"You look really pretty, Aspen," I heard a voice say as I was in the master bathroom, two hours later, putting on my hoop earrings because Zaine insisted as he got ready in Warren's room. I looked over my shoulder and saw Jane standing in the doorway between the bathroom and bedroom.
"Thanks," I smiled and then positioned my long, curled hair. "Wanna help me zip up my dress?"
"Yeah, sure," she said. I stripped off my day clothes and stepped in the short, gold, shimmery dress that she zipped up the back. I smiled to her in gratitude and something seemed false in her returning grin.
"What's wrong?"
"I just don't understand you and Zaine," she said. Oh. I shrugged. "You two act like best friends and then strangers and then an old, married couple and then enemies and then—"
"Welcome to the advantages and disadvantages to a relationship," I laughed. "No one understands them but the two people in it."
"Was it...easy for you to like Zaine or any other guy in your life?" she asked and then I clued in that she was hinting at something.
"What's this about?" I asked her, even though I knew she would soon ask about her crush on both Isaac and Wib. It was obvious to everyone, but the real struggle, I think, was the fact that she tried to overanalyze anything, right down to emotions.
"I mean this whole relationship thing doesn't make sense," she said. "Andres has been with loads of girls at the Academy and then got together with Skye here, when she's the opposite of normal girls he'd go out with; Warren and Cariba want to act like a couple, but deny it; it was completely natural with Chance and Sumer; and you already know about you and Zaine."
She was being impatient with her own love life.
"Love happens at different times with different people," I advised, even though no one said anything about love and she would be the first to explain that not every relationship had love or specific kinds of love and yada, yada, but she didn't.
"So...a player and a popular girl...water and fire...a time traveler and a psychic...and an impenetrable man and girl who can't get hurt," she labeled. Hmm. Strange how things work out. "So where does a know-it-all girl fit in?"
I placed my hands on her shoulders.
"Wherever she wants to," I told her and then waited a second before dropping my hands. And I knew by her sigh, this was the one area that not even Miss Smarty pants could master. "Come on."
I entered the hall at the same time as Cariba exited Warren's with Sumer. She left a little curl on the ends of her hair and wore a short, purple sun dress with a white, beaded necklace. She rolled her eyes at having to dress up, but I knew she wanted to go, or else she wouldn't be going. We descended from the stairs, me laughing at her comments about the troubles of going on a date, and then once we hit the step in view of the living room, Warren stood up, seeing us before Zaine. Zaine's lips slightly parted when his eyes fell on me and I was feeling my heart raise in my chest more than ever, even though all he was wearing was some nice jeans, a black shirt, and a leather jacket that he's always had.
"Ready to go?" Warren asked, approaching Cariba.
"Let's get this over with," she sighed, walking towards the door, but Warren reached for the outside of her waist and whispered in her ear.
"Don't act like you don't want this," he said and I knew well enough that Cariba rolled her eyes before lightly pushing Warren away from her in a playful manner.
"You look gorgeous," Zaine greeted, now standing and grabbing my hand to reach over and kiss my cheek. I smiled and we walked towards the door, only to see Cheshire crossing his arms in front of the door and Wib pulling at Zaine. Damn, they double teamed us. Wib stood, glaring right across at Zaine (since they were the same height) with a recognizable look. And as Cheshire pulled me outside to talk, I heard Zaine start to say: "I know, I know. If I break her heart, you break my eardrums."
"Worse," was the only first of threats I heard Wib reply before Cheshire shut the door.
"What?" I asked him. Then, I crossed my arms over my chest because he was checking me out.
"You look...nice," he said with a smile.
"Thanks to you," I sang. "Thanks for that. Really."
"Uh huh, yeah, don't mention it...really. Don't. Mention. It," he warned. I playfully rolled my eyes as he shifted into a serious position. "Okay, here are the rules tonight—"
"Yes, father," I blinked, sarcastically, making him pause and narrow his eyes before continuing.
"No fighting. Literally."
"Check."
"Be careful with your powers."
"Like that's a hard one."
"Be careful with his powers."
"I'll try?" It's not like he'll involuntarily smash into a building or win a gun fight without a gun.
"Have fun."
"Sure thing."
