The Enhanced

Chapter Thirty One

School didn't change much after the party. Hayden still had to sit next to me in Science, and he still spoke to me but I had to explain to him that I wasn't interested, needless to say he was definetely caught by surprise.

Strangely, he still spoke with me as a friend, insisting that he didn't think the fact that I didn't want to be with him stop us from being friends.

After that, I felt bad everytime I saw him. Trying to make me laugh and make up pointless conversation as a way of being friends, I had just assumed that we would stop talking altogether. I had assumed wrong.

Alice made her stance clear. She giggled and smiled at every single thing he said, she gazed at him from afar and glittered her long, black lashes at him any time he glanced around.

She twirled her hair and wore shorter skirts and lower cut shirts. She started chewing gum all the time, I assumed because she figured Hayden could kiss her any time, and she wanted to be prepared. It was laughable. It made me wonder how she acted to become his girlfriend before.

It also annoyed me somewhat, to have a woman throw out and reinvent every aspect of her life just to seem desirable to a man, to act and dress differently and leaving your friends. It seemed like such a regressions from the feminist movement and the idea that a woman could be independant.

Of course, a woman could be attracted to a man, act sexy for him, but to change completely shows the male just how objective you can be for him, dehumanising you, making you an object. It made me feel sorry for Alice sometimes, to have to go to such lengths to get a boy notice you.

My job at the gym was going well, the manager had helped me fast track my courses to get a certification for personal training and fitness. My pay went up drastically and I was able to actually do something I enjoy, while earning money, while also staying in shape. It was the best.

And nearly all the money I had earned, I saved. With the hospital bills from Aiden's hospital visit, my stash had decreased rapidly and I was desperately trying to refill it. I needed the safety that that money provided, without money I was in a difficult place. If I ran into trouble, I could leave, but I would have little food and shelter, I needed the money.

Aiden had reverted back to drinking which had upset me at first. But, it was on a much lesser scale. He was much more careful after the incident with Hayden. He drunk much less and only at night, and so I was glad I could make some sort of change.

People in school discovered we lived together when a school wide announcement, entailing the changing lunch menu, was sent around classes addressed to parents with our addresses on them, clear as day. It didn't take long for someone to glance over and realise that it was the same as Aiden's.

Luckily, Aiden had been the quick thinker and was ready with a lie as per my request. Obviously, I couldn't say I didn't want people to know I was living with Aiden because I ran away from a government facility and therefore had no family or anywhere to stay. I simply said that my parents were dead, which they very much are, and I didn't want people asking questioning about it.

And so, he explained a very simple lie. I was an exchange student from New York and the agency that sent me over to the school paid the host family money to keep me, and Aiden did it because he needed to money. Simple.

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Sitting in bed was a comfort for me. The mattress was much more comfortable than I had ever had before and I loved every minute of it.

Aiden had kept to his word. He was taking me to the North Cascades for a hike and a picnic. I wasn't sure how I felt about it, I was hoping I would enjoy it.