Kyle checks my wound before I leave to go to training, which him and Jay tried to talk me out of it. I go into the training room and Al and Isaac look at me full of concern, "Are you okay?" They both ask.
"I'm fine, I might need to take it easy though." I say holding my side. "Don't nobody say anything about this. I don't need my parents finding out about this."
"Fine, but why were they here?" Al asks putting his hands on his hips looking between me and Isaac.
"Don't know yet. I think that the demons are preparing for something big. They seem to be attacking a lot lately." I say walking past them.
"Rose, how about you take a day off, I need to train Isaac some more." I nod and leave the building heading back to my room.
"Hey, Rose! Come over here." James calls out, he is sitting at a picnic table with other students.
I walk over and as I approach I cross my arms, "Aren't you in a class? I don't think I should be interrupting."
"No, it's good. Come sit beside me."
I sit beside him and look down at his book, "Demons class?"
"Yeah, it is a cool class, actually. It is like a final class to help prepare us for battle."
"Mister Charleston, will you tell me how to kill or weaken a demon?" A man asks coming to the table, he is wearing a black tux and has knives and guns on his side belts.
"Um, yeah, it is..." James begins to say, looking through his notebook.
"How about you Miss. Moore." He then asks looking at me smiling.
"You get a special weapon to be blessed or an ancient dagger and if you strike a demon then they will weaken. Stabbing them through their heart then that will cause them to die, but it causes a lot of force and you must wait for their eyes to turn white." I say staring at him, scared that I might have gotten James into trouble.
"Very good, Miss. Moore. James, I would like you to get tutored by Miss. Moore. I have too many students to tutor and I think she will be a great tutor. That goes for anybody else, who is wanting to help. Is that okay Miss. Moore?"
"Yeah sure. I don't want anybody to fail this class; it is important." I say smiling.
"Great, I'm Mr. Gren. If you ever need anything, then come see me. Alright class dismissed. Please study tonight, since we have a test tomorrow." James nudges my shoulder and quickly gets up. I get up with him and follow him.
"I don't need any help, I have the highest grade in that class." He says smiling and I look over at him, frowning. "I like to surprise Mr. Gren with my high grades, so I sort of play dumb in class; also, I give the other kids the hope that they are smarter than others."
"Really, wow, I guess you are smart." I say smiling.
"Thanks. So, um, you and Clint?"
"How did you find out about that?" I ask quickly.
"Clint told us. He is super mad about you. I talked to the guys this morning and I'm just a little down today because Kyle is dating Donna again."
"So, Clint was right." I whisper to myself. "As long as he is happy." I say optimistic.
"No, that's the thing. He isn't and it's like Donna does something to him because he acts like a different person around her."
"Wow, I'm sorry to hear that."
"It's cool, I'm just going to let this play out. They'll stop dating in a week." He says looking through his books and then closes it. "Listen, I have to tell you this, before you get mad. You may not see Clint for a few days."
"Why not?" I ask defensively and stopping him from walking any further.
"He wants to give you some space." He says full of sorrow.
"Right. Well tell him that he doesn't have to distance himself from me if he really likes me." I say continuing to walk off but wince in pain from the wound. I continue off to the dorms where I enter my room and quickly lay down. I take a deep breath in and then out and slowly relax.
"Rose? Are you okay?" James asks coming in the room, setting his books down on Kyle's bed.
"Yeah, just need to relax. You know from the wound."
"Right, it should heal soon, right?" He asks curiously and frightened.
"Yeah, just give it some time." I raise up and sit back against the wall. "So, you're actually a genius?"
"Ha-ha, very funny, but yes I am." I raise my shirt to look at the bandage and slowly rip it off, the bandage has blood stains, but my wound is all stitched up and the bleeding has stopped. I get up and throw the bandage away then go back to the bed. "Wow, that looks bad."
"I know, but it's fine. Trust me, I have hidden worse wounds then this." I scoff.
