The Crystal 3 by Jones M (best beach reads TXT) 📖

crap had happened to me again. It first happened with Bianca, and it happened again with the girl.

Unbelievable.

I had to get out of the class and avoid whatever accusations Zane would throw my way.

"Stop crying, bitch!" Zane shouted. My vision was clouded again, but I refused to accept the insults. I quickly wiped the tears away, turning to give Zane a piece of my mind.

I momentarily stopped, seeing that he wasn't talking to me. He had grabbed the girl's arm, forcing her to face him. The girl had a frightened look etched on her.

"Mr. Marsh. It's not my fault. It's Emery! She--"

"You are suspended for two weeks," Zane interrupted the bitch.

My eyebrows raised in surprise as the bitch yelled "What?"

"You heard me. I don't want to see you in my class for the next two weeks. You'll be lucky if I'll want you to continue being my student."

"But Mr. Marsh... she slapped me!" the girl tried to defend herself.

"After you slapped her first."

"B-but..." the girl stammered.

"It looks like you haven't heard what I have just said. Do you want me to expel you or to slap you myself? I don't like hitting women, but I can make an exception for you."

The girl's eyes widened before she quickly scurried off the room. My attention had been on her as she ran out of the class. My gaze turned to Zane. His back was to me. He ran his hands through his hair as he turned to face me.

"Are you okay?" he asked. I didn't reply at first, my eyes still wide in surprise.

"I'm sorry about that. I am so sorry..." Zane trailed off, coming towards me and embracing me in a hug.

"I'm sorry for making you cry," Zane said next to my ear. He raised a hand to caress my cheek, and butterflies exploded in my stomach. I hugged him back as I felt my tense shoulders drop in relief.

"Emery?"

"I'm okay," I said as we retracted the hug. Zane stared at me with an apologetic and concerned look.

"I thought you were going to take her side."

He gave me a small smile before shrugging his shoulders.

"Do you remember what happened the last time I did that? I don't want anything to come between us."

My heart thumped when he mentioned 'us.' I decided not to think too much about it.

"Do you want to go out? I haven't eaten anything since morning, and I could really use the company."

I knew I had planned to talk to Zane about my feelings. After the drama that had just occurred a few seconds ago, I needed a break from the emotions to regroup. Zane looked like he too needed a break, and so I decided to postpone the talk. I wanted to have it in a private place, most likely his house or mine.

"Sure," I replied with a smile.

 

Chapter 24

 

Emery's P.O.V

"So, where do you want to eat?" Zane asked as we left the school. He was leading us towards a gray parked car. 

"Pizza Castle?" I recommended in a question, remembering Logan and Harry taking me there and the wonderful pizzas we ate.

Zane smiled as we got into his car. We then proceeded to drive towards Pizza Castle where we spent hours talking about anything that came to our minds. Afterward, I requested Zane to go grocery shopping with me. At first, he declined. I mentioned his empty fridge, and that had him changing his mind.

Zane and I spent more than an hour at the grocery store. When we were done, we packed the stuff in his car and drove back to his house. It would have been easier just to teleport there, but we couldn't use magic. 

Two weeks suddenly felt like a month.

Zane used a route that led to the back of his house where, unknown to me, a garage was located. Zane parked the car in the garage. We had exited it before taking the groceries out of the trunk. I helped Zane with carrying and arranging the groceries. A while later, we were done.

"So, what do you want to do?" Zane asked with raised eyebrows.

"We could watch a movie," I suggested. Zane and I then proceeded to prepare the popcorn and drinks for the movie. We agreed to watch the 2017 version of Beauty and the Beast in 3D 8K. We slipped on the 3D glasses, and I was amazed I couldn't see the pixelated screen. The scenes were very realistic, and I felt like I was in the movie.

I guess that was the point of 3D and many pixels on a screen.

The movie was about two hours long. Zane and I watched it, at some points singing along the songs that played. That included, if I got the titles correct, Aria, Bonjour and Gaston. There were also songs I barely knew the lyrics to, including the one called Evermore. Zane apparently knew it.

"You know that song?" I asked.

"Yep," he replied. I was stunned for a moment.

"Why?"

Zane took his time to reply.

"I just do. It's emotional. It shows the feelings the beast has for Belle."

"Really? I find it kind of depressing; loving someone who you fear will never love you back, and then being stuck with those unreciprocated feelings."

I felt chills run along my spine as I realized what I had just said. I might as well have been the beast in our scenario with Zane being Belle.

How awkward.

"Did you know that the character that plays LeFou is Olaf from Frozen?" I attempted to change the subject by asking another random question. Wonderfully for me, it worked.

