11"Academics?"
The boy smiled. "Mostly B's and C's. Your History sucks though. Seriously Ems, I've told you a million times to get a tutor! You never listen!"
I laughed humorlessly. "Please Einsteins, It's not as if you're one to talk. Judging from your… jock-ish looks, you're, at most, a B student too. Not one A in your report card."
Clayton shook his head, covering his eyes as he laughed. He isn't so bad, I thought to myself, grinning. That morning when I woke up from that vividly memorial dream, I had found out that it was already 11 AM. Clayton came and gave me a basket of fruits. He also sat down on the chair opposite my bed (Next to the sofa that Brooke sat on, by the faaaaar corner) and had started to converse with me. All traces of the dream were gone. Well, not entirely true. It was still lurking at the peak of my mind even when Clayton joked and laughed and made corny jokes. All the while, I couldn't help but think he was nothing like Brooke. While Brooke is, to say it fairly, rather snarky and arrogant, Clayton is easy going and teasing. It was a rather confusing matter. And I tried my best not to think about it. Considering it reminded me of the girl's amazing aura.
"Oh! So you're one of those people who judges others by their looks, eh?" He spluttered, taking a bite out of his apple. Mm, I love apples.
I rolled my eyes. "What, am I wrong?"
"No, no. That's just a bit of an…" He paused and searched for the right word. "Overstatement."
I laughed. A long, hard laugh. One that I haven't cracked in a while now. I was surprised that I was laughing so hard. Oh yeah, It must be because I was furgin' healed! "Nice, nice, hypocrite." I smirked.
He rolled his eyes. "You shouldn't laugh so hard, Ems. You're gonna bruise yourself." He joked, gesturing his head to my body. I chuckled and shrugged, cursing myself in the inside for making it too obvious. If he found out I was healed, he'd probably actually blame it on Brooke. By the way he described her, he really didn't like her.
"So what about physical?"
He broke into a wide grin that stretched from dimple to dimple. "Amazing! Everyone loves you! You're super fit and you're in the running team, the swimming team, the football club and you're basketball's female captain." He exclaimed enthusiastically.
I gasped. "Woah, seriously!"
He nodded quickly. "Hell yeah, girl. You're a complete athlete!"
I laughed, clutching the pear in my hand. "HAH. Good to know."
He smiled again. And suddenly there was a silence. I awkwardly bit into my pear, turning my gaze to the window. It was closed now. Cause I had accidentally said it was cold and Clayton had came to close it. Outside it was very sunny, very bright and very… lively. Funny, I had always thought Manhattan was dead with shopping and driving and polluting, never thought I'd see the world in a new light. I blinked. In a new light? I then remembered that night- Eh, morning, with Brooke. She had put her blood in the bag… And I had realized I wasn't human. Was I really not human?
"Hey Ember," I turned my gaze to Clayton, and he was playing with his apple that was already fully eaten. He was looking at the ground, almost guiltily, while his eyebrows fiddled about. I didn't know if he was merely thinking or actually concentrating on something. "I was wondering… When you get out… Do you want to go out with me?"
I raised an eyebrow at me. "Go out? As friends?"
He sat up straight, closed his eyes and guided his hand up to rub the back of his neck. A light pink was tinting his cheeks. "Um, no. I mean… Be my—Uh … girlfriend."
I raised my other eyebrow. "Girlfriend?"
He nodded and shrugged. "Y-Yeah. I mean… Brian obviously likes you, but you made it clear that you don't like him so… I just thought if you don't like him, you'd like to—" He paused. "—Go out with me." He smiled when he finished, flashing me one of his obviously infamous grins.
I hesitated and shifted uncomfortably. When I had that dream last night, I was sure that it was a memory. And then, I was sure of it that I was gay. Yet, I was also sure that not much people knew about it. I didn't wanna ask Clayton about it, cause he was obviously a guy of a perfect bloodline, and messing my relationship with him wouldn't do any good. I coughed and turned away. "Clayton—"
"Clay."
I raised an eyebrow. "Sorry?"
"You call me Clay."
I smiled warmly. "Clay… You and I may be friends but… I'm still recovering." I raised a hand when he opened his mouth to protest. "And I have amnesia so It's a bit complicating for me." He huffed and sat back down stubbornly. I smiled. He's like a little kid. "We'll see, Clay. Right now I just wanna concentrate on trying to get my memories back and recovering. Plus, I'm pretty sure I've lost 20 pounds from that damn accident. I need to put up more weight. Anorexia ain't pretty."
