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Post by Monday on Nov 12, 2010 1:36:39 GMT -5
“You know,” I said to her, snatching my hand away from hers as quickly as I could, “I think this is all just one big misunderstanding.” Trying to be delicate about this was going to be pretty hard as subtly was never really my forte. But it’s not like I could explain to her how I knew all the ins and outs of her relationship with Justin. Sure, she was one of my best friends, but she had never confided in me the true depths of her feelings for her boyfriend. Probably because she hadn’t fully realized them herself. She gave a pretty pitiful sounding sniffle and asked, “What do you mean?” I resumed patting her, making sure to touch her sleeved shoulder this time and not her actual skin. “Well, have you ever thought of the possibility that maybe you both just care about each other so much that you don’t know how to express it in the right way? I mean this is both of yours first serious relationship right?” I add hastily seeing the wide eyed look she gives me. “It would only make sense that you both wouldn’t be able to recognize these kinds of emotions when it’s the first time that you’ve gotten them, right?” Thankfully this seems to make her eyes a little less bulgy but she still doesn’t seem convinced. “I don’t know. How can I be sure of what I feel about him? And how do I know he feels the same way?” “Those are both good questions,” I say standing up, hoping she’ll follow my lead, “and I’m sure you’re going to need some alone time to think things through.” I wasn’t trying to be mean by pushing her out the door like this but I had my own personal crisis to deal with too. And truth be told, there wasn’t much more that I could do but hope she came to realize her true feelings on her own. “I think the best way for you to understand how you feel about Justin is to think of what your life would be like if y’all didn’t work things out now. Just trust in what you feel and be honest with him and, most importantly, yourself. And know that whatever happens, Macy and I will be there for you.” She gives me a tearful hug but she’s also smiling so I know she’ll be fine. I just hope that she’s able to work things out with Justin, they really are great together, and that I was able to help her in whatever small way that I could. As soon as she left, I ran to my room and called Alex’s number. I think I by God deserved some answers now, thank you very much. He picks up on the second ring and doesn’t even bother with a hello. “What’s wrong?” Granted, this is the first time I’ve actually called him and it is fifteen minutes until nine on a Thursday night but it still annoys me somehow that he would just assume that the only reason I called him is because something has gone wrong. Even if that does happen to be the case, this time. “I could just be calling to talk, you know,” I say indignantly. “There doesn’t have to be some disaster going on.” I can hear the smile in his voice when he says, “Are you just calling to talk?” “Well no,” I admit however grudgingly. “Actually I think you need to come over here right now.” “Why, what happened?” There’s an urgency in his voice like he thinks I could actually be in danger or something which I’ll admit freaks me out a little. What does he think could hurt me in my own home in the middle of suburbia? But more importantly, why would anyone or anything for that matter, want too. My voice is a little shaky when I reply. “I think you need to start answering some questions. Unless you want to explain to people why I’m going to freak out whenever I touch someone.” I can hear a car door slam in the background and I know he’s already on his way here. “I’ll be there in ten minutes,” he says then snaps his phone shut right when I hear his engine roar to life. When I run downstairs to let my dad know that Alex was coming over in a few minutes, the possibility that he might not agree had never occurred to me. “I don’t think so, Evelyne.” He never used my full name, instead preferring to call me Evie, unless he was trying to be strict with me about something. My dad wasn’t good at telling most people ‘no’, a people pleaser my mom called him, but he was even worse when it came to things I asked for. He had a soft spot for me and he almost always tried to make my wants happen, although the biggest demand I usually made was no onions on the pizza even though everyone else loved them. But apparently having boys over past ten on a school night was where he drew the line.
