Rules 20

Tyler walked next to her as they exited the class. Samantha wasn't too sure about going anywhere near Caleb or the others. Tyler had been insistent though and, she let him talk her into it. As long as they were in public she supposed it would be ok.

Reid was watching Tyler talking to her, she seemed like she wanted to bolt. So he approached her alone.

Caleb and Pogue were at their lockers watching Tyler and Reid talk to her. They weren't sure what to make of Reid's confession. As they watched the two boys talk to her they noticed something. People seemed to walk as far away from Lasiter as they could. Caleb frowned at Reid and he looked away.

"Do you see it?" said Caleb "see what man?" said Pogue he was confused by Caleb's abrupt change of heart, concerning Lasiter. "Look at how they react to her," said Caleb Pogue watched for a second "so they've always done that," said Pogue.

"Yeah they have and one of us is to blame for it" said Caleb he looked at Pogue pointedly. Pogue frowned at his leader. "Man that still doesn't give her the right to help Chase" said Pogue

"No but it gives her a reason to and we made it easy for him to use her" said Caleb. Pogue licked his lips and looked at Caleb then back at them, and then swore. Samantha was shaking her head no to something Reid was asking. Pogue sighed he had to admit she had been an easy target.

Chase had probably turned her easily, and he didn't even need to use to do so. Samantha's own anger towards them would have been like added gasoline to fire. Just being there for her when no one else would talk to her would have been enough. Pogue sighed, "so what do we do?" said Pogue

"I think Tyler's doing it for us" said Caleb. "So we're going to talk to her now?" said Sarah. "We'll take it slow, I think she's still scared of us" said Caleb.

"Well you did corner her," said Sarah. Caleb frowned at her; he hated it when she was right. Pogue grimaced yeah they had done that, no wonder she was scared four against one wasn't good odds.

Tyler seemed to be trying to get her to go talk with them. Caleb decided to save her the trouble and walked closer. Pogue followed a few paces behind him. "No really I don't think that's such a good idea" said Samantha "what's not a good idea?" said Caleb. Reid watched him warily. He liked Samantha despite her betrayal; he wouldn't let Caleb hurt her. "I ah" said Samantha

"We asked her to sit with us at lunch" said Tyler. "Why wouldn't that be a good idea?" said Caleb "look I, I just can't I'm sorry" said Samantha. "We won't hurt you," said Pogue. "I just can't, maybe some other time," said Samantha she ducked away from Tyler and walked away. Reid watched her go with a sad look on his face.

The others couldn't really blame her for her fear. They had been trying to scare her after all. They apparently succeeded too well. They looked at each other Reid was staring at her watching her go. "What do we do now?" said Tyler.

"I don't know," said Caleb "we give her some time" said Pogue."Yeah she's still hurting guys, I'll try talking to her if you want" said Sarah.

"Hurting?" said Pogue Sarah looked at him sadly "she loved him Pogue," said Sarah. "Yeah and he used her and threw her away" said Reid. He sounded angry, and Caleb agreed with him. "Yeah but she doesn't see it that way" said Tyler.

"Then we'll do our best to make her feel accepted with us" said Caleb. "In that case I'll warn Kate," said Sarah. They separated and headed for their classes. Sarah went in search of Kate. Luckily Sarah caught her just in time. She had been about to approach Samantha.

"Hey hold on, she talked to the provost this morning" said Sarah "she what?" said Kate. Kate didn't know anything about Chase or the boy's power so Sarah had to stick to the story they had told her.

"Yeah and she also confessed to knowing that Chase dumped spiders in our room and what he did to Pogue's bike" said Sarah "what did he do to Pogue's bike?" said Kate "he cut his brakes" said Sarah. Samantha's excuses sounded more plausible than what the boys had come up with.

Kate looked pissed "did she say why?" said Kate "yeah he was kinda off and insanely jealous and protective" said Sarah. "Then why did he attack us?" said Kate "he thought you were rude, or that's what she thought he did," said Sarah

"Well I, maybe I was a little but everyone always treats her that way" said Kate. "Yeah but Chase was new and in love with her" said Sarah. "Oh crap, that explains us but what about Pogue?" said Kate

"He yelled at her when she knocked his bike over, apparently he made her cry and Chase saw it" said Sarah. Kate widened her eyes "oh, did he apologize?" said Kate "who Pogue?" said Sarah "yeah he shouldn't have made her cry it was only a dumb bike" said Kate

"No I don't think so," said Sarah "so I don't suppose we have a reason to be mad at her?" said Kate "no not really, Chase was the one who did everything, she just had bad taste in boyfriends" said Sarah. Sarah sounded sad and Kate stopped walking to look at her closely.

"She loved him didn't she?" said Kate "yeah I think so" said Sarah "do we know if he's still alive?" said Kate Sarah shook her head no, "I think he's gone" said Sarah. He's definitely dead if Samantha has his power, thought Sarah.

They had walked into the classroom. Kate spotted Samantha sitting by herself in a corner of the room. Kate sat down next to her, Sarah sat next to Kate."Hi I don't think we've been properly introduced, I'm Kate and this is Sarah," said Kate

"I know I met you at Nicky's" said Samantha. "Yes we know, why didn't you tell us you were dating Chase?" said Kate

"He didn't want me to" said Samantha "oh I see, one of those" said Kate "one of what?" said Samantha. "A user only in it for the sex honey" said Kate "oh!" said Samantha "you can do better you know" said Kate

"I don't want to, at least not right now," said Samantha. Kate looked genuinely sad and so did Sarah "oh you poor dear" said Kate Sarah just watched Kate make friends with Samantha. "That does it girls night out, we're taking you out for therapy" said Kate "therapy?" said Sarah "Ben and jerry's and mall therapy" said Kate. Samantha smiled at her; maybe she wasn't so bad after all. "Sure that sounds like fun," said Samantha.

Sarah smiled hopefully they could get her to relax near the boys.

After school let out Samantha called her dad at the urgings of her new girlfriends and asked for permission to go to the mall. He said yes, glad she was finally making friends. They rode in Sarah's car because they wouldn't all fit in Samantha's.

As Samantha sat in the back seat she wondered if this was such a good idea. It could be a trap. Samantha sighed now she was starting to think like him. She just hoped they really wanted to be her friends. She could sense that Sarah knew but the other girl didn't, about the boy's abilities.

They pulled up to the mall and got out. Samantha was glad she was short. "Man you have a small car," said Samantha "yeah I suppose it works if your short," said Sarah. She laughed "yeah but not if your really tall like" said Kate she had been about to say Chase had been. "Its ok you can say his name" said Samantha. "Sorry didn't mean to bring up old wounds," said Kate

"Its all right I'm past the burst into tears for no reason stage" said Samantha "you really loved him didn't you?" said Sarah "yeah but apparently I didn't know him that well" said Samantha