Elven Love (SAA Book 1) ✔

Part Twenty-Five

    The next day at school, everything was far from normal. Every time Oren walked through the hallway to his next class, students around him reeled back and cleared a path for him to walk through. He felt every terrified, wary stare prickle at him as he passed. It was horrible. He came here to learn and most importantly, he didn't want to be left alone whilst Clayton was here.

    During biology class, the professor assigned a lab experiment. The class tested different soils to see in which soil was best for plants to grow. Everybody partnered up in groups of three or two, and Oren was left alone. Clayton wasn't in this class, nor was he in American Literature. Surrounding students threw nervous glances at Oren and moved away from where he sat, some even backing up to the corners of the classroom.

    Oren grabbed a bag that was marked 'silty soil,' short dead grass flicks mixed in with the soft dirt. The professor gave each group eight small almond-shaped seeds, and when she handed Oren his denim pouch of seeds, he politely declined. As she watched with an arched eyebrow, the elf buried his hands in the soil and closed his eyes. The gentle sandy substance filled the spaces of his fingers and he felt his palms go numb like always.

      A fuzzy red raspberry vine sprouted from the silt, the red fruits popping from premature flowers almost as if time sped up at least a few days. The professors stepped back in amazement, pausing completely. Oren opened his eyes to see a shocked classroom burning holes into him with their gazes. He looked up to the professor and smiled shyly, to which the woman hesitantly turned, eyeing him with cautious glances every now and then.

    Maybe he had some use for this after all.

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     Once Oren met up with Clayton in Civics, he dashed forward and before the blond could sit down at his seat, the elf hugged him tightly from behind. Clayton turned and laughed softly. "Did you miss me or something?" he asked with a smile. Oren simply nodded and nuzzled his forehead against the boy's back.

    "Alright, take your seats--" Mr. Lei began to speak, but stilled when he saw the vine crawling around Clayton's waist. His eyes followed where the vine came from only to flinch when seeing the plant grew from Oren's palm, wrapping around his fingers and spreading to Clayton's chest and torso. The soft, fuzzy plant even branched off to spiral around the human's arm and into his hand.

    A group of two students scrutinized the two with incredulous stares and another patch of five students ogled for a while; jaws almost hitting the floor. Oren continued to wrap Clayton's upper body in a leafy aviary, hands mapping out each slight crevice on the blond's chest. The blond didn't mind the affection, which seemed to surprise the class even more.

    Clayton froze in place at first, sure, but soon gently squeezed the vine that sat curled in his palm. His other hand lifted and brushed the side of Oren's face. The elf's ears fluttered at the action, which made the human laugh. There was a still silence that lingered in the air, but the two boys didn't seem to care at the moment. The human craned his head to the side and rested his temple against the elf's.

    "Today I realized something important." the elf whispered quietly, keeping his chin to the other's shoulder. His eyes closed slowly, white eyelashes grazing his freckled face. Clayton sucked in a gentle breath and tried to move, only to feel the vine tightening around him. The plant was constricting him and although he enjoyed it for a little while, it was time to get back to class.

    "What's that?" he muttered back as he gingerly untangled the vine from his arm. The leaves were growing by the passing minute and its overall thickness and strength began to swell. Oren leaned to the side and softly kissed under the human's ear.

  "I realize that without you, I would be empty. I'm glad I chose the best fish in the sea." Oren spoke up so the whole class could know what he was talking about. Mr. Lei was silent, but just from a glance one could see the awe and pride in his eyes. His eyebrows were no longer crinkled in confusion; they were more lifted in joy.

   Clayton's face kindled with a wonderful shade of rose, which Oren couldn't help but laugh at his reaction. Nobody dared to speak through the moment. Hell, whenever someone laughed or whispered, they'd be glared at and one of their friends would elbow them in the ribs. Oren slowly pulled back from the thrumming heat of the other, and the plant soon unraveled itself from the human's body.

     Slowly but surely, the vine sucked back into his skin and everybody returned to normal. Through the whole thing, Oren's mind was racing and he was scared someone would freak out and flee. To his relief, Clayton remained calm as well as everybody else. He looked around to see everybody's prying eyes turning away one by one.

     Oren then looked back to Clayton and flushed green. Clayton was still as the other students returned to normal. His eyes were stationary, fixed on the green orbs of Oren's. They were shimmering with a fiery blaze of something Oren couldn't quite define. It was a strong affection, that was all the elf could register.

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"I didn't think you were brave enough to come out like that." Clayton chortled as he kept his eyes on the road in front of them. Right before Oren opened his mouth to speak, Clayton's phone rang. It shattered the lingering silence right away.

  "Who is it?" Clayton asked, not even bothering to move his head. The elf leaned over the console to see the user ID to be Ethan's. Oren picked the phone up and watched the two buttons blink repeatedly. One was green and the other was red.. He didn't know what that meant; he didn't have a phone.

  "Uh, that Ethan kid we met a while ago." he replied.

  "Answer it for me, please."

  The elf hovered his thumb over one of the buttons and swiped, genuinely surprised that the screen switched to a clock that counted up from zero. He brought the phone to his ear and heard a voice on the other end.

   "Clayton! There you are."

   Oren hesitated, but responded, "Clayton's driving right now.. Um, can you call back later?"

   He gasped on the other end. "No, no! This is great. You're Oren, right? Do you know anyone named Oakley?"

   Oren froze dead. Oakley... Oakley.

   'Let's go to bed, Oakley. Don't keep them waiting.'

   "There's someone here saying they know you. They're looking for you. Well, they say your name is Oakley for some reason." he said on the other line.

   'Silver hair?' Oren thought with wide eyes. "Um!" he blurted, "It's hard to explain, Ethan. Where are you?"

   "I'm at home, my dude."

   "Clayton, can we stop by Ethan's house? It's something really important." Oren turned to the blond as he held the phone to his chest. Clayton paused to muse, but then nodded and made a left turn instead of the usual right. The elf raised the phone to his ear and said, "We're on our way. Whoever that is, make sure to keep them there."

    "You got it, dude."

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Thanks for reading Part Twenty-Five!