Defied Reality - 15. Chapter 15: The Bond And The Bitch

Trent laid ontop of Taylor and breathed heavily as he looked down at him.

"You saved me..." Taylor whispered.

"Of course." Trent smiled, however his smile faded when two shots hit him in the back from a couple of the remaining soldiers. His eyes widened and he screamed in pain, blood now soaking his white tee shirt.

Taylor quickly rolled Trent over and stood up, seeing the remaining soldiers left on the roof top, blood dripping from their ears. After having lost their hearing, they no longer cared to capture the twins, they wanted them dead for such injuries, after all, in their minds, they still had the female that they could capture upon locating her.

He looks down at Trent and suddenly a clear but perfectly round shaped ball appears in his hand, it looked much like a bubble. He looked at what was in his hand, knowing that their powers emerged from their emotions.

He just wasn't aware of what this thing was for. He lowered his hand and let the bubble glide down his hand and hit the ground of the roof and suddenly it expanded and created a bubble for all of those around, the soldiers found their hearing being returned, more importantly, Trent found his wounds healing.

Trent's eyes opened and he pushed himself to stand up and he looked around, the large bubble was clear, but it emitted a light purple glow around it, faint, but it was there. "What is this?"

Taylor's eyes widened. "I'm not exactly sure, this is a new one." He shook his head and pulled Trent close, hugging him, however, he kept his eyes on the remaining soldiers who began to stand up.

"You healed us..." One of the soldiers said.

Trent quickly pulled back and turned around. "What?!"

Taylor's eyes widened and the bubble field quickly shrunk and disappeared. "If I did...it was a mistake. You shot my brother...I wanted..." He looked down. "...to heal him."

"A healing field?" Trent questioned, but didn't take his eyes off the soldiers.

"Don't come any closer!" Taylor screamed. Though they continued to approach, he looked over at Trent.

Trent started to form an energy ball, however, as soon as he did, it sparked out. "What the hell?"

The two unknown teens, who had been pretty passive in combat for the most part, now the female held Trent's energy ball. She grinned and tossed it in the air and it disassembled and became two energy balls that both of them could catch.

They watched the remaining soldiers and then suddenly threw the energy balls high into the air, yet a string of what appeared to be lightning kept them attached to the two teens hands. The balls expanded quickly and then came down upon the soldiers, the energy continued to shoot through them as they all shook and began to foam at the mouth.

The twin's eyes widened, their attention returned to the two teens, wondering who they were and why they would betray the ones they obviously came with.

The female grinned and and they lifted their hands and all the soldiers began to levitate in the air and started flying around in a circle, kind of like a carousel, and as they went around, each time, they came closer together until they all collided in an explosion. The teens lowered their hands, watching the rain of ashes fall.

The twins walked around the rain of ashes and cautiously approached the two teens. "You saved us, why?" Trent asked.

"For our own freedom." The female said. "Lets just say...we could tell you a lot of what they might of done to you, if they caught you, from our personal experience."

"Who are you?" Taylor asked.

"Jordan." The girl said. "This is my brother, Zaine." She paused. "We're not technically siblings, but...we have that kind of bond. We should be like everyone else...but we got robbed of any kind of decent life...so you could say, this was an act long in waiting, we just needed to be on the outside first."

Zaine looked between the two and then towards the ground.

"What about Gage?" Trent looked up.

"Right here." Gage spoke up from behind them after he reformed.

The twins turned around. "You just left us to deal with all of that on our own?!" Taylor yelled at him.

"I took care of the big threat." Gage frowned. "I told you, I'm not going to fight your battles for you, not unless it's really needed."

"Trent was shot! I was here all by myself! You didn't think you were needed?!" Taylor narrowed his eyes.

"I was coming, but you fixed it, so I let it be." Gage said. "You should be proud of yourself, that was just one way of using one of your biggest powers."

Trent shook his head. "We need to check on Tess." He grabbed Taylor's arm and ran back into the stairwell.

Gage watched the twins take off and he stepped closer to Jordan and Zaine. "Well, do you two want to stick around? Not much of a life starting it on the streets with no idea where to start."

Jordan stared at Gage and then looked at Zaine and he returned her gaze. "Well, it doesn't look like you hold them prisoner." She crossed her arms and grinned. "In fact...you seem more like a dead beat dad, yet you look like a little boy."

