People still stared, for the next few days they stared. I didn't like it. At least back home when they realized who I was they'd quickly avert their gaze. Seth's friends seemed to like me more and more. I wasn't too sure why though. I think it was the third night we'd been here that had done it. Much his friends dismay, Seth invited Caleb and I to join them at a friends house for the evening. We agreed, mostly because my brother and I had given each other the wrong signal. I wanted to go and he was signalling that he didn't and yeah, he got roped into going because I was.
It was also raining too that night, and it was pouring by the time we finally got to Sam's house. We noticed the cruiser instantly and Seth noticed our staring. "Sam's a cop, he didn't mean to freak you out before," I frowned, the cop that we'd come across the first night we'd been here? I suppose that shouldn't have surprised me all that much, it was a small town afterall.
We moved into the house and Caleb was practically trying to melt himself into me or something. I gave him an irritated look and he gave me one back, as if it were my fault the guy was a cop. I went inside after Seth and everyone paused when they noticed us.
"I find it a little odd that you guys hang out half naked all the time," I said amused, my mind following the gay sex cult track at the moment. It made some sense. They didn't hang out with other people. They were rude when others didn't get the picture or backed off and they spent all their time together, shirtless. I dont know how many times one of them showed up in nothing but ripped up shorts and running shoes.
Of course, that was similar to my family and myself, though we had good reason to act this way. Caleb was worried that without the others we were twice as vulnerable and three times more likely to be found and attacked. We also wore expensive gear, not ripped clothes. I was beginning to really wonder what was going on.
"You didn't mention you were bringing friends over," a girl said, and to my surprise, and only deepening my curiosity she had long scars down her face. She moved towards us, and gave me a warm smile. "I'm Emily. The boys have told me so much about you."
"All good I hope," Caleb said sarcastically and I grinned a little.
"I'm sorry about the other night, with Sam, he can get a little carried away, very dedicated to the community," she said next, glancing at Sam who was giving Caleb and I weird stare.
Caleb tensed and I peeked a glance at Sam, everyone was waiting for us to respond so all I said was, "it's fine."
"Are you hungry? I was just in the process of making dinner," she said, and I shook my head.
"We already ate," my brother said evenly, and then Jake and Jared called us over to sit with them. They were playing on the xbox.
I scooped up Jared's controller, surprising him and he glared at me, I just stuck out my tongue childishly and plopped down on the couch. They were sitting on the ground with their backs pressed up against it. They were playing dead space 3.
"You guys are pretty good," i commented, each of us taking turns on the game.
"The best," Jake said cockily.
"The hell you are, i could kick your ass at every video game you put on," i shot smirking a little.
"Except mario cart," Caleb said grinning and i glared at him. I hated that game. I wasn't sure why, but i always just got pissed off, i think it was the characters and i'd get so irritated that Caleb would beat me every time.
"Shut up!" was my brilliant response, "i'd beat you at any game except for mario cart," i said challenging Jake.
"Fifty bucks just to make it interesting," he said, him and Jared sharing a smirk.
"Your on!"
"Dont do it," Caleb cautioned him.
"She's a girl, no way she wins," Jared said amused.
"Your funeral," he said shrugging.
Halfway through the game, Leah showed up, and she looked rather confused when she saw Caleb and I. I blew her a kiss and winked at her and looked at a loss for words, I laughed a little and went back to the game.
At the end of the game, I stood triumphant, "whoo! In your face! Told you, you couldn't beat me! Pay up!" I said to Jake who was glaring at me in sore loser mode.
Caleb just chuckled, "i warned you not to bet against her, she's quite competititve."
Jake just grumbled under his breath about cheating and then pulled out his wallet. "Maybe if you didn't spend so much time running around the woods naked you'd have more practise time," I said smirking as he handed over fifty dollars.
I left the group, feeling Caleb's gaze on me as I left the area and I felt it all the way to table where Emily, Leah and Paul were. I dropped down into the seat across from Leah and smiled at her. "I didn't know you chilled with the nudists of La Push," Paul frowned at that and Leah just smiled a little. Emily and Paul then shared sligtly surprised looks.
"There family, sort of," Leah said next, avoiding the gaze of her 'family' i also noted the cold tone of voice she had as if the word 'family' was poisonous.
"Family can be nice, too bad mines four hours away," I said light heartedly.
"You miss them?" Emily asked sympathetically. "I'm from the Makah reservation, I know the feeling."
Leah got a sort of wounded look at Emily's word and I frowned. Why was that a big deal for her? "Yeah, my dad thought it would give us a chance to get out of the 'gang' life," I said rolling my eyes slightly. I looked at Leah now, wanting to make her smile again I said, "bet he wont be too pleased when he finds out I've joined the ranks of the Quileute Nudist Colony."