"And last and not least..." he said for dramatic effect.
"Be home before the street lights come on?" I teased. He laughed at my silliness as I waited patiently for his last "rule" and heard the doorknob starting to turn. I looked at Cheshire to answer and then my vision was clouded with the same promiscuous scenes from before until I reached out and smacked him. And all he did was laugh. "Ches!"
By then, Zaine was walking out and looking at us like we were freaks...which Cheshire was. Yes, just him.
"Ready?" he breathed. I nodded with a smile and then when I reached out to grab his hand as he stepped down to the sidewalk, Cheshire was pulling me back by my other one. I glared back at him and realized he had crumbled something in my hand and I looked down to see a ten dollar bill.
"For, you know," he winked.
"I still win," I said, arrogantly as I caught up with Zaine and flipped my hair over my shoulder for fun.
"So you can use that money to buy condoms, then!" Cheshire called out after us and I snapped my gaze to him in anger and embarrassment because he always had to have the last taunt and laugh. "The best sex is safe sex—"
"So have fun with your hand tonight," Cariba wished upon him with a loathsome smile and even from the distance, I could see Cheshire grimacing and that's all I needed to laugh and sit down in the passenger side seat as Zaine held the door open for me.
=XXX=
"Please tell me you won't be like Cariba and pretend you hate me in front of everyone else, but be the best girlfriend in the world," Zaine conversed as we waited for our food at Olive Garden. It was just us two because Warren and Cariba split off to a date of their own. The only difference was that, I could just be sitting on a park bench in raggedy clothes with Zaine and be alright with that, but Warren had to constantly prove to Cariba that he wanted them to be together. But tonight, it was just me and Zaine, on our first official date.
"So...you want me to be the second best girlfriend in the world?" I asked in a joking manner. He laughed briefly and then flicked a drop of water at me from his glass. "I don't know. I mean, I want to be with you like this all the time, but at the same time, I want you to treat me just like anyone else there."
"I can understand that," he surprisingly said. "Plus, after this, we can just be a normal couple."
"Going to battle together isn't what normal couples do?" I joked. We laughed and then the waitress brought our food. She had been eyeing Zaine the whole night, but I was fortunate to have that romantic boyfriend who didn't even notice the gender of the waitress because he was busy looking and smiling at me like every girl wanted a man to look at her. Well, until now.
"We're not exactly normal," he said, watching her leave, but I knew he wasn't looking at her as if checking her out. He was just suspicious about her. He even shifted, uncomfortably.
"We are normal," I insisted. He sighed, unconvinced, and looked back at the girl who smiled at him while escorting a new family to a booth. He only lowered his eyes and contained a growl. "She's just checking you out. That's what I get for having an incredibly handsome boyfriend."
He couldn't hide his smile then and I was glad. He extended his hand across the table and I took it. He wove our fingers and his thumb made circles on the back of my hand in a soothing manner that made my hand experience tingly sparks.
"So I'm done thinking about this Sunday, thing," he muttered.
"Oh?" I asked as I started to twirl the fettuccine alfredo around my fork. Please cater to what I wanted!
"You can go—"
"Thank you, thank you, thank you," I interrupted with a smile, but even though he forged one for barely a second, he still looked down at the table and ate Ravioli with his left hand as if something is still wrong. I lightly squeezed his hand and gave him a smile to see if something was really up. Just like before, he forged it and I placed my fork down. "What's wrong?"
"This is just hard," he said, openly.
"What is?" I asked, starting to feel bad if he meant this relationship. He hadn't even given us a try!
"I'm with you and I feel like I'm right for protecting you, yet at the same time I want to give you anything you want," he said, making me feel selfish beyond belief, yet glad it didn't have to do with giving us a rest. "I understand that you can protect yourself to an extent, but it's just..."
"What?"
His brown eyes met mine.
"If anything happens to you, it's my fault," he said. "If anything happens, it'll be my fault and I'll have to live with it every day unless—"
"You can't take that much responsibility," I told him. "I wanted to go and you let me, so therefore—"
"'Wanted'?" he quoted. "As in you don't want to anymore?"