Gage slowly nodded. "I might appear younger than the twins, but I'm not. And it's true, I run a very free house, for the most part. I guide...but I don't rule." He walked around them and headed towards the stairwell. "Consider it." He pushed the door open and headed in.

Jordan looked at Zaine with a thoughtful expression.

Tess screamed and cried as the twins came running into the bathroom, Gage following soon behind, he shoved between the twins.

"What happened?!" Gage asked.

Taylor looked at Trent. "Can you do something with the lights?"

"Not the whole building, I doubt." Trent walked over and placed his hand over the light switch and closed his eyes, flipping the switch on with his thumb. The bathroom light began to flicker in and out before finally stabilizing. His hand lowered and he looked over at the shower stall. "Where is Avery?!"

Taylor hated Avery, but he didn't wish her dead, well he did wish a fork in her forehead, but that was venting, he just hoped that karma didn't pay him back.

"He shot Cole!" Tess screamed.

Gage stepped into the shower. "Get out of the way!"

Tess stepped around Gage and stumbled out of the shower, she looked at Trent and cried. "I moved Avery to her house...I used my door trick, first time I did it at a distance and for someone other than myself."

Gage lowered down and looked at Cole who was semi-conscious. "It only grazed the side of his head. The soldier was probably being impulsive and didn't care to properly aim. He probably anticipated powers being used."

Tess turned around and looked at Gage. "Can you fix him?"

Trent sighed in relief, happy that at least Avery was safe, his gaze traveled to Cole, wondering what was in store for him. "Taylor can."

"I only did that once." Taylor looked at Trent. "It was a new ability, and it happened because you were hurt."

Trent looked at him. "Well, now Cole is hurt."

"You don't understand." Taylor looked at Trent. "Our powers evolve from our feelings...I..."

Trent walked over to Taylor and he grabbed his shoulders and guided him to the edge of the door. "What?"

Once at a distance, he stared at Trent. "I love you." He whispered. "I know you don't care to hear it...but...that's why I probably can't make it happen again."

Trent frowned and brought a hand up, brushing his thumb across Taylor's cheek. "It's not that I don't want to hear that, it's that I shouldn't...not in the manner that you're saying it...and you shouldn't be saying it like that." He stepped closer. "But, I know you can't help it, just as I can't...without Avery here, if it weren't for this crisis, if we were alone..."

"Who knows what would happen?" Taylor asked.

"Maybe." Trent said. "It's like I told Avery, you're the only guy...I feel for, other than you...I'm straight, as I've always been, it's not a question, this bond thing...makes it different."

Gage placed his hand over Cole's head and within moments the wound healed, though the blood remained, so one probably couldn't tell much.

Cole's eyes opened as the wound healed and the pain quickly, but progressively went away during the process. He looked up at Gage and then sat up and looked around. "Tess?" He spoke out, that was when he realized that he couldn't hear anything. "Tess?!" He screamed out. "I can't hear! I can't hear!" His hands went up to his ears.

Trent turned around and Taylor looked off in Cole's direction.

"Wait...you have the same power as me?" Taylor looked at Tess.

"Oh no..." Tess ran towards the shower and looked at Gage. "Fix his ears!"

Cole looked around, seeing people talking, not being able to hear a thing, it was the most awful experience he ever had.

"Give me time." Gage reached over and grabbed Cole's arms and pulled his hands from his ears, by this point, Jordan and Zaine ventured into the bedroom and looked into the bathroom, but didn't enter.

Cole lowered his hands and felt Gage place his hands over his ears and as progressively as his pain had went away, his hearing came back, like the volume of a television being turned up from silent to normal. A sigh escaped and when Gage pulled his hands back, he pushed himself to stand up. "I can hear..."

"Thank god." Tess pulled him out of the shower and hugged him.

Gage stepped out and looked over at Jordan and Zaine. "We have room for you two. I can take the guest room, I care little for very nice things. The super master is like an apartment in it's self, a little living room, a bedroom and a bath, you will have to share the main kitchen with us, though."

Jordan's eyebrows lifted, surprised by the hospitality. "Uh...well, okay."

Gage walked closer. "Only one bed though, so until we can purchase two, tonight one of you will have to use the couch, if that is a big issue." He then walked out as Zaine quickly stepped out of the way. "Fix your room Trent!" He called out and slipped out of the master bedroom.

"Fix my room?" Trent looked at it. "Everything is wrecked...and all the glass went out." He had nothing to work with.

Trent laid in Taylor's bed in the mini master, staring at him while Taylor stared right back. "I guess this is a convenient situation..."

