My Soul to Keep

Chapter 7

After his run in with Rydescence, Hexander decided to stick close to Leilani for a while to avoid a repeat of the encounter. The problem was that sticking by her meant that he was constantly in the presence of her new friends; Anthony especially. As the first week of school passed into the second, Leilani began to grow closer with each of her new friends but with Anthony the most. Anthony was always at her side when he could be, telling her jokes that made her laugh, helping her navigate the school and learn who was who and partnering with her on school assignments when he could. The last part bothered Hexander the most when one of those assignments called for work outside of class. After school hours was the only time Hexander had Leilani to himself anymore and what was worse, since her parents hadn't met any of her new friends yet they needed to work on the assignment at her house. Hexander couldn't help but feel slowly booted out of his spot as her best friend; and that made him want to give in to his dark urges even more.

            Hexander watched angrily from behind them as they walked to Leilani's house with Scott, Ethan, Vincent and Anthony's brother Zach. The younger boys talked excitedly about playing Ethan's new zombie game while Anthony made jokes at Zach's expense about him having nightmares later that made Leilani laugh. I'm supposed to be making those jokes, Hexander thought bitterly. He knew he should've been happy that she wasn't miserable, but he couldn't bring himself to be. All he could think was the closer she got to others, the farther she would be from him.

            Walking into the house, Scott and his friends ran up to his room to play the video game and a new thought suddenly hit Hexander. Where were Anthony and Leilani going to be? Much to Hexander's relief, Leilani stopped them in the living room where she put her bag down before offering to get them snacks. As she disappeared into the kitchen, Hexander followed after her, a pleased smile spread across his face. “Do you mind getting the Pringles from the cabinet for me?” Leilani asked him quietly as she went into the fridge to get sodas. Hexander happily obliged, his mood further lifted by the fact that she wasn't choosing to ignore him. He put an unopened Pringles container on the counter, closing the cabinet, and turned to find Leilani staring at him oddly.

            “What?” he asked her.

            “Why are you so smiley all of a sudden?” she asked back, being sure to keep her voice low and glancing at the doorway of the kitchen to make sure it was clear.

            “No reason,” Hexander shrugged. “I'm just happy. I do smile when I'm happy, you know.”

            “Yeah, you do,” Leilani said. “But not often and definitely not like that. You look like the entire world shifted in your favor.”

            “Maybe it did,” Hex replied. “I don't ask much of the world, so when it gives me what I want, I'm grateful.”

            “What did you want that it gave you?” she asked and Hexander just stared at her in silence, making her fidget.

            Saving Hexander from having to answer, Scott and Ethan came down the stairs, into the kitchen. Scott went straight for the fridge, ignoring his sister's presence except to bump her out of his way. Leilani playfully slapped him in the back of the head before grabbing the Pringles container and moving to get a plate. Ethan grabbed the chips bag from the top of the fridge and stood next to Leilani as he grabbed a bowl for their snacks too. Hexander watched semi-suspiciously as Ethan smiled at Leilani, her smiling back, and attempted to start a conversation with her. It occurred to Hexander that Ethan liked her, but after a minute of watching them interact, he came to the happy conclusion that Leilani wasn't interested and was only being polite. “So what's the assignment you and Anthony are working on?” Ethan asked as they each set up their snack plates.