Us Mutants Prefer the Term "Special"

x33x

"The president is having an assembly tomorrow. We'll watch and play it by hear," Jane decided. We had told them about all we knew.

"Or we can go hunt that pharmacist down and—"

"No," I interrupted Cheshire. "He didn't know anything and he can't retrace anything."

And mostly because although Chris/Nick was Jane's brother, apparently, they made the decision to stay away from each other for the better until further notice. And plus, he mentioned that if Jane wanted to find him, she knew exactly how to. I couldn't imagine being without Wib. I know that I wasn't as close with him compared to the first two years when we were at the Academy, but...at least he was around.

"Then we're back to nothing," Anthony sighed. I looked over at Zaine, who was in such a deep thought since Chris's revelations that even Warren had to drive us home. He wasn't even sitting here with us now. He was upstairs. And even five minutes later when the meeting was adjourned, my mind and heart was left upstairs with him.

"How's he doing?" Cariba asked me quietly as we started nearing the living room.

"He's probably trying to figure it all out by himself," I said as we entered the living room and I found that my stuff was all gone. "...never mind."

=XXX=

"Did you tell Jane about Nick?" Zaine asked me before I could even get the door all the way open. I looked up and saw him looking down at the Tablet as he went on the balcony. I noticed that my bags were along the wall of the room. I sighed and followed him out to the balcony.

"Well he told us not to, so, no, we didn't tell her what she technically already knows," I answered as his back was still facing me. I raised myself to sit on the thick railing. Nothing. He didn't say anything or even warn me about falling off or what he was trying to figure out about Nick or anything. So after waiting impatiently for anything, I grunted, hopped off the ledge, and went inside. I grabbed my pajamas, which was just an oversized shirt and shorts I brought from home, and went into the rest room to change. I took one last look in the mirror at the first time in a long while.

I hadn't dressed up like this often. My hair was perfectly curled. I had lip gloss on. I had a beautiful gold dress. And happiness. I definitely had happiness when it came to Zaine, but I didn't have a smile on my face right now, because although I had all of this, he didn't notice it enough to forget about Sunday's events for just one night.

Minutes later, I exited the bathroom and Zaine was standing at the doors. I gave him a brief look and then passed him as I climbed on the bed and slid the Tablet further away from me. Stupid thing.

"I'm sorry," he muttered.

"No you're not."

"Yes I am," he assured.

"What would you be sorry for?" I asked, because I doubt he knew. He sighed stressfully.

"You don't think I have a right for acting how I'm acting?" he asked. I'm not going to answer that. He sat on the bed and put his hand on the opposite side of my waist, still not touching me, only the bed. "First you say the Eclipse thing that makes me question the overall motives and then Jane's brother confirms my suspicions with inside intelligence."

"So why are you up here trying to figure this out by yourself?" I asked.

"Because I feel like I have to," he said. And by extension, I have to suffer by going without him. I pulled up the covers and rolled over in the bed. "I feel like I have to figure this out on my own, just like you decided to run into that pharmacy on your own—"