Each day, I continue with the weapons, not really trying because I know I can do it easily. I keep a close watch on the pixie. That's what I've begun to refer to her as in my head because it fits her so well. I decide to take my chances and go to the fish hook station. It's so easy but I try to draw a little attention to myself. Maybe Pixie'll think I'm not so bad after all. Though that's doubtful.
"Show off." Xavier, that bimbo.
"And? Your point?"
Kai looks at me and dares to speak after all the fights we've had. "Impressive." Of course.
"Thank you." My short, clipped tone matches his.
Xavier attempts to insult me and I blow past her. I'm so tired of this sh*t. I decide to avoid them for now. So much for trying to make things better.
Through the next few days, I shoot a whole lot of things, maim millions of dummies and break the wrists of trainer after trainer at hand-to-hand. It's when I'm at the archery station, failing that she finally interacts with me. By nearly shooting an arrow through my skull. It whips through the hair on my forehead and she freezes in fear. I feel for her, though, archery is not my strong suit. At all. Ever.
I ignore the arrow, and keep trying to shoot. And keep failing at it. She giggles at me, a ringing peal of bells.
"Well, you're not the only one horrible at archery." She shoots an arrow and it somehow manages to land between us.
"It's pretty hard. It's the only thing in this room I don't suck at." My face is slowly turning red, and I silently curse my cheeks for betraying me.
"W-well u-uhh u-umm I guess this is one of the many things in the room I suck at..." She shoots one and it goes fairly straight. I kind of want to explain my feelings to her, but my courage is diminished at the moment.
She helps me line up my fingers correctly, trying to hide a smile. I shoot the bow, and it goes straight. I grin at her, loving all this. The touch of her hand on mine sends electricity shooting through my spine, and I stand a little straighter.
And that's when the moment goes plummeting. Corrie walks over and wraps an arm around Pixie. I want to rip that arm out of the socket. "Hi honey, sorry I had to leave last night, how did things work out, and why are you talking to Donevin?" He nods to me with a curt, "hi".
She shoots her bow, nearly hitting Corrie, and I try very, very hard not to laugh. She apologizes and shoots one right next to the bull's eye.
I try again, and shoot one similar to hers. "Good job." Her grin falters a little, sending a pang to my heart for ever hurting her.
Corrie looks at me strangely. "So you're not gonna kick her in the stomach again?" Arella glares at him, and I wink at her appreciatively.
"You know what, I'm just going to assume you're not going to hurt her." He picks up a bow and continues looking at me like I've grown another eye.
"Donevin couldn't show you how to use that thing." She giggles at me again.
"Alright then, you show me." I slowly inch away until I can get away, glancing at the two of them every once in a while.
"You scared him away! He was being actually decent!"
I can hear them chatting about me from another station. "Yes, I scared him away with my muscular physique and violent capabilities." He grins. I want to wipe it off his face. The dummy gets a spear in the eye. "It was cake-eating Donevin, not Arella-kicking Donevin. Got it."
Corrie shoots again. "Good job!" she shrugs, glancing at me and I quickly look away. "Maybe he is bi-polar?" She leans into his face and the dummy gets several spears in the heart. "Now shoot it again." I go back to archery after a while, trying to shoot some more. And then, Corrie leans over and kisses her, and I hit a bull's eye with Corrie's name on it in my mind.
I scoff at myself, shaken by a victory. "Lucky shot." in my head I add, if only he really had been at the end of that arrow.
"That was not a lucky shot."
"Thank you." We both speak so quietly that no one else could hear us. It's a kind of intimately private conversation.
"Are you ever going to apologize for kicking me or should I just give up hope?"
I shrug, glad at how this is going. I mean, nothing bad has happened to her…yet. "Okay. I'm officially sorry for kicking you."
She leans forward and starts to hug me, getting my hopes up, and then pulling back, blushing. D*mn it. "Um, well, thanks, I guess? Can I just ask why you did it?"
Suddenly a call comes over, forcing us to bed. I walk past Pixie curled somewhere in the training room, screaming. I am going to stop, when I see Aria. She's with Arella again. So I avoid them. I walk to my room and sit on the bed until the lights go out. Then I head into the hallway and wander for a while.
