VIOLET

-CALEB-

Since our schedules were different I was not able to see anyone until lunch. I met Michael and Reese by the entrance to the cafeteria, as I usually did, and we walked in spotting Julia and Winter immediately. Where the top of our usual table used to be there was now a blue fuzzy tent from which giggling seemed to emanate.

-Great, they are probably discussing their next prank. –Groaned Reese as we got closer. I shook my head.

-Doubt it, Julia is on the list too, remember? - They looked at me confused before I explained. -You guys where on the list for spying on our date on Friday. Julia and Cornelia are on the list too.-

-Nice, I think it is the first time Julia has been on the list, I wonder what Winter will do. - Replied Michael with a wicked grin.

-I am more curious as to what she plans on doing to Cornelia. Cornelia is sneaky; I stopped trying to play pranks on her cen... years ago- I started saying only to have to correct myself. I looked at them quickly but they didn’t seem to notice. –Trying to catch her in the act is even harder. I once woke up in a batman costume tied by my feet to a tree branch. A very tall tree too…-

They started laughing and swapping theories as to how she had managed to pull that prank off. I frowned at the memory. I had kept to myself the fact that the batman suit was nothing but a black Speedo and giant bat wings and that I had fallen about 25 feet when I had managed to cut myself down. Damn trees in the Amazon are really tall. Winter was limited by her size and strength, Cornelia was not. It was a good thing too because Winter was just as devious as Cornelia in her own way. I wonder what kind of pictures she has in that scrap book of hers…

-…but it could hurt! What if I don’t enjoy it?-Whispered Winter anxiously from under the blanket. They had not noticed our arrival yet. – I am not ready!-

-It’s ok. Caleb is a sweet boy, I don’t think he will do anything you are not ready for. - Julia replied soothingly. The boys looked at me and smirked, nudging me in the arm, I know what they think the girls were talking about, I was thinking the same thing; sex. We turned back to the tent as Julia continued. – Besides, I am sure Caleb will make it good for you. For all you know you could end up addicted!-

The girls burst out laughing and I blushed harder. I am a guy, I am not supposed to blush but damn. It was not often I walked in on girls talking about me like this. It is not like I am a virgin, after 500 years I was far from it. But the thought of me and Winter like that…made me nervous. I looked over confused as both Michael and Reese pulled out their wallets. They both pulled out the condom they kept there for “emergencies” and tucked them into the pocket of my button down shirt. I groaned and was about to give them back when I saw both Julia and Winter tense. I saw as they slowly peeked out from under their make shift tent and paled. Well, Julia paled; Winter was already as white as me, so she just sort of froze.

-WINTER-

Oh Goddess above! How long have they been there? How much did they hear? Caleb is blushing…huh, maybe they didn’t hear us. Caleb would probably be freaking out if they did. We all seemed frozen in place, knowing that we had caught each other doing something we shouldn’t. Reese and Michael were slowly putting away their wallets as if the slow motion would keep Julia and me from noticing, idiots. Julia reacted first, shaking her head as if trying to concentrate before asking.

-How long have you been there and what did you hear? - She asked.

I looked back at her. Well that was a little bit too direct for my taste. The cousins smirked and sat down pulling their pink looking friend with them; Caleb just blushed harder and avoided looking at me.

-Enough to know that you girls are a little anxious. - Replied Reese with a meaningful eyebrow wiggle. –Don’t worry; I am sure my man here will be more than happy to introduce you to the “Ways of men”-

Oh! Thank you Goddess! I totally owe you like a virgin sacrifice or something. So they thought we were talking about sex. I swear, boys can only think of one thing. No wonder Caleb was blushing, it was kind of cute. I frowned as I thought about it; I doubt he was a virgin at his age, whatever that was. He probably knew all the tricks in the book…hell, he probably invented a few! I fought back a very girly giggle and looked over at the boy beside me, trying to catch a glimpse of the sex fiend lurking beneath his cool exterior. Caleb remained silent and shifted uncomfortably in his seat while Michael chuckled stupidly at his cousin’s choice of words. Julia looked at me confused before turning back to Reese.

-Ways of men? What…? - Her eyes widened as the term registered and her words turned to sputtering. –Sweet tacos on Sunday, no! Why would we be…I mean…She is a virgin….We were not talking…-

-Damn! You caught us! - I interrupted quickly.