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Post by Monday on Nov 12, 2010 18:06:50 GMT -5
“Please, Daddy, it’s really important! I promise he won’t be over for long, we won’t bother you at all.” A shadow goes over his face and he says grimly, “That’s what I’m worried about.” Alright, so maybe I didn’t choose exactly the right words… “That’s not what I meant and you know it!” I say huffily. “How many times do I have to tell you guys that he is just a friend? Angela was just over here fifteen minutes ago, and you had no problem with her. Alex is no different. It’s not like I’m asking him over for a make-out session.” “Evie please!” he says, wrinkly his face in disgust but I know I’m starting to where down his resolve. “Well I’m not! I just want to talk to him for a little while.” “I’m pretty sure I said something along the same lines to my parents when I had a girl over once, and they didn’t fall for it anymore then I’m falling for it now.” “First of all, I am not a teenage boy, so your comparison is irrelevant, and second of all, don’t you trust me, Daddy?” In case this isn’t enough to change his mind I even pout a little, just for good measure. “Fine,” he says, “but he needs to leave by ten thirty at the latest.” Smiling, I lean over to kiss him on the cheek when I hear the doorbell ring. I glance at the clock on the wall and see that he’s made it here in exactly ten minutes, and I shake my head and have to remind myself that most people weren’t perpetually late like I tended to be. I start heading toward the door when my dad says, “Bring him in here, I want to talk to you two.” “Alright, but you better not saying anything to embarrass me,” I gripe as I walk out of the room. When I open the door Alex steps in and looks me over in a clinical way, making sure that I don’t have any missing limbs or gaping wounds, I suppose, his brow furrowed. When he finally makes eye contact with me, I give him a questioning look, but all he says is, “Upstairs.” I sigh morosely. “My dad wants to talk to you first.” Both of his eyebrows shoot up and the side of his mouth quirks up in amusement. “This should be interesting.” When we make it to the living room, the TV’s off and my dad is standing up facing us a frown on his face, his shoulders straight, and his feet apart in what I assume is some male dominance, I’m-the-boss, stance. Both my parents are tall with my dad standing just over six foot two, but Alex still has him by a good inch or two. “Now Alex, son,” my dad begins and I already have a bad feeling about this, “my daughter keeps insisting to me that you two are just friends.” He says this like it’s a statement but I can tell, and so can Alex, that he expects an answer anyways. “Yes, sir,” Alex says back respectfully. “I just want to make it clear to you that my daughter is the most important thing to me and that if anything were to ever happen to her because of you, I know the woods around these parts well and no one would probably miss you for long.” My mouth is literally hanging open by the end of his little speech. “Dad!” I practically shout at him. “I think that this counts as embarrassing, not to mention creepy, don’t you? And since when have you ever been to the woods around here? You don’t even own any hiking boots!” Neither one of them seems to be listening to me though. “I would never do anything to hurt her, sir, I give you my word.” Alex says calmly but with genuine fervor and then he sticks out his hand to my dad like they’re going to shake on some freaky pact to protect me with emanate death as a possible consequence of failure. My dad waits a few beats before grasping his hand and actually smiles, however reluctantly, at him. “Alright then. You kids be good.” Alex nods and then turns toward the staircase but I’m still in the same place, my head is whipping back between the two of them, trying to figure out what just happened. My dad just chuckles and Alex pauses at the doorway waiting for me. “You coming, Gatsby?” I sigh and follow behind him, giving up on trying to understand men, but spare my dad one last parting grimace as I walk away. We’re almost to my room when I hear my dad yell up the stairs, “And keep your door open!” As promised, I leave my door open but only about half way. Whatever we’re about to talk about, I’m sure I don’t want my dad to overhear. “Alright,” I say as I cross my arms and turn to face Alex, “Start talking.” “First I think you need to tell me exactly what happened to you earlier that made you call me,” he says seriously. I sigh in annoyance and quickly explain what happened when Angela had come over just a short time ago. “So obviously I need to understand what the hell is going on here so I don’t wind up telling some stranger their entire life story or whatever and have them think I’m a lunatic. What is going on? Why did it only work on you up until tonight when it worked on Angela? Can’t I just give it back, whatever it is?” “Slow down,” he says, trying to speak soothingly but his actions belie his words. He’s now pacing back and forth in front of me and running his hand through his hair, something I’ve realized he does when he’s annoyed or frustrated. “Maybe you should sit down.” Does he think I’m going to pass out or something? I think to myself. I obey not because I think he’s right but because I want to get the answers out of him as fast as possible.
