Alicia looked over her shoulder watching as her mother started to head towards the front of the auditorium and Jay's step-father and father turning to go their own separate ways. She quickly turned her attention back towards Jay as he mentioned how it happened, she sighed slightly and gave Jay a gentle pat on the shoulder. "You know fighting with him would just get your ass into trouble right Jay-Jay?" Alicia said as she leaned back in her seat. "I had a bloody nose and a massive headache as well I guess it happens when we use it to much. Jade and Grant were there, oh yeah and by the way Grant has an ability as well." Alicia said and looked over at and saw Scout, and smiled brightly at her and stood up to give Scout a friendly loving hug. "Hey Scout, how are you doing lovely?" Alicia asked and noticed that she was tapping her foot as if she was nervous or something like that, as Jay told her to relax then came Austin and smiled towards him.

"Jay-Jay here got into a little scuffle with the 'Dick King'." Alicia said jokingly she started to think of a new prank to pull on King next, remembering her little prank on Jay yesterday before the whole incident with Moon gaining her ability to fly. "You should have seen the prank I pulled on Jay-Jay yesterday it was so priceless." Alicia said laughing and playfully nudged Jay gently with her hand. "He screamed like a little girl, it was so funny!"

Alicia instantly blushed deeply when she felt Kat's arms draping over her, and looked up to see Katalina standing behind her, she quickly got up from her seat and hugged Kat tightly. "I'm doing alright how about you?" Alicia asked, still she was contemplating on whether she should tell her best friend how she felt towards her.

---

---

“And that’s what is going to happen, am I clear?” The demanding voice of Wesley.

“Yes sir.” Grant’s defeated voice responded.

“Let me hear you say it!” Wesley demanded.

“After the memorial service, I am to head straight home.” Grant said as if he rehearsed it.
“You’re going to come straight home what?” Wesley asked demandingly.

“I’m going to come straight home, sir..” Grant said, looking down.

Why was he like this? What had Grant done to anger his father? He was on time last night. There wasn’t anything that, to Grant, could have set him off? Did father just wake up in a bad mood today? Is that why he’s acting crueler than usual?  That’s what Grant was mentally asking himself. Usually his father, the great Doctor Wesley Wells, was, yes, a bit strict on Grant, but never so strict that he wouldn’t even let him attend that party tonight. There was never times where Wesley was so strict and set in his decision that he would not allow any kind of wiggle room. It’s not like Grant has ever questioned his father’s rules, but in the past, there was at least the option for Grant to bring up some kind of compromise. Whatever happened this morning, there was no chance of that happening.

In such deep thought and the car ride to the school being so silent, Grant did not realize that they had arrived. As he looked out of the window of his father’s 2015 Red Audi RS-7, he saw people staring at him — well, rather the car. He saw people point a bit at how the lonely, observant Grant came from a family with so much money. How could such a lonely loser like that have so much money? He’s probably the disappointment to his family. Things like that were what Grant assumed people thought about him. Those were the same people that gave him a lot of shit at school. They were the ones pushing him into the lockers. They were the ones always trying to egg him on. These were the people that teased and teased him.

When the car stopped, Grant proceeded to open the door. His father tugged his arm slightly. “Remember, come straight home after the service.” Wesley said to Grant, loud enough for any passing students to hear him.

“Yes father..” Grant said obediently, giving what seemed like a look of some kind. Wesley caught it almost instantly.

As Grant was about three or four yards away from his father’s car, Wesley grabbed Grant’s arm. “You listen here, you ungrateful brat!” Wesley yelled in Grant’s face, his nostrils flaring. “Your brother Thomas has an important interview tonight and you need to be there for him.” He said, gripping Grant’s arm tightly, almost ripping off the jacket he had on.  It caused Grant to drop his bag behind him. Wesley leaned in. “You need to be there for the family!” He yelled in Grant's face firmly.

Grant tried to free himself from his father‘s grip. It wasn‘t working. “Dad…you’re hurting me..” Grant said, his voice squeaking through the pain he was feeling in his arm.

Wesley looked down at his hand on Grant’s left arm and he frankly didn’t think he was gripping it that tight. [color=maroon][b]“Stop being a weakling. You’ll live.”[b][/color] Wesley harshly said, “you’re going to be at the house, am I clear?” Wesley asked, gripping tighter.

“Y-Yes.”

“Yes what?” He gripped even tighter, almost to the point of possibly fracturing Grant’s arm.

“Yes--s-s-sir.”

“Good,” Wesley said, releasing the grip and throwing Grant’s arm in the process. “Now get going. You better not be late.” Wesley said, walking back to his Audi.

Grant watched his father get into the car and drive away. As he did, Grant then felt his arm. He tried to move it, but he felt a sharp pain go through the forearm. He rolled up his black jacket sleave and the grey shirt. He saw his father’s large finger imprints on the center of his forearm. IT had a bold pinkish-red, flesh color. Each time Grant would try touch his arm, specifically where the imprint of his father’s large hand was, he would feel a sharp surge of pain all through his arm. When Grant tried to tighten his hand into a fist, he felt the same kind of pain as he would even bend the fingers.

With everyone kind of staring at him and whispering as they walked passed him, Grant tried to put that out of his mind. He didn’t want to think of what the other students were saying. He didn’t need that right now. He had to focus on what today was, more importantly, he had to be there for Tessa. He had force himself not to show the emotion he was feeling at the moment because of how hard his father squeezed his arm. He had to put that out of his mind. If not for himself to get through the day, then for Tess so she wouldn’t be worried about him.

Shaking his head lightly, Grant picked up his bag and put it over his right shoulder. As he walked, he bumped into someone. Not hard, but enough to get both of their attention. “Oh, I’m sorry. I wasn’t looking where I was going.“ Grant apologized, but then he looked at who it was. The red hair, that trademark beanie. It was Tess. “Oh, Tess, sorry about that,” Grant cheerfully smiled at her, seeing she was on her phone.

Tess' face seemed to light up when she realized who it was that had bumped into her. "Hey there Grant." She pulled him into a light hug. For a moment she paused looking uncertain. "Did you see the eclipse Sunday? Or at least talk to Olivia about it? She was at the astronomy meeting. Did she say anything about it?" Tess sounded nervous, and seemed to be edging away from the school. 

As Grant hugged his cousin, the pain in his arm acted up once more. "Yeah, she told me about," Grant commented, "she told me everyone got powers of some kind." As Grant thought on that, he noticed Tess seemed to be on edge, which was to be expected, considering with the memorial service.

"If you did, see the eclipse that is, but didn't talk to Olivia about it, I want to talk to you about it. There's some things, crazy weird things going on, right now. I'd say during lunch but honestly I'm going to skip out today. I can't deal with this." She waved back at the school, encompassing the whole situation of the memorial with everyone they went to school with. 

Grant looked at her somberly  for a moment. "If you want, I can skip with you" Grant told her, "Even though father would probably kill me, you look like you could use the company.." he said, gripping his left arm. It should have stopped bothering him by now, but it really was hurting more than it should.

Tessa paused, she was looking at Grant like she did when she was making a decision based on how her uncle would handle things. That frown with creased forehead and her tapping fingers against her leg. "I'd love to have you along, but like you said your dad will be pissed. I just texted mom to let her know I felt sick and to call me in sick. Hmm, you could say you saw me and wanted to make sure I got home okay, because I looked sick. You just couldn't stay long, missing one period probably wont get you in too much trouble but more than that." Tess was still frowning, she looked like she wanted to say something more, but didn't. 

"Father's always mad. It's not like he could possibly get any angrier with me than he already is," Grant said somewhat suspiciously as if he was hiding something. Though, him gripping his arm occasionally was bound to alarm Tess in some way, shape, or form.

"What happened?" Tessa's eyes flashed like they did when she was angry. Something Grant had seen only a handful of times, and less so in the more recent years. Though it seemed she only got mad when someone she cared about was getting hurt. Grant knew perfectly well that Tessa wasn't mad at him, but instead mad at Grant's father, or maybe more mad at the fact that she couldn't do anything to help Grant.

"Oh, this.." Grant looked down towards his arm, "Father grabbed me a bit hard, but I'm sure it's nothing too serious," Grant said, unsure about it himself. The truth of the matter was that Grant felt uncertain how much pain really was there in his left forearm.

"Let me see it." Tessa, shoved her phone into her pocket and held out her hands for Grant to put his arm into. As soon as he did, Tess tested it gently, partly watching his face, partly looking at his arm to make sure it wasn't broken. Grant's face was almost enough to tell her what she needed to know. "I vote you go get xrays. I'm not a doctor, but it doesn't look good." Tess pulled out her phone again, sent off another text. "Come on."

"Do you really think I need them?" Grant asked Tess.

"Remember when I broke my arm in the third grade falling out of the tree?" Tess asked, leading the way to [mal's dad's doc office]. "It felt kind of like that did just now."

"Yeah, I remember that. You let me sign your cast. I remember being one of the first ones." Grant said,  recalling  that pleasant memory. 

As he followed Tess, she would go on to say that the way Grant's arm felt to her was how her's felt back then. Instantly, Grant's mind began to wander to the worst possible thought and that was that his father, whether intentional or not, had done it again. Just like when Grant was thirteen, his father had hurt him in such a way that it would require a hospital visit. In the back of his mind, Grant was thinking back to how he was so afraid of what his father would do to him next time. Whether it was a week after, a month, a year — the thought of his father hurting him again haunted him. Even if he only hit him across the face lightly, Grant was remembering how scared he felt then.

And, as they walked towards the doctor's office, Grant stopped abruptly. His hands were to his side and he was looking down at the concrete sidewalk that they were walking on. Tessa stopped and turned around looking at Grant for a moment.

"Hey Grant? You okay?" Tessa lifted her hand as if to take his shoulder into it. She paused and then gently laid it on the shoulder opposite of his hurt arm.

I-I-I can't do this.. Grant said slowly, his whole body starting to shake. Tess pulled him into a hug.

