Chapter 67 - Let Me Be Bad

Music Recommendation: The End - November Ultra

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The Freshman and Sophomore students stared at Roman, who disappeared up the stairs, while Mateo was on the floor with bruises over his face. Mateo glared at the ones who were looking his way, "What are you looking at? Scram from here!"

Being humiliated in front of the lower grade students, especially the humans whom Mateo had bullied before, rage-filled his face. Getting up from where he had been sitting, he went inside his room. Rummaging through the drawers, he pulled out a knife that was made out of silver. When he turned around, Griffin stood right in front of him. 

"What are you doing, Jackson?" questioned Griffin, looking down at the knife. 

Mateo stepped away from Griffin and made his way towards the door, "Today I am going to show him who is in the higher level of this hierarchy!" 

"Don't go to his dorm to only prove him by doing something stupid. If you do any harm to him, he will only strike back now  and you will end up spending your time in the dungeon with who knows what punishment. I have the perfect time to get your revenge, but it is not today. Today you will need to calm down and regain your energy," smiled Griffin with a smile on his face. "I have already set up a plan to teach him a lesson. It is only a matter of time that Roman will be the one who spends his time in the dungeon and not us."

"What plan do you have?" questioned Mateo, his eyes narrowing, and Griffin smirked at him.

On the top floor, Roman and Simon walked in the corridor. They saw Maximus standing near the window, leaning his body on the side railing with one hand. He became confused on seeing two different moods that were going on between two of his friends. Not to mention, he smelt the scent of blood in the air. 

Simon had an unexplainable smile on his face, while Roman appeared to be in a bad mood. 

"What did I miss?" asked Maximus, looking between his two friends. 

Roman didn't answer, and he said, "Don't disturb me unless someone is dead." Saying this, he made his way towards his dorm, unlocking the door. He stepped inside and closed the door with a loud bang. 

"He's in a good mood," said Maximus sarcastically and then turned to look at Simon, who was making his way inside their room, "And you are in a creepy mood," he followed Simon inside. 

"I am going to die out of curiosity, and I don't want to bother Roman, else I will be the dead person. What is it?" he asked, waiting for Simon to speak, but the other vampire's smile on his face only widened more. 

Simon cracked his neck. He went to sit on the bed and then said, "Roman got into a fight with Jackson." 

"That happens all the time and isn't new news, and you aren't this happy, unless Jackson is getting expelled from this place," pointed Maximus.

Simon turned his head in the direction of where Roman's room was. He wondered what had forced Roman to warn everyone, claiming the human loud and clear in front of everyone. It was both a good and a bad thing. Good, because the vampires who had eyed Julie before would back off. While the bad thing was that people could use the girl to get to Roman. He answered with a grin, 

"Things are going to turn even more interesting than before."

In the opposite dorm, Roman washed his bloody knuckles and hands. He then wiped his hands with the towel. Bending down, he splashed water on his face before raising his head and looking at his reflection, where water dripped down from his face.

Even though he had beaten Mateo a few minutes ago, Roman continued to feel restless like an inferno burning deep within him. His eyes had turned red, and he walked to open the closet, where the fridge was. Pulling it open, he picked up the can one after another, drinking the blood until he had emptied all of the six cans, and he ran his tongue across his lips and his fangs. 

Closing the door, he leaned his head against the door with his eyes closed. 

Pushing backwards, he turned to look at the clock where it was only twenty past ten in the night. 

Little away from the boy's Dormitorium, in the girl's Dormitorium, which was for humans, Julie was in her dorm and sitting on her bed. Since she had returned from the lunchroom, she had been working on her subjects. 

Tucking a piece of her hair behind her ear, Julie bit the end of her pencil while concentrating on the lines in her textbook. Murmuring something under her breath as she tried to remember, a yawn escaped from her lips. Staying in the practice room for the rehearsal drama was exhausting enough, and dealing with some of the people drained the remaining energy that was in her body. 

Julie wondered if there was a way to make sure that the porcupine wouldn't dare to hurt her. But somewhere, she came to believe that if she tattled it to Ms. Piper, Mateo Jackson would do something worse, and she bit her lip in thought. She wondered if she could request Ms. Piper replace her by picking someone else for the role of Iris' character. 

"I can tell why your grades are so bad."

Hearing the voice from behind her, Julie turned her head and noticed Roman standing outside her window. Pursing her lips, she said, "I was trying to recollect what I just read."

Now that Roman was here, Julie directly looked at him without looking away. Without saying anything, he effortlessly climbed through the window, and Julie's mouth fell open. 

