Chapter 2 #2
Ledger, as if knowing, intertwined his hand with mine, running a thumb gently back and forth on my hand. The warmth spread from the light contact straight to my bones.
“Sweetheart,” Henry spoke, his voice rough as I launched myself at him.
His chuckle warming my heart as he tossed the backpacks to the twins.
I inhaled that spring rain and mint scent of his as he wrapped his arms around me completely.
I had noticed that Henry had been looking a bit stressed since this weekend, the circles underneath his eyes worried me, so I made sure to put an extra squeeze into the hug.
“Come see my locker!” I waved my hand towards it as he walked us backward, keeping me close, eyebrows raised.
“That,” he sighed with a small head shake, “is about perfect for you.” My chest warmed at his appraisal as I felt all the tension melt from my body.
Whenever I was surrounded by them, I felt completely at home and relaxed.
I only truly felt anxious when I was left alone. Mostly because of my father.
“Lady and gentlemen,” Malloy chimed brightly. I immediately turned to smile at my friend, his height nearly matching my own. His soft eyes peered into the locker as he grinned. “Wow, Maya, that looks fantastic.”
“Thank you,” I offered as Henry muttered under his breath. I grabbed my backpack and closed up my locker. My group and I headed towards the library, Malloy in tow.
Malloy was an interesting person. There was a lot of personality in the small man and I found myself feeling a bit protective over him.
The same way that I felt towards Jordan, except I knew she could protect herself.
Malloy, I wasn’t so sure about. Either way, it was nice to feel like I had more friends than before.
Not that the guys weren’t enough. They totally were. But it only made sense that I needed my own friends as well since they have theirs. Well, they had each other but it still counted.
Sometimes my mates got frustrated with Malloy for apparently ‘hitting on me’, but as I tried to explain, I really didn’t think that Malloy was into me.
In fact, I think I had somehow got myself caught up in a situation between Seth, who had asked me on a date, and Malloy.
I was pretty sure, just based on the way they looked at one another, they were mates.
Well, I’m not sure what it would be for them because Malloy was human…
still, I could tell they liked one another.
For whatever reason, they couldn’t communicate how they felt to each other.
“So why did they cancel policy class today?” I asked the four of them as we walked towards the library rather than our classroom.
“Apparently she had car problems,” Ledger stated, “it was in an email, I can pull it up for you.”
I frowned trying to remember, “My email, is that on my phone or computer?” Honestly, the learning curve for technology was pretty steep but I was doing better. At least slightly so.
“Both,” Henry offered as we walked through the large arched doorways of the massive gothic library.
I was hoping to get most of my homework done before the end of the day.
Plans to try to finish that phoenix painting tonight and maybe try to focus on shifting held most of my attention.
Oh! I also wanted to try to bake a cake.
See? I really didn’t have time for school.
In a way, baking and art were a lot alike, or I should say baking was an art. If that made sense.
I was very glad that I had only planned to work Monday, Thursday, and Saturday. Anything more wouldn’t leave enough time for me and my mates. My boss did say that I could come in whenever I really wanted though.
Ever since I had baked cookies the other day, I had begun looking up recipes. I also found this app called Pinterest. It has all these different photos of food you can make and some of them are attached to websites that will pop up if you click on them.
When I’d asked Marco about getting a cookbook he had taken it to the next level. We were having an entire kitchen full of supplies delivered. Even though I told him that I wasn’t positive how to use even half of the things that the store associate had suggested.
I smiled a bit thinking about how amazing my mate was. I mean really, who goes out of their way like that for just some girl they met a week ago? They were all like that though.
The dark and very large library had tall stained glass windows that only showed off the rain falling down outside, the landscape blurred and foggy.
I settled into a small lounge area near the very back.
Settled on one of the two couches that faced one another, my feet tucked underneath me, I sorted through my backpack.
I totally slipped off my shoes, but I figured that was okay since no one besides my mates were over here.
Even Malloy had stopped to talk to a group of girls a few tables away.
Despite their attempts not to, I could feel eyes on me.
