I'd like to thank pupgirl123, LRW, AllAmericanSlurp, humanusscriptor, and ShyMusic for the nice reviews! I really appreciate it guys!
Okay, few notes about this chapter and in general:
First, this chapter holds the record of being the longest chapter I've ever written - 9000+ words in total. I thought about splitting it, but everything just comes together as the second stage in what's happening so I didn't. It's going to be a long reading!
Second, let's imagine that the Bionic Academy is on an actual island, okay?
Lastly, in case you wonder later on (MUCH later on), it's "Thinking Out Loud" by Ed Sheeran. ;)
Please enjoy this next chapter!
ii.
The weekend, for him, was a busy one, so he didn't see her in those two days. His grandparents claimed ownership of him the entire Saturday. He had to mow their lawn for them, and he had to help his grandfather with his newly set-up vegetable garden. At lunch, they took him out to eat then spoiled him a little afterwards by taking him on a shopping spree.
He enjoyed being with them as it had been quite a while since the three of them had time alone together.
A good part of Sunday was filled with more chores for them before they returned him to his family.
They gave him money before they parted ways. How much they handed him is definitely not something a teenager would frown upon, but he was too tired to even mentally spend it. When he got to his room, he pretty much just cleared out his weekend bag (a habit that he's recently developed from having gone on quite a few missions), deposited the money on a safe place, and then crashed on his bed and slept like a log until this morning when it was time for him to get ready for another day at the Academy.
He's still a little sore, honestly, and he's really feeling it now as he sits at the lunch table, by himself, with the soft seats teasing him of comfort he longs to get back to after the day is done. He stares at the lunch he chose—grilled ham and cheese sandwich, with a Fuji apple on the side—and dreams of sleeping. Despite the noise and activity going on around him, he slowly fails to stay awake.
He only snaps out of it when someone takes a seat beside him and he gets a whiff of a sweet mango scent.
She smiles at him when he turns towards her. "Hey," she greets him before fixing the utensils and the plate on her tray.
He looks at her in a half daze because his brain and his mouth have yet to come to accord. He soon takes notice of her group slowly bypassing his table while darting their sister puzzled glances. "They're looking," he tells her quietly, catching the eye of one of the girls.
"Of course they'll look. I just left them," she says distractedly as she mentally puts in order which food she's going to eat first. "So how was your weekend?"
He scans the room and sees three separate tables, each manned by his siblings, crowded with different students. "You're not going to take advantage of the Eat Lunch with a Mentor program going on right now?" he asks.
"They invited us to come if we have any questions. I don't have any questions," she says. She tries again, "So. Your weekend?"
He's more lost than earlier (or just lost, period, because he's still not sure about this alliance thing with her), but having been acquainted with how she generally operates, he just answers her. "Exhausting. Did tons of stuff for my grandparents. Yours?"
She shrugs after taking a hearty sip of her water. "Oh, same old things. We all hung out by the beach. Adam taught us how to build sandcastles. They even had a competition yesterday on who can build the best one without using bionics. Bob and Donald III won, so next weekend Mr. Davenport is going to take them to get ice cream on the mainland." Her brows wrinkle when she remembers what he said. "Grandparents?"
He nods. "My mom's parents," he supplies.
"Is that what grandparents do? Make you do things for them?"
"Yeah, most of the time, but you do it because they ask you and you want to help," he says. "It's been a while since I helped them out with anything, so that's what I did when I came over. Grandparents spoil you, too. In fact…" He swivels his feet from under the table and then pulls up the hem of his pants to reveal his new shoes. "They bought me this."
She marvels at the black, white and blue pair with a wide smile. "Wow. Nice kicks."
He grins as he spins his feet back towards the table. "Thanks."
She frowns a little as she works to unwrap her sandwich. "I wish I had grandparents to go to the weekend to and would buy me shoes," she says contemplatively. She tips her toes from underneath her. "I really like the ones that Mr. Davenport gave us, but it'd be nice to have one with colors like yours."
He feels bad for unintentionally making her feel incomplete. To defend himself from the guilt, he quickly thinks of something to make up for what he did. Immediately, he remembers the two pairs of unused (and fairly expensive) gym shoes that his aunt Janice had sitting in her old room. Maybe he can try to convince her to give that to him, give her a call when he comes back to the quarters later.
"Did you finish listening to all the songs?" she asks.
He nods. "Yeah."
"The playlist was good, right?"
He nods with a grin. "Oh, yeah."
"I'm glad to hear. Now you owe me a playlist," she says.
"Okay. I have to warn you, though. I have a killer music library at home, so whatever I build is going to be mind-blowing," he says with a smug grin.
"Oh, really," she challenges.
"Really."
"Okay. I'm going to keep that in mind," she says. "Bree's asked the girls to help out on the Big Something that they're going to announce this Friday. If music is involved in it in some kind of way, I'm going to volunteer and have you help me with it."
He decides to pick up his own food then take a small bite out of it.
"Any idea what it is?"
"No," he says then chews. After finishing, he says, "They never tell me anything. I mean, I guess I can draw it out of them, but if it's a big surprise, I won't be allowed to tell anyways."
"Yeah, you probably shouldn't. Believe it or not, most of us here like surprises. It keeps things interesting."
He dusts himself off the crumbs that had fallen off on his shirt when an uncomfortable feeling beckons him to look around the cafeteria. When he does, he sees a number of girls looking at him and Amaranth. He spots two girls sitting at the outskirts of Chase's table whispering to one another, stealing a glance at him, and then giggling among themselves.
He frowns back on his lunch and wonders what it is this time.
