Bastet's Chosen
A.N.- Alright, more reviews!! Well, here's the third chapter and hopefully its up to your tastes.
The trio walked down the hallway towards their first class of the morning. Phoenix was grumbling about the latest episode of 'One Tree Hill', Naomi was listening to her ipod, and Faith was reading a book about the Civil War. Looking up from her reading, the brunette realized the three had reached their classroom.
"Do you think the guys are still angry?" Naomi asked as she pulled her earphones out.
"I don't know, but Reid reminds me so much of an early Nathan Scott," Phoenix commented. The other two blinked at their friend's words, but found giggles escaping their lips. Shaking her head, the brunette opened the door an entered the classroom. Her friends were behind her, arguing which one was hotter, Keith Urban or Chad Michael Murray. Making her way up the steps to her seat, Faith noticed each of the Sons glancing in her direction. Smiling softly, she sat in her seat without casting a glance in their direction.
"Today class, we will receive partners for a project that will count for twenty percent of your grade," Mr. Carter stated as he stepped through the door. Groans followed that announcement followed by a loud boo.
"Thank you Miss Cross," the teacher commented. Phoenix just gave him the thumbs up with an innocent smile on her lips.
"This project will be over a specific country, which I will assign, and how art has impacted it," he continued. Naomi blinked, Phoenix pouted, and Faith rolled her eyes. Why did they sign up for Art History again? Oh yes, they have to get to know the Sons. Life sucks.
"And no, you do not get to choose your partners," he answered when he noticed a hand appear in the air. Another round of groans followed by that revelation, which was led by Phoenix and Reid. Mr. Carter just sighed before grabbing a piece of paper. He waited until the room grew quiet before he continued.
"Now, here are the people that will be paired together," he started rattling off names that Faith, Phoenix, nor Naomi knew. The trio were all praying that by some great miracle that the three of them would get stuck together, or at least two of them paired together and the other with a Son or Kate.
"Faith Harper and Caleb Danvers." Faith blinked once, twice, three times before looking over to her friends. Phoenix had this look that was a mix between surprise an amusement while Naomi seemed more confused than anything. Sneaking a glance in her partner's direction, Faith noticed he was just leaning back in his seat with a calm expression on his face. He didn't seem surprises, confused, angry, or even happy that the two had got paired together.
Now this was odd.
Shaking her head, Faith turned back to her two friends. Phoenix shot Caleb a glare before looking at her friend with fake sympathy in her eyes. Naomi patted her friend's shoulder, a comforting smile on her face.
"Naomi Thorne and Reid Garwin." The comforting smile soon vanished from her lips to be replaced by an open-mouth. Faith returned the earlier gesture, a look of sympathy and remorse on her face. Phoenix narrowed her eyes at Reid, who was staring at his new partner, before turning back to Naomi.
This was even odder.
"Phoenix Cross and Pogue Parry." Phoenix stared at Mr. Carter for a few moments before slowly turning her head to stare at her partner. Pogue seemed surprise, which was a mutual feeling. Kate seemed somewhat angry and gave the blonde girl a meaningful glare, which said girl held her arms up in surrender at. Turning to Faith, Phoenix found the brunette was fighting to hold in her chuckles.
"Not funny," she hissed.
"Yes it is," the brunette replied with a smile.
Things were starting to get scary.
"Tyler Sims and Julie Thompson." Naomi turned in the direction of Julie, a girl she had met in the class yesterday morning. She was a fun-loving girl with olive skin that just seemed to glow naturally. Long, raven tresses danced down her back and curled in soft waves. She had soft, hazel eyes that seemed to hold so many secrets from the world. Julie noticed Naomi looking at her and smiled with a soft wave which the red-head returned.
"Kate Tunney and Aaron Abbott."
The world was officially ending.
Faith heard Kate make a gagging noise, but noticed Aaron held a smirk on his face. Phoenix glanced in her partner's direction and found he was glaring daggers in the other boy's direction. Naomi bit her lip, already seeing the disaster that was going to come with this partnership. Mr. Carter took no notice of the increase of tension in the air. He simply kept rattling off names. Once that was done, he named the countries the groups had to do. Once that was all done, the class only had a few minutes left before they would be dismissed. Mr. Carter decided to let the partners get together and discuss ideas they had about their country.