Taylor grinned. "I'm not complaining. Actually...I'm surprised you didn't just go to Avery's house."

"Not sure Milo would of been to happy about that." Trent said.

"Is that a true feeling, or just an excuse?"

"I don't know, what do you think?" Trent asked.

"I think the former is a lie." Taylor's grin remained.

Trent looked down and brushed his index finger down Taylor's lower arm. "Do you think we're going to have sex?"

"I don't care one way or the other, I just want to be together, that's how it feels for me." Taylor looked down at Trent's finger. "What about you?"

"I guess the same, though, it's easier for me to resist and I don't know why. I mean, it's not like I want the bond to be so strong, you know? Because we can't be together like that, not here, not on Earth, they all deem it wrong. I just...I wonder why you're more affected by it than me. Like...am I cold hearted? Or...do I just not care? Or am I just not as invested in our brotherhood emotionally. It bothers me that the bond doesn't affect me as much for...reasons like that."

Taylor stared at Trent thoughtfully. "Well, for one, you're straight, so that might be a factor as to why the bond isn't as strong for you. Maybe our other home...maybe twins are more likely to share the same sexuality? And for two, maybe when I clued you in on the realities of everything, maybe that put a lot of resistance in your mind. You were holding my hand, ready to face life with me, you didn't think about anything else...until I stopped us."

Trent nodded. "Maybe the first, but the second....those were your realizations, you were the one that hesitated...and then later, it was you that wanted to face the world...together."

"Because I felt what it would be like to go for so long without you."

"My point, why didn't it affect me the same way? You had the realizations, you made me just as aware of them, but yet you still felt so much of the pain of the separation, I didn't feel as much. I don't understand why." Trent reached down and interlaced his fingers with Taylor's and brought his hand up near their faces.

"Maybe...you should stop thinking about the past...and think about how you feel now." Taylor looked at their hands. "You're the one doing this."

Trent looked at their hands and then into Taylor's eyes.

"I mean, Gage could of slept with me, he is my ex...and you could of used the guest room, but you didn't bother to ask, you just let this arrangement be assumed." Taylor stared into Trent's eyes. "Why?"

"I wanted it to be this way, I wanted us to fall into a position like this." Trent let go of Taylor's hand and brushed his cheek with the back of his hand. "Where we are right now...we're free."

"That's because you feel the bond, you're just normally more distracted than me. You make yourself that way because it makes it easier for you, people can block their emotions, they can run from them, they can bury them up. No one said this bond was so strong that you can't do those things. Gage only said it would always be there."

Trent leaned closer and his eyes shut as he softly kissed Taylor and then he eased back. "I don't want to hurt you. I mean...when my room is fixed and I go back...to how I was."

Taylor's eyes opened after the kiss and he smiled. "I'm just being in the moment."

Trent sat up and shook his head. "I can't play with you like this."

Taylor sat up, alarmed. "No, this is fine. Who knows when we'll get this kind of..."

"Opportunity again?" Trent looked at Taylor. "Where I can sneak around with you? You deserve better." He slid out of the bed. "I'll just...crash on the living room couch. I'm sorry for stirring this up."

Taylor stared at Trent. "Now you're hurting me...and you supposedly don't want to."

"And I hate that...but it's inevitable. How will you feel tomorrow, at school...when you see me with Avery? Just like you saw us across the lunch room? Crushed, I know...because I felt it." He frowned and rushed out of the room, shutting the door behind him.

Taylor watched him leave and then laid back down, the bed felt cold, and he found himself rubbing the side of the bed where Trent once laid only a moment ago.

Jordan slipped out of the master bedroom after Trent stormed out and headed off for the living room. Yeah, she had been eavesdropping, but she wanted to learn as much as she could about these people that had taken them in, and the brothers were the only ones with any activity going on. She slipped out and looked at the door to the mini master and frowned.

She didn't know anything about love, at least nothing more than she was allowed to see on television when they were granted the gift, and for brothers to have that kind of love, it was new, odd, strange, yet she felt awful for them, especially for Taylor, the brother that wanted it, while the other brother seemed to just resist.

She walked off down the hall, heading back for the super master, not worried about having to bypass Trent, stealth had been a part of their training, and the back of the couch faced the stairs, so that was a plus.

Taylor walked into the entrance with Jordan and Zaine, the hallway was overly crowded as usual, he wondered if it would be overload for them. "Okay...so this...is school." He turned around and looked at them.

