BEST FRIENDS FORNEVER
“They say I’m evil because
I have no heart and can’t feel,
but how can I feel when they kept
taking, pushing and asking much of me
until I gave them my very soul?”
Melody Manful
Abigail let go of the steering wheel and crawled into the backseat.
Did Abigail steer them away? She couldn’t have. Shock couldn’t begin to describe what I was feeling. I was surprised—and surprise wasn’t something I experienced often. I couldn’t think straight. No normal human could do what Abigail just did. What was she?
The street filled with cries and chaos. It didn’t take long for police cruisers and ambulances to arrive. Paramedics rushed to help the injured.
This time when she tried the car handle, the door opened. Abigail stepped out of the car and surveyed the surrounding hell. Sarah and Danny climbed shakily out of the car, tears streaming down their cheeks.
My eyes searched the crowd until they found Tristan’s. The moment our eyes connected, tears started falling down his cheeks. The night sky rumbled, the roll of thunder pierced every heart and brought sadness into the soul of everyone around. Except me. I just thought the forces of the universe were kissing up to him!
Suddenly he was right in front of me. “Are you happy now?” Tristan asked, clearly pained by the destruction I had caused. “Does this make you happy?” He pointed at the chaos around us.
“Ecstatic. Do I win a prize?”
“You’re just…” He paused, clenching his fists. “Just…” His blue eyes abruptly turned gold.
“I’m what?” I asked, stepping closer toward him when I realized he wasn’t going to continue his little speech. “What, are you too good to tell me how awful I am?”
“No, you don’t deserve even that satisfaction!” He transported himself to Abigail and her friends.
My breath started coming on too strong as anger built up inside me. My body felt enflamed. I clenched my fists, letting the burning rage inside take control. Instantly, my right hand ignited and I hurled the ball of fire straight toward Abigail.
Half a second before the fire blasted Abigail, Tristan’s hands snatched it from the air. Before I could inhale another breath, he stood in front of me.
“Enough, Gideon!” Tristan shouted.
“Oh, I’m just getting started,” I snarled, staring him straight in the eyes. “I came here for the girl, and she’s still alive.”
“Then I suggest you come up with a more brilliant plan, because this one is pathetic,” Tristan said, challenging me. The fire in his hands evaporated into air, and he was gone again.
“That is one angry prince.”
I turned around at the sound of D’s voice. She stood behind me, smiling as if there weren’t chaos going on around us. She wore an erotic, short red dress with a seductive smile on her face. Around her neck dangled an ancient crystal necklace that glowed every time a soul died—which was every second, so the necklace never stopped shimmering.
D was the only friend I had. She was the Grim Reaper and the keeper of the Underworld. As the Grim Reaper, it was her job to lead dead souls to the Underworld, where they’d cross over. And her being here meant she came to take the souls of those I just killed.
“And he just made one angry Gideon.” I made an attempt to go over to Tristan, but D stopped me.
“Patience, handsome. You aren’t going to get anywhere near his human by being Gideon.”
“How the hell am I supposed to kill her then?”
“I suggest if you want to kill the girl, you befriend her first.”
I frowned, puzzled. That was the dumbest idea I’d ever heard. Why the hell would I waste my time befriending a human?
“Trust me, it would be brilliant,” she added. “Tristan isn’t going to leave her side, and the only way you will even get close to her is by joining her circle. As a friend.”
Her plan didn’t seem dumb when I realized she was right.
“The prince did say I needed a new plan.” I freed myself from D’s grip, my anger fading.
I didn’t know how the whole friendship thing worked, but this was a challenge I couldn’t pass up.
The plan was simple. Befriend her.
Find her weakness, make her vulnerable, and then kill her. When I arrived at school the next day, reporters had surrounded the grounds. I heard Abigail’s name floating around as they discussed her heroism to the cameras. What the hell was going on here? What did I miss?
I snapped my fingers and found myself outside our classroom. “Abigail,” Sarah was saying, “I didn’t know they were reporters, and you didn’t say not to tell anyone you saved us.”
There was no way Abigail could have saved them, and if she did, how did she do it? What kind of a human was she, anyway?
“Sarah, it’s all right. I’m fine,” Abigail sighed, lifting her head. She didn’t sound fine to me.
Only a few students paid attention when the teacher began teaching. Abigail lifted her head to look at the board. Before I knew it, the school bell was ringing for lunch.
“Remember to do your homework!” the teacher called as students filed out. Abigail, her friends, Tristan, and I were the last students in the room gathering our books.
“You want to get some lunch, Abby?” Tristan asked. “Or I can grab you something.”
“I’m fine. Go on ahead,” she said. “I’ll join you later.”
Tristan hesitated, showing me he didn’t want to leave Abigail behind, but when Danny nodded his head toward the door, Tristan didn’t argue. They all looked regretfully at her before they walked out of the classroom.
Befriend her. I repeated the words in my head before I stood and made my way over to her.
The moment I reached her table, Tristan appeared in the room, invisible.
He was everywhere!
