Of Thieves And Do Gooders

Hayden’s Point Of View

Pretty, I decided as I saw the girl that my dad had mentioned. I looked her quickly up and down and found that her eyes were a little wide with shock. Weird. My dad said he had mentioned me.

I turned my gaze quickly to the table, trying not to stare at her, I didn’t want to emphasize her own staring problem.

“Ah, good, you’re here,” Jack said happily and waved his hand in my direction, “I believe an introduction is in order. Please, sit.” I noticed that he had motioned to the seat next to me and refrained from grimacing. I had to hope that this wasn’t some sort of desperate attempt to get me to marry someone I didn’t even know--what did he care if I married her anyway? Wait, wait, I’m getting ahead of myself. Jumping to conclusions as always.

However, the girl sat across from me instead, as if she hadn’t even seen my dad’s implication. She smiled a little nervously and I looked up from the table, scrutinizing her closer. Dark blonde hair, round face, small nose, watchful hazel eyes and she was pretty small--maybe only five feet four inches, something like that. But, like I said before, cute. I rose my eyebrows curiously in her direction, she was still staring at me, with this weird look on her face. What? Had I met her somewhere before? I doubted that, as stereotypical as it sounds, I remembered pretty girls when I saw them.

She gave me another odd look and then looked at my dad with a pleasant smile, waiting for the introduction that he was talking about.

“This is my son that I told you about. Hayden, go ahead and introduce yourself.” He waved his hand at me in a shooing motion.

I gave him a mocking stare and rolled my eyes, he had obviously already told her my name, but I turned to her and held my hand out across the table. “Hey, I’m Hayden, nice to meet you.”

She hesitated, gave me one last weird look and smiled suddenly, looking like she was about to laugh, then she grabbed my hand and shook it firmly, surprising me, since girls usually had wimpy handshakes. “Jennifer,” she said simply, her gaze level.

I smiled back and pulled my hand away with a nod of acceptance. Liar, I thought absently and found myself confused at my own thought process. I wasn’t quite sure how I knew she was lying, since she didn’t show any of the usual signs of it, she looked almost as if she believed herself when she said it. But still, I knew she was lying. But, if she was staying at my house, why was she lying about her name? My dad had never had bad judgment regarding who he decided to trust.

“So, Hayden,” my dad said and I looked politely over to him, his gaze darted to Jennifer. “Jennifer will be staying with me for awhile, so I figured you could show her around town during the break.”

I gave him a sharp look of annoyance. Yes, that was exactly how I wanted to spend my Christmas vacation, hanging out with some girl I didn’t even know. Not. Cute or not, I didn’t want to be around her that often if I could help it. What I wanted to do, was hang out at my house and do absolutely nothing but perfect my hammer ons and maybe get my dad to let Damion stay with us for a bit, you know, after Christmas or something. He seemed pretty bummed when he found out that both Lee and I were heading home for Christmas.

“Sure,” I offered slowly, although I didn’t sound any less pleasant to someone who didn’t know me well.

Jennifer smiled vaguely and said, “You don’t have to worry about that Jack, I know my way around town pretty well, besides, I’m not even sure when I’ll need to go into town again.” She shrugged her small shoulders and her eyes darted to the kitchen door as it swung open. The cook, Stella brought in three plates filled with some sort of pasta primavera and started to set them in front of us.

“Nonsense, Hayden would be happy to do it, he has nothing better to do, right Hayden?” My dad gave me a careful, but obviously demanding glance.

I sighed inwardly and nodded. “Yeah, really, I’d love to do it, it’s my first time home in awhile, but you know, I think I still remember the town pretty well.” I would have to ask my dad who this chick was soon, I was starting to wonder why she was even staying at my house. Was I being replaced? An odd replacement choice.

Jennifer nodded absently, looking a little annoyed herself as she jabbed at her pasta, looking unenthusiastic about the dish. I watched her for a moment, until I realized I was staring at her, and quickly looked down at my own food and started shoveling it into my mouth. Jennifer looked like she was trying to refrain from doing the same, and took modest bites, chewing carefully. Weird.

We ate in silence most of the time and once I was finished I excused myself from the table and headed up to my room for the rest of the night. Half way up the stairs I scowled at the ground, remembering that Guitar Hero and the Playstation 3 were both in Jennifer’s room, my old room. Damn it. I moved up the stairs and down the hall, stopping where her door was and pushed the door open lightly. She wasn’t there yet. I could simply jack the Playstation 3 and plastic guitar, then I could meander off to my room like I had never been there. Obviously, she would notice, since she had left it on. But I wasn’t too worried about her confronting me about it.

