Shadow Mutation (Book Seven) [UNDER MAJOR EDITING]

Chapter 17: Trying to Make Friends

"You need a bell or something," he says.

"I can't wear clothes," she reminds him, "but I'll keep that in mind."

He looks up at her, pictures her naked, and immediately feels his face get hot as he looks away. He clears his throat and adamantly stares at the round drainage grate in the centre of the floor. Don't be a creep, he scolds himself. He doesn't even know how old she is! And judging by her "going to school" at Roosevelt, she's probably a high schooler. Do shadow mutants age? Creep, creep, creep—

He hears her let out her hollow laugh. "Are you flustered? That's not like you."

"No, I'm not," he insists.

He wishes could rub the redness from his skin. Change the subject. His sleep-deprived brain scrambles for a topic, anything other than the possibly permanently naked shadow girl watching him so closely.

"So, uh...how old are you?"

Not that subject, dumbass!

"Oh, wow. That totally didn't come out of nowhere."

"Shut up! I'm tired and my brain isn't working!"

"Clearly. Do you need to take a cold shower before we keep talking?"

He aims a middle finger in her general direction, feeling slightly rewarded when her laugh rings out again.

"I'm eighteen, so you don't have to turn yourself in, puckhead," she says after a second.

He finally looks up at her, arms folded under her chin, bright white eyes always staring straight through him. "Huh, so you're graduating this year," he says. Or maybe she should've graduated this past summer, like with Andy and Taylor.

She makes air quotes. "Graduating. Yeah, if you can call it that." She exhales. "It's not like there's anything else out there for me."

Her words hit him in the chest. For months now, that sentiment has been his mantra. Nothing matters because there is no future for him. Nothing he does will give his life purpose or meaning or happiness. He's let himself believe those words for so long and yet, hearing her say it, he starts to understand how his friends feel. It's not fun to be on the other side of that sentiment.

"You could probably sit in on college classes," he suggests. "And it'd be free! That's a perk."

"What would I do with it? Learning for the sake of learning? It's not like I could get a job."

He rubs the back of his neck. "I...didn't think of that."

She shrugs. After a second, she pushes off the platform, doing a slow swan dive back to the ground. She adjusts herself to be right-side up before she hits the ground, sitting down next to him. He glances at her. She isn't really sitting, just floating above the bench at his side. She's kind of like an above-ground mermaid, swimming through the air.

"I envy you," she murmurs.

He raises an eyebrow. "Seriously?"

She nods. "I know how alone you've felt recently. I understand it better than you could ever know," she says, "but at least you have your friends."

He swallows, looking back towards the hallway. He can hear the others moving around, maybe going back to bed after a tiring night, but they don't venture out here. It's just Casey and a shadow.

"You must have had people like that once," he says. "Before you were mutated?"

For a second, her gaze turns distant. "Yeah. It's stupid, but...I miss being loved."