"Can I come in?" Sebastian asked.

"Of course," I muttered and then allowed him entrance. I walked over to my bed and sat with a pillow on my lap, but then kept glancing at the closet. Sebastian sat on the couch that was, of course, placed beside and in view of the closet. "So...what's up?"

"I wanted to talk to you about Hayden," he started.

"There's nothing—"

"Here me out," he interrupted. I shut my mouth. "I know that you and Kenneth have basically been going out since diaper days, yet you're still not officially going out now that we're miles and miles away, but—"

"What are you trying to say?"

"There are guys here that want a chance with you too," he said bluntly. I started laughing. "Angela...I'm not saying that you and Hayden are—"

"We're not," I assured.

"Look," he sighed. "I don't really get along with anyone here, but that doesn't mean—"

"You get along with Chey and Nik," I reasoned. He shot me a look that said "let me finish." I looked down.

"I just don't want to sacrifice your friendships with people here because of me," I said. He meant his fighting. I moved over to the couch to sit by him.

"Hayden's isn't worth it, anyways," I told him. He looked over to me with dark blue eyes.

"What about Vega?" he asked. There was a short silence.

"I don't have a friendship with him in the first place, let alone a sacrificial one," I informed.

"You sure about that?" he asked.

"Yeah. The kid hates me," I said, sort of saddened. Well...most of the time he does.

"But what if he—"

"Why do you care?" I asked him. This was coming from nowhere. "You already know about me and Kenneth, so why are you bringing jerks like Hayden and Dastan into it?"

Really. This was weird. Or is it normal for brothers to try and 'ship their baby sister with someone they've fought before while she's clearly with his best friend? Well, not...clearly...but you get the point.

"Kenneth told you something before he left," he reminded. Live your life here.

"Yeah but—"

"Somewhere deep down, he wants you to move on from him," Sebastian confessed. "He encourages it."

"Why would he want that?" I asked.

"Because he doesn't want to be selfish and limit you to someone who's not even here," Sebastian said with hard eyes. No...that can't be true. "He tells me that every time we talk. He misses you and loves you and remembers your beautiful face, but he doesn't want you to stay with him."

Maybe that's a sign, though. Seeing as he always talks to Sebastian and not me.

"That doesn't make any sense, though," I reasoned. "He just called me and was like—"

"No, no, no. This is a conversation between the two of you that I do not want to be part of," he said, standing up.

"Well too late for that," I pressed.

"Nope," he said, popping the p and walking out of my room.

"Sebastian," I groaned, but he continued out of the room and closed the door. I threw myself into my bed and screamed into the pillow.

So now my boyfriend didn't even want me? Great.

"Don't you think it's a sign? Now you can have both of us" a voice said. I shot up into the bed and remembered that the Proliator was here. He was now sitting in the place of Sebastian with a cheeky grin. At this point, I didn't even care. "So what's with this Dastan kid?"

"Why does it matter?" I asked after slowly sitting up.

"You seemed sad that you're not friends," he noticed with a softer voice.

"Well I'm not," I lied. "He's just a dumb boy."

Proliator stood from the couch and walked around, stopping at a box by my door that contained stuff that used to be on my walls back home.

"So what happened at the party?" he asked, his English accent nearly charming every word.

"What do you mean?" I asked him, restraining myself from falsifying his perfect accent.

"It's not over yet, so there must be a reason why the center of attention left so early," he clarified. I didn't even try to deny his commentary about me.

"Well, what can I say, Dastan Vega sure has a way with screwing with me," I answered, but then realized how wrong it sounded (First, because of the derogatory term and, secondly, because I was referring to Dastan with his first and last name like everyone else.) "I mean, he keeps screwing with my emotions."

"Sure," Proliator smirked and then walked over to sit at the foot of my bed. "What'd he do?"

"I'm not too sure," I said with a frown. "At first he said that I shouldn't be there, but he wanted me there, but then I left because I was done with all of his bullshit...but in the hallway some guy was about to kiss me and then Dastan pulled me away. I thought he'd protect me, but all he did was yell for me to get out."