I opened my eyes wide and looked at Julia trying to convey my thoughts. She closed her mouth and nodded once. I would much rather they thought I was some sex starved freak that have Caleb know we were discussing me being bit by him. Somehow it felt even more personal than sex, besides the fact that Caleb does not know that we know. I laughed mentally. “We know…” sounds so stalker like. I looked back at the boys, including Caleb who looked shocked and confused at my really lousy “confession”.

-What? Girls talk about sex too you know!-

-CALEB-

What? Winter was lying. Reese and Michael were eager to believe her so they ignored her bad acting but I know better. She had looked so relieved at the sex talk accusation and heart rate had gone way up when Julia had tried to deny it. What could they possibly have been talking about that would make her choose sex over the truth?

On the other hand, I now had a new piece of information about Winter, she is a virgin. It was kind of surprising considering what I had overheard about most of the other girls in the school, apparently there wasn’t much else to do on the weekends in such a small town. Who would have known Ash Mountain was all about the crazy sex parties. That sort of explained why Jethro had both warned and joked about them with us though. I pushed aside the information rolling through my thought going back to my revelation about Winter. At the same time her virginity wasn’t surprising. Winter was…feisty but had a pure heart. She would not be one to run around with men and she was too strong to let herself be used. She and Julia were quite uncommon women in today’s world.

Winter looked relieved that the subject had been dropped and starting chattering about nonsense with Julia. They seemed to be discussing how long they would survive if people started dropping dead and turning into zombies. Wow…how intellectual. They were immersed in their theories and plans but I felt Winter’s hand move under the table and latch on to mine, our fingers entwining. I smiled; she had not done it consciously. Michael leaned over.

-Dude! You are so getting lucky soon! - Whispered Michael so only me and Reese could hear.

I rolled my eyes. Since Winter was lying I really don’t think I am. Reese was nodding his head in agreement. Dumb horny teenage boys, too bad I was stuck in the body of one too. It was the curse of a pure blood; we never really made it past the body of an eighteen year old. We were doomed to an eternity of lust, which wasn’t always a bad thing. Reese nudged me and grinned conspiratorially.

-Use those well. And if you need more, I can get you a box for free- He said patting my shirt pocket and winking.

Reese’s parents owned the local pharmacy. I just nodded tightly trying to shake my hair into my face so I could hide yet another blush. I really did not want to be having this conversation. I had no qualms about sex. Very much the opposite. It’s just…Winter is special. I do not want just to have sex with her, I want...to be joined with her in Blood Oath. I tensed; from Winter’s pulse I could sense that her heart had skipped a beat. I looked over at her quickly to find her blushing madly as she scribbled something on a piece of paper and slid it to Julia. Julia started chocking on her juice box when she read it and looked up at Winter, taping her temple. Why did she always do that?

-Julia, are you alright? - Asked Reese worried. Julia looked at him and smiled.

-Yes, I am fine. - She looked down at her juice box, a frown forming on her face, before she looked up making puppy eyes at Reese while she held out the now empty container. Reese chuckled.

-Fine- He said taking the juice box and pecking Julia on the forehead as he stood from the table. –Apple, right?-

Julia nodded and went back to her conversation with Winter who was still red and writing a lengthy note. I tried to read it but it the handwriting was a very round cursive that looked nothing like English, grammar wise or even the alphabet itself. I gave up trying to decipher her note when Reese came back to the table giving Julia a fresh apple juice box. Julia reached for Reese’s hand and squeezed it as she began to read the note Winter had just finished. Michael pouted, looking at both Reese’s and my occupied hand.

-God! You two are so whipped. - Michael said as he looked at us, whispering once more.

-You are just jealous that you don’t have your girlfriend with you. - Replied Reese with a wide smile. –That is what you get when you date a junior-

-Junior?- I asked, before I remembered Winter’s order the day before. –So you are dating Cornelia?-

Michael’s head snapped up and he looked scared. He glared at Reese for a minute before opening his mouth as if to say something then closing it again. I looked at him confused.

