When I finally got home my dad was sitting at the kitchen table, waiting.
"Your run took a long time," He said.
"Yah, I met up with Ben," I replied while getting some Diet Coke.
"Oh," He said cautiously, "Tory, I'm thinking maybe Holly was right." Holly (forget her name) was my dad's girlfriend. She wanted me to be a true refined Southern Debutante. You know polite, funny but not too funny, quiet but not too quiet, and spoken to when spoken too. That's not me. If there are rules then I break them just because I can. Unfortunately, last month at one of my first balls I flashed without meaning to and nearly broke this boy named Jason in half. In my opinion, that's not very lady-like.
"What do you think she was right about?"
"You need some girl friends," He looked me straight in the eye. I sighed. Holly had been criticizing me non-stop about how I constantly was hanging out with the guys.
"Dad, we've been over this," I shook my head, "The guys are all I need. Also, all the girls in my school don't exactly like me."
"They're just jealous," He argued.
"No, they're not. They're the exact opposite. I'm the poor girl, the one who relies on others to survive. I don't mind how we live," I added seeing my dad's expression, "but others don't understand it. The guys do though and I also could care less about what they think."
"Tory, didn't you have friends when you lived with your mom?" I internally flinched at the thought of my mom. Images flooded my brain. Metal crunching, blood everywhere, screams.
"Tory, I'm sorry. I didn't-" He said, noticing my hurt.
"No, it's okay and no I didn't have any real friends. I usually just kept to myself."
"Okay, I just wanted to put that out there." I picked up my soda and walked upstairs to my room. I turned on my computer and saw four little red dots representing the guys on iFollow. Seeing that I was online Ben started to fill me in on what they were talking about.
Shelton wants to do some more experiments on us while we're flashing- Ben
Okay- Tory
I don't want to- Hi
Y not? – Tory
He's chicken- Shelton
No, I just don't want to die because Shelton messed w/ my DNA- Hi
Hi, come on- Ben
Yah, try- Tory
You're just agreeing w/ Ben- Hi I blushed and thanked the Internet that he couldn't see my red face.
Hi- Shelton
Fine, tomorrow meet at the bunker at 9 am- Hi
K- Tory, Ben, Shelton
I logged off and fell into my bed. Ben found his way into my dreams. I dreamt about his knowing eyes, his thoughtful words, and everything else about him. As I drifted into sleep I could only hope that he was thinking about me too.