Sparks

Chapter 53

"What did they do to you?" Jamie asks, seething with anger. I try to subtly pull away but it only makes her get closer.

"I-it wasn't th-that bad, it just..."

"Give me a straight answer before I just go over there and kill them both myself, I swear to God."

"J-Jacob slapped me for n-not bringing the camera and knocked m-me out."

Her brows furrow. She turns my head slightly to get a better look at the bruise. I don't bother resisting.

"That's what he told you?"

"Y-yes?"

"Well, he lied. You don't get bruises that size from a slap and that's not even mentioning how much you must've skidded to get that size rugburn - I assume it's a rugburn under there?" I nod.

"I g-guess a gravel b-burn? I-I woke up on c-concrete with some r-rocks."

"Ah. Anyway, that wasn't a slap. He straight up punched you, and that's assuming he didn't just hit you with something nearby. Do you remember anything?"

"I r-remember him coming towards me, and then it j-just... s-stops." Jamie tsks.

"You could have a concussion. Hm, but you're walking around fine... have you got a headache?"

"Half my face has recently been scraped raw. What do you think?"

She smirks slightly. "Well, that's a good sign."

"Excuse me?"

"You have enough spirit to stand up to me." Jamie leans closer, our noses are almost touching. I try to swallow a lump in my throat. "And it's the most confident thing you've said all day."

"W-well," my stutter returns full force at her closeness.

She suddenly stands up again. "What I meant was, do you have any headache other than the face pain?"

"N-no."

"That's good."

"Why do you care?"

"What?" she asks.

"Why are you being nice again? I'd prefer if you wouldn't send me mixed signals. Are we friends or not?"

Jamie sighs. "This is not what we're talking about."

"It is now," I shoot back.

"Okay! You want to know?" she snaps finally. "I was trying to avoid you, so we wouldn't have to have literally this exact conversation, but when I saw you walk out of your car I..." Her demeanor deflates. "I knew something was wrong. And it left a bad taste in my mouth to just leave you. My abilities make me intently aware of my surroundings, and usually I can tell when something's 'off' before anyone else, just because of the unusual electromagnetic fields." Jamie takes a deep breath. "Different emotions make people give off different fields. It's not a precise science, but I'm pretty good at figuring it out by now. And today you just felt like pain and fear."

I take advantage of her distraction to back a few steps away and lean against a wall. "You are a good person. You just don't want to admit it."

"I'm really not, though!" Jamie protests. "If I sensed that with anyone else I'd just go 'sucks for you, mate' and walk away. Maybe follow them around out of curiosity and maybe even get to kill a few bastards who deserved to die. But with you, it's like a beacon calling for help that only I can see."

"So if you felt some kid walking around afraid and in pain, you wouldn't do anything?"

"That's different."