Chapter 6

The usual crowd of both kids and a few adults gathered inside the New Tree Café and began filling up the seats. There was a quiet, low, buzz in the room. Small murmurs of conversation were being held while everyone waited for that night's entertainment.

The small platform-slash-makeshift-stage was the center of attention. A flashing, pink, neon sign spelling out the name of the café quietly hummed as numerous electrons flowed through its fluorescent tubes.

A small, wooden barstool was propped up center-stage, as well as a microphone so that whoever would be performing could be heard loud and clear.

Waiters and waitresses working the graveyard shift walked about the café in their uniform moss-green, velvet vests and long-sleeved polos taking orders.

"And now, for your entertainment tonight, the New Tree Café presents: Rebecca Morrigan!" said a slow and easy voice from the speakers above everyone in the room.

A sudden hush washed over the audience as a girl with dark colored hair and spiraling ringlets walked on stage, an acoustic guitar in hand. Her expression was affable.

She did a sweep of the whole audience, surveying each face but looking for one in particular. When she didn't find who she was looking for, a slight expression of disappointment marred her gentle features for a brief moment. She took quick intakes of breath before seating herself on the high barstool and poising herself in a playing position. Her lips hovered over the microphone and she introduced herself to the crowd. When she was sure she was ready, she introduced the title of the song she was about to perform and proceeded to play.

Three notes flittered through the room as the song began to play; Rebecca's voice starting off with a whisper before becoming fuller with each word. As Rebecca began strumming a portion of the chorus on her guitar, she closed her eyes for release. She let her restless soul roam about freely; spreading bits and pieces of herself among the crowd gathered that night. She sang about a lover losing her way and about a love slowly fading.

By the end of the song, Rebecca was satisfied with the amount of applause that echoed through the small café. She nodded her head in appreciation and smiled a well practiced smile. She was a little disheartened tonight, despite the audience's wonderful reactions to her music.

When the ovations had begun to fade, Rebecca continued on to the next song.

"…Ask her out."

"No."

"Ask her out."

"No."

"Ask her out!"

"No!" Tyler hissed at Reid. The both of them had been playing this 'game' for a full two minutes now. It was driving him up the wall.

Reid had been repeating the same sentence over and over again; switching from bored tones to perky ones and other variations in between. A small silence fell over both of them for a while before Reid piped up, "Ask her out." Once more.

"What the fuck, Garwin?"

"Oooh, starting to get ballsy, are we?" he smirked and stood, walking over to his friend and stopping mere inches away from his face. "Watcha goin' to do about it, Simms?"

Both of them were engaged in a silent battle of wills at that moment. Each boy was glaring at the other; threatening and testing the other to see if they would give in. Finally, Tyler shoved Reid away from him. The blond merely snickered - much to Tyler's annoyance – and made his way back to the wooden chair he was once situated in as if nothing had happened.

The two boys were at the library; Tyler doing the honest research for their paper while Reid watched and waited impatiently for his partner to finish. He was a busy man and had so much other things to attend to.

Or so he liked to believe.

"Why the hell would you care anyway, if I asked her out?" Tyler asked as he thumbed through an ancient looking, leather-bound, red book with golden trimming. His sleeves were bunched up around his elbows and his hair was even more tousled than usual after the numerous times he had raked his fingers through it at the annoying hassle of having to do research at the library and the annoying hassle of Reid being there to pester him at the same time.

"Because," he began, absently flipping through a history book. "You, my friend, need to get laid."

"You honestly want me to lose it to someone whom in your opinion is a total freak?"

"Hey, beggars can't be choosers."

"Bite me."

"Oh, don't worry. I'm sure she'll do that too, if you get her horny enough." He quipped. Tyler looked up from the book to give his friend a look. Reid returned it with a shrug and a smirk.

"But I'm sure that'll be cake," the blond continued. "She has been all over you since the night you guys met. You'll get her in no time." He emphasized his last words with a loud snap of his fingers and wiggled his eyebrows.

"Is that all you think about, Garwin?"

"Only thinking of what's best for you, baby boy." He clicked his tongue against his back teeth.

"Oh, grow up."

"huh, grow balls."

-

Faith was still hacking up globs of phlegm a week after that disastrous first day of her illness. She had spent most of her days in bed and blowing her nose into sheets of Kleenex, all the while trying to control her already out-of-control powers from smashing anything else she owned into the walls, ceilings and floors. And as if that wasn't torture enough, several students had already come and gone by her home to deliver homework for her to do.

Even while she was out sick and actually needed the sleep, the teachers at Spencer would always drown her in schoolwork.

But despite all this, Faith couldn't help but smile at the small fact that it was Tyler who had come by delivering homework twice during the last week. Even though it was Hannah who had gotten to see the boy, there was still that little spark of hope in her, telling her that he may have wanted to check on how she was doing; which gave her something to smile about.

