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  The minutes dragged on, and soon he found himself having a hard time sitting still. There were only so many ways he could occupy himself without getting in trouble. Doodling in his notebook took up the bulk of his time and sometimes he discreetly did homework for his other classes. Sleep wasn’t an option, unfortunately. While it was his first class, by the time it started he generally was able to wake up enough for a few hours, and function.

  No, he was stuck doing nothing, and it stunk. Especially when he noticed how his girlfriend was passing notes to her ex-boyfriend who also happened to be in the class. He didn’t know a lot about their relationship, but he knew enough to come to the conclusion that the guy was bad news. Tait’s body language started to change the longer these notes kept being passed, and not in a good way. At first she slouched, then her head dropped, and finally she went rigid. He was about to tap her shoulder and butt in when they were asked to get into their lab groups. She stood up and left for her table, placing the note inside her textbook for the time being. Curiosity getting the better of him, he lifted the cover to take a peek at the exchange.

  “It’s true?” Written in sloppy handwriting.

  “That you’re a jerk? Yes.” She wrote back in her unmistakably girlish script. It was so full of loops Orlando couldn’t decide who’s was more illegible.

  “That you’re dating the delinquent.”

  “He’s not a delinquent, and why do you care? You told me eight months ago you never wanted to speak to me again. You told me we couldn’t be friends. It’s none of your business.”

  “I thought you had better taste.”

  “He’s better than you. Leave me alone. I was serious about the restraining order.”

  “Gold digger.”

  Orlando studied the last two words which her ex had written, trying to decide how he felt about the whole conversation. The fact she had threatened the guy with a restraining order was a big red flag. This was all news to Orlando of course, and now he needed to put his guard up even more than before to make sure she stayed safe.

  “Orlando?” One of his lab partners called to him.

  “Coming,” he said and quickly shut the book. He searched the room for Tait, but she was missing. No doubt she was in the bathroom crying her eyes out. That seemed like a typical girl response to drama, from what he understood of them. She wasn’t always like the other girls which was one of the things he liked about her the most, despite the fact that they came from completely different universes. The pretty blonde cheerleader didn’t usually date the Gothic “troublemaker”. Even though he didn’t cause problems, he had a reputation given how he had gotten to Lunar Falls. Getting expelled from another high school would do that.

  Still, she wasn’t heartless, and had emotions. The notes had upset him, which really said a lot since hardly anything fazed him. If he felt angry, he concluded she did as well and needed to deal with it accordingly. This of course made him more upset. Nobody hurt her and got away with it.

  ****

  It was possibly the last warm day of the year. The fall was always a little temperamental, especially in November and right before Thanksgiving. Soon the snow would be falling, and then it’d be back to staying inside. Some people were winter people. He wasn’t. Days like today were becoming few and far between, and Orlando wanted to take advantage of it. Fall was his favorite season after all, and sitting outside was the best way to enjoy it. Then he could sequester his girlfriend away from everyone else so the two could have what felt like a much needed talk.

  Tait was still upset. She held her books tight every time he saw her in-between classes. In the few they had together, she paid more attention to her notebook than to the lecture—which wasn’t like her at all. Not only was she not taking notes, she wasn’t writing anything, doodling, nothing. She just sat there blankly at her desk for the whole period. In the month and a half he’d known her, the one thing he picked up on right away was her studious nature.

  “It’s kind of cold out,” she said as she sat down by him on the grass in the campus courtyard. It was small with one bench, a young sapling tree, and a couple of small flower gardens. Nothing like the courtyard at Morningtide where he used to attend school, but Orlando liked its simplicity.

  “You might be the only person who thinks so,” he said while observing the small clumps of students sitting on the grass. All of them were in T-shirts or, at the most, sweatshirts. Tait herself had a sweater on today. Attempting to be a gentleman, he offered her his black hooded sweatshirt.

  She took it and wrapped it around herself tightly before picking up her apple and taking a small bite.

  “You’re going to make me work for this, aren’t you?” he asked before starting to eat his tater tots. He noticed she didn’t have a lot of food on her plate either, also unlike her.

  Tait gave him a weak smile. “I’m not sure I’m following you.”

  “You’re acting more emo than me.” He raised an eyebrow and then took another bite before adding, “I want to know why.”

  “You know Vance and I dated,” she said quietly.

  “Yes, you dated, and I think he’s a moron. You confirmed this for me. What I don’t understand is why you’re still so upset. What happened?”

  She sighed, and finally decided to eat more than just the nibbles she’d been giving her apple. “We were together for almost a year. He was emotionally abusive, and he liked to manipulate me. He talked me into doing a lot of things we probably shouldn’t have. I dumped him because I didn’t want to do them anymore, and I was tired of feeling like such a crappy person all of the time. When we broke up, he threatened me and assaulted me with a soda can.”

  “A can of soda?” Orlando raised an eyebrow, and he tried not to laugh. The idea just sounded too ridiculous to him. What kind of person attacked someone with soda pop?