We were then quiet, only talking when exciting scenes had started. The movie soon ended, and I began cleaning up the mess of the popcorn that had formed on the couch.

"What's the time?" I asked as I got up from the couch. Zane furrowed his eyebrows as he took out his phone.

"Whoa! It's eight," he said, making me widen my eyes in disbelief. I couldn't believe time had flown so fast. Then I frowned when I realized I had to leave.

"Well, I guess it's time for me to go," I said as I got up from the couch, heading towards the exit. Zane followed me, not saying a word. It bothered me a little. Once we were at the door, I turned around to face him.

"I had fun today," I told him.

Zane gave me a small smile.

"Me too," he replied, staring at me. I shuffled my feet for a while, glancing at the door and back at him.

The memory of what I had planned came back to my mind. I couldn't believe I had forgotten to talk to Zane about my feelings for him! 

I decided to push that forward, again. I was leaving anyway, and I didn't want to depart with such a conversation.

"Well, see you tomorrow," I told him as I turned to reach for the door handle.

"Okay. Goodnight," Zane replied. I turned and swung the door open, only to be met by a cold breeze and the wind loudly blowing into the house. My eyes closed on instinct as I felt streams of water pouring onto my form. I wiped my face before forcefully opening my eyes to see what was going in.

There was a storm.

Thunder rumbled in the distance as lightning flashed in the clouds. The light produced from the bolt of lightning gave me a glimpse of my surroundings. It was raining hard. The ground was wet with water everywhere. The nearby trees were bent towards the direction of the loudly-blowing wind. Also, there seemed to be small rivers being formed around the house.

I felt movement behind me as an arm wrapped around my waist, pushing me back. Zane quickly moved forwards, reaching for the door handle and closing the door. He turned to face me with concern.

"Are you okay?" he asked. I touched my face, noticing it was wet. I looked down, seeing that my clothes had also been soaked.

I groaned, realizing I had been rained on.

Just my luck.

Even though I loved the rain, it was currently a bitch. Why couldn't it wait to pour until midnight? I couldn't even use my powers to get to my home because of that freaking ancient spell. That meant I was trapped with Zane.

I couldn't spend the night with Zane. There was a possibility we would have sex again, but I wanted that to happen if he would reciprocate the feelings I had for him. 

"Oh shit," Zane commented as he looked at me. "Let me get you a pair of clean clothes." He went towards his hallway, disappearing as he turned towards an open door.

I frowned, moving forwards and quickly stopping when I recalled my wet state. A cool breeze passed me, making me shiver. Zane quickly came back with a towel, a blue shirt, and dark blue boxer briefs. My eyes widened in wariness.

They were his clothes.

"Zane..." I trailed off.

"I checked the weather, and it doesn't look like the rain will stop anytime soon. You may have to stay here for the night."

I groaned.

"It's okay. I brought you a pair of fresh clothes. You could even take a bath and change into these. I can even stay in another room," he added.

"Zane, it's not that I don't want to hang with you. I just can't," I tried to reason.

"What?" he inquired, confused.

"I feel like a disturbance."

Also because I don't think I'll be able to keep my hands to myself.

"Emery, don't be ridiculous," Zane said with a smile. "You are not a bother. Now, take a shower and change into these clothes. We can then have dinner and watch another movie. This could be like a sleepover."

I stared at the clothes. Realizing I had no other option, I nodded my head in agreement. Zane smiled at me before walking off to the kitchen. I sighed, getting rid of my wet shoes before turning to head towards the hallway.

I looked at my sides as I tried to find the bathroom. I only knew my way to the toilet, the dining room, the entertainment room and the kitchen. I was very glad the toilet was in a small room of its own. I finally stopped at an open door that led to the shower.

Zane's bathroom had sky-blue walls. Roughly patterned tiles were on the floor while smooth white ones were on the walls around me. There was a large empty tub on my right. On my left was the shower, surrounded by tall translucent walls that made it hard for anyone to see what was inside.

I turned to lock the door. Then I proceeded to go into the shower.

The hot shower was wonderful. After an indecipherable amount of time, I got out. I dried myself and changed into Zane's clothes. Zane's shirt reached past my hips, and his boxers covered my knees. They smiled like him, and they were comfortable.

It was then that I realized I had no bra or panties to wear. I soon decided not to think too much about it. I was just spending the night, and it looked like we would soon be asleep.

I quickly got out of the bathroom. My feet led me to the dining room. I moved around as I walked towards the window, moving the curtains to the side and inspecting how everything was outside.

A flash of lightning appeared, giving me a