He smiled and shrugged. "Aights', Ems. I understand." Then he laughed. "Anorexia seriously ain't pretty! I once dated this girl who was so skinny, her ribs kept poking me when we were—" He paused and looked away cheekily. "Y'know, in the bed doing that stuff."
I blushed and realized that Clayton was a total player. How could I have not seen it before? He winked at Olivia and tried to be all flirty with me. He was a total player and yet I was so blind. I forced a laugh. "Y-Yeah…"
He shrugged. "Anyways, Ems. I'm glad you're alright." He stood up and went to my right, all the while having a bright smile on his face.
"I gotta go football practice. But I'll see you later, yeah?"
I smiled and nodded. "Sure, Clay."
He then bent down and kissed me on the forehead, catching me completely off guard. I squirmed but I couldn't do anything to pull away, considering I was on restrains (Stupid hospital rules!) and he pulled away still with that cocky smile. He grabbed a banana and shot me a look that asked 'Can I have this?' I smiled and nodded. He smiled too and headed off, flinging me a small wave before shutting the door.
I sighed. For some reason, I seriously couldn't wait for Brooke's visit tonight. Something tells me that it's not gonna be some ordinary talk chit chat thing.
That was when the nurse came in. She had a clipboard in her hands. It wasn't Olivia though. She made her way to me –She looked around 30 or 40—with a scowl on her face. She had messy black hair that was tied up to a bun. She was wearing thin-rimmed glasses with wrinkles outlining her face. Her eyes were small, almost as if she was Chinese, and squinted when she stared at the clipboard. She was pretty short, maybe more than 1 ft. shorter than me. And I was dumbfounded when she started fumbling with my IV's.
"Um sorry," I started. "I don't mean to be rude but, is Olivia sick today?"
"She's busy." The nurse replied without even looking up at me.
I hesitated but didn't push any further. Apparently, the nurse wasn't friendly. Pfst. The next few minutes were alright, I guess. It was awkward when her cold fingers touched my skin. But I didn't bother it too much. When she opened my cast, I gaped at my feet. It was nearly all healed! My toes were still scarred and… pushed-in, but they were returning to their original peach color. And my ankle wasn't a bear's nose anymore! It was more like… a dog's nose, yeah that's it.
I cringed when she didn't even stop while putting the new cast on. Man, this woman sure didn't like her job very much. The woman then pulled the blanket aside to check on my hip. It wasn't that bad either. I mean, it was at the same state as the morning before when Brooke healed me, but now the color was, like my foot, returning back to peach. I nearly sighed when the nurse was finished. Seriously, the woman gave me goosebumps. She put her utensils down, grabbed the clipboard, flung me a small –very small—smile and left.
I sighed. "Damnit."
Suddenly I was feeling alone. I had, honestly, wanted to see Olivia today. I needed to talk to her. I needed to ask her about Brooke and about humans and about… the paranormal. I mean, obviously I didn't believe in ghosts. But vampires? Werewolves? Elves? Unicorns? Really? I shook my head.
No. You don't believe in these stuff… Do I?
I frowned and closed my eyes.
Santa.
I groaned and turned away. That voice and name had been haunting me ever since that dream. The auburn haired girl had seemed so real and so familiar that it killed me. The way the girl smiled at me. The way she hugged me. The way she accepted me. It made my heart ache to know that maybe that dream was just a dream and that it wasn't real. Cause I wanted it to be real. I wanted it to be real so badly so that I could find this Santa girl, or at least ask of her, and see if I can get in touch with her again.I sighed and closed my eyes. What a goddamn mess.
I slept for… a few hours. When I woke up, it was 2 AM. Huh. Brooke's late. I looked around and sighed when I found no one in the room. Slowly, I began to peel off everything including the IV's and bandages and needles, I fidgeted when my hip stung abit. Hey, I wasn't indestructible. I walked to the window and nearly screamed when a familiar face looked up at me.
Brooke smirked. She was sitting there the whole time! She was merely sitting on the metal stairs outside the window texting on her blackberry looking very natural and semi-annoyed. She looked up at me when I walked over to the window. She dumped her phone back in her bag and stood up, dusting the dirt of her skirt. She gestured for me to step aside and I did, thus causing her to pull the window up and jump in. She smiled at me innocently, the smile she always uses when she was trying to cover something up.