"If it's broken though..." She trailed off. "Okay I've got an idea then. Come on, let's go to my place.

"Oh, okay," Grant said, following Tess to her house.

Once they were back to Tess's place, she led Grant through the side gate and into her woodshop. The shop had once been her dad's, but when he moved away he left it for her to use for her art. Inside was some of her sculptures that she had in half started conditions. "Ignore that," She said as she kicked aside a bucket of wood pieces. "Take a seat patient." She pointed to a high bar stool, that was partially falling apart. "Like I said I'm no doctor, but I may be able to give you something resembling a splint. It'll help, maybe." Tess explained as she dug through some of her stuff.

As Grant sat there, he saw Tess dig through some stuff, he looked at her. "How come you didn't ask?" Grant asked her suddenly.

"Ask what?" Tess asked, looking up from the box she was digging in.
Grant shifted awkwardly in the stool.

"About how my arm got like this.." He said.

"You know what I do every Monday and Thursday right? Do you know why I go to the shrink?" She asked him, no longer looking at him.

"About what happened to Janice, right?" Grant asked with uncertainty.

"That's sort of what started it. Other than that I was in a really bad place afterward. I mean really bad. I almost had to be hospitalized because of something I did. Nina found out and called mom. I don't do well with getting questioned on my motives. I hate it. I hate being asked questions that I can't or don't want to answer. If you want to tell me you will, but I'm not going to make things awkward by asking you questions you're not going to want to answer." She gave a half shrug. "I respect people want their secrets. I don't tell other people's secrets and I don't ask for secrets. It's only polite."

"I-I didn't know that," Grant said, surpirsed. He then looked at Tess again, "It's not that I don't want to tell you about it — I do, but it's just I don't want — And suddenly, without any warning, Grant felt tears come down his face, some of them falling on Tess' orange hair. "— I don't want to get another scar.." Grant's voice was cracking, his emotions partially taking over the clarity of his voice.

Tess stood up and hugged Grant again. "A broken arm won't give you a scar." She pulled a cloth out and used it to wipe away Grant's tears. "Scars aren't that bad anyway. They're there to remind you of what you've survived, what you can survive. I have dozens." She pulled up her sleeve and showed a few rows of scars on her arm. "Each one was a time I could have died, but didn't. Each one is a time I wanted nothing more than to be dead, but I'm not. I'm here, invisible half the time, but here and alive."

"You don't understand.. Grant said, his legs shifting awkwardly, and looking down somewhat. "It's my father, he beats us. Grant told her, revealing what only his family and Olivia know, "He used to beat Thomas, Dani, and Adam and Ava. He doesn't to them anymore because they're able to defend themselves, so he does it solely on me. Sometimes it's only a slap or two to the face, and  sometimes he whips me on the bottom with his belt. But —" Grant paused, realizing that more tears have been falling from his face, probably since he started talking about what his father did to him and his siblings. "—But he beats me worse than he ever did them." Grant said, standing up from the stool. "Can you help me with my jacket? I need to show you something." Grant asked Tess.

Without any hesitation and shaky fingers, Tess helped Grant with his jacket. She was careful not to cause him any pain in his arm. First came the left arm, which proved to be the hardest as Grant would wince in pain as his elbow would bend. However, once it was out of the sleeve, the right arm was as easy as sliding it out of the sleeve. The jacket would be placed on the stool. Then came the gray shirt. It was tucked into Grants pants, so it was only a matter of pulling it out, unbuttoning the shirt, sliding Grant's arms out of the sleeves, and setting it aside as it would be placed on top of his jacket. As soon as it was, there would come a gruesome sight of a large scar going from the left shoulder-blade to the bottom right on Grant's back. Though several years old, it was a bright, pink flesh tone color. Just the sight was enough to make anyone queasy.

Tess gasped, looking at the scar, her hand covering her mouth. "I always knew something big happened a few years back. When Mom stopped making us go over for dinner on Sundays. I never knew what, but mom wasn't telling, and she was pissed. She never speaks bad of someone, you know how she is, won't speak ill of anyone, not even dad for leaving, but I could tell she was mad at your dad. She wasn't talking about him at all hardly." Tessa was still shaking as she spoke. "This is why you don't want to go to the doctor isn't it? He did this to you and it'd get back to him?" She pulled out the things she had been digging for, set it on the table and then stepped over to the sink in the corner of the room. "If this is actually broken you will have to go though. I can't set it."

"Father is one of the head-surgeons at the Hospital, he'll know. Even if it was kept confidential, he'd still find out." Grant kept shaking his head, as if trying to convince himself that not going was the right thing to do. It wasn't. He knew Tess was right. Gods, he knew she was right. He just didn't want father to know about it. "I don't know what I'm going to do, Tess." Grant said, looking at his cousin with such fear in his eyes that one could practically see it in neon letters above his head with an arrow pointing down at him.

"I don't know either Grant. I wish I had a way to fix it, unfortunatly I can just turn invisble." She shook her head, then as if she remembered they hadn't fully talked about the powers thing yet, her eyes widened. "Look, I'll talk with Malcolm, maybe he can help get you x-rayed without it getting on the books at the hospital. He might be able to help convince his dad or something." Tessa sighed and sat down looking at Grant. "I hate that I can't just wisk you away from it. I hate that I have to watch you suffer and that all I can do is try to wrap your arm in hopes it isn't broken. I hate that if we did anything no one would do a damn thing. I hate a lot of things these days, Janice would have known what to do." Tess looked down at the cloth in her had, still damp from Grant's tears. "I'm sorry I'm not strong enough to save you."

Getting through his wincing from the pain in his arm as he shifted his position slightly, Grant hugged Tess. "You're plenty strong, Tess. If you weren't as strong and as gentle as you are, I wouldn't be able to get through most of what happens to me at school and home. Without you and Liv, I probably wouldn't be here." Grant said, his words somewhat muffled into Tess' shirt.

Tess hugged back lightly, being sure to not hurt his arm. "This place sucks." She said as she released him. "All right let me see if I splint your arm in a way that no one will notice." Tess spent the next twenty minutes carefully trying to splint and set Grant's arm without hurting him, that was not an easy task at all. Most of the conversation consisted of Tess apologizing and trying again. When she felt like it would hold, at least for the day she leaned back and sighed. "That's the best I can do. Maybe I can convince Malcolm to help, or his dad, later. Off the books." There wasn't a lot of hope in her voice, the tensions between Malcolm and Jay was probably a big deciding factor. 

As Grant examined the splint, he noticed that, while there were light tinge of pain, it wasn't nearly as bad as it was before. "Thank you, Tess." Grant said, hugging Tess once more. "Can you help me with my shirt and Jacket?" Grant asked.

"Yeah of course." Tess picked his shirt up and helped him slide his left arm into the sleeve before working his right arm into it. Then she helped him with his jacket. "Anytime you need a space, come here. Hold on." Tess opened a dawer and pulled out a key ring, she took one of the keys off of it at seemingly random. "Here, it's a key to the shop. So even if I'm not here you can get in. I trust you not to mess with the sculptures." She held the key out for him.

Grant took the key, but simply looked at it. He then looked back to Tess. "You sure Aunt Carrie won't mind? I mean, she wouldn't be mad if I used your space when you aren't here?" Grant asked Tess, unsure if he should take the key or not.

"Mom never comes in here. She considers it my 'safe' place, something  shrink told her to do." Tess shrugged.

"Well, if you're sure," Grant still seemed unsure, but he pocketed the key nonetheless. Tess nodded. 

"Now the all important question, do you want to go back to school, or hang out here for a bit?"

"I wouldn't mind hanging out here for a bit. Grant said, smiling at Tess.

"Cool. Follow me." Tess led the way into the house and pulled some food from the fridge, before going into the living room and turning on the TV. "Think you arm can handle some splatoon?"

Grant smiled and took a seat on the couch. "What kind of gamer would I be if I let my arm get in the way? Liv would never let me hear the end of it." Grant smirked.

"Excellent!" Tess started the game up. 

Austin listened as Alicia confirmed his suspicions.

"Jay-Jay here got into a little scuffle with the 'Dick King'." She said jokingly.

"Figured as much. Someone needs to put that prick in his place already." He grumbled.

"You should have seen the prank I pulled on Jay-Jay yesterday it was so priceless." Alicia laughed and playfully nudged Jay. "He screamed like a little girl, it was so funny!"

"You're saying he screamed like a little girl as if it were out of the ordinary, Alicia." Austin teased, flashing Jay a cheeky grin. He looked around the hall for any sign of Tessa, but didn't spot her. "I just gotta text someone." The teen excused himself, stepping to the side and pulling out his phone. He swiped through his contacts, reminding himself to change the order from alphabetical, before stopping at the end. Austin clicked on Tessa's name, typing away.

To: Tessa
Hey, how are you holding up? I can't see you anywhere, so I'm guessing you're not coming to the service. Hope you're okay <3

He found a spare seat next to the group as he waited for Tess to reply, and reached for a backpack that wasn't there. He groaned to himself, swearing under his breath.

From: Tessa
Thanks for asking. I'm hanging out with my cousin at home right now, we're playing splatoon. Can't do that service again, hurts too much. Want to meet for coffee later?

Austin almost spat out his chewing gum (which he'd just remembered was there) in surprise. To him, this was Tessa asking him out. With a big- and rude, considering the setting- grin on his face, he speedily typed a reply.

To: Tessa
Splatoon? I love that game!

To: Tessa
On another note, definitely. And I hope the pain passes soon. I mean, I lost my uncle to cancer, and that hurt so damn much. It gets better though - trust me. But, yeah, I'll gladly talk over coffee :)

From: Tessa
Sweet, let me know when you're free.

To: Tessa
I'll head there after the service. No way am I attending school after a mock funeral. Cya there :P

Austin hesitated, his happy spirit having ruined the experience. No way could he attend the service now. Feeling partly annoyed (but partly overjoyed), he texted her again.

