As the bell rings, announcing the end of the day, I gently place my sketchpad in my bag and leave the classroom. Art is my last class of the day and by far my favorite. I'd always loved drawing. I'd become very good at it, too. Years of practice while stuck on the third floor of the house will do that for you.
I had trouble losing myself in the familiar motions of my pencil today, though. My usual headache is becoming too painful to ignore, and I'll be spending most of the night surrounded by too many people. I need a bit of a break.
When I round the corner into the hallway, I catch sight of Lawrence casually leaning against the red metal of my locker. When he sees me approaching, he steps to the side, giving me just enough room to open it. As soon as I place my books inside and close the door, he presses his forearm into the metal above my head, leaning in towards me.
He's spent a lot of time around me since he came here yesterday, and I've noticed his getting close doesn't bother me like it usually does. His proximity does make me nervous, and the butterflies in my stomach go crazy, but it's a nice change from my usual reaction to people. I much prefer the butterflies to the usual cramping I get with other people.
"You going to the game tonight?" He asks, leaning so close, I feel his breath on my cheek while he speaks. Turning my head, my breath catches in my throat when I see he's even closer than I'd thought. My move brings our lips only a hairsbreadth away from each other. His grey eyes drop down quickly before returning to my own.
He seems to be searching my eyes for something, but I don't know what he's looking for. After a moment's hesitation, he takes a small step back, and my held breath whooshes out of me. He's still very much in my personal space, but at least I can breathe again.
"Yeah. I kind of have to. Got to support my friends. Oliver is the quarterback. Micah is the star receiver, and Hazel is head cheerleader," I reply after taking a second to gather my thoughts.
Leaning closer again, a small smile lifts the corners of his mouth, and my eyes are drawn to the movement. I really wish he'd stop leaning close like that. Every time he does it, it makes me think he's going to kiss me. I'm not opposed to the idea, but all the false alarms are going to give me a heart attack if he keeps it up.
"I'm glad. I hope to see you there," he says, turning and walking away without another word. Well, that wasn't strange at all.
I realize why he'd done it a second later when my friends suddenly surround me, chatting excitedly about the upcoming football game. Lawrence hasn't really talked to anyone except me since he arrived yesterday. Plenty of people have approached him, especially River, but he seems to stay to himself for the most part. He also doesn't come around me when my other friends are with me. It probably has something to do with the strange scene that happened in front of the office yesterday, but I still haven't been able to figure out what it was.
"You ready to see our skills, Ari?" Micah asks, pulling me into their conversation about the game tonight. I nod in response, smiling up at him. Despite the pain I know it'll cause, I'm really excited about going to my first football game. My friends don't realize yet that all these ordinary things are all new experiences for me. I'll tell them eventually, but how can I explain something I don't even have the answers to myself?
"Do you even know anything about football?" Oliver asks curiously.
"Yeah, I know all the rules and everything," I answer, suddenly thankful for the many afternoons I'd spent watching football on TV with my dad and Lucien. I don't exactly love it, but I do understand it.
"Seriously?" He asks, his voice full of skepticism. After a few random trivia questions about the sport thrown my way, he looks at me in surprise. "Are you sure you're not Google? Because you've got everything I've been looking for."
We all laugh at his typical antics, but none of us bother responding to his comment. Hazel was right. You get used to his pickup lines pretty quickly. It no longer surprises me when he throws one out of nowhere, but they never fail to amuse me.
"What's so funny?" Emily asks, turning up next to us out of nowhere.
"Just Oliver being Oliver," Hazel responds with a shake of her head.
Being familiar with Oliver, she just nods with a chuckle. "Hey, Ari. Do you want to sit with me at the game tonight since the rest of them will be on the field? I usually have to sit alone."
"You don't sit with your parents?" I ask.
Emily looks more than a little uncomfortable with my question. So, Micah jumps in to answer for her. "Our parents don't come to the games."
I can't help wondering why, since their son is supposedly one of the best players on the team. Opening my mouth to ask, I pause when I catch sight of Hazel giving me a subtle shake of her head. Snapping my mouth shut, I choose to let it go. There's plenty of questions I don't want to answer. So, I know when to drop it.