Through the darkness of the hallway, I trip over something—someone. It's her. "Hullo?"
"Oh, oh, Arella, I'm so sorry. I didn't see you!"
She doesn't answer. I guess she's still asleep. I start to walk away. The rest of the day passes very quickly, not much happens. I train a little bit, and Arella actually walks up to me.
"You tripped over me." She raises her eyebrows.
"I'm really sorry about that. I didn't see you! And then I thought you were asleep..."
"Well I was sleeping until you tripped over me... " She glances up at me, "Two apologizes in two days? That is the most impressive thing you have ever done."
"Two days, technically." I grin, loving the way we can interact.
"Even more impressive than those amazing archery skills." She giggles again, making my heart pound.
"Sarcasm is not becoming, Arella." I resist the urge to call her Pixie.
"Would it annoy you if I told you that I am better at archery then you?"
"Why should that annoy me? I suck at archery."
"I know deep down inside you hate that I can do the one thing you can't."
"Because that's definitely it."
"Can you climb trees?" I swing my way up the tree in response. I am certain I look nothing like a Pixie. I flip out of it, landing on my feet next to her.
"Can you?"
"Of course."
"Let's see it." She climbs to the uppermost branch, where there's no way I could get to her without falling off branches and hurting myself.
"It's too hot up here."
"Then come down!"
"If I came down, you'd be able to reach me!"
Aria walks up, "What happened? Few days ago you two hated each other."
"She helped me with archery. How can I hate someone after that?"
Kai follows suit, but understands. Somehow he's able to realize, and knows my secret. "That's nice. No hard feelings, then?"
"Corrie gave you cake, and you still hated him." No freaking duh. "Ohh, I get it! I'm too nice for you to hate." Psh…among other things.
Aria, the ever truthful, "That makes sense. Cause you really sucked at archery."
"Hey!"
"You know it's true!" Arella finally joins us down at the base of the tree.
"You said Corrie annoys you. So I don't?"
I grin, "Only when you don't sit in the halls at 2 in the morning."
And to Aria, I walk over to the archery station and well, I fail. "Yeah, you're right."
"Told you!" I turn back to Arella.
"I was having a nightmare."
"Care to share?" She shoots a perfect bull's eye. "Nice one."
"Umm, I don't think you want to know…it was about you." Great. Made her more afraid of me.
"Ah."
"It was about you killing Corrie." Well that hurts. A lot. "But I'm not as scared of you anymore."
"I see." I don't let my emotions show.
"You're welcome. You're just…very different from my expectations."
"You too. All of you. I guess that was why I was so spiteful in the beginning."
"Soo what were your expectations for me?"
"I honestly expected all of you to be...rather simple. All the stories I'd been told at home made me think that everyone else would be stupid. I realized that I actually had some competition, and I might not really see my father again. The last thing he said to me was "win or you're not my son"."
"If he told you that... do you really want to be his son? I didn't have parents and my brother was a drunk who kicked me out, but I'm glad I lived on the streets rather than be with the likes of him. I mean parents are supposed to love unconditionally... I understand you more now. I thought you were just a career who liked to kill but... do you really want to be his son?" She puts a hand on my shoulder, the electricity tingling through my system again.
"He's the only person I have left."
"He doesn't have to be." My heart races, analyzing all different ways she means that.
Does she mean like a girlfriend? Cause what about Corrie?
Does she mean just as a friend? Because I don't think I can deal with that.
WHAT DOES SHE MEAN?
"What do you mean?"
"You don't have to limit yourself to him. If you get out of this you should make some friends. He can't love you because of your success, parents should love all of you... even your mistakes. He doesn't and that isn't okay. If you want to go back to him then you be my guest but you won't be doing yourself a favor."
"Yeah, I guess."
"Didn't you have any friends?"
"No. No time for it. It was 'boot camp' 24/7"
"That is horrible. Do you want any friends?"
I shrug. "I dunno. Never missed having them." It feels good to pour my heart out to her. No one has ever known this much about me, and I'm glad that it's Pixie who does.
