New World

Chapter Two

She brought the Imparter to her lips, ignoring Via's latest message and whispered, "Hail Cerulean Asher Tsynis."

Her Imparter buzzed softly as it attempted to make contact with Cerulean's, before finally his face appeared on the screen, dark blue eyes confused. "New line... who's... oh, hey there, um..."

"Savannah," Savi reminded him.

"Okay, how about you pick a name that isn't three syllables and super hard to spell?"

"You can call me Savi. Everyone does," Savi proposed.

"Like, savvy? S-A-V-V-Y?"

"No, not that. S-A-V-I."

"That... isn't a word," Cerulean commented.

"You think I don't know that?" Savi asked, irritated. It shouldn't be a word – it was a nickname! But he was just giggling away like a girl. "What do I call you then, Cherry?"

"Whoa, no!" Cerulean spread his arms in his own defense. "Anything but Cherry. How about Ceru?"

"No. That's weird."

"Cheru. You can call me Cheru."

"Cheru," Savi repeated.

"Yes! What's wrong with Cheru?"

"It's... also weird."

"Well, I'm weird," Cerulean responded, almost proudly.

"You know what? Never mind. I'll stick with Cerulean. Or I can call you Dark Blue."

"Just call me Cerulean." Cerulean facepalmed.

Savi laughed softly and wondered what would've happened if she hadn't hailed Cerulean. For some reason, he'd managed to pull her out of her darkness. Maybe school wouldn't be so bad after all, if she stayed away from Via and Harmony and hung out with Cerulean instead.

"So... who are your other friends?" Savi asked.

"Other friends? Oh, uh... someone called Calla. Wait. That was you, right?"

"Yes," Savi said, rolling her eyes. She was pretty sure he'd intentionally mixed her middle name up with her.

"Well, no one else, then. Look, most people don't like the Tsynises."

"Really? Why? I've never even heard of you before."

"Oh, wait, seriously?" Cerulean asked. "I thought you were just being nice. I mean, you're Sophie Foster and Keefe Sencen's daughter – everyone wants to be your friend."

"You sure about that?" No one had approached her at school.

"Ohhhhh. Is that what this is about? Seriously, Savann- Savi, you're clueless. The reason no one approached you was because of me. Yeah. You were walking around with me, remember? And everyone hates me, remember?"

"Oh." Savi honestly didn't know what to say. 'Great. Now get lost'?

"Anyway, uh... why'd you call?"

"No reason," Savi said airily. "Just... kind of lonely."

"Lonely," Cerulean repeated.

Well, she had a bratty sister, her parents were home and her grandmother was over, if that counted as not being alone. But... they never felt like someone she could open up to. Edaline was nice, but Savi always knew that her grandmother's favorite was Seri. Maybe because Seri was a lot more like a cross between Sophie and Keefe, while Savi wasn't like any of her parents personality-wise.

One time, Edaline had accidentally let slip that Savi reminded her a little of Lady Gisela, Keefe's evil mother. Slightly reserved, and did hang out with family, but never saying much, more of listening, gathering information. Savi had fled from the dinner table when she said that and hadn't spoken to her grandmother for half a year. But as it went, half a year without Edaline's desserts wasn't half a year worth living, and Savi gave it up after a short while. Not worth it.

"Yeah. Um. Uh."

"Seriously, when you get all stutter-y, it's actually kind of cute."

Savi flushed. "You did not just flirt with me. We're eleven."

"That's why it's flirting only."

She just stared at him and he pulled his hair like she was an idiot for not getting the joke. But it wasn't even funny.

"What's it like at your place?" Savi asked, moving her Imparter as she lounged on her bed.

"Eh. Pretty normal."

"Yeah, well, what's normal?" Savi pressed.

"Mom and Dad arguing as usual. I mean, Mom was a Vacker and she married Dad because she loved him, I think. But she took his surname – something she seriously regrets now. She keeps pressing Dad to change it because she wants me to have an even weirder name that I can't remember – Cerulean..."

"Cerulean Asher Vacker? Honestly – it's not that hard. But then your initials wouldn't spell CAT anymore!" Savi said with a sudden thought.

"Yeah, well, my mom said that 'CAV' is way better than 'CAT'. She wanted it to be 'CAVE', but my dad's surname didn't start with an E, so... I don't know. But technically your initials would be SCS. Come on, that's so not fun. What if your surname was Foster-Sencen? SCFS. Seriously. Why do you have no vowels? Ask your parents to give you a second middle name! Maybe... Anna or something."

"SACS? Also, that wouldn't be a middle name anymore, if you get what I mean."

Cerulean laughed softly and Savi responded in a kind, watching his dark blue eyes trail her every movement, her eyes locked onto his. "Well, see you tomorrow," she said, perhaps a little too quickly, as though she wanted to get rid of him. It was accidental, but his eyes shone with hurt and he looked away before nodding.

"Yeah. I get it. You want to hang out with your girlfriends, don't you?" he asked. He seemed to be oblivious to the fact that she didn't have any female friends at the moment. Well, not close friends, anyway. She'd tried her hardest to pretend her friendship with Via was true, but in reality, she hardly knew the girl at all.

"No. I'm just... introverted, okay? I don't really know why I hailed you, honestly. I'm used to being alone." She reached to hang up but Cerulean's voice stopped her.

"Wait."

She looked back up into the eleven-year-old's dark blue eyes.

"You shouldn't have to get used to being alone, Savi. I'm always here. Okay?" Cerulean asked softly.

She smiled back, and it wasn't even a fake smile. "Okay."