"No. I do," I clarified, but didn't know how to explain it. I sighed deeply as he waited for me to speak. "I'm just saying that I want to go and you let me, so anything further on my part is up to me. Like if I accidently fall from some ladder and break my neck that has nothing to do with you. That's my deal and it'll heal over anyways."
"And what if they're smart enough to cure you first?" he asked. "What then?"
"I could say the same to you," I said. "Or Warren, or Cariba, or even Cheshire. What's the difference?"
"It's dangerous."
"You don't think I know that? If it is for me, then it is for you," I rationalized and then calmed down. He didn't say anything and I knew it was my turn to. "I don't want to make this like Stephenie Meyer's Eclipse."
"You're comparing this to a book and somewhat poorly adapted movie, I have yet to finish, involving vampires and werewolves..." he stated, or maybe questioned with slight confusion in his composure.
"No, not—I mean, Bella wanted to go to war against the newborns and Edward said no because his family and the pack of werewolves had it under control. She figured that either it would be so hard that it would need her, or so easy that Edward could sit out," I explained. "I just don't want you to be Edward and sit out because—"
Suddenly, he pulled back his hand as I was in the middle of making a seemingly bad analogy. And now, he was frowning, but no longer in perplexity. It's like he discovered something and didn't like it.
"What?" I asked.
"They had Jacob watching with them, completely heartbroken and basically sacrificed his safety out of spite—"
"If you think Cheshire has anything to do with this then you're wrong," I said, offended. In no way was Cheshire the Jacob to my life. He was growing on me like a best friend or brother, but we already established that I was with Zaine and he was forever going to heighten his standards to those of Alice's and there was no way around it.
"—and yet Edward and Bella still had to fight," he finished. And then she cut herself to distract their enemy in order for Edward to rip her head off and end it.
"So what you're saying is that you realized that I'm going to fight whether you say I can or not?" I said, optimistically because I was starting to dislike the crazy look in his eyes that flickered back and forth as if he was reading a revelation on the ivory table sheets.
"No. I'm saying that Bella was personally pursued behind it all," he said.
"Well obviously I hadn't killed a spouse of any government agent in order for them to want to kill me, so..."
"But yours and Wilbur's files were gone from the Academy," he reminded. "Maybe whoever it did all of this is trying to target you..."
"Up until all of this, no one knew about our powers except Maxwell and the three agents who arranged me to go to the Academy. Not even my parents know much about it," I reasoned. His face twisted in a stump, but it had me thinking about why someone would still only mine and Wib's files. Now that I thought about it, it probably meant something. And that worried me.
"So then you and Wilbur are staying with me when it happens," he said and I happily accepted his protection this time.
"We don't even know where this is all going down at," I mentioned.
"We're waiting," he said, eating his food.
"For?"
"Chance and Sumer to find something," he answered. I nodded. That meant Sumer would have a vision and tell us, but Chance would have to go back in time before she said anything, just so the course of time wouldn't be altered more than what he had gone back ten seconds to do.
"Have they?"
"I guess not," he shrugged.
"Well, they have Friday and Saturday, so that's not too bad," I shrugged. He nodded in agreement. I wanted Sunday to be here already. Not for some blood-thirsty fight, but because I wanted this to be over with. I wanted the other special kids to have their powers restored. I wanted a proper burial for the kids who passed. I wanted to...surprisingly go back to the Academy if we're not allowed a normal life. I wanted to just go back and finish school with my new friends and boyfriend at my side.
"Everything alright, here?" our over-enthused waitress asked us...and by us I mean Zaine.
"No," Zaine sighed.
"He doesn't mean that," I said. She smirked and probably thought it was some relationship problem that would give her gateway to comforting him. Now she was just getting annoying. "The food is delicious."
"Well...if you need anything," she reminded, giving Zaine another look as he didn't even look at her.
"So why was Cheshire acting all...?"
"Nothing; we had a small, joking wager going on," I lied.
"About condoms?"
"Not at all," I said, embarrassed.
"Well that's a relief," he said and then we both paused. I didn't take it as an insult like most girls, but he thought I did and his face lit up in red. "I mean, not that I didn't want to—well I mean not now—or ever if you want—it's just—I—what I'm trying to say is...it's just—"
"You are adorable," was all I told him and he smiled smugly to hide his obvious embarrassment. "Lucky you."
