With my mind made up I got my school clothes from my duffel bag. I had a shower and then I got ready for school. Once I was done I went downstairs and into the kitchen.
Jared was hunched over his cereal and his mom was drinking her coffee beside him at the kitchen table.
"Morning," Catherine greeted me when she saw me in enter.
"Hi," I greeted back as I walked over to sit beside Jared. He stood up and greeted me with a kiss on the lips.
"Did you sleep okay?" he asked as he pulled out a chair for me.
"Yeah." I sat down.
I couldn't exactly tell him I had a nightmare about Mason especially when it included Mason reminding me that I was his. I looked down at my hand again. No blue energy. So far so good. I hoped it would stay like that until at least after school finished.
Jared offered me some cereal, my favourite in fact but I shook my head. Instead I asked for some plain toast. He raised a curious eyebrow but got up and started making me toast. I didn't know what was wrong with me. It was so weird. I was pretty sure that it had something to do with what I was changing into.
"Are you okay?" Catherine asked me as we were finishing our breakfast.
"Yeah, why?" I asked. I had been silent, too deep in my my thoughts. I needed to keep it together until at least after school.
"You just seem preoccupied," she stated, while her perceptive green eyes studied me.
"I was just thinking about Anne coming home today," I soothed over my lie. I was getting really good lying.
"Are you looking forward to her return?" she asked.
"Yes even though it's easier to hide things when she isn't here."
Catherine nodded. She understood. They'd been hiding their secret their whole lives, I'd only been at it for a few short weeks.
"We need to go or we'll be late for school," Jared reminded as he glanced at the clock fixed to the kitchen wall.
I went upstairs and grabbed my school bag before going Jared in his car. The ride to school was quiet. My thoughts were firmly fixed on what had happened earlier with the blue energy. I felt nervous that I'd made a mistake by keeping it from Jared and going to school.
Then we arrived at school it was too late to turn back. I let out a deep breath before Jared came around to my side of the car. I got out. Jared took my hand in his and walked me to the entrance of the school.
"Are you sure you're okay?" he asked me as we entered the building.
"Yeah, why?" I asked trying to hide my nervousness with a dismissive shrug.
"You just seem to be somewhere else," he said. He stopped and turned to face me. His deep green eyes searched mine.
"Everything's fine," I tried assure him before giving him a quick kiss on the lips. He continued to look at me like he was contemplating whether to push it or not.
"Come on otherwise we won't make it to our classes in time," I reminded as I tugged him along to our lockers.
My first couple of classes passed quickly. My fear that the blue energy would make an reappearance kept me on edge but so far there hadn't been any sign of it.
At lunchtime I was standing in the queue to get something from the cafeteria when I felt a tap on the shoulder. I turned to see who it was.
"Hey you," Andrew greeted in the queue behind me.
"Hi," I greeted back, giving him a smile.
"You're being pretty brave today," he teased. His eyes sparkled with mischievous.
"What are you going on about?" I asked, confused.
"You have to be brave to be in this queue."
I shook my head at him as I smiled.
"The food isn't that bad," I replied looking down at my plate of food and he gave me a horrified look.
I laughed, shaking my head at him. He had a way of easy the situation and remind me that I was still a teen girl even though some times I felt like an adult with the weight of the world on my small shoulders.
"Prisoners get better options then we do," he muttered as we moved closer to the checkout.
Once we'd paid for our food we walked over to our table which was already full of people. Now that we all sat together we needed two tables pushed together. Jared kept a place next to him for me so I pulled up a chair next to him and sat down.
Jared eyed out my lunch. His eyes were fixed on my bottle of water. Normally I would get a soda but due to my growing aversion to sugar I'd opted for water today. Jared had noticed and he gave me a questioning glance. I just shrugged in response.
I couldn't exactly come clean in front of everyone at the lunch table now could I? I'd promised I would tell him everything as soon as school was finished and that was what I was going to do. Ignoring his questioning glance I began to eat my lunch.
Stacy and Felicity were arguing about which color shoe was in at the moment. I didn't have a clue, fashion wasn't something I kept up with. The guys were talking about some football game which I knew even less about.
I sat quietly and ate my lunch. Jared continued to look at me but I avoided his gaze and concentrated on my lunch, hoping he wouldn't pick up on my guilt.
As soon as the bell rang I rushed off before Jared could corner me. I would have to sit down after school and tell him everything I argued with myself. I only had a couple of classes left and then I was going to have to face the music. I knew he wasn't going to be happy I hadn't told him what was going on.
The rest of the day flew by and before I knew it school was finished. I was standing in front of my locker and I'd just finished putting my books away when I felt a tingle in my right hand. A quick look at my hand confirmed the blue energy was back and it was running over sporadically over the skin like it had earlier.
Fear gripped me. Crap! How was I going to hide this?
"Hey," I heard behind me. It was Andrew.
I turned slightly but kept my right behind my back, trying to hide it from him. I couldn't let him see it.
"Hi," I choked out.
"Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," I said trying to feign a calmness I didn't feel.
"You've just been very quiet lately," he remarked, "You know if you need anything you can come to me."
"Thanks," I said nervously. He really was a good friend. I could feel the tingling intensify on my right hand. I needed to get out of here now before Andrew, or anybody else, saw anything. But before I could try and come up with a plan to get out of there without Andrew seeing anything I felt an arm brush mine and I looked up to see Tyler standing behind me, hiding my hand from view.
"Hey," Tyler greeted Andrew smoothly, not giving any hint to the current predicament.
"Hi," Andrew greeted him back.
"I got to go to football practice," Andew said. Then he added, "Like I said you need something you let me know."
He turned and left. As soon as Andrew walked away Tyler turned and stood in front of me and shielding me from the possible prying eyes of the students walking past us.
"We need to get you out of here without anyone seeing your hand," Tyler stated in a whisper only I could hear. He'd seen my hand. Had anybody else?
"How?" I had a short sleeve top on. I didn't have any ideas on how to hide my hand. I could always tuck in under the bottom of my shirt although I couldn't be sure the light from the electricity wouldn't be seen through the shirt.
"Put your arm around my waist and slip it under my shirt," he instructed as he gazed around the students walking past us but no one gave us a second look. I looked at him nervously.
"It'll be fine. My shirt is thicker then yours, no one will see it," he explained. I hesitated.
"Just do it," he commanded.
I put my arm around Tyler's waist and I gently slipped my hand up his shirt. The touch of my disco skin against his did nothing and I was relieved. He in turn put his arm around my shoulder and walked me out of the school.
It was the longest walk of my life. My eyes scanned the crowds as we walked to the exit of the school. I was so scared someone would see something but Tyler and I made it out of the school without anyone seeing anything.
Although I couldn't say that my reputation in the school wouldn't take a knock from this. It wasn't really normal to be dating one guy and have my arm tucked around the waist of another guy.
When we got to the parking lot Jared leaning against his car waiting for me. His eyes narrowed as he spotted me walking with my arm around Tyler. It didn't look good. I felt the tingle on my hand intensify.
Please don't let it get worse, I chanted to myself.