Angulus Humanaes

The next morning, as promised, Rhao was waiting in front of my house, just as he was yesterday. I sighed and trudged towards him. He took his shades of and smiled at me.



"Good morning, eyami."



I scowled at him. "What the hell does that even mean?"



He only blinked at me and grinned. "Maybe I\'ll tell you one day, but not now. Let\'s go; we still have to get you coffee and donuts."



My cheeks heated. "I don\'t need coffee and donuts, you don\'t have to."



"But I want to."



After a lot of arguing and, admittedly, pouting, I ended up with the damned coffee and donuts. Again. No fucking backbone. When Frederick saw me walking towards my locker, he shook his head with a soft laugh. I glared grumpily at him.



"What?"



"I thought you were mad at Rhao. How\'d he get you this time?"



"He didn\'t \'get me\' and…" I sighed heavily, recalling that scary ghoul thing or whatever. "It\'s a long and complicated story."



He snorted. "Everything for you is long and complicated."



"I hate my life." I leaned against my locker and let my head thump back on the hard metal.



…Ow



Visara walked past and gave me the stank eye. I wasn\'t in the mood for her random hatred towards me and so I glared at her back with a low growl. Surprised flitted in her gaze for a moment before she blinked it away and whirled off down the hall. Frederick whistled low.



"Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning."



"No." My voice was raspier than usual, so much so that even I was able to tell. "I woke up on the right side of the bed. Just got out of the wrong car."



"Ah." He nodded understandingly. He couldn\'t possibly understand what I was going through. "So…has he coughed up his little secret yet?"



I shook my head. "I think he tried to, yesterday, but something came up. It was weird, \'cause I felt…I dunno, like I really wanted him to tell me. And then I got so mad when he got that call. I\'m really confused right now and I don\'t think I can trust my own emotions anymore."



He put a hand on my shoulder. "Relax before you work yourself into a fit. It\'s okay that you\'re having mixed emotions. If you\'re really concerned about how you\'re feeling, talk to him about it. Maybe that\'ll entice him to tell you."



"Yeah, yeah." I shoved off my locker as the bell rung. "I just hope you\'re right about this whole thing, because I don\'t want to look like a fucking idiot."



~oOo~



Before I knew it, a week had passed since the Angulus Humanaes came to my school. Mom still wasn\'t talking to me, and it didn\'t help that Rhao still came and picked me up every single fucking day. She flipped a lid when she saw him the first time, leaning against his bright red Porsche, forbidding me from being near him. As if her words alone would stop Rhao.



Speaking of said AH, Rhao\'s been a bit distant lately. Not that it bothered me, but he seemed really distracted. Yeah, every morning he picked me up, got me donuts and coffee, and took me to school, but he would be quiet the entire ride. At school, he would absently kiss my cheek, always doing it so fast that I hardly ever noticed until he already did it, and then leave before I even got out the car. During school, he didn\'t try to harass me, even at his favorite time of the day—lunch.



In fact, he pretty much spent most of his time with Visara, who still glared at me whenever she saw me. Afterschool, Rhao would already be at his car, more often than not talking to Visara as he waited for me. Then it would be anther quiet ride home, and then he would again kiss me on the cheek before driving off.



He wasn\'t the only one acting different, however. Rick. My best friend since we were embryos, has been hanging out with Hunen more often than me. I don\'t want to say he\'s been avoiding me, but…it was close enough. He only spoke to me if only I initiated the conversation first. Otherwise, he was with Hunen.



Frederick had two stalkers. Beni and Eoin—lo and behold, those two were distantly related—had begun to follow him around a few days ago. He said that it didn\'t bother him that much, as long as they didn\'t interrupt his studying. I could tell, though, that it was beginning to annoy him a little. The freaky thing was, I knew it was because they wouldn\'t come up and talk to him, not because they were following him everywhere. Freddie was also pretty pissed off at Rick. More than normal anyway. Apparently, he also noticed how my supposed best friend was acting.



At the moment, Tiffany was having one of her hissy fits and ignoring me. That probably bothered me the least, if at all. I finally had some peace and quiet without her jabbering away in my ear. Except…there was one thing...She keeps sending me these weird, smug looks, as if she knew something I didn\'t and it would ultimately be something bad for me. But knowing Tiffany, that could be anything.



And I officially hate Mondays now. Before, they were just annoying. Now, I want to kill whoever came up with the day.



