Chapter 8 - Different

Mikayla’s guard was up higher than usual that morning.  As if the events of last night were any indication that she was not in the best state of mind, she could feel herself being watched wherever she went.  A tingling sensation grazed over her skin, but glancing from the corners of her eyes failed to yield the source of her uneasiness.  It was a feeling different from the usual glances she got from the students at school.  It was an eerie sense that followed her from the Wright’s house, around the corners in the city, and all the way to the school doors.

She didn't like it.

It felt safer inside than out.  The uneasiness dissipated within the large concrete walls and she peered out the windows in class for something—anything—to reveal itself.

Nothing did, naturally.  She wondered how much of it was all in her head.

Once she settled into her first period class, and the goosebumps smoothed away, exhaustion flooded her senses as she stared out the window.  Her biology lesson was basically one she heard a couple of weeks ago in Phoenix.

Isaac caught her off guard as she snapped awake from her stupor at the end of class.  Thankfully, he had just, what?  Teased her?  Teasing was better than asking nosy questions, that was for sure.

She made sure that she left the classroom as soon as the bell sounded.  She didn’t want anything else to do with him.  Avoiding him was the most effective method.  He would eventually give up and leave her alone, she knew.  It would just take a little bit of time.

When lunch came, she knew that she needed to find some place to sit down and eat.  Hurrying out of her final morning class, she paused at her locker momentarily to grab the lunch Anna-Marie made for her. 

The woman insisted on Mikayla taking it with her, and Mikayla was in too much of a hurry to argue.  Ann was blocking her path with the brown paper bag, so she quickly snatched it from the thirty-something-year-old woman’s outstretched hands before running out the door.

Upon roaming the hallways, Mikayla glanced out the window of one of the exits in the west wing.

She could recognize the back of his head anywhere.  He had the somewhat shaggy, boyish haircut that made him look younger, blue jeans that weren’t emo-tight, but not gangster-baggy, a loose-fitted grey t-shirt that concealed his lean frame, and his black and gray backpack slung over one shoulder.

Isaac was standing outside and talking to the group of teenagers that had made an effort to say hi to her and welcome her into their group the day before.

Why is he talking to them?

She shook her head as she walked away quickly.

The guy made no sense to her.  No sense at all.

She managed to find a quiet little corridor tucked away from the main hallways.  This, she decided, would be the best place to eat her lunch today.  She was hesitant about eating outside.

Even as she poked at her brown rice and steamed vegetables with her fork, her mind swirling with thoughts around Isaac, she couldn’t grasp why he would talk to them.  They should be the last group of kids a popular guy would approach and have a conversation with.

A thought crossed her mind and she paused in mid-chew.

Isaac had some kind of reputation that made him popular.  He didn’t fit the picture of the typical popular kid she had come across in the other high schools.  The other popular kids would refuse to talk to her because not only was she obviously outside of their hierarchy of cliques, but there was no chance in hell that she would even make an effort to bow down to them.  Therefore, the popular kids would never think to approach other kids like her either.

It was more than that as well.  Isaac didn’t seem to demand flattery from their peers.  He was neither snooty nor overly flirtatious with all the girls (as far as she could tell anyway).  He wasn’t a player, nor a bad-boy, nor stereotypical jock.  He didn’t fit any of those roles.  Most importantly, he seemed genuinely nice to everyone, and everyone respected him.

Was it possible that this school didn’t have the typical cliques that other high schools had?

She quickly brushed that question aside, knowing how stupid it was.  She could easily identify the cliques at a glance.  It would just seem that the popular kids were actually nice kids for a change.

She chewed on her thoughts about him as she continued eating her lunch in silence.

He was always watching her, like he was analysing her every move.

But then, everyone’s eyes were on her, weren’t they?  She wasn’t blind; she just chose to ignore them all.

Was he trying to catch her attention or something?  He just stared at her, and she could practically see the swirling thoughts in his eyes when she glanced quickly at him.

Instinctively, she ignored him as best as she could.  But it wasn’t easy.  He looked at her differently.  He wasn’t afraid of her.

It needed to stop.

It didn’t help that she was exhausted from lack of sleep.

After the little escapade last night, she had a hard time falling back to sleep.  Her senses were on high alert, even though the thing never returned.  She wasn’t able to relax until after 3 o’clock.  She had changed her alarm to wake her up until the last possible minute instead of right before dawn that morning as a result.

She exhaled loudly as she packed her near empty container away.

Maybe I should have just skipped school altogether today…  Her thoughts returned to the desert outside of the city, the sun hot and the wind dry against her skin.

Her makeup was heavier than usual in an attempt to conceal the bags under her eyes.  She had debated first thing that morning about going to school at all, but instead pushed herself to go.  She needed a distraction, and the whole “normal life routine” was just that.  Had she returned to the desert, her mind would just return to thoughts about last night, and the nights prior to that when she had noticed the presence of that thing before.

Gracie also flashed in her mind with her large green eyes staring up at her with wonder and fear.

She had revealed too much to the child.  She would have to walk on eggshells now around the young one.  The more the youth knew, the more dangerous it would be for the girl.

