"Bye." I whispered, knowing she'd never hear. She was skipping down the street, hips swaying, and I felt my eyes drift down to her ass. But I stopped them. Even though I knew that Althea was the hottest girl I'd ever met, I didn't want to just see her as hot. I might act like a stereotypical jock, but I refused to label girls like that. Despite the fact that I did talk about them in that way.

I had finally woken from my stupor of seeing her hurt, and I was able to think clearly about what I had done. I had freaked the hell out. The part of me that had been telling me how to act like a normal person had simply been shut off. Since I'd become a teenager and overly self-conscious I hadn't once stopped acting like society required me to. But when Althea came into the picture…

God what was happening to me? I sounded like a girl.

I pulled my hands through my hair, tugging at the strands angrily. But I couldn't stop my mind from replaying her playful smirk as she asked 'I dunno, am I?' with that teasing tone she always used. She was infuriating and hot and driving my mind fucking insane. Knowing I had to get away from all of this, I quickly dialled up Gray. I didn't know what he was doing, but I didn't care. I needed to go out and forget all about the siren that was luring me in.

"Hi."

"Hey, Gray, it's me, Ian."

"Oh, hey Ian. What's up?"

"Nothing much, just wondering if you wanna hang out?"

"Sorry, I'm on a date with-" Before he could finish his sentence, the phone must've been taken off from him, because a different voice replaced his.

"He'll be over in a couple of minutes." The voice definitely belonged to Miss Selfless herself, Maisee. I was desperate to get away from my own mind, but I couldn't just stop them from going on a date. No matter how much I wanted to be a selfish jackass, I couldn't do it.

"Nah, don't worry about it."

"But-"

"Nope." And with that I hung up, glad I'd managed to keep their date going. After all the hardship those two had had to go through to get together, they deserved all the time alone they got. Which meant I was once again alone with my thoughts.

Sitting on the steps leading up to the porch my mind drifted in and out of focus, much like it did in the classroom a few days ago. I was convinced there was a strong mind near me which was causing all of the daydreams. But no one really believed me. They all just said that I must be borrowing Zed's gift again. That isn't what his gift felt like though.

His power didn't make everything go blank. His power wasn't strong enough to knock the breath out of me and make me forget my surroundings. This person, whoever they were, was strong enough to make their thoughts the only thing that mattered. And I couldn't help but think that I wanted to meet them, to see who the person who dreamed about bitter coffee and bright stars was.

"Ian, you alright?" Seeing Uncle Zed behind me, squinting in the sun, I decided to act as normal as I could. Luckily, he wasn't someone from school, or else 'normal' would've meant being an asshole to everyone in a five metre radius. I wasn't in the mood to be a jock. Although, to be honest, I was never in the mood to be a jock. But it wasn't about what I wanted, it's about what I needed to do.

"Yeah. You up for a basketball game on Tv?" He smiled, and I knew I'd said exactly what I needed to make him forget all about my mournful gaze. I hadn't been this upset about my situation in a while. I needed to snap out of it.

"When am I not?" With that, he slung an arm around my shoulders, practically dragging me inside. I kept up some small talk about one thing or another, keeping him distracted. Then, the Tv was on, and he was focused on the game, leaving me finally to my own devices. The second I felt his eyes leave me, I slumped in the couch, my confident stance dropping. I wasn't even interested in the game, I just wanted to stop feeling judged, and I knew this would be the best way to get him off my case.

Now the only thing was, figuring out the best way to get everyone off my case. To stop society from looking at me, caging me in with all the expectations and judgemental ideas. Once again I was reminded of the person who just wanted to fly. And I wondered if, perhaps, you don't need to be hurt by life to want to run away. If you don't need to go through hell every day to want to escape. Maybe they're just an ordinary person like me. Someone who was being trapped, but couldn't speak up because nothing was really wrong. Except, everything is.

Maybe, the only thing you need to want to fly, is to be alive.

Althea's POV

I sashayed around the street, not caring how odd I looked. I turned a couple of heads, but I didn't pay them any heed. My headphones blasted out music as I moved my hips to the rhythm, even humming a few lyrics. The song was about a nasty break up, so whilst I listened to it, I pictured it in my mind. A tall imposing man, being shunned into a corner by a woman with a tight smile and gleaming eyes. I was actually feeling pity for my poor, imaginary man, when a hand on my shoulder stopped me.

"Hi." Taking out one of my earphones, I gave Ian an impassive raise of my eyebrows, before putting it back in. As I started walking towards school again, he ran to catch up with me. "Hey, I was talking to you." This time, he was the one who ripped out my headphones, giving me an angry look. I just smiled.

"Yes?" To be fairly honest, I wasn't in the mood to piss someone off today, and I wasn't about to let an imaginary feud between us stop me from having my morning daydream. So, trying to keep away from any arguments, I kept my tone quiet and clipped.

"We could go together. We're walking the same way."

"Can't I have a single peaceful morning?" He rolled his eyes at me, but didn't give me room to refuse. As I started walking again, he kept his pace even with mine. I didn't really know what to say, so the minute he looked away, my headphones went back in. This time, a sappy love song was playing, making me angry for some reason. I took my phone out of my pocket, skipping the track with a huff.