For starters, I woke up late, so not only did I not get any breakfast—dammit, Mom, you could\'ve left me something—but I had to rush to get ready before Rhao arrived. Which proved to be futile when ten minutes after his usual time I found myself running down the street so that I wouldn\'t be late.



I was late anyway. And I had afterschool detention.



Rhao wasn\'t there at first or second, and I didn\'t see him until lunch. He looked like crap, so I decided not to give him a hard time for not picking me up. Then I sulked when I realized how fucking dependent I became on him.



Why the fuck didn\'t I just drive my own car?



Because you\'ve gotten so used to Rhao that you forgot you even owned a car.



Shut up, stupid inner voice. So not in the mood for your shit talk.



Just saying…



Well, don\'t.



Then I noticed Visara hanging off of Rhao\'s arm and my anger flared. I didn\'t know why I was getting so angry, but I was. Why did he spend all that time harassing me just to go gallivanting off with someone else? Wait…was it because I kept pushing him away?



W-well good. That\'s exactly what I wanted…Right?



Uh, obviously not…



SHUT UP!



"Hey!" I glanced to see Frederick leaning over his desk, staring intently at me. We were currently in seventh period. "What\'s the matter with you?"



"I\'m fine."



"Excuse me." Oops. I was too loud. I looked up sheepishly at the front of the class.



"Yes, Mr. Whittier?"



"Is there something you have to say about my lesson?"



"No sir."



"Then I suggest you shut up."



"Yes sir."



Asshole. I glanced back at Frederick and shook my head slowly. His jaw clenched, his eyes clearly showing concern, but he dropped the subject.



At the end of class, I slowly trudged my way to Ms. Belle\'s class. When she saw me, she put her hands on her hips and gave me a stern look.



"Now, Brandon, I know you are a good student. I didn\'t want to give you detention, but you know the rules. I couldn\'t be lenient on you in front of the others."



"I understand, Ms. Belle."



Her face softened. "Good. Now, just stay for the hour, okay? I won\'t force you to do your homework; you can do as you like as long as you don\'t leave the classroom. Just turn off your phone, okay? Rules." She rolled her eyes. "I have a meeting to attend to, so I will lock the door. I\'ll let you out when your hour\'s up."



"Okay."



She smiled at me. "Okay. Be good."



With that, she swept from the room. A moment later, I heard the lock click in place.



I went to my seat and slouched down. For five minutes straight, I stared at the wall across from me. My mind was a jumbled up mess. I just didn\'t know what to do. In the end, I took out my homework. Might as well do it while I\'m here. God knows I won\'t do it when I get home, not with the bad day I\'ve been having.



It took my only half an hour to finish, leaving me twenty five minutes to figure out what the hell to do. A loud knocking drew my attention to the window. Freddie stood there with a large grin. He held up a sign.



Less than 30, man, u cn pull thru. I wait for u. eat ltr. Ok?



I grinned and gave him a thumps up. His smile widened and he returned it before running off. That weirdo. He was such an awesome friend. Hmm…made me think about how good of a friend Rick was. As of the late, he\'s been doing pretty bad. I wish he would just tell me what was up. Maybe I could help him, and we could go back to our old relationship.



There was another knock on the window, and I turned my head. Then my eyes widened. It was Rhao, staring at me with his head tilted to the side. His brow furrowed when our eyes locked and he began to mouth words.



\'Brandon? What are you doing in there?\'



My eyes narrowed and I looked away. As if he really cared. Pssh. It was his fault I was in here in the first damn place. He could leave for all I cared.



"Brandon."



I jumped out of my chair as he suddenly appeared in front of me. His eyes were narrowed with anger, but he made no move towards me. I glared at him.



"What are you doing? You\'re not supposed to be in here." My eyes narrowed. "How did you get in here anyway?"



He stepped towards me. "Brandon, what is this? Why are you locked in this room?"



"It\'s called detention, Rhao. That happened when you break the school rules."



"Break the rules?" His head tilted to the side. "What rule did you break, Brandon?



I looked away and swallowed. "I was late."



Silence. When I peeked at him, his face was unreadable. He stared hard at me, expression blank. My cheeks heated, and I looked away. Bad decision, because I couldn\'t hold back the very unmanly squeal that came out my mouth when I was suddenly lifted.



Rhao crushed me to his chest, wrapped both his arms and wings around me. He buried his face in my hair and took a deep breath. I was frozen, shocked by the sudden contact.



"Were you waiting for me, eyami? Is that why you were late?" His voice was soft and husky.



"Yes that\'s why I was late, goddammit!" My voice was nearly unintelligible within its own raspy-ness. "Where the hell where—?"