"Lucky me," he countered and I smiled lightly. "I seriously had the longest amount of sleep in probably ten years. Thank you."
"I had nothing to do with it," I said modestly. And then our waitress was starting to near our table.
"You're the only person I've...slept with," he said, making it sound derogatory right as the waitress heard and stomped off. I laughed and propped my chin on my hand in amusement. "I mean, I didn't mean to throw everyone off this morning, or make you fall asleep with me, but—"
"It happened," I laughed. "It's no big deal."
He makes this sound like it's more than it is.
"So then can I ask you to just...stay in my room with me?" he asked and I seemed shocked about him asking, but for what? He was as straight forward as it got sometimes. "I'll—I'll sleep on the floor and you can have the bed, I just...missed sleeping and the thought of you is good enough to make me forget everything bad that I remember when it's usually time for me to sleep."
"Uh sure," I allowed, even though I heard my parents scolding me in my imagination. "And there's no reason why I would need a queen-sized bed to myself."
And personally, I liked waking up in his arms this morning. And anytime I was near him and asleep, even a room away, I had a dream about him. And when I had fell asleep in his arms, my dream world consisted of none of this super powers and cures business. It had no one else but him and me, and I didn't have Tyler to feel bad about and he didn't have his past to hide from. I just...wanted life to be like that.
And as I smiled, I remembered how timid he was at my house when he hadn't ever done anything affectionate like that, yet he made it all seem so natural last night and this whole time.
Not even an hour later, we were finished with our meal and we were waiting for the waitress to pick up our money and the check as Zaine pulled out my chair for me.
"Well thank you, kind sir," I thanked.
"You are welcome, my lady," he said, kissing the hand in which he held. By then, the waitress had returned and Zaine dropped my hand from his. "Serena?"
That was the waitress' name and as much as she wanted to smirk at the fact that he remembered (or read) her name, she knew I didn't care.
"Anything else I can get you?" she asked.
"Thank you," Zaine simply said, playing lightly with my fingers dropped to my side.
"You're welcome," she said with a really good fake smile. "As long as I made this night special for you and your...girlfriend."
"Thanks again," Zaine said after picking up the receipt and sending her a quick smile. Zaine finally locked our fingers together to tow me out. "I don't know whether to be impressed or offended."
"About?" He must mean Serena, clearly: impressive just like the size of her boobs that were not at all hidden by her name tag.
"That fact that you weren't jealous," he clarified and I raised an eyebrow as he looked back to me and continued to walk. "It's either you're learning to control yourself under circumstances or you're not at all possessive over me when it comes to other girls."
"As I recall, I handled myself quite well with Indica," I reminded. Sort of. "And plus, I know that you're mine, and that's it."
Even though, I knew Zaine was jealous even over Tyler (yes, a late contender), but also knew I was his. It was perfectly fine and incredibly hot.
"And hopefully I always will be," he said, flashing me a smile as we walked outside and the autumn wind blew my hair around.
"Of course," I agreed as we continued to stroll down the sidewalk towards the truck (since we parked it midway between Olive Garden and wherever Warren took Cariba), swinging our hands like middle school kids. And then we got around the corner and there was a long line and crowd outside of a strip mall's pharmacy.
"What's going on here?" Zaine asked as there were chants being thrown back and forth between one side and another as if opposing whatever the cause was, but still, there was a line leading out of the store of people in all shapes, sizes, and attires. I walked over to someone else who was just a bystander, trying to peer at the commotion.
"Excuse me, what's going on?" I asked the lady who was maybe in her late twenties.
"They're giving out the cure for mutations," she explained.
"What do you mean 'giving out'?" Zaine asked with a forced diplomacy, even though he hated being called a mutant.
"Well this is the first pharmacy to hold it and people are lined up to get the shot before the country either bans the drug or requires it," she notified.
"Why would they require everyone to take a cure for genetic mutations? It's not a disease," Zaine said and I squeezed his hand. She shrugged.
"With my understanding, special people are special for a reason," she said and Zaine's iron grip on my hand released in forgiveness. She was on our side and we both had clued in that she must know or have powers herself, or she wouldn't have known the term "special".