"You ready for the first quarter assessment? It's in about three weeks," Amaranth asks him.
"Oh. Yeah, that?" he asks, shaking off the thought of those girls. "No. No. I feel like it's gym all over again."
"What do you mean?"
He breaks off another piece of grilled cheese unenthusiastically. "I'm gonna get graded for the things I can't do," he says. "Anyways, what about you?"
She shrugs – an apt and concise response.
"You know, I don't think I've seen you use your bionics."
She smirks. "Be glad."
"Oh, come on. They can't be that bad," he goads.
"Enhanced senses, invisibility, geo-leaping. Main one is sound manipulation," she lists half-heartedly.
"Oh, cool! Like Bree's?"
"No, not like Bree's. Bree can imitate sounds. I can, too, but – the ones I make are high-frequency."
"Like, how high?" he asks.
She takes a bite out of her sandwich. "Made Mr. Davenport and Chase faint at the first assessment," she answers.
His jaw drops. "What."
"It's true."
"So, is that why – "
"I wasn't talking much during the first weeks of school? Yes."
"Honestly?"
She nods.
He scoffs in disbelief, shaking his head. "Wow."
"I have a much better handle on it now, though," she adds. "Mr. Davenport has been teaching me how to control it, especially because he said it could hurt somebody if I'm not careful. He's using music to get me to understand scales and things like that."
"Scales?"
"Different ones have different effects. Last week, I discovered that I can cause panic attacks with a high G."
His eyes widen. "Um…"
She rolls her eyes. "Oh, come on. Like you can't hurt everyone here with your energy transference."
He thinks about it and gets intrigued by the idea. "Huh. That never occurred to me," he says.
"If only you stopped focusing on what you don't have and started concentrating on what you do have, you could have been at Advanced level by now," she points out.
"Oh, please. Like that would have happened."
"No, look, you're at Intermediate already. If you concentrate and work harder, you're not too far off from getting bumped up a level."
He eyes her thoughtfully. "You think so?"
Her brows rise.
"Hmm..."
"It could happen sooner if you have someone to train with."
He contemplates on it. "That – that's not a bad idea," he says.
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. In fact, I think I know just the person." He looks at her excitedly as a plan formulates in his mind.
She smiles back.
He pulls out his phone from his pocket and dials Douglas' number. "Thanks for the suggestion, Amaranth. You're the best." He gives her a pat on the hand and then walks off, unknowingly leaving her to stare in confusion as he vanishes to the empty Training Center because he completely missed the hint.
He spends the rest of the week in a different state of mind. While the other students occupy themselves with theorizing what the Big Something will be (a hype that increases in intensity the more his siblings talk about it to their mentees), he busies himself with trainings.
He doesn't start off very determined, but Amaranth keeps reminding him and motivating him into working hard for those orange patches. She asks about it every time they are together, which is quite frequent now. She even strikes a deal with him: instead of wasting their time at the cafeteria getting stared at by the others, they can just train together and help each other to level up.
It sounds a little too much to him at first, but after someone slings a smack talk towards him at an afternoon class, he tells her he's game.
And so that's how his days go: classes and trainings in the morning, lunch and training at noon, and then snack, homework and more training at night. His schedule, filled with the Bionic Academy, Amaranth and Douglas, tires him into a very heavy sleep, but he's hopeful.
He thinks it's a stretch, cramping three months-worth of work in fourteen and some days, but he's hopeful.
"It's on fire."
Leo swiftly dodges when Amaranth swings towards him, the blazing marshmallow at the end of the stick in her hands nearly hitting him on the face.
She angles her head in curiosity. "How long do I have to wait for it to cook?" she asks.
"Uh, that is beyond cooked," he says. He holds out the s'more he has just finished making towards her and switches it for what she's holding onto. "Here. I'll take that," he says, and then puts the puffy, sugary comet out of its misery by extinguishing its flames.
Meanwhile, she wordlessly watches the whole process in mild interest.
As scheduled, everyone involved in the Academy—with the exclusion of his stepfather—are spending their Friday night out by the beach, relaxing in front of a campfire. Chase is currently holding a mini-music session nearby, surrounded by a number of girls who are secretly pining away through every song he plays and some guys who are just interested in learning how to play a guitar. Bree, on the other hand, is introducing Caitlin to a few of her students. Adam, meanwhile, is exchanging funny stories with a very small group. There are a few who are playing human tic-tac-toe near the waters. If their laughter is any indication, it sounds like they're having fun.
He, on the other hand, has decided to introduce Amaranth to a campfire classic: s'mores. It started off as something that's just between the two of them, the reason being that he's only snuck in enough graham crackers, marshmallows and chocolate bars for very few sandwiches, but Spin, Bob, and two others—twins Miller and Miles—seemed to have picked up on the sweet scent and thus forced themselves into being in on the stash that he carefully kept out of sight.
As a result, he's ended up with a class of five students, all of whom are eagerly awaiting to taste their finished product.
"Okay. So now, you use the graham…cracker…chocolate sandwich thing to pull the marshmallow off. Then, you eat," he instructs.
He watches each of them take their first bite.
Miller and Amaranth look intrigued.
Miles looks disturbed. (He doesn't blame her; Miller stole her perfectly good marshmallow and exchanged it with his charred one.)
Spin and Bob look…worrisome. He can tell from the way their eyes lit up and how they keep gobbling their sandwiches that he has sent them on a fast track to a potent sugar rush.
"Verdict?" he asks anyways.
"Best. Ever," Bob says.
"Yeah. How come we don't have any of these for lunch?" Spin says.
