Linked

Chapter 3

Kaileen

As I walked home, I wondered what Elia had been trying to hide. I was a bit worried because my best friend never hid things from me. That will probably change tomorrow, I thought. After the Linking Ceremony, Elia would tell all her secrets to her Link, and not me anymore. I swallowed a lump in my throat, and idly played with my comms ring while I walked. Then, I bumped into a solid chest. "Kyle!" I said, delighted. "What are you doing outside so late?"

"Technically, I could ask the same of you." he smiled, and patted me on the head. Kyle was my best guy friend, and everyone thought we 'should' be together but we didn't have those kind of feelings for each other. Well, at least I didn't. I crossed my arms and shot him a look.

"Hey, I was just walking back home!" I told him. "So what were you doing then?" I watched him run his hand through his spiky blonde hair. His usually bright green eyes were dark and clouded but I couldn't tell what it was that was bothering him.

"I had stuff to take care of." he said breezily, pinching my cheek. "Come on, I'll walk you home."

"I'm fine by myself!" I replied defensively. Kyle grinned mischievously. His eyes were back to its normal shade of green. Had I been imagining it?

I didn't have time to consider for long, because Kyle yelled, "Race you there!" and dashed ahead. I smiled to myself and chased him along the smooth road. I caught up pretty quickly and was about to pass him by when he grabbed me by the waist and tossed me up onto a high outer wall of a fairly large house, using his new strength that he had received from the last surgery update. I was left sitting on top of it, my legs dangling seven feet away from the ground while Kyle stopped to catch his breath.

"Hey, that's so not fair!" I reached my arms out to him, but he stayed where he was.

"Life's not fair!" he replied gleefully. I looked around at where I was situated, and an incredibly crazy idea dawned onto me.

"Laugh all you want," I warned. "But don't be a sore loser!" I stood up on the wall, balancing precariously on the one-foot wide space. Then, I darted forward and leaped to the outer wall of the next house. Using the momentum, I kept going from one wall to another. When I took a risk and whipped my head back to look at my friend, he was open-mouthed and staring at me. I smirked, and went even faster. I was leaning on the gate of my house, examining my nails when he finally arrived, wheezing and out of breath.

"What the hell, Leen!" he wheedled, bracing himself on his knees. "How can you be that much faster than me even though I just got a surgery update and you haven't had one in ages?"

"Life isn't fair," I said, vaguely echoing what he had said before. Kyle rolled his eyes and opened the gate for me. I could feel his eyes drilling into my back as I scanned my wrist and went in. "Love ya!" I waved, and quietly slipped in through the front door, not wanting a confrontation from my mother.

I didn't hear him whisper, "I love you too."