased in a singsong voice.
“Your bloody eyes,” she snapped, “once I’ve clawed them out!”
He clicked his tongue, messing her hair up further. “Wrong answer, chica.”
“Do not chica me you filthy pig, I will castrate you and—”
“Settle down, class,” the teacher’s voice boomed as he walked in, ten minutes late. “That goes for you guys too, Mr. San Román and Miss Martin. You wanna have a wrestling match, hit the gym after school.”
A few students snickered, but Asa only rolled his eyes good-naturedly and let go of Isla.
“Asshole,” she hissed under her breath, fixing her hair and straightening all the stray strands, her long fingers slipping into the silvery mane.
Asa noticed it wasn’t the darkest shade of indigo. Or as endless as the midnight sky. He shook the weird thought off.
“That still doesn’t sound like you saying you forgive me,” he said, keeping his voice low so that the teacher wouldn’t hear them.
“Well, duh. ‘I forgive you’ and ‘asshole’ don’t sound alike at all.”
Asa sighed, losing the grin and turning serious. “I’m really sorry though.” He nudged her side slightly. “I shouldn’t have snapped. It’s just…It wasn’t mine, that journal. And I was scared something was going to happen to it. Sorry.”
She stared at him, searching his face for a few seconds before losing her rigid posture and sighing in defeat. “Yeah, whatever,” she mumbled. And then she nudged him back, a small smile on her face.
“Why did you have Carmen’s journal, though?” she asked, disregarding history period like she always did.
“Long story.” He grinned. Then turned serious again. “Wait. You know her?”
Isla nodded. “Carmen’s that girl everybody knows exists, you know? The girl that’s always just…there, I guess. She’s pretty nice.”
“Hmm.” Asa thought of the eyes that reminded him of the calm before the storm, and hair that blended with the midnight sky. He saw flashes of a cracked moon, a frozen sun, and wilted flowers.
And Asa knew. Finally, he knew what he needed to do.
15.
Blondes & Brunettes
“So…” Asa shifted on his feet as he waited for Isla to gather her things. History period was over, and it was lunch now. “You spending lunch with me….or?”
“Why does it sound like you’re wishing I be somewhere else instead?”
Asa rubbed the back of his neck, feeling uneasy. “I was just wondering.” He shrugged. “Because you usually skip lunch to go and entertain yourself with whoever catches your eye.”
Isla smirked. “Speaking of boy toys, I haven’t gotten any recently.”
Asa shot her a deadpan look. “Must be an existential crisis. My heart bleeds for you.”
“Shut up, Ace.” She laughed. “What’s up, really?”
“Well.” He paused. “There’s this new girl—”
“Not the bitch who gives me the stink eye?”
“Um, her name’s Willa?” he asked tentatively.
“Aye, that’s the one.” Isla groaned as they walked out of the classroom together. “What do you want with her now? If you ask me, I truly believe she’s got some big diabolical plan against platinum blondes with blue eyes. “
“Seriously, Isles?”
“Don’t you hear about serial killers and them having a type? You can never say these days.”
“I have heard that one actually.” Asa chuckled. “They kill people who have a strong resemblance to the actual target of their hatred.”
“I wonder what my look-a-like did to her,” Isla mused.
“Maybe you remind her of the person who killed her pet chihuahua.”
Isla snorted loudly before breaking into laughter, and Asa joined in just as they stepped into the cafeteria.
“I’d ask you to string her along and crush her judgmental little heart, but we both know you’re too much of a softie to do that.”
Asa glanced sideways at Isla and saw the semi-hopeful look in her eyes.
He shook his head. “You know I can’t do that.” He smiled, but his voice was firm. “I won’t.”
She rolled her eyes in response. “Figured as much,” she muttered darkly. “Just would love to see someone put her in her goddamn place.”
Asa merely shrugged, feeling that small knot of uneasiness in his gut whenever Isla got this way. As much as he adored her and valued their friendship, he found it hard to digest how ruthless she could sometimes be.
“Come on.” He tugged her towards the lunch queue just as he saw a flash of midnight hair leave the line and float towards a table.
Broken moon. Frozen sun. Dead flowers.
He cleared his throat, hoping it’d clear his head, too.
“The crowd’s gone,” he said, moving forward as if he didn’t want to stand there and keep looking at the girl with hair the darkest shade of indigo and wonder what it’d feel like to run his fingers through those silky locks.
“I’m buying, by the way,” he