A reasonable amount of furniture in her room had already been thrown around, smashed, and ruined by her while sneezing. Luckily, Hannah was able to repair everything – no matter how many times they had broken into pieces.

Faith was on her bed, reading a heavily paged book on the rise and decline of the Roman Empire. She had switched on the lamp by her bedside table to see what she was reading better, but she had wished that the lamp was broken so that she would have an excuse not to study while viral intruders held camp inside her. All she wanted to do was doze off into a peaceful slumberland, where nothing – not even the flu or homework – would be able to bug her.

The decline of the Roman Empire, also called the fall of the Roman Empire, or the fall of Rome, is a historical term of periodization for the…

-

Faith sat back up with a start just as she was about to drift off somewhere else. The sound of something small hitting her windowpane had shaken her out of her semi-conscious state. She rubbed her eyes to wake herself fully and made to stand, shoving the one-ton book off her lap.

Tick!came the sound for the second time.

She checked the time on her digital clock by the bedside and found that only a few minutes had gone by. Curious, she pulled back a finger-wide gap between her soft, white curtains, just enough for one eye to see who – or what – was making all the commotion outside below.

Her eyes widened and her heart skipped a full two beats when she saw what was waiting for her down below. She yanked back her finger from the curtains as if it had burned her skin. She breathed in and out before checking once more if what she had seen was real, and not the result of some new virus plaguing her body and mind. Sure enough, at the second look, she had confirmed to herself that it was, in fact, Tyler Simms staring up at her window expectantly.

She steadied herself with the desk beside her window and fought hard to stifle her squeals of girlish giddiness. She allowed herself a moment to recollect and, after checking her reflection in the mirror, silently pushed up her window and popped her head out to look down on him. She couldn't help but smile when she saw Tyler's beautiful blue eyes gleam wonderfully at her in the pale moonlight.

"What are you doing here?" she whispered to the night, trying to sound as less nasal as possible.

"I just wanted to see how you were doing, since I don't see you around school anymore." He explained meekly. Her ears deafened with the sound of her own pounding heart as she looked at Tyler's soft smile.

"You really shouldn't have come," she whispered to him again, trying not to attract attention from anyone around the neighborhood or in the house. "At least not like this."

"What?" he cupped his ear in his palm.

"I said: you shouldn't have come like this!"

Tyler shrugged his shoulders and shook his head to signal that he still couldn't hear. Faith gave a sigh and was about to speak louder when he had held out a palm to stop her. 'Wait right there.' He mouthed and sprinted towards the old oak tree, whose branches just barely reached out to her window. Instantly the girl knew what he was up to.

As if to confirm her thoughts, a small rustling of leaves sounded from her left and a black silhouette of a boy slowly materialized into the form of Tyler, clinging carefully on the thickest branch.

"Now, where were we?"

Faith simply giggled at him. She couldn't help but feel so elated. "You really shouldn't have come like this."

"Like what? Climbing up a tree just to talk to you?" he said it like it was the most normal thing to do in the world. Faith raised a brow, questioningly.

"Okay, so I don't normally do this. I'm not really feeling all that normal tonight."

"Meaning what?" she grinned.

"You better watch out, not only werewolves transform during full moons."

"Is that so?" she was feeling better and better with every minute he was there, like he was some sort of cure.

"Yes, I do believe that is so." He leaned in closer to her face.

"And Garwin says I'm the geek."

"How do you know what he says about you?" he questioned. She had slipped up and was madly thinking of an excuse as to why she had known.

"Uhm… well… you know… people talk… it's a small school." She stuttered, refusing to openly confessing that she had read his best friend's mind.

"Yeah, give or take a couple hundred students." He quipped. She was relieved that he had not seemed suspicious of her.

"So, how've you been?" he asked her, locking his baby blue eyes onto her dark brown ones.

"Been sick as a dog." She sighed.

"Really? You don't look sick, to me. You sure you aren't doing this just so you can ditch a couple of days of school?"

Faith put her hands on her hips in a mock look of shock and anger. "How dare you accuse me of trying to get out of class? Who's ever heard of such a terrible thing? Me? Trying to wriggle my way out of class? Preposterous."

The both of them laughed at this. "But seriously though, I am sick!"

Tyler reached to feel her neck with an outstretched arm. "Well, you don't feel sick, either."

"Really? Are you sure about that?"

"You don't sound sick, either."

"I am sick!" she insisted. "Here, try again." She took his hand and pressed the back of his palm on the surface of her neck. She was surprised when he didn't let go of her hand. Instead, Tyler simply led her small hand to the direction of his lips.

She blushed furiously at the thought of what he was about to do.

I'm in need of a beta reader (or two). Someone who can help me with my plot flow is all I need. So, if you're interested: please, please, PLEASE pm me.

Also, please review! Thanks!

-deaselene