She smiled again, and I returned it, leaning back in my seat. "Why is it your dad is so convinced your such a bag kid? Aside from the obvious reasons of course, did he always think that?" Leah asked next, whatever bad memory having faded from her mind.
"Well first Caleb and I began sneaking out of our rooms in the middle of the night. We'd be gone all evening, come home and leave again. Sometimes we wouldn't come home till morning and no matter what he did, he couldn't get us to quit taking off. We'd be gone all weekend and sometimes we'd miss first or last period in classes. We started getting into trouble, got a bad attitude. But we still had our grades up in the high nineties so he wasn't crazy concerned. Until my bust," I said chuckling at the memory.
"What happened?" Paul asked curiously. I wasn't too concerned about saying too much, it's all words and the cases had been dropped anyways.
"Exactly that, I got busted. We were moving around a lot of drugs and I had a bunch of ecstacy and cocaine in the trunk of my car one night. I was supposed to make a drop and someone ratted me out. I got pulled over and arrested, right there," I said shaking my head in disbelief.
"How much did you have?" Emily asked, trying to contain her urge to scold me or something.
"About three kilo's of cocaine and a two hundred pills of ecstacy, got off scott free too. Though my dad was furious with me, had no idea what was going on when they woke him up to come get me at the police station," I said chuckling at the memory.
"How'd you get off so easily?" Paul asked suspiciously.
"Friends in high places. Most people knew better then to touch me after that," I said evenly.
"Did you ever find out who got you busted?" Leah asked thoughtfully.
"Yep," I said, even more amused. The guy cried when we tracked him down. That was pretty funny. "Boy was he surprised to see me on his doorstep."
"What did you do to him?" Seth asked, having overheard in the kitchen and came to sit with us.
"I told him very politely that what he did was rude and he probably shouldn't say such nasty things behind my back," I left out the messier details for their benefit.
"I'm sure," Leah said snorting and rolling her eyes at me.
"Who taught you to free run, you totally kick ass in gym, from the running right?" Seth asked, taking a muffin that Emily set down in the center of the table. Everyone else wrestled to get theirs and I had grabbed two of the biggest ones I saw, a chocolate chip and blueberry, before anyone else could get at them. I handed the bigger one to Leah and she took it greatfully. Everyone was still fighting over them.
They all ate so much, the only one who didn't was Emily, she just looked used to it. Even Seth and Leah ate a lot, and Sue cooked lots of food all the time. The second night we'd been around for dinner and they ate three plates of food. It was ridiculous, and they still had something for desert. I thought it was ironic, considering I hardly ate anything, none of us really ate. No hunger anymore.
I picked at the muffin a little, and when Leah was done I passed it off to her without even looking at her. She smiled to herself, and I couldn't help but feel as though I'd accomplished something great by making her smile just once. Everyone was casting looks at us too. Was she really such a sad person?
Seth was still looking at me expectantly, "our friends back home taught us everything from fighting to free running and everything in between."
"Are they kids?" Leah asked curiously.
"They look and act like kids," I said grinning now, remembering the time David and I got locked in with the family of lions at the zoo in the middle of the night. We'd thought it was a chimpanzee cage. We'd almost gotten ripped to shreds when I fell to the ground and realized they wanted to play with us. That had been such a weird night. "But our oldest friend is twenty two. So no. Caleb and I are the youngest." Adrian was the oldest, not surprisingly. He was the more methodical thorough one of us after all.
"They taught you to fight?" Jake asked, dropping down into the seat next to me, as Jared and Caleb left to go back and play the game. He'd given me a questioning look, asking if I was okay and I gave him a nod and a smile. I'm pretty sure it was mordern warfare I heard from the next room, my brother was obssessed with that game.
"They taught me lots of things, but yes, fighting is one of them," I said nodding slightly.
"Could you show us what you know? I'm curious as to how that would work, being a free runner as well," Jared added.
"Are you asking me to fight you? I hate to say it, but I'd probably kick your ass," I pointed out, they all found this amusing for some reason.
"I hate to say it, but you dont look very strong, you look miniature, your like pocket size," Leah said grinning at me. Everyone at the table was quiet, sharing looks and I just scowled at her playfully.
"I'm stronger then I look, and when I wipe the floor with you steroid induced nudists I will laugh and say 'I told you so'," I said smirking confidently. I heard Caleb shout triumphantly from the next room and my smirk grew.
