Fighting history (Threequel to 'Lucky 13')

Chapter 16: Be careful who you trust

Emily's POV

When school ended, I made sure to say bye to Julian before heading to Miss Keller's office. It was time for my daily talk with her.

I knocked on the door and entered immediately. I've noticed that I didn't wait for her 'come in' anymore. I wondered if that was bad? What if she was doing something that required absolutely privacy? Like a talk with a student? Then again, she knew I would come by after school. She could text me if it wouldn't fit her. Wait, she couldn't...

"Hey Miss Keller," I sat down at her desk. I noticed she was really busy on her computer, she was frowning as she was typing ferociously. "Hello?"

"Hmm?" She looked at me. "Oh?" She typed a few more things before turning the computer off. "There you are." She smiled at me.

"Here I am," I smiled too. "Finally."

She chuckled a bit. "Were you looking forward to this?"

I nodded. "As always," I leaned in closer, immediately reaching for her hands. "Now more than ever."

She looked at our hands before a light blush appeared on her cheeks. "I was looking forward to this too," She then looked at me. "Now more than ever."

I smiled a bit before leaning back, patting my lap.

Miss Keller smiled and blushed more. "I don't think that would be very professional of me to do that here, don't you think?"

"True," I got up. "Let's get out of here."

She chuckled before getting up. "You lead the way, I assume?"

"Of course."

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We had driven to the lookout again, as this seemed to be the only place we were able to go to. It's easy to get some private time if humans were told not to come up here because of my kind...

"You know," Miss Keller said, looking off into the distance. "I've been thinking about the last time we were here," She looked at me. "Why didn't those monsters attack us?"

I looked away then, feeling personally attacked by her insults towards my kind.

"I just don't understand it," She sighed. "I've always been taught that they attack when they see us."

"Maybe not all of them are the same," I said as I felt her look at me. "Maybe it's wrong to label an entire race with the same labels."

Miss Keller didn't say anything to that, she simply looked away again.

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Julian's POV

After this amazing day, I arrived home and was eager to tell my parents about the friend I had made today. My very first friend.

I opened the front door and entered. I immediately heard my parents fight as they've been doing for as long as I remember. I've grown used to it now, I knew that that's how my parents were together.

I got out of my jacket and shoes, and rushed to them in the living room. "Mom, dad," I entered and saw them both look at me. Dad still had a bit of an angry face and mom was visibly worn out by the fights. Though, they both masked their pain every time they saw me. "I'm home."

"We see," Mom smiled at me, patting the empty spot on the couch next to her. "Come tell us about your day."

I smiled and sat down. "It was great."

Dad seemed interested then. "So no bullying?"

I sighed. "Yeah, there was."

He sighed, looking away.

"But someone helped me," I looked at mom. "My friend helped me."

"Your friend?" She asked, she was visibly surprised to hear that I had a friend. I wasn't sure how to feel about that... 

"Yeah," I smiled more. "Emily."

"Emily..." Mom smiled and nodded. "I'm happy for you, Julian," She kissed the side of my head. "I'm sure she's an amazing person."

"Do you know her race?" Dad asked, making mom groan. "It is important."

"If she helped our son, don't you think that she's good no matter her race?" Mom said, her voice was raised slightly.

I gulped and looked down, I was preparing myself for yet another fight between my parents.

"They are not to be trusted," Dad made me look at him. "Never."

I gulped and nodded. "I know, you told me."

"So do you know her race?"

I gulped as I shook my head. "We didn't really talk about that," I looked at dad, then at mom. "We talked about other things, like our age and who lives at our house."

"Normal things," Mom smiled. "That's good."

"What if she is one of them?" Dad asked. "What if she asked that to plan an attack on our home?"

"Dad," I looked down, unable to look him in the eyes. "She's really nice, she helped me and - "

"Son," He knelt to look me in the eyes. "In this world, you can't trust anyone. Even the people you think you know are not the people they say they are."

"Oh come on!" Mom got up, getting into dad's personal space. "Can you just stop being like that?"

"Like what?" Dad got up, standing right in front of mom. "Trying to protect my only son?"

"You're trying to force your beliefs onto him!"

"I'm teaching him the lessons I've had to experience myself," He then got closer to mom. "I don't want him to feel betrayed by the people he loves."

"I didn't know!"

"You should have!"

Mom looked down, groaning and shaking her head. "It's not my fault my mother lied about her race to me and dad," She looked up at dad. "We weren't to blame for that!"

"You have that gene in you," Dad then looked at me. "And he has too!"

"He's only 25% one of them, he'll be fine!"

Dad shook his head before kneeling in front of me again. "Be careful with everyone, son," He said, looking me directly into my eyes. "Not everyone is who they say they are."

"I know," I looked at both my parents then. "You two have taught me well," I then looked at dad. "But Emily's nice, she helped me. She's good."

Dad sighed and got up again. "Let's hope she is exactly who she says she is."