To: Tessa
In fact, I'll head there now. Need to make sure you're okay :) Simone's Cafe, right?

He stood up, placing his phone into the inside pocket of his suit.

"Sorry guys, I gotta go. See you tomorrow, yeah?" He winked, before giving a big 'whoo!' and speeding out, a mere blur. He'd probably regret it later, but, hey, who'd know it was him? Pushing his thoughts aside, he stopped outside the cafe, ditching his chewing gum and evening his suit out. It surprisingly didn't get that crumpled, which was a bonus. Walking inside, he sat down at a table nearest the door and waited for Tessa to arrive.

Location: Lincoln Memorial High School Gym
Interacting with: Each Other

---

---

"I'm doing alright, aside from a bump on my elbow. You know me. Graceful in the water, not so much on land. I rolled right out of bed this morning. However, I'm not late today, thanks to the fact my parents gave me a ride, and also a properly set alarm. My parents say hi by the way. They have nooo idea about yesterday." Kata giggled a bit as she pulled her arm back from Ali and looked her over. It was taking every bit of her willpower to not shout out anything at Ali infront of the whole town. Well, most of the town. Like 2/3rds? She couldn't tell.

"So, how much trouble are you in for cutting yesterday?" She looked at Ali and smirked a bit. "And I probably know this answer, was it worth it?"

"Thats happened to me before a few times, so I know the feeling." Alicia smiled looking up at Kat running a hand through her hair, she looked over at Austin as he went to text someone just as quickly as he came he decided to get up and leave. "See ya later today Austin, ill text you later if you want to hangout or something." Alicia waved goodbye to him. When Kat asked about her cutting class yesterday she smiled slightly. "I got off kind of easily, though I have to go straight home after school today." Alicia blushed slightly at Kat's last comment and nodded. "Spending the rest of the day with you, of course it was worth it."

Alicia stretched out slightly and stood up from her seat turning to face her friend. "So what do you have planned for today after class?" Alicia asked.

"I don't really have much planned after class, but if you want I can come over and hang out, if you'd like?" Kata blushed as well, and looked at her friends. She suddenly remembered yesterday afternoon and bit her lip. "Hey, uh... can I get a moment with you alone, please?"

"I'm down for that, always." Alicia raised an eyebrow for a moment seemed like she was nervous about something. "Sure thing Kat, want to talk out behind the school or something?" Alicia suggested, she looked over seeing her mother talking with Mrs. Cai she wouldnt see her leave the auditorium, and started to leave looking over at Jay and Scout. "I'll see you two in a bit." Alicia said as she walked through the front doors to the auditorium.

"What she said," Kata said to Jay and Scout before heading out the doors with Ali. Once outside, she lightly took Ali's hand, and headed towards behind the school. She was thankful that she was slightly infront of Ali, because her face was almost as red as her hair. Once they were behind the school, she let go of Ali's hand and turned to look at her. "Ali, there's something I've been meaning to tell you for awhile, but I've been a bit scared to. However, something was pointed out to me yesterday, so I figure now is as good as time as any to say it."

Alicia blushed slightly as Kat gently grabbed her hand and followed behind her friend as she was led through the hallways until they were finally outside at the back of the school. Once Kat let go, she could instantly see Kat's face was a real bright red and tilted her head slightly. "Is there something wrong that happened yesterday?" Alicia asked feeling slightly nervous as well and tried to think what her friend was trying to say.

"It was nothing wrong Ali, but while you were making my drink, Ash pointed out how much flirtin' was going on between us, and well... makes me think I have a chance. Ali,I've had like this super huge crush on you for a while, and quiet honestly, I really really wanted to let you know and I hope you feel the same." Kata almost rushed through most of that, partly due to embaressment, and partly due to not wanting to be rejected.

As Kat brought up her own feelings towards Alicia she couldnt help but blush and it reminded of her own conversation with Jade yesterday, and it was true Kat did have feelings towards her. Alicia on impulse leaned forward and pressed her lips up against Kat's into a loving kiss, her heart raced slightly as she held the kiss there for several seconds before breaking away her face was just a red. "Jade noticed the same exact thing as well.. I would have said something sooner, but I wasnt sure if you liked me the same way.." Alicia said her eyes meeting Kat's.

If Kata could blush more, she probably would have. Or lit on fire from how red she was. "Really? You feel the same? Well now I feel stupid for not saying something sooner but... awesome!" Kata leaned in and pressed her lips to Ali's in return, her own heart pumping fast as she held the kiss for a few moments, and smiled at Ali. "So... uh... girlfriends? I mean like dating girlfriends, not like just 'girl friends' as in two girls that are just friends and now I'm babbling... Or should we go on a date first before we say we're dating..." Kata giggled a bit and stopped herself as she waited for Ali's reply.

Alicia smiled as Kat kissed her back and rubbed the back of her neck slightly and nodded. "Yeah i've felt that way towards you for awhile now, i'm really happy you feel the same way." Alicia said softly and giggled softly and nodded. "I always wanted to go out on a date with you, so that makes us girlfriends." Alicia gently held out her hand towards Kat and held it. "We should go out tonight, my treat."

"If you can manage to convince your mom to let you out tonight, that sounds good to me. Girlfriends it is." Kata happily took Ali's hand and gave it a gentle squeeze and smiled at her. "We should probably head back in before your mom notices."

"I have my ways, but we are going out tonight no matter what." Alicia smiled as Kat gently held her hand and squeezed it and nodded. "Or, we could just sneak out now and have a date now. But its up to you what you want to do." Alicia leaned up and gently kissed Kat once more. "Oh yeah, and you arent going to get away from my pranks either." Alicia giggled.

"I figured that would be the case. Besides, life would be boring without your pranks. We should probably attend the memorial, since both of our parents are there, but yeah... I look forward to tonight then." Kata smiled and kissed Ali again. It was rather addictive in a way. "Shall we head back then?"

"Good then." Alicia smirked at Kat playfully and nodded, it was the memorial service and had to show some respect to the people that were lost. "Yeah you are probably right." Alicia blushed again when Kat kissed her which made her heart skip a beat and held Kat's hand as they headed back towards the auditorium, she took her seat back next to Jay the moment they got back.

Kata slipped back into her seat next to Ali and near Jay once they got back, and slipped her hand into Ali's, feeling suprising happy for being at a memorial. However, nothing could bring her mood down now.

---

---

Part way through the second round of Splatoon Tess received the first text from Austin. That caused her to almost lose the round. “Sorry,” Tessa told Grant after the game was over. “I’m going to go to the cafe.” How to get him to go to school without making him feel like she was ditching him? Tessa gave herself a mental slap and decided to be honest. “So Austin is meeting me for coffee.” She felt her ears light on fire almost and was glad they were covered by her hair and beanie. “You can stay here or go back to school if you want. My gran shouldn’t come over since she doesn’t know anyone’s home.”

”I think I’ll go to school. I think I’m ready now. Tell Austin I said hi, by the way.” Grant said, waving bye to Tess. Not long after she left, Grant himself would go back to school. He probably missed first period, but he just wanted to go to school. Maybe seeing Olivia would change his mood about his father and what the fear did to him earlier.

Tessa made her way to the cafe, she hadn’t been there in ages. Of course that had been by choice because she did that to avoid Nina. She didn’t have to worry about Nina being there right now, because Nina would be at school, and Tessa wasn’t avoiding her anymore. Well a part of Tess was still pissed at Nina, and jealous of course, not that she wished Petyr dead, nothing of the sort, but she couldn’t get that feeling of sadness to leave her alone whenever she was around Nina. After the time with Grant and Nina, she realized that more people relied on her than she realized. That didn’t make any sense of course. Why would someone take strength from her? She was falling apart at the seams.

Then to get the texts from Austin, the cute, and silly British guy she had liked almost since he had moved to town. He was just checking on her, right? Really, he just knew that she was a wreck right now, reasonably so, and was making sure all was well. Who was she to deny meeting him so he could see she’d be okay, especially since she was happily avoiding the damn service. It’d just be rude to not invite him for coffee, she had been briefly tempted to invite him over to her house to play splatoon since he enjoyed it too. That seemed too... well just too anything and if her Gran had decided she wanted a glass of water and rather than get it from her own fridge inexplicably made her way over to the Gray house because the water tasted better there (wouldn’t be the first time). Then she’d walk in on them sitting there playing splatoon and the proverbial shit would have hit the fan.

No it was much safer to go for coffee while everyone was at the service, now that she thought about it would Simone’s even be open? God how stupid was it that a bunch of people getting murdered made a holiday in the town. At least she had stopped going to the dinner.

Tessa paused outside the cafe, for a moment frozen, the whole world was just too weird these last couple of days. With a deep breath she entered, and found Austin almost immediately.

”Hello Austin.” Tessa said, she gave a small smile, more than she was known to do in her normal day-to-day life.

Austin flashed Tessa a big grin as she walked him, paired with a cute little wave.

”Hey, Tess! Was just about to order coffee.”

”What do you like? I usually get a cappuccino.”

”What? I totally like cappuccinos too! I mean, if I’m forced to have something else, I’ll go with a latte, but cappuccinos are like, number one to me.” He waved his arms about in an exaggerated fashion of surprise.

”Really?” Tessa raised an eyebrow, her small smile grew a bit. ”I think my second favorite is mocha’s especially the one’s with peppermint.”

”Totally love a peppermint mocha in winter. I mean, I order them all the time in the countdown to Christmas.” He grinned even wider, which until now seemed like an impossible task to accomplish. Tessa stepped up to the counter and ordered her cappuccino dry. Austin ordered the same, with his signature grin ever growing wider.

”The foam is the best part.” Tessa pronounced when he ordered his dry as well.

”Totally. You should come ‘round one day for when my mum-” He cleared his throat, correcting himself. ”-mom makes them. She sprinkles sugar and chocolate powder on top, and it all melts into the foam.

”That sounds amazing! Normally I just put nutmeg on it.” Tessa tilted her head. ”You know you don’t have to correct yourself like that. I don’t mind if you say mum.”