Suddenly his lips crashed down onto mine, effectively cutting off whatever he was about to say. For a moment, my brain shut down and my body melted into his. I forgot how good his kisses felt. My eyes fluttered close and I let out a soft moan. When he shifted, my brain kick started back up and I pulled away, slapping him hard. It was ineffective as always, but still, it\'s the thought that counts. If I tried to punch him, I\'d probably break a few knuckles.



"Goddammit Rhao! No!" I locked eyes with him. His eyes had deepened from their usual lavender-lilac to amethyst, rimming his blown pupils. The look he was giving me sent shivers down my back, but I resisted.



"What is it, eyami?"



"Don\'t \'eyami\', me! Whatever the hell that means!" I pushed on his shoulders to no avail. "I don\'t recall ever telling you that you could just practically ignore me for a week and then suddenly decide to kiss me!"



"Brandon—."



"I\'m not done!" I cut him off easily, still pushing away from him. "Even if you weren\'t avoiding me, I still never said that it was okay to suddenly kiss me! Or kiss me at all! I don\'t know who you think you are, Rhao, but I do still have a girlfriend—."



"Fuck, Brandon, just listen!" He slammed me on top of the desk, though not hard. His eyes drilled into mine. "You wanna know so bad? Then fine, I\'ll tell you. You\'re my—."



He looked up suddenly. I heard it the same time he did. The sound of a key sliding into the lock. Ms. Belle was back. He gave me one more furious look and then he was gone. I sat up and slid into my chair just as Ms. Belle opened the door. She looked at me with a warm smile.



"You\'re free to go, Brandon. Have a good rest of your day."



I grabbed by backpack and stood quickly. "Thanks, Ms. B. I\'ll see you tomorrow."



"Okay, Brandon. Be on time."



"Of course." I rushed out of the room.



When I was a good enough distance away, I slowed down and changed directions towards my locker. That\'s probably where Freddie would be waiting for me, or so I hoped. I didn\'t really care, as long as I didn\'t run into Rhao again.



I couldn\'t help the feeling that he was about to tell me I was his mate. God, my heart is still beating fast. What the hell is wrong with me? Did I want him, or did I not? My body craved him like nothing I ever felt before, and I sometimes unconsciously felt myself drawn to him, but my conscious mind denied him vehemently.



"Ah~!"



What the…? I halted and turned towards where the noise came from, then blinked. A moan…coming from the supply closet. My cheeks flushed and I cleared my throat, turning away to continue for my locker. I could see Freddie up ahead, waving and walking towards me.



"Yes! Harder, Rick!"



Rick? Wait…was that…Tiffany?! I\'d recognize that squeaky ass voice of hers anywhere.



Whirling back around, I marched for the door and aimed a kick at it. The cheap wood splintered and fell under my foot easily, revealing Tiffany and Rick. Tiffany\'s skirt was hitched up around her waist, her legs wrapped around Rick\'s waist as he held her propped up against the wall by her thighs. They were both red and sweaty and panting. Clearly in the middle of having sex. Both of their eyes widened at the sight of me fuming in the doorway.



"What. The. Fuck?" I gritted out, clenching my fists.



"B-Brandon!" Tiffany said, trying in vain to pull down her skirt around Rick\'s frozen arms.



"Shut the fuck up." I growled. "I expected this from you, Tiffany, honestly. I was waiting for the day you\'d dump me for one of the sons of bitches you\'re fucking. But Rick? You\'re my fucking best friend. We fucking grew up together. What—why would you do this?"



He finally moved, shrugging as he carefully slid out of Tiffany and releasing her thighs so that she could stand up. He tucked in his stuff and pulled up his zipper, then finally looked at me calmly.



"You weren\'t giving it to her man. She came askin\' for it and I gave it to her. Honestly?" He put his hands in his pockets. "We were fuckin\' before you two even got together. And we kept fuckin\' after."



My vision went red and before I even knew what I was doing, I flew at him. I managed to get one punch in, a punch that sent him flying into the wall, before arms wrapped around my waist and pulled me into a familiarly wide chest. I growled lowly, struggling to get away.



"Let me go, Rhao. I\'m going to fucking beat his ass."



"No." He murmured into my ear, arms tightening. "If you try to beat him up in this state, you will only succeed in killing him with a mere few punches. Your shadow demon blood is coming through, Brandon; you need to calm down before you lose it."



"Kill him?" I snarled. "I say good fucking riddance if I do."



