Felicity's uncle had to drive her to school the next morning because she had forgotten her bike on the edge of the road the night before. It made Felicity pretty angry - she hated the way her Uncle's car smelled. It smelled like…dust, and stuff. She always sneezed when she was in there.
She leapt out of the car as quickly as she could, escaping her uncle's bubble of sadness. Almost immediately she was swooped up by Vincent, who hustled her into the far corner of the schoolyard.
Her heart beat fast as he cornered her. How romantic-! The mood was killed when she saw Intina over his shoulder. "Good morning," she said pleasantly, smiling brightly. Though she still had doubts about this arrangement, she couldn't deny enjoying being surrounded by handsome boys (even if one was invisible to others).
"Felicity!" Vincent said, his excitement explosive and loud. So unlike what Felicity expected from him. "I was awake all night, thinking about you! So was Intina." He briefly motioned to the boy standing with them with his arms crossed. Felicity looked at them, overwhelmed. Vincent was….thinking about her?!?!?!?! At night??!?!??!?!?!?!??! ALL NIGHT??!??!?!???!?!??!???!?!! Her ears felt like they were burning. Vincent didn't seem to think anything of it though. "Knowing that you can see Intina gave me hope."
"Hope for what?" She asked uselessly, voice squeaking.
"Hope for us," he said. Felicity looked over at Intina, who looked hopeful too, but not nearly as much as Vincent did. Felicity began to wonder what she had gotten herself into.
She pushed Vincent gently away, something she thought she'd never do. The boy quickly fell back, his smile still standing. "I don't really know…what you're talking about," she laughed quietly, looking down.
Vincent didn't look deterred. "I don't think you're supposed to."
Felicity stared at him for a long time. As he was about to explain, the bell rang, and he disappeared as suddenly as he had appeared in the first place. Felicity followed him to homeroom, a little stunned.
Vincent, strangely, ignored Felicity for the rest of the day. He reverted back to the silent, mopey boy Felicity had seen during her first week of school. Now that Felicity could see Intina, who was usually sitting around, not doing anything in particular, she could see that he was all Vincent looked at during the day. She wondered if Vincent thought he, himself, was crazy, too, and that's why he couldn't look away.
Bianca caught Felicity looking at Vincent looking at Intina during English. Her friend bopped Felicity on the head. "Why are you so interested in Vincent today?"
Felicity stammered. She hadn't really thought about telling Bianca about Intina or anything that had happened the day before. She just assumed it wouldn't affect anything. Also, it was just really weird. Nobody would even believe her if she told them. "He's beautiful," she improvised.
Bianca rolled her eyes. "Gross."
Felicity returned her attention to Vincent, who was being spoken to by Rob, his blonde friend that Bianca hated (in case you had forgotten). He didn't seem to be paying attention to Rob at all, giving him single words or grunts as answers. Felicity felt pretty bad for the blonde, who was oblivious to Vincent's secret fascination with the brunette boy across the room. The only moment Vincent looked away from Intina was to look at Felicity, which sent sparks up her spine, startling her enough to make her spin back around in her seat to face forward.
After school, Felicity was walking home with Bianca. They weren't talking about anything in particular - their homework, the weather, about how much Felicity hated the way her uncle's car smelled - when a humming roar of an engine caught them both off guard.
Felicity almost felt a dread as a motorcycle rolled up beside them. The rider took off their helmet, shaking out their hair, before staring coolly at Felicity.
"Vincent," she murmured.
He didn't say anything. Instead, he handed over his helmet to her and shook it in front of her, as if she was a playful cat. Bianca watched in confusion as Felicity took the helmet. Despite Felicity's reluctance, her eagerness overtook it.
"Sorry," Felicity said to Bianca, carefully wriggling the helmet onto her head. "I, uh, have to go."
Bianca raised her eyebrows, annoyance obvious, but she was too amused at the fact Felicity had gotten Vincent to take her on a ride on his motorcycle. Not even Rob could go on Vincent's cherished bike. "It's okay," she said, taking out her iPod and scrolling absently through her music. "I'll see you tomorrow."
Vincent didn't wait. He sped off, Felicity wrapped around his waist. As soon as they were out of Bianca's eyesight, Vincent relaxed under Felicity's arms. Felicity wondered if Vincent didn't like Bianca.
They eventually rolled up to the cemetery. If you had told Felicity a year ago that she would be in a cemetery for two nights in a row, she wouldn't have believed you. She wasn't as scared this time, but she still didn't feel comfortable. At least it was daytime now.
"Why are we here?" She asked.
Vincent looked excited as he turned around to look at her. "We want to talk to you! Well, I do, anyway."
Felicity, buzzing with excitement, nodded. They were nearing the same place of the graveyard as they had gone to the day before. Felicity hadn't noticed, but the grave the boy sat against overlooked the same river Felicity had been looking out upon the other night. She dared to peek over the edge as they neared Intina, who was pushing himself up into a standing position.
"Do you like the river?" He asked as Vincent and Felicity got closer. Felicity looked away from the sheer cliff leading down to the water and nodded. Intina smiled. "It's a nice river."
