Caught

Chapter Twenty-Seven

"What? You forgot about your best friend, Lauren?" The girl - Beth, said. "You must've really liked Paris, not caring to come back like your brother and dad."

Wait, best friend? Was I out of my mind?

"And you, Aidan?" She continued. "Boarding school alright? You never cared to come visit during breaks, this is your first, right? Heard your sister joined you."

His eyes widened, probably because he wasn't aware of that part. I sent him a silent message as he looked at me, saying she's probably not at the Institute. We'd probably know if she was.

"So, is there anything we can do for you... Beth?" I asked her. She couldn't have just been here for no reason.

"What? Six years in the city of love and you haven't even picked up the accent?" She laughed. What was this girl's deal. Just leave us alone. "Can you at least speak French?"

"Oui, je parle le français. Vous ne peux pas habiter dans un pays quand tu ne sais pas la langue."

Clearly, I had to work on my French.

However, the girls looked at me in shock, clearly surprised I even knew a bit of the language. We did learn a bit at the Institute, and I payed attention in class like the good girl I was.

"So, again, do you need help with something?" I asked the girls.

She shook her head, her blonde hair moving in sync with her. "No, not really. Just to see if Jade's vision was correct when she said she saw the two of you." The girl with the black glasses and green streak in her black hair looked down. "Anyway, are you two heading to the ball tonight?"

We both nodded in response.

"Good. So Aidan, you'll pick me up at seven?" Beth asked.

Both of us looked at each other, then shot confused looks at the girl.

"What? You didn't forget, did you Aidan?"

"I - uh... it's definitely been a while since we've talked, Beth," He said. "Did I... did I tell you anything?"

She rolled her eyes. "Boys will be boys," She muttered before explaining. "You promised me that once you got back, you'd take me to the first ball the royals had after you came back."

"Oh, um, well..." Aidan was sweating, rubbing his wet palms on his sweater. "I already asked someone for tonight."

I was just as confused as the other girls. "What?" Beth asked.

"I asked, Lauren." He turned to me. "You're going with me tonight, right?"

He was pleading with his eyes, begging me to just go with it.

"Yeah... yeah, we're totally up for tonight." I had no idea what I was agreeing to. Or, at least why.

The girl looked furious, you could almost see the flames in her eyes. "But - but, fine. Whatever. There are better fish in the ocean, anyway."

She turned around, he hair hitting the third girl, Amber, in the face. She completely ignored it, following her with Jade by her side. She muttered something to Jade, something about me - that's all I could hear.

"That was... strange," I said. "What was that all about? I was best friends with that girl?"

Aidan stirred his hot chocolate. "She wasn't that bad when we were little, she definitely changed, a lot. You weren't best friends with her, per say, but she... really envied you."

"Why?" I asked. I couldn't imagine anyone wanting my life, thought I didn't know how good my before life was. Maybe I was, like, popular in fifth grade.

"You had straight A's and were liked by everyone," Aidan explained. "She always wanted to have a relationship with Princess Taylor but you and Alyssa were the only girls she really hung out with, despite not being able to go to school. I guess she really changed once we left."

"And the promise?" I asked.

He turned red. "She had a huge crush on me when we were younger - I didn't even know it was possible for ten year-olds to love like that. I said she could have a dance with me if I came back, not expecting to."

"Aidan."

"Yeah, Laur?"

"I don't know how to dance," I said. "And I don't think I can." I looked down at my bad leg.

"Heal it," He said simply. I gave him a confused look. "You have the ability to do it, go for it."

I looked around the jam-packed cafe. "In front of everyone?"

"You just have to concentrate on healing yourself, no visible things required."

I lifted my leg up, stretching it out on the seat, since it wasn't entirely full with me in it. I pulled up my pant sleeve, revealing a blood-stained bandage I changed this morning. Peeling it off, I faced the cuts that covered my leg.

Just concentrate on healing yourself, I told myself. I closed my eyes, thinking about healing my leg.

When I opened them, the cuts were gone, not even leaving scars. The bone on the inside that was supposedly cracked felt okay. I stomped the ground a few times, making sure it didn't hurt.

"It worked." I smiled.

"Shocking," Aidan said, not surprised. We both ended up laughing.

Once the laugh died down and the quick glances at us stopped, I decided to steer the topic back to what it was originally. "So, what did you want to know?"

He looked at me, not wanting to answer the question. Taking a deep breath, he spoke: "I mean, to make sure this is really true we have to wait till tonight but, Lauren, I'm pretty sure you could see the future."

-- : --

so, lauren might be able to see the future, huh?

did you see me trying to speak french? yeah, that's basically the hardest thing i could say. my teacher is really bad.

so, till next time :)

~prantika