"Was he drinking?"

"Yeah, but that's not why he acted like that," I said.

"How do you know?" he asked. "Was he jealous of Hayden or the guy about to kiss you, or—"

"No. That's not it," I said and made a mental note about how well he caught on to the names from eavesdropping my brother. "He's just...always like that. He's a jerk to everyone, but teachers and other girls, but when it comes to me, he just hates me no matter what...well that's what I think most of the time."

"And the rest of the time?" he asked. I frowned.

"Well, what can I say? The 'rest of the time,' aside from school...he's nice," I said, truthfully. Right as I said that, I felt the warmth of Dastan's letterman and the brightness that radiated off of his pure smile. Why couldn't he be like that the whole time? I sighed.

"I get it," Proliator snorted.

"What?" I snapped, realizing that I had started to form a creepy smile on my face.

"He's just trying to protect his reputation," Proliator pinned with a pathetic scoff.

"Rep, rep, rep. Is that all everyone cares about here?" I sighed and then plopped into my pillow.

"Only the people that associate themselves with you apparently," he shrugged. I groaned. "Why do you even care?"

"Maybe because I'm stuck here for two years," I answered. 

"And everyone you've mentioned is a senior. They'll be out of there at the end of the—"

"How do you know they're seniors?" I asked him, looking in his eyes. Guilt flashed across them.  "YOU GO TO MY SCHOOL!"

"Dang," he breathed. I sat up in my bed and then pointed at him. He went to my school and he knows my friends from Frankford—including Sebastian!

"You go to my school? No way. So you're my age. Wait. You said we've never met. What's your name?"

"First of all, I said 'dang' because I have to leave; and secondly, I do not go to your school...did you seriously just ask me for my name?" he said with one breath and confusion on the last part.

"Then how else do you know them?" I asked, interested now. "And, yes, I asked you for your name."

He rolled his eyes, all because he had to confess now. Surely that's why...or maybe because I couldn't control myself for mocking his accent for the last part of my dialogue.

"I have family and a...colleague that attends your school," he informed. I smiled with wide eyes. "And you're not getting my name."

"No way. Who are they?" I asked. Suddenly, I realized how close I was to him and for once, my breath wasn't hitched. I looked at his plain, brown eyes that hadn't been that...human until now. Although I wasn't holding my breath, it came out in light, uneven pants. Before I could really study his face and his enticing eyes, he broke our contact. I leaned back away from him, seeing as I had been too close for his comfort.

"Do you remember what I said earlier?" he asked. What do you mean...? "You're different than most girls."

"You can't expect me to know what that means—" Everyone was saying that to me here.

He pulled off his glove and reached his hand up to my face and stroked his thumb across my cheek. I expected to feel whatever he wanted me to—considering that's what his powers entitled, but I didn't feel any different. I grabbed his raised wrist and felt surges of energy beneath my touch. His eyes, now filling with an all golden color—no rims, no fading, just a solid color—narrowed at me.

"Do you feel that?" he whispered.

"What is that?" I asked with a rigid voice. He removed his hand from my face and I did the same from his wrist. The sensation surely stopped.

"That's something that only you can do," he said as the gold started to take away from his eyes. "You're different."

"Why—"

"I have to go," he cut-in, sliding on his glove.

"Proliator, but—"

"Trust me, I love that you finally want me around, but I have to go," he said.

"I don't want you around, I just want some answers," I breathed.

"So I guess that means I'll have to keep coming around for you to get them," he grinned. What charm you have, Proliator. "The party just ended and there are a lot of stupid, teenage drunk drivers, so I have to leave. I'll see you later, angel."

Suddenly, he leaned down and kissed my cheek. From there, everything changed.

Lightness filled my heart and a sensation spread through my body, starting from my cheek. I couldn't stop my smile and I couldn't erase the feeling of affection. I was floating on so much happiness that I didn't even notice that Proliator had left.