I glanced at the song she had been playing and snorted, Through the Fire and Flames by Dragonforce? Really? Was she that good, or did she just play through the rest of the songs and decided to try an impossible one? Regardless, I turned off the game system, unplugged it and collected all the wires before grabbing the wireless plastic guitar. I then turned toward the door and hesitated. Shit, caught red-handed. I wasn’t quite sure how to react, and felt like I should say something when I saw Jennifer standing in her doorway, regarding me with something like amusement in her eyes.

“You jackin’ my game?” she asked casually, eyes darting to the Playstation 3 in my arms.

A smile twitched onto my lips. “Uh, yeah…well. It is technically mine,” I pointed out shuffling past her so I could get into the hallway.

I started walking down the hall, assuming she would drop the conversation there, however, I could hear her walking behind me and stopped. I looked over my shoulder at her and raised my eyebrows. “What?” I asked, as if I had no idea why she was following me. Which was half-true, since I hadn’t expected her to follow me, and yet here she was. Following me.

She shrugged. “Well, you decided to steal my entertainment, so I was just wondering…are you some sort of thief?” Jennifer looked like she was genuinely curious, unaware of how close to the truth she had just stumbled.

I rolled my eyes as if she weren’t even close. “What, like as a profession? Yeah. Right.” I continued walking down the hall and she continued to follow.

“So, you’re saying that it’s completely inconceivable that anyone would be a thief as a profession?” she asked innocently, stepping on a wire that had been dragging on the floor, forcing me to hesitate a step or two.

I looked at her carefully and shrugged. “I guess not, it’s just an odd thought for me. My dad’s rich, why steal?” I said logically and nudged her foot aside with my own foot, pulling the wire free and continuing on my way.

She snorted a little before she laughed. “I guess you’re right. How do people become such good thieves anyway?” Jennifer asked and looked up at the ceiling in thought. “I wonder if there’s some sort of super-secret school or something like that, where they get to be super smart and learn how to steal like there’s no tomorrow.”

I hesitated a step and darted a glance in her direction, she was still looking at the ceiling. Noticing I had stopped walking she looked back at me over her shoulder and I rolled my eyes. “Right, as if something like that exists,” I mocked, looking at her like she was insane.

Jennifer smiled for some reason and it looked vaguely familiar, like she knew I was lying. Who was this chick anyway? We passed my dad’s room--which was always locked and I saw my room at the end of the hall, the door slightly open, just as I had left it. I stopped and Jennifer stopped with me, her feet almost completely silent.

“What?” she asked innocently, her eyes slightly dazed as if she were perpetually oblivious to things around her.

I raised my eyebrows at her. “Are you planning on following me back to my room and raping me or something?” I asked lightly, smirking slightly when she smiled at my joke.

Jennifer shrugged. “Right, I guess you saw straight through me,” she said sarcastically and walked ahead of me into my room. How bold.

I hurried after her, and dropped the Playstation 3 onto my bed. “Hey, hey, hey.” She looked at me curiously, once again, her eyes wide and oblivious, “What are you doing?” I asked, struggling to place something about her--there was something really familiar about her, but I couldn’t quite get it.

“Me?” she asked innocently, looking like she had no idea what I was talking about.

Was she retarded or something? Nah, maybe a little stupid, but still, not quite to that extreme.

“Yeah, you, you’re in my room,” I commented blandly, I wasn’t a fan of being Captain Obvious.

Jennifer’s eyes glimmered for a second, something mischievous in them and then they were wide and innocent again. “Well, since you took away my entertainment for the night, I decided you would just have to be my entertainment.” Her mouth curled into a half smile.

I could have sworn I felt the blood rush from my face. Was she implying what I thought she was implying? If not, the next words out of my mouth were going to be incredibly awkward. “Are you a whore?” I asked before I could stop myself and instantly I wished I could take those words back, they made no sense…well they sort of did, but I was being hasty, once again. Nothing new on my part.

Her half smile disappeared and her eyes widened, as if she hadn’t even realized her words had been suggestive. “What?”

…

…Wait for it…

…

“Oh…Oh! Eww! That wasn’t what I meant you sick-minded fuck!” she said quickly, her face turning red with embarrassment and she punched me in the arm before I could move, which surprised me.