Before I can respond to Emily about us sitting together, though, Micah stops walking in the middle of the parking lot and spins to face me. He takes a deep breath, looking nervous.
"I'm gay, and our parents don't approve," he says, clearing his throat awkwardly.
My eyebrows nearly hit my hairline while I study his face. He continues to stare back at me with a blank look, waiting for my reaction. Saddened by the uneasiness wafting off of him, I drop my eyes to the ground.
"I'm sorry," I mumble.
"That I'm gay? Or that my parents don't approve?"
"That I brought it up, and that they don't approve," I respond with a shrug.
With a nod and a little smile in my direction, he continues walking towards his truck. We all follow along behind him, and Hazel's comment on my very first day suddenly comes back to me. She'd said, "No chance of anything happening there, but he's so much fun to look at." That comment had confused me at the time, but it makes perfect sense now. Considering River's obsession with him, I wonder if only our group knows or if it's common knowledge.
Oliver, Emily, and Hazel pack into the cab with him when we reach his truck, and I hesitate.
"Hey, Emily. Since we're sitting together at the game, and the others all have to be there early, do you just want to come with me to my house? Then we can ride to the game together?" I haven't asked permission, but I'm assuming that since Lucien and Uncle Ben have given me freedom, it includes having friends over.
"No fair!" Hazel hollers out the window of the truck. "I was your first friend, and she gets the first invite to your house?"
Chuckling at her fake offended expression, I throw my hands up in the air dramatically. "You can all come over until you have to come back for the game if you want."
Pushing away my own unease at the invitation, I wait for their response. River and Julian had always been allowed to have friends over, though I'd had to stay on the third floor when they were there. I'm pretty sure this is okay now. We'll find out, I guess.
Everyone in the truck turns to look at Micah, waiting for his decision since he's their driver.
"Sure. We have a couple hours before we have to be back," he says with a shrug, turning to glance at the others in the truck. "Do you guys have everything you need, or do we need to make some stops?" Once they all nod, he turns back to me. "Alright. I guess we'll follow you to your house."
Once I get to my car, I shoot a quick text to Uncle Ben, warning him that I have friends coming over, and I pull out of the parking lot. When we pull up to the house, I'm relieved by the absence of River's SUV in the driveway.
Once we all pile into the house, I'm surprised to find Julian lying on the couch, eating Doritos and watching TV. I'd assumed he and River had gone somewhere after school.
"Hey, I didn't think you were home."
Eyes never leaving the TV, he replies, "River dropped me off and left again. Something about going to a friend's house before the game."
He finally glances up and does a double-take when he notices all the others with me. Waving awkwardly, he sits up on the couch.
"Is Uncle Ben here?"
"Haven't seen him. I'm guessing he's at the bar," he says with a shake of his head. He's probably right. He's spending a lot of time lately working on getting the place ready to open.
"Anyone want something to eat or drink?" I ask, glancing around, and they all sort of shrug.
"There's cash on the counter with a note that says we can order pizza," Julian speaks up.
We quickly discuss toppings and order a few pizzas to be delivered. Luckily, Hazel's parents own the local pizza place. So, even though we're outside the usual delivery range, they agreed to deliver it anyway.
"We're going to go up to my floor," I announce to Julian.
"Her floor?" Someone from the group whispers behind me, clearly confused.
Julian waves with a dismissal nod, but I find myself hesitating at the bottom of the stairs.
"Do you want to come?"
His head jerks towards me in surprise, and he nods hesitantly.
"Uhhhh, yeah. Sure."
At the top of the stairs, I push the door open and step aside so everyone can enter. They all drop their bags on the floor by the door, and glance around, taking in my personal space.
"Whoa. You have your own living room?" Micah asks in a stunned tone.
"Yeah. Pretty much. The whole top floor is mine. It's a long story," I mumble uncomfortably.
They all look at me confused, and I sigh, deciding that I might as well tell them at least part of it.
