I am not one of them

4) Back to campus

Louisiana, New Orleans
February 16th 2039

Lincoln and Riley were sitting in the most isolated corner of the coffee shop, outside was still raining just like the day before, which was pretty unusual for New Orleans. They were both looking outside the big window with the name of the coffee shop on it. Even if outside was cold and wet inside was warm and very cozy, the pillows on the chairs were soft and comfy, and the whole place was decorated very nicely. The smell of coffee and fresh-baked sweets was delighting.

-I hope yesterday conversation is really over-

He said with a little smile, he had the feeling that for Riley wasn't over yet, and he was afraid that he might do something stupid. She moved her look from outside the window to her brother, then stared at him for a second, raised her eyebrows and after a few seconds replied smiling back

-Yeah sure, I promise I won't go on any suicidal journey-

Rising her hand like when you are in court and you promise to tell the truth and only the truth. "Good humor-mode instead of mission impossible-mode" Link said in his mind while keep smiling at Riley.

But then her expression shifted from smiley to angry

-Damn it, I forgot to charge my phone-

She said throwing the phone on the table, Link looked at her and then he tried not to burst out laughing, she looked at him pretty angry and said with a certain tone

-WHAT?-

He tried to contain but couldn't and then he shaked his head 

-no nothing, absolutely nothing-

He then took her phone, looked around to make sure nobody was looking at them. Link closed his eyes to focus and a few little lighting surrounded his hands and the phone. The mark of the apple popped back on the phone and it suddenly turned back on. Then he proudly said

-here to you-

And handed the phone to her. On her face was easy to read the surprise, but just for a few seconds, after that she looked very angry, she punched him on his shoulder. And he made that What-the-hell-are-you-doing face

-you go around using your powers and then dare tell me that I'm the one who is not careful enough-

She said with a smothered voice and shocked face, she wanted to raised her voice but she couldn't risk to be heard by anyone.

Riley was sincerely speechless, the day before he gave her a lecture about being not careful and now he was using powers in a public pace with cams. But on the other hand she was a bit overreacting because that was not that much noticeable., but still wrong.

Louisiana, LaFayette University
February 18th 2039

-welcome back roomie I was starting to get bored-

Kristal roommate said with an ironically sad grimace, after she walked in their room. It was now about 5 months that Kristal and Emma were roomate, but before that they were already friends in high school. Emma moved to Kristal's high school during 11th grade, and because both of them wanted to attend LaFayette university they became friends, thinking that would been nice going to college with a friend, plus the two girls get along very well from day one, mostly because they had a lot in common.

Emma is a skinny girl from Georgia, with green eyes and brown wavy hair. Not very tall but she is one of those people who can't stay still for more than two seconds moreover she is a total party girl, and she turned Kristen into a party girl.

Kristal laughed at her roomie joke and then she fell on the bed sighing of relief, she hates the stairs to get to her room.

-Can't believe I'm gonna say this but...I'm glad to be back-

Kristal replied ironically looking up to the ceiling, but then her expression from happy shifted to confused and surprised

-what are those?-

She asked a bit confused. Emma got up and sit on Kristal's bed

-well- she said with a vague tone - I decided to make some changes-

Emma filled the whole ceiling with glowing stickers like the ones for kids who are scared of the darkness. Kristal raised her eyebrows surprised but then burst in laugh.

-sure, cool but I promise if they keep me up at night- she stopped to prepare her threat -I'll burn them-

She said with conviction and looking at Emma right in her eyes, of course was being ironic. Emma at first laughed and then she started to talk about the guy she liked and her ex boyfriend, then she started talking about her art professor and how hot he was. She was basically talking alone because Kristal was still thinking about her adoption and she was completely lost in her mind stuck in between memories. Back at home she did everything to convince herself that once she would go back to campus she would only focus on study -and of course parties, I mean campus life-, but the self convincing thing wasn't really working because she couldn't get that thought out of her head, which was driving her crazy. She needed to talk with someone, but in some way she felt ashamed of herself. She couldn't really explain why, but Kristal always thought that if something makes you question yourself it's wrong: feeling ashamed was wrong, plus she really had nothing to be ashamed of, it's not like it was her fault. But maybe that wasn't the real reason why she didn't talk to anybody yet, it's certainly not because she doesn't have friends she has a lot of them. After knowing her parents lied to her whole life she wasn't sure who she could've trust.

After a while Emma realized that Kristal was absent so she asked, like a good friend, but before that she joked a bit

-soooo, I got an UFO in my closet-

She said to see if maybe something crazy would shock her out, but nothing

-There's the ghost of a ship behind you-

And again nothing with the same serious tone of before. So she took a pen from her bed and throw it to Kristen. The roomie looked at her completely surprised and then she said

-what the hell was that for?-

with a tone in between surprised and angry

-clearly the only way to get your attention- 

Emma said while lounging, but she was really serious just trying not to be a total -bitch- insensitive person.

-sorry I've been thinking about a thing for a long time, and I can't get it out of my mind-

Kristal said while making a sad smirk.

-you wanna talk about it?-

Emma replied, her tone was now nicer and her face looked much more calm. There it was the chance Kristal was looking for, well actually the chance she needed to open up with someone. She wasn't really sure if she should have but couldn't really control her self. Before Kristal could ever realize it she was spilling it all out. She was almost on the point of crying, but stopped herself. For the first fracture of second Emma was kinda confused but not really she was processing, she didn't see that coming, and after that fraction she was surprised. She waited till Kristal ended her speech and then hugged her, she didn't really knew what to say. But she absolutely knew what to do next.

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So everybody what do you think so far?

Well I just wanted to tell you that in my book nothing seems what it really is.

-M