4. THE ENCOUNTER

Brendan seemed to be having an impatient aura around him. He really wanted to talk about the scene that happened on the previous day after we left school. I didn’t want to talk about it at all because I knew that I’d end up saying something I didn’t want to say.  But for goodness’ sake I decided to let him start the issue, we might as well get it over and done with.

I took off from his place but not in a very fast pace. I allowed him to take a breather.

“So, how did you take it?” he started off by asking.

“Take what?”

“Oh come on, Lina. You know what I’m talking about”, he said rolling his eyes.

“I didn’t take it at all. It’s not my place to take anything. For crying out loud, I’m not even friends with this guy so you really have to stop taking it that way.”

“Lina, I’m telling you. This guy is into you from just seeing you one time. I wouldn’t be surprised if he asks you out this week”, he said it as a matter of fact.

“I don’t know about that so I won’t wait for it to happen. If it happens, then so be it.”

“So you don’t feel any hatred towards Isabel for trying her luck?” he asked.

“No, not at all. Like you said, she was trying her luck.”

I drove right into the school parking lot. I parked next to a black Mercedes Guardian with darkly tinted windows.

Although mine was a white Porsche and ostentatious, Brendan marvelled the car next to mine and I did too. I always felt embarrassed whenever I parked my car at school and looked around the parking lot. All the cars there seemed to be in the average scale when compared to mine, that’s what made me feel embarrassed. I once told my dad about getting a car that would make me blend in with the rest of the student body but he said this one was ok and fast too. He knew I love driving fast but I’ve learnt to drive in a slower pace so as not to draw attention to myself.

But this one, next to mine, was more than ostentatious. I had never seen it in reality, other than in the catalogues. I was wide-eyed at its appearance, although my eyes were shadowed by the shades I had put on. Brendan and I weren’t the only ones marvelling at it. There was a group of guys that was standing a few feet away from it. I overheard them talking about the model of it but I didn’t pay any attention to them.

I got out of the car and took my bag with. As soon as Brendan had his act together, he followed suit and we started walking off to the main block of the school. We found Mya by the entrance waiting for us.

“Wow”, Brendan finally said, cutting off the awkward silence as we met Mya.

“I know, right”, I said with a sigh.

When we got to Mya, we passed off the morning greetings and I could see that she was bursting with whatever she wanted to say. I didn’t comment on it because I could read it from her mind that it was about Ashton.

“Mya, did you see that car by the parking lot?” Brendan asked.

“If you mean the Guardian, then yes”, she said with glee and continued, “And you won’t believe who’s driving it.”

Her mind was screaming, Ashton Turner!

I said, “Let me guess, Ashton Turner?”

“Lina, you’re psychic. Yes it is him”, she said with a grin.

“Wow”, Brendan repeated. “This guy must be really loaded, or should I say his parents are.”

“No kidding, right”, Mya said.

I didn’t say anything more on the issue. I was thinking on the parents issue that Brendan had mentioned. I didn’t know what to conclude on it. I decided that I’d satisfy my curiosity about whether he’s bionic or not first. I’d then think about the issue after that.

We stormed off to English class before the bell rang. We got settled into our seats in class before the teacher got there. I always had the back seat in all classes because I loved hiding myself. Even though I hid myself, the teachers noticed me and sometimes called on me to answer questions. There were a few of my classmates there but some were still arriving to class. I saw Ashton after I had settled into my seat. He was seated three desks away from me but those desks were still unoccupied. I spied him through my shades before I removed them. I then focused on removing my books from the bag and my eyes looked down since they were now uncovered.

He came over to my desk and leaned on it. I heard an exclamation from Brendan’s mind, Mya’s mind was just silent.

“Hi”, he said. “Angelina, right?”

“It’s Lina.” I said without looking at him. I wondered where he got my full name from.

“Oh, right. Lina. How’re you today?” he asked with a smile in his voice.

“I’m good thanks and yourself?”

“I’m great. So, I couldn’t help but notice this in one day, but why are you always facing down?” he asked.

I couldn’t help but groan on the inside at that question. How could he notice that in one day? So I thought it better to prove him wrong by looking at him.

“Am I?” I asked him while looking straight into his eyes.

He didn’t answer instantly but he kept looking at me. I couldn’t help looking at him too. In that moment I saw his eyes change colour, from onyx to a rich brighter chocolate brown. I could easily see that he was mimicking my own eye colour. I heard his train of thoughts, Wow, her eyes. They are hazel brown but with a light shine coming from them.

I managed to look away from his eyes because I could feel mine changing to a shining blue, due to the emotions I was feeling. What was it with this guy that made me feel this way? I asked myself.

“Yeah, you are.  But you shouldn’t because you look like you’re scared of something.” He answered.

“Now, what could I be scared of around here? I’m not scared of anything and stop assuming something you don’t know about.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you angry”, he said in a low soothing tone.

“You didn’t make me angry. I was just stating it as it is.”

“Great. Anyway, I just came by to say hi. We’ll talk some other time”, he said.

“Sure.” I said that and looked up. He was smiling and I smiled back.

He then walked off to his seat as the class was almost full. Ms Ambleton, the teacher, walked in to start the day’s lesson. I looked straight into my books the whole lesson because I didn’t want to look up and meet questioning eyes from either Brendan or Mya. I took the detector from my bag to check if it was detecting something since Ashton was just three desks away from me.

The moment I took it out of the bag, I saw the flashing light that showed that there was a bionic superhuman around that region, excluding me. I knew already that my curiosity was proved correct, that Ashton really was bionic. I didn’t know what his superpowers were just yet, but I knew that he had them. So it took me off guard when I heard a thought that said, She now knows my secret and I wonder how she got to know about it.