"Because if we do, it'll probably have half of the student body crawling up the walls," he says.
Miller laughs. "Crawling? We'll be running up with these," he corrects.
"Mm, yeah. It's a bit too sweet. I think I need some water," Miles says. She stands up. "Miller, you want to come with?"
"Ooh. Yeah." Miller scarfs down the remaining half of his s'more then stands up.
While her twin brother is dusting the sand off his shorts, she tells her youngest brothers, "Okay, you two. Up. I think you guys need water, too."
"No, thanks. We're good," Spin says, eyes concentrated on his sandwich as he figures out his next approach.
"No, you're not good. You and Bob will be keeping everybody up if you don't get these washed out of your systems." When they refuse to stand up, Miles grabs Spin by the arm and pulls him up, Miller doing the same with Bob. "Come on, dweebs. Water. Now."
The twins turn to drag the boys away, both of whom have started protesting. Before they leave, though, Miles shoots a conspiratorial smile at her younger sister.
Miller rolls his eyes.
Amaranth tries not to laugh.
Leo just flat out remains clueless of the quiet but charged conversation because he's too busy cleaning up the small mess his group created. By the time he finishes, the four are gone, and Amaranth seems to be contemplating on another roasted marshmallow. "You never said if you liked it or not," he prompts as he sits back down with her.
"It's pretty good. Not something I would eat every day, but maybe when I'm upset," she says.
He nods.
"How's the training going so far?" she asks.
He grins and quietly answers, "Great. I feel like I have enough tricks up my sleeves to actually get to Advanced level. Douglas and I discovered earlier that I can combine two abilities and make a powerful impact."
"You can do that?"
"Apparently I can," he says; he still can't believe it himself. He scoots next to her in excitement, and for a second it almost seems like she blushed. But knowing that it's probably just the glow of the campfire shining on her face, and knowing that she doesn't have any reason to, he says, "Oh, it was so awesome! I wish I can show you how it works, but Douglas told me I can't do it here because it can damage the whole island. I have to wait until tomorrow to practice it again."
"Wait, tomorrow? So that means you're not going to be here this weekend?"
"No, sorry. It's kind of crunch time now, Ames. Plus, my aunt Janice is going to stay with us for about two weeks, so I'll probably spend my after school hours at the mainland." He frowns. "Why? Do you need help with training? 'Cause you know, I can ask Douglas for you. He'll be happy to get to train two kids instead of one."
She pouts thoughtfully – and cutely, if he's to be completely honest. "Tempting, but that's not really what bothers me." She wrinkles her brows at him. "And 'Ames'? What's that?"
"Amaranth. Amy, Ames. Just a nickname," he says. He grins. "No good?"
She mulls over it. "Not bad."
However, he senses that she's not as happy about it as she says, so he offers, "Maybe we should stay with Amaranth."
"Sure," she says nonchalantly as she reaches for a marshmallow. He knows, though, that she favors the decision.
They lapse into silence for a while. He's in the middle of watching his siblings and Caitlin whisper among themselves at the other side of the campfire when Amaranth talks again. "What do guys like in girls?"
His attention snaps back to her. "What do you mean?"
She hitches a shoulder and continues to draw lines on the sand with a shell fragment she found earlier. She responds, "Like, what would a guy find likeable in a girl?"
"Why?"
"I just want to know."
He's staring at her, watching her reactions closely in bewilderment because he doesn't understand why she asked all of a sudden. He only gets his answer when she looks up and around briefly, and he traces the direction of her first glance near the general spot where Adam is. He smirks; he knew it. He plays it off, though, that he didn't notice. "It depends on the guy. Is he a jerk, or is he nice?"
A small smile appears on her face. "He can be both sometimes," she says.
Mm. "Generally, though, what would you say he is?"
She looks at him, her eyes bright. "He's a good guy."
"Okay. Well, good guys, like, oh, I don't know – Adam? Guys like that are attracted to nice girls," he says. He knows he might be pushing the envelope by being so outright about her crush, but he has spent enough time with her to know that she won't admit to anything.
He secretly hopes that she will soon, though, because he's only going to be too happy to help. She's a nice girl, with many great qualities, and he seriously thinks his brother will like her.
She appears to hesitate for a moment. Then, "Well, what about you, personally? I mean, what would, you know, you like in a girl?"
He thinks about it. "I like a girl who's nice, too," he says. "A girl who cares about other people, like really care about them, is attractive in my opinion, because you don't find many girls like that anymore. That's just beautiful, you know? And if she's also smart – and by that, I don't mean a genius. Just, she can make good choices? And if she's funny, too?" He sighs happily. "Man. I'll definitely fall in love with her."
She stares at him blankly for a while, processing the information he just relayed.
He stares at her, too, but with an embarrassed grin, because he probably overloaded her with knowledge that she may not have wanted.
"What about looks?" she asks later.
He nods and says, "She has to look like Zoe Saldana. Like, exactly like her."
She looks confused. She also looks something else, but what it is doesn't come across clearly.
He laughs. "I'm joking, I'm joking!" he declares. He lightly nudges her. "Come on, Amaranth. Don't be so serious. We're supposed to be relaxing, remember?"
She blinks – and still doesn't get that it should be funny.
"I'm really kidding. She doesn't have to look like her." Then, he adds thoughtfully, "I have a thing for eyes, though. I guess it's because it's the first thing I see." He sighs quickly and tries not to think of Janelle at that moment. "Anyways, enough about me. What about you? Do you like tall, funny guys with great hair?"
She smiles to herself and says nothing.