Mikayla couldn’t let anything happen to her.

She was responsible for the child’s well-being now.  And that meant keeping the child quiet about the shadows and what she had figured out about Mikayla thus far.  Secrecy was the only option.  That and prayer to keep the darkness at bay.

She frowned and looked at her glove-clad hands in her lap.

Secrecy and prayers were only good for so long.  She knew that the one and only option she had to truly keep the Wrights safe was to leave.  Leave their nice little family and take the shadows that followed her with her.

She closed her eyes as she leaned against the wall.

She was tired of constantly moving from one foster family to the next.

What she needed was the open road, to come and go as she pleased, and not burden anyone with her existence.

She sighed as the bell rang.

If only things could be that easy.

X

At the end of the day, Mikayla felt too exhausted to go anywhere.  She needed rest.  Her mind had been racing a mile a minute since the moment she woke up.

There was Gracie to think about.  The Wrights to think about.  The shadows to think about.

And Isaac.  The strange boy who wouldn’t leave her alone, whose eyes followed her wherever she went.

He made her nervous.

No one in their right mind should pursue her the way he was unless he caught her in a moment of weakness.  Which was crazy.  She was so careful with her behaviour that she shouldn’t arouse curiosity.

Or was she?  Maybe she was starting to slip?

No, she assured herself on the drive to her temporary home.  You’re not losing control; you’re just tired today.

Nevertheless, he had left her alone since homeroom.  He didn’t approach her or talk to her further after that.

Maybe he was finally starting to clue in?  To give up on trying to be friendly with her?

Maybe… but that didn’t stop him from watching you from a distance.

She pulled into the driveway of the Wright’s house and turned the engine off.  She kicked the kickstand with her foot and climbed off.  Her baggy pants got caught and pulled the spring loose.

Sighing, she carefully unhooked the spring from her pants and crouched down to examine the kickstand while holding the bike up with her hand.   She reattached the spring and noticed that one of the screws was also loose.

With a light grunt, she pushed the bike against the corner of the house and leaned it against the red brick.

She pulled a key from her pocket and opened up the side door to the garage.  Flicking on the light switch, she surveyed the space within, searching for a toolbox.  At the other end of the space she saw one, and with both Ann and James’ cars gone, she walked straight to it.  Before picking up the box, she checked the contents to make sure the tools inside might work for what she needed.

Returning to her bike outside, she got to work on repairing the kickstand.  She spent some time examining the bike’s overall condition before she decided to give it a thorough cleaning.  Once she was done wiping the dust from the metal parts (being careful around the still hot exhaust pipe), a series of voices reached her ears.

Looking over her shoulder from her crouched position, she saw Aiden sprinting towards the house with a pair of boys chasing after him.  They looked nearly twice as big as Aiden, and she realized then that he was rather small for his age.

“Hey twerp!  What’s your hurry?”  The tallest one called out while laughing, reaching for Aiden and grabbing him by the arm.

“Leave me alone Mason!” Aiden tried to pull his arm free, but the larger boy was stronger than him.

Mikayla instinctively jumped to her feet.  She could feel her blood beginning to boil as she gritted her teeth and clenched her hands into fists.  Hot with anger, she marched towards the boys.

“Where the fuck have you been?”

All three boys stop and stare at the six-foot tall, scary-looking biker chick that looked ready to smash their heads into the pavement.

The bullies didn’t know what to make of her.  Aiden looked terrified for a moment, but quickly managed to gather his senses and pull free of the bully’s grasp.

“Get inside!” she yelled.

She stopped a few feet away as Aiden nodded and followed her orders. 

She turned her head slightly to watch Aiden from the corner of her eyes on the right before turning her attention to the bullies on her left.  Narrowing her eyes as she curled her lips, she snarled, “What the fuck are you looking at?  You looking for trouble?”

The pair began to back up, their hands held up in cautious submission.  “N-No trouble!  We’re just walking Aiden home, I swear!”

She took a step toward them.

Their eyes bugged out before they hightailed it out of there.

The perks of being freaky.  She smirked to herself as she turned and ambled toward the house.

She caught Aiden staring at her on the doorstep, his mouth hanging open in shock.  She quickly replaced her smirk with a glower to cover herself as she stepped up to his side.

“What?” she demanded, causing him to snap out of his daze.

His hand was on the doorknob, but he had yet to turn it.  She knew he had been watching her.  And she knew that he realized just what happened exactly.

“What did I tell you?” she barked.  “Get inside the house!”

He snapped his mouth shut and pushed the door open.

Mikayla composed herself before following him inside.  She couldn’t give him the idea that she did it out of the goodness of her heart.  She had to make him think that she needed him inside for something—anything.

He stared back at her, as if waiting for her to say something else.

She scowled at him when she couldn’t think of a good excuse and brushed passed him into the kitchen.

“Why?” he called after her.

She ignored him and stomped up to her room.

She may not have emotional ties to him, or even like him for that matter, but she had her reasons.  And in her mind, she couldn’t stand a bully, no matter how small.

.

Author's note: Aiden's picture is on the side. :)