"Alright, girlie, let's see what you got," Jake said standing, and towering over me. I'll admit, they were all over a foot taller then me. But I had skill and my small size on my side.
"Shall we make it interesting? I bet a hundred dollars I can take three of you down in less then three minutes each," I said next, giving the group and amused look. They still thought this was funny, that I was wrong. They'd made it clear they could fight, so why not show off a bit? I was confident, because I knew I was the best.
"Fine, your on, time to get my money back," Jake said, holding out his hand for me to shake it. I did. "Seth will fight you first, then Paul, then me," he said smirking at me. "See how smug you are when we win."
"Whatever you say," I said grinning and then moving out the door.
"What's happening?" Caleb asked, watching all of us leave the house.
"Were going to fight, you want in?" I asked curiously.
He stood up instantly, glaring, "your not fighting anyone."
"Too late! We already shook hands," I said grinning and then ran out the door before he could get his hands on me.
"Kira, I said no, you can't go run around fighting people anymore, and it's your rule," he shouted following me out of the house.
"It's just a little bet, you can even referee if you want," I said lifting my shirt sweat off and revealing nothing but a thin tank top. I emptied my pockets and Caleb sighed and held out his hands for my stuff. It was still raining lightly and Seth and I got off the porch.
"Be careful Seth," Leah said warningly, a little worried.
"I will," he promised and then we faced off.
"Kira I swear to god if you get all worked up over this, I will kick your ass myself," Caleb called over to us. I flipped him off and someone chuckled.
"Ready?" I asked Seth, both of us grinning.
"Bring it on," he said smirking now.
I decided to stay defensive for the first round, I wanted to gauge his skills, it would give me a better idea of the rest of the group. I moved into my usual defensive stand and he looked thoughtful for a moment.
I hadn't anticipated how fast he was. He rushed me and I side stepped, and he caught my arm as I did so. I raised my other arm and he caught my wrist when I went to hit him. He was strong to, when I couldn't pull my arms free easily I moved just as quickly as he had and kicked his legs out from under him.
He hit the ground and was up and rushing me a second time. He threw his fist out and I twisted slightly and then threw my open palm forward against his right arm, sending it to the left. He twisted and and I grabbed his left arm and twisted it behind his back. I was careful not to break it now and then kicked his legs out from under him and he hit the ground on his knees, letting out a surprising sound.
Everyone was silent, the fight had been less then a minute long and neither of us was trying to hard. "Wait! I want a re-match! She caught me off guard," Seth argued as he got back and we all started laughing.
"Not a chance, my turn," Paul said jumping over the railing and making his way towards me. I stretched a little, taking a deep breath and he didn't even wait for me to exhale before he attacked.
He gone to kick me and I caught his ankle, throwing it up into the air and he flipped backwards, hitting the ground heavily. "Dont be so cocky, your making this too easy," I called to him grinning.
He stood back up quickly, and moved twice as fast as he had before, which was almost three times faster then the fight with Seth had gone. He threw his fist out and I blocked the blow and completely missed him hook his ankle around my leg and pull. I hit the ground and then stared in disbelief. How had he moved so damn fast? "Maybe I should be telling you not to be so cocky," Paul shot at me smirking.
I narrowed my eyes at him, and then flipped back into a stand. We circled slightly and I used the chance to disolve my center of gravity. "Kira that's cheat-," I ignored my brother and this time when Paul lunged for me I threw my body into the air bringing my right foot up first as if I were doing a flip and my left foot got him in the chin perfectly. I'd timed the move perfectly and it send Paul into the air and landing on his back a few feet away. I landed several feet from where I had been with my arms out to either side of me and I let them drop to my side.
Everyone was silent for a minute and I smirked now, "you wanted to see if you could beat a free runner in a fight. I'll give you a fight."
He stood back up, rubbing his throbbing jaw and then glared at me a little. He was getting pissed off. "Fine, I wont hold back."
"Good, I wont have too anymore either," I shot at him smugly.
Again, he caught me off gaurd with his speed. He was on me in a flash. He moved to kick me and I blocked the attack and I moved to punch him. He dodged and I jumped out of the way as he went to kick me again, I didn't have time for a block.
He pounced on me and we hit the ground and I rolled us backwards sending him over my head. I rolled again landing with my palms open on the ground and my right knee pulled to my chest and my left leg straight out behind me.
I laid backwards onto the ground as he jumped on top of me and I pulled my knees to my chest and as he got right on top of me I kicked out and sent him flying backwards. I'd used the kick to send my own body forward following right after him and I landed on top of him standing and I put my foot to his throat not even a second later.