Their conversation is terminated by the sound of a whistle. "Ladies, gentlemen, can we please have you gather around? We're to make an important announcement," Chase says. After everybody comes near and is listening, he continues, "As you guys probably remember, we mentioned some days ago about a big event that will be happening at the Academy. Well, tonight, you'll finally find out what it is."
As it turns out, his siblings and his stepfather had all put their heads together and came up with the best social event they can expose the students to: prom. It's not going to be very big, they say, but they're going to make sure that it's exciting enough. The students will still be limited to the island, seeing that other people are still not as accepting of the bionic teens after events of months ago, but there will be some others coming over to help out. Like Caitlin, the visitors will be old friends from Mission Creek High, ones that his brothers and sister trust to be decent influences to the students and who wouldn't stir up trouble.
His siblings explain that since there are not enough people from the outside whom the students can take as their dates (the idea of a 'date' seems to have been the crowd pleaser of the night), the students can go together as groups. Nothing wrong with it, Bree and Chase say.
That is, until Adam cracks a joke about looking back on their first prom night pictures years down the line and seeing that their first dates had been their siblings.
It's game over after that.
After they finish the announcement, Adam, Bree, Chase and Caitlin get almost instantaneously swarmed by different students, all varying in their approaches of asking each of them out. Adam, though he didn't intend to cause the frenzy, seems to like the results. Bree appears to have developed a migraine caused by the discomfort of being approached by that many guys. Chase seems to think that the girls crowding him just had questions they wanted to ask , which, for the sake of argument, they do.
Caitlin is just giggling, extremely and undeniably pleasantly surprised to see that guys are actually lining up for a date with her.
Leo groans, burying his face in his palm as he shakes his head.
Asking out a girl after having just ended a semi-maybe-probably-not relationship with one. And he has to pick one from a group who probably would rather go with a sibling than go with him.
All of this in a course of two weeks.
His family must really dislike him.
You owe me a dance playlist, sir..
Leo chuckles when he reads the message. On it, ma'am, he texts back. He pockets his phone afterwards, locking his phone and cuing the music that was playing to continue. He adjusts his earphones, and then resumes his work of finishing up the centerpieces for prom that his mother and his aunt decided to prematurely start on.
The Davenport household is bustling with various activities that Sunday afternoon. At the kitchen, his stepfather and Adam are checking on the mac and cheese that his mother has cooking to see if it's done. By the counter, his mother, Bree and Chase are conversing about prom plans, though his brother is not as involved in the chat. He's currently busy investigating what's inside his 'goody bag,' which each of them received from their visiting aunt last night and is filled with things she bought for them from Vermont.
Outside, by the grill, are Douglas and his Aunt Janice. They've been laughing and flirting for the past hour. Honestly, with how fast they clicked with each other, he wouldn't be surprised if their relationship develops into something more.
Meanwhile, he's sitting by the dinner table, trying not to make too much mess in the small project he's been given in case his grandparents arrive. They're on their way, and the last thing he wants is to have to clean up the table while everybody waits for him.
"Leo."
He looks about and soon finds his mother and his sister looking at him. He unplugs his earphones and says, "Huh?"
"Your opinion?" Bree asks impatiently.
"My opinion?"
His mother exchanges glances with her daughter. She clarifies, "On prom, sweetheart. I just wanted to know what you think of it." She smiles hopefully. "Are you excited?"
He thinks about it as he finishes a centerpiece. "No," he says.
"What? Why?"
He doesn't tell her the full truth. Instead, he just says, "Just not feeling it."
His mother looks at him with concern.
Bree presses, "What do you mean you're not feeling it?"
He shrugs and left it at that.
"Don't you have friends you want to go with?" his mother asks.
Adam scoffs. "Friends? What friends?" he says as he comes around the counter.
Everyone shoots a look at him, the most notable of all being the horrified one that his father is darting at him.
Their mother looks appalled. She swivels towards her husband. "Donald? I thought you told me he has a lot of friends?"
"He does! You know. Adam, Bree and Chase. That's three. That's a lot."
It doesn't make it better. It only seems to burrow his father deeper into trouble.
Before that happens, Bree intervenes. She softly clears her throat before saying, "And, uh, Amaranth."
She catches their mother's attention. "Amaranth?"
Their father frowns. "Is that the girl with the sound manipulation?"
"Oh, she's that cute blonde!" Adam says.
"Yes and yes," Bree answers brightly. She turns to her youngest brother and suggests, "Since you guys hang out all the time at school anyways, why don't you hang out with her at prom?"
He feels uncomfortable when the rest of his family looks at him expectantly. "Ah…because…she has DJ duties?" he says. He sits up. "She volunteered, remember?"
"Oh. She did?"
"Well, maybe we can get someone else to do it," Chase proposes. He and Bree shoot a glance at each other before he says, "Can't we do that, Mr. Davenport? Get someone to do it? So that all the students will have a chance to enjoy prom?"
Their father's brows wrinkle, not quite understanding what his son's cluing him into.
Chase continues looking at him.
It takes a while before their father understands. When he does, his eyes widen in shock, as if asking his son 'Really?'
Chase nods minutely.
They break, and soon their father is grinning suspiciously at his youngest child.
Leo draws back a little, eyeing him with a frown. He doesn't know what's happening, but he's absolute that his family's acting weirdly. "That's not necessary, Big D," he says slowly. "Amaranth's wanted to do this, and knowing her she won't give up the DJ booth for a dance with anybody."
"I won't be too sure about that," Bree singsongs as she walks to the kitchen.