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Post by Monday on Nov 12, 2010 18:08:45 GMT -5
“The reason you could only feel something from me before is because I’m like you. We both have… gifts, you could call them, that let us do things that others can’t.” He looks at my face to make sure I’m not going to blow chunks or burst into tears or something before he continues. Honestly, you would think that I suffer from bouts of fainting on a regular basis. But I had already figured this much out on my own, except for the fact that he apparently had something like too but I guess it made sense, when you thought about it. How else would he know what it was? “Well what is my “gift” exactly,” I ask in a fairly steady voice when I realize that he’s waiting for me to say something. He looks like he’s really concentrating as if he’s trying to find the right words to explain. “It’s kind of difficult to explain since it’s so rare, and it’s also pretty complex. Your power can only be described really as a mixture of empathy, mind reading, and predicting the future. You have small elements of all three that can allow you to look into someone’s heart and mind and know whether or not they’re telling the truth and to see a glimpse of what their future might bring although it doesn’t come in actual images but more in feelings and emotions. You didn’t see Angela and her boyfriend resolving their problems, you just knew that it was going to happen, you felt it.” I’m trying to process all of what he’s saying but it’s a lot to comprehend and I know later I’ll probably be having some sort of panic attach. But for now I just want to get this whole conversation over with as fast as possible. “OK, so why can I feel Angela now when I couldn’t before?” “Because your power is gaining strength and it’s not going to stop here. Now you can feel most people, though some will be harder than others, but eventually if you learn to develop it you could begin to get feelings from things other than people, like objects or even ideas. You might be able to tell which answer on a test is correct without knowing the material or even tell before a bank is going to be robbed. You won’t so much be able to see why the answer’s right or who’s going rob the bank but you’ll just know which one’s the right answer or that something bad is going to happen at the bank. It’s all based on knowing, not necessarily seeing.” “But why is this happening to me now?” I’m starring at my hands, wondering how I was ever going to be able to get used to this. “Why haven’t I always been able to do this? And why me, are my parents like this too or something and they just haven’t told me about it for some in explicable reason?” “No, they’re not like us,” he says quietly. “These things are passed down genetically but are instead just born in us for some reason we’ll probably never know. And we’re still not sure why we come to our powers when we do; everyone gets it at different times in their life. But the vast majority of people, normal people like Angela or your parents, will never even know that people like us exist.” I didn’t like the way he said ‘people like us’ like we weren’t even of the same species as them or something. “What do you mean, ‘we’?” I ask warily. I’m not sure if I’m able to handle much more today, to be honest. “How many people are there out there like us?” “I only know of a few. They’re the friends I told you about that I live with now. They found me a couple of year ago and helped me a lot when I first realized what I could do. Before I knew what was going on… things were bad for me.” His answers were getting vague again and I could tell he was reaching the end of things he could tell me but I wasn’t done asking questions just yet. “And how did they find you exactly?” “The same way that we found you,” he says smiling a little now. I think he feels relieved or something to finally have this all out in the open and I wish that I could share his warm outlook on the situation but my world was being turned upside down and I wasn’t too fond of it. “And what way was that exactly, Mr. Specific?” I asked stubbornly. He pauses a moment and I can tell that he’s trying to decide whether or not to tell me. Finally he says, “It’s not really mine to tell but one of my friends can sense when a great power is coming in someone. That’s how I knew what you were.” “This is just all so…” Amazing, horrible, impossible, scary, exciting, pretty much any word could fit at the end of that sentence. “I know,” he says grimly. “I discovered mine right after my mom died. There was a lot of adjusting to do all at the same time and… Well let’s just say that I could have handled it better. I should have been more like you are acting now, taking this all in stride like you’re not even phased.” I actually laugh when he says this. “Don’t worry, it’ll probably all hit me soon enough…” He smiles but not like he means it but like he’s actually worried about me. “So you never did say…” I ask after too long of a pause. “Say what?” he asks blankly, and I’m surprised that he doesn’t see this coming. “What your power is.” He laughs and says, “Oh that. Well mine is much more simple a concept then yours and a hell of a lot easier to show.” He stands up from where he had taken a seat beside me on the bed and walks over to my dresser where I keep a bunch of random objects and mementos. It’s amazingly difficult and yet perfectly straightforward for me to explain what happens and the only way to describe it is to go for the obvious: One second he’s just staring at the candle and the next it’s just lit. It’s so uncomplicated yet completely fascinating.
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Post by Monday on Nov 12, 2010 18:09:40 GMT -5
((alright i really need y'all's help here. did that whole descripition of what she can do make sense to y'all? and what do you think about it? help please! lol))
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Post by Friday on Nov 13, 2010 12:35:23 GMT -5
((Made sense to me. In any case, it's all confusing to her still, so the details and the specifics of her powers will grow as she comes to undersatnd them.))