"Hey, shorty, what you listening to?" Without even sparing him a second glance, I already had my response at the ready.

"A song about strangling an annoying boy." At this he whistled, apparently impressed by my quick reply. But I wasn't in the mood to have a battle of wits with him. I was too tired.

"How weird, I personally wouldn't write something so awful."

"Really? I happen to know the perfect inspiration."

"Do you, now? Do I know him?" It was obvious he knew I was talking about him, but he kept the joke going, an amused glint in his eyes.

"Definitely. Mirrors break when he walks past them, you might recognise him from that."

"See, shorty, I was starting to think you were talking about me, but with that last description, it can't be."

"Of course you'd think it's about you, you narcissistic asshole."

"Somehow, we always keep coming back to this." I laughed, taking out my earphones and slipping them into my pocket. Without me even realising, he'd pulled me out of my anti-social bubble, and now I was all ready to fight.

"That's because it's true."

"I still think the song's about me."

"You know what? I'm starting to think so too."

"Why is that?"

"Because the last line was: he's a pig, but I still like talking to him." He smiled at my comment, and it took me a minute to realise why. Too late to take my words back, I simply shrugged, knowing that embarrassment would get me nowhere. I couldn't let him see that admitting stuff like that was distressing to me. Because I was Althea, the strong girl that no one could even faze.

"Hm, if I were to hear a song about you, I think it would go: Roses are red, violets are blue, she'll give you a headache, but I want one too." I slapped his arm, already blushing, but he just laughed. I wished I could control my blush and body reactions so that I could seem as unperturbed as when I'd spoken up before. But my obvious content at his 'song' was undeniable, so I decided to just go with it. Throwing my head back, I giggled, laughing right along with him as we made our way to school.

He looked taken aback by how loud my laugh was, just like everyone else always was. But it took him slightly less to recover than most others, starting laughing once again.

"Hey Althea?"

"Yeah?" I asked, humour still on both our features.

"Why are we laughing?"

"I don't know." And with this we shared an amused grin, before dissolving once again into fits of laughter. I never had any problem with laughing for a long while whilst everyone looked weirdly at me. It was better to laugh too much than not at all. Just like it was better to feel more. And better to think more. And better for everything to be amplified. Or, maybe, that was just a lie I told myself to keep from thinking that sometimes my thoughts were so loud that they drove me insane.

A hand shaking me broke me out of my stupor, and I found Ian looking at me curiously. I didn't want to have to explain my daydreams to him, but it seemed inevitable. If I didn't tell him now, he'd keep pestering me until I did. I'd only known him for three days, but I already knew that his stubborn streak could rival mine.

"Sorry 'bout that."

"Do you do that a lot?" I went to reply, but he stopped me. "And a sarcastic response won't be taken as an answer." Giggling at his annoyed look, I went to actually tell him the truth. He'd been able to predict me too well for my comfort, but that would be another thought for another day.

"I daydream a lot."

"What, you just faze out?"

"Something like that. It's just that sometimes my mind is a little too loud, you know? And it's hard to ignore. Like if someone shouted in your ear. It'd be practically impossible to keep up a conversation." I hadn't wanted to talk so long about it, but I hadn't talked about my daydreams to anyone in a long time. It felt nice to get it off my chest. And at the same time I felt absolutely insane. A thought like 'my mind is too loud' seems good and poetic in your head, but hearing it out loud made me realise just how crazy it actually sounded.

"I get that." And, for some reason, it felt like he really did. Like he wasn't simply saying that because it was the right thing to say, or because society obliged him to do so, but because he truly understood. But that was just stupid.

No one ever understood.

I didn't have much time to dwell on this thought though, as we were suddenly interrupted by a blonde girl who seemed way too cheery for it to be so early in the morning.

"Hi Ian!" She greeted, threading her arms with his. I glanced down at the action, raising an eyebrow at him. He paid no heed to what I was silently asking, simply removing her arm from his.

"Hi Leah. This is Althea, I think you two have met before?"

"Haven't had the pleasure." She said, a sugar coated smile on her face. It made me sick, how fake she was. All you needed was to have eyes to see it.

"I don't think pleasure's the right word for it, but sure." A smirk tugged up my lips at the comment, it being much more amusing to me than to Ian's fangirl. I shook her hand nonetheless, grasping it firmly. But she'd recovered finally, digging her nails into my skin with an angry glower.

"Ally! Sorry about that Leah, sometimes I think we need to keep her tied down with a leash."

"Pfft. Just because I argue? Have you forgotten what you do 24/7?"

"Charm girls?"

"Don't try to be a smartass Ian I will beat you with your words until you bleed." We continued to banter, the blonde behind us being all but forgotten. However, unbeknownst to both of us, she had a glare place on both our backs and a sentence running through her head.

He is mine.

Hi :)

Super massive chapter today because I'm procrastinating from revising, yay! I'm a great role model ;) Anyway I hope your weeks have been great, even though it's Monday, so it's probably dragged on quite a bit by this point.

Thanks for all the great reviews last chapter, they really made me smile :) Tell me what you thought of this chapter ^.^

Bye bye xx