"After you," he said, opening the back door for Vanessa. He would let Tyler drive, since all he wanted to do was sit next to his girl.
Vanessa nodded in thanks and climbed in. "I love your car Tyler."
"It's such a pussy-magnet," Pogue joked.
"Where is the magnet? I don't see a magnet!" Reid said, doing his best Borat impression.
"Shut up Reid," Caleb said, smacking his friend on the top of his head.
"Aww lighten up Caleb," Reid said. Caleb leaned back in his seat and crossed his arms.
Vanessa couldn't stop laughing. Still recovering from her giggle fit from Pogue's joke, Vanessa shook her head and looked out the window. Reid slid his arm around her and she snuggled into him.
Caleb looked over at them out of the corner of his eye and smiled. He was glad Reid finally found someone.
"How long does it take to get there?" Vanessa asked.
"10 more minutes," Reid told her, "but I wanna show you something first."
Caleb gave him a warning glare, but he chose to ignore it.
Vanessa smiled up at him, curious as to what he meant by that. "And what might that be?" She asked.
"Just wait," he whispered in her ear, "it's a surprise."
"I think I've had enough surprises for today," she told him while rolling her eyes. But she ended up laughing a little.
"You'll like this one, I promise." He traced his finger along her arm, and felt her shiver in response.
She looked at him, tempted to go into his mind to see what he was planning.
"Don't even think about it," he said, knowing that look in her eyes.
"Fine," she pouted, crossing her arms over her chest.
Caleb and Pogue gave each other a questioning look.
"Did I miss something?" Caleb asked.
"No," Vanessa and Reid said quickly, at the same time.
"Right," Pogue rolled his eyes. He was so gonna ask Reid about this later.
A small giggle slipped from Vanessa's mouth. Reid pulled her closer, and it took everything she had to not start laughing even more. She even had to place a hand over her mouth to stop the laughter from escaping. Reid pulled her hand away and kissed her instead.
"Stop it you guys," Caleb groaned from his seat beside them, "get a fucking room."
"Whatever man," Reid said, taking Vanessa's hand and pulling her closer.
They finally arrived at the Dells and everyone poured out of the car.
"We're here," Reid exclaimed.
"No shit," Tyler rolled his eyes. Way to state the obvious.
"Come with me." Reid grabbed Vanessa's hand and led her up the cliff, in the opposite direction the other guys were walking.
"I hope you know what you're doing," Caleb said to Reid. "You really need to stop using so much."
"It's not gonna hurt me...yet," Reid said, turning away from his friends and walking with Vanessa up the cliffs.
"Where are we going?" Vanessa questioned. Reid pulled her towards the cliffs, but his friends were walking through the woods.
"Will you be quiet for once and just go with it?" he asked her softly, continuing to walk upwards.
"No," Vanessa responded.
Reid rolled his eyes and continued to walk to the cliff.
When they finally reached the top, the moonlight shone down brightly upon them, illuminating the view for miles.
"Look over there," Reid said, pointing down to where a group of people were partying. "That's where we're going."
"Why are you showing me up here? We could be there already," Vanessa complained.
"Are you telling me you can't enjoy a nice view?" he asked, looking down on her. She looked even more beautiful with the light of the moon upon her.
She laughed a little. "Pretty much."
"Good thing there's more," he laughed. "I wouldn't have taken you here otherwise."
Vanessa raised an eyebrow. "More?"
He wrapped his arms around her. "Hold on to me," he said, "and promise you won't let go." He had never tried this with someone else before, but trusted himself to keep her safe.
"What are you doing?" She asked.
"Trust me," he whispered, looking into her eyes. "You do trust me, right?"
She nodded. "Of course I do. But what does that have to do with us standing on the edge of a cliff?"
"You didn't think we were coming up here to just look at the view, did you?" he asked, smiling down at her.
Vanessa raised her eyebrow. She wasn't sure what to say. She was too busy fighting the urge to read his mind.
"You ready?" he asked, looking out over the cliff and then back at her.
It was then that she realized what they were going to do. Reid was going to use his powers to let them jump off the cliff without getting hurt. She looked over the edge. "No better time then the present."
"Let's drop in," he said, jumping off the cliff, holding her tightly in his arms. Vanessa held on tight and felt the wind whipping through her hair.