I blinked and chuckled slightly. “That was weak,” I commented, forgetting already that I had just asked if she was a whore.

“Shut up!” Jennifer demanded and kicked me in the shin.

“Ow, ow, ow!” I exclaimed, dropping down to one knee as I grabbed at my throbbing shin. She might have had a weak arm, but she was damn good at kicking. “What the hell?” I demanded angrily. I barely knew the chick and she was kicking me.

“You pissed me off,” Jennifer said matter-of-factly, her obliviousness leaving her completely as she just looked angry now. A little more recognizable now, actually.
Damn, already cussing around me, most people laid off the cussing when they met new people. What a weird chick. I really needed to figure out who she was and where the hell my dad had found her. And why the hell she was even staying at my house? My old man had a lot of explaining to do.

“Yeah? Well, no worries, I won’t be around to piss you off,” I told her simply as I stood up and waved my hand at the Playstation 3. “Feel free to play that, I gotta go take care of something.” And with that said and before she could object, I exited the room, not really caring if she was in it or not, it wasn’t like she was some sort of amazing thief and would pawn all my stuff off before I got back.

______________________________________________

Raven’s Point Of View

He didn’t recognize me. How utterly hilarious. I grinned as he left his room, still completely confused as to who I was. And watching him lie through his teeth was absolutely entertaining, I didn’t think I would be able to keep a straight face as he brushed off everything I said. Apparently I played a very good ditz. Which, now that I think about it, I’m not sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

I frowned suddenly, thinking quickly about the situation I was in. So Jack was Hayden’s dad…and yet Jack’s last name was Crawford, and Hayden’s was Silverman…How did that work? I put this thought aside and smiled, remembering my short conversation with Jack only minutes before.

“Look, don’t tell Hayden my real name, alright?” I asked, almost pleadingly, which must have been what sold Jack on the prospect.

“And is there a reason I’m lying to my son for you?” Jack asked with raised eyebrows, looking intrigued.

“Uh…yeah. I’d like to mess with him for awhile, you know, since there’s nothing else to do around here--speaking of which, you left me with nothing to do all day,” I accused with a scowl.

Jack smirked, and I now realized how much it reminded me of Hayden--I had thought he reminded me of someone--and he said, “I see, so you simply have some boredom to sustain?”

I nodded briskly. “Exactly.”

“And I suppose you’ve met my son somewhere else before?” Jack asked casually, standing up as I pushed my chair away from the table.

I nodded again. “Yeah, he messed up one of my break-ins, but I looked a bit different then,” I said, contenting myself with saying that this was a half-truth which made it better than a lie. “I never knew his name though,” I added nonchalantly, which would have been true had I not heard his name in the first place…okay so that was a bit of a stretch.

“Alright then, I’ll keep your name a secret, but that’s it, anything else about you that I know, Hayden will know,” Jack said casually as if he were talking about the weather.

And then I was off to bother Hayden and here we are, me left alone in his room with all of his things. See, that was a bad move, but he wouldn’t know that because he didn’t recognize me, which is how I justified exactly what I did. He didn’t recognize me as he should have done, so, I needed to mess with his shit. Simple stuff, really.

I grabbed his half unpacked bag and instantly found every pair of boxers he had--one pair having ducks on them by the way--and I proceeded to scatter them about the room. Under the bed, in the windowsill, on top of the computer, in random desk drawers, anywhere I could find. Next, I found all of his shirts and unfolded them, then I laid them out over his bed so that it looked like he had a quilt made out of random shirts--which wasn’t a bad idea.

Note: Learn to quilt and make awesome shirt quilt.

Once finished with his shirts, I left his partially full bag in the bathtub of his bathroom. I brushed my hands together, ridding myself of imaginary dirt and then walked back into the room to examine my handiwork. The room was a beautiful mess. Satisfied, I turned and left the room, imagining Hayden’s reaction with a grin of anticipation.

I walked down the hall to my room and paused outside one of the locked doors that I had discovered earlier. I could hear Hayden and Jack talking. I thought for a moment that I should eavesdrop, but stopped myself. Eavesdropping on Hayden always turned out bad for me. I moved quickly away from the door, trusting that Jack wouldn’t tell Hayden my real name.