-Look, I know she is your sister and all…-He started before failing with the sentence and starting another. –I really like her and…I would never…I mean that condom in my pocket was just a joke and…-

-Michael. - I interrupted as I started laughing. Reese looked at me like I was crazy but Michael still looked terrified. –It is fine. I don’t mind you dating her. She chooses who she want to be with and to be honest she is very picky, so that fact that she chose you is a good sign.-

-Oh- Michael looked visibly relieved but his voice was still a bit shaky. - Well, I just want you to know that I would never hurt her…-

-Really Michael. - I put my free hand on his shoulder reassuringly. - I may be an over protective brother but you are my friend and I trust you. Besides, if you hurt her…she will be the one taking revenge. And I can promise you that when she is done you will be wishing it had just been me beating you to a pulp.-

Reese laughed while Michael just nodded, swallowing hard. He should be afraid. Cornelia believed in patience, pain and revenge, quite a deadly mix. Though one would never have thought so from her sweet face and bubbly personality. I looked back at the girls, their note conversation seemed strangely one sided. Julia would read the note and look at Winter for a few moments before Winter started scribbling furiously once more and the cycle repeating itself.

-What are they doing? - I asked hoping one of the boys would know. They looked up at the girls and shook their heads.

-When Julia first moved up here she was teamed up with Winter for an English project at the beginning at the year.-Started Reese. The girls were too occupied with their conversation to notice us talking about them. –We were studying phonetics and written language, how writing and spelling comes about or something like that. For one of the projects we had to create a new writing system for the English language.-

-It was an awesome project. - Said Michael, helping his cousin with the narration. –We were graded on originality, how different it was from the current English alphabet, how fluent and esthetic it looked and things like that.-

-Once created we had to transcribe a poem into our new writing system along with the entire alphabet and rules.- Continued Reese, excited form the memory.- The writing that Julia and Winter came up with is Epic! It is very fluid like Arabic but very round like cursive and they used the Greek alphabet for it. But they write using the rules of short hand, like the one you would use in a text message. When you combine all those elements it is completely impossible to figure out.-

-They aced the class with that project. They didn’t even have to do any of the other projects for the rest of the year. - Finished Michael obviously proud of Winter, he really did see her like a sister.-They just kept to the writing. They can write it as fast as regular English without even thinking and since it is short hand you can be surprised at the amount of information that can get passed around between those two without you even knowing. –

-It is kind of unfair really- Frowned Reese. - We haven’t been able to read Winter’s diary since she switched to Glishen.-

-Glishen? - I asked, amazed at the girls ingenuity. I knew eight languages, including the vampire dialect, and they had still managed to stump me with their writing system. Maybe I could get her to teach me.

-Yeah, It is what they named the alphabet. - Answered Michael. I frowned as I thought about it.

-But wait, that still doesn’t explain why the conversation is one sided. - I stated.

We all turned to look at Julia and Winter. Julia was taping her nose deep in thought as she massaged Reese’s hand with her thumb, but she seemed to be doing it to sooth herself and not him. Winter kept scribbling messages then waiting as Julia read them and looked at her once more, before tapping her nose faster until Winter started writing again.

-No idea. - Shrugged Reese.

-It is always like this when they are having an important conversation. - Added Michael.

-It’s like Winter just knows what Julia is wondering or something.- Shivered Reese before whispering.- We try to stay out of their way when they get into this…mood of theirs.-

Well that was …weird? Interesting? Some sort of human best friend ability? Or worst, some sort of human girl ability, no wonder men didn’t stand a chance trying to lie to the women that loved them. Damn. Would that be my life with Winter? I was never going to get away with anything! I sighed and looked back at Winter, she had squeezed my hand and was biting her bottom lip tightly. She seemed to be fighting back a smile. More like she was trying not to laugh at me. She let out a small chuckle before looking up at Julia’s confused face and writing another lengthy note. Soon they were both giggling. The boys and I relaxed, happy that their serious mood had faded.

I was about to ask what had happened when the bell rang marking the end of lunch. They jumped up cleaning the table quickly. They hurried over, Julia kissing Reese quickly on the lips and Winter doing the same with me. Michael pouted, probably missing Cornelia.

-No fair- He mumbled.

The girls giggled and quickly pecked him on the cheek before rushing out without a word. This had been by far the weirdest lunch I had ever experienced. I had learned a lot about Winter and I was not referring to the fact that she is a virgin. Something told me that she had secrets, important ones. Would she tell me? I guess it wasn’t fair to expect her to do so considering that I had secrets of my own. Maybe it was Karma telling me that it was time to be honest.

Nah…It can wait.