"Sorry. I thought you were asleep so I started texting and got confused at the time."
I scoffed. "No shit."
She rolled her eyes and turned to the window. "So, you ready to step out?"
My eyes widened and I gulped. Honestly, I was pretty afraid to step out again. It's a common feeling that psychiatrists can solve. You don't really have a name for it. Sometimes it's just called nervousness. But it's when you haven't done something in a long time, and when you start again you're afraid of messing up. In my case, I'm afraid my legs would break all of a sudden or something. I turned to Brooke. "Are you sure I'm ready?"
She rolled her eyes again, a habit that, yes, I was taking notice of. "You're not gonna fly a plane or anything. It's just walking. 1 year olds can do it. And I'm pretty sure you're older than 1."
I exhaled a loud breath and climbed out the window, gasping in pleasure when that cool breeze hit my face. I felt so free. So fresh! So—
"Ow!" I turned my head and snarled at Brooke, who was poking me on the leg.
"Hurry up, will ya'. Who knows when the sun might come up again. I can't risk that."
I raised an eyebrow. Eh? The sun? I ignored her and pushed my lower torso out so that I was fully standing on the stairs. I hesitated when I realized how high I was. Man, jumping down this would mean murder. Yet—I turned my gaze to Brooke, who was already out of the room. She shut the window and turned to me. "Let's go, Hudson." She took my hand (Nevermind me blushing) and dragged me to the right, which was opposite of the stairs.
By the right, there was a small ledge that led to the roof of another building. It was pretty long and if you did just one mistake, you're as good as dead. I gulped as she started walking at the hedge of the thing. I gaped at her. "Are you mad? We might fall!" I paused. "I might fall!" I had accepted the fact that Brooke wasn't human. I know you must think I'm such a naïve person for believing it so fast. But hold your horses, friend. Everyone told me I jumped off the Empire State Building and now my memories are wiped, anything was possible to me at that moment.
She scoffed. "Don't worry. I got ya'." With that, she raised her hand which had her fingers gripping my wrist tightly. I gulped but obliged. Brooke obviously knew what she was doing… Right?
She kept her right hand plastered to the wall as if she had glue on her palm, and she silently crept to the other side with me following limply behind. I was terrified. I forced myself to look up or straight as I crossed. Yes, I have a slight phobia of heights. But c'mon! Anyone would be afraid crossing a hedge like that! Well… Anyone but—
"Ember! Speed up!" Brooke ordered, glaring at me.
I glared back but sped up anyways. If this was a game, I'd be hogging up the line. I gulped and closed my eyes, merely following Brooke's soft footsteps and feeling her soft hand on my wrist. Holy shit, her hand was really soft. I suddenly tripped on something and fell. I screamed – Just a small one – and suddenly I was in Brooke's arms. I gulped and blushed. Holy shit how many times have these things been called cliché? I started remembering a few movies I watched before that had these type of scenes and I didn't know whether to be relieved that memories were coming back or horrified that I landed in Brooke's arms.
We were on the roof of the building then. Apparently, I had closed my eyes so I hadn't realize that we were at the end. I tripped over the short wall at the edge and was caught by Brooke before I could shatter my face. She rolled her eyes, but a small smile crept onto her beautiful face.
"Nice going, clutz." She pushed me off gently and I regained my posture, huffing at her. My eyes turned downwards and I stared at my foot that was in the cast. It was alright. Except…
"Can you help me take it out? It's getting kinda heavy and annoying." I mumbled absent-mindedly.
Brooke laughed but nodded. "Sure. Hold still." She then bent down and used one of her nails, the pinky, to rip the cast open. Holy crap what long nails she had! "There." She exclaimed cheekily, winking at me as the cast drooped in different directions.
I smiled at her and turned to my leg. It was alright now. Besides the fact that I was barefoot on both feet, I was actually feeling pretty alive. "Thanks, Brooke." Once again she hesitated and turned away. She mumbled a 'lets go' and headed off. I followed her awkwardly, wondering why she was so tense whenever I got friendly with her. So what if I use to not like her? I do now… Wait—
I gulped. Do I like her? .. Well, yeah… But… as friends…?
I shook my head and scowled. I'm so freaking perverted.
It would explain a lot. HAH. Anyways, Brooke made her way across the roof, not even pausing to run and jump to the other roof which was probably 340 centimeters away from the roof I was standing on. That was pret-ty far. I gulped as I made my way to the edge. When Brooke stood up, she turned her head to me and her eyes spoke dangerously. There was a nervous smile on her face, as if she was forced to pull that smile but is innocently afraid of me rejecting her, while her eyes stared at me as if she was pleading for me to follow… Not ask.