I opened my door and closed it behind me, then dropped onto my bed with a sigh. I had to admit, it was good to see Hayden again, and I couldn’t help but smile at the irony of the situation. However, I probably had a day or two before I had to leave, so that Hayden wouldn’t recognize me, and in that time I would have to try and be someone other than myself. Which was somehow difficult to do around Hayden. I would have to tell Jack that it wasn’t going to work out, pack all my stuff back up and head back out into the streets. He would probably understand--well, not exactly understand, but he wouldn’t stop me from leaving, he was a logical guy and didn’t ask questions.

By the time Hayden realized who I was, I would be gone, on my own again. It was a wonderful plan. And hopefully it would be well executed. If something went wrong, I was pretty good at improvising. In the end, it would all work out. All I needed to know was my main goal, which was to keep myself from going back to Shadowstep Academy. Being “Raymond” was far too stressful and confusing. I found it much easier to just be “Raven”, besides, everything I was learning at Shadowstep Academy were things I would learn at a really fancy rich kid school--aside from the fighting anyway. Unless they were going to teach me some really sweet tricks, I saw no need to go back.

Or at least that’s what I told myself.

I fell asleep around nine-thirty as sad as that is, but I had nothing better to do. Just before I dozed off I heard the locked door down the hall open and close, then I heard someone stomp down the hall in the opposite direction of my room.

_____________________________________

“Wake up,” someone said, shaking me slightly into awareness.

I snorted and jumped up, leaping out of bed and moving away from the person who had woken me up. I wasn’t sure who the person was, but my brain would catch up with me in a minute. My eyes focused in the dimly lit room and I realized it was still dark out. Where was I again? I looked at the bed I had been in, and my eyes darted around the room. Some sleazy hotel that I couldn’t remember checking into? No. The bed was far too clean. In the park maybe? No, that would be stupid, there wouldn’t be a bed in the middle of the park.

Oh, God, I had been abducted hadn’t I? Why God, of all the people to not be watching, it had to be me? I’m the important one, honestly--

…

Wait, it’s all coming back to me. Jack Crawford, his mansion, Hayden. Right. I wasn’t abducted, I was fine. Whew, dodged that bullet.

I smiled a little to myself, my brain finally caught up with me and I relaxed, peering through the darkness to see who had woken me up. My smile disappeared however, when I saw Hayden looking at me from across the bed, his eyebrows raised in alarm.

“What are you doing here?” I asked in a fierce whisper, as if there was someone in the room that I shouldn’t wake up.

Hayden blinked, something registered and he said in just as fierce of a whisper, “Your name is not Jennifer,” he sounded matter-of-factly.

“What are you talking about?” I feigned ignorance, “Of course it is, why would I tell you the wrong name? I don’t even know you,” I reasoned logically, although I was lying.

“I almost didn’t recognize you, but then I thought about it, just as I was falling asleep, and I knew I had seen you somewhere else before,” Hayden said, pointing an accusing finger at me.

“Really?” I mocked, raising my eyebrows as if I were about to call him an idiot.

Hayden glowered at me. “Don’t play stupid!” he said a little more loudly, sounding frustrated.

“I’m not, but you’re playing the part quite nicely all on your own,” I ridiculed with a mocking sneer in his direction. Ah, crap, that was a lot like myself wasn’t it? Damn, I had to stop.

He moved around the bed so that he could see me better and I watched him carefully as he peered at me thoughtfully, trying to make sure he hadn’t made a mistake. Then, quickly he said, “Your name is Jennifer.” It was a statement that he didn’t even believe himself.

I tensed, realizing what he was doing. I had to lie to him, and he knew what to look for when I specifically was lying. I swallowed hard and nodded quickly, closing my eyes briefly and looking to the side as I replied sharply, “Yes, it is. I’m glad you realize that now.”

“Why, are you lying to me?” Hayden asked, sounding exasperated and he reached out to touch my shoulder but I recoiled. Confusion flitted across Hayden’s face and then he frowned and pressed his palm to his forehead before running his fingers through his hair.

“I’m not,” I insisted.

Hayden darted an annoyed glare in my direction and before I knew it, he had shoved me back so that I was against the wall and held me there by my shoulders. He stared me intently in the eyes and I hesitated before looking away and shoving him away from me. However, he pushed me up against the wall again, and emphasized each word when he said, “What, is your name?”

“I told you,” I insisted and struggled against his hold in vain. “Would you stop?” I whimpered, and added, “You’re scaring me…” I willed my voice to quaver at the last second.

Hesitation passed through Hayden’s eyes for just a moment, but he kept me against the wall and sighed. “Why did you leave?” he asked quietly, a little less intense now.

