"Novah, Its time to wake up!" My mom yelled from downstairs. Earlier in life I might have rolled over and covered my head with my blankets in a feeble attempt to get more sleep. Now, I do everything in my power not to sleep. Knowing my mother she would walk right in here to wake me up despite it being the last months of my senior year.

Saving the current apartment listing I was looking at I yell, "I'm awake mom" in response. Logging out of my laptop I close it and roll my stiff shoulders. Already dressed in my black V-neck tee and black jeans, I put on my black converses and grabbed my laptop and my phone off the charger and head downstairs. Grabbing a granola bar from the pantry I say, "I'm leaving now mom." Not waiting for her reply I grab my bag off the floor beside the couch, sliding my laptop into it, and snatch the keys to my jeep out the front pocket of it. I tossed my bag in the back seat and text the only girl I would consider a friend, while at a red light a couple minuets from her house.

Me: I'm outside Rue

Rue: Be out in 2

She is always late so I make sure to never be early when coordinating with her. When I pull up she still isn't ready so I eat my granola bar and checked my other phone for any new messages. I saw her hop out her front door trying to slip on her beige flats with a bagel held in her mouth and could help myself from cracking a small smile and shaking my head at her antics. Her hair was a mess and both her bag and jacket were hanging of her shoulders. She closed her door yelling something that sounded like, "Bye mom" and "I love you" before hopping in the front seat of my truck. With both shoes now on she slides her bag onto the floor and fixes her jacket. I pull off as she clips her seatbelt and bites into her bagel.

"If you get crumbs all over the interior of my new truck you will be taking the bus for the rest of the year." I say, deadly serious. She just rolls her eyes at me and wraps a napkin around her bagel before putting in in the side pocket of her bag.

"Did you hear about the new student, Zayne or something?" she asks me, and before I can even attempt to answer she prattles on to say, "I heard he is like this dark and mysterious guy and apparently he has a sexy accent and he..." I begin to tune her out because when she gets like this there is no interrupting. Finally noticing I was not paying her any mind she rolls her eyes again and changes the subject. "Have you heard from Leo recently? I know it's the first day back from winter break and all but you think he would be able to text his own girlfriend after he gets off the plane from being on a different country."

Sighing I tell her, "I haven't heard from him since before we went on break. He is probably still very jet-lagged and getting some extra sleep."

Looking at me confused she says, " I thought you didn't like him so why are you defending him for not texting me? Do you know something I don't?"

Yeah he is a total tool and he isn't worth your time. But I know she doesn't wanna hear that so I say, "No I don't like him. Never have, never will. And no I do not know anything you do not, but I do know that you really care about him and that this has probably been on your mind for hours so I'm saying, relax and get all the facts. And if he does do something to hurt you, I'll kill him."

"Thanks babes you always know what to say." She went to kiss my cheek but I turned my head and grabbed her chin and kissed her hard. She pulled back let out a breathy laugh and sat back. "Damn it Vee we cant do that anymore. And you messed up my lipstick." I gave her a look and she rolled her eyes again. "Shut up." She said with flaming cheeks, and began to fix her make up.

"I never even said anything." She only rolled her eyes again.

*******

Pulling up to the school, I park in between the twins' cars.

" 'Sup guys." I said seeing Easton and Eric leaning against the brick wall next to the side entrance of the school. Pushing himself off the wall Eric sauntered over to where I was standing.

"My bed was cold without you this winter." he said leaning in towards my ear.

"Hmm can't say the same." I said in a voice that was equally as low. Taking my bag out of the back seat I felt Eric press himself into my backside. "Down boy, well have our time." I say standing back up closing the back door of my truck. I press the lock button on my keys and slide them into the pocket on my leather jacket next to my pack of smokes. Holding the handle on my bag I make my way over to where Rue was waiting for Leo, Eric on my trail.

I hear her mumbling to herself, "Its just jet-lag, he'll be here." and, "Everything is fine."

I grab her cheeks between my hands and tilt her face up towards mine. "Stop panicking. You will freak yourself out before anything has even happened." She nodded and rested her forehead on my chest. I pulled her into a hug and rested my chin on the top of her head.

"Your boobs are really comfy you know Vee." She said into my chest while reaching up and grabbing one. I let out a light laugh and pushed her shoulders back little so that she could look me in the eyes. "Thanks for calming me down babes." She said with a smile. And just like that everything was back to normal.

"Awe man I wanted to see some girl on girl action before math fries my brain." Eric said while wiggling his eyebrows.

"Shut it you perv." Rue shot back, and then proceeded to grab some snow and launch it at him.

I back up and lean on the wall next to Easton. Lighting a cigarette I asked him, "Did you tell them yet?" I breathe in the smoke from my cig as I wait for his answer, already knowing what he is going to say.

"Yeah. I did. I told Eric first. He was ok with it and he supported me when I had to tell Mom and Dad." I exhaled a cloud of smoke and gestured for him to go on. "My mom was ok with it, just a little surprised."

"And your dad?" I ask before taking another drag.

He shook his head. "My dad spat at me and said 'out of all the things in this world you had to be a faggot.' And then stormed out of the house." He ran a hand through his died blue hair and looked over at Eric and Rue fighting in the snow.

I let out another puff before handing the cig to him. He took it without hesitation and took deep inhale. "If he cant love you for you then fuck him. Who the fuck needs dad anyway?" he gave me my cig back and let the smoke from his exhale flow into his nose. Releasing the smoke completely he ran his hand through his hair again and shrugged. I checked the time on my phone and then took another drag of my smoke and passed it back to him.

Looking past the two goofing off in the snow I saw a girl, a sophomore most likely, tapping away on her phone while walking across the street. A school bus was driving directly for her. Looking into the window I saw some rowdy kids in the back distracted the driver and they would not have been able to stop the bus in time to avoid collision. Instinctively my fist opened, palm up and flat when everything stopped moving I pulled the time frozen girl to the other side of the road, using my telekinetic power, with my eyes. Closing my fist I resume smoking any watched as the bus driver looked forwards to see a clear road. Focusing my attention on the girl, I see her glance up from her phone look around and then stick her nose right back into her phone. Shaking my head I run two fingers cross my brow and let the smoke fan out in front of my face before taking an even bigger pull to sate the migraine I felt coming on. For the rest of the time I spent leaning on that wall I felt an unfamiliar gaze on me. Letting my eyes flit around the schoolyard as I put out my cigarette on the wall, I see nothing out of the ordinary.

Something is definitely off.