Word count: 2558
After a relatively uneventful Friday, Bronwyn and Sally walked out of the auditorium from Drama to meet Hawkeye and Arion at the Art classroom. They met Kat along the way, and she looked ready for the weekend, also having brought along a duffel bag like Bronwyn’s. She had her earbuds in and apparently couldn’t hear them, as evidenced by her not responding to Bronwyn asking how she did on her latest Japanese test.
“So you’ve been surprisingly available this week, according to Arion,” Sally asked, her fruity voice softer than normal, to the point of almost mumbling. “How long is that going to last?”
Bronwyn shrugged, “Until running club starts up, which will happen in a few weeks, I think.” She scratched the back of her neck helplessly. “And then there’s water polo. Plus, Drama Club didn’t have a meeting this week because Mr. Ebersole was sick.”
“Oh.”
Suddenly, the relaxing, even, and calm sound of Sally’s voice sounded disappointed. When Bronwyn looked up at her, Sally’s pale pink lips were twisted into a frown. And then Bronwyn realized that they weren’t pale pink – she had put bright pink lipgloss on them. It looked nice, actually.
Forcing a bit of glee into her voice, Bronwyn effortlessly slung her arm over Sally’s shoulder and explained, “But I’ll still hang out with you and everyone else during lunch. It’s not like I could hang out after school that often anyway, what with my uncle’s trust issues.”
With a sharp nod, the violet-haired girl tried for a wry smile. Bronwyn only relented when she saw the wrinkles on Sally’s forehead go away.
“It’s fine, I mean… I was just getting used to the idea that the infamous duo of Kathryn and myself would be extended to a trio. I don’t know. It’s stupid.”
“No, no, I totally get it.” Sweeping her arm out in front of her, she quietly spoke in the dramatic voice of a movie narrator, “‘An elf, a fairy, and a vampire overcome all odds together through friendship and girl power.’ It’s an epic idea. You should write a story about it.”
And then Sally’s smile became so much more authentic, but meeker as well. It was the smile that said, “I’m pleasantly surprised you care enough to pay attention to me.”
It was no secret that Sally wrote. She spent classes scribbling in a notebook that wasn’t the one she used for notes. In fact, it was quite common for her to have two – or even three – notebooks out at once. If one listened carefully enough, they could hear her talk in passing to her brother about a new chapter of a book she was working on— and Bronwyn was always listening. No, it wasn’t a secret that Sally dreamed of worlds where heroes triumphed over evil after a fair amount of character development and good exposition, but from her smile, Bronwyn could also tell that no one cared enough to go out of their way to comment on it.
“That sounds like a really cool premise,” Sally admitted. “If I could come up with a storyline, I’d love to write about it.”
“I’m sure you can think of something.”
“Think of something for what?”
Arion and Hawkeye met the trio of girls as dozens of other students passed by them. Hawkeye looked between Sally and Bronwyn, curious.
“Are you writing a new story?” Laughing, he gently teased, “You still have to finish about seven others.”
In response, his sister punched his arm lightly before stepping forward to hug him. Kat mumbled to them, starting a conversation.
Grinning, Arion crossed the space between him and Bronwyn. He said over his shoulder, “We’ll meet you guys at your house. I just have to get something from home really quickly. Okay?”
“Yeah,” Kat answered. “See you later.”
“So, you ready for our weekend adventure?” Arion asked under his breath.
Bronwyn shook her head in disbelief, muttering, “Last week, you were just one of the kids I sat next to in classes, and now I’m trusting you with my all my secrets. I’m sneaking away to spend a weekend with you and my new friends— I have friends!”
Frowning, Arion threw the strap of his second to shift the weight to his other shoulder. Since they were all seniors of an advanced program, all five of the kids were used to carrying around a lot of weight. Arion reckoned Bronwyn was the most used to it, considering that she usually carried around a sports bag.
“You’re not nervous or scared, are you?” he inquired, his eyebrows drawing together in worry.
He couldn’t help the sigh of relief that escaped him when Bronwyn shook her head, her expression certain.
“Good.” With that, he held his hand out to her, palm-side up. “Now, mademoiselle, I’ve got something to show you.”
“Ooh, French,” Bronwyn squealed excitably, “now you’re speaking my language.”