Gold-tinted white filled my vision, and I blinked in confusion for a moment, until I realized it was Rhao\'s wings surrounding me.



"You say that now, eyami, but what about when you calm down. For one, you will go to jail and two, you will feel extremely guilty about killing him."



I pushed against his wings, snarling when they only gave a little. "I\'ll deal with that when the time comes. For now, I\'m going to kill his sorry ass."



But he didn\'t give. "Eyami, please think about what you\'re doing."



"Oh, don\'t worry. I\'m thinking about it alright. I\'m thinking about how exactly I\'ll cause him the most pain." I pushed his wings again.



"So you will kill him in front of a woman, and your friend." His wings lowered slightly to reveal a pale Frederick, looking at us with wide eyes. Tiffany was whimpering in the corner, and Rick\'s hard, stoic face on enraged my further.



I roared and struggled against Rhao\'s grip. "I don\'t care anymore! I don\'t care about anything."



"Oh?" I froze at the tone of his voice. I knew that tone. "So then, you don\'t care if I do this?"



And then he was kissing me. It was nothing like any of the other times he kissed me. I realized then, that he was teasing me before, just trying to get a reaction. Now, he was really kissing me.



At first, I tried to resist. I used all my anger to punch and kick and scratch at him as much as possible. But he didn\'t give at all; if anything, his grip on me tightened. My anger slowly began to disappear, as if he was sucking it all away. Every swipe of his tongue, every time he nipped at my lips, every time he sucked my tongue into his mouth, every time the pressure of his lips on mine changed. Before I knew it, my anger had evaporated and I was so focused on staying upright and not letting my legs crumple under me, that everything but him disappeared.



My head was beginning to feel light at the lack of air I was receiving when he finally pulled away. I sucked in two large, heaving breaths before glaring at him.



"YOU ASSHOLE—."



He cut me off with another kiss, this one shorter, and less…stimulating. I slapped him when he pulled away, but he only grinned. I prepared to give him possibly the worst berating of his life when a choked noise caught my attention.



I turned to see Frederick, Tiffany, and Rick staring at us with wide eyes. My own eyes widened as Tiffany lifted a shaking finger.



"Y-you—?"



"It\'s not what you think." I poked a finger at Rhao\'s face. "It\'s all him. He keeps forcing me—Freddie, tell them."



"Uh…" He blinked slowly, his cheeks fiery red. "I, um…I have to go."



And with that, he turned away and ran. I watched him go, my jaw dropping. That…that traitor. He was supposed to be on my side! A laugh caught my attention, and I turned back to see Rick laughing at us.



"Oh, I can\'t fucking believe this. Brandon, the school\'s star quarterback, nothing but a fag."



I scowled. "I\'m not. This idiot just won\'t leave me alone."



"He\'s right, you know." I looked up in surprise to see Rhao\'s really serious gaze focused intently on Rick. "I\'m the one clinging on to him, and I\'m not going to stop either. Try to spread anything about him, and I will slowly torture you to death, do you hear me? Just try it."



Rhao held Rick\'s gaze for a moment longer before he picked me up, threw me over his shoulder, and started for the school front doors. I flushed and pounded on his back.



"Hey, let me down! I can fucking walk!"



"I know." I could hear the smirk in his voice. "But I want to carry you like this."



"Like a sack of potatoes." I rolled my eyes. "How fucking romantic."



I yelped when I was suddenly flipped over, looking up into Rhao\'s smiling eyes. He was cradling me to his chest, making me flush even harder.



"I was being sarcastic!"



He smirked. "Yes, but you are right. This is much better."



"No, it\'s not." I squirmed around. "What if someone sees us?"



"Then let them see." He exited the building and started for his car, which was parked towards the back of the parking lot. I groaned and he looked down at me before sighing.



Next thing I knew, we were next to the car.



"Woah!" I tried to sit up, but failed as his arms tightened. "How did you—?"



"I\'m not human, Brandon." He grinned. "I can move around a lot faster."



"Of course you can." I grumbled. "Let me up, okay? I can\'t get into the car like this."



He carefully set me down and I made my way over to the passenger seat. I scowled as I got into the car. Why did I have to let him take me home? I could very well walk on my own. If he would let me, anyway.



"Brandon, come on, close the door and put your seat belt on."



I flicked him off, receiving a chuckle, and slammed the car door shut. He didn\'t start the car until I had my seat belt on, pealing out of the parking lot with ease. I huffed and crossed my arms, glaring at the window. Rhao chuckled at me, but otherwise said nothing.



Bastard.