"W-wait, we'll get caught!" Julie's eyes widened when Roman closed the window. Roman didn't care about such little things, and it wasn't anything new here for students to get caught now and then with the opposite sex. "Roman!" she called his name even though it was just the two of them in the room. 

"Hm," Don't hm me! Julie scolded him in her head. 

Roman noticed the slight panic that Julie's eyes held. 

There was something in those innocent brown eyes that had pulled him here today. He slowly realized it wasn't anymore about being exposed to the danger the vampires could inflict on them. Julie made him want to protect her as if she was trying to compel him to feel different. 

His eyes narrowed at that thought, if it was possible after all, she seemed different compared to most of the humans. 

"I will leave once I have my answers," said Roman, taking in the things that were in her room before his eyes fell on her and then on her arms. He saw the fingerprints on her arms. 

A small frown appeared on Julie's face, "What is it?" 

"Are you avoiding me, Winters?" came the direct question, and he heard the little hitch in her heart. 

"Why would I do that?" Julie questioned him back. 

Roman's eyes narrowed, and he said, "Funny, because I was asking the same question to myself. I was hoping you would give me the answer."

Julie shook her head, "It isn't anything serious," she answered him. Earlier she had been distracted, but now she was doing all good, and her focus was back on her books. During lunch, Dennis had mentioned something about the management giving out a few grand every year to the top five students. 

Roman didn't buy it. 

Julie saw Roman not respond to her words. Raising his hand, he ran it through his thick locks of hair.

He then sauntered to where she was. Towering her with his height and Julie craned her neck before she took a couple of steps backwards, to only have her back hit the wall. He didn't stop and followed her every step before placing his hands on either side of her head on the wall. 

"We can sit and speak. Maybe with some distance…" suggested Julie.

"Tried, but it didn't seem to work," deadpanned Roman, raising one of his eyebrows at her. That couldn't even be counted as the first time! Thought Julie in her mind. "Speak up, Winters."

Julie noticed how Roman looked more annoyed than usual. She cleared her throat and said, "I was only trying to concentrate on my books. Dennis said if I—"

"What did number two have to say?" questioned Roman without giving her time to complete her sentence. 

"He has a name."

"Siding with another friend," remarked Roman, and Julie let out a sigh. It seemed like Roman was in a whole different mood today. 

"How would you feel if I called you number one instead of your name?" Julie asked him, with her eyebrows slightly raised. But when she saw the corner of his lips subtly pull, she knew her question had lost its point. 

"By all means, I will be more than happy to be at the top," responded Roman. "So what did he have to say?" 

"About this reward if I would enter top five in the year. I want to be able to enter the top five, and for that I need to focus," explained Julie.

"Good. Then let us have study sessions every evening after the regular classes so that we can prepare you for it. It is time to get number one, Winters," declared Roman and Julie's eyes widened. That was not what she was going for! "I still don't get the part of you avoiding me, unless you realized what a bad influence I am for you, by luring you to skip the class and come out."

"Maybe," replied Julie, hoping Roman would stop interrogating her if she agreed to him.

"Maybe, what, Winters?" Roman's voice dropped, and so did Julie's. "Maybe you liked the feeling of skipping it, or maybe you already knew you were meant to leave that goody path, which is not for you. Do you want me to play your part? To be good?… I will be good," he stepped away from her and made his way towards the window. 

He would? Asked Julie. That was a quick change of heart, thought Julie to herself. She internally sighed, thinking Roman was leaving. But instead, she heard him say,

"We have already broken many rules. It is time for us to confess to what we have done. I wonder who is out there so that we can call and tell them," said Roman in a thoughtful tone, and Julie's eyes widened. She quickly ran to the bed and tackled him to get him away from the window. "What are you doing?" 

"You don't have to be good right now! You can do that tomorrow morning," came Julie's hushed voice, and she wrestled with Roman, pushing him on the bed in an attempt so that he wouldn't open the window. It was only after two seconds, did she realize that she was sitting on him. She surely wasn't too strong and knew that she had taken him by surprise, which was exactly how they had ended up in their current position. 

Roman stared at her. His eyes intently looked at her as he said, "What a scandalous position."

Embarrassed to talk and blood rushing up to her cheeks, Julie wanted to correct her action. She let go of his arms and pulled away from him. But Roman was quick to catch hold of both her wrists. It elicited a reaction where Julie's breath hitched, and her heart rate increased in her chest. 

"I remembered something you said a minute ago," said Roman and Julie softly gulped. 

"What is it?" Julie's words came as a whisper, the sound of her heart drumming in her ear as she looked back at Roman. 