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Post by Monday on Nov 13, 2010 14:06:28 GMT -5
((awesome, thanks kaylie! :-) ))
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Post by Monday on Nov 13, 2010 17:20:56 GMT -5
“Woah,” I say standing up and walking over to him. “That’s pretty cool. So you can what, make fires with your mind or something?” He laughs a little at my amusement and says, “Yah, something like that. Brent, the one that could sense you, he calls me a firestarter. Like that old Stephen King book, you know?” He smiles a little at this, like he finds the comparison amusing. I’ve never read the book before but I thought I remembered it being about a little girl and I smile too. His smile falters, though, and I can see in his eyes that he’s not seeing me but something from the past and I unconsciously take a step closer to him. “What is it?” I ask softly. He shakes his head like he’s shaking off the memory and smiles at me. “It’s nothing, just remembering things, you know? Like I said, it was hard for me to take control in the beginning and sometimes… I couldn’t control if well enough. Things would catch on fire every time I got angry. But I’m different now, I can control it. You don’t need to be afraid of me,” he says quiet, yet sincere. “I’m not afraid of you,” I whisper back just as honest. He looks me straight in the eye, intent upon something before finally speaking. “There’s really only one thing left to do and it’s something that’s always been done when we find someone new.” He’s speaking slowly, carefully like he was earlier, making sure I understand the words as he says them. “What’s that?” I ask curious but wary. “Our strength increases when we’re surrounded and supported by others like us so we have a system, a sort of initiation I guess, to bring out our powers to their full potential. This can happen once you’re recognized by someone else who has power as having it yourself.” He lifts up the sleeve of his shirt to show the tattoo on his arm, the one I saw the edge of the first day I met him. I’m not surprised at all when it turns out to be the triskelion, like the ones I had been drawing for weeks now. However strange all of this is, it does seem to fit together nicely. “When it happens, you’ll get a similar marking like this. It’s how we know when we meet one of our own; almost every person in the world with power will be marked similar to this.” “I think I saw an after school special that mentioned something like this. You know the one that talks about the markers for a cult like ‘initiation’ and ‘tattoos’ and ‘everyone’s doing it’.” My tone implies that I’m only joking but in reality, joining some mysterious band of literally powerful people kind of scares the shit out of me. “And how do you think my parents are going to feel if you and I walk downstairs with matching tribal tattoos?” Alex smiles but I know that he can tell that I’m just a little hesitant. “Only other people with power can see the marks, your parents or friends at school won’t be able to tell any difference. And it’s not a cult, I swear,” he says with a smirk. “Trust me it took them months to convince me to join. I wasn’t any better at making friends then than I am now.” He sticks out his hand in front of me palm up. “But there’s an easier way to convince you that I’m only speaking the truth.” I stare at his hand knowing that he only wants to reassure me, but I hesitate. I think of everything that Alex has ever said to me or done for me and how right from the beginning I’ve felt an overwhelming trust toward him. And I also know that if I can’t trust him here and now that I won’t be able to trust anyone. I shake my head and say, “I believe you. I don’t need my powers to see that.” His hand drops to his side and he looks at me almost in astonishment. “I don’t know whether to thank you or chastise you. Please tell me that you don’t trust everyone so easily?” I cross my arms in irritation. This was not the reaction I had expected. “Are you saying that I shouldn’t trust you?” I ask almost angrily. He rolls his eyes and says, “Of course I’m not saying that. You just need to be more careful with whom you put your faith in; it could get you into trouble one day. You’re an empath for a reason for God’s sake, use it.” “Well thanks for the thrilling lecture, Dad, but I already have a father.” I know how many times that one’s been used but it’s all I can come up with at the moment and all of his speech giving was getting on my last nerve. I wasn’t born yesterday. He glares at me for a few moments before admitting defeat. “Look, I’m sorry,” he says, running his hand through his hair, “For some reason you always keep me on edge.” He looks at me like he’ll find the reason why written on my forehead. “Right back at you,” I say with a smile. “We’re really getting better at this whole arguing thing, you know. We can go from pissed off at each other to apologizing in like five minutes now.” We both laugh a little at this. It’s funny because it’s true. “So how does this whole initiation thing work anyway?” I ask him. “I don’t have to like sign my name in blood or anything.” He must be able to tell I’m still a little nervous because he says, “It doesn’t have to be a permanent thing, you know. You can walk away anytime you like.” He must know me better than I thought because this calms me right down. “Alight,” I say, not even a hint of a tremor in my voice. “I’m ready.” “Are you sure?” he asks, taking a step closer. “You can take more time if you’d like.” “No I’m sure.” I lift my chin up to indicate my confidence. “Something just feels right about doing this now.” “OK,” he says, inching forward even more. He’s only about a couple of inches away from me now and I have to resist the urge to step back. I’m not really used to anyone being this close to me without actually touching me, and the sensation is strange. I swallow audibly as I look up at him and I’m beginning to think that his proximity is having some strange effect on me if the wooziness I feel is any indication. He pauses, searching my face for something before he finally says with that half smile of his, “Try not to freak out, all right?” And then his head is leaning down, slowly like he’s giving me time to change my mind, his eyes still locked on mine all the while. I know what’s coming and I don’t have time to decide what to do about it or whether or not I want it to happen but my body seems unable to move, not in a mystical kind of way or anything but in a literally-frozen-in-fear kind of way. And then he’s kissing me and I sort of forget about everything else.