“Leave where?” I asked, trying to sound confused.

“Damn it Raven! Would you stop trying to fucking lie to me? It doesn’t work, alright? I know it’s you,” Hayden exploded and I flinched as if he had physically hit me.

“I don’t know what you--”

“Yes you do,” Hayden insisted, interrupting me, his hands tightening on my shoulders in frustration. “Your hair is longer now, and you’re dressed like a girl, but you’re still you. You act almost exactly the same, you even messed with my shit,” he added, moving one hand to wave behind him to signify his stuff. “If you hadn’t known me, you wouldn’t have done that,” he persisted.

“Maybe I’m just a weird-o who likes to hide guy’s underwear,” I offered with a shrug of nonchalance. But on the inside I was clawing desperately for something to cover myself better, I had no idea what I could do to throw him off my trail.

Hayden laughed once without humor. “Why are you doing this? Seriously? What are you so damn scared of? You know I’m not going to hurt you. Is it someone at the school? Was it Derek? Is that why you left?” Hayden asked, his gaze intensifying with each new assumption.

“No! It wasn’t Derek! It wasn’t anyone at the school, and I’m not fucking scared!” I nearly shouted, putting an incredible amount of force behind me as I shoved him away from me this time. He stumbled against the bed and I pivoted so that I was closer to the door, my shoulders were shaking. “It was you, alright? I left because of you,” the words were out of my mouth before I could stop them.

Hayden looked at me carefully, his gaze suddenly softer, hurt almost. “Me?” he asked weakly, as if he didn’t believe it.

“Yes, you,” I repeated with a sigh and I continued, “You shouldn’t know me to such a point where you can guess what I’ll do! No one should know me that well! You shouldn’t know exactly what to say and be able to make it hurt,” I exclaimed, my voice catching on the last word, to my dismay.

It looked like something had dawned on him and he looked completely and utterly guilty, his eyes were downcast for a second and he shook his head slowly from side to side before looking back up at me.

“Raven, I didn’t know that you were--”

“It doesn’t matter!” I interrupted. We were not having this conversation. I was not talking to him about how he had “hurt my feelings” of all things. I didn’t want to admit to that, because my feelings had been virtually un-hurtable since my brother had died. He was breaking my goddamn streak.

“You were right, okay? I left, just like you said I would. You guessed right and I stopped deluding myself into thinking that I--” I cut myself short and glared at him, how the hell was he doing that?

“‘Thinking that’…what?” he asked carefully.

Thinking that I belonged somewhere. That I had found a new place to call home. New people to love and care for, friends to hang out with. A new life. But I didn’t say any of that.

“What are you not understanding about this conversation? It. Does. Not. Matter,” I said pointedly and added, “I’m not going back to Shadowstep Academy, alright? End of story. I’ve always been better off on my own. I don’t need some fancy-ass school to make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside and teach me crap I don’t need to know--when will a thief ever need to know fucking Algebra?” I demanded heatedly, going off on a bit of an unexpected tangent.

Hayden’s expression was hard and he pushed himself away from the bed, moving subtly between me and the door. “You didn’t leave because it was pointless, and you didn’t leave because of me.” He took a step toward me, looking uncertain for a time and then he closed the distance between us so that he was standing directly in front of me. “You left because, you--”

“Would you stop trying to analyze me?” I interrupted in a quiet growl, looking him full on in the face when I said it.

“No,” he said simply and covered my mouth when I began to say something. “You left, because you’re too damn stubborn to admit when you’re scared and the only thing that you know how to do is run. What you can’t force yourself to see is when you don’t have to run anymore.” He searched my eyes for a moment and pulled his hand awkwardly away from my mouth. “Well I’m telling you now Raven, since you can’t see it for yourself: You don’t have to run anymore.”

I stared at him uncertainly and swallowed hard, processing his analysis. It was stupid and insane and moronic and made no sense and…it completely applied to me. Running was what I did best, it was how I had survived so far, so why should I have to do anything different? I could feel my shoulders shake and I dropped my head so that I was looking at the floor. I must have looked for all the world like I was crying.

“Ah, shit, Raven, I didn’t mean to--” Hayden touched my shoulder and I jerked away from him.

“Don’t touch me,” I said thickly, keeping the tears just barely at bay. I would comfort myself. I didn’t need him to do it for me. I didn’t need anyone.