Zaine frowned. "This...is claustrophobic." The first thing the male teen had said since they had come into the picture. "Can't we just...short circuit their brains, knock them out...and walk through?"

Jordan stared at the crowd and grinned, her head turned towards Zaine. "No, I don't think we can."

Zaine brought his hands to his head. "I can't go through them...you can't see...people, just a sea of people."

Taylor tried hard to contain his grin. "When you go to the office, you tell them you're new students...tell them you're homeless, they have to accept you that way. Then they put you into the system, just go along with the process and you will get a list of your classes."

"How do you find the office? The people are in the way." Zaine looked at the people with a bitter face. "And wouldn't there be more than one office?" He cringed.

"Technically...yes, but we're talking about the main office. It'll have a big over sized desk in it, way to big for one secretary, but that is all there is...and she will take care of it." Taylor explained.

"I can't deal with it." Zaine frowned.

Jordan sighed, slightly annoyed, sometimes Zaine could be the biggest baby in the world. "Isn't there something you could do?"

Taylor frowned. "Yeah, but once I do, you guys better be ready to walk fast, if someone comes around the corner...I don't have the confidence that I can do this to a large building."

He turned around and gestured his hands and slowed the molecules down and everyone in the hall froze in place. "Lets go, just walk around them...and try not to bump them." He started off in a speedy walk.

"Come on!" Jordan grabbed Zaine's hand and followed Taylor, keeping up the pace as she walked around the people. As for Zaine? The noise being gone was a plus, though it still felt claustrophobic to him, the stillness was a slight calm to the chaos of their surroundings.

"Okay, here." Taylor said, seeing the secretary was still moving. "Fuck, I hope she didn't look out the door." He said as everyone broke free from his ability. "Go in!"

Zaine brought one hand up to his ear when all the motion started back and tried to pull his other hand back, but Jordan had a firm hold on his wrist as she opened the door to the office and yanked him in after her, knowing that getting him out of the hall would be better.

Taylor watched the two and sighed. "That guy...is going to have some issues..."

"Hey!" Baily grabbed hold of Taylor's shoulders from behind.

Taylor spun around quickly and then sighed. "Oh...hey."

"I heard about that thing at the condo complex, sounds crazy."

Taylor scratched the back of his head. "Yeah...they were looking for terrorists they suspected lived there." He looked at Baily. "Given the deaths...guess they were right, though I think they caught the terrorists."

"Taylor." Baily interrupted. "You don't have to cover...Remember, you told me the big secret." He said, loud enough for Taylor to hear, but not any louder than needed.

Taylor sighed and closed his eyes. "Right, well, I was just helping a couple of new friends register." He opened his eyes and pointed his thumb over his shoulder.

Baily nodded. "Well, aside from that...and last night, are you okay?"

"Last night..." Taylor frowned. "Well, Tess kind of wrecked Trent's room fighting soldiers and...so he started to sleep in my bed with me...we laid together, for maybe fifteen minutes tops, then he backed out and slept on the living room couch."

"Why? What happened?"

"Well, he wondered why the bond didn't seem to affect him as strongly as it did me, I reminded him that it did, I mean he was going to walk in here hand in hand with me, it all changed when I reminded him that this kind of world...well, it would never understand. He still didn't understand why, he said, because despite me telling him that, the bond felt stronger for me, then I suggested maybe it was because he was straight." Taylor shook his head.

"So what happened after that?" Baily asked.

"He kissed me at some point during all of this...and then by the end, said he didn't want to hurt me, brought up how I'd feel when I saw him today...with Avery, that he remembered feeling how crushed I felt when he chose to be with her at lunch instead of me. He said he didn't want to hurt me and...bailed."

"Well, you have me. I know we don't know each other that well, have hardly had any time together...and the bond being stronger for you, for whatever reason, probably makes me pale in comparison, but it's worth trying, isn't it?"

Taylor looked at Baily. "It's worth getting to know each other, I don't want you to merely be a distraction for me. Avery doesn't know it...but I think that is all she is for Trent, I don't want to do that to someone."

"Kind and honest, two good things." Baily smiled and then noticed the hall was empty and he laughed. "And late for class..."

"If I don't just skip." Taylor said, taking Baily's hand and he headed off down the hall, wanting to get lost before Jordan and Zaine came out, he didn't want to baby sit them anymore than he had.