”Really?” His grin became a soft, surprised smile. ”Normally I get all the strange looks on the earth when I say words like they do in England. Also, what’s nutmeg? I’ve lived in America for two years and actually have no idea what it is.”

”It’s fine I swear. It reminds me that there is life and a world outside of this town.” Tessa looked sad for a brief moment. ”Nutmeg though is basically the best nut on the planet. They have some here, so you should totally add it to your coffee to try it.” She pointed to the small counter with the assorted coffee additives.

”Okay then.” He grabbed his cup, taking it over to the counter and hesitantly adding a few sprinkles of nutmeg on the foam. He turned back to Tessa, showing her the cup. ”Like this?”

Tessa nodded, and added nutmeg to her own drink, considerably more than Austin had. “That’s good for trying it.” When they got back to their seat, Tess looked around the empty coffee shop, everyone was at the memorial service except the poor employee and them. Though Tess celebrated that. ”How are things going with that new thing?” God that’s painfully vague.

Austin got what she was getting at, however, and gave a quick ‘oh’ before filling her in. ”Yeah, it’s been going okay. My nose bled around, I dunno, thirteen, fourteen times? But other than that, it’s been pretty cool. Nice to know I don’t have to get up an hour early to make sure I get to school on time.” His grin returned, before he slowly sipped his coffee. His eyes lit up in awe, and he stared at the cup like it was made out of gold. ”Where have I been all my life? Nutmeg is amazing!

Tessa laughed, a real and genuine laugh. ”You can understand now why I always add it to my coffee. Yeah, I haven’t had any nosebleeds, but man did I have one killer migraine yesterday. Haven’t done anything today so the headache I’ve been nursing since Sunday is mostly gone now, which is lovely. Hope it doesn’t turn out that I’ve got the power because I have a brain tumor or something like that.” Tessa shivered at the thought.

Austin let out a chuckle himself. ”I don’t think having a brain tumour can give you powers. It’s not as easy as getting bit by a spider, y’know.” He joked, hoping to god Tess would get the Spiderman reference.

”Well John Travolta is no Spiderman, but I am pretty certain he was in a film about having a brain tumor and getting super powers. Not that I remember the name of the movie.”

He raised his hands in confusion. ”Don’t ask me; I haven’t seen a single John Travolta movie since Hairspray and Grease.” He laughed. ”And that plot sounds pretty weird, I wouldn’t be surprised if it didn’t turn out a big success.

”Yeah I don’t think it was that big of a film. It was from the nineties, my parents watched it once. I only remember it because the ending was really dramatic. He’s like ‘I sense an earthquake’ and then he died and everyone was safe from the earthquake or something like that. Needless to say I do not recommend it unless you like cheesy nineties films.” She gave a shrug.

”Trust me - I would pick that over non-stop ‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine’ episodes any day. My dad used to watch that, like, all the time!” He groaned dramatically.

”My turn to say I’ve never heard of it.” Tessa said.

”Lucky you.” He chuckled. ”It’s basically an annoying American ‘comedy’ that was on E4 back in England. I don’t think you’ll have heard of the channel, either. They did show some good stuff, though, like Supernatural and The Big Bang Theory.”

”I like Supernatural, never got that into The Big Bang Theory. I always felt like it was over the top.” She gave a small shrug.

”Well, it can be a bit much, but I enjoy it anyway. I’ve tried to keep up with Supernatural, but my time of watching CW is too busy being spent watching The Flash and Arrow.” He chuckled. ”I’m enjoying what episodes of Season 10 I can catch, though.”

”I didn’t even see all of season 10.” Tessa facepalmed. ”I’m a terrible nerd. I also haven’t caught up with Doctor Who. It’s just been too painful lately. I can’t do it.”

”Ah, I’m just waiting for Season 9 to start! I can’t believe-” He stopped himself. ”Wait, which was the most recent episode of it you watched? Doctor Who, that is.”

”The Christmas special.”

”Wait, last year’s?” He chuckled. ”You’re that far behind on it?” Tess gave a sad nod. Austin hugged her. ”Don’t you worry - I’ll get you caught up.” Tessa hugged Austin back, and was thankful he couldn’t see her face, because she was certain it was beet red from how hot it felt.

”Thank you.” She said leaning back from the hug. ”I need someone to watch it with.”

”Don’t you worry, my fellow nerd. You shall be saved from this terrible isolation of non-Doctor Who!” He proclaimed in a jokingly triumphant way. He burst into laughter afterwards, garnering a strange look from the barista in the process. Once he’d calmed down, he looked into Tessa’s eyes and smiled. ”You know, I don’t think I’ve ever felt this genuinely happy in a long time.”

”I have to say, same here. It’s weird, but since the eclipse things have seemed to be a bit brighter. I mean all day I haven’t once wished to disappear and normally by this time I’ve done it at least a dozen times. And this is nice. I haven't talked to people much lately, especially about the extra nerdy things.” Tessa paused, “Have you ever seen any of my art?”

”To be honest, I didn’t actually know that you did art. Would you be willing to show me some?” He smiled, adding, ”And yeah. This is nice. Just don’t go disappearing on me, okay?” He laughed.

”Yeah of course I’d be willing. And don’t worry it’s hard for me to do that when people are actually looking.” Tessa said, smiling. ”Pictures or the real thing?”

”The real thing would be awesome. If that’s okay with you, of course. I don’t know what your gran would think if she came over to yours and you’ve got a random guy there. A British one, at that.” He finished off his coffee, taking out his phone and looking in the reflection. He carefully messed around with the foam on his lip, making a twirly mustache out of it, donning a posh accent. ”I presume that is where you keep your art.”

Tessa had watched Austin with a bemused smile, and then she snorted when he spoke with the posh accent. ”I’m glad I wasn’t drinking anything just now.” She shook her head, still smiling. ”Yeah that’s where it is. I have a woodshop in the back yard that used to be my dad’s. Gran might come over, she’s been known to show up randomly. I’ll show you pictures for now, then the real thing later okay.” Tessa took out her own phone and pulled up the file that was of her art. ”There everything in that file is my work.” Most of it was partially finished wood statues, some with paint, most without.

Austin flicked through the pictures, all the while with a look of awe and admiration on his face. ”This is amazing, Tess! I just wish I could do stuff like this. The best I can do is draw a crappy cartoon dog.” He chuckled, pretending to twirl his mustache, and re-donning the accent (making sure Tess wasn’t drinking first, of course). ”And a charming gentleman, on occasion.” Tessa laughed.

”My drawing isn’t that great. I can just do sketches of what I want to do with the wood. Wood though, that speaks to me. When I was little we’d go to the beach and I’d collect driftwood and make things out of that. For my thirteenth birthday my dad gave me a key to his wood shop and I’ve used it almost every day since. That’s what art is, really, just doing it.”

”That’s amazing, Tess, honestly.” He handed the phone back, smiling. ”Though, just a word of advice? Don’t tell my brother that. Otherwise he’ll use it as an excuse to binge-eat Oreos.” He laughed, sending a little froth flying onto the table.

“Oh god that’s not art.” Tessa said laughing. ”That’s more like attempted suicide by diabetes.”

”Not to be morbid, but some days, I wish it was. Anyway, away from all that.” He swatted at invisible flies. ”How’s your life been? You know if you ever need support, I’ll be there.” He smiled.

”Honestly, like I said, things are looking better. I actually had a conversation with Nina this morning. Where I didn’t quite apologize, but I promised I’d be less of an ass, which is a big start for me.” Tess shook her head. ”It’s hard, I’ve been mad at her too long I think, and she doesn’t deserve that. Other than that I got invited to a party, which hasn’t happened in years.” What Tessa didn’t say was that the last time she had been invited to a party it was because Janice had been invited and so you can’t tell the weird twin they’re not invited right in front of the person you want at the party.

”That’s great! I’m glad to see you’re fixing broken bonds and all that jazz. Honestly, I don’t think I’d have the guts to. But I truly am proud of you.” He embraced her in a warm hug. ”And honestly, now things are looking better, it’s only gonna go uphill from here. You’ve got a helluva life ahead of you, Tess.”

”I hope so. I never saw a future without...” She trailed off. ”But I think I can do it now.”

He came back from the hug in order to look her in the eyes. ”Tess,” he smiled. ”I know you can do it. And if anyone doubts you, tries to bring you down, or says you can’t do anything, then they’ve never been so wrong about something in their life.”

”Thank you Austin. That means a lot to me.” Tess leaned over and went to kiss Austin on the cheek. He recognized the move, and turned his head, so the kiss ended up on the lips. Tess bounced back, surprise on her face. ”Sorry I didn’t mean to...” Her face was burning again.

”Hey, don’t worry - I did.” He smiled. ”Tess, I’ve had a crush on you ever since I moved here. And spending this time with you has made me realise… I love you.” He stared into her eyes.
”Really? Me?” Tess stared at him confused. ”I was practically invisible before I could even turn invisible, and you’re telling me you even noticed me?” She could tell her face was only getting redder.

”Tess, every time I was in a school corridor with you, you were the only person I could focus on. Everytime I’m near you, it’s like I can just sense it. You’ve given me confidence without even meaning to.” He smiled.

”I noticed you too. I mean you’re hard to miss. Everything about you just makes me smile. I swear you’re one of the few people that has gotten me to smile in the last few years. I just, oh god how do I say this, I just didn’t think I mattered and so I didn’t say anything. God I’m going to have a lot to talk about Thursday.” She buried her face in her hands trying to hide the growing redness. ”What I’m trying to say is I like you too. I don’t know about love, that’s harder, and messier, but I want to be around you. I want to get to know you even more. I want to watch Reno nine-nine just to see what it’s about and so I can know what you watched growing up.”