She took his hand, strolling with him through the crowd until they were free from their high school and all its social constraints and issues for a couple of days.
Bronwyn wondered aloud along the way, “Are you going to finally tell me what’s in the basement? Or are you going to wait to show me?”
“I can tell you,” Arion hummed. “It’s my dad’s old satchel.”
At his answer, Bronwyn almost froze in her tracks. Her eyes narrowed. “A satchel? What’s special about a satchel that you couldn’t bring it to school? And why would you bring a second bag if we were going to your house again anyway?”
“Yes, a satchel. It’s special because— well, you’ll see.” Arion paused anxiously at a streetlight before answering her last question, tapping the back of Bronwyn’s hand with his thumb. “And I brought this because my parents don’t expect me to come back to the house. They think I’m just going to Hawkeye’s house like it’s a normal weekend, remember?”
“Oh.”
Although she had never held someone’s hand before, it was quite nice. Well, she’d held her parents’ hands as far as she could remember, and when she was younger, she’d hold her uncle’s hand when crossing the street or when shopping. But this was different, right? She was holding a boy’s hand. She was holding the hand of a boy not related to her, who had also flirted with her (kind of?) while they were walking to his house as a quick stop before they spent the entire weekend together— with friends, of course. Friends who weren’t with her right now, so it was just them. Just them. Holding hands.
“Do you like me?” she wanted to ask. A part of her craved to damn the social constructs and just blurt it out right then, right there in the middle of the street they were crossing. Because even though she didn’t have the time nor the emotional availability to have a relationship, she wanted to know.
She wanted to know as much as she wanted to know if she liked him – him and his soft, wavy hair, his pouty lips, his celestial blood, and his hunger for knowledge.
Despite however much she wanted to know everything about him, herself, and whatever constantly shifting relationship they had, she just held on tighter, pressing her fingertips against the grooves in between his knuckles. His hand was warm and dry. Bronwyn suddenly worried that hers might have been sweaty, and wished she could rub her palm off on her tights.
“You’re pretty quiet now. Should I be worried?” he joked. It wasn’t much of a joke, really, but he tried to play it off like one. For the last half a block, he’d noticed that her eyes had been darting around the ground as if they were searching to the answer to life’s greatest question.
“No. Just thinking.”
“About what?”
“Too many things to explain, honestly.”
Although Arion was at the forefront of her mind, he wasn’t the only thing there. Bronwyn thought of her uncle, of Sally and the way she seemed disappointed about Bronwyn’s future absence, and of so much more. However, she said the one thing Arion could answer.
“I know that when I asked everyone why they were helping me yesterday, you all said that it was because I’m your friend now, but even that confuses me as much as it relieves me,” she admitted slowly. “Why would you want to be? I mean, besides the whole vampire thing, no one’s ever genuinely interested in being around me.”
“I am.”
“Why?”
“Because I want to get to know you, Bronwyn,” Arion laughed simply and resolutely. “I want to know the girl who buries her nose in books and changes personalities like shoes.” The way he said it so easily almost shocked Bronwyn. There was a small smile playing on his lips. “Why don’t you get that?” While he was saying this, he paid careful attention to her expression. Her lips grew into a small line, and her nose scrunched.
“I’m not interesting. I’m ‘nice’ and ‘smart.’ Even if I were allowed to get close to people, I still wouldn’t have best friends or boyfriends just because I’m not the kind of person people want to be close to. No one wants to partner with me unless they want a good grade on something. I’m the last picked for teams in games or assignments where we’re just having fun. I’m boring, as far as they all know.” Bronwyn grimaced. “And if I were a normal human, they’d be right.”
Arion squeezed her hand and stepped closer to her as a biker passed them on the sidewalk, reminding her under his breath, “If you were normal, you’d be able to have friends without having to stretch the truth to your uncle to spend time with them. You wouldn’t spend nights desperately wandering the forest for something to drink from or for refuge away from your uncle during the time his sickness affects him. But you wouldn’t have caught me on Monday, and we wouldn’t be talking right now. Sometimes we have to take all the good with all the bad.”
“Are you implying that having magical friends makes life as a monster worth living?” Bronwyn tensed, her grip on his hand tightening dangerously.