  “Yes,” she said, not looking amused, so he quickly stopped smiling altogether. “I think he tried to slash my tires while I was in class once too, but I don’t have any proof.”

  “He sounds like a psycho. Please tell me you did something about this.”

  “I tried to. The staff doesn’t believe me though because he’s such a good student. He’s never caused problems before, so apparently that means I made it up. I told him if he didn’t start leaving me alone, I’d go to the cops.” She stared down at her food.

  Orlando let the silence linger as he processed her story. The two had their share of deep talks, but had only grazed the surface of their past romances. The most each had shared was how many times they’d tried dating prior to this. More often than not they discussed their respective family lives. A thing he didn’t enjoy talking about much, but it felt a lot more necessary than discussing his ex-girlfriends. Now he was starting to rethink this plan. At least when it came to talking about her exes. His were far from interesting.

  He clenched his fists, trying to keep his anger at bay. He didn’t like that this guy had hurt her, used her, and manipulated her. There was nothing Orlando could do about it now except to keep treating her the best he could. Talk about pressure. It shouldn’t be hard, but the thought that she could overanalyze everything he said put him a little on edge. Girls by nature seemed to be into doing that. If she was emotionally abused, he’d have to be careful with how he presented any problems he had with her so she didn’t think he was doing it too.

  “Are you mad at me?” she asked.

  “No, I’m not mad at you. I’m mad at him. Can I keep asking you questions about this, or would you rather I save them for later?”

  “Might as well get them out of the way now.” She glanced at him, but he didn’t meet her eyes. He wasn’t sure if he could look at her and ask her what he needed to.

  “When you say he talked you into doing things you weren’t ready for, do you mean...?” He shook his head, deciding it better not to ask after all. Was that really a can of worms he wanted to open just then?

  Tait nodded, answering anyway. “Yes, we had sex. If that’
s what you’re asking, I mean.”

  He nodded. Now his appetite was gone. What kind of a slime ball did something like that? It was disgusting.

  “Are you okay?” she asked.

  “Outside of wanting to punch him, yes,” he said and gave her a forced smile. She let out a soft chuckle, so he felt better for being able to make her feel happier at least. She shook her head slowly.

  “What about you?” she asked.

  “What about me?” He raised an eyebrow.

  “Have you?”

  “Have I?”

  “You know…”

  “No, I don’t,” he said and quickly finished eating. “Do you mean ‘it’? Have I done ‘it’?” The fact that he couldn’t talk about sex like an adult should have been her dead giveaway that he hadn’t.

  She nodded, apparently not picking that up. “Yeah.”

  “No.” He averted his eyes, and stared down at his plate as if he were looking for something on it. This definitely wasn’t a conversation he wanted to get into now, especially with the lunch hour quickly coming to a close. Being reminded about his lack of experience would only make him feel insecure.

  Tait wasn’t going to let it go it seemed, because she grabbed his chin and forced him to look into her steel eyes before saying firmly, “It’s in the past. I thought I loved him a long time ago, but what was going on between us wasn’t love. Promise to try and not let it bug you?”

  “Try, yes, I can promise to try,” he said, but he knew there would be no way for him to say it wouldn’t bother him completely. It did. He was jealous and nervous.

  What if she expected the same thing from him? What if he couldn’t live up to whatever standards she had? What if he couldn’t be better than Vance? The longer he waited, the more he knew his chances of finding a girl in his same position would become slimmer. He’d accepted a while ago that he was probably the last virgin on the planet over the age of sixteen. All the same, he didn’t want things to happen the wrong way.

  “You’re thinking deeply, aren’t you?” she whispered.

  “I do that a lot,” he pointed out, trying to remain casual and not let on just how deeply he was, in fact, thinking. He didn’t want to worry her or make her think he was through with her. Quite the opposite.

  “Please don’t be up—”she started, but he silenced her by placing a finger to her lips and then quickly gave her a soft kiss. He had to be careful about the PDA in front of the entire student body as well as the teachers. Being seen being affectionate to his girlfriend was not something he enjoyed, nor did he want to get detention for it. This was a private moment, and he liked to keep it that way. Outside of hand holding, he didn’t like to be too intimate where others could see.

  “I’m fine. If you’re not bothered by it or worried, then I’m not either.”

  Tait sighed softly and finally offered him a small smile. “Excited for Thanksgiving?”

  Normally, Orlando didn’t enjoy changing the subject to avoid unpleasant topics, but this time he was grateful. There was nothing more to talk about anyway. Granted, Thanksgiving wasn’t a pleasant topic for him either, but it was better than his sex life, or lack thereof.

  He shrugged, standing so he could walk with her to return their plates. “It’ll be good to have a break from school.” That seemed like a safe reply.

  “We’re going to have so many people over, and my mom wants to shop in the morning. She’s one of those people. Do you get together with all of your family?”

