I Feel Nothing

Chapter 5

Pros and Cons

It's been about 6 weeks since the twins moved in, and there's been a lot of clashing as we figure out the best way to live together. We agreed that no one touches my Oreos; in all fairness they were finishing them for me all the time. No one touches Xavier's bike, I may have almost dropped it as I pretended to ride it while it was on its stand. I was bored, sue me. It's Xena's car and we must listen to her music, so no touching of the radio. Also there was the issue of me being uncomfortable with people knowing they lived with me. We already don't talk even in school much because Demusa's been giving me the stink eye every time she sees me with them and her minions keep "accidentally bumping into me." So after sitting down and talking about it last week, we came up with the pros and cons of telling people.

Pros:

-People will be friendlier to Damien since they like us and want to kiss our asses. (Xena)

-We can all have people over without it being weird that the other lives there. (Me)

-Damien would probably get invited to more social gatherings (just a fancy British way of saying parties). (Xavier)

-We can go places together, with Peachy. (Me)

-Damien will get more attention from boys. (Xena)

-It wouldn't look too weird if we were together often. (Xavier)

Cons:

- People will be friendlier to me since they like the twins and want to kiss their asses. (Me)

- I'd probably get invited to more social gatherings. (Me)

-People would want to know why we're staying at your place. (Xavier)

-Damien would get a lot more attention from that sixth former girl with a crush on you and her minions. (Xena)

-A lot more people would acknowledge my presence and I'd have to acknowledge theirs too. (Me)

- Damien will get more attention from boys...and girls of course. People in general. (Xavier)

After convincing them that the cons were less than the pros, we agreed not to tell anyone. I would continue taking the bus in the mornings, unless I was late in which case Xena could give me a ride and say she saw me on her way to school or something. In the evenings I'd get dropped by Amber, as usual, and if she wants to come up she can, then I would text the twins to come later but before Peachy's 8 o'clock curfew for us on weeknights.

"Hello, my little Frenchie, we're back." Peachy says as she walks into my room sitting across the room from me on Xena's bed.

"Hey Peachy, how'd sign up and the evaluation go?" I ask.

Every 'guest' we have usually has to be taken to the P.S. (protective services) headquarters when they feel like they've settled, so that they can be officially signed into the system and evaluated. The sign up is usually pretty easy, it's just a bunch of questions to gauge your personality, and then you're given the rules of conduct, and officially recorded into the system.

The evaluation is something entirely different. There are 3 kinds, there's a health evaluation, a mental evaluation, and a physical one. The health evaluation is pretty much the easiest since it's literally just a bunch of doctors poking and prodding you all over to make sure you're in good health. This is a really important one if you have any long term diseases, like asthma, that they didn't know of.

Then there's the mental evaluation, which is more engaging. You visit a psychiatrist and talk about how the reason you're under protection has affected you. This is one of those tests that tells them a lot about you.

Then the physical evaluation, which is exactly that, but there's a twist. The evaluation is a test to see if you're a fit person so you do a bunch of exercises, which I'm sure the twins passed. After you're done with the exercises, it gets interesting. You get to fight a P.S. officer of your choice, and sometimes they can be brutal, but understandably so, seeing as they are teaching you how to defend yourself. This is just the first of a series of mandatory lessons, and is used to gauge your ability to take care of yourself in terms of combat. After this you're assigned an instructor who'll expand on your skills.

"Well, the sign up went smooth, but uh...the physical...was interesting." She says biting back laughter.

"How'd she do?" I ask curiously sensing a hilarious story about Xena, since I was pretty confident that Xavier would ace it.

"She did great!" Another female voice pipes from the direction golf the door. "He on the other hand...literally." Xena snickers as she walks in and sits beside me.

As I'm about to ask her what she means, Xavier comes limping into the room. His arm in a cast and a sling draped around his neck to support his arm.

My mouth drops open, but I instantly shut it, as I bite back the laughter building inside of me. Although no other scars or injuries are visible, he looks so done with life. I feel my face twitching to smile.

"Come on, just get it over with." He says tiredly as I meet his gaze. My breath gets caught in my throat as I meet his eyes. You'd think after more than a month of living together, I'd be used to his eyes.

"What ever do you mean, Xavier?" I say imitating his accent in an amused tone.

He sighs exasperatedly, and I break. I laugh and laugh and laugh so hard my stomach starts hurting. As I gasp for air as I try to compose myself and wipe the tears from my eyes. Peachy and Xena must have joined me at some point, because they're in the same state.

"He...got...beat up? This haughty British boy? UN-BE-LIEVABLE!" I gasp out.

"Yep." Xena says a little out of breath too. "By Jones."

"Which Jones?" I ask knowing there are two. A Mr. and a Mrs. actually.

"Mrs." Xena says chuckling.

"No way." I counter as a smile forms on my lips. Mrs. Jones is actually pretty badass.

"She's usually so nice; she was our handler before Peachy, so I didn't think she'd be too hard to fight." Xavier grumbles from beside Peachy, since he walked in and sat beside her.

"It was so brutal to watch Damien, you should've been there."

"Oh next time, I so will be there!" I respond.

"Yeah, you will actually." Peachy says.

"Really? Why?" I ask lifting my amused eyes to her pleading ones.

"You're taking over his training, Damien." Peachy says and my smile drops.

"What?!" I ask in a flat tone at the same time as Xena squeals happily.

"You've seen the poor boy," She says gesturing to Xavier. "Detective Jones is gonna kill the kid next time." Peachy says.

"No." I say simply after breathing in and out.

"Yes." She retorts.

"No." I respond in defiance. "I won't do it, Peachy."

"Yes, you will Damien." She states with finality in her voice.

Knowing not to argue I just stare back at her in disbelief. I turn my gaze to Xavier who just shrugs but is practically radiating smugness. I sigh in irritation and fall backward onto my bed, lifting my pillow to my face and screaming into it.

"It won't kill you kid, I promise. Now let's go get you an ice pack for your foot." Peachy says getting up and leaving the room with Xavier in tow.

"It really just might." I grumble under my breath.