“It seems it’s just you and me now, Miss Cells. How about that tour?” I asked, and once again I took a seat beside her. I pretended not to notice Tristan.
“It’s just you, actually. I’m leaving,” Abigail said as she turned to look at me.
“So was that a yes to the tour?” I brought it up again.
Abigail stood. “I take it you either haven’t heard the news or you don’t care.” She started packing. “You aren’t grilling me with questions, so which is it?”
“Oh, I heard about what happened. It’s everywhere.” I stood and stepped beside her. Tristan also took a step closer, but I continued to ignore his presence. “I heard you’re the new Wonder Woman,” I added.
“Unfortunately,” she said, annoyed. “I just wish…” she paused, her voice trembling. “Sorry, I can’t think of the accident without feeling sad—all the people who died and those who were hurt…” Her voice cracked.
This friendship thing was going to be more difficult than I thought. I had to listen to her whining?
“How did you do it?” I asked, following Abigail to the door. “You were in the backseat, and Jake was unconscious. The van was seconds away from Jake’s car and—” I paused, catching the surprised look on Abigail’s face.
Oops.
Abigail jolted to a stop and turned to me. “How did you know that? Even Sarah and Danny didn’t see what happened because they were too busy freaking out.”
“I…” I was typically skilled at lying, but at the moment, my mind froze. “I supposed that was what happened?” That was the best I could come up with?
“Were you following us?” she probed.
“Yeah, I’m a spy.”
Suddenly, I was pinned to the classroom wall with Abigail’s forearm pressing hard against my throat. How had she pinned me so fast? “Are you a spy?” she demanded.
I could have easily broken free, but I didn’t. Instead, I faked pain and acted as if I were trying to escape from her grip. I didn’t even want to think about what was going through Tristan’s head at the moment. To think she did all that in heels.
“I…I…” I pretended I was choking. “Abigail, you’re—”
“Who are you? Did someone send you here after me?”
I’d give the girl one thing: she was different, entertaining even. “I…no…” Her arm tightened around my neck.
“Then why did you say you were?” she demanded again.
I’d had enough. I swiftly grabbed her by the waist and broke away from her grip, changing our position and pinning her to the wall instead.
“I am not a spy!” I shouted. Our bodies were so close now that the fabric of our clothes touched. “I was only kidding! Where the hell did that come from?” Come to think of it, how did she learn to do that? She was stronger than she looked. I read from the book Daligo gave me that she trained with some military guy, but I didn’t think it was anything serious.
“Kidding?” Abigail hesitated. She seemed distracted by our proximity to each other. “Why…why would you kid about that?” I could hear the thumping of her heart, each beat faster and louder than the last.
“I…” I didn’t know how to answer her question. “Because I…” My eyes met hers. “Because I…” I could feel her breath against my lips. “Because I…” Her brown eyes looked so confused and…beautiful.
That thought shocked me, and I immediately pulled myself away. Where the hell did that thought come from?
“I’m sorry about that.” She picked her bag up from the floor. “I heard spy, and I assumed you were one of the paparazzi.”
That was her excuse? “So you go all karate crazy on every paparazzi guy you see?”
“Well, if you hadn’t freaked me out by knowing what happened, I wouldn’t have gone all karate crazy on you.” She sounded vexed. “You freaked me out.”
Then, I did something I never thought I’d do.
I laughed.
A real laugh; it sounded so alien to me.
“You nearly choked me to death because I freaked you out?” I asked, still laughing.
What the hell was happening to me?
“Now you’re just exaggerating,” she said, and then after looking at me, she too started laughing. “Okay, so maybe I overreacted. Just by a little bit.”
“You think?”
“You know you still freak me out,” she said. “I’m still wondering how you knew all that.”
“You show me around campus, and I’ll tell you.” This was befriending her, right? Not blackmailing.
“Well then, Mr. Chase, this is the chemistry lab, and that concludes our tour,” she said, already laughing again. She knew how to play this stupid game better than I did. I couldn’t help but laugh with her.
“I must say, that was a nice tour.”
“I know, right? I should open up my own touring agency.”
Why was I still laughing? Now I was freaking myself out.
“That’s a nice sound. You should laugh more,” Tristan said.
I had completely forgotten that Tristan was in the room with us, and the moment I heard his voice, I got so livid that the next thing I knew, Abigail was screaming because the glasses on the lab shelves had shattered.
I had no idea why I did what I did next, but the moment the glasses exploded, I used my body to shield Abigail, protecting her from the airborne shards.
“Oh, my God. Gideon, are you all right?” Abigail asked, spinning me around and searching for any injuries. “What happened? You saved me.”
“I’m fine,” I said, not really sure if I was. Did I shield her because I wanted to befriend her? That must be why. “Maybe there was a chemical reaction or something?”
Tristan stood beside Abigail, his face unreadable. I was sure he was just as shocked as I was that I had protected Abigail.
“Come on, let’s go get a teacher,” she said, opening the door for us. “Are you sure you’re all right? I can take you to the nurse if you’re not.”
Was I all right? Because in my perfect world, I didn’t laugh, and under no circumstances did I save people.