The Paragon Element (Book 1)

by Jeff Hale

  “Yeah, just happens to be true. I know you have my best interests at heart. And I’ll take you at your word that you weren’t trying to set me up with someone this time. Look, I gotta go. I got work in an hour and the bus system around here is kind of shitty. See everyone later,” I called out to the others.

  “Can I at least hope you can learn to get along with Kat?” Nina asked, shortening Katelyn’s name.

  “Yeah, I promise nothing,” was my answer as I walked away.

  Again it wasn’t her fault. I just tended to freeze up when I was really attracted to someone. This made me uncomfortable and socially awkward. I didn’t like being uncomfortable, and I definitively did not like feeling awkward. It pissed me off; thus, I get a bit irritable around said person and come off as anti-social and unfriendly. In other words, I become an asshole. I was fine with that. But there was definitely something… different about Katelyn. Maybe I should have been a bit more tactful?

  Either way, I had reason to be grumpy as it was. As much as I wanted to spend time after school with my friends, I had to go into the MAGE office. I had more paperwork to do. I swear, any more red-tape, and I was going to put one of my daggers into my eye.

  FIVE

  The next day Katelyn was at the Wall with Dave and Nina when I arrived in the morning. They were all chatting with each other as I approached. They barely noticed me as I sat down at my usual spot and lit up a cigarette. They were talking about one of Katelyn’s friends from up in Washington State, some girl named Kris that I gathered was her best friend.

  “So, Aerick, how are you this morning?” Katelyn asked once they had finished their conversation.

  “It’s morning. That’s all that needs to be said about my mood, Katelyn,” I muttered. I had hoped that maybe my overwhelming attraction to her would go away, but it hadn’t. It terrified me, because I knew deep down that I could end up caring as much about this girl as I had about Serena, if I gave it a chance. And I wasn’t sure I wanted to give it that chance, either for my own emotional safety, or because I would feel like I was betraying Serena, or both.

  “Not a morning person, huh? Well I guess that’s something we have in common then. Oh, and Kat is fine. It’s what my friends call me.” She sat down next to me.

  I looked over at her. She was wearing a black corset-like top and a pair of tight black cut off denim shorts with fishnet stockings and a pair of leather high-heeled boots. She looked good, really good, and I couldn’t help staring for a few seconds despite myself.

  “That’s nice. Do I look like I want to talk to you?” I asked, irritation creeping into my voice.

  “Considering that once over you just gave me, I’d say… yes?” She smiled brilliantly at me.

  Fuck. She’d noticed.

  “Then you’d be wrong.” I stood up and started to walk towards the school. As I took my first step she grabbed my hand. Something… energy, a connection, some intangible thing passed between us in that moment and I turned and looked at her in complete shock. She was Aetheric somehow. I wasn’t sure how I knew, but in that moment… then the moment passed and it was gone. Maybe it was just my imagination.

  “Hey. I’m just trying to be friends with you.” Kat gave me a hurt look.

  “Who said I wanted to make new friends? I have all the friends I need,” I said, annoyed. She was quickly passing from annoying because of my own issues to becoming actually irritating.

  “You can never have too many friends.” She still had that hurt expression on her face, and it was starting to become highly unfair to carry on a conversation with her looking at me like that. Girls sure could play dirty when they wanted too.

  “Trust me. You can. Look I don’t have all day to mince words with you. I don’t know you. That means I don’t like you.” I started to walk away again, and she decided at that time to get up and follow me. “Stop following me. Leave me alone and stop annoying me.”

  “I’m going to keep finding ways to annoy you until we can come to some compromise to at least get along,” she said, double-stepping just to keep up with me. I had a long stride and I tended to not stroll casually.

  “Why?” I asked without even looking at her.

  “Because your friend wants us to get along. She considers us both friends. But if you’re jealous for some reason, and you really want me to go away, I will. But I would prefer that we can all be friends.” Kat flashed me a bright smile.

  “I’m not jealous. I just don’t trust anyone except those who have already earned it. I have my reasons, and they’re reasons that even they aren’t aware of,” I informed her flatly.