Austin smiled. ”I feel the exact same way about you. I want to learn how to sculpt wood, watch that movie with John Travolta, and be around you all the time. I want to know what shows you like, if you read comics, what books you’ve read, what fandoms you’re in, what friends you have.” He lifted her head out of her hands. ”Don’t worry, you don’t have to be embarrassed. You don’t have to be afraid to show your flaws. Heck, I used to be scared of hamsters.” He laughed. Tessa laughed too.

”That’s ridiculous. So does this mean we’re... Uh, dating?”

”Yeah… I guess we’re dating.”

---

---

Scout snorted at Alicia’s nickname for King, and once asked how she was doing she merely shrugged, forcing her usual smirk. Though her foot continued to tap on, she froze once Jay pointed out her nervous action, and a sheepish look passed across her face briefly. Scout twirled a strand of hair tightly around her index finger, watching the flesh turn purple from the force before she let her gaze fall upon Jay.

”Taking off sounds like a swell idea, actually. This whole assembly is down right depressing.” She hissed, blue eyes shining as they scanned across the murmuring crowd. Even the students who would be most rowdy, those Scout often found herself hanging around when Jay and the others weren’t around, were somber in the presence of the speeches on stage. Scout wasn’t a fan of gatherings like this, mostly due to the fact that she just felt like another figure in a sea of bodies. Ditching was an option still open to her, gleaming like a light at the end of a dark tunnel, but as her eyes settled on her friends again she felt her heart waver. Eventually the group of four became five, and Scout rose an eyebrow at the lovely Katalina joined their group. Another girl with powers. How many kids could have powers? Scout blinked once, feeling herself becoming more and more unseen with each new person to the crowd, and again the wish to run came.

why not act on it

Scout pulled her hood over her head, glancing down to check her watch one more time, and then with a small smile she rose a hand, ”I’m gonna head off to the bathroom,” she froze to tuck a stray blonde strand behind her ear, ”don’t wait up. See ya later, guys.” Scout smirked slightly, and then turned to vanish straight into the crowd. On stage, Rachel Lewis had stepped off and a familiar face had taken up the mic. A one Victoria King, mother to the bastard Richard King. Her voice, calm and collect, read off the names of the victims slowly, preparing to give some kind of grand speech, but Scout was soon out of earshot and instead walking across the school’s front lawn. She glanced about carefully, making sure she was unseen by those around the auditorium, and then with a soft sigh she settled down on the grass beneath the shade of a small maple tree.

She wasn’t needed by Noah for another hour or two, and her mind was still a bit groggy from the lack of sleep, so what better way to kill time then take a nap? Scout sighed to herself, curling her arms behind her head while her eyes focused on the sunlight filtering through the green leaves. It was a calm day, nice and peaceful, and of course sad, but Scout felt much too weird to connect with the other mourners. She wanted to feel sad, sure, but some kind of apathy had grabbed hold of her heart. Perhaps it was the stress from seeing Jay’s broken face yesterday, or maybe the rage she had felt burning in her stomach over King’s words had killed her mentally, but whatever was causing her current state of emotionless-ness was certainly bothering her. Scout felt her foot start tapping again, and with a defiant grunt at her own body she squeezed her eyes shut and attempted to force sleep upon herself.

And after a few quiet minutes she was gone.

”Late, why am I always goddamn late?!”

Every fucking time, Jade Taylor was late. Whether it was her period or for school, she was never on time. A girl like her had been known for this, so perhaps keeping up her reputation of being late to almost every important event that seemed to matter in this god-forsaken town. It wasn’t like Jade has lost anyone from that crazy, psycho killer from a few years ago, but she still didn’t want to be one of the bitches that didn’t show up. The least she could do was show up so that she could say that she was there.

As she scrambled around her room trying to find her phone, Jade was half-dressed. She was roaming frantically around her room only wearing black, denim pants and a few white and black assortment of bracelets on her wrists. They were those frilly kinds that people buy in the dozens for only a few bucks. She was trying to find her phone and Jade wasn’t having any luck. She was looking for it on her floor as she was on her knees, throwing aside the dirty clothes on her carpet floor. She had also tried looking on her dresser, in her bathroom, and pretty much everywhere else. After twenty minutes, Jade simply said fuck it for the time being. She needed to continue getting dressed.

Set on her bed semi-laid out, Jade had picked out a loose dark grey shirt. It was one size too big for her skinny frame, so one of the sleeves usually hung off, revealing her shoulder. Jade didn’t really care. At the moment, she wasn’t really concerned about the size. It was a shirt to wear, so that’s what mattered most to her right now. Along with that shirt, her trademark black leather jacket that she doesn’t seem to go anywhere without.

Jade was running so late, that she didn’t even bother with a bra. She put the shirt on, slipped the jacket on. As she would do so, wouldn’t ya know it? Her phone was right there underneath her jacket. ”Fucking hell..” Jade cursed, yelling shortly into open air. She pocketed her phone and went to her closet. She picked out a pair of black boots. She didn’t give a fuck about how she looked(which was probably somewhere between rocker chick and forced comfort). Whatever, she was already running late as it was nearing 9am.

Jade grabbed her bag and jetted out of her room, slamming the door behind her. She slid down the stairs with rushed grace. She zipped past her Uncle Charlie. He didn’t even have time to properly say good morning to her. As soon as she said “hey Uncle Charle”, Jade was saying bye to him. He didn’t even get a single word in until he heard the door slam. Jade had no time to even stop. She didn’t have the luxury to do so.

Sprinting as much as her little legs would allow, Jade found herself getting out of her neighborhood within ten minutes, which put her missing the beginning of the fucking memorial service. Whatever, at least Jade wold be able to make it in time for some of it. She knew that, at the pace she was going, ten more minutes would do it, but one little problem: Jade was getting tired. So much so that she had to stop periodically. Five minutes of fast walking and then five more minutes of sprinting. Jade seemed to repeat this process two times.

Each time she stopped sprinting, she felt her legs started to cramp up. The nerve of them. Here she was actually making an effort to get to school on time(somewhat) and they started to feel like jello. Even worse, she started to sweat. ”Great,” Jade said complaiing, her pace starting to slow. Thankfully, the sight of Lincoln Memorial High School was near.

As it became larger, Jade saw a figure standing in front of it, looking at the front entrance. She saw this person not moving and they seemed to have some kind of arm injury. Jade shrugged. She wasn’t going to bother him, but once she got close enough, she realized who it was.

”Hey Grant, what‘s up with your arm? Pull something?” Jade asked, stopping her jog.

”Oh, Jade!” Grant said with a surprised smile, turning his attention to Jade as he saw her stop near him, ”This? I slipped and fell.” Grant said as convincingly as he could.

”Right..” Jade didn’t believe him for one second. She looked at him, trying to gauge his confidence in that anwer. She knew he was lying, but who was she to pry? Whatever happened must be something bad. ”Gotta be careful with those falls man. They are somethings a killer.” Jade laughed, arms behind her head slightly.

”I‘ll take that into mind next time I‘m walking down the stairs.” He smiled, ”What are you doing here so late, Jade?” Grant inquired.

Jade nervously laughed. ”I could ask you the same thing. Jade grinned, teasing Grant slightly.

”I, uh—”

”Relax, I‘m only pulling your leg.”

”Right, of course..”

”Anyways, why were you just staring at the school before I walked up? Seemed like you were contemplating now going in or something like that..” Jade didn’t want to pry, but she did anyways.

”I was just thinking about something.”

”About how to get some poody tang?”

Grant’s face went red. Jade chuckled.

”You‘re so cute when you get red.”

”I, uh — I mean, I wish girls said that to me more..”

Jade smirked. ”Oh come on, a cutie like you must have all the panties in your bag!” She said, nudging him as if they were two guys in the locker room talking about the latest “score” they got the night prior.

”I do not!” he protested.

”There must be one you‘re fond of..”

Grant went silent, looking down. ”Well, there is someone..” Grant said slowly, fidgeting his thumbs(to the most of his ability) together.

”Look at you Mr. Studd!” Jade smirked, ”okay, Mr. Studd, who is she? I need a name.” She demanded.

”Olivia..”

”Johnson? That pretty blonde that you‘re always hanging around?”

Grant nodded.

”Damn G, that‘s a nice one.” Jade sounded more excited for Grant more than she should be, ”how come you‘re not hitting that?” Jade, with her rather unique approach, inquired to Grant.

”I would not HIT her and I would never refer to her as THAT ” Grant retorted at Jade.

”Geez Louise, no need to be snappy. ” Jade gave him a “calm down” look, ”but seriously, why aren‘t you two together” Jade emphasized the together part as she didn’t want to receive Grant’s snappy bitchiness again.

”I, uh, I mean..”

”Spit it out, boy wonder!”

”I don‘t know if she feels the same as I do..”

”And do you know that for certain?” Jade asked sternly.

”No…” Grant’s face fell down, his tone faded into silence.

”Then you don‘t know, do you ?” Jade said, sighing.

”No, I suppose I don‘t…” Grant admitted through defeat.

”Listen, if you like Olivia as much as you say you do, then you should tell her how you feel. Trust me, leaving these feelings unresolved is never a good thing to do.” Jade told him.

”But—” Jade interrupted Grant.

”but nothing! If you like her, then tell her dumbass.” Jade bluntly said.

”I don‘t know…”

Jade looked at how pathetic and depressed he looked about the prospect of telling Olivia his true feelings. ”Okay, fine, I‘ll see what I can find out.,” Jade sighed.

Grant’s eyes widened. ”WHAT!? No, please don’t..”

”Don‘t worry, G — I won‘t tell her about your little crush. ”

Grant wasn’t sure if he was relieved or disappointed. ”I, uh— thank you.” He said, somewhat smiling.

”It‘s whatever. You‘re a cool dude and you obviously have the hots for her. It‘s the least I can do. I mean, I don’t‘ know what I‘ll find out, but I‘ll tell you after school.” Jade said shrugging, ”come to Simonè‘s after school. I‘m working with Ali, so we‘ll talk then.” Jade smiled at Grant, walking past him. Grant nodded. She smiled again ”Now let‘s see if we can at least catch the last part of that Memorial, kay?” Jade smiled sweetly.