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Post by Thursday on Nov 13, 2010 17:53:23 GMT -5
((so who did he have to kiss to be initated?))
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Post by Monday on Nov 13, 2010 18:22:08 GMT -5
(( you mean who kissed him to initiate him? lol. don't worry, that's gonna come up later.))
The fear the self doubt the insecurities of facing an unknown path, all of that just slips away and all I’m feeling are Alex’s lips on mine which, I note, are surprisingly warmer than I expected. Never having been kissed by anyone before besides Andy Bowers in pre-school, which I hardly thought counted, I had to wonder if this is just a regular kissing thing or an Alex thing. He’s gently placed his hands on the sides of my face and mine are palm down on his solid chest without me even having realized that I had put them there. I knew that this was just a part of some weird ritual to make my abilities as an empath even more potent but that didn’t seem to be registering in my mind at the moment. I feel stronger, more sure of myself and when I start to feel Alex pull away, I know the process, whatever it is, is complete. However, I’m not so sure I’m ready for it to be over so I pull him closer to me and start kissing him back. His reaction is as natural as mine and now his arms are wrapped around my back and mine are around his neck. It’s a strange feeling not only because I have never kissed anyone like this before but because I can feel my empath powers going crazy and all of the feelings are so intense that I can’t separate his from mine, not even close. But unequivocally I know that this is right and that it won’t be the last time that our lips meet. “It’s ten forty five, kid,” I hear my dad’s voice booming from a few feet down the hallway. We shoot out of each other’s arms like we were about to get caught breaking the law. Which according to the laws of my dad, we probably would be. I reach up to smooth my hair which has somehow become horribly mussed in the last few minutes and I know my face is burning red. I try to calm my pulse rate and I wonder just how long our embrace had gone on. What I thought had only been a few minutes could have gone on a lot longer. I look up to see that Alex doesn’t look worried at all and even has some kind of self satisfied look on his face like our kissing was a debate and he had won. I have just enough time to glare at him, like this was all his fault and not mine for pulling him closer, before my dad steps into the door way of my room. His eyes narrow as he glances between Alex and I and I know that his dad senses must be tingling. That and the fact that Alex clearly looks pleased with himself, I know I look flustered and both of us probably have lips the color of cherries pretty much tells the whole story. “Alex was just about to leave, Daddy,” I say hastily. “Weren’t you Alex?” “Yep,” he says smiling at me. My dad just shakes his head and grumbles “Just talking my ass,” before exiting my room. “Come on, kid,” we hear him say right outside. “I’ll walk you to the door.” Alex steps toward me and I narrow my eyes at him. He just chuckles and says “Relax,” before reaching down and takes my left wrist. And there it is appearing seemingly out of nowhere; a smaller version of the same triskelion that Alex has on his arm, looking as if it had been there my entire life. And I thought that in a way it had been, just biding it’s time, waiting for the right moment to make it’s appearance. He brushes his fingers against it and then smiles at me and says, “I’ll see you tomorrow, Evelyne.” Then he walks out the door to join my dad and as they amble toward the stairs, I can hear my dad ask him a question, though I can’t make out the words. Alex’s reply, though, is clear as crystal and I can feel my face heat up again. “No sir, I kissed her. But to be honest, I don’t think she minded too much.”