"If I am supposed to be good tomorrow, I can be bad today," stated Roman, the look in his eyes darkening. 

Julie didn't know what happened the next second. Because one moment her legs were on either side of his body, and the next moment, he had flipped their position in ease. She now had her back pressed against the bed, and Roman was on top of her. He hadn't let go of her hands, which was placed on either side of her head. 

She could feel the firm yet not tight hold of his fingers around her wrist. 

"Why do you want to be bad?" asked Julie.

"I cannot explain it. But if you are willing… one day I can show it to you," Roman's words were nothing less than the sound of a piano key on a cold night. Julie wondered why that was so. There was a dark promise in his words.

She felt him trace his fingers from her wrist to her forearms, moving to her arms before he pressed it and asked, "Does it hurt?"

For a moment, Julie was lost, and she then realized he was asking about the little incident that had taken place today. Her bruised arms. She shook her head, "It doesn't."

"Did it hurt before?" Roman traced his fingers across the different coloured lines on her skin. 

"How did you know? That I was hurt." 

With all the glaring he had done earlier, as if he was shooting knives at her with his eyes, Julie hadn't expected Roman to notice it. She stared at his face, where his eyes were fixed on her arm. 

"I just happened to know," murmured Roman, and his gaze shifted to look at her. "Normally in this condition you scream or shout. Worried that teachers will catch you?" This girl's sense of danger was nearly zero, thought Roman in his mind. 

"You are my friend. I trust you to not hurt me," said Julie. Roman gritted his teeth lightly before releasing it. His eyes didn't change the emotion in them, which looked at her intensely. 

Julie wondered what was going on in his mind as he stared at her. If she could, she would have opened his head to study his brain. Because he still had his hands on her arms, his upper body had leaned forward and his knees on the bed. His face in front of her held something dark and dangerous in it. 

"I don't like it," remarked Roman, and she felt him brush her arms with a feather-like touch. "I don't like the thought of anyone hurting you. It makes me furious and I realize I cannot keep myself still. Even angrier that I feel this way," he muttered the last words that quite didn't reach Julie's ears. 

He stared into those eyes of hers, something deep within him wanting to steal her. 

Roman moved away from Julie and sat on the edge of the bed while she blinked her eyes, staring at the ceiling. 

He then stood up, making his way to her drawers and pulled out a packet of chips, which was when she snapped from her dazed state and sat upright on her bed. The thief was striking again!

But Julie didn't protest. Instead, she quietly sat on the bed, watching Roman crunch every potato chip from the packet until there was no more left. At the same time, she noticed the bruises on his knuckles. 

"Did you get into a fight?" Julie asked him, curious.  The bruises looked fresh, and she noticed the faint ones on his face, that she had not gone to comment earlier.

Instead of answering, Roman said, "Anything like today happens again, I want you to tell me about it. Like Jackson," and he crushed the packet before throwing it in the bin. 

"I cannot report him to the headmistress, can I?" asked Julie, with a questioning look/ Roman had a serious look on his face, said, 

"You weren't wrong when you said this place is like hoarding the delinquents. Some students here are sneaky and you will only fall into further trouble. Things like these, we deal with it in our own way," stated Roman, picking up the bottle of water and drinking from it, where some drops of water split out and dripped down from the corner of his lips to slide down to his jaw and then disappear down his neck. 

Julie tore her gaze away from Roman and turned to look at the window to make sure no one was walking outside the window. 

Roman caught sight of the torch next to her pillow. He asked her, "Is there no electricity in here?" 

"That's for the alien thing. I didn't have anything else to hit it with and it was the best I could come up with," Julie gave an awkward smile to him. "Did you find anything about it?"

"I didn't find time to look into it as I was caught up with the weekend issue. I will look it up by Friday," replied Roman, and he stood up from the chair that he had been sitting next to her desk. 

He then pushed the window open and checked for anyone walking outside. But before he jumped out, Roman turned to look at her and said, "Did you ever think about getting a tattoo on your wrist? Or maybe wrist bracelets if you want to hide it. The weather will turn hot this week before the rain. Wouldn't want you fainting due to heat stroke."

"I will think of something to come up with," replied Julie, and before he could leave, she said, "Roman." 

Roman turned to look at her with a questioning look, she said, "Thank you." Her eyes looked into his, and he gave her a nod. 

When it was time, Roman jumped out of the window and he saw the dorm's window close and the curtains pulled close. He walked a few steps forward before stopping. Running his fingers through his hair, he cursed himself,

"Fuck."