"This was the surprise I had in mind," he said, brushing the hair out of her face and kissing her while they floated slowly down to the Dells. Vanessa smiled and continued to kiss him, loving the feeling of being so weightless and free. For once, she had nothing to worry about, and all she could focus on was Reid.
They continued kissing all the way down until they reached the area outside the Dells. Once they landed, Reid reached up and readjusted his beanie. "You ready to party?" he asked, turning toward Vanessa. Her hair was windblown; he didn't think he had ever seen her look as beautiful.
Vanessa smiled and shook her head. "All set," She confirmed. They started to walk to where everyone was, hand in hand.
"What'd we miss?" Reid asked, approaching the other boys.
"There's a hot new chick," Tyler said, looking over to a blonde girl hanging out with Kate and Sarah.
"Go get her, baby boy," Reid said, putting his arm around Tyler.
"Get off me, man," Tyler said, pulling away from Reid. "Just cause you got yourself a girl doesn't mean you can get all touchy-feely with the rest of us."
Vanessa glanced over at the girl; she had no interest in her and focused her attention back at the group of people she was around.
"I'm guessing Tyler doesn't get much?" Vanessa laughed.
"He's just a bit shyer then the rest of us," Pogue answered, "but he's the youngest, he's got time."
Pogue waved over to Kate, and the three girls came over to the group. The new girl followed them confidently, her long blonde hair blowing softly in the wind.
"Let's get something to drink," Reid whispered in Vanessa's ear.
Vanessa was glad he wasn't interested in meeting the new girl. She didn't doubt his affections or anything, but it really showed her how much he loved her, and only her.
Vanessa thought for a minute. Getting drunk near the woods was probably not the best thing to do. "I shouldn't," Vanessa said.
"Come on. We came out here to have some fun," Reid persisted.
She turned to face him. "Someone needs to stay sober."
"Whatever," Reid rolled his eyes, not wanting to push her. "I'm gonna get something though."
Vanessa shook her head, rather annoyed by his arrogance. Her cell phone started to ring and she flipped it open.
"Hello?" She asked.
"Where are you?" It was Selene.
Reid went over to the bar, grabbing a beer for himself and a soda for Vanessa. He came back and saw her still on the phone, so he waited for her to finish.
"I'm at a party," Vanessa told her. She knew that if she said exactly where she was, Selene would give her shit for being near the woods. Then again, she probably already knew.
"The Dells?" So, Selene had known where she was.
"Yeah. Why?" Vanessa wasn't sure what the whole point of this conversation was.
"You shouldn't be near the woods," Selene informed her.
Vanessa was getting rather annoyed. "I know I know. But I'm not going to drink or anything so I can stay alert."
Reid stood there impatiently, wanting Vanessa to hang up the phone so they could go back to the group.
Vanessa glanced up and saw a rather annoyed Reid. "Well I have to go." And without waiting for a response Vanessa flipped her cell phone shut.
"I got you a soda," he told her, handing her the drink. Yea, he could be pushy, but he didn't want to piss Vanessa off. He knew from experience that was not a good thing to do.
"Thanks," She said, taking the drink in her hand.
"You ready to go back?" He took her free hand with his, and sipped his beer. He found where the group was standing again, and started heading back in that direction.
"Sure," Vanessa nodded her head.
When they got back, Tyler was intently focused on the new girl. She was very pretty up close, but not quite as stunningly beautiful as Vanessa. Vanessa thought she saw the girl give her a dirty look, but when she focused on her again all she got was a smile in return.
"I'm Amanda," the girl said, holding out her hand. "You must be Vanessa."
Vanessa took her hand, giving her a weird look. It was kinda strange that the girl knew her name. She was about to delve into her mind, but before she could, Amanda continued, "the boys mentioned the two of you should be back soon."
"I'm Reid Garwin," Reid said, smiling at the girl. "But I'm sure you knew that already, too."
Vanessa nudged him in the ribs a bit, and he put his arm around her. "Come on," he whispered, "no one compares to you."
Vanessa smiled at him and then turned her attention back to Amanda. "So, you new?"
"Yep," Amanda confirmed.
"Why the transfer?" Vanessa asked. So maybe she was coming on a bit strong. So what? Vanessa needed to know more about this girl.
"My family moved," she started, "job stuff. We didn't hear great things about the public schools in the area, and Spenser had an opening."
"Are you living with your family, or in the dorms?" Vanessa asked. Tyler looked at her, clearly annoyed with the questions.