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Post by Thursday on Nov 13, 2010 18:37:36 GMT -5
((lol. i'm loving this))
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Post by Monday on Nov 13, 2010 18:52:26 GMT -5
((lol. awesome! :-) ))
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Post by Monday on Nov 14, 2010 4:09:38 GMT -5
Chapter 5
When I woke up the next morning, the very first thing to catch my eye was the new marking on my arm. I had spent half the night tossing and turning, not about my new knowledge of being an empath or joining the ranks of some very powerful people, but of Alex Herrera and his damn kisses. It had definitely felt good kissing him, there was no denying that. And I also had to admit that I was attracted to him, very much so in fact. But I’m on the cusp of so many new things in my life and I don’t think I could handle anything else, especially a boyfriend. Who said I even wanted Alex as a boyfriend anyway? Sure, he was obviously good looking and a good kisser, from what I could tell at least, but we would be terrible together. We would fight constantly and I knew Alex wasn’t exactly the romantic type so he’d never buy me flowers or take me out to dinner or anything else a good boyfriend would do. And he probably didn’t even like me enough to be my boyfriend, either; he didn’t really seem like the type to be committed to one person. But then again, maybe I was being unfair to him and should just ask him what he honestly thinks of me. All of these thoughts and more kept buzzing in my head like angry bees, some of them stinging worse than others ((too cheesy you think?)) until I was finally able to drift off to sleep sometime in the dead of night. But with the light of day came reason and I was able to put my problems into some perspective. Obviously kissing Alex was the least of my worries right now. What was I going to do about the whole intentionally joining a cult thing? When I first started getting ready for school my thoughts were completely focused on the most important matter at hand, being an empath plus, as I liked to call it. It was better than telecognipath which was the result I got from mixing together telepathic, precognizant, and empath into one word. I debated whether or not I should wear gloves to school to try and block out some of my powers but I figured people were going to think I was weird enough without making bizarre 80’s fashion statements all of a sudden. Besides if what Alex said is right, and I’m betting that it is, covering my hands won’t matter much longer anyways as my powers grow. And I’m pretty sure I wasn’t getting a read off Alex last night from touching him with my hands… Although I’m fairly certain that I won’t be going around kissing a bunch of people it wouldn’t really be practical for me to try to completely cover my arms and legs. It was early November now but it still wasn’t very cold in the part of the country I lived in. The forecast for today was sunny with a high of 82, not exactly long pants and sweater weather. But the closer it got to Alex picking me up, I started thinking less about my powers as an empath and more about my powers, or lack thereof, as a woman. I had no idea how to act girly or flirt or anything like that. Would Alex expect me at to act that way now? Did I even care what he thought? I wanted to say yes so badly but I knew that wouldn’t be one hundred percent true. I skipped breakfast; my stomach was too full of butterflies to even think about eating anything. I started pacing back in forth in the kitchen glancing up at the clock every couple of minutes and sighing in exasperation when I saw I still had a while to wait. Finally, my dad, who didn’t have to leave for his lecture class for another hour, poked his head in from the other room and said, “Relax, would yah, Evie? You’re starting to make me nervous.” Finally it was eight o’clock on the dot and as usual Alex was right on time. I glanced in the mirror to make sure that I looked okay and then walked outside, trying my best to appear calm and hoping I wasn’t failing to miserably. I was just so worried that I’d have nothing to say, that we’d just sit there in silence the entire car ride, and from what I’ve read, awkward silences with boys that you’ve just kissed for the first time the night before is possibly the worst thing that can happen to you other than actually showing up to school in your underwear or something. However, I don’t have to worry about that long as the first thing I see when I get in the car is a pretty good conversation starter. And that’s Alex’s face. He had turned toward me reflexively when I had climbed in but when he saw the look of shock on my face he turned his head back so I couldn’t see anymore. But in the short amount of time I did have to get a glimpse of his face, I had seen enough. A slash mark ran across his cheek, starting a little below the middle of his face and ending at his hair line, barely missing the corner of his eye. The wound was red and slightly swollen but didn’t seem to have any stitches in it so it probably wasn’t that deep. Or he had just decided to pass on the trip to the hospital. “Are you okay?” I exclaimed as I shut my door. It took all my energy not to gently reach my hand to his face so I could get a better look at the cut but I knew he wouldn’t like that. Alex wasn’t exactly the type to show off his weakness even if he did need help. “What happened?”