Cole walked into the auto shop where he worked, seeing his Boss, Liam, coming out of his office.

"Shouldn't you be in school?" Liam asked.

"Should, but I'm not." Cole slightly grinned. "You probably called it playing hooky in your day, we just plain out call it not going."

Liam hopped up and sat on the hood of one of the cars and grinned. "Nice." He tilted his head to the side. "You seem kind of...off."

"You hear about that condo complex thing last night?" Cole asked.

Liam nodded. "Yeah."

"My girlfriend lives there, I was trying to protect her and almost got killed doing it, thankfully she is fine." Cole frowned and sat on a stool at the table where all the tools were kept. "I felt stupid...and helpless." He shook his head. "Still do."

"Really? Why?"

"Because...she is the type that can take care of herself. I can't tell you why...but I realized just how inferior I am."

Liam's eyebrows lifted. "She can handle herself against soldiers?" He crossed his arms. "Must be pretty resourceful." He paused. "I bet if you were just as resourceful, all those bad feelings would go away."

Cole barely laughed in sarcasm. "How would I ever get just as resourceful? Then...you don't completely get it...and never will, because I can't tell you why."

"You'd be surprised." Liam slipped off the hood of the car and walked over to Cole and leaned forward, placing a hand on the table on either side of Cole, bending forward to be close and at eye level. "What if I told you I did get it, completely? And that I could make you just as resourceful?"

Cole leaned back against the edge of the table. "How would you do that?" He stared at him.

"I could...grant you gifts. Those are her resources, right? She has gifts?"

"What are you?" He stared at Liam, suspiciously.

Liam grinned. "A genie." He softly laughed. "But I'm the dollar store kind, you get one wish, I'm cheap like that."

Cole slowly nodded. "So, you wouldn't be after them?"

Liam shook his head. "Nope, I wouldn't really care to either. If I were a demon or an angel, I'd go rogue...because I'd rather do what I do, fuck the plans."

"Okay, give me the gifts." Cole said, then cleared his throat. "I mean, I wish for the powers..."

Liam tried to hold back his laughter. "Your wish...close your eyes." He waited until Cole closed his eyes and then placed his hands on the side of his head. Liam's eyes suddenly turned solid black and Cole would begin to feel a hot sensation all over his body, from his head to his toes.

"That's hot...it's burning." Cole said in slight discomfort.

Liam's eyes turned back to normal and he pulled his hands away. "Open your eyes."

Cole opened his eyes and they were solid black, just like Liam's were, though he wouldn't notice it, and within seconds they returned to normal.

"Your wish...has been granted." Not exactly a deal with the devil, but Liam was certainly no genie. He eased back and patted Cole on the shoulder blade. "Now, feel better...and go to school, she'll need you." He grinned and headed back towards his office.

Milo sat at the large round table with a large number of other men his age in his underground meeting chambers, straight across from him was Gage, who, given his young appearance, didn't seem to fit in there at all, but despite that fact, he was quite mature enough for it.

"First and foremost, I want to thank you and your crew for saving my daughters life in that mess of a raid last night." Milo smiled.

"No thanks needed. Tess should get the credit for that. Avery was hiding in the closet." He looked around. "She has the power of door projection, in other words, using doors for portals, so long as both doors are similar enough. She was able to project that closet to Avery's room so that when Avery opened the door, she walked out into her own bedroom."

The men listened with fascination, Milo grinned and leaned forward. "That is incredible. And exactly how does she perform this feat? If Avery opens the door, sees her own bedroom, while still standing in the closet of the condo?"

"It's a form of reality looping, a worm hole, for a lack of a better term. You know, when you travel in space, if you want to go a great distance, the most practical way is to find one of these portals that bends space so that when you enter, you go through and exit, and you could find yourself thousands of light years from where you started within minutes. Though her ability is instantaneous." Gage explained.

"And if one were to enter the closet in the condo, how would that work?" One of the men asked.

"Well, Avery would be protected as she would be in a looped reality while any other would be in normal reality. The affect only works on those who are, say...in the closet when the door is opened." Gage took a deep breath. "To put it simply, anyone else would be entering the closet via the condo, Avery would be in the closet, the door opened to her bedroom, in simple terms, the closet would exist within two places at once and only when Avery closed the closet door...would the affect end. It's like a spaceship going into the worm hole while another ship goes in the same direction but misses it."

The man nodded and looked over at Milo.

"Are there...any other special powers we should be aware of? I am sure there are." He grinned.