"The dorms," Amanda said, starting to look a bit annoyed by all the questions.
"Cool," Vanessa responded.
Before the conversation could continue, students started yelling and running around frantically.
"The cops are coming, I suggest everyone get outta here!" a voice announced through the speakers.
"Let's go!" Reid grabbed Vanessa's hand, clearly enjoying the excitement.
"We have to go through the woods?" Vanessa asked. She didn't want to sound scared, but she felt her voice waver a bit.
"Just for a second," he smiled, "we'll be outta there in a second. And I promise not to let go of your hand."
"Fine, but we're running."
"Deal." He ran with her through the woods until they reached the car. Tyler climbed into the driver's seat, and Reid sat shotgun, pulling Vanessa onto his lap.
They were about to leave when they saw Sarah's car having trouble. Again. However, this time, Amanda was driving. Apparently she was the DD for the night.
"The car won't start!" she screamed out the window.
"I can fix it," Tyler said, jumping out of the car and opening the hood of Sarah's beat up old car.
Reid rolled his eyes. This situation was familiar. Sarah really needed a new car.
Tyler fixed the car and started walking back. Vanessa got a smirk on her face and leaned over to honk the horn. The sound startled Tyler and made him jump. Vanessa started laughing.
Reid scooted over to the driver's seat before Tyler could get back in.
"Get in the back baby boy, I'm driving," he said through the open window. Tyler didn't have a choice - the cops were almost there.
Vanessa, however, was still laughing. She turned around and faced Tyler. "Did I scare you?" she taunted.
"Never." He crossed his arms.
Before they could say anything more, Reid accelerated the Hummer, and they were flying through the woods. Moments later they heard the familiar sound of sirens behind them.
"Shit man," Caleb said, "you should just pull over."
"Do we really have to go through this again?" Reid asked, looking into the rear-view mirror at Caleb.
"Alright boys, you know the drill," Pogue said, rubbing his hands together.
"You're gonna love this," Reid said to Vanessa.
He quickly looked at the other guys. "Alright - this is gonna take all of us."
Vanessa looked ahead. All she could see was the end of the cliffs, and the cops were gaining on them.
"Umm, guys ..." she started, feeling her stomach flip looking into the endless night.
She didn't have time to continue. The next thing she knew, the car was flying over the cliffs.
"Harry Potter can kiss my ass!!!" Reid screamed in excitement.
Vanessa heard the excited screams coming from all the guys. At first she closed her eyes then realized that they were floating. Weird. She opened them and a grin suppressed her face.
Before she knew what was happening, the car landed back on the ground, behind the cops, who were standing outside their car looking over the cliffs. The two officers gave them a strange look, and Reid drove off quickly, escaping them.
"That was... incredible!" Vanessa exclaimed, feeling her adrenaline rushing from the excitement of it all.
"I know," Reid said, taking her hand. "It's even better when using."
The other guys nodded in agreement.
Vanessa nodded and they started to drive back to the dorm. "So, do Sarah and Kate know?" she asked.
"Sarah knows," Caleb piped in, "but Kate doesn't. Yet." He looked over at Pogue. There hadn't really been a reason to tell Kate about their powers.
"Oh," Vanessa said.
"Why?" Caleb asked.
"Just wondering. I think Sarah thinks that I know. But she hasn't said anything because she wasn't 100 percent sure."
"And how do you know this?" Pogue questioned her.
Vanessa bit her lip. The only way to fully explain this was to tell them that she had read Sarah's mind. "It was pretty obvious."
The guys just nodded their heads and decided to drop the subject.
It was silent for a while and Vanessa was getting bored. She held her right hand out in front of her. On her thumb and ring finger were silver rings. Vanessa made a very small force field in her hand and started to play with it.
"What are you doing?" Reid asked.
Vanessa snapped out of it and it disappeared. "What?" She asked.
"That thing that you were making."
"Oh, nothing." Vanessa shrugged.
"Make it again," Reid urged her.
She was caught by a bit of surprise. Reid had never seen her force field except for that one night with the car crash. "Oh-okay," Vanessa mumbled.
She held out her hand again and created the small force field.
"What the hell?" Tyler asked leaning forward.
All of the guys noticed the small glow in Vanessa's hand and focused their attention on it.
"What is that?" Caleb asked.
Vanessa rolled her eyes, but made sure no one saw her. "Force field. Obviously."