Leo doesn't hear her over the loud beeping from the oven. "What'd you say, Bree?" he asks.
"Baby, why don't you head outside and see if Douglas and Aunt Janice need help?" his mother says. "I'll put away the centerpieces for you."
"Okay." He abandons the table and heads outside obediently. He knows that it's not going to sit well with Douglas, him joining them out there and becoming a third wheel, but he kind of needs the change in surroundings, especially when his family is being suddenly strange.
Unknown to him, his family wanted him to have a change of surroundings, too. They need him to be away for a moment, especially Bree and Chase, so that they can openly talk about the glaringly obvious fact that he had been failing to read for weeks now.
He works harder for the next few days with training that he nearly forgets about prom night.
His bionics are definitely getting better, and the results that his trainings with Amaranth and Douglas produce make him all the more excited for the assessment next Friday. He can almost see himself walking around school two Mondays from now, sporting those deep orange patches on his shoulders.
Thoughts like that help a lot whenever he's extremely tired, like at this moment. After having fired fifty straight shots at a target, he's collapsed to the floor and is currently sprawled out at the empty Training Center. His arm feels like it's ready to pop off, and his lungs are laboring to catch up from the work out. He doesn't know if he'll manage to stay awake for his afternoon classes, but he's certainly going to try.
"A few of my siblings are going to have a prom practice session later on. Would you like to come?"
He peels his eyes open then turns his head towards Amaranth, who's currently holed away at one of the benches by the wall, her tablet on her lap, headphones around her neck. "A practice session for prom?" he repeats.
"After Crimson and a few others got their dates from the guests, they thought it's a good idea to practice so they won't embarrass themselves when they attempt to dance," she tells him.
"Oh."
"So, are you coming?"
"Well, I'm already awesome when it comes to dancing, so I don't see the need of practicing. But – " he sits up, "if you're going, I'll go."
"Okay. I'm only going to be there to do music anyways. Maybe we can work on compiling the songs while they're doing whatever they're planning on doing," she says absentmindedly as she scrolls through the list on her tablet.
He frowns. "Wait, wait. You're not going to join them?"
She shakes her head.
"Why not?"
She makes a disinterested face.
"What about prom? You're going to dance, right?"
"Dancing's not really my thing."
He reels back, surprised. "What? Okay, something must have been wrong with my ears, because I'm sure I didn't just hear you say that dancing is not your thing."
"Nope. You heard me perfectly clear."
He gapes at her. He then stands up. "Okay, Amaranth. Come on. Let's go."
"Let's go where?" she asks.
He waves her over, "Here. We're going to dance."
"Dance? Right now?"
He laughs, "Yeah, right now."
"Why?"
"Because I don't believe that you don't like dancing," he says. When he sees that she's not going to move, he rolls his eyes, rushes over to her, grabs her hand, and then leads her to the middle of the Training Center. Facing her, he says, "Okay, first things first: what do you think of slow dances?"
"It's slow," she deadpans.
His head bows low as he whines. "Amaranth… You're killing me here!"
She laughs at his reaction. "How else did you want me to describe it? It is slow!" she says. "The dance is just a variation of a one-two step or a one-two-three step."
"Why didn't you just go with that?"
She grins cheekily. "Because it wouldn't have annoyed you as much," she says.
He darts an unimpressed look at her. "You know, I'm trying to help you be ahead of your siblings here."
She chuckles. "Okay, okay. Go ahead," she prompts.
He sulks for another minute before continuing. "You start off. Show me how it goes," he says.
She looks at him unsurely for a while. Then, she begins swaying from foot to foot, from side to side, a particular song playing in her mind.
He smiles. "Alright. You got it," he says and then begins swaying along with her. He pulls out his phone and chooses a song with a faster pace to play. When it begins, he begins rocking to the tune and says, "Okay, how about this?"
She slows down to a stop as she watches him.
"Come on, Amaranth. I know you can keep up," he teases as he keeps on.
She crosses her arms and smirks. "So this is the awesome dancing you're bragging about?" she teases back. "Your moves are average."
He stops then gapes. She did not just say that. "Oh, average, is it?" he says. He maxes out the volume of the song before he begins dancing to the beat, holding nothing back.
Amaranth shakes her head with a huge grin as he moves about.
When the song hits the chorus again, he stops. He walks back towards her, breathless again, and says, "So. You still think that's average?"
The disbelieving yet bright expression remains on her face as she regards him. She's about to answer him when she notices something behind him. She looks at it and then back at him.
He turns around to see what it is that caught her attention.
The humiliation he felt after seeing several girls and a number of guys watching him keep him awake the rest of the afternoon. He's left constantly thinking of creative ways to hide from them in shame, especially whenever they dart him those looks, but because of the classes he can't. It's only a huge relief after school to be able to sneak back to the quarters and be away before the jokes begin.
But, it doesn't come.
In fact, he seems to have misunderstood the glances he's been receiving from the girls. By the time he's finished getting ready for the practice session (he doesn't want to go anymore, but he's already given Amaranth his word), three text messages from three different girls are sitting on his phone, all questions whether he already has someone to take to prom or not.
It takes three more days for him to realize that he enjoys spending time with her.
With permission from his stepfather, Amaranth was able to leave the Academy that weekend to stay with the rest of his family. It was expedient that way; at least she didn't have to go back and forth, even if it's easy because of one of her abilities. They had scheduled a weekend-long training session with Douglas to really lock down their chances of getting placed into a higher level. He had also planned to take her to an amusement park Sunday night as a thank you for all the help she's given him.