“Stop being stubborn,” Hayden ordered and grabbed my shoulder to yank me forward and I bumped into his chest, stepping on one of his feet in the stopping process. A tense moment passed between the two of us and I reluctantly leaned forward, letting my forehead rest against his chest. Hayden warily put his arms around me, as if I were going to snap his neck for doing so.

“I’m not crying,” I informed him, my breath hitching once in my throat. It was true, my eyes were dry, but still, I couldn’t keep my shoulders from shaking and my throat felt like it had closed up completely.

“I know,” Hayden replied, although he sounded unconvinced.

“Really, I’m not.”

“Okay.”

“You’re patronizing me.”

His chest vibrated a little when he laughed. “Maybe.”

I pulled away then, feeling like I had myself under control and suddenly realizing how awkward the situation was. “Sorry, I’m all right,” I murmured embarrassedly.

“I know,” Hayden said with a shrug and added, “you always are.” He didn’t seem to mind that I had disentangled myself from his arms, which meant he must have found it as awkward as I did.

I chuckled slightly, ironically. “I guess so,” I said, although I never felt like I was okay.

“This is weird,” Hayden commented, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand.

“What?” I inquired, cocking my head to one side.

“Seeing you like this. I’m just so used to ‘Raymond’, I guess,” he said gesturing to my girlish clothing.

I rolled my eyes. “Well get used to it, my cross-dressing days are over,” I joked.

“So…” Hayden hesitated, “you’re really not coming back?”

I looked at him for awhile and sighed. “You don’t just ‘go back’ to Shadowstep do you? I mean, I was a guy for most of my time there. Do I just show up and tell them the truth? ‘Hey I’m back, oh by the way I lied to all of you and pretended I was my dead brother, forgot to mention that before I left’,” I mocked and rolled my eyes.

Hayden was quiet for a moment. “Good point,” he admitted with a scowl, “You definitely couldn’t go back as ‘Raymond’ looking like that.” He wave a hand at my clothes.

I gave him a reproachful look. “Sorry, I didn’t realize I was so hideous,” I snapped, trying to seem offended.

“No! That wasn’t what I meant, I’m sorry,” Hayden said quickly, trying to correct himself.

I laughed. “Good God, I’m just kidding, I didn’t turn into a bitch overnight.” I rolled my eyes at his stupidity. Much to my great pride, I had been one the majority of my life.

Hayden looked relieved despite himself and said, “Just so we’re clear, you aren’t ugly.”

I rose both of my eyebrows. “So you’re saying you think I’m hot?” I asked, trying to keep the smile from my lips.

“W-what? No! Not that--I mean, that wasn’t what I said…not that I don’t think that you are--” Hayden glared at me suddenly and I couldn’t keep from smiling. “You’re fucking with me,” he said bitterly.

“Good catch.”

“Talking to you was easier when you were a guy,” Hayden commented blandly.

“I can fix that,” I said simply and stumbled off of the bed and over to my closet. I grabbed a sweatshirt and pulled it over my head, covering my feminine features. Next, I found a baseball cap, flipped my hair up and folded it carefully under my hat, and stuffed the stray hairs up inside the base of the hat.

I entered the room again. “Better?” I inquired sarcastically, gesturing to my new attire.

Hayden was sitting on my bed now, arms folded over his chest, he looked at me now and couldn’t stop the laugh that came from his throat. “Much,” he said, matching my sarcasm. “As I was saying, we’ll have to think on it--if you really want to come back to Shadowstep Academy, that is.”

“And if I don’t, I suppose you won’t hunt me down and drag me back by my hair?” I asked, picking imaginary dirt from under my finger nails.

“I didn’t say that,” Hayden said defensively and added, “Besides, even if I didn’t do it, Damion would, he’s missed you.”

I stiffened visibly at that comment. “Huh,” was all I said and I began to pick more vigorously at my nails. “So that means you missed me too, huh?” I asked a little distractedly.

Hayden hesitated and laid back on my bed to give him time to mull over his answer, which was as good as a “no” in my book.

“Cool, I didn’t miss you either, you smell funny--Do you marinade in your cologne or something?” I asked, trying to cover up the hurt and succeeding.

“I didn’t say that I didn’t miss you,” Hayden said defensively, although he didn’t sit up. He paused and then asked, “You really, didn’t miss me?” He sounded a little hurt himself.