"Special?" I asked as a test. "I thought they were just mutants."
"And apparently the government thinks that's a mistake," she commented. Zaine and I shared a glance and then looked back to her as she looked around briefly. "Honestly, I'm against all of this. Mutations are part of evolution."
"How do you know about all of this?" Zaine finally asked.
"My fiancée, Chris, is in there," she said. We frowned. "He used to work at a pharmacy of his own, but the government bought him out and offered him a job."
"Really?"
"Yeah," she said. "They paid a pretty penny, too. I have no idea why he took it though."
"What was his job?" I asked.
"He was helping with the cure, so he says," she said. "But I mean, if he was, why would they fire him?"
"They fired him?" I asked and then started to feel like a parrot.
"Yeah, about a week ago and then the 'Cure Commotion' happened," she nodded.
"So why is he in there now?" Zaine asked as if not believing it.
"Yeah. He must think these mutants exist if he wants the first sample to make sure he can never be one," I added to not make it seem like we were just questioning her nonstop.
"Between you and me..." she whispered. "Chris is...special."
"Special, how?" we both asked.
"He can...I don't know you would say it...fragmentize objects with his mind?" I gave Zaine a worried look and right as he stood up straighter as if to barge right through the rallies and pull out Chris before he could do anything vengeful. "But then again, why would—"
She was cut off when a portion of the pharmacy building exploded, enough to rumble the ground. People scattered around and screamed, but Zaine took a step towards it all. I grabbed his forearm to stop him, but all he did was kiss my forehead before leaving. He was being stupid! I saw him tear through the crowd and my super hearing couldn't even point out his voice if he was even saying anything because of all the shrieks of people. I tried to keep up with him, but he was lost in the crowd before he even made it to the building.
"Why did he just—" the lady questioned and I just shook my head and prayed he would be alright as another explosion went off in the building. And then I heard metal breaking of pipes and a nearby fire hydrant, before it levitated to the flames and over the crowds. I looked around for Cariba. I spotted her in the darkness, further back than me without Warren at her side. There was another explosion and I wondered if it could've been Warren and why he would continue to do this.
"Babe, I'm going in," I heard Warren's voice with my sensitive hearing. I saw him approach Cariba as her hands were raised, controlling the water movement.
"Whatever," she grunted.
"It's not my fault!" he reasoned and I was even confused, but that's all I needed to rush into the fire.
"Well how the hell am I supposed to know that!?"
"Just trust me!"
"I can't right now."
And then the flame arose without an explosion and water was running out.
"Okay...that was my fault," Warren admitted and then Cariba drenched him with water and it knocked him to the ground. By now, I was in the building, trying to find Zaine more than helping others.
"But I need this drug!" a man shouted to the pharmacist who was trying to open a door which was trapped by fallen ceiling.
"Sir, this building is about to fall down," the pharmacist said as I leapt over debris to get to the ceiling pieces. "You have more things to worry about than dying to some mutation that doesn't affect us as a species for generations!"
I heaved at the metal, even though it was searing hot and I could feel my skin burning. Tears arose in my eyes, but I continued to push at the obstacle, feeling the door rattling more and more before finally the impatient customer realized what I was doing and he simply pressed his hand to the frame and the wreckage disintegrated into ash. The door was flung open, smacking right into my body and I hit the floor with my hands stinging and my muscles wearing out. The man with dark, curly locks and glasses on his face looked down to me. He looked at me in a peculiar way as I dusted myself off with the back of my hands until my palms healed. Behind him, I noticed a hooded man, examining everything before exiting through a back door, but then it was interrupted by a face interrupted.
"Wait, you're..."
"You're Chris!" I named and then he was taken aback by how I knew his name. Suddenly, there was a crushing sound and then I looked over to see a wall falling down to free the rest of the people inside. Then, the man who had knocked it down was approaching me before the entire ceiling caved in. He glanced at Chris, but it didn't go any further than that.
"Let's go," he said and then grabbed my hand, preventing it to heal and more tears of pain presented themselves, but he continued to pull me out with a strong grip that I couldn't escape.
Once we made it outside, to a dark area without as many people near the parking lot, I had to peel his hand off of mine with my other injured hand and turned my black palms up to watch my blood and liquefied skin solidify and slowly heal over.
