Bella had gotten off the motorcycle unsteadily. The adrenaline was still just coursing through her. The man who'd given her the ride was speaking but she wasn't really hearing his words. She felt watched, and then she realized she wasn't in the same area she'd been picked up.
"Where am i?" she asked, cutting him off abruptly.
"The best place to be at this time of night," he said evenly, gazing at Bella's weary expression, looking around the area. Many people were standing around and talking, and she saw movement at the top of her sight. She looked up, eyes widening. She was watching a girl run, jumping off a building and falling down onto a two story building garacefully. She ran straight at them, throwing herself off, catching a flag pole, flipping around it and then coming into a land about a yard from them. All Bella could do was stare in awe.
The girl was human, she realized, the breathless flushed expression told her that much. Another boy came to a land several feet away, just as breathless. Bella hadn't seen which direction he'd come from though. "What was that?" she asked, in awe, all the while thinking, i've found my newest hobby.
"Some people call it Free Running, the people that can pull it off are called Runners, or Jumpers," he said, amused with her awed expression.
"Is it a sport?" she asked perplexed, she'd never seen anything like that.
"No, it's too dangerous, most people wind up dead or in the hospital, overestimating themselves," he said giving her a stare. "Girl like you shouldn't try anything like that, break your neck."
"What's with the new girl?" the boy asked, having pin pointed why he felt watched. Both of them had moved towards Bella and the biker, wondering who she was.
"Gave her a ride," was all he said, frowning when he noticed the look that the strange girl was now giving Bella.
"Aleera," she said, gazing at her thoughtfully. She'd seen the look on the girls face when she'd first landed. The fascination, the awe, and mostly, the desperate craving. Aleera wanted to know why a girl so young and seemingly normal would have a look like that on her face. A look she rarely saw on Normal's.
"Bella," she said, blushing under the strangers scrutiny.
"Where you from Bella?" she asked, amused with her blushing shyness.
Bella wondered just how much was okay to tell a stranger that looked like she didn't have a problem killing someone, and rolled her eyes. She'd done crazier things, like taunt a pissed off vampire. "Forks."
"Boring, i hated growing up in that hell hole," Bella raised her eyebrows, surprised.
"You lived in Forks?" she nodded, an unusual look on her face.
"Where do you live now?"
"Wherever i please," the girl said indifferently.
"What about your parents?" the girl cracked a smile, but it was wrong, twisted, bitter. Bella was reminded of Rosalie, she used to smile like that. It was a burdened smile, Bella realized. Painful history.
"Dead," no remorse, or grief, just a bitter amusement. Bella shivered under the voice, not sure why she suddenly felt her gut tighten and her chest warm. It was familiar, but it wasn't.
"There dead?" she asked, trying to cover up the feeling as shock.
"They better be," the boy said, and she rolled her eyes at him.
"Isn't it past your bedtime, maybe i should take you back to your friend," the biker said, looking all too freaked out. The girl just looked unimpressed. He hesitated, and the girl gave him a steely gaze. No way could some teenage girl hold this much fear over a much older man. Maybe not much older, he couldn't be more then six years older then Bella herself.
"She's probably gone by now," Bella said, choosing to ignore the uncomfortable man to her left.
"Did you want a ride?" the boy asked suddenly, speaking before Aleera could.
"Sure, sure," she said, casting a glance at the girl, before following the boy to a red sports car. She wasn't surprised to find the girl watching her leave, she also wasnt surprised that it didn't unnerve her. She seemed thrilled to know that one way or another the girl was still thinking about her.
It was quiet in the car, but not awkward. The boy seemed to be deep in thought about something. "So how'd you end up with Parker?"
"Who? Oh, i dont know, impulse," Bella said shrugging, she didn't want to let on that she was slowly losing her mind to invisible beings. She got the feeling the boy was angry or irritated with Bella. But she hadn't done anything, at least nothing she could account for.
"Impulse like that can get you killed," he pointed out, not really caring. Bella let out a relieved sigh, glad she wasn't going to get a hypocritical lecture from him. At least he wasn't going to bitch about her being reckless, when he seemed to be worse. At least Bella didn't do anything too wild everyday. Like jumping off buildings like a monkey.
"So can jumping off rooves," she shot back at him, amused with the eye roll she got in response.
"Stay away from Aleera," he said suddenly, a strange look on his face. Bella could read that expression anywhere. Protective anger, a look she was all too familiar with.
"Why?" she asked, not bothering to hide her suspicious voice.
"Cause she'll get you killed," she felt a thrill flow through her at those words. That was exactly what Bella wanted, danger.
"I'm terrified," she said sarcastically.
"I mean it kid, screwing around with people like her will only end in a few ways, none of them could go well for you or her," he said seriously.
"Your worried she'll get hurt?" Bella said surprised, finally catching on to why the boy cared so much.
"She can handle herself," he said evenly, casting a glance in her direction. "But you can't, and she has one to many people looking for a way to hurt her. Dont let that be you, for both of your sakes."
"What makes you think i'll even see her again?" she said trying to sound indifferent and dismissive. He just looked at me for a second and didn't respond, hearing the bullshit tone.
"Just stay away from her, she doesn't need a weakness like you," Bella just rolled her eyes and didn't respond.