Chapter Two

I drew in a shaky breath at the exact same moment the attacker said in that British voice of his, "Are you alright, Chloe?"

Finally the tears I was holding in came out. And boy did they come. I stood there in front of the guy who I thought would never speak to me again. The guy who I thought hated me. The guy that would do anything for me. The guy whose heart I broke. He pulled me to him, surrounding me with his warm, strong arms that I missed so much. I wrapped my arms around him and buried my face into his shoulder, crying my heart out. We stayed that way until the bell rang, signaling the end of lunch. My tears stopped, and I pulled away, looking at him.

"I thought you hated me." I said. My voice was weak and frail from all the crying.

"I could never hate you Chloe. Yes, I was angry, but I have more important things to worry about than your relationship with you and your human." The way he said human was different today than any other time. Most of the time, it was like a carefree word that you would say every so often. Today, it was like he had acid in his mouth or something worse.

People started showing up and soon those once lonely hallways became crowded with students. I looked back to where Alek was standing, but he was gone. And I still didn't get to ask him where he was this morning. I let out a long sigh as I walk to my least favorite class of all: gym.

You might be wondering, "Oh Chloe, why would you hate gym class? You're Mai! Shouldn't it be easy for you?" Well, considering only Mais are allowed to know that I am Mai, I'm not allowed to use my abilities in that class. I'm pretty positive that Alek uses his powers though. After changing into my gym clothes, I walked into the large gymnasium. The teacher, Coach Nixon, started out with making us run our usually ten minutes run around the gym. Oh joy. I still don't understand the point of that. Are we supposed to count how many laps we run or see how many laps it takes us before we fall down because we are tired? I don't know. He let us get a quick drink after, so we headed to the hallway. People usually take this time to meet friends from other classes or text their boyfriends/girlfriends. For me, I usually meet Amy at my locker so we can gossip for a bit. I walked away from the gym, up the stairs, and around the corner to my locker. I was getting ready to turn around the next corner where my locker was when I heard some people talking. I stayed against the wall and used my Mai, well not really, hearing to listen to the conversation.

"Well he's dead. That's probably why she was crying this morning." I head the high voice say. Amy.

"What do you mean he is dead? He can't be. That human was very much alive earlier that day." Only one person calls someone else human. Alek.

"He kissed Chloe and since she is-."

"KISSED! THAT BASTARD KISSED HER!" He was mad. More than mad. He was furious. I didn't have to see him to know that his eyes were probably in slits and his hands were in fists.

"Yeah. He thought Chloe was dead-."

"She died again too? What the hell Chloe! I told her to be more careful."

"Why are you asking me all of this and not Chloe?" I could tell that Amy was starting to get annoyed.

I heard a long sigh. "Because if I do, I'm going to have to explain that Jasmine and Valentina were attacked by Zane, who turned out to be my brother and is now with the rest of my family, and are in the hospital."

What? I couldn't listen anymore. I ran away back to the gym, trying to block out and forget everything I just heard.

They rest of the day was normal, much like the beginning. I went to classes that I didn't care about. I was reminded of the basketball game on Friday, and I was taught lessons and given homework. The day ended, finally. I couldn't stand the sight of seeing Amy or Paul. It would bring back the memory of the conversation from earlier. Lana was on vacation all week, so I didn't have to work, thank the lord. So, I went straight home and started on my homework.

I have a history of not being able to focus while there is something on my mind that's bothering me. Right now, it was defiantly coming into play. What happened to Jasmine and Valentina? Are they ok? Are they alive? I looked at the empty box of pizza next to me and then the clock on the other side of me. 9:30. It's been eight hours. Not being able to handle it anymore, I got up and decided to go for a walk. I had to clear my head. Leaving a note for my mom in case she arrived back home while I was out, I headed out the front door and into the cool San Francisco night. The sky was cloudless and you could see all the stars. There was the slightest cold breeze, but it felt good. What else would you expect in February though? I continued my walk, walking by the coffee shop and Lana's store. I paused and looked through the window to her store. I still couldn't shake him out of my mind. He's done so much for me and I repay him with pain. Something had to be done. I continued my walk, which ended up right outside his penthouse. I walked in, smiled at the man by the front counter (George, I think), and walked straight into the elevator, heading up to the floor that it like my second home. Getting off, I walked down the long narrow hallway, eventually leading to a corner. Around that corner was another corner. Around that corner, was a door. I lightly knocked. Opening the door was the tall blonde Brit…in his pajamas? It's not every day you see Alek without his shirt and wearing pajama bottoms. I checked my phone for a second. 11 o'clock. Hmm, long walk.

"Chloe? Something wrong? This has to be important if your waking me up from my beauty sleep." He gave me a very tired smirk and rubbed his eyes, letting out a yawn also.

"We need to talk." I say, placing my hand on his bare chest, pushing him back so I could step inside.