"I was homeschooled my whole life. I'm not sure why I was when my siblings weren't, but I was. My first day at your school was my first day of school, period. I've never really had friends before."
I pause, and suck in a deep breath, tugging on the hem of my shirt subconsciously.
"I never really had the chance until now. Since I spent all my time cooped up in the house, they attempted to create a space for me that was my own. I have a ton of books, movies, video games, all kinds of stuff to fight the boredom," I say, not mentioning my isolation from my own siblings since I have no way of explaining it.
Once I finish my spiel, all of my friends just stare at me blankly. Julian is too busy looking around, and I don't know if he even realizes I've said anything.
"So, what you're saying is... you've spent most of your life in here?" Micah asks with a strange look in his eyes.
"Not here exactly. We just moved here about four months ago, but our old house was set up almost exactly the same," I respond, tugging at my shirt again. This conversation is beyond uncomfortable for me.
I note the confusion on all of their faces. Well, I'm confused when it comes to all of this, too. So, I can't help them there.
Hazel clears her throat loudly before speaking. "Well, I'm honored that I was your first friend then."
"The whole floor is mine. You guys can explore and look around if you want," I say with a smile, my nerves easing off somewhat with Hazel's words. This seems to be all the encouragement Julian needs because he shoots off down the hall as soon as the words are out of my mouth.
His reaction seems to just confuse the rest of them further.
"Your brother's never been up here?" Micah asks, and I gulp, nervously clearing my throat.
"No. Like I said, it's a long story, and I don't really know how to explain it. Since my life was a lot different from theirs, my siblings and I have never been... close, I guess you could say."
That's the understatement of the century, but it's all the info I can really give them. Luckily, they drop it, holding in what's no doubt a thousand questions.
After about ten minutes of everyone exploring, we all meet back up in the living room.
"This place is awesome," Oliver exclaims excitedly, looking through all the video game stuff lined up on the shelf of my entertainment center. Everyone else makes themselves comfortable on the couch, recliner, and bean bag chairs scattered about the room.
"It really is," Micah says, agreeing with Oliver's assessment. "It's like you have your own little apartment."
"Yeah, it gets lonely up here, though," I reply honestly, and he tilts his head questioningly.
"Well, if you get lonely, you could just go downstairs, right?"
My eyes meet Julian's for a second, and I catch a brief flash of sadness flicker through them. For the first time, I think he might have just realized that being 'favored,' as he called it, doesn't mean that I go the better end of the deal.
"Sure," I say, agreeing with Micah. No need to explain to them all that I've always been an outsider in my own family.
A knock on the door draws all of our attention. Not the front door, but the door to my floor. Julian shrugs when I shoot him a look of confusion. I should have heard someone coming up the stairs. I usually do.
"Yeah?" I call out, and as the door starts to open, the smell of melted cheese and various pizza toppings reaches my nose. "Oh, hey, Lucien," I say with a smile when the door fully opens to reveal him holding a stack of pizza boxes.
"Hey, I was coming to talk to you when I ran into the pizza guy outside. I was wondering why there are so many."
"Mr. Villette?" Micah asks curiously, his eyes darting between me, Lucien, and Julian. "What are you doing here?"
"Uhhhh," I stutter out awkwardly, unable to believe I hadn't mentioned this to them. "Mr. Villette is an old friend of my parents, and he's my godfather."
Micah's eyes zero in on me, seeming to study me more closely.
"Wow! He doesn't look old enough for that. What was he, a kid, when they made him your godfather?" Micah asks, eyes never diverting from my own.
I glance at Lucien, my eyebrows drawing together in confusion. For the first time, I wonder the same thing. He doesn't look like he can possibly be ten years older than me, let alone any more than that. Now that It's been pointed out, and I'm really looking, he doesn't look to be any older than early to mid-twenties. Lucien coughs awkwardly, placing the pizzas on the coffee table.
"I'm older than I look. Plus, her parents were really young when they had her. They were about the same age as you guys, actually."
With that simple explanation, I brush my suspicions aside. He's the person I'm closest to, regardless of anything else. He always has been.