"Damn," someone whispered in awe. I stood back up, holding out my hand for him. He was just staring at me wide eyed and then took it.
He stood up jerkily and out of breath and I turned to the audience. Everyone looked quite impressed. "Your up," I said to Jake.
He glanced at Paul and shrugged. "Good," he said pulling off his shirt and tossing it over his shoulder.
"Kira," Caleb called to me in a warning tone.
"I'm fine," I said giving him an aggitated look.
Jake and I faced off with each other and I rolled my shoulders and stretched a little more. This time Jake moved into a defensive stand.
I moved towards him quickly, and I turned to kick him. He caught my ankle and flipped me. I spun, landing on the ground with my palms out and my body less then a foot off the ground. I dropped rolled as his fist came down into the muddy earth and then kicked out, sending him sprawling to the ground.
I flipped back up and he did the same. We circled for a moment, getting closer to each other and I realized how close we were to the woods. I didn't give away the plan I was forming and this time when he kicked out at me I jumped into the air and caught a low branch. flipped ove it quickly and as he spun to look for me I came back around and pushed my feet together and let go. My feet met his back, sending him flying forward and into another tree.
I hit the ground and he ran for me, I turned and ran towards a tree, moving quickly enough to run up it and flip over him as he neared. I came to a land and he turned in time to block my punch. He side stepped at my next throw and I saw it coming, so I didn't put too much weight into it. I grabbed his arm, twisting it so he had to turn and I shoved him hard.
I jumped back up into the tree, this time landing in a sort of frog like position and then catapulted my body at him. He dropped, flipping me over him and I landed easily enough. He jumped on top of me sending me into the ground roughly and I threw my head back and hit him in the nose.
He fell off of me a little and I twisted my body as he moved to grab my throat. The fight would be over the moment he did so. I knocked his hands out of the way and threw my open palm forward awkwardly, getting him in the nose again and then bucked my hips. He lost his balance and tumbled over me and I jumped on top of him the first chance I got and gripped the back of his head, pulling slightly.
He lost his breath as we paused like that, both of us breathing heavily. I let go, kissing him on the cheek and then stood up unsteadily. Everyone looked totally frozen on spot and I let my head fall back and I put my hands to my hips as I caught my breath.
"That was intense," Jared said wide eyed.
"No shit," Seth mumbled, not as embarassed about losing as he had the first time. I'd assumed Jake was one of their best fighters and it took me less then three minutes to win the sparring match.
I held my hand out to Jake and he accepted it, staring at me with a new found awe. "That was amazing," Leah said when we got back to the porch. I smiled at her, liking the pride she seemed to just radiate for me now.
"You okay?" Caleb asked cautiously, holding my gaze in a concerned sort of way. I frowned, I was fine. We tended to get a little blood thirsty during fights.
"I'm good," I said nodding a little shakily. I had much more control then I used to.
When we'd first learned how to fight and use weapons and free run, we'd gone a little wild. Which is where most of the charges came from. We'd become animals, we were unstoppable and untouchable when we were together. We were vicious and we showed no mercy and often that scared people. Everyone of us had been like that at first, and once we got a grip on ourselves again, it took some time to control the desire for violence. Being the youngest, meant it took the longest for me, they hadn't trained a fourteen year old, and you'd think being a girl would help, but it was the exact opposite.
"Alright, good job," he said, giving me a hug and a kiss on the temple. I smiled at him.
"Your not normal," Paul said, everyone was talking kind of quietly, but i did notice the astonished expressions. Like they couldn't believe it. They all think it was weird, but why? "Thank you Paul, way to win a girl's heart," i said sarcastically.
Caleb tensed a little, and then again, angled his body to be in front of me a little more. "That was impressive," Sam said, addressing me as everyone was still talking in hushed almost excited voices. He looked really troubled for some reason and deep in thought.
"Thanks," I said appreciatively.
"You always fight like that?" he asked next, a thoughtful look on his face.
"Yeah, lots and lots of practise," I said shrugging, and then glanced over to find Leah still watching me, as thoughtfully and with a new found respect.
"Maybe you could teach me some stuff," he said next, glancing at my brothers stony expression and my nervous one.
"No," Caleb said instantly.
Sam didn't seem to know what to say, "perhaps someone else, if you dont want to show me? We could really benefit some your skills."
"Maybe, I'll think about it," I said unsure.
"We should get home, we have catch up to do still," Caleb said taking my hand and guiding me off the porch.
I glanced back and then waved goodbye to Leah, and the others. I could've sworn i heard Jake say something along the lines of, "they cant possibly be human."
"See you at home!" Seth called back to us.