I turned away. "What the hell, Brooke?"
"Just jump, Ems. Trust me!"
"I can't!"
"Yes you can! Just use your legs to—"
"I mean I can't trust you!"
Pause.
Brooke stared at me disbelievingly. "You… You don't trust me?"
I clenched my teeth. "I don't trust anyone! This is bloody crazy! You go around jumping roofs and committing crimes? How will I know you're not a bloody psycho?" I paused. "I woke up without any memories of anything that happened in my past! What type of position do you think that placed me in? Not a good one! You suddenly, implanted your blood in me and I'm not human anymore! You're not human anymore! What the bloody hell are you?"
She stared at me fearfully, her smile completely gone. She turned her head, her hand beside her tightening and loosening in pure tense. She was very out of character. I had never seen the type of vulnerability in her eyes ever. She let go a mouthful of air, a cloud of cool smoke emerging in front of her then disappearing. "I'm sorry, Ember." She turned around, a sudden burning ball of hatred in her eyes. "I cannot tell you what I am. Nor can I tell you what made me become this or what has happened to you and what messed your mind up of your past."
The way she talked was so old-fashioned and forceful, I had to keep myself from gaping.
"All I can tell you is that you're an essential detail to an enormous event." She paused. "Jump."
I hesitated and looked down. "No!"
"I said, jump."
I pouted and crossed my arms. "Nu-uh." I bet I sounded like a stubborn, bratty little kid. But like I gave a shit!
She scoffed. "Ember, jump or so help me, I will—"
"I'm hungry!"
Well, that statement came out of nowhere. Trust me, I had no intention of actually blurting something like that out. It merely escaped my lips when I had tried to block out whatever she was about to say. I didn't want to jump, in fear of suddenly dropping and landing to my death. And I didn't want to trust Brooke. But I did. Somewhere deep in my gut, I really did. I trusted her and I could've jumped if I had wanted to, but I didn't. I had to show Brooke that I wasn't so easily woo-ed.
"For goodness sake, Ember! Don't they give you hospital food or something?"
I laughed, rolling my eyes. "Yeah, sure. Cause I love eating stale paste and rotten milk!"
Brooke scowled. "You spoiled little jerk."
"Excuse me?"
"Oh, you're excused."
I snarled at her, narrowing my eyes in hopes of looking intimidating. Finally after a few seconds of merely staring into each other's eyes trying to scare one of us off, she sighed in defeat.
"Whatever! We'll stop by McD's on the way or something! Just c'mon over!" She exclaimed with a defeated expression. She waved her arms and turned away, waiting for my response.
I looked at the gap between the two buildings and I frowned. This is too much. I cant do this. Just go back to the hospital room, get back in bed, wait until your fully healed and go on with your life with that Clayton guy and your 'family'. The voice in my head exclaimed. I found it a very wise answer. But a little part of my heart whispered,
You were never wise, friend.
And I completely forgot about the voice that had spoken. I merely took a step back, stared at Brooke, and leaped. It wasn't a huge leap. Leaping itself and staring at the gap are two different things. When you stare at the gap, you go into overdrive mode where your mind thinks of nothing but on how big the gap is. But when you actually leap, you realize that it isn't that big and that you could've actually made it if you'd jump earlier! For me, it was the same concept. Except I didn't reach the other building. Ohohoho no, If I had reached the other building in time, my life would've probably been much different.
I screamed. Who wouldn't? Falling to the death for the second time isn't a nice feeling. It isn't a nice feeling at all. I couldn't do anything but scream. Tears weren't even fast enough to reach my eyes by the time I hit the ground. Or rather, by the time someone caught me before I hit the ground. I looked up and blushed.
"Holy shit, I thought you'd say I could make it!"
Brooke smirked. "I said, Jump and trust me. I never said you could make it."
I scowled at her. "Whatever! Lemme go! I feel like one of those cliche overrated characters that always falls to the 'hot guy''s arms!"
She rolled her eyes but slowly let me off. So she caught me huh. How does someone do that? What exactly was she? I wanted to know so badly but something told me that I was going to find out very soon. I followed her as she exited the alley we were in. When I fell, I hadn't realize that the gap was actually the top of a dark alley. I was afraid that I had woken someone up from my screaming or something, but not as afraid as I was when I thought back to jumping and falling. Holy shit. Furgin' freaky.