Aria comes back. Why did she have to come back? We had a moment going on! "Let's go up to the roof. It's fun to jump on the forcefields."
I shrug, and Pixie and me follow her.
"Have you ever liked someone?"
"No." Not until now, I say in my head, but not out loud.
"Y-you never had a girlfriend before? But your eighteen... You know what, nevermind..."
I pull an apple out of my pocket and start chucking it at the forcefield, catching it when it bounces back.
"Do you always keep apples in your pocket?"
"Why? You want one?" She pulls out a slingshot and shoots a pebble at the forcefield. It hits me in the forehead. "Ow!" I throw the pebble at her, laughing.
"I can't believe you ju—" She picks up a pebble and throws it at my nose. I roll my eyes at her. Aria calls to us again.
"Come jump with me! It doesn't hurt!" We ignore her for a little while, and have a little mini pebble war of our own. She tries to push me over the edge but it doesn't work so well so she throws a pebble at my back. I throw it right back at her as she keeps trying to push me over.
"Why are you so big?"
"Why are you so small?" I pick her up easily and set her down gently as possible.
Aria calls again. "Guuuuys! I'm jumping off the roof, and you two are having a pebble war."
And again we ignore her. "I am not small!"
"Yes you are!"
"Am," she leans against me, trying to push me over still, "Not!" I can't help but snicker. Pixie was definitely the right name for her.
"Not working."
She mock pouts, the corners of her perfect mouth turning down, "Stop laughing, you know I am," she grunts with effort, "trying my best. You pry can't move me that easily either."
I pick her up around the waist, and dangle her over the edge. "Is that so?"
She screams and struggles and laughs all at the same time. She slaps at my arms, trying to get free. "Ready?" I ask, and jump off the roof, bouncing onto the forcefield with her held tight, landing us back on our feet.
"Y-You…nevermind." She stares at me, into my eyes.
I throw her over the roof twice, she laughs and laughs, grinning and flying through the air. I love that laugh so much it's not even funny. Yes, that was a pun.
"I-I what?" Those words are sticking in my mind.
"You um nothing... it's just there is something different..." She stares at me.
"Different how?"
"Your eyes…" She reaches out to touch my face, but stops. WHY DID SHE HAVE TO STOP?
And then Kai comes up to see me holding her over the edge. She abruptly stops laughing.
"Uum..there's a forcefield there..."
I speak sarcastically, and slowly so he can get it through his thick head, "Yeah. I know, that's the point." I set her down gently and jump off the edge. I land right next to Kai. "It's fun. Not that you'd like that."
Zoey and Xavier follow Kai, who says, ""Who are you, and what have you done to Donevin?"
"I was thinking the same question." Zoey is staring at me like I'm on drugs or something.
I hate her. "Frak. All of you." I turn around and start to walk away without answering their question. Arella, who was sneaking away at the time tripped over her slingshot. I find her clumsiness adorable. I push through the crowd to her, and help her up. I whisper, very aware of all the people watching. "Are you okay?" She nods and starts walking to the elevator while tripping with each step.
"Is he bipolar or somethin'?" Xavier, that fool. I flip her off and storm into the elevator with Arella. She's having issues with the button while they discuss my…change of personality. Well, love does that to you. Just cause they've never experienced it…
I press the button for her, and the doors open. "You must have magic fingers!" She gets into the elevator and I follow her, ignoring the patronizing stares. I catch her before she can fall yet again.
"Don't let them get to you."
"I-I need to get to my room to get something."
She goes to her room for a few minutes and then returns.
"Back to training?"
"Umm, sure."
She climbs the tree and sits high in the branches, while I take a much lower one. She leans her head back and hums something I don't know. I sit back and listen, loving the sound of her voice.
A/N: This is a really long chaper, I know. And it was a lot of dialogue. Yeah. I get it. Shout out to Julia (Aria) and Claire (Arella), who took up half the dialogue!
The whole way through this, I'm thinking of that scene in Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer where he's all like I'm cuute! She thinks I'm cuuuute!
Lol…anyways, REVIEWS! I need them! ^^
Love ya'll,
MS