"I'm really glad you came with us today too," Vincent said. Felicity looked at him. "We wanted to talk to you about…well, you!"
Felicity was confused. Vincent had said something along the lines of 'you give us hope', but she hadn't really thought about it. She was honestly curious. "I want to too," she said.
They settled on the grass. Intina was partially hidden in the shade cast from the gravestone. Vincent looked elegant, sitting in the grass. The blades served little to scratch at Felicity's legs. "Okay," Vincent said, smiling brightly at her. Her heart skipped a beat - so handsome! "So what we basically want is for you to wipe out ghosts. Well, the dangerous ones."
What? Felicity frowned. "What?"
"Ghosts," Vincent said after a moment's hesitation. "You know…like what Intina is."
"Yeah," she said slowly. "But…like…what?"
Vincent brushed his hair away from his face, looking unsure as to what Felicity meant. Intina was looking at him with half-lidded eyes, as if he couldn't believe Felicity's idiocy. It wasn't her fault that they were being weird! "We want you to…well, fight ghosts, I guess." Vincent looked over at Intina, who closed his eyes. "I guess you've never heard this before…I don't really know what I was expecting. See, I've been friends with Intina for a while, so I just expect everyone to understand what he tells me." He reached over but stopped, just as his fingers grazed Intina's bare arm. "Do you want to explain it?"
The dark-skinned boy's eyes opened and Vincent pulled his hand back quickly, as if he had been burnt. Intina didn't even notice, or if he did he was ignoring it, because his eyes were staring intensely at Felicity. "I think you have the potential to fight against evil ghosts, Felicity. There are evil ghosts, after all, and now that you are aware of them, they will become aware of you. And you have…" Intina struggled to find the right words to continue. "You have the potential. If you allow us to coach you in the art of fighting against these ghosts, you will be able to protect Wakemastopilus. You seem to like it a lot, after all."
Felicity stared at them. They stared at her. The silence stretched on for what felt like forever. She didn't really understand anything that they had just said. Her frowned deepened considerably as she looked away. "Why would I want to fight ghosts?" She asked. After thinking for a few more moments, she added, "and why can't Vincent do it?"
Vincent chuckled, looking embarrassed. "I'm not good at it," he admitted. "Whenever I try to hurt a ghost, I can't do it. Even the dangerous ones."
"That's right," Intina sighed, looking briefly at Vincent. "We only want to protect this city, and you have the potential."
"I do?" Felicity asked. Nobody had ever really told her she had potential before. Well, people always told her she had potential in volleyball and stuff, but never in something so…risky! It was exciting. And kind of scary. She didn't really know these people but she felt like she could trust them…maybe.
"You do," Intina said. Their eyes met and Felicity felt herself blushing under his intense stare. Though she didn't have complete trust in the boys yet, something about the intensity behind Intina's golden eyes and the sincerity of Vincent's smile made her feel empowered. Intina leaned back against the gravestone, looking comfortable. "Would you like to see what we mean before you make your decision? What we mean by dangerous ghosts, that is."
She nodded and Intina nodded as well, looking at Vincent. "Shall we go to Wakemastopilus Highschool, then?"
Felicity was amazed at how quick Intina could travel. She and Vincent had taken his motorcycle, much to Felicity's glee. By the time they arrived back at the high school, Intina was already there and waiting, gazing down at his scarred knuckles absently.
"How did you get here so fast?" She asked in amazement.
"I walked," he answered with a shrug.
They led Felicity back into the school, unlocking the front door with a key Vincent kept in his pocket. He said it wasn't a perfect fit for the lock, but it worked if you jimmied it a little. They walked into the quiet, dark school, heading towards a wing Felicity hadn't been in yet. All of her classes were centered around the same set of rooms, which was the case with most of the Wakemastopilus students. She began to realize that where they were going was a wing that nobody seemed to ever go to.
"Why don't they use this wing of the school?" She asked quietly. She spoke quietly because it had a pretty spooky atmosphere. Definitely a place where ghosts would be.
"They used to use it," Intina said. They walked past a set of lockers, ancient and dented, and Felicity shivered. "But then they stopped. Students kept…" He paused, his lips tightening into a line. "Well, never mind. We're almost there."
The further they walked into the maze of lockers, the more Felicity became uncomfortable. Several of the locker doors were completely removed from the locker itself. No wonder they stopped using this place! Plus it was confusing to walk through. She couldn't imagine how Intina and Vincent could do it. Well, actually, Vincent seemed pretty confused too, nearly running into Intina occasionally when the shorter boy would turn suddenly.
They came across a classroom, shaded by the curtains covering the dusty windows. When Vincent stopped suddenly, the other two did as well. Felciity's pulse began to race. Intina looked seriously at him, eyes narrowed into slits. "Is there a ghost nearby?"
Vincent nodded, mouth open but making no sound. Felicity looked excitedly from either boy, wondering what would happen next. She was getting pretty frightened, watching Vincent stand there with his mouth opening and closing silently, his eyes wide, and Intina watching him, completely seriously and completely still. It was surreal.
Just as Felicity was about to ask "what's going on", a ghostly hand reached out and pulled her into the dark classroom.