We made our way to the streets of Manhattan. I shivered when a cold breeze flew by. I was only wearing the hospital dress and underwear anyway. I turned to Brooke but she seemed completely unfazed even though she wore a sleeveless button up shirt and a miniskirt.
"Hey, aren't you cold?" I stuttered and followed her simultaneously, rubbing my arms for heat.
Brooke answered, without turning back, cooly. "No. Actually, it's a little hot tonight. Don't you think?"
I scowled at her. I could tell by the way she talked that she was being absolutely sarcastic. It's not that I hate sarcasm. Actually, I tend to use sarcasm more then one might think. It's just that—The way Brooke used her sarcasm, it made me feel as if I was an idiot. "Don't go all sarcastic bitch on me. You're the reason I'm in this state in the first place. Even though I have no idea what you did to me." I mumbled, rubbing my hands on my arms.
Brooke rolled her eyes. "Look, you tend to get used to this type of weather. We'll stop by Starbucks too if you want some hot cocoa!" She snapped. "We do not have time for your complaints. You're just lucky you're alive. And not to mention walking again. That 'healing' thing I gave you took a lot of my energy away from me. Now I have to recharge and that means I can't possibly defend you if you get into some sort of shitting trouble. Tonight, I just wanna introduce you to a little thing called Manhattan." She took my hand harshly, but even so the heat instantly rose to my cheeks. I didn't know whether to feel grateful that I had heat or embarrassed that I was blushing! She dragged me across the streets and everything was a blur after that.
On the way to whatever place she was taking me, I couldn't help but wonder what she meant by recharge and all the other weird things she had said. You don't walk around New York and hear people say things like that for fun. Brooke was definitely a mystery to me. But even so, I couldn't help but recognize every inch of her face and voice. I did recognize it somewhere… Just not fully. It was as if a giant block had appeared at the back of my head, blocking out the memories that I had wanted so badly to come back.
"We're here, barbie." She mumbled sarcastically, opening the door to one rich-ass restaurant for me to go in. I raised an eyebrow from her, but she obviously didn't want to put up with my crap. I merely walked in and looked around. At that point, everyone was staring at me weirdly. I mean, who wouldn't? If you had seen a girl with messy hair, bulged eyes with a hospital gown walk into a rather fancy restaurant, what would you do?
"What're we doing here?"
"Here. Wear this." Brooke practically shoved some clothes to my face. Apparently, she had kept some hidden in her prada bag. Huh, figures. I took them hurriedly and rushed to the bathroom, embarrassed and flustered at all the unwanted attention I was getting.
When I reached the bathroom, I thanked the living gods that no one was in it. I stopped in front of the huge mirrors and sighed loudly. What have I gotten myself into? My eyes were closed when I began to think. Think about what? Everything. I just thought about everything. I couldn't get Brooke's face out of my head for some reason. She was just… there. I opened my eyes and growled at myself. But then something red caught my view. I looked up, and nearly screamed, but I covered my mouth with my hand and gaped. On the top right side of the mirror, written in red lipstick, were the words 'You survived? Good. Now, at least, it's my turn to play with fire. -S'
I stared at the words. Some other girl wouldv'e merely thought it was a simple threat by some small kids or something. But it said You survived. Meaning it had to be about me! Plus, it said fire! And Ember was another meaning for fire. Haven't you heard of pokemon? "Who the damn hell is S?" I whispered moronically, forgetting about the whole 'change into better clothes' thing.
I blinked and looked down, shaking my head. Don't let this get to you, Ember. Concentrate. Just change and get out there. Brooke's waiting for you. You can ask about this to her later. I sighed and nodded. Okay. Time to change.
I am fully aware that I haven't updated in a while! And I apologize for any inconvenience but HEY, it's up now! :D
I got a bad case of writers block. And I had suddenly gotten on back with drawing. What a big change huh. But now, I promise, I'll try to update sooner! As long as y'all keep reading aight. (:
Woo. I mixed in a bit of 'Pretty Little Liars' action in this. xD I'm such a lamo ~ Anyway, enjoy!
WordsFlowNaturally—Thank you for the review! (: And yes, actually, I'm glad you think that way cause that was actually what I was going for :p
LuxVenus—Sorry to keep you waiting xD But thank you for reviewing once again ~ (:
So once again, THANKS.
-Kyle