Grant smiled back at her. The two of them went into the school. Quite an odd friendship, but then again, nothing about Verona seemed to be normal. Teens had superpowers for god’s sake. Surely, the Town Slut and Shy Boy could have a friendship, right?

---

---

===

His alarm clock went off. Dags shoving s bowl in his face and telling him it was time to eat. Everett had spent the night in the barn. He had spent the entire night working to get the barn just right. He had a plan for Nina, something to make up for his outbursts the night before. He was proud of the idea but he could only hope she'd enjoy it.

“Hey buddy. How you doing huh?”Everett said petting him and getting a bowl shoved his face again. “Alright buddy. Come on let's eat.” Everett said get to his feet. The sun still hasn't come up. Which isn't outta the norm for him. Walking to back to the house and into the kitchen. He found the bruised meat and tossed it in the bowl. He checked the clock as he put the bowl on ground.

It was 5:30 in the morning. He had plenty of time to get everything done before he left for the memorial service. First was a was feeding himself then a shower. It wasn't till he was about to open the Frigidaire that he saw a note from Aunt Lou

“Dear Everett,

I signed you up to give a talk at the Memorial service. I'll meet you there. Don't you dare act a fool. You're girlfriend will be in the crowd.

Love Aunt Lou.”

Everett looked down at Dags who was happily chomping down on his breakfast. “I know you and dead owls don't give a hoot but I'd beat that woman of I didn't need her so badly.” Everett said as he got his own food and ate.

He hated to asuit, but this was a situation that was he had too. He'd get over it but it was still a pain. He did find a way to redneck it up with his shark skin boots. His Momma loved those boots. Even when he grew the first pair he couldn't help but buy another, and another after that. One way or another, he was gonna have these boots till they put him ground.

After his shower and getting dressed Everett realized that he still almost an hour before he had to leave. He took Dags with him back out to the barn and put the finishing touches on little idea.

He didn't know nor cared what kinda trouble he was get in for bringing Dags with him but he was gonna do either way. He told Dags to get in the truck and off they drove to service.

No one said a word to him as he sat backstage waiting for his turn to talk. His only focus was on Dags and petting him. When his time came he told Dags to stay.

Everett took the stage calmly and secure in what he was going to say. He had a grin on his face that to anyone who I knew him, spelled trouble.

“June 20th 2010, I was attacked by a moose, I was very lucky that day. I got hurt but nothing a little rest wouldn't fix. October 16th that same year.” Everett accent began to show itself. Calm and delicate speech was replaced by a strong southern draw. Not even Everett could tell if it was by design.

“I'll never forget that day, since that attack. I'd not go into the woods, to say I was terrified of the prospect of would be an understatement. I remember looking at the treeline, wanting and pleading to go past that line but I was just too terrified.” Everett start to chuckle to himself. He shook his head from to side, a sweet memory dancing across his face.

“I’d imagine, in most families, this is where the son gets a hug and a pep talk.” Everett said with chuckle not a hint of sadness in his voice.“I'll never forget those for first words he spoke. He asked me if I was dead yet. I shook my head no and he told me one of the important things I'll ever hear, ‘Pain and damages don't end the world, or despair or beatins. The world ends when you're dead son. Until then, you got more punishment in store, stand it like a man and give some back.” Everett was about to go on the offensive for having to be reminded of his parents, every year.

“... We were all effected by the events three years ago. Some of us more than others maybe. Some of you lost friends, others family. Tessa will never get to see her sister grow up, Janice will never see Tessa fall in love, she'll never find out who Tessa will become… Resently I was named one of the top high-school players in the state. My parents will never know that, they'll never help me pick a school to play for. I'm reminded of that four times a year. ” It was then Aunt Lou stood up, giving him a look that should have shook him to core, maybe it did. He paused for a moment and consider his next words. His eyes drifted over the crowd and he saw Nina, pretty as she could be.

“As my Daddy once said, the world ends when you're dead. We owe it our dead to carry on and remember the good times. While always keep an eye on the future, and not get lost in these terrible events. At five o'clock tonight Luella Marchbanks and myself will be hosting a memorial celebration at our place. Come with drinks, a smile, and a good story. For those of us most effected by these events, today is hard enough without hearing these sob stories. Thank you for your time, please come out on Friday and support the foot team as we try to go on and win a state title.” Everett walked off the stage, dropping the microphone in his way.

He instantly found his companion, Leeroy St. Germain Dagnasty and for one moment out of this morning,everything was just okay.

---

---

Today was the day, the memorial. The annual thing that has been made almost customary to join, even Gerard's parents who were usually permissive about almost anything made it mandatory to go to it. As his alarm's ring reverberated throughout the room, he opened his eyes and just stared up the ceiling, lost in his thoughts. . While everyone was sentimental and solemn, Gerard got that, he just never really knew these people who perished. He felt emphatic, sure, but the whole annual ordeal striked him as odd.

With a resounding and a few colorful words from his lovely mother, he got up and took a quick and snappy shower. While washing his hair he was checking the news, he tuned into the network that the whole town watched and as expected it is about the memorial. Was Gerard the only one who thought it was odd, maybe he was the weird one. With a shrug, he put on the suit his mother had prepared. The tie was old but his suit hid it well enough.

As he walked out of the house, he told his parents that he would walk to the memorial instead of going with them- gives him time to think about the memorial and his powers. He had decided to stop by the town famous Simone's coffee. It was one of the few coffee shops in Verona so it was obviously popular by demand and less supply. As he entered, the familiar friendliness and warmth, instead replaced by a silent and solemn aura to it. He got up to the counter and ordered the usual, the warm cocoa topped with mini-marshmallows.

He noticed two people who he knew, Tess and Austin. He would have gone to say hey but it didn't take a genius to notice that they had a good atmosphere going so he decided against it. Instead finishing up his Cocoa in his table while thinking about things. The repercussions from gaining his powers had just hit him, it just felt so surreal, like a video game, but the dangers of them getting captured was real, this was all real. Gerard tried to take another sip, but noticed his cup was empty, and with another shrug, he got up and when he passed by Tessa and Austin's table he shot Austin a sly wink that said Good goin' buddy, Gerard had heard Austin's awkward confession earlier and he almost choked on his drink because of it. He walked towards the door, and went outside, the cold, silent air hitting his face.

Gerard knew he was going to be late, but atleast he would attend. As soon as he entered the school, he quickly waddled towards the memorial site. It was almost full, only a few seats scattered here in there. He saw few of the people who were present in the Astronomy club- of course. He was going to say hey, but Jay was already surrounded so he decided against it. Gerard's head wasn't in the game today. He keeps remembering something, a repressed memory of some sort, but he thought nothing of it. He also saw Jade and flashed her a quick wave and walked towards a chair in the corner. He sat down and waited for the event to begin and end. He silently listened to Everett's speech, he also found that odd AND surprisingly intricate and well made.

Gerard clapped while sitting down, maybe others weren't.
Who knows?

---

---

The screams woke Scout with a start. Stunned and horrified by the shrillness, she scrambled to her feet and glanced around wildly, hand shoving deep into the inside pocket or her sweatshirt. The scream lasted a good few seconds, cleaning ringing out among the tall trees of Verona, and Scout turned towards the auditorium entrance slowly. A figure laid before the Founder’s statue, fainted, and Scout instinctively moved towards it, stumbling slightly as her feet slipped on the grass hills of the lawn. Eventually she reached the courtyard, and she walked briskly over to hover a hand over Veronica Burr’s mouth, closing her eyes briefly as she felt breath swell passed her fingers, and then she turned slightly to see what had spooked the younger girl so much.

And as her eyes settled on the body she felt her blood freeze in shock. Though she was terrified, her eyes moved, scanning, remembering every detail of the body she could. The vines, the skin, and face, the flower… Flower. A sudden roar of confusion drew Scout out of her mental paralysis. and Scout yelped, falling back and scrambling away into a sudden sea of legs. She would have been trampled if not for a sudden pair of strong hands pulling her out of the crowd and onto the sidelines.

”Presley, you good?” A concerned voice asked, and Scout looked up shakily to see Ms. Hastings gripping her upper arm. Like a terrified little girl Scout clung to the teacher’s skirt hem, small hands quaking with fear. Her mind was racing, words lost in her throat as she retraced what she had saw. A body, a body. Just like back then, a dead body had hung before her, looking as horrid as it could. Vines, vines that Scout could not name had tied the poor victim to the statue and perhaps even ripped the life from her, but that wasn’t what made the murder so familiar to her.

”Presley, I need you to calm down, child. Pres- Silvia, hey, are you okay?” Ms. Hastings was once again trying to grab her attention, her grip loosening slightly as Scout shook with fear. She couldn’t remember why it was so familiar, she couldn’t, maybe… Her eyes traced the crowd, focusing on the head of the victim, and while her stomach churned ungracefully she finally saw it again. The flash of blue, the flower. A violet. Scout made sure to remember the object as Hastings literally pulled her up to her feet and clasped onto her face. ”Miss Presley, you’ve got to calm down, here, let’s get you out of this crowd.” Despite Ms. Hastings’ strong voice, Scout easily saw the fear in her wide eyes, and with a small nod she allowed the teacher to lead her back inside to settle down among the now-empty seats of the assembly hall. Scout sucked in a few deep breaths, forcing her churning stomach to calm itself, and then she turned to stare at the shivering Ms. Hastings, her wide eyes gleaming in the half-light.