"Well, that was her mastered power, her first ability, Taylor can slow down molecules to such a degree that people or objects stop moving, during this state, they are not aware of anything...and if left like that for to long may believe they experienced missing time. If you were standing in front of them and moved when they came out of it, you would instantaneously disappear in their eyes. Kind of like what happened to him at the Good Will, how the camera captured it when the affect wore off and he went from the door, to the middle of the room, then back to the door. He has since mastered the ability, though he has the potential to do the exact opposite which would result in blowing things up." Gage explained.

Milo nodded. "Useful. And the other twin?"

"He's more or less an energy manipulator, at first enhancing the others powers before learning to manipulate the energy on his own, typically creates energy balls. Though as they go along, they are learning other abilities, new ones come out either when they are needed or from emotional responses."

"And you?"

Gage grinned at Milo. "Lets not go into me, I'll just say...if you need something done...and the others can't do it, ask me and I'll let you know."

Milo nodded. "Okay, well, to put things simply, our mission is to create harmony under a one world government, The New World Order, as we plan to call it." He paused. "Thing is, with all the war in the middle east, no one getting along, I doubt people would be very open to the idea. People would rather retain their power in their own lands. However we believe that system doesn't work anymore, watch the news and you will see why. These people, they get power hungry, they want to force people to believe what they believe, they want more land, more money, more control. Under a single power, we could take all the land and make it one place under our rule."

"So...you want us...to force these people, all the people, to bend to your will?" Gage asked. "And if they don't?"

"If they don't...you eliminate them, it won't take long for the message to get out there. Fall in line...or else. I know the way to getting there sounds vicious and mean, but the final results will be worth it in the end, and trust me, once the fall in line or die concept sets into the minds of the millions, which it would pretty soon, hardly any lives are expected to be lost, just enough to make a point, it will happen, if you don't stop and see what we have to offer." Milo nodded.

Gage frowned, not liking the idea at all. "And exactly how much say do we get in the rules?"

Milo smiled. "You can suggest as much as you want, all of us as members, we suggest and vote, majority will rule, there will be no single leader. The Illuminati is a society, and we plan to act as such, we will be a society all to our own, claiming a piece of land as ours with the best security. However our common goal has already been made and once that is set in place and we find a relatively stable way for the world to live, that is when we begin building the system. Though...it might be smarter to start building that system before we go out in the open."

"I was going to say that." Gage nodded. "You see, where I come from, there is nothing but freedom. Of course I have to make the allowance that as humans you don't have the abilities to create what you want...in the way that we can."

"And I hate to say this, as it is self insulting, but I doubt we have the maturity that the people from your planet may have. All freedom, people would run wild with it." Milo stated.

"I just have one suggestion, consider a barter system and rid the world of money, people work to make things, not for money, but for themselves. If it's something they don't want, they have it to trade." Gage stood up. "And for the disabled? Donated goods is a great jump start for them. That...is just an idea off the top of my head, consider it, think it through, weigh the pros and the cons that I've failed to consider."

He looked around. "It was nice meeting with all of you." Gage turned around and walked out, wanting to rid himself of the meeting, maybe even Earth altogether.

"And there it is..." Baily laid his tray down beside Taylor and he sat down.

Taylor stared across the lunch room, watching Trent and Avery walk in and head straight for their usual table, and every time, without fail, Avery always shot him a brief yet innocent glance before sitting down with Trent. "See what she does?"

"She looks at you, she knows what shes doing." Baily watched the two.

"That must be her, right?" Jordan sat down across the table from Baily and Taylor.

Taylor blinked and looked over at Jordan. "Yep, that's her..." He looked around. "Where is Zaine? Wouldn't the lunch room drive him crazy?"

"No, I lead him outside, he's eating lunch by one of the trees, it's peaceful." She looked over her shoulder. "Want me to punch her? My fists, the bones...were laced with titanium, I could bust her head open."

"No..." Taylor shook his head. "If Trent wanted to be here...he would be."

"He's a jackass, should bust his head." Jordan looked at Taylor. "My feet were done the same way as my hands, it makes for good hand to hand combat."

Baily looked over at Jordan. "Hi, I'm Baily."

Jordan looked over at Baily. "Oh...hi, sorry...not good at the social thing. So...are you being the jealousy object? I doubt it's working."

Baily frowned. "Uh...no."