The news stations and channels had stopped reporting on the investigation of my mother and Jed’s ‘murders’ the minute Marco got wind of the human media attempting to make a big deal out of it, using his power to call a halt to it all.
Including any legal actions. Although the supernatural community apparently was upset that it brought attention to this area, it seemed to have only lasted the weekend.
None of that stopped students from watching me and occasionally taking a picture. They were probably wondering if I was the one who killed my ‘parents’. If you could call them that.
When I’d asked Atlas how Marco had gotten it to ‘go away’ as he stated, my massive mate simply offered me a smile.
I didn’t think that was a good answer and I was determined to figure out more about Marco’s company as well as the place it had in the United States.
I had an inkling of suspicion that my mates were a bit more intense and scary with everyone else than they were around me.
Honestly, even that made me feel special.
I saw how much they tried to keep from yelling around me.
To keep from making extremely sudden movements, because occasionally I still flinched.
I felt like when someone you cared about went out of their way to make you more comfortable that it showed you what place you had in their heart.
As it was, I think my mates acted a lot sweeter around me than most people.
Was it wrong that I wanted to keep that for myself?
I’d never been selfish in my life. Well, I’d tried to not be, but I wanted to be selfish with them.
I opened up an assignment for one of my later classes, the notebook brand new and leather bound. Sai had picked them up for me Monday during the workday and I absolutely loved them. He’d also purchased me a box of really beautiful pens that had these little crystals trapped inside of them.
As I began working on my assignment, my mind wandered just a bit.
The rain against the windows reminded me of when I used to sit in the basement, staring at the small window as rainwater flooded in, creating a cold pool against the stone.
How had I not realized how wrong I’d been treated?
Because you didn’t know better. Were there others there?
Why didn’t anyone try to help me? I had seen children notice me from where they had played and heard my father talking openly about me being downstairs.
Yet…no one ever helped me. I was starting to think that where I’d lived hadn’t been a normal place.
No kidding.
“Maya?” Ledger asked from next to me.
My eyes flashed up as he examined my face, reaching over to run a thumb under my eyes.
I flushed to find I’d been crying a bit.
Instead of saying anything, he just pulled me against himself.
He massaged my hair gently as I inhaled his scent, closing my eyes.
I shouldn’t have been tired because I’d slept okay, but I found myself falling into a lull of sleep.
Because our class had been canceled and I had a normal free period, Ledger actually let me sleep a full class period. The ring of the bell and change of classes had me opening my eyes to a pair of indigo ones, already focused on my face.
“I need to work on stuff,” I sighed, as he let me sit up. I grinned as I looked over to find Anani spread out on the other couch, eyes closed and headphones in.
Henry, on the other hand, was working on his laptop, looking far more serious than usual.
“What are you thinking so hard about, Henry?” I asked curiously, his eyes snapped to mine, melting me when he smiled.
“I am going through the meeting itinerary for the executive officers meeting today,” he explained, “they should be gathering here in about two hours.”
“I thought they had it earlier?”
“They were supposed to,” Henry sighed, “apparently two of the other three are running late. Surprise, it isn’t the Oregon branch.”
“Henry usually goes to them,” Ledger explained and then nipped my ear, “bit of a control freak.”
I giggled as Henry narrowed his eyes and closed his laptop. I spoke before he had a minute to respond. “Why don’t you go then?”
Henry shook his head. “I don’t want less than three of us with you with your dad hanging around.”
“Let’s all go to the meeting then,” I proposed, tilting my head.
“It’s boring,” Henry offered, but his eyes jumped a bit at the thought.
“I want to go.” I insisted. “Can we?” Now that my locker was decorated, I was sort of interested in leaving. Plus, I would get to see Marco, Sai, Atlas, and Croy.
“I’m game.” Anani yawned, stretching. “It’s such a Monday.”
“It’s a Tuesday,” I commented in confusion as Ledger hummed in agreement.
Anani waved his hand, yawning again like he gave up on what he wanted to say.
Henry was looking between us and he took off his glasses, rubbing his eyes before nodding. “Alright, let’s go then.”