~27~ Should I Be Sad or Thankful?

“Hah, why did I get a text from Nelly saying that you locked your keys in your car? Angel, you’re such a dork…” Brian laughed in greeting when I was on my laptop. I looked up to him in anger. “What’d I do?”

“You talked to Zac.”

“Well yeah…so have you and Lulu and—”

“I meant before he showed up here,” I said, moving my laptop off my lap. “Your number was in his phone, Brian.”

He sighed stressfully because he was caught.

“Why the h3ll did he have your number and why were you talking to him in the first place—”

“You act like I was cheating on you with him,” he laughed.

He thought it was a joke.

“No. I’m acting like I was played a d4mn fool for looking everywhere for Zac with Lulu and Joey to find that he’s been talking to you this whole time—”

“Hey, don’t let Joey and Lulu off the hook because they have both talked to Zac before he showed up here,” he hissed at me.

I didn’t know whether to be quiet…or beat him up…or just break down crying. So, I did what I would’ve done if I was sitting at home; I ran to the water.

(Lulu’s POV)

“You said that I wouldn’t have to encounter any of you guys,” Zac spoke. I waited. “I’m encountering…and I don’t like it.”

“It’s a small world?” I shrugged, giving a crooked smile. He wasn’t convinced and gave me the same black stare with his boring brown eyes. “Hey, your eyes are back to brown?”

Before—when I say “before”, I mean in the time after he took the Drug, but before I knew about it—his eyes were never just brown. They always had some flake of color. But now, he closed his eyes and shook his head.

“Uh, n-no,” he lied. When he opened his eyes, they were the same color. This must be what Joey meant by changes…

“So you know that you’re changing,” I assumed.

“What?” he asked with a frown. “Just because I act different doesn’t mean—”

“I meant the side effects to the Drug,” I whispered. His frown lightened up, but it was still a frown. He didn’t know. “You didn’t notice?”

“Other than a few haircuts and trips to the gym, what was there to notice other than the obvious?” he asked. I was still confused on his confirmation or not. “What’s this about?”

“You,” I answered. He rolled his eyes. “Not for me, but for Devin’s lab experiment.”

“I sent him the blood so there’s nothing else to it,” he said.

“Oh, there’s something else to it,” I humored. “What the h3ll did you do in the so-called Army? Because it’s like you walked halfway through a gamma radiation site because—”

“What are you talking about?”

“Your DNA,” I hissed. “It changed. I’m sure that I’m not the one to tell you this, but yeah, your DNA changed.”

“Meaning what?” he asked, concerned now.

“I don’t know. A few side effects to your human advantages,” I shrugged. He slammed his hands on the table.

“Meaning what?” he repeated with clenched teeth, not minding the people now watching us.  “That I don’t have powers? Or healing? Or sight? Or what? Tell me what exactly, Lulu!”

“I don’t know!” I lied. “Ask Joey or Devin—”

He scoffed.

“You think Joey will tell me?” he asked. “Yeah right. He’ll probably say I’m dying just like Devin is and then use that against me.”

“Joey’s only trying to help,” I commented in a low voice.

“Yeah,” he said, doubtful. He crossed his arms and looked away, shocking me that he didn’t start ranting about the bad qualities of Joey and any of his brilliant “Joey just wants in Angel’s pants” ideas he thinks of.

My phone vibrated once for me to look down and see Angel’s text with the tightening of my jaw:

YOU HAVE SOME EXPLAINING TO DO

“What is it now? Archer trying to sext you or something?” he asked, making me scoff. My eyes flashed up to his.

“It’s Angel,” I answered. As soon as I locked eyes with him, he threw a twenty on the table and started to storm out of the bar.

***

“I don’t care, Brian!” I heard Angel yell once I opened the door to her house. I heard glass breaking, which made me—and especially Zac—rush faster inside the house. I made it to the dining area that was connected to both the living room and kitchen and saw glass broken on the floor. Brian and Angel looked to us.

“Yeah great. Nice way to go,” Angel spat at Zac and me. What? She scoffed and then rubbed shoulders with me and Zac in order to run out. With a slam to the front door, she was gone.

“What the fu** just happened?” I asked Brian. He seized Zac’s collar.

“Because of you, she’s mad at everyone for talking to you,” he accused.

“She’s mad because I called you guys? Oh please—”

“It’s not just that…is it?” I asked Brian. He let Zac go.

“It’s the fact that everyone is hiding something from her for no reason and she doesn’t see why,” Brian informed.

“I don’t see why. I rather her know everything,” I shrugged. Zac sighed and started to turn and leave. “Where are you going?”

“I need to make things right.”

This may be a petty fight, but I could see where she was coming from. She’s acting like how I should’ve acted when she and Devin told me about the Drug and the powers in the first place. But I didn’t have anger issues like Angel. I thought she was past those outbursts, but apparently, I was wrong. At least this meant Zac would talk to her. Hopefully.

(Angel’s POV)

Sometimes, I wish I was like Joey; able to control the water. Yeah. It would be delightful. As if I summoned him, my phone rang in my shorts’ pocket when I was ankle-deep in the water.

“What?” I hissed at Joey.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

“Why is it that everyone assumes something’s wrong with me!?” I yelled. “It’s never a ‘hi, Angel. What’s good in your life?’ is it? It’s always what’s bad. And why? Why do you ask me what’s wrong?”

“Other than that outburst…” he started. “You’re in the water and I can feel you right now.”

Feel me?

“What?”

“I don’t know. Never mind,” he dismissed. “What happened?”

Then I remembered.

“You and Brian and Lulu have all talked to Zac during this summer and no one thought one bit about telling me,” I accused. He snickered and I pressed my lips together.

“Honestly? I don’t think we need him. I don’t think you need him. That’s why I didn’t tell you,” Joey informed. That was a better reason than Brian. Brian’s words were: “Because I didn’t want to see you get hurt by him anymore”, which was ironic because up until now, I didn’t even see how Zac was hurting me because I had shut down my emotions for him when he sent me that letter. Everyone assumed I was butt hurt over it, though. “Is that the only reason you’re there?”

“Well only because I was arguing with Brian and then tell Lulu that she has explaining to do—only to have her rush home with Zac,” I explained.

“Oh, that sucks.” No sh!t, Sherlock…I was tired of all this drama. It’s as if the Drama Queen of the world decided to bestow it upon me, only because I escaped it for a year. I was tired of it. And I don’t know if it was sad or thankful, but…no one came after me.