"Aspen, I'm so sorry. I didn't know—"
"It's fine," I said, shaking them out into the cool air. He gave me guilty eyes and then Cariba and Warren showed up out of nowhere. And Warren was supporting most of Cariba's weight. I wanted to reach out and grab her, but I wasn't in the mood to grab anything right now. So Zaine took the initiative to take her from Warren and picked her up, bridal style. In silence, we all walked towards the car and left Chris there.
"I don't know what happened..." Zaine started to Warren. I was sitting in the back seat with Cariba. My hands were healing and she was weak for some reason.
"Bro, I didn't do it—"
"I know," he said. "But something or someone else did."
"But who would've—"
Suddenly, the boys were approached.
"Who the hell are you guys?" Chris questioned with his fiancée behind him. She looked through the truck's window and saw me and Cariba, but didn't do anything.
"I should be asking you that," Warren said, immediately pinning Chris to the bed of the truck. Zaine pulled them apart.
"What work did you do for the Cure and who were you working for?" Zaine asked him, calmly. Warren was confused as Chris looked back spitefully at his fiancée.
"At first they wanted me to find a way to stabilize the genes, but considering it's DNA and it's more than just one single chromosome, they wanted me to then neutralize it," he said. So he didn't mean to destroy powers completely. "But when I found a way to do that, I was fired and they found someone to completely erase the mutations."
"Who?" Warren asked.
"I don't know. I worked under the boss's boss's boss's boss. I never met anyone to trace it to," he explained.
"Where did you work?"
"At first, in the basement of my pharmacy after they bought it out, but then they switched me to a lab."
"Where?"
"I have no idea. I used it for a brief amount of time and lived there before they fired me and I tried to find it again to question why my work would be terminated or expanded and everything was gone."
So we were back to square one.
"Then why are you trying to get the Cure, now, if you know how to make it?" Warren questioned.
"To find a reverse effect..." he said as if he knew about the negative effects of the Drug. And then he shifted positions. "I heard what they did at Maxwell Academy."
Then, everyone was listening.
"How do you know about the Academy?"
"Other than overhearing plans for guinea pigs...I graduated from there," he said.
"Y-you did?" Zaine questioned and Chris nodded.
"My real name is Nick. I went to the Academy for two years before they sent me out into the world," he explained.
"Why you?" Warren asked.
"I learned to control my powers," he shrugged and then there was a silence. "Are you four the last that escaped?"
"No..." Zaine answered.
"There are eight more of us," Warren added.
"You're lucky," Chris said. "I don't know what plans they have for the survivors, but they won't stop until they get what they want...it's more than just a Cure for them. I think it's some sort of resentment."
"For what?"
"For who?"
"I don't know," he shrugged. "The big man in charge is just doing all of this as if he's trying to prove something to the world. Apparently his second-in-command is just out for blood. Either way, it's a bad combination and I didn't know I was working for them until they fired me. They're working under the federal government, but I don't even think the President knows what's really going on."
Whoever was in charge was going for someone. Instead of finding them easily as they even had Maxwell's knowledge, most likely, they chose to slaughter a bunch of kids. They were disgusting.
"With my understanding, the person who weaponized the Cure wasn't properly trained. He just had experience from some secret operation years ago. I just hope all of those kids didn't die," he said. All of us do too.
"Thank you," Warren managed to say as Zaine was deep in thought. Warren took a step to open the passenger side door for him to sit and then Chris grabbed Zaine's arm.
"Can I ask you something?"
"I suppose," Zaine allowed, probably because they had revealed so much.
"Jane Rawlinson," he suddenly said. Jane? Zaine shifted positions because Jane was like a sister to him. She was like a sister to all of us, and that's why Warren even paused to close his door.
"What about her?" Zaine asked, defensively.
"Is she alive?" he asked with a broken voice.
"Yes."
Then Chris...or Nick...smiled for the first time. But Zaine wasn't. He took a step up and stood staring at him, threateningly.
"Why do you want to know?" he asked as if knowing the smartest person was alive would be of use to an enemy party. It would be.
"She's my sister."
R>|LZY