Phoenix sat beside Pogue, but noticed his attention was elsewhere. Looking in the direction he was, she spotted Kate looking mighty uncomfortable as Aaron sat down beside her. A growl reached the blonde's ear, causing her to turn her head sharply. Seeing it was just Pogue, she released the breath she had been holding. Casting her attention back in the direction of Kate and Aaron, Phoenix noticed that the boy was trying to get a little too touchy-feely with his partner. Thinking quickly before Pogue moved, the blonde narrowed her eyes in the direction of the two. Focusing on Aaron's chair, she jerked her head in a slight movement and watched with a smile as the boy toppled to the ground.
Laughter erupted all around them, Kate seeming to be laughing the hardest. Aaron stood up with a snarl and brushed imaginary dirt off his jacket. Phoenix just smiled and cast a glance to the boy beside her. Pogue seemed less agitated, but there was still the protective glimmer in his eyes. Looking past her partner, she found Faith and Naomi staring at her. Faith just sighed before rolling her eyes while Naomi gave her a soft smile.
What? Telekinesis never hurt anyone….badly.
Faith glanced at Caleb out of the corner of her eye and noticed he held a perplexed expression on his face. He was still staring in the direction of Aaron, trying to unravel the mystery of his falling.
"So, got any ideas?" Faith suddenly blurted. Caleb turned to her, raising an eyebrow at her words.
"Should I?" he replied coolly. The brunette narrowed her eyes in disdain at the boy's words. As she tried to think of a comeback, she noticed a flash of something in his eye before disappearing as soon as it appeared. Closing her mouth abruptly, the brunette just huffed and pretended to be annoyed.
"Class dismissed."
Once Faith heard Mr. Carter's voice, she stood up and descended down the stairs. When she reached the door, she turned to find Phoenix and Naomi. Spotting Naomi walking her way, the brunette scanned the crowd for her blonde friend. Her said friend appeared by her side, a gleeful smile on her face.
"Watch it next time," Faith hissed.
"Aaron was trying to feel Kate up," Phoenix replied.
"I didn't say don't do it, I just said watch it," Faith answered. "Caleb seemed to notice that Aaron's fall wasn't normal."
"Fine, I'll be more careful," Phoenix sighed.
"Ready?" Naomi appeared, a somewhat nervous expression on her face. Casting a glare to Reid, Phoenix noticed the blonde boy was smiling in their direction. Rolling her eyes, the blonde girl wrapped her red-haired friend's arm around hers and exited the classroom. Faith turned once more to find Caleb was staring at her, an unreadable expression on her face.
Shivers raced up her spine.
Ignoring the urge to growl, Faith turned back around and followed right behind her two friends.
Naomi stretched, the sound of her joints popping echoing in her ears. When she felt herself relaxed, the red-head focused on the paper before her. Gripping her pencil in hand, she began to draw. Phoenix and Faith knew she was outside, releasing some of her frustrations out on her drawings. The two had promised to come find their friend when they had planned on leaving, which mostly would take place within two to three hours. Naomi smiled as she thought of Phoenix in the library, grumbling about the work they were being forced to do.
"Whoa Thorne, I had no clue you actually had any talent," Reid mocked behind her. Naomi raised her head at the words, her eyes narrowing.
"You wouldn't know talent if had boobs and an ass, Garwin," she replied icily. Yes, she was normally quiet, but when someone insulted her about her drawings, then she got angry. Reid sat down beside her, his eyes wide an a look of surprise on his face.
"Well, kitten has claws," the blonde commented.
"And you care?" the red-head retorted.
"I like to know what I'm up against." Naomi raised an eyebrow at that, but chose not to comment. Turning back to her drawing, she continued from where she left off and chose to ignore Reid.
"I know I'm an asshole, but you take bitch to a whole new level." Naomi stopped her drawing and turned to Reid.
"Excuse me?" she asked.
"I'm trying to be nice here, but you're acting like a frigid bitch," the blonde explained.
"How is insulting my drawing and my friend being nice?" the red-head shot back. Reid blinked at her words, surprised at them. Naomi suddenly realized what she said and gasped. Grabbing her paper, she made a move to leave but was stopped by Reid's arm in her way.
"You have a point," he stated, not looking at her. Naomi blinked at the blonde's words, not expecting him to actually admit that. Turning to face him, she found he was looking at her out of the corner of his eye.
"Its just, I have some sort of twisted respect for Faith and the thought of her risking her safety for me and the others just got my blood boiling. I mean, I've never met a girl like her and I wasn't ready to see her get locked behind bars because of our stupidity. So, I took my anger out on the nearest things, which happened to be you and Phoenix," Reid explained. Naomi opened her mouth to reply, but closed it soon after. "But, Phoenix seems to have it out for me, so I'll save the whole apology until she dies and then I know she won't attack me." The red-head blinked at his words before bursting into laughter.
