Another Chapter. Enjoy!

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Carter was a very nice person. Too bad he already had a girlfriend.

After school, I met a few friends, and immediately went off to find my brother. It was very tiring work; I had been doing it for years. Sometimes, I feel like I'm the older sibling, instead of the other way around. Luckily, Ariston was by the football field, so it didn't take me long to find him. He was underneath a shady tree, alone as usual, and totally absorbed in a book he was reading. I hugged him from behind. "Hey, Ari. How's my favorite brother?"

Ariston scoffed. "Lex, I'm you only brother."

I glared at him. "How many times did I tell you not to call me Lex?" I really hated that nickname. Ever since his eighth birthday…

"About as many times as I told you not to call me Ari." He quipped, not even taking the time to look at me. The space beside him was empty, so I sat beside him. The other boys were busy playing soccer, some were making out with their girlfriends, and others were hanging out by the bleachers, laughing with their friends.

"Why don't you go hang out with them? You used to love soccer." I suggested. Ariston didn't answer; in fact, he didn't even react in any way. He just kept reading his book.

I was really getting worried for my brother. Ever since our mom…died, he had always been distant and cold to everyone around him, except for me. Even then, the only thing that he would do is talk to me in that impassive voice of his. I knew what the rumors were, and I even got into a few fights with the instigators, but most of students were already past that. Actually, the new rumors were about the new couples in town, Sadie and Nico, and Percy and Annabeth. A lot of girls, even more than I could count, were totally fawning over Nico, and just as much guys were probably lusting over Sadie. Annabeth, well they liked her too, but Percy scared them all shitless. That only made more girls fall head-over-heels for him, though.

"Used to, sis. I used to love soccer. Now, leave me alone, I'm trying to read." He groaned. I scowled at his words. I swear, "leave me alone" seemed to be his new motto or something. Of course, I being the caring sister I always was did the only thing that would get his sorry butt of the ground: I grabbed his oh-so-precious book, and flung it towards the soccer field.

"Hey!" he protested. "I was reading that!"

I rolled my eyes. "Then go get it."

"You get it. You threw it there in the first place." He grumbled. I pushed him off where he was sitting. He glared at me, but I was always better at giving evil looks, and gave him one of my death glares that always scored a perfect ten. He stood up, dusting his pants and muttering something about "sisters with no respect for personal space," and went to get his book.

I threw it even farther than I had realized. He was near the center of the field, and crouched down to pick his book, when a soccer ball came out of nowhere and bounced off his head. I saw that new kid, William, laughing his head off, while the guy beside him, Jason I think his name was, tossed another soccer ball in the air.

"Watch your head, loser!" William taunted. Jason threw the other ball, aiming for his head. It hit Ariston instead in the ribs, but he caught it with both hand, at least.

I ran over to him, willing my legs to carry me faster. Ariston was still clutching the ball, coughing loudly, the air knocked out of him. I ignored the other people laughing at us as I helped him to his feet. "Thanks." He mumbled.

"No problem. Can you move?" he nodded his head slowly, but from the way his eyes were flinching, his chest still probably hurt.

"Oh look, it's the pwetty little sister. Come to help your loser of a brother?" William handed Jason another ball. Without remorse or even mercy. Jason threw the ball in the air, and kicked it hard and fast towards us.

"Diana, look out!" One of my friends, Jasmine, yelled out.

"Duck!" another one yelled.

But I didn't leave Ariston there. I put up my hands in front of my face as fast as I could, but I didn't feel the pain I was expecting. I think I heard someone yell, "STOP!", and I recognized the voice. It was Ariston's. I was a bit shocked to hear him say something so forcefully, because most of the time he's...well, he never says anything that forcefully.

Slowly, I opened my eyes, and peeked through my hands, and didn't believe what I was seeing.

The ball was frozen in mid-air, like time had just stopped. Ariston was in front of me, ready to catch the ball, but he was just as confused as I was.

"What just happened?" he asked. I peered all around us, afraid of other people's reactions, but time itself seemed to just, stop. The people that were watching were frozen in mid-laugh. The soccer team was frozen in mid-run, like a sheet of invisible ice had encased them. Even the birds that were flying seemed to have frozen in place as well.

"Ariston, what's happening? What did you do?" I felt the panic in my voice. I instinctively grabbed Ariston's hand, and felt relieved when I felt him squeeze it comfortingly. At least somebody else was with me in this.

"I have no idea." He said. "But let's just get out of here." He was gazing all around, like me, only there was a steely tone to his voice, and he wasn't panicking. He grabbed my hand, and pulled me away from the direction of the ball. The moment we moved away from our spot, the ball resumed its flight, shooting past us by mere inches. William looked at us in contempt. Jason, on the other hand, just smiled evilly. Then the two left.

"How did you do that?" Marcus, one of the guys on the soccer team, asked us in bewilderment. The soccer ball was in his hand, and he was alternating his gaze from it, then to us, then to the soccer ball again. "How did you two move so fast? I mean, you guys were just...like lightning…"

"We don't know." I said truthfully. We really didn't know what exactly was happening, and I felt myself panicking more and more. I glanced at the others, and sure enough, people were starting to point and give us strange looks. A few people were muttering something to their friends, and from the way their friends reacted, it wasn't good.

Ariston pulled my hand, ignoring Marcus' question, and we ran away from there as fast as we could, and went to our apartment. The owner was mom's closest friend, so she let us stay in there for free, in exchange for a little work. We even get paid for the jobs we do. Ariston locked the door behind us.

"Oh god, did you just see what happened!" I said, panicking. My hands were shaking, and no matter how much I try to calm down, I just couldn't. It's not everyday that you see the entire world around you freeze. "You just-the ball-I mean, you just froze the ball. How did you do that?"

"With my amazing powers." Ariston said sarcastically. He was pacing around the room, biting his lower lip like he does when deep in thought. I, on the other hand, was sitting in the sofa, trying to control my breathing.

"Tell me I'm going crazy. Oh god…" I clutched my head with both hands.

"Sis, you're not insane. Trust me." Ariston said. He sat down beside me.

I hugged him as tight as I could. "Ariston, I'm scared." I admitted. I felt a lump in my throat. For the first time since mom's death, Ariston hugged me back. I had never said the words "I'm sacred" ever since mom's death. I had always figured that I needed to be strong, you know, for Ariston to lean on. But now, it's just like we had changed roles all of a sudden, like I was the depressed little sister and he was the supportive big brother. And frankly, I liked it. I liked having someone to lean on for once in my life. Ariston rubbed my back, which calmed me down a bit. "Don't worry. I'm here. We'll figure what that was about, don't worry."

I hugged him even tighter. I didn't know what I would do without my brother.

Well, that's that. You can't believe how many times I had to reread and retype this chapter. READ AND REVIEW, guys! And I hoped you enjoyed this story!