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Post by Monday on Nov 14, 2010 4:10:32 GMT -5
((p.s. i really need help coming up with a title, i still have no idea. lol. thanks))
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Post by Monday on Nov 14, 2010 22:14:24 GMT -5
“It’s nothing,” he says as he revs the engine to life and starts backing out of my driveway. I didn’t miss the fact that he only answered one of my questions. “Like hell it’s not! Really, it can be pretty frustrating to be friends with someone who’s such a masochist all the time!” He starts to smile a little at that but just ends up wincing in pain. “Seriously,” I say trying again, “what happened?” He gives me a glance like he’s worried about me somehow when he’s the one that has a six inch slash running across his face. “It’s really not a big deal,” he says again. “Just an occupational hazard. Happens all the time.” Despite the angry scowl on his face I decide to press him more. “What do you mean, ‘occupational hazard’?” He sighs and runs his hand through his hair before shifting gears, actually and metaphorically. “Often times, our abilities are tied to our emotions. Sometimes people get too angry or upset and accidents can happen especially with so many… conflicting personalities living under one roof.” He glances over at me again as I’m starting to comprehend what he’s saying. “So one of your ‘friends’ did this to you?” I ask with a fairly distinct emphasis on friends. It’s all I can do to keep the disgust out of my voice. “Like I said, it was an accident. Not everyone liked that I, um, recognized you as one of us before talking it over with everyone.” “You mean you told them about that?” I ask in horror. My cheeks are probably a nice shade of crimson right about now. He gives me a smirk with the good side of his face and says, “Don’t worry; I left out all the gory details.” “Well how comforting,” I say sarcastically. The car is silent for a few moments as I think of what to say to this. “So basically they hate me already and they haven’t even met me yet,” I mumble. As far as I’m concerned this is just one more thing to add to my already full plate of worries. “They don’t hate you,” Alex says. “Trust me they were just frustrated with me, it’s not like they blame you or anything. And not everyone was mad; Brent agreed I did the right thing.” “Brent…” I said trying to recall the name. I knew it sounded familiar but it was kind of mixed in with all of the other information I had gotten last night. But then it came to me and I wondered how I could forget. “He’s the one that was able to find me, right?” He nods his head and gives me a reassuring smile. “Really though, most of them were fine with it. Just not all of them. Trust me it could have been a lot worse.” “Oh right and that’s supposed to be comforting somehow?” I say raising my eyebrow at him. He smiles now like he has before, like he knows I’ve said something to give him the upper hand. “You seem to be very worried about me all of a sudden, Gatsby.” I roll my eyes at him and say, “Don’t flatter yourself. I was just curious to know about what kind of people make up this merry band of yours.” “Really,” he says doubtfully. He doesn’t even bother to say it like a question! “Yep. It would be nice to know if I’m going to have to watch my back or not. It’s not like I can really defend myself with my empath power, I can only try to prevent a bad situation from happening. And that I can only do haphazardly right now.” “No one is going to hurt you,” he says sternly and I wonder who he’s trying to convince, me or himself. “I promise. And you’ll get better with your powers soon; we’re going to help you.” We pulled into school and as we started walking across the parking lot toward the entrance, I put a hand across my new marking. I knew no one could see it but Alex, me, or anyone else who might be “gifted” but it still felt so conspicuous that I had the urge to cover it up. I must have been just as jittery now as I was this morning because we weren’t even half way there when Alex turned to me and asked, “Are you OK?” “I’m fine.” He gives me another half smile that lets me know he’s not convinced. “Well if you must know, I’m just a little bit nervous. I mean what if they can tell that I’m, you know, different now. It’s going to be hard explaining to them why I know all their deep dark secrets just from touching them.” He stops just in front of the door and pulls me to the side where no one can hear us. “It takes some getting used to, believe me. But eventually, I don’t know how long, you’ll be able to control it better,” he says, trying to reassure me. “It could take a month, six months, a year, it’s different for everyone. But obviously you don’t see something burst into flames every time I get pissed off so you know you’ll be able to control yours too. And until then, you’ll just have to avoid giving yourself away. Showing people that aren’t like us what you can do… well let’s just say it doesn’t usually end well.” “Great, I’m sure I’ll sleep just wonderfully tonight.” He smirks. “I can always tell when you’re really worked up because you always try to make a joke out of it.” “Call it a character flaw,” I say with a grimace. “See, just like that,” he says with a smile. I start to smile back, but I just can’t pull it off. I glance back at the door behind us and almost whisper, “There’s no going back is there? Back to being normal.” He shakes his head and says, “But if you had the choice, would just honestly want to go back to being just normal?” I don’t know how he knows that this is exactly the right thing to say. But it is. I smile and we walk through the doors to join our other friends.
