Chapter 2:
Ed flopped down on his bed. He looked over to his left and picked up his remote from his bedside table, pointing it at the television and pressing the ON button.
"-amazing quality of the-."
"-ever want to-."
"-tonight at ten-."
Flipping through the channels, Ed shifted his position on his bed. Just then, the phone rang. He looked at the clock and smiled. Only one person knew he was up at this hour and felt comfortable calling. He put the television on mute and picked up the cordless, pressing the button with the small telephone on it.
"Edwardo's Pizzeria," he said in a deep voice.
"Three large pepperoni's."
"Hey, Gaia."
"I'm bored."
"Go play chess with some late nighter."
"Zolov isn't there. Nobody else but a freak and some guy that I could beat with my eyes closed."
"Sucks."
"There aren't any muggers in the park tonight. The best I could do was a wuss with a knife."
"My deepest sympathies."
"Let's see…You're watching television."
"How'd you guess?" Ed asked, putting the TV on mute.
"I'm bored."
"You just said that. So what do you want to do?"
"I don't know. Chatting is fun."
"Fine by me. What'd you get on the calculus test?"
"This is chatting?"
"It is for me."
"65."
"Why?"
"What do you mean why?"
"You're a genius," Ed replied. "Why did you fail?"
"I did about half the test and then daydreamed about you for the rest of the period." Ed smiled. He needed a good dose of Gaia
"Well, I'm very sorry that my incredible good looks are impacting your grades." Gaia laughed. Ed smiled again. He liked it when he made her laugh.
"How's Victoria?" Gaia teased. Ed groaned.
"Ugh. Don't even get me started. I'm counting the minutes until she leaves."
"Please deposit ten cents."
"I've got to get you a cell phone."
"I don't want one," Gaia told him, slipping in another quarter. "The only thing they're good for is annoying people who are sitting in the movie theater with you."
"They're also good for calling your best friend."
"So are pay phones." Ed let silence envelop the line for a few seconds.
"So you want her?" he asked.
"Who?"
"Victoria."
"Oh, trust me, she wouldn't stand a day being my sister." Ed laughed.
"Why doesn't that surprise me?" He turned off the television after he finished flipping through all of the channels twice. "You should see her at the dinner table. You've met my mom. Can you imagine her listening to Victoria talk about fashion for twenty minutes?"
"That would be entertaining," Gaia replied. "I was just thinking of how I would look with a pink Tiffany's bag."
"That's an interesting thought. But the entertaining thing about those two is watching them try to make civilized conversation. I just sit back and watch the action. If I could change three things about my family, at least one of them would be about my sister. So what would you want your family to be like if you could program them?"
Ed suddenly stopped and there was only the nearly inaudible sound of static on the other end of the line. He suddenly realized that he wasn't just talking to one of his guy friends.
That was pretty easy to do. Gaia was just as easy to talk to as any of his other friends. Except she wasn't any of his other friends. She had such a complicated life that Ed didn't think he'd be able to fully comprehend it if she sat down and explained it to him for twenty-four hours.
Ed let out a quiet, long breath and was trying to think of what to say when Gaia finally broke the silence.
"Hey, what happened to the no questions rule?" she asked, trying to act nonchalant. Ed let out a long breath. He hated how strained her voice sounded.
"Yea. Sorry." That sounded really lame. "Well…"
"Yea, I guess I'll see you tomorrow in school." Ed cringed. He didn't want to hang up. Could they just talk for a while longer? Another few minutes? Hours?
"I guess. Bye." Gaia hung up and Ed let the phone fall onto his shoulder without hanging up, sighing.
Gaia hung the phone back on the hook, holding on to it for a few seconds before letting go. She left the phone booth and saw that the spot the mugger had been five minutes before was now empty. She smirked. Nothing better in the world than showing them they could never count on a young blonde being helpless.
Gaia spun on her heel and headed in the opposite direction, begrudgingly setting the brownstone as her destination. She allowed herself the opportunity of passing through the park once more. Very slowly.
She twirled her hair around her finger, attempting to look innocent. Not something she was good at, but all she needed to do was seem spacey. She could do it in school. Why not here?
Just then, the flutter of a shadow caught her eye. She didn't falter her rhythmic steps, only shifted her gaze slightly to the right. She was no less than shocked at what she saw.
A girl, who couldn't have been older than fifteen, was standing in the shadows of Washington Square Park. What is she, crazy? Gaia suddenly realized that the shadow she'd spotted wasn't the girl's. Oh, of course the mugger has to choose her. Ignoring how ridiculous the thought sounded, Gaia changed her course slowly toward the girl, who was leaning against a tree, studying her fingernails.
She turned out to be quite pretty, actually with sleek brown hair tied back in a ponytail, and a face that slightly resembled Paris Hilton. Perfectly innocent. So what the hell was she doing at Washington Square Park at night? Gaia quickened her steps as the mugger got within three feet of the girl. But as soon as he swung a heavy arm around her neck and tightened it, something happened that stopped Gaia right in her tracks.
The girl snapped her elbow into his solar plexus and, as he let go, spun around with startling speed, slamming her fist into his stomach. The strength she emitted was very surprising for a girl her size. She slammed her foot into his groin and jumped into the air, cracking him in the side of the head with a roundhouse kick, and dropped to the ground, landing gracefully on both feet with her hands in a defensive position. He fell to the ground, unconscious.