He was quick to clarify himself. “Not at all. What I mean to say is that no matter how good things are, the bad is always there, and it can’t be improved. But the logical converse of that statement is that no matter how bad things are, there’s always good somewhere, and we should appreciate it when we have it.” Before Bronwyn had time to form a response, he pressed on, “And if you call yourself a monster again, I’ll do something that will annoy you until you admit that you aren’t.”
“What could you possibly do that could annoy me?”
“Quite a lot. For instance, I could jinx you so that every sound you hear is as grating as nails on a chalkboard.”
“Ugh. Fine. I won’t say it again.”
Smirking, Arion lifted his hand to let Bronwyn pass in front of him as a family huddled together walked by them. “Here’s something you need to know about friends: Some of the best ones will fight anyone who says bad things about you, even if you’re saying them about yourself.”
They made a last turn before they reached Arion’s neighborhood. “My parents are still at work, and Pippa’s at daycare—”
“Pippa?” Bronwyn truncated him.
“My little sister? Philippa?”
While Bronwyn’s mind was suddenly filled with images of a little female version of Arion with gangly limbs and a wide smile, she still knew the name had never left his lips in her presence before. “You have a sister?”
“Yeah…” Narrowing his eyes, Arion scratched his hairline in confusion before brushing his hair back. “I never mentioned her?”
“Not in front of me. How old is she? Is she good at magic too? What does she look like?”
“Twelve. She’s a menace. And she’s got my dad’s green eyes and straight hair, unlike me.” Now that they were only a short distance from his house, he let go of her hand to search through the second bag slung on his shoulder for his keys. “I look more like my mom.”
Bronwyn froze in her tracks once her eyes landed a little bit to the left of his house’s mailbox, gripping the strap of her bag like it could pull her away from this nightmare. “Uh, Arion? Is that your parents’ car in the driveway?”
Although he paused for a second, he didn’t completely stop looking for the keys. He didn’t look up, but he asked, “Blue SUV?”
“Yeah.”
“Yep, it’s theirs.” Sighing, he brought out the keys on a green and purple lanyard – the colors of their school – and continued walking down the street. When Bronwyn didn’t follow, he glanced back and joked, “If you’re worrying about going inside, I would be willing to invite you.”
“First, that’s just a myth and you know it—”
“Must have scared you on your first sleepover, though.”
“—Second, I thought I wasn’t going to meet your parents because I’m not supposed to know about your powers!”
Arion, amused, explained, “You’re not going to— at least, not yet. You are, however, going to wait just outside for a minute so I can grab what I need. Does that sound fine?”
Nodding, Bronwyn followed behind him down the street, looking around to make sure no one else in the neighborhood was out. Arion slipped inside the house, giving her a last look.
While Bronwyn waited outside his house, she took out her phone and perused through the messages she shared with Hawkeye earlier.
Hey… So… This is Bronwyn. I’m assuming this is Hawkeye? – Bronwyn
Hey! Yeah, it’s me! ^-^ – Hawkeye
Well, thanks for giving me your number. It was really considerate of you. – Bronwyn
Don’t worry about it. I know how hard it can be to adjust to new people entering your life, and it must be so much harder considering that none of us are human. – Hawkeye
I guess you could say that. – Bronwyn
Bronwyn scrolled through the following tangent about Hawkeye asking for help with the Calculus homework in favor of cutting to the end of the conversation.
Thanks for the help you gave me tonight! It means a lot to have another person who’d be willing to help me understand something I don’t quite get. – Hawkeye
It’s no problem, but I just wonder why you didn’t try asking Arion. I don’t mean that I didn’t want to help you, but he’s much closer to you than I am, so it makes more sense that you ask him. – Bronwyn
Honestly? I wasn’t sure how else to carry a good conversation with you. I know you’re always willing to help people understand in other classes, so I thought it would be good to help us establish a rapport, especially considering that I don’t know much about sports or the things you and Sally learn in Drama. – Hawkeye
Oh… You’re really observant and thoughtful, Hawkeye. – Bronwyn
I think it’s a side effect of not being human and trying to see how other people act so that I know what’s “normal.” – Hawkeye
I can’t judge. I think I subconsciously do that, too! – Bronwyn
“Who are you?”
Scraps of Notebook Paper 