  “You must not trust them all that much if you can’t even tell them how they’ve earned your trust.”

  “They know why. I’ve known Nina and Dave for about a decade now. I’ve known a few others for a few years or so. That’s how they’ve earned my trust. They’ve been around for years, and they were there during some of the worst times of my life,” I said, recalling why exactly I was so close to Dave and Nina.

  “Ah. So if I stick around for a few years, you’ll eventually trust me?” She sounded hopeful.

  “No. I didn’t say that.” I stopped and faced her. “Look, it’s just a personal thing, okay? Leave it at that,” I said with a tone of finality. I had been burned by people too many times to trust anyone. People in the past who said they were friends until I did something supposedly wrong, so they decided to beat the shit out of me, and even recently I had learned that the only reason Derek was dead now was because someone in our crew had ratted him out. Dave and Nina had never turned on me. Never, not once.

  “Okay, fair enough. But how can I convince you that we can all be friends?” She was determined, I had to give her that.

  “You can’t. If you want to hang with Dave and Nina, whatever, it’s their choice to hang out with you. I can’t stop that, and I wouldn’t even if I could. It’s not my place to choose their friends for them. Unless I deem you as a threat, at which point you’ll deal with me, and you don’t want that.”

  “Right. You broke that kid’s nose with the basketball. Your reputation for violence precedes you.” There was reproach in her tone.

  “Please. He had it coming, the little shit. He tried to do the same to me. I just returned the favor when he failed. He just wasn’t as fast at catching the ball as I was, I guess.”

  “I guess that makes it all okay.” Kat’s mouth turned down in a slight frown.

  “What? You don’t think so?” I asked incredulously.

  “No! Of course not! Just because someone tried to do something to you, doesn’t mean you have to do it back. Haven’t you ever heard that two wrongs don’t make a right?” she exclaimed.

  I just blinked at her, shocked for a moment because it felt like years ago when Serena would chastise me. I didn’t like the feeling and it pissed me off briefly. What right did she have to remind me of Serena? “Oh what the fuck ever. That phrase is the biggest load of shit I’ve ever heard. That may work where you come from, farm girl, but here it’s more of a ‘do unto others before they do unto you’. He threw the ball at me, with the intent to harm, he got it back in spades. You better learn that if you’re going to survive here.” My tone was grim.

  “Why are you concerned over my safety all of a sudden?” She surprised me by smiling at me instead of backing down. Disapproving or not, my newly violent reputation didn’t seem to faze her.

  “I’m not. Just giving out some basic advice. That’s all.” But I couldn’t help but smile a little, because she was grinning at me now and it was a bit infectious. I was starting to like her. Well, okay, I never really disliked her; I had been trying for self-preservation and I had a feeling I’d failed.

  “Uh-huh. See? I told you I wasn’t hard to get along with.” She was nodding sagely now.

  “I’m protective of my friends, and they’re protective of me,” I admitted. “We’re a pretty close-knit circle. I tend to be the most xenophobic of the three of us. A lot has happened
lately, and I just want to make sure that no one gets our trust and burns us. It’s happened in the past, and I don’t want to see it happen again.” I glanced back at Dave and Nina and noticed that they were watching the two of us pretty closely.

  Great. They’re probably betting each other on how long it will take for me to ask her out. Too bad I’ll have to disappoint them both. Maybe.

  “Fair enough, but that’s not all of it,” Katelyn said, suddenly serious.

  “Well, yeah it is,” I argued, returning my attention to her.

  “No, it isn’t. You also get defensive and rude when you find someone attractive.” She smiled again.

  “Dammit, Nina. I’m gonna fucking kill her,” I grumbled. She knew that I didn’t like it when she gave away information like that. I would have to have a serious talk with her about that. I didn’t give a flying fuck if she decided to gossip, as long as I wasn’t the subject of the gossip, and she knew it.

  “So it’s true,” Kat stated, chuckling a little.

