Youngsters: time to grow up

Chapter 9: Boy, Girl And Neither

"QueenLiz: Adorable!!!☺"

"Lilz: Lizzie! Aren't you in school?😯"

"QueenLiz: Yeah but lessons are over for the day and I'm heading to my room.😀"

"Lilz: Ah!"

"Evan!: Lillith😍. Time to get off your phone, the films gonna start soon😠."

"Lilz: k! Bye, Liz👋"

"QueenLiz: Yo! Leo! I see you."

"LeoLion: Hi, I gotta go as well."

Leon turned his phone off and put it back in his jacket. The fries had arrived a few minutes ago and Vera had been picking a few out and eating while on her phone, probably on a different chat.

"You haven't 'gotta go'. We have time." Vera said as she grabbed her glass and took a sip of her drink.

"I want to have an actual conversation." He lied, he wanted to avoid contact with Evan.

"You like Lillith, don't ya?" Vera asked as she put her phone in her bag.

"You'd have to be crazy or stupid to believe that." He leaned back put his left ankle on top of his right knee.

"Well I'm crazy and it's obvious. You're jealous of Evan, that he got the girl you've been wanting for months. The girl you've known for two years. You got close and when you were about to ask her out she got caught in the explosion." Vera started thinking of how to get him to talk to her about this.

"He doesn't deserve her. She only went out with him because she was scared he'd hurt us again." Leon strained as he looked away from her.

"Maybe." Vera picked another fry out of the basket and ate it. Leon noticed her black nails and the tattoo around her left wrist.

"You have a tattoo?" Leon shifted the conversation topic to her instead.

"Yeah. It's in a dead language." She sighed as she looked at it. Her fringe covering her eyes.

"Latin?" He asked and she laughed.

"Good guess but it's not an earthly language." She explained. "It was used on my planet, Okavive, in a place called Jinxet. That's where most elves come from, in any earth language Jinxet would mean Jinx."

"Let me guess, there's a place called curse." He joked and Vera laughed.

"Yeah, Curesd. There's also Hexiet, enchantious, chram and spire." She crossed her legs and took another sip of her drink.

"That would be...Hex, Enchantment, Charm and... spirt?" He guessed.

"Miya!" She cheered. "That means yes." She clarified after seeing his shocked face.

"So what does the tattoo mean?" He was curious about what it meant and why she look at it with a mix of sadness and longing.

"I-- it means." She breathed in and stared at it. "It means 'I will take my rightful place in the stories one day with you by my side.'" She took one last drink from her glass and put it down. "We'll be there soon."

Vera ignored Leon for the rest of the ride. He understood that must mean something to her and respected her want for secrecy. When they arrived Vera stood and smiled at him.

"Come on. I want to get you that eye patch." She giggled and Leon grinned.

"You really want me to be a pirate?" He looked at her as she took his hand and lead him off the boat.

"It'd be cool." They got off the boat and started walking towards the large complex. Leon squeezed Vera's hand and she understood that he wanted to look at something. She let go off his hand and the walked over to a map of the compound and island.

"We're here and we are going to?" Leon asked.

"There." Vera pointed on the map to the Design and technology buildings. There were four main buildings with a few smaller sections connect to them. The area the were heading to was the third biggest part. Inside that building was workshops, galleries and all sorts of stuff like that. This was one of the two buildings that people couldn't go to without access.

"You have a workshop you said."

"I do."

She started walking toward the welcome arch and they walked side by side after he caught up. They walked for some time until they reached their destination. There was a door leading to a small outdoor court yard. The area had hanging baskets, two large oak trees and two tree stumps. Between the two stumps was a wooden plank.

"This is nice." Leon said as he took notice to the cherry blossom petals which were falling to the ground. He looked up and saw a large treatment above which was on the other side of the buildings surrounding them.

"Not nice enough. We're building a bench which we'll but there and we'll have a swing put on the branch there." She first pointed to a corner, and Leon assumed it would be at an angle, and then she pointed to one of the oak tree's thick branches.

"Who's we?" Leon asked.

"Me and my friends and or peers. There Sam, Jesse and his sister Jessie, Blair, Emlyn and Fred." Vera listed. "Have you ever played the Devil May Cry games or watched the anime?"

"I played the first and third game." Leon replied. Vera smiled widely as she skipped over to very small green shed. She opened the door and entered, reappear soon after with a massive sword.

"Me and Sam made Dante's rebellion. Pretty cool right?" She held it out to him and he took it. It was fairly heavy but that was understandable because of its size. He looked at it closely and saw the hilt and how much it looked like Dante's sword, Rebellion.

"That is awesome." He said in awe.

"Yes it is." A voice says from behind. He turned around to see a girl with her hair in a bun. She wore jeans and white shirt over her black top underneath. "Sam." She said as she reached her hand out to shake his. He took it and the shook twice before they let go and she waltzed over to Vera. His eye caught a glimpse of a small pink bracelet on her wrist.

"Today's a feminine day I see." Vera said as she hugged her. Leon looked slightly confused and Sam laughed at this.

"I'm gender fluid." She said simply. Leon made an oh sound.

"Right! Let's make a sword!"