"True, she might attack you." Reid smirked at Naomi's words before slowly dropping his arm. Naomi stared at his lowered arm before looking up at him.
"So, friends?" she asked.
"I don't know about friends, but partners seems like a first step," he answered. Naomi just smiled and nodded her head in agreement. Looking back down at the bench, she placed her paper down on the table top and sat down once more. Looking up at Reid, she smiled softly.
"Wanna join me?" she asked.
"Sure," Reid replied as he sat down beside the red-head.
Phoenix groaned as she shut another book on Ireland. Leaning back in her seat, she ran her hand over her face and let out a huff of air. When she looked between her fingers, she found the librarian glaring at her and motioning for her to be quiet. Smiling sheepishly, the blonde agreed. However, once the old woman left, she groaned once more.
"Don't we have enough torture in our life or did the Fates believe adding this stupid project would balance the torture table a little more?" Phoenix pouted.
"I think you're overreacting," Faith chuckled. Phoenix shot her friend a glare before letting out a heavy sigh. Before the brunette could think of something to say, the sound of two chairs being pulled out caught the two girls' attention. Turning around, the two came face to face with Pogue and Caleb.
"You actually do research?" Pogue asked.
"No, but Faith dragged me in here," Phoenix replied with a sigh.
"You know you would have waited till the last minute to actually do this," Faith commented.
"True, but then at least I got to enjoy my life. But no, you decided to snatch that rug out from under me. So now, I'm just going to be one of those boring girls that stay in library's until the end of the year," the blonde pouted. The brunette beside her raised an eyebrow at the dramatic painting her friend was creating.
"What about you? Are you that type of girl?" Caleb's voice surprised the two girls. Faith turned her attention to her project partner, slightly wary of the mood he was in. He was one puzzle she was slightly afraid to solve.
"In some ways, yeah. I mean, I get schoolwork done and stuff ahead of time, but that's only so I can have free time to do whatever I want," she replied. Caleb nodded, seeming to have solved a piece of her puzzle. Phoenix glanced between the two, wondering what had exactly transpired between the two. Shaking her head and deciding she really didn't want to know, the blonde turned to Pogue.
"So, you guys heading to Nicky's?" she asked.
"Yeah, I was planning on meeting Kate there," he replied. The blonde nodded and bit her lip nervously. She felt she needed to comfort her partner in some way, but nothing seemed to come to mind. Everyone knew the Sons of Ipswich hated Aaron Abbot with a passion, probably to the extent of murder if it ever came to that. Phoenix worried somewhat that Pogue would consider murder if Aaron continued to treat Kate the way he did today.
"Hey, don't worry about Kate and Aaron. There in all my classes an if he tries anything, I'll help her out," she said. Pogue glanced at her and nodded his appreciation.
"So, anybody want to give up the whole studying thing and go grab something to eat?" Pogue asked. Phoenix immediately raised her hand with a wide smile. Faith laughed at her friend's obvious eagerness to get out of the library. Caleb smiled softly at the blonde's enthusiasm, but the smile soon disappeared.
"Fine, we can leave. Besides, Naomi is probably wondering what is taking us so long," Faith relented.
"Speaking of, I saw her sitting outside with Reid. What is that all about?" Pogue asked as the four made their way towards the doors that led out of the library.
"Are you serious?" Phoenix asked.
"Yeah," her partner replied.
"He better not be hurting her or I swear to whoever that he will be eating through a tube," the blonde threatened. Faith placed a comforting arm on her friend and sent an apologetic smile in the two boys' direction.
"Naomi can take care of herself. Besides, Reid knows better than to pull something where we're involved," the brunette reasoned.
"Reid wouldn't pull something like that. He can be a jerk, but he knows when to reign in that in," Pogue interjected. Phoenix glanced from her friend to Pogue before sighing.
"Fine, but I reserved the right to castrate him if we're wrong," she declared. Before any more words could be passed, the blonde disappeared out of the door. Faith glanced at the two boys before sighing.
"I sometimes wonder which would be worse, Phoenix in angry mode or Phoenix in seductive mode," she murmured before shrugging. Pogue and Caleb looked to each other, images of the blonde doing as their friend said filling their heads.
"That is a tough one," Pogue replied. Faith laughed before following after her blonde friend with the two boys right behind her.