Taylor shot a glance at Jordan. "I'm not that way, Trent might use her to distract himself, I don't need to use anyone. Baily is someone that I'm getting to know, if something blossoms, it's because it's for real."

He frowned. "Sadly...unless I feel otherwise, we were taught the bond would always be there. Maybe if we just stay apart...it'll break. I mean it wasn't always there, just the temptation to bring it out, that was always there, even when we didn't know it."

"You looked so annoyed though..." Jordan said.

"Yeah, because every time they walk in, they go to that table, all the way across the room, and she always looks over at me with this innocent expression, no smile, no expression, just this brief stare, but it just screams...look what I'm doing, I'm making him sit all the way over here, then she looks away and goes on about her business." Taylor ate a French fry.

Jordan laughed. "You need to let me crush her face..."

"Take a picture the next time she does it." Baily laughed.

"You should..." Tess walked around and sat beside Jordan, across from Baily. "I got a friend on the year book committee. Not really a friend, just a guy low on the social pole, he lusts for me, would do anything for me." She grinned. "Zoom in good enough...get her face, he would make sure it got in there, label it whatever I wanted."

Taylor looked at Tess. "Maybe, but I doubt he could label it anything bad, it probably has to pass the higher authority."

"That's why you make it look good...but everyone will know it sounds bad." Tess looked at Taylor. "Maybe get a little bit of Trent in the shot...and label it 'Stare Of Success' and since the incest thing would get you guys more bad rep than her, I could spin the wheel that I dated him before Cole. See? It looks good...by the time it comes out, everyone will know it's bad."

Jordan looked over at Tess. "And what would that do? By the time the year book comes out...high school is practically going to be over." She looked at Taylor. "Given that, me and Zaine should of just been couch potato's like Gage."

Tess looked at Jordan. "That fact makes it worse, she'll go out with a bad memory, no chance to fix it, and usually...at high school reunions, you're best remembered for the last thing that happens." She grinned with evil intent.

"How are you going to convince anyone that you dated Trent? No one saw you." Taylor shook his head.

"Hey, Trent and I hung out back then more than you and I did. That has to say something...and he doesn't seem to big on the PDA either, so how hard could it be?"

Tess shrugged. "Kind of wish I had Mia here to help me out on this one." She quietly laughed. "I could see us being totally mutual when it comes to her, the beautiful yet mysterious lone wolf, thinks shes to good to fall in with anyone, but she can sink low enough to steal 'my boyfriend.' How great would that be? I'm sure Mia could of tossed a ton of other ideas in there."

"That all sounds like Mean Girls." Jordan took a bite of her salad. "Sorry, the facility let us watch the movie once, for learning purposes, to kind of teach us about the various ways of life."

"Jawbreaker was better." Tess said, then she turned to see Cole approach the table. "Hey...where have you been?"

Cole sat beside Tess. "Just...around. Last night really had me shook up..."

Tess pushed Cole's tank top to the side. "You got a tattoo."

Cole looked confused, then wondered if it was part of what Damien did.

"It's a four...with one top line leaned towards the other, creating the top point, then...another line comes out of the top, curves around and crosses right where the right line extends out to make the leg...and creates a second leg, at a diagonal angle." Tess described it.

"Oh..." Cole nodded. "It's for the four years of school, but the right line, the one that extends out into the leg, it was counted as one line, so it only counted as three years, so that line out of the top means the forth year...it curves because when I leave, it's like flying away...and it makes a second leg...because I land in the next chapter of my life, the next stand." He said, explaining it away.

Tess let go of his tank top. "Interesting." She didn't say anymore about it. "So...tomorrow, Tay...get that picture, center in on Avery, make sure Trent is visible kind of at the side, make sure it's clear that shes about to sit with him but shes giving you that stare, I'll spin it and say she's looking at me, I'll just have to make sure I'm sitting next to you when it happens."

Cole looked around. "What are you planning?"

"Revenge on Avery." Tess looked at Cole. "If anyone asks...Trent dumped me for her...and you were my comfort...and then we came to be. I'm doing this for Taylor, it's for a great cause."

Jordan started to look annoyed, Tess talked to much, no wonder everyone else was stone silent.

Baily had similar feelings, but he wasn't taking it to heart. A smile appeared. "Taylor, do you want to go to the court yard before lunch is over? None of this can be done until tomorrow anyway."

"Sure." Taylor said, not sure if he was empathic or not, he didn't know how Jordan felt, but he had a feeling that Baily probably felt as if a rock had been laid on top of him.