  “I didn’t say that.” Not that I needed to; she’d inferred it from my comment.

  “Yeah, you did. I never said that Nina told me that about you.”

  “Dammit all. What else did she tell you?” I asked, defeated.

  “Nothing much, just that you were a really close friend, and that you’ve had some rough spots in your life recently. The only reason she told me about that particular personality quirk was because she figured you might be rude towards me and for me not to take it personally.”

  “What? You’re not going to ask what those ‘rough spots’ in my life were?” I narrowed my eyes at her in disbelief.

  “No. If you want to tell me, you will. I see no need to pry into your personal life. I get the idea that at least one of them has to do with that girl named Serena. I’m sorry about being so straightforward with that. The way Nina talked about her, I thought she was just a friend of yours at first.” Kat gave me an apologetic look.

  “Oh. That’s a first. Usually everyone always wants to know what happened, which by the way, if you’d do me the favor of not bringing her up, I’d appreciate it.”

  “Like I said, if you wanted me to know, you would tell me, and I’m fine with that.”

  “Maybe we can be friends after all.” I smiled again, wondering if I could be any more masochistic. Just friends? Who was I trying to kid?

  “Why? Because I won’t pry?” she asked.

  “Why not? Good a reason as any. I’m a private person, and I respect those that can respect that. Nina doesn’t, but I let it slide with her.”

  “Yeah, she seems to be a horrible gossip.”

  “She is,” I laughed. “I feel sorry for those on the wrong end of it. I’ve asked her to not gossip about me, but that doesn’t seem to stick in that sometimes vapid brain of hers,” I said, at which point Katelyn gave me a dirty look. I held my hands up and shrugged. “She can be vapid at times. I was telling the truth earlier. She really isn’t all that picky when she’s trying to set me up with someone. Not nearly as picky as she is towards those she calls friend, that’s for sure. I find that funny because I would think that anyone she would set me up with she would want to get along with and be friends with, but I think right now she’s just trying to get me a piece of ass.”

  Her cheeks actually went pink at my choice of words. She cleared her throat lightly. “Well, I never got the impression she was trying to set me up with you. Like I said, she actually said very little about you. Said I should just meet you and form my own judgment.”

  “And?”

  Kat lifted a brow. “You’re a complete ass, but I can see a decent person buried in there somewhere.” She winked at me. “After all, you wouldn’t care so much about your friends if you weren’t a decent person.”

  “Thanks, I think.”

  “Sure.” Her gaze shifted from me to Dave and Nina briefly before coming back. “Anyway, how does Dave keep up with Nina?”

  “I don’t know that he does, sometimes I think he just gets drug right the fuck along. I really need to get him away from Nina one of these days. I need to have a serious talk with him. I know the things that Nina does bugs him, and I know he won’t say anything, but he needs to vent to someone. It’s just so hard to get Nina to let him go anywhere without her. I think she’s afraid he’ll start thinking for himself if she does.” Despite my comment, I knew that Nina really did love Dave, but in some ways she was almost like a force of nature.

  “Wow. Trouble in paradise, huh?”

  “I wouldn’t say that. They just need some time apart, and I don’t think either of them realizes it. Dave needs to be his own person.”

  “Well, if you need to talk to him that badly, maybe I can try and plan some shopping with Nina and you can take the opportunity to talk with Dave?” Kat suggested.

  “As long as she doesn’t end up dragging him along. Sure. Thanks.”

  “What are friends for? I’m happy to help. And see? You can just be yourself around me, you’ll be fine, honest.” She grinned.

  “Wow, yeah, I’ve never brought any of that up to anyone. Let alone expected help with the situation. I suddenly have that feeling like I’ve known you for a long time.” I did, and it worried me a little. It would be too easy to drop my guard around her, to let her in… to care.

  “Sometimes people just click like that.”

  “I’ve never really had that happen. Look, you betray my trust or hurt my friends, and I swear there is nowhere you can run to that I will not find you.” I smiled as I said it, though I made sure my tone was serious.