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Post by Monday on Nov 14, 2010 23:24:18 GMT -5
Alex’s words might have helped me temporarily but the more I hang out with the “normal” people, the more I realize how much I used to take for granted. Like making plans to go to the football game or what I’m going to wear to prom or whatever. And okay, I might be acting a little melodramatic considering I never went to football games before and hadn’t even thought about my junior prom yet. But all I kept thinking was that all I’d have to do was touch one of the football players to know the outcome of the game. Or I was wondering how I was even going to pick a prom date if I already knew the answer just from touching the lucky guy, whoever he might be. Did that still count as me making the choice myself? Because it all of a sudden felt like my options were being taken away from me. By the time I made it to Chemistry I was practically a bundle of joy. Not. However, Tommy cheered me up pretty quick. The moment we sat down at our lab table he asked, “So are you going to come to the party tonight?” I just stared at him blankly for a minute. With everything that had been going on, I had completely forgotten that he was going to have a party, much less what weekend it was. “That’s tonight?” “Yes,” he says, handing me a piece of paper with what I assume are directions to his house. “It starts at eight. Are you going to be there? Because it wouldn’t be nearly as fun if you weren’t.” And there was that award winning smile again, right on cue. It was funny to me now how much that smile used to send my heart jumping. But now there was someone else’s smile (and lips) that seemed to make my pulse quicken with just the thought of it. The thought of Alex having such an effect on me made me grimace. He must be like some kind of ninja, sneaking into my feelings like that before I could do anything about it. I looked down at the piece of paper in my hands trying to make up my mind. It was probably a stupid idea to go. But on the other hand, I did want to feel like a normal teenager again, at least for one night, and isn’t this what most normal high schoolers did? Go to parties? I knew immediately that Alex wouldn’t like the idea at all and in the end that was the deciding factor. “Sure,” I say giving Tommy a smile back. “I’ll be there.” My original plan was to just not tell Alex that I was planning on going to the party, but Tommy pretty much ruined that idea before English even got started. I had just taken my seat and Alex was about to lean over his desk and tell me something, when Tommy walked in and headed straight for my desk. He sat on the corner of the desk, his back facing Alex, just like he had done on that time before except that then Alex had just looked slightly bemused. Now he looked pissed off. “Hey Evie,” Tommy said smiling at me, and I tried to smile back though it really felt a little awkward with Alex glaring at the back of his head. Tommy didn’t seem to be able to feel the daggers that Alex was shooting in his back though so he just kept on. “I’m so glad you decided to come to the party. It’s BYOB but don’t worry if you can’t, I’ll have some extra there.” Then he winks at me and finally walks away. I don’t even dare to look over at Alex and just fiddle with my notebook, waiting for him to say something. I don’t have to wait long. “Do you even know what BYOB means, Gatsby?” he asks. He’s doing a pretty good job at hiding the anger from his voice but I know it’s still there like some dormant volcano waiting to erupt. “Yes, I do,” I reply defensively finally looking up at him. I should have known better then to lie to him though, even if it was to defend my pride. If it’s possible, he looks even angrier now. “You’ve got to be kidding me with this. You don’t actually plan on going to that jerk off’s party right?” “That jerk off, as you put it, has a name and he happens to be my friend,” I say angrily. Calling Tommy an actual friend is sort of pushing the limits of reality but Alex is really starting to get on my nerves, and I know that he won’t like me saying it. What business is it of his whether or not I decide to go? His eyes are practically sparking with the magnitude of his fury. “You are just unbelievable sometimes.” “I’m unbelievable!” I say a little too loudly. I see a few heads turn in our direction but I just ignore them and try to talk more quietly, though it feels impossible not to be yelling at him. “You’re the one that getting all worked up about a stupid party. Why do you even care?” “It’s a bad idea and you know it,” he says through clenched teeth. “If you wouldn’t be so god damned stubborn all the time, maybe you’d see that.” I’m about to offer up some retort back when I notice something that stops me. “Alex, you’re smoking.” “What?” he asks in confusion, still angry and still smoking. “If you’re trying to distract by some ridiculous attempt at flattery, you are-” “No,” I interrupt, talking back low but harshly. “You are literally smoking right now.”
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