I sighed, and searched for a nonchalant answer. “I didn’t forget you did I? Your name’s Hayden William Silverman and you were my roommate at Shadowstep Academy. You figured out I was a girl and used such a delicate line as ‘you have boobs’ when I caught you looking down my shirt,” I retorted, hoping he’d be satisfied with that answer.

“So, if you don’t forget someone then you miss them?” Hayden asked, unmoving.

I thought about that and said, “Of course. I don’t forget about my brother and I miss him more than anything.” I bit my lip a little when I said that, I hardly said anything about my brother to Hayden, he didn’t even really know how he had died or how important he had been to me.

“I…guess I missed you too,” Hayden said distractedly and I frowned. He “guessed” he missed me? What the hell did that mean?

“Thanks,” I muttered sardonically.

“No, that’s not what I meant,” Hayden said quickly and let out a slow breath, “This is confusing for me alright? I was…mad, at first. All you left me was that fucking note.” I felt the spite in that memory and winced. “So, I told myself that a lot of the time I was just mad at you, which is why I kept thinking of you for the first few weeks and--Ah, damn it, I sound stupid.” Hayden rolled up into a sitting position. “Forget I said anything.”

“I’m sorry,” I said when he looked at me and I fiddled with my earring for something to do. “I didn’t exactly plan that out too well and I guess I didn’t--shit, I suck at this alright? I guess I didn’t…something…” I trailed off, failing to find the right words.

“Take my feelings into consideration?” Hayden offered and I could see him smirking through the darkness at me.

“Yeah, because your feelings are so easily hurt,” I retorted with a snort and added, “So I’m sorry all I left you was that stupid note. But I figured you wouldn’t miss what wasn’t there, you know? Out of sight, out of mind. The less of an impact I left on my disappearance, the less you’d remember me…” I laughed once without humor. “Guess that backfired.”

“Damn right.”

“Sorry,” I said again.

“Don’t worry about it.”

“Not possible, I overanalyze everything.”

“I know.”

“Of course you do,” I said with a disbelieving laugh. As if he knew that much about me.

“So, you’re done running now right?” Hayden asked casually.

“I’ll still be here in the morning, if that’s what you mean,” I replied quietly, deciding that I was done running. If Jack had something to teach me, then I would stay. I couldn’t--no, I wouldn’t--go running off just because my recent past caught up with me. No more running, my track days were over.

I yawned quietly, remembering that Hayden had woken me up and stalked over to the other side of my bed and flopped down a decent distance away from Hayden--lest he go sailing through the air because we were suddenly too close. He was jumpy when it came to that crap. “We done talking about feelings now?” I asked lazily, suppressing another yawn.

Hayden laughed once, “I guess…this was weird,” he decided to say awkwardly and looked down at me as I spread myself out on my bed.

“Yeah, no doubt about that. Must have fallen into dream world,” I commented jokingly, wondering if all of that had really been a dream. If so, it was an extremely vivid dream.

“How about we don’t ever speak of this again?” Hayden suggested, amusement in his tone.

“Exactly…” I said slowly, letting my eyes drift open and closed to the rhythm of my breathing. “Gotta love those video games…” I murmured tiredly.

“You sound drunk,” Hayden commented with a chuckle.

I lifted one hand and flipped him off as I buried my face into my pillow, then let it fall heavily on the bedspread.

Then I was asleep.

__________________________________________

Hayden’s Point Of View

She was asleep. I could tell after four minutes of just sitting there, staring at the back of her head. She was breathing deeply and her fingers kept twitching every now and then, which was actually really creepy. I heaved a sigh and leaned my head against one of the posts on her bed--she was taking up the entire bed with her arms and legs sprawled all over the place. It looked like she had been crucified backwards.

I absently plucked the hat off of her head, watching as her hair came tumbling out and fanned out along the pillow beside her face. Abruptly, I dropped the hat like it was a hot iron and stared at Raven a moment longer. She really was pretty, once she dressed like a girl and had grown her hair out. It made me wonder how I could have ever mistook her for a guy.

I guess where that whole “power of suggestion” thing comes into play.

I stood up quickly, pulling my gaze away from her. The way I was looking at her was freaking me out. So I walked back to my own room, closing her door behind me. Down in the most dormant of my thoughts though, I really hoped that she would still be there in the morning. Her reassurances didn’t do much for me for very legitimate reasons.

Getting her back into Shadowstep Academy would prove to be an interesting task. But it wouldn’t be impossible, all I needed to do was enlist the right help.