Honestly, it's been a long time since he had that much fun. It reminded him of the first time he went to the Boardwalk with his siblings. Amaranth took in everything with a wide-eyed wonder, and everything was so exciting to her. She was a perfect mess of happiness, and he couldn't help but melt into it. Watching her try to contain her squeals whenever she won a prize and listening to her babble as she drags him to hundreds of different directions all at once made him laugh.
The highlight of it all, though, was when they decided to try out the amusement parks' photo booth and she had to wrestle with the gigantic stuffed panda he won for her just so the three of them could be in the pictures. The frustration and determination on her face was priceless, and the photographs they received as souvenirs afterwards made it all worthwhile.
As he lies down on his bed tonight, staring at the stark white ceiling in his room at the quarters, he feels a measure of guilt weigh down on him. He feels somewhat bad, thinking about her this way. They're supposed to be friends, and friends can't maybe-probably like their friends. It's just not right. They're not allowed to think about how pretty they looked while they were watching the fireworks Sunday night or how they're really good at making them laugh. Friends like him are not allowed to do that, right? He needs to learn his place.
Plus, she likes Adam. He knows that that's been the case since the beginning. He's only there to help her out in exchange of her helping him out. Fair deal.
He thinks that maybe this is normal. He probably doesn't even like her the way he thinks he does. More than likely, he just appreciates the nice things about her. Nothing wrong with thinking that a girl is pretty, right? It's just a general observation. And there's definitely nothing wrong with being drawn to a person who makes you happy. That's why they're friends, after all.
Yeah, he decides. That's it. He likes spending time with her because they're really good friends – and there is nothing wrong with that.
His stomach contorts into painful knots Friday afternoon.
As he waits with the rest of the students for their turn at the assessment, he can't help but be nervous. What if, despite all of those weeks of hard work, he retains his place at Intermediate level? What if his bionics glitch? What if he does too much and succeed in sinking the Academy this time? What is he going to do?
Even if there are no outward show of his anxiety, Amaranth picks up on it through his silence. "My sisters really enjoy Peter the Panda's company," she states, not taking her eyes away from the sound mix she's editing on her tablet.
"Huh? Oh. Oh, yeah?"
"Yeah. The ladies love him."
He smiles. "That's good. Hopefully the popularity won't go to his head."
"It won't. His head is already full of something else."
He chuckles. "Good one," he says. Later, he says casually, "You've talked to Big D about the DJ booth?"
She lifts her eyes up at him. "Yeah, but I've only managed to convince him to let me do it for half of the night. He said I have to spend the other half being with everyone else."
"Poor you, having to mingle with the rest of us 'everyone else,'" he jokes. "Who are you going with?"
She stares at him like he's just spoken to her in a different language. "Um, you? I thought that's been our plan from the beginning?"
Now he's the one staring at her like she's just replied to him in a different language. He stammers, "I'm – I'm sorry?"
"Le-o!" Adam calls him from the entrance of the Training Center. He grins mischievously. "Your turn."
He glances at his brother then looks back at her, still wanting to know when this supposed planning of them going together took place.
Instead of answering him, she just smiles. "Show time," she says.
He blinks then goes albeit hesitatingly, because he knows his stepfather and Chase are waiting for him.
He enters the Training Center more confused than ever, though.
He's also tremendously nervous – and it's not because of the assessment this time.
He searches for her after they finish but doesn't find her. He looks around, asks others, but she's nowhere to be seen. After an hour of no results, he decides to just leave it alone. They're going together, end of story.
Before he leaves for the quarters, he sneaks into the girls' dormitories with Miles' help. He deposits a box into the compartment where Amaranth stores her belongings then quickly departs.
The note attached to it reads, Shoes, with lots of colors! I think they're your size. Hope you like them. Thanks for the help with the training! Underneath his name, he adds, P.S – I'll come by at 6:30 to help you set up the booth.
He's a nervous wreck the following night.
He feels silly about it and tries hard to calm himself down, but it doesn't work. He doesn't know why the thought of being with her build up that much nerve in him. We're friends, okay? We're friends, he keeps telling himself, but it fails almost every time.
Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to have a friend that's a girl after all.
But Miles is sort of your friend, too. You don't feel that way about her.
He sighs. He tries not to show the conflict percolating in his head, especially since his family is in the quarters with him. Almost all of them are making their last minute preparations for the dance. Bree, in a stunning red evening gown, and his stepfather are helping Chase fix the stubborn cuff links on his sleeves. His aunt Janice is adjusting Douglas' tie (he's pretty sure they're dating now).
His mother, meanwhile, is also helping him fix his necktie. When she finishes, she smoothes out the lapel on his tuxedo and smiles. "You look so handsome, baby," she says.
He smiles back. "You look great, too, Mom," he says.
"Thanks," she says. She turns around and then picks up two long-stemmed white roses from the couch. "Now, I know you're flying solo tonight, but maybe you can give this to one of the girls."
He takes it from his mother and thinks about how beautiful the flowers are. "Thanks, Mom," he says. He then kisses her on the cheek. "See you later."
"Wait. Where are you going?" she calls after him as he rushes to the hydroloop.
"I just need to make a stop somewhere," he yells before the doors close.
It doesn't take long for the transportation system to spit him out at the dormitories. The hall is filled with clusters of girls, some taking pictures, some introducing their dates to their sisters. There are a few here and there who are having small conversations and who are assisting each other with their hairs and outfits, but he doesn't find her among them. He continues on until he reaches the empty area where the entrance to her capsule dorm is. He knocks, just to make sure he's not walking in on something he shouldn't be walking into. When no one responds, he cautiously enters.