“That was… That was Rachel Lewis, wasn’t it?” Scout whispered in a small, emotionless voice, briefly remembering the girl’s face from the assembly that had been going on just a few minutes prior. “She was alive, she was alive just a few moments ago wasn’t she? I saw her…” Scout stared down at her own shaking hands, and as she clenched them into tight fists she let out a small sob, unable to control the tremors that wracked her body. It was unusual for her to be so panicked, so unnaturally uncomfortable, and Hastings picked up on Scout’s uncharacteristic behaviors instantly. She bent at the waist slightly, meeting Scout’s unwavering gaze with her own sparkling eyes,

”It’s all gonna be okay, Silvia, don’t worry about it. The police will take care of everything, okay?” Scout felt her eyes narrow at the mention of the police, but, not wanting to spoil her favorite teacher’s hopes, she nodded and rubbed at any stray tears or sweat with the back of her hand. Feeling a bit calmer, Scout allowed her shoulders to relax, and she let her eyes shut as she proceeded to clear her mind of any frightful matters, instead trying to focus on keeping herself collected and cool.

---

---

---

“W-What the fuck…”

King’s head was buried in his hands, and his body was shaking in terror. The car was dead silent, he had turned it off a few minutes after Mal exited the vehicle, and while King had appreciated the quiet before now it was simply maddening. Outside the car, King saw a storm of negativity, fear, and and panic. It was consuming him, driving him crazy, and he was merely frozen with fear in the driver’s seat. Something was very wrong, he knew, he could feel it. King slowly lifted his head, staring at the cloud of emotions by the school. Was Malcolm okay? Did something go wrong? What could cause such terror? King shook his head, turning to bury his aching eyes back into his the leather of the steering wheel.

use this as an opportunity, practice

King blinked once at the thought, shaking still, and then with a sudden fire he shut his eyes and began to strengthen his mind. He imagine walled, building high over his mental self, protecting him, growing strong with each brick he imagined. He visualized the colors growing dimmer, leaving his body alone as he tried to form some kind of mental shield to evade them, and though he was merely testing the waters it seemed to be working. He could now loosen his grip on the wheel, and the frigid terror that clogged his throat had become a lesser pain. King slowly lifted his head again, blue eyes scanning the storm of feelings once more, but now he felt a bit more in control. A haggard sigh escaped his lips and he fell back into his seat, relaxing slightly despite the shakiness that still infected his hands. His eyes traced the colors, seeing familiar shades of blues and blacks and reds, shades he had remembered Malcolm used to exude, but a curious color caught his attention. It was not melded with the others, no, it seemed like it’s own entity, undied by the panic that surrounded it. It was bright yellow in color, and though it seemed pure at first glance King swore he saw shimmers of orange or red gleaming within. King couldn’t control the sudden devious, unnatural grin that curled his lips, and his eyebrows upturned slightly as he finally deciphered what the emotion was.

Joy.

---

---

While Everett's speech was over with, there were a few other's that took their turn. Gerard just silently sat on his seat, his mind blank. The mind jolting shriek that pierced the otherwise silent and gloomy, Gerard turned his head towards what he thought the noise was but everyone was already scrambling out. He snapped his fingers and the mad stomp of everyone rushing outside stopped,

He quickly made his way towards the noise, squeezing over or even jumping over the frozen crowd. He reached the statue with the body but hid a ways back so that people wouldn't see him appear out of nowhere. He snapped his fingers once again and time continued. There it was, a dead body, right on the anniversary too. Rachel Lewis, the studious valedictorian for the year. Killed, Dead, Snuffed. "No- No fucking way." Gerard muttered out loud "Not again..." he trailed off

Gerard was in a state of utter disbelief, his face contorted in horror. Gerard also now saw Ashton and Alice that had gotten there before him, Alice had fallen downwards in shock. He turned away from the statue in digust, and looked towards Ashton run away with anger exuding from his body. Soon after his disappearance was a misplaced crackle, "Does he..." Gerard asked himself in doubt, then reaching a hand out towards the fallen Alice. "Need a hand?"

Alicia continued to gently hold Katalina's hand her head lowered as she listened to Rachel Lewis make her speech, and then King's mother and then Everett making his. She then looked up towards him when he mentioned that he was going to be hosting a party for everyone who would like to go, thinking it would be a good idea to go and have some fun with Kat of course, if she was willing to go at least. Of course she would have to tell her mother about it first since she had to go straight home due to yesterday. As Alicia closed her eyes again to respect those that were killed, she suddenly heard an ear shattering scream and quickly stood up like everyone else did, and like her and the other people in the auditorium quickly all ran out to see what had happened.

When Alicia got out she was one of the first to along with Jay, she stopped and froze the look in her eyes was that of sheer horror Alicia stood there frozen seeing the body of Rachel Lewis. The woman who had just given her speech just moments prior, she noticed her pale skin strange vines wrapped around her body and around her throat and that blue flower in her hair. Alicia didn't know Rachel all that well other then her occasional visit to Simone's Café when she worked.

Alicia backed away slightly she never actually seen a dead body in person, even when the murders happened three years ago and it instantly went to that thought that she could have been murdered. Then Alicia felt a hand on her shoulder and jumped suddenly when she looked up it was her mother and pulled her into a hug. "It's okay Ali.. lets go inside." Alicia's mother said softly as she led Alicia back into the auditorium where Ms. Hastings was comforting Scout and gently led Alicia over to her and sat her down. "I'll be right back to get you a drink hon." Alicia's mother said looking over towards Ms. Hastings. "I'll bring Silvia some as well, watch over my daughter for me?" Mrs. Smith said, Ms. Hastings nodded.

"Are you alright as well Alicia?" Ms. Hastings asked, Alicia was shivering slightly and nodded looking over towards Scout seeing her just as shaken up as well Alicia reached out to gently pat Scout over her shoulder just to try and comfort her friend as well. "Some memorial huh?" Alicia said softly.

Location: Lincoln Memorial School Gym
Interacting with: Each Other, People that are there

---

---

Petyr squinted his eyes against the sun as he rounded the corner on the approach to the gym. He was tired, more so than usual. Mostly because he’d gotten up at least an hour earlier than he usually did for this asinine memorial. What was the point, anyway? It wasn’t as if anybody in the town would be forgetting what happened anytime soon. Not with the way it had nearly shattered some of his victims. Especially Tess. By God was she going to be a mess today. Which was probably why Nina had gotten up early to go be with her. Still, somebody in Verona had decided the whole thing needed commemoration, and the only thing anybody who raised an objection would get were accusations of not caring about the victims or their families and the ire of an entire Washington Town. If nothing else, he had reasoned as he pulled on his best shirt that morning, Tess would need the support.

”Sestra!” he called as he saw Nina amidst the milling mass of townsfolk, ”Everything alright? More importantly…” he lowered his voice to a near whisper, ”How’s Tess holding up?”

Nina turned to look at Petyr and walked over to him. ”She’s doing as well as she can given… y’know. But we actually talked. For the first time in months. That was good. She skipped out on all this,” Nina gestured to the crowd gathering in the Gym, ”But I really can’t blame her. I think she said she was going to just go home and work on some pieces. Mama Gray says hi, and has wondered where we’ve been. She seems to be enjoying her new gift… and I told her about ours. Well, not what yours is, but that we both have one. She’s also going to go to the party tonight, apparently Everett convinced her to go.”

Petyr raised his eyebrows slowly in surprise. ”Well then,” he said, ”Isn’t that unexpected. Probably good thing she’s staying away though, the last thing she would want is this kind of attention. Shall we go find our seats and listen to the hovadina (bullshit), then?”

”Určitě (sure). If it’s anything like last year, I got them all memorized.” Nina seemed to suppress a giggle at what Petyr said and went to find some seats with him. She seemed to look around for a moment, before shrugging and sitting down. ”So, how much you want to bet there’s some line about ‘Never forgetting’ or some hovadina like that?”

”Do I really seem like the kind of guy to take an already sparse bank account and wager it on a bet he can’t win?” he half-chuckled as he eased into the empty seat, ”This whole thing is our own little September 11th. Of course they’ll go on about Never Forgetting. As if some of us will ever be able to.”

And so it progressed, almost exactly as expected. There was recounting of the events, reminders that pain was suffered, and generic talk of rebuilding and coming out stronger. There was talk of survival and moving forward by those who had suffered, and talk of hope and living in memory of the victims by the ones who had no idea. And then they did what they always did; listed off every single victim, one by one. Some people cried when they got to that part; Petyr just shook his head. Why couldn’t they let the dead rest?

And then the scream came.

Nina, who had seemed to be at her most most attentive during Everett’s speech, nearly shot out of her seat when she heard the scream, and looked at Petyr. ”Should we go see what it is bratr?”

Petyr was sitting bolt upright in his chair, his head turned toward the door. A tide of humanity was already moving toward the door to investigate the noise; jumping into the throng would be unwise. But they couldn’t just sit there either. ”Give it a bit, let the crowd thin. Then we’ll go.”

And so they did. The twins cleared the doorway just as the murmuring started, and it didn’t take long to see the cause of the commotion; Rachel Lewis. Or rather, her body. Undamaged, unmolested, almost untouched… but most certainly dead.

Everybody standing near the twins felt the air suddenly chill as he put an arm around Nina. It would fade after just a moment, but there was no mistaking the look of horror and worry that instantly flew across Petyr’s face. ”Please God, not again…” he whispered.

Nina whipped out her phone and started texting at almost a rapid fire pace. She scooted closer to Petyr, feeling a bit warm to him. ”Svatým Bohem (holy God) no, no no no, no… I can’t do this… not again…” The color seemed drained from her face, and she looked utterly terrified as she looked up at Petyr. ”I want to go home… teď (now.)”

”That can be arranged. Come on.” he said as the two started to make for the exit. What a time for dad to be out of town...

Location: Outside Lincoln Memorial High Gym
Interacting with: People there, Alicia @Nallore

---

---

Katalina was over the moon! Ali had agreed to be her girlfriend! And they had kissed! A lot! Well, more like a few times, but it was awesome. The memorial service was boring, as usual, but she had her hand in Ali's so, it was the best day ever. She listened to the speeches and seemed surprised when Everett said there was going to be a memorial at the lodge that night. She looked at Ali and smiled.

Then things started sliding sideways when the scream happened. Kata followed Ali and the others outside and froze as she saw the scene. She recognized both the victim and the pose she was in. It was happening, all over again. If this was happening again, then who the hell was rotting in jail from this.