  “Don’t worry. I have no intentions of doing anything of the sort,” she promised solemnly.

  The bell rang at that moment, signaling that we should head to our first classes. Damn, just when I was getting used to her and really interested in our conversation, not to mention enjoying the view.

  “Good. So… umm…” Now I start stumbling Great. Just smooth, Kerensky. I can talk to her about anything else, but when it comes to asking her out, I start stammering like a grade school drop-out with Tourette’s syndrome.

  “Yeah? You want to say something?” she asked, a quizzical look on her face.

  “Was... just wondering. What… um, you were doing. You know, after school.” I had actually caught up on stuff at the office, and I had a day or two to myself after school for once.

  “Why? You asking me out on a date?”

  “No! Just, you know, hang out, just as friends.”

  “Sure. If you want.” She sighed a little.

  “I have to meet up with Dave and Nina after school at the Wall, meet me there?”

  “Sure thing.”

  “Okay. See you then.” I headed to my first class, feeling pretty good about myself. I kept thinking about Kat, all the way until lunchtime.

  At lunch I followed my usual routine: soda from the cafeteria, then out to the Wall and the snack truck. As I crossed the street towards the wall, Jessie waved at me. I waved back and made my way towards the snack truck, lighting a cigarette as I went. Jessie fell into step next to me, teetering on stiletto high heels. Malcolm was already over at the Wall waiting.

  “Hey, Rick! Heard you’ve been scoping that new chick, Katelyn,” she said, peppy as always.

  “Where do you hear such things? You hear the strangest rumors, I swear,” I protested as I bought my bag of potato chips and a candy bar. I went back to my usual spot at the Wall, at the very top of the incline, and sat down.

  “Well, Nina told me,” she said as she sat next to me and smoothed down her tight denim mini skirt. She’d paired it with a button up shirt and loose tie.

  “Dammit to hell,” I muttered under my breath. “Well, she’s full of it. And I am so getting tired of her spouting off bullshit.” I sighed in exasperation. I loved Nina, I really did, but she was making this a really bad habit.

  I didn’t mind if she wanted to make my personal life her business, she was my friend after all, but making it other people’s business
was pissing me off. Not to mention the spreading false rumors bit. Okay it wasn’t untrue, but Nina didn’t know for sure one way or the other.

  “Uh-oh, you aren’t going to get pissed at her are you?” Jessie sounded concerned, and she put a hand on my shoulder.

  “No, but I do need to have a long talk with her. Not that it’ll do a hell of a lot of good, she does what she wants, but she needs to learn some boundaries.”

  “Don’t worry. I’m sure if you talk to her she’ll take what you say to heart, she really does value your friendship. She was telling me earlier in class that you just misunderstand her and her intentions. She just wants to do right by you and look out for you.”

  “Maybe, but sometimes she goes way too far. I swear that she goes out of her way to...” I broke off as I realized that Jessie wasn’t really paying attention to me, looking at her to see her staring across to the school parking lot. I looked in the same direction and felt my heart drop into my stomach. I had wondered when this was going to come back and haunt me.

  In the parking lot, headed in our direction, were Terry, Nick, and Karl. I had a feeling this had to do with Lance’s face being mashed in by a basketball. I wasn’t going to live it down even though I had avoided charges since MAGE stepped in and made the family just suck it up. They weren’t happy with it, but they made a deal.

  They walked with purpose across the street, right up to where I was sitting. I didn’t move, and didn’t even look up at them. They stood there for a minute or so, I assumed looking down at me, waiting for me to do something, anything. I noticed that everyone in the immediate area was dead silent, waiting for a fight to break out, and waiting to jump in if necessary. Terry and his goons weren’t liked around here.

  “Hey! You! Freak boy!” Terry yelled, nudging my foot with his.

  I slowly looked up, and found all three of them glaring down at me. “What can I help you fine gentlemen with today?” I asked politely, figuring it would just incense them even further. I was right.

  “Listen, dickhead, you’re gonna get the beating of your life for what you did to Lance,” Terry said as he pushed my foot again.