"AJ, I wanted to talk to you about something right quick," he says quietly, nodding his head towards the hall.
In my room, I close the door behind us, and we both drop down to sit on the foot of the bed.
"I'm glad to see you seem to be making friends so easily," he starts.
"It's okay that they came over, right? I didn't exactly ask permission. It was sort of a last-minute thing. Since I have the freedom to go out whenever I want now, it didn't seem like it would be a big deal," I say, knowing it's not his house, but since my parents died, Uncle Ben seems to defer to Lucien's judgment on most things involving me.
"No, it's fine with me if you have friends over. I'm sure Ben doesn't really mind either. I just wanted to check in with you and make sure you're keeping certain things to yourself."
"Of course, I am. I'm not stupid," I reply with a roll of my eyes.
"Just remember, a friend today could be an enemy tomorrow. Even though they're your friends, you shouldn't trust them completely. Not with the type of secrets going on around here," he says gently, not wanting to upset me, and I nod in understanding. "Also, I want to ask you about the new kid at school."
I raise an eyebrow in question. "What about him?"
"What's going on with him? Is he a friend?"
My eyes fall to my lap, where I nervously twist my fingers together, not wanting to talk about this. He drops his head down, trying to catch my eyes.
"Is he more than a friend?"
"I'm not exactly sure what he is," I respond honestly with a sigh.
"The boy hasn't exactly tried to hide his interest since he showed up yesterday. I saw you two at your locker this afternoon."
Falling back on the bed, I drag a pillow over my face and groan in embarrassment. His low chuckle reaches my ears, and I swing the pillow at his head. He dodges it easily, and I glare at him before hiding my face again. He seems way too amused for my liking.
"I know you don't have any experience with boys or, well, people in general. If you need to talk about any of these changes, you can come to me, AJ. You know that, right?"
I peek one eye out from under the pillow, nodding slightly. The one thing I've always been sure of is that he's there if I need him.
"I know you've been a little more distant lately because of the information I'm keeping from you for your parents, but I'm doing it out of respect for them. They were the ones responsible for making these decisions for you, not me. I don't want to lose our friendship because of this," he says, suddenly not meeting my eyes anymore. I can tell from his voice that he's upset by the notion, and I can't stand it. Sitting up, I throw my arms around his neck. I draw in the familiar scent of his cologne and squeeze him tightly.
"I might not be happy that you're keeping their secrets, but I don't think anything can break our friendship."
Squeezing me back, he nods against the side of my head before pulling away.
"If you need to talk about all these new things happening, call, text, knock on my door, whatever."
"What should I do about Lawrence?" I ask, looking back down at my lap.
"What do you mean?"
"Like, how do I know if he likes me?"
Reaching out, he ruffles my hair and bursts out laughing. "Oh, sweetheart, trust me. He likes you. Everyone knows that. I don't think his eyes have left you for a single second while you're at school since he showed up."
Standing up to leave, he continues to chuckle under his breath, pulling me up with him by my hand.
"Now, come on. Your friends are waiting. We'll talk more later."
With that, we both leave my room and walk back into the living room together. Lucien quickly says goodbye to everyone and leaves while I grab a couple pieces of pizza and a drink from the table. As soon as he's out the door, Hazel speaks up.
"Man, I wish Mr. Villette would come into my bedroom. That man is gorgeous," she says with a grin, causing me to choke on my drink. Coughing violently, I shake my head at her. In his attempt to help, Oliver leans over from the bean bag chair next to me and hits my back a few times while everyone else dissolves into laughter.
Finally able to breathe again, I glance at Hazel.
"Ew. Don't. Just don't," I mutter uncomfortably.
I see Lucien every single day, and it had never even registered to me that he was a good-looking man until Hazel just said it. It makes me feel a little uneasy to notice it now. He's my godfather and one of my closest friends in the world. I prefer just seeing him as Lucien and not noticing the rest.
Hazel's grin widens, and she shrugs carelessly. "Can't help it. I've thought that man was eye candy since the first time I set eyes on him. Can't change that opinion now just because he's your godfather."
