Teeth »ᴄɵᴍᴘᴌᴇтᴇ«

TEN

TEN

I sat on my bed, having ran to the village and back already, eating my éclair. I'd figured that if the smell of the éclairs didn't wake Archie, then I got to eat his. Unfortunately he woke.

"Thanks," he muttered sleepily taking the éclair from my hand and eating it. I watched him eat my éclair for a moment, the one I'd gotten half way through and shrugged. More éclair for me, I thought, picking but the non-touched éclair that had been for Archie. I wasn't going to say about him eating mine and me eating his because as soon as he'd taken it, he'd shoved it down his throat.

Making a happy sound at the back of his throat, he got up and grabbing clothes, headed for the bathroom. Picking up the cans of drink, I started on mine, chucking Archie's onto his bed.

Sitting there in silence, hearing Archie moving about in the bathroom, I suddenly remembered yesterday with Zane and wondered what today might bring. Would he try and kiss me again on the cheek, would he try and hold my hand like the couples had yesterday in the park? But then, I still couldn't figure out why he'd kissed me on the cheek, what did he want from me?

Before my mind could come up with any more questions or answers to the questions I'd already asked myself, Archie came out the bathroom and once again flopped backwards on to the bed.

"I don't wanna go to school!" Archie wailed quietly, throwing an arm over his eyes. "I'm too tired."

I rolled my eyes. "Be glad you don't start at nine thirty."

He grunted. "Whoever made the timetable wanted to torture us. Why couldn't they have started lessons at two in the afternoon? That would let me sleep in until one. But then, I'd probably still want to be woken at eleven so that I could see Lucas before we started school." Suddenly he sat up, facing me, ears and tail at attention with excitement. "Oh my God! I promised Lucas I'd meet him at half eleven." He jumped up to find out what the time was. "It's twenty-seven past eleven!"

Grabbing my arm, and his can, he yanked me with him towards the door. I was glad I'd drank some of my drink or it would have spilt all over me in the quick jerky movements that Archie was creating by dragging me along. It took me a minute to realise that he was dragging me to our wall where the blade's buses had parked when they had arrived. On arrival, I saw that Zane was also there with Lucas, Ryan and Taylor.

Lucas smiled at Archie as we got closer. "Took your time."

I looked over at Zane to see him studying me. He came closer after a moment. I felt myself tense slightly, move away or stay near. His hand brushed over where the scars had been previously, making me shiver sightly.

"Their nearly gone," his voice was a whisper of awe said near my ear. I knew that if I turned my head, I'd be less than a breath away from him. Unsure, I stayed still.

Damn it! I thought. What is he doing to me?

After a moment of checking the wounds, he moved away. A little.

Lessons went slowly. Being aware of Zane sitting next to me for the whole afternoon shot my concentration to pieces. I had become extremely aware of how his black hair seemed to shine blue-black in the sun, and how his cat blue eyes never seemed to leave me, even when he wasn't facing me. I realised that he was as aware of me as I was of him. I also became aware of the looks other girls had been shooting me and realised that they had been giving me those looks for a long time. I'd just ignored them before.

Damn it!

Once all the lessons had ended, I snuck away. Wanting a moment by myself. Apart for my runs, I hadn't really had any alone time. It felt strange, I didn't enjoy my alone time as much as I used to. Heading and walking into the canteen, I knew that the guys would catch up soon. Sitting at our usual table, I noticed an unusual crowd in the corner. Thanks to how loud they were talking, I didn't have to go near to hear what they were talking about. God, I was becoming as bad as Archie with eavesdropping.

"Where did you hear that?" a girl asked.

"I spoke with my dad earlier," a boy responded. "But he said that they were only rumours at the moment."

"Yeah, well," another said. "They're not going to be rumours for very long if the Tri-Moon want to live up to their reputation."

"I wonder what they'll do," the first girl said.

"Do what they normally do," a different boy said, walking up to the crowded table. "Cause trouble and give the Claw Cutters another reason to hate us."

The conversation continued. Students making up scenario's that the Tri-Moon's might do. But I was too stuck on 'Tri-Moon' and 'Claw Cutters'. What the hell were they? Names of groups? And why did they want to cause trouble?

My thoughts were stopped when Zane sat on the seat on my left and Archie on my right.

"Where'd you go?" Archie asked. "I mean, I know here, but why didn't you wait? I'm really starting to see the benefit of cuffing you, but then, I guess we could buy you a collar with a bell so that we'll know where you are and won't lose you, or maybe a GPS collar. Anyway, I thought we were going to the village. You know, so that you can see that grumpy old bear and we can get drinks form my aunt. Hey, you okay? What you thinkin' about?"

"Hey, you guys hearing the conversation over there?" Ryan asked the group, looking over at the crowded table.

"I was," I said. "But Archie drowned them out." I smiled at Archie to show that I didn't mean it in a horrible way.

Archie rolled his eyes, then his ears perked up, facing the crowded table.

"They're saying that the Tri-Moon are going to cause trouble again." I watched the effect of my words dim the mood around the table.

"Fuckin' Tri-Moon's!" Lucas's curse rang loudly throughout the room, making the crowded table turn towards our table. Zane laid a hand on his brother's shoulder. "Why can't they just leave the humans alone. They'd probably leave us alone if they did." Shrugging off his brother's hand, Lucas stood. "Let's go." He turned to leave.

I looked at Zane who shook his head at both my and Archie's questioning looks. Archie bounced up and managed to grab Lucas's hand before he went out. I tensed, waiting for Lucas to reject Archie. But when I saw him grip Archie's hand tighter, I relaxed.

Zane guided me out the room with his hand brushing mine, making me want to give into the urge to grab and hold his hand. Ryan and Taylor followed behind.

As we walked towards the buses, Archie and Lucas far in front, I asked about the Tri-Moon and Claw Cutter's. I didn't ask about Lucas's reaction, that wasn't my business and would only become my business if he told me. Which I doubted.

It was Taylor who answered me. "The Tri-Moon are a group of blade and shield nīeten who hate humans–"

"Claw Cutters are the same but humans who hate nīeten," Ryan cut in.

Taylor kept talking as though Ryan hadn't cut in. "–they use all the advantages they can to attack the humans. They want the nīeten race to be higher than the humans. And obviously the Claw Cutters see us as animals in human bodies and think were abominations that shouldn't exist. The groups have existed for centuries."

"Yeah," Zane spoke up for the first time. "And it's made it harder for us to ever thinking about existing peacefully with the humans. I'd guess that most humans think of us as animals."

Reaching the buses showed us that Lucas had calmed down and he was hugging Archie.

"Why don't we watch a DVD?" Archie asked us. "Going down to the village seems like doing too much at the moment."

I stood there waiting for him to say something more. When he didn't, I looked at Lucas and raised a questioning brow. He grinned. Rolling my eyes, I knew Lucas had used his personal method of shutting Archie up.

We turned and moved as one towards Archie and my room. Our room seemed to have become the meeting up, movie room. Not that I was complaining. I liked our room. It was personalised. It showed just how long Archie had been there with his drawings, books, DVDs among other things that littered the walls and floor.

It was then that it hit me. I thought of this room as my room. Our room. I hadn't even thought as the house that I'd lived in with my mum as my house, or my home. Damn, this world was certainly different that the world I'd lived in before.

   

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