  “No.” He shook his head. They went back inside and walked through the short hallway to the cafeteria. “Last year my sister and I had one of those pre-made meals from the grocery store, watched the football game, and then caught a movie. This year, I’m not sure what’s going to happen since she’s got her boyfriend. I think she mentioned us going to his apartment where I’ll get to mingle with all of his family. They’ll no doubt give me pity attention since I’m such a sob story. You know, she is raising me since my parents won’t.”

  “Sorry to hear.”

  “I like the food from the grocery story. I go there all the time for it in fact. I also like football, and movies.” He hated pity and awkward small talk. Even more so with strangers.

  “You don’t have any family in town besides your sister? Any other friends to visit?”

  “Not at the moment, no.” He rolled his eyes. She knew this. His parents were never home. The last time he saw them was briefly at the beginning of the summer. He’d hardly call it a bonding experience since it had literally lasted three hours. They were too busy working to be home. Their job required them to be out of the country a lot. He hardly got so much as an e-mail from them.

  “You can come over to our place. It’d be fun. Your sister can come too, and then you don’t have to be in that big house all by yourself.”

  “I don’t mind. You should make sure your parents are okay with me coming along to begin with.”

  “I don’t see why they wouldn’t.”

  “They barely know me?” He gave her a weak smile. He’d briefly met them the night of the Sadie Hawkins dance two weeks ago, and by met, they exchanged a quick wave, took a few pictures, and then left. They were not properly introduced.

  “All the more reason for you to come then. You can actually meet them this time.”

  “Don’t jump the gun. I’d hate to get my hopes up,” he mumbled, only being half-sarcastic this time.

  “I’ll ask and call you about it later, or you can come over after school? I could go over there?”

  “We can hang,” he said with a nod. Then his pocket started to vibrate with a text message. Cell phones weren’t allowed in class, but he always kept his phone on vibrate unless he was taking a test. Lyssa, his sister, was his legal guardian while his parents were gone. They kept in touch much better with her than with him. If something went wrong, she’d be the first one to know. When he saw the text was from JD, he rolled his eyes.

  “Hold that thought,” he said as he checked the message.

  “Code Green meeting @ apartment after school.”

  “Would tomorrow be okay? I just got a text saying I need to come home and do some stuff right after school. I promise I’ll call you tonight as soon as I’m done.” He didn’t want her to think he was purposefully trying to avoid her.

  She nodded and let out a soft sigh. “I can do something after practice tomorrow if you don’t mind waiting for me. I would like to talk later. I feel like there’s something that still needs to be said about our earlier conversation.”

  “If you have more to say, yeah.” He shrugged, stopping outside of Tait’s next classroom.

  She gave both of his hands a squeeze. “I do, but I might just be feeling paranoid right now.”

  “Don’t feel paranoid,” he said firmly.

  “Easier said than done.”

  He knew all about that one. “You can explain it all to me later then, but I promise everything is fine.”

  For the most part. He still wanted to pound Vance’s face in, but he’d probably end up with an assault charge instead of just getting off with a warning. He had a reputation of being violent. The whole reason behind his transferring out of Morningtide to Lunar Falls in the first place was because he had gotten into a fight. Because of his money, the school board was willing to let it slide. Besides, everyone in town knew Jesse Jordan and his gang of bullies had it coming. It was only a matter of time, and Orlando had no problems with stepping up to deliver.

  The problem was he wasn’t a violent person by nature. Lately, he’d been starting to question who he was. Ever since he met Alan, everything in his life started changing. He had power and he liked it. For the first time in years, he was starting to feel like his own person again. He just had to decide if he liked who that person was.

  “I’ll call,” he said.

  She nodded, kissed his cheek, and then went into class. He rushed to his, not wanting to be late. Taking his seat, he prepared himself for the last half of the da
y, but he doubted his focus would be there. His mind kept wandering. If it wasn’t about his recent drama with Tait, he was thinking about JD’s text.

  Someone got powers today. Code Green was the code word JD had picked for such an occurrence. He and Angela were the only two who didn’t have them. Cadence was inhumanly smart now, and Orlando had gained telekinesis, and who knew what else, in terms of psychic abilities. Whatever power JD finally got, he hoped it was something useful. It wasn’t easy being the only aggressive power in the group. No doubt the guy would be gloating about it, but at least he’d stop whining about being powerless.

  Chapter Three

  Everyone sat in what was being called the ‘War Room’ of The Apartment. Cadence sat by Angela and they talked about girlie things while JD sat in a nearby chair and watched squirrels outside the window. Alan was pacing. Every time JD glanced his way, the man seemed even more tense than the five seconds before. They were all waiting on Orlando who finally decided to grace the group with his presence, fifteen minutes late. In his hands was a sheet of paper.

  “I want all of you to listen to me. This is important,” he declared, and made a gesture at the sheet of paper. He waited until all of their eyes were on him before continuing. “These are the ten reasons why llamas are awesome, so you can’t make fun of me anymore.”

  JD shook his head. “Dude, give it a break okay?”

  “No, I want it to be known that if I am stuck with the ridiculous pseudonym of The Llama Kid, I am still amazing.” He glared at JD and then cleared his throat. “Number ten, llamas are known to spit when—”