"Why do you hide it? You could die." He asks desperately.
"Because my parents are hard on me and would see me as a failure if I was to ever get injured in battle." I admit looking down.
"Things happened, you can't help that."
"I know, it's just how my life is." I sigh, knowing that it is complicated for anybody to understand the pressure that I live through the anger that builds up daily. "Listen, if you don't mind I'm going to just rest, right now and might fall asleep." I say sliding down and turning over to face him as my head lays on the pillow.
"It's your room. I'm just going to wait here until Kyles comes back with the guys." I nod and slowly shut my eyes.
I wake up, turned the other way and hear voices, familiar voices. "Clint likes Rose!" Lonnie sings, loudly.
"Shh, you're going to wake her." He demands, whispering, exhausted. "I don't want her to see me."
"Oh, that is not a good idea. Especially if you're trying to get her to like you because she said that you shouldn't distance yourself away from her if you really like her." James restates what I told him earlier.
"Of course, she did." I then feel a hand go through my hair, causing me to jump; I closed my eyes and shift my body to pretend that I'm still asleep. "I guess I can ask her out."
"Dude, I think you did more than ask her out last night." James says laughing.
"What do you mean?" I then hear Jay ask. Really? Jay is here?
"Clint kissed Rose last night while he was helping her get dressed." Lonnie explains sarcastically.
"Ew, dude." Jay says pushing Clint, causing him to land on top of me, directly on top of my wound. I grunt out in pain and turn my body towards them. "Rose, I'm sorry."
Clint looks up at me and grabs my hand to make sure that I am okay. He places his hand, gently, over my wound. I close my eyes and winced as the pain grows, "Okay, I'm good. What the hell?" I ask, looking at Jay. "Never mind, what time is it?" I ask yawning and rubbing my eyes.
"It's two o'clock. When Kyle comes back we are all going to go out, maybe to the arcade or go bowling." Lonnie responds, seriously now and then smiles. "That's if you two are up for it?"
"We've never played either, so I guess we will find out." I say raising my eyebrow.
"Touché." He laughs.
I look up at Clint and both stare at each other awkwardly. As we stare at each other the others get up, including Jay, and they slowly back out of the room to give us space to talk. "So..." Clint begins to say but trails off.
"So?" I asked in a low voice. "You decided to see me?'
"Yes, I want to always see you."
"Clint, you were right I should think about what I want. I want to be with you but I am afraid." I say softly.
He frowns at me and moves closer to me on the bed, "Of what?" He asked taking my hand.
"You heard those demons. They're after me and my brother and will kill anybody that we care about."
"I am willing to take the chance; I won't let them get you."
"It's not about them getting me, it's about them getting you or anybody else."
"Rose, I promise they will not get me. You're worth the risk. So, in saying, would you like to go out with me?" He asks still holding my hand but making small circles into my hand with his thumb.
I roll my eyes and smile, "Yes." Clint's smile widens, and he wraps his arms around me, bringing me closer to him, and he kisses me.
I am in Clint's lap when Kyle walks in; I feel awkward as he studies mine and Clint's position. "Hey, are you guys ready?" We both nod and get up.
I can see that Kyle is hurt at seeing me with Clint, but there is nothing I can really do about it, and that is what makes me feel worse. I don't like to inflict pain on someone else. "I'm actually going to change my shirt." I say grabbing a thick gray sweater, it has long sleeves and a hood. I walk out of the bathroom and go outside the room, I close the door and as I turn around the guys are whispering about something. That's when I notice that Kyle has his arms wrapped Donna's shoulder.
"Oh, Rose, I am sorry for the way I acted earlier. I thought you were wanting Kyle and I was afraid that Kyle would actually like you." Donna says with a kind smile and she buries her head into Kyle, but Kyle and I eye each other, and I turn around.
"I have Clint." I say going to him and holding his hand. "So, what's the plan?" I ask looking around.
"The arcade."