"Amaranth?" he calls out quietly as the door hisses close behind him. "Amaranth, I'm here."
"Just a sec."
He waits for a bit and looks around. He counts how many capsules are in that room and finds ten. Ten girls in one room. He wonders how that works. At the quarters, with just him, Adam, Bree and Chase, mornings almost always end in a catastrophe. He can't even imagine adding six more people in the mix.
The stuffed panda sitting at the corner catches his eyes. It's slumped on a makeshift chair and is now sporting a fedora hat. It looks a little worn out, but it looks very much loved, more than how it looked when it was hanging at that game booth, clothespins holding him in place.
"Hi."
He swivels around – and his breath gets taken out of him.
She's standing by the entryway leading to what he supposes are the restrooms. Though she's smiling, she looks a little uncomfortable. He doesn't know why. With her peach lace ball gown, braided hair cascading in curls to one side, and smoky blue eyes – "You look… Wow."
She laughs bashfully. "Thanks," she says. "You know what's the best part of this outfit?"
He shakes his head.
She lifts the skirt of her gown a little to reveal her shoes.
"Oh! It fits you!"
"Yeah," she says, wiggling her toes inside the multi-colored sneakers. She looks up at him with an appreciative smile. "Thanks for these, Leo. I love them."
He nods. "Well, I'm glad you do. I owe you a lot," he says. Soon, the flowers in his hand demand his attention. "Oh! I almost forgot." He comes over to her and hands out the roses. "These are for you."
She takes it from him with a soft smile.
He scratches his head. "I don't know what you can do with those, though," he says, seeing now that they probably will be a nuisance for her to have to carry around all night.
She holds up her index finger. "One moment," she says, and then walks back to the entryway for the bathroom.
When she emerges later on, the roses are now skillfully tucked within her braids.
"Nice," he congratulates her with a nod. As she rejoins him, he holds out his arm. He grins then says, "Will the beautiful lady in peach care to join me?"
She laughs, locking her arm with his.
Oddly enough, seeing the way her face glows as her sisters and the guests compliment her throughout the night calms him down. Seeing her happy makes him happy, because he knows that a girl as kind and funny as her deserves moments like this. She deserves to be told that she's stunning.
She also deserves to have the best night of her life, which seemed to have come early in the form of the fully equipped DJ booth waiting for her at the area where the prom's taking place. Her childlike excitement as she rushes to it makes it tremendously difficult for him not to like her even more. She was that perfect mess of happiness again, lit like a flame at that moment by the lights above them, and he couldn't be help but be drawn to it.
Admittedly, seeing her expression brighten even more as Adam helps her out at the booth hours later is a struggle. Adam's date suddenly had to leave for some reason, so he's left pretty much bored and alone. He drifts here and there around the venue for some time until he finally finds his place with Amaranth. They've been chatting animatedly for the past half hour now, and they appear to be having a good time. He knows he should be happy for her, for his brother, because this is good.
However, he doesn't, and what makes it worse is the fact that he can't look away.
He firmly tells himself to stop it. He's acting like a petulant, possessive child. He should leave them alone and mind his own business. So that's what he does. He pries himself away and instead talks to some of their visitors, most of whom he used to have classes with back in Mission Creek High.
He doesn't really stop thinking about his brother and his friend until an old nosy classmate asks him if he and Janelle really did break up already. That seems to have done the trick because it catches him off-guard. It's been a while since he actually thought of her, much more so speak about her. He tells her that they did nonetheless, and his old classmate just replies, "Oh, okay. I thought so. I saw her and Finn Snyder holding hands yesterday. I figured you guys weren't together anymore."
Sometimes social events really have a way of making his life depressing.
He does his best to shrug it off, though. It's not his place anymore to be concerned with things like that. They've gone separate ways. She has her own life, and he has his. At this moment, at this time, his life is about this prom, and his concern should be these students and how to make this the best night ever.
He spots Miles over at the refreshment table, glaring at the punch bowl as if it had done her wrong. He grins then walks over to her. "I think you already won," he tells her.
She looks up at him, surprised. When she understands what he means, she says, "Oh, uh… I was just trying to decide if I want some more. It's really good, but I don't think it's a good idea to keep drinking when, you know."
He nods in understanding. "The bathrooms are too far away?"
She nods. "Yeah," she says. "I have to keep an eye on these punks."
His brows wrinkle. "You know, the kids from Mission Creek are not bad. I've known some of them—"
"I'm not talking about them. I'm talking about my siblings."
"Oh…" He laughs. "Is that why you're not dancing?"
She sighs. "No," she said. "My group's abandoned me. Miller's over there flirting up a storm with Caitlin's cousin, and Spin's too busy being adored by some of the visiting girls. I've danced with Bob, but after he saw Bree he's decided to follow her around. The girls are, well, having a mini-gossip session that I really don't want to be a part of, so."
"Hm, okay." He smiles. "Want to dance with me?"
She pores over it. She takes a quick glance at the DJ booth, and then says, "Yeah. Sure."
They walk over to the dance floor then dance to the sound of the beat. It's somewhat awkward at first, because he finds that Miles is not the kind of girl that initiates conversations, but after he begins asking her a few questions about her siblings, she begins talking more.
In the few minutes they're together, he learns much about her, and he thinks she learns some about him, too.
Some songs down the line, Miles states, "I overheard what that girl in green told you earlier. I'm sorry."
Instead of getting upset, he just shrugs. If she has bionic hearing, she probably didn't mean to listen in anyways. "Eh, it happens," he says loud enough for her to hear over the music.
