Silver

Chapter One: New Kind Of Kid

The sun was covered by a thick layer of clouds that made the morning dark and cold. It was hard to even get out of bed but I pulled on clothes anyway. Down in the kitchen I threw together a breakfast shake of all the fruits going bad. I didn't taste it as it slid down my throat and slugged into my stomach because I was already brushing my teeth and out the door.

I only had to stand at the bus stop for a few minuets in the cold, holding my jacket tight around me until the long yellow vehicle squealed to a stop at the corner.

I should have had the waffles instead.

I hope Emmet likes what I'm wearing.

When is the dance again?

Their quiet thoughts, echoed and muffled from sleep, floated around the inside of the bus for the whole ride, gliding out the door when it opened and lost into the air.

First hour, I was never a big fan of English but I did the work and did well anyway. I entered the room, the air stiff and humid, and took my seat in the front of the class. The row closest to the teacher in this class is always reserved for the students who can use their Forces to cheat or get answers in another way.

I was the first one in the class and was unpacking my things when the teacher came into the room.

Coffee. Coffee. Coffee.

The first thing she did was used the switch in the front of the class that sent a wireless signal to a box on our desks that put up a barrier to keep our Forces contained, useless.

"Good morning Ana." She said.

"Good morning Mrs. Philips." I droned, motion and emotionless. She crinkled her nose and her eyes flicked to the switch for the Elecro board and it clicked on. Her chair rose above her desk and landed in front of her where she sat and opened her book without touching it.

I sat and waited for the rest of the class to show up lazily, rearranging my books on my desk and doodling on the E-Paper that sat waiting there like always. The backlit screen hurt my eyes after a while and I erased the drawing of Mrs. Philips as a devil.

Later, when the rest of the class was ready and Mrs. Philips was standing at the Electro board, I turned my E-Paper back on and redrew the monster as she spoke.

I never listen in class and always get the answer right, I don't need to read minds to see what people are thinking, the emotion on their faces. She would occasionally call on me to answer to try to catch me off guard but I never was, even if I was daydreaming.

At lunch I sit with Gray, facing the line and her facing the door, because Sterling and Embery aren't here. We ate and gossiped but we have a deal not to use our Forces on one another, that means I dont read her thoughts and she doesn't toy with my emotoins, or read them.

"Hey, have you seen the new kid?" She asks, popping the last chip into her mouth.

"No, what class do you have with him?" I ask, new kids are a rarity at our school because of the location and the rules, and the other kids.

On a hidden peninsula, the town of Pateo, everyone who dares go to a school where those who have a Force and placed to live and be taught so that we can't accidentally hurt them, and so that they can't make us sick.

"None, but he's worried about something." She says, taking out her sleeve of chocolate cookies and ripping it open. She nods her head forward to somewhere behind me.

I slowly finish chewing my sandwich and panned over the entire room, hearing complaints about the food and classes and seeing people kissing and laughing before my eyes settled on him.

Sitting alone, facing the wall. His shoulders hunched forward, his plaid shirt tight over his arms, corded with muscle. Picking up the food in front of him lazily, his head down, eyes on his tray.

I heard his thoughts right away and it shocked me, worried me. We were always told that Pateo High was safe, that the regular humans wouldn't get in and make us sick, but there is a human, a regular human sitting in the same room as me.

I smoothed my face over before turning back around. I wanted to tell Gray what I know, wanted to keep the school and myself safe from his pleague. I knew that he was dangerous, I knew that he didn't have a Force, knew that he knew he dosn't belong. I knew that from just looking at him once, hearing just one thought, but I also knew knew that I couldn't betray him. Something about him made me calm, I felt awake.

His face was strong and chisseled, sitting in silence he kept a stright, calm face that made me feel calm and safe even though I knew that he was a danger. His strong arms and tough posture, he was important to me from the first second I saw him.

"Ana? Ana!" Gray had been calling my name and I hadn't heard it, I wonder for how long I had been in the trance he put me in.

"Hmm?" I looked over at her, she frowned and I could tell how badly she wanted to feel what I feel, to understand.

"What was that?" She asked at last, puting down her cookies and giving me all of her attention.

I can't lie to my friend, my only friend, my best friend. But I can't tell her why I have these feelings for a danger to myself and others because I don't even know why myself.

"I don't know." I told her. Looking over my shoulder again quickly to see him again. "But ya, something's bothering him."

"You think he's cute, don't you?" She leaned over and gave me that look.

"No!" I scrunched up my nose, making a faux lie face and checking over my shoulder again.

We laughed softly for the remainder of the lunch hour, talking about the other boys who we thought were cute and what we thought was atractive in a guy, but my mind was always on him, his toughts never left my head.

I listened to him throughout the rest of the meal and even as I sat and waited for my next class to come into the empty room I think of him, his face, his aura, his eyes. Their deep green looking into me, not at me as he walked into my next class.

My heart skipped a beat. Why do I feel this way? He is a danger to me and the others but I can't bring myself to tell someone. He stops me from exposing him by the way he looks at me. I am NOT falling in love with him. Am I?

"Hi." He says to me when we are partners for the assignment. "I'm Xander."

His mind reeled with questions but his face remained calm and it just smiled. He's smart, answers filled his thoughts as he looked down at his paper. I could hear the intelligence flow through his thoughts, laced into the words he spoke into his mind and out loud.

"What did you get for number three?" He froze me, I couldn't think or breathe. He looked confused but the way he contorted his face only made it harder to pull myself back together. I didn't want him to know if I really felt this way about him before I did.

She doesn't know?

He frowned at me, his brows drawing together, his bright green eyes lit wit with curiosity. I wanted to keep him confused just to hear him think. His thoughts set me free in a way when I didn't even know I was trapped. Trapped by this school and by all of the adults in my life that tell me what's right from wrong and I loved the freedom he put in me, his thoughts made mine clearer.

We did more talking and getting to know each other then we did the worksheet. Every time we spoke, I gladly made lasting eye contact. Their bright green shade piercing my usually calm composer, making me feel more myself then I usually do holding back. When I talked to him, I didn't have to worry about what people thought about me, I could just be myself!

The bell rang too soon even after we were done with our assignment and were back in our seats I kept seeing Xander look over his shoulder at me. Not sure if he was reading my thoughts on my face or wishing that he could hear what they really were, because after that class I knew for sure that I was falling in love with a walking disease.