"That's suppose to be me?" Reid asked as he stared down at the drawing before him. Naomi turned from her drawing to the blonde beside her, biting her lip nervously.
"You don't like it?" she asked gently. He turned from the drawing to her to see her worried expression. It confused him somewhat, how the red-head could go from feisty and passionate to concerned and timid.
He shook his head. "I like it, I've just never seen myself drawn before, though." Naomi nodded with understanding. Turning back to her drawing, she clapped. To her, it was one of her best works and something that she wanted to keep forever. It was a drawing of Reid standing in front of a burning building, a smirk on his lips. Lightning was crashing just a few feet away from him, illuminating the area all around him.
"Wow Naomi, is that Reid?" Julie's voice brought the red-head out of her revere. Turning her head, she found her friend leaning over the table, staring down at the drawing with awe in her eyes.
"Yep, just something I whipped up," Naomi replied with a smile.
Reid snorted. "With my help." The red-head slapped the blonde playfully on the arm, a mock glare on her face. Then, she simply rolled her eyes with laughter bubbling from her lips.
"Hey Julie!" Tyler arrived, surprise on his face as he spotted Naomi and Reid sitting together. Julie turned her head at her name and smiled when spotted the youngest Son of Ipswich standing beside her.
"Hey, I was on my way to find you, but I got gonna sidetracked," she explained. Tyler looked down at what his partner was talking about and whistled at the drawing.
"Damn Naomi, that is a great drawing," he complimented.
The red-head smiled. "Thanks Tyler. You can guess Reid's personality was the inspiration for the background." At that, Reid looked at her with a raised eyebrow, basically asking her to elaborate. She just shook her head, a secretive smile on her lips.
"There you are!" Phoenix yelled. The four turned to see the blonde making her way down the green slope to the bench they were seated at. Behind her was Faith and Pogue, conversing amicably, while Caleb brought up the rear with his usual unreadable expression.
"Studying over?" Naomi asked with a slight smirk. Phoenix rolled her eyes at the mention of studying.
"We decided to take a break and grab a bite to eat," Faith said. At the mention of food, Naomi's stomach growled along with Julie's. Both girls laughed, their cheeks flushed red with embarrassment.
"Well, that settles it. Come on, we can decide on our way," Reid declared as he stood up.
"Not everyone can fit in my truck, though," Tyler stated.
Phoenix sighed. "Motorcycles, duh."
"Faith can ride with me. Tyler, you can take Julie, Reid, and Naomi while Pogue takes Phoenix. Unless Kate's coming, then Phoenix can ride with me as well," Caleb said. Faith cast the boy behind her a curious glance before turning to her friends.
"No, Kate said she had homework that she needed to do and to go on ahead." Pogue turned to Phoenix with a smirk. "Looks like you're riding with me, Cross." Phoenix raised her hand to her head and appeared to faint.
"What ever will I do with myself around this perfect specimen of a man," she cried in a fake southern accent. Laughter burst from everyone, even Caleb cracked a smile, at the sight of the crazy blonde.
"Alright, where are we going to go?" Tyler asked.
"How about that new restaurant that opened downtown," Julie suggested. Everyone agreed to that idea and headed for their rides. Faith sent Phoenix and Naomi pointed looks, ordering them to behave. Naomi complied easily, but Phoenix just rolled her eyes before giving her friend the thumbs up. Turning back around, the brunette found Caleb leaning against his Mustang, his expression unreadable once again.
"I told the guys we'd be a little late," he said. Faith raised an eyebrow at that, wondering why the two would be late.
"Why?" she questioned. Caleb seated himself in the driver seat, casting a quick glance to the girl seated in the passenger seat, before starting the car. The purr of the engine filled the air, followed by the loud roar as the car pulled out from the student parking lot an onto the main road.
"We're taking a little side trip," he replied. Faith blinked at those words, wondering where the two could possibly going.
"Where?"
"You'll see."
Faith narrowed her eyes and turned to face her partner. Caleb was staring at her too, his eyes narrowed and sparking with some hidden emotion. The two found themselves locked in a stare down, daring the other to move first.
"Why?" Faith whispered, tearing her gaze away from Caleb's.
"You'll find out," Caleb replied evasively, another quick glance shot in her direction before he focused on the road once more. Faith growled low in her throat and felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand on in. She had a sinking feeling this little side trip was not something she wanted to take.
'Lousy fate and stupid Son of Ipswich,' she thought angrily before focusing on the road ahead. She better know the direction they were heading, just in case she needed to make a break for it.