"Tess, great idea, can't wait to put it into action." He stood up and grabbed his tray.

"Definitely." Tess grinned, watching Baily and Taylor take off.

That was Jordan's cue to get up herself to go check on Zaine, an excuse of course, but a good one.

Taylor stopped at Trent and Avery's table and leaned over, throwing an arm across Trent's shoulders. "The one good thing that came out of last night...was that kiss, it was like a million in one." He then looked at Avery with the similar expression that she kept giving him and pulled away from Trent and walked out with Baily.

"A kiss?" Avery asked.

"My room...was destroyed...I was going to sleep with Taylor." He cleared his throat. "As in, go to sleep in his bed. We talked...I did kiss him...then I told myself this couldn't happen, so I slept on the couch in the living room." Trent looked up at Avery. "I know, it's no excuse...and I know that you've understood the bond thing, at least the concept of it, I don't think you've accepted it, I don't want to accept it."

Avery frowned and sat back in her chair. "What can I say?"

Trent frowned. "I've resisted so well, it was the situation I was put in." He looked up. "Avery...you give me reason to resist, without you, I doubt I would, I don't know if I could, I don't know if I would have it in me to look for someone else." He shook his head. "It's not just that...it seems like I've known you for the longest time, I like who you are."

"Yet you don't resist enough." Avery said. "Despite the situation you were put in." She balled up a napkin in her hand.

"Can you forgive me...please? It's not like...I did it because my human half wanted to, it's an alien thing...entirely. That has to say something to you. I mean..I avoid him all day five days a week...we sit all the way across the room, just you and me, I give you just about all of my time."

Avery slowly nodded. "I can't discredit your efforts, I have to give you that." She let go of the napkin as her fist loosened. "But you have to do better...I remember the way things were before this...alien half bond thing, I liked the way things were then."

"I did too." Trent said. "I want to be like that again."

Taylor and Baily made it out to the court yard and the door quietly fell shut behind them and he spun around. "Quiet out here, as usual." Taylor smiled.

Baily grinned. "You dropped a bomb on her."

"Yeah...and Trent's going to be furious with me later...that is if he can be...when we're alone." He sat on one of the benches.

Baily sat beside Taylor. "Or he can go into one of those angry rages of passion." He paused. "Which...I wouldn't hold it against you, unlike him, you aren't leading me on, you're very honest with where I am with you. Getting to know each other."

"That's how I want to be, I don't want anyone's heart broken because of this, it'll break naturally or it won't break...and if it doesn't, I won't have you getting hurt thinking that we're together."

Baily shrugged. "Maybe not....but I'm hoping, and in this kind of situation, it's probably bad to hope."

"Sometimes...you can't help it." Taylor said. "Though I wish you didn't, when you hope, it means you open yourself up to be crushed."

"It's a risk I have to take, I'm not that great at controlling my emotions, but I try, for you."

Taylor smiled briefly and then looked up at the sky. "God, I get that song stuck in my head so many times, the chorus is so addicting."

"What song?" Baily grinned.

"Jesus take the wheel." He looked at Baily. "It's just so upbeat, and if you're playing it and singing along...it just...I don't know, it makes you feel powerful, like any certain song, if the person has a strong voice and the melody is equally as strong...it just gets you. A lot of Christina Aguilera's slow music is like that. Hurt is one of my favorite songs by her, you sing along...and try to over power her...and by the time it's over, your vocal chords hurt, but it feels so good."

"I never thought about any of that." Baily said.

"Well, one day...you need to come to my house, we can do it for hours."

Baily quietly laughed.

"What?" Taylor asked.

"Do it for hours." Baily grinned.

Taylor's eyebrows lifted. "Maybe that can happen too, who knows." He grinned for a moment and then it slowly faded. "I've always had this fear, since this bond thing started...that Trent would bring Avery home...and I would hear them on the other side of the wall."

Baily looked curious. "How strong is this bond?"

"Not so strong for Trent...but for me, it's like a hunger, like we're soul mates...and if that sort of thing happened...and I had to sit in my room and listen, after having that one special night with him..." Taylor looked down. "Every sound he made would be like a hammer to my glass heart."

"That's a horrible thing to think about." Baily then bumped shoulders with him. "That would be the time to turn up your music..."

Taylor leaned to the side and laid his head in Baily's lap. "That would be the time." He mumbled and closed his eyes.

Baily looked down at him adoringly and gently rubbed his head with his hand.