"Fine. Just keep your thoughts to yourself, please," I mumble in response, shifting uncomfortably in my seat.
Once everyone finishes eating, the boys start a racing game on the PS4 while we girls decide to get ready for the game. Hazel and Emily grab their bags, following me to my bathroom.
"Oh, man! I love this bathroom!" Hazel exclaims. I glance around at the white walls and the black tile floor. There's a long white countertop with two sinks, and black cabinets underneath. I have to agree with Hazel, I love the large lighted mirror, and the large glass-encased rain shower is to die for. It's even better than the bathroom in my old house.
We all proceed to touch up our hair and makeup. Emily and I wear what we wore to school, but Hazel has to change into her cheerleading uniform. It's the usual cheerleading uniform in the blue and red school colors, but she also gets to wear blue pants under the skirt. She has a little jacket and matching beanie in the school colors as well.
It's not long before everyone leaves except me, Emily, and Julian. We still have close to an hour before we have to go. Julian agrees to ride with us, and I don't miss the way he keeps glancing at Emily when he agrees to it either. I can't hold in a chuckle as I watch him try to pretend that he's not watching her every move. It looks like I'm not the only one with a crush.
Julian eventually goes back downstairs, and I lounge on the recliner while Emily does the same on the couch. We chit-chat idly about our friends, school, and boys while we wait. When it nears our time to leave, Uncle Ben finally makes an appearance. Walking through my door without bothering to knock, he glances around the room.
"I thought you had more friends over. Lucien mentioned boys," he says suspiciously, obviously in overprotective uncle mode.
"I did, but the others are either on the team or the cheer squad. They had to leave earlier than us for the game."
"I'm not sure how I feel about you having boys up here. Especially when I'm not home," he mumbles, looking uncomfortable with having to step into the role of a parental figure, and Emily speaks up from her spot sprawled out on the couch.
"If it helps at all, one of them was my brother, and he's gay."
Well, I guess that answers my question about if it was common knowledge. She didn't have any problem tossing that little bit of info out to a man she just met.
"Well-... I guess-... Yeah, that does make me feel a little better, actually. What about the other boys, though?"
"The only other boy in our group is Oliver. You don't have to worry about him. I'm pretty sure Ari isn't interested," Emily responds before I can, and I shake my head when they both glance in my direction. "Lawrence is who you should probably worry about, and he wasn't here,"
I grab the throw pillow from beside me, and I think that its name suddenly makes sense as I sling it at Emily's head. Uncle Ben watches us with his lips twitching, clearly fighting an amused grin.
"Who's Lawrence?"
"Ask Lucien about him. He knows. We need to get going," I respond, intent on fleeing this situation. Emily's giggle draws my glare in her direction, and she raises both hands in surrender.
"Oh, by the way, I forgot introductions. Emily, this is my Uncle Ben. Uncle Ben, this is Emily, Micah's sister."
"Micah? Isn't that the boy that your sister talks about incessantly?" Uncle Ben asks, snorting when I nod. "Is she aware that he's gay?"
Emily giggles again while I shrug in answer.
"No idea. Knowing her, though, she thinks her beauty is enough to change his sexuality if he only gives her a chance," I say with an eye roll and pull a laughing Emily from the couch.
"That girl gets on my brother's last nerve. She just won't take a hint, and it drives him crazy. I can't believe you're sisters. Not only do you behave completely different, but you look completely different, too," Emily says, and I can't hold in a sigh.
It's not that I've never noticed it before, but no one has ever pointed out the obvious. It's just one more way that I'm different from the rest of my family. They all have fair skin, pale blonde hair, and blue eyes- both parents, siblings, even Uncle Ben. Then there's me. I'm paler than the rest, with jet black hair and weird purple eyes.
I've always just wanted to feel like part of my family- like I belong, but the odds have always been stacked against me. My looks, my powers, my stronger senses, everything sets me apart from the rest.
"Ready to go?" I ask, trying to shake off my melancholy thoughts and hopefully change the subject.