She realized that the tears she would be shedding for this horrible scene were floating down her face and snaking around her hands, which were balled up into fists now. She shook her hands and willed the water to fall to the ground like normal. She didn't need to stand out. Not now. Her parents ran over.

"Oh thank goodness you're alright! Oh my goodness, honey, lets get back inside!" Molly ushered her daughter back inside and plopped her down next to Ali and Scout. "Stay with your friends Katalina till we come back, okay? Don't you dare leave this gym." Molly looked at her daughter firmly and looked at Ali. "Alicia, keep my girl in eyeshot, okay?" Molly dashed off with her husband, and Kata scooted close to Ali and looked at Scout.

"You okay Scout?" While Kata did not normally interact with the girl, she did look like she could use a friend, or five. She wrapped her arm around Ali and pulled her close. She squeezed Ali's shoulder and then looked at her. "Are you gonna be alright sweetie? Also... fuck... what a fucking memorial. Holy crap..." Her mind was racing, as she tried to be there for her new girlfriend and Scout, but she was just as lost, confused, scared and shocked as they probably were.

---

---

Mrs. Smith eventually brought over Alicia, who took a seat next to the slowly-simmering Scout. She flinched slightly as a gentle hand was placed on her shoulder, but she soon lifted a hand to gently place on Alicia’s. After a soft sigh she turned, blue eyes distant and void of emotions, and she forced a small, tired laugh at Alicia’s comment.

“Yeah, some memorial.” Scout leaned forward, leaning her chin into her hands as she watched the crowd outside panic at the sight of the body far beyond her sights. She tilted her head to look at the stone-faced Hastings, and then she straightened, turning fully to face Alicia and now Katalina, who had rushed back in after seeing the horrid scene.”I’m okay, yeah. Definitely doing better than poor Rachel out there.” She gave another cold laugh, face void of any real emotion. Scout shifted in her seat, hands curling around the hem of her sweatshirt. She felt… Weird, uncomfortable. Her hands were a pale, pale white, and her mind was racing and yet still at the same time.

Scout stared down at her feet, clenching her hands slightly, head tilting at the odd feeling she felt in her wrists. It was like her veins were too tight, her blood had become too thick to flow freely, and her palms were clammy and blue from the lack of circulation. The back of her neck, though hidden by waves of gold hair, was drenched with sweat and ached as if strained. Though she was bundled well in a pair of acid-stained jeans and her usual sweatshirt her body felt cold, and while the shivers of fear had passed long before Scout still felt faint tremors in her stomach and knees. Glancing down at her oddly constricted wrists again, Scout felt her throat tighten at the sight of her watch. Right, noon, the store. Noah.

where was noah.

Scout lifted her head and slowly glanced around the almost-empty assembly hall, not finding who she wished to see. Her mind raced, remembering the very words he had left her to ponder on last night, "We all do what we must mi amor. Even kill if necessary. Everyone has their reasons..." Would he? Scout didn’t exactly trust Noah, but she knew him enough to assume he didn’t but… At the same time. Scout slowly rose from her chair, and then sank back down, huffing out a breath in an attempt to calm her beating heart.

never assume, always trust your eyes, always look for clues.

She settled back into the chair, ignoring the odd glance she had received from Ms. Hastings, and turned to the other two girls, biting her bottom lip nervously, “why do you think this happened? On today of all days?” Scout shoved both of her hands back into her pockets, leaning back until her head was hanging lazily off the back of the chair, ”what is it with Verona and attracting so many murders, huh?” Whatever suspicions she had for Noah were thrown to the back of her mind, stored to be brought up later when she saw him, and she instead turned her full attention to the girlfriends beside her. Her eyes twinkled with curiosity and, of course, anxiety, as she traced their bodies gently with her pupils. First superpowers, now murder. Perhaps that eclipse had done more then make a few powered-up teens.

---

---

Everett was lost in playing with Dags while the other speakers were taking their turns. He had given a thought or two to sneaking out for a smoke but he never did. It wasn't until he heard the scream that he came to back to what what happening in reality.

When the scream came out, Everett ran towards the door. He was quick enough to beat a majority of people to the door. He shouted for Aunt Lou to get to his truck. Just right after that he told Dags to go with her. His went to his truck for a moment, hoping he had a weapon.

As they both did their respective tasks, Everett ran out side. When he saw Rachel’s body, there were no thoughts of sadness or horror . Shock more than likely kept those away. At glance he knew something was wrong, something didn't sit right with him about this. He took his phone out and took a few pictures. Everett did everything he could, not think about Rachel.

Everett's every action was now based on instinct. Aunt Lou and Dags were heading to his truck. Right now all Everett could even care about was Nina and Drummer. If he was honest he wasn't much worried about Petyr. He didn't have anything against the guy, Everett almost liked him, but his main worry was Nina.

Everett went to find them, Nina didn't look so good, he didn't know what was going through her head but he wasn't gonna stick around for her to come back down. He grabbed her arm and shouted for Petyr to follow.

When they got to the truck, Aunt Lou was shaken and Dags was ready to attack. “Wait here, I'll be right back.” Everett told the Jelens.

Everett grabbed Aunt Lou by the arm and walked her to her vehicle. “Don't fucking argue with me. I need you to get outta town.” Everett said opening her door. “Please, go to Seattle, Spokane, where ever, catch a plane on out to Nashville.” As Everett pushed her into car he ran around to the passenger said and got in. He reached into the glove box and pulled out a handgun. He ejected the magazine and flicked out all the rounds.

“Boy, I don't know what's-” Aunt Lou was cut off by Everett.

“What's in my head is not to lose no damn body else."Everett shouted at her. “I ain't fucking do it Luella. I ain't gonna fucking do it. Now get your ass in gear and get on a damn flight on out to Nashville.” Everett said as he reloaded the magazine. “Now I know you got a shotgun in here, Imma take them back to their home, then the lodge.”

Aunt Lou gave Everett a kiss on the cheek and hug. “I love you Everett, and I'm proud of you.” Words that never had come out of her mouth before. Everett didn't pay any attention to that. “Love you too Aunt Lou.” Everett said as he popped the magazine in the handgun. “Be careful.” Everett's last words before he left the vehicle.

Everett walked over to his truck with the handgun out of sight. “Hop in. Dags up up.” Everett said slapping truck bed twice before helping Nina in. Everett waited got Drummer to get in before he did the same. Everett stuffed the handgun between the driver and middle seat.

Everett stated the truck pulled out. Traffic wasn't as bad as one would expect. They had to be one of the first to get. Everett drove them to their house.

When the truck came to a stop Everett spoke. “I'd like it if you guys packed a bag and came back with me to the lodge. A safe place ain't nobody gonna bother anybody. I doubt many if any will show for the party.” Everett said more to Drummer than Nina. She still looked out of it.

Nina’s look reminded him of his own loss, that dead thousand mile stare. Eyes that had only the smallest hint of life to them. While Nina may not have been the brightest or most happy go lucky girl, those eyes were nothing else than heart breaking.

They were just a little late. Okay, that’s a bit of an understatement. By the time that Jade and Grant had arrived, Everett apparently was just saying some shit about his daddy saying something. She couldn’t speak for Grant, but Jade was quite thrilled that she didn’t have to sit through that depressing story about Everett and his daddy. If she did, she’d probably have to kill herself. She didn’t need to hear about Everett and his problems. Everyone had them, so just grow the fuck up already! Jade and Grant took seats near Alicia and Kata. They weren’t exactly next to them, but they were within earshot of everything that they would have said.

When Everett finished, Jade had to force herself to appear proud or whatever. Grant clapped to the best of his ability, given his arm and all, but Jade simply gave a slow clap, but she smiled! That’s at least something right? Whatever, she faked feeling sorry for him. It didn’t last long, though. Everything was interrupted by such a deafening sound.

Everyone turned around: students, teachers - everyone. They all turned around and it was a stampede almost. Everyone trying their best to get their asses to wherever the sound came from. Jade and Grant were among the first ones to get outside near that statue. Propped on it was that Rachel Lewis chick. Jade hadn’t seen her around since she and Pinkie were dating. She seemed to be hung by vines and had some kind of flower-type of plant in

“I guess she‘s sleeping with the bushes now, huh?” Jade commented lowly, aimed at Grant.
Grant looked to her. “Jade!” He retorted angrily, looking at her with narrowed brows, “can you please show some respect?” He asked angrily.
Jade turned to him and saw that Grant was looking at the body with great sadness. Jade sighed. “Sorry. I can’t control my mouth sometimes,” Jade somewhat laughed.

As she gazed upon Rachel’s lifeless body, she became overtaken by some emotion of — what would it be? Sadness? Grief? No, it wasn’t those two. There was some kind of feeling inside her, in her eyes, in the way her hands were shaking. Perhaps it was anxiety. It could be a strong possibility that Jade was feeling that, but why? Was it the amount of people gathered? Was it seeing Rachel’s body dead on the statue? Was it a combination of both things? Or, fuck, could it just be that Jade simply didn’t like seeing these kinds of things happening. Whatever the case, she was feeling that way again. It was the same feeling she got before she blacked out again. She even felt the ground in her circumference starting to shake lightly

“Fuck, not again.” Jade cursed, somewhat stomping one of her feet on the ground.
Grant noticed. “Are you all right, Jade?” Grant asked worryingly.
Jade looked at him, trying to resist grabbing her head like the scared little girl she was feeling like. “I-uh, —” she paused, shaking her head, “—I have to go.” She said, leaving abruptly, scooting herself past people.

Grant watched her as she ran passed people, bumping into them slightly. He saw her somewhat bump past Alicia, but she just ran off. She ran off away from the crime scene and off-campus. She just ran and Grant’s eyes fell on the body again. He stood there, alone, and solemn. Eyes simply studied the body and waited for something to warrant him away from the sight of the deceased Rachel Lewis.