"You know, maybe it's not such a bad thing."
"I'm sorry, what?"
"I said maybe it's not such a bad thing."
He frowns. "What do you mean?"
She smiles knowingly. "I mean, maybe there's a girl for you out there," she says.
He chuckles. "You're starting to sound like Bree, Miles," he says.
"Well, we're both older sisters. We just know things," she nods.
He smiles. "Maybe," he says later. "A girl for me, I mean. Maybe I'll meet her one day while I'm out on a mission or something."
"Or maybe you'll meet her here at the Academy."
He scoffs. "Please. I mean, your sisters are great and all, but none of them like me."
"That's not true. You kind of racked some serious points with Peter the Panda and your dance moves," she says.
His dancing slows down to a near stop. "So, you're saying that someone could potentially like me?" he asks hopefully.
She laughs, and it's the kind that lets him know that he's again missing something. "Could, only if someone hadn't called dibs on you already," she says.
He frowns as he thinks about it. Someone likes him? When did this happen? "I don't know if I should feel overjoyed or feel cheap," he muses.
She pats him on the shoulder. "I'd feel overjoyed," she says. "She's a great girl."
He looks at her with widened eyes. "So you know who it is?"
"Hey!"
He turns around and finds Amaranth smiling at them. "Hey," he greets back.
Miles smirks at them. "Thanks for the dance, Leo. It was fun. See you later."
"Oh, uh, Miles, I still – "
But she's already halfway out of the dance floor.
He's a little disappointed because he really wants to know. But Amaranth is standing behind him, waiting, so he opts to delay the questioning until a later time. He swivels towards her. "Got kicked out of the booth?" he asks.
"Kind of. I managed to convince the DJ to let me finish out, but Mr. Davenport said I can't. He said the night's almost over, and I haven't gone out here yet," she says.
He nods. "Drink?"
"Yeah."
As they make their way to the refreshment table, he realizes that it's a bit awkward between them. He doesn't know what he can talk to her about. The assessment is a topic that they've explored to death, so that's a no. Revisiting things he talked to Miles about earlier is just not a good idea because they deal with feelings, and feelings is not something he wants to discuss with her. That's a can of worms he doesn't want to open up.
So he just says, "Nice song choices," then feels like a dummy because he really could have said something more intelligent than that.
Her brows wrinkle lightly. "Thanks? You know you chose half of the songs," she says.
"Oh. Right. I knew that."
She smiles kindly. "Is there something wrong?" she asks.
"Uh, no, no. It's just – I guess I'm a little tired from the dancing and talking and walking around talking to people."
"Oh. Being a social butterfly, are we?"
"I just needed to do something to distract me" comes out of his mouth before he can filter it. What am I doing?
Her smile decreases. "Sorry I left you," she says.
Now he just feels like a flat out jerk. "No, no! Please! Don't be sorry," he says. He gives her a sincere smile. "I just want you to have a great night. Are you having a great night?"
She grins. "Kind of. The DJ booth was fantastic and all, and I had fun with Adam, but… I guess I did want to be out here and try this dancing thing," she says.
Of all the things she said, though, all he heard is that she enjoyed being with his brother. With a tight smile he says, "Why don't you invite him to dance with you? It'll be cute. You, and him. First dance. Do they have anymore cheese and crackers left?" He turns towards the spread of food behind him, frantically looking, because he's feeling hungry, not jealous.
"'It'll be cute'?" she repeats with a strained grin.
"Yeah."
She looks on in his strange behavior. She doesn't think it should be amusing, but she can't help herself from laughing. "I'm not going to dance with him," she says.
"Why?"
"Because he didn't come here with me."
He neither hears nor sees any trace of sadness in what she said, but he knows she's just trying to be positive with her situation. Although he's…hungry (he's not jealous, he's not), he truly does want her to have fun, so he's going to do what it takes for that to happen. He looks around the room and finds Adam at the opposite side of the dance floor. He takes her hand, ignores the electricity pricking his skin, and says, "We can change that."
She doesn't move when he walks and anchors him back into place.
He lightly frowns at her.
She shakes her head. "I don't want to dance with him."
He looks at her blankly. It then comes to him that she probably feels shy. Talking to Adam would not help, so he stays put. He smiles out of understanding. "Okay."
The DJ then makes an announcement, informing everybody that they have come to the last songs of the night. The students and the guests do not sound too thrilled about that. The DJ apologizes and promises to make it up to them by playing crowd favorites as the last set.
When the next song, sweet and beautiful in its acoustics, comes on, Leo asks, "Dance?"
Amaranth looks up at him then smiles. "Yes," she says.
He takes her hand and leads her to the dance floor, elated that this time, it's not to give her to another guy. He holds up their linked hands then places his other hand on her waist. After she places her other hand on his shoulder, they begin to sway with the music, their feet moving in an incredible accord.
He anticipates nervousness, just as what he felt earlier, but it doesn't come. Oddly, he feels at ease, like this is where he should be.
Slowly, as the hymn goes on, the world around them vanishes. At least to him it does. Under the light, all he can see are her eyes and her smile. It's something outlandishly addicting, the way she makes him feel. It's the same one that overcame him when he was four, when he jumped off the kitchen counter just so he could experience what it's like to fly. Looking at her, and holding her close, is like that quick moment when he was airborne: he's flying and falling at the same time.
He twirls her around and is rewarded with a soft laugh.
When she returns to him, something strikes him inwardly. His mind and his heart have conspired against him, and now the damage is complete.
He has fantastically, spectacularly, and disastrously fallen in love with her.
to be continued.