Awakening - The Last Science #1

Interlude I - A Year in the Life of Hailey Winscombe - IV

IV.

A cool morning in mid-August, about six weeks later, at Hailey's apartment.

  "What's this, Hailey?" Jessica asked, looking at some of Hailey's jewelry on her desk and holding up a ring.

  "Diamond ring my dad gave me way back."

  "And this?"

  "Sapphire ear studs."

  "And the one you're wearing?" Jessica asked, landing on Hailey's bed with a thump and pointing at the necklace currently entwined with a bit of Hailey's wavy blonde hair.

  "Polished tourmaline," Hailey answered absently, her focus entirely dedicated to writing a note with a pencil on her desk—from ten feet away. It was as though she had an invisible third hand grasping it from afar, one that was composed entirely of thumbs and with severe Parkinson's. Every tiny movement felt like she was weighted as if she were pushing through thick sand, and her arm shook as though she were weak with hunger, but Hailey was stubborn. She kept writing.

  "You want me to stop talking?" Jessica asked, finally noticing what she was trying to do.

  "You're fine," Hailey answered, still slowly and deliberately moving the pencil with her mind. She could barely make out the scratches from her distance, which made her handwriting something awful, but she'd be satisfied if it was legible at all.

  "What are you writing anyway?" Jessica asked, her head propped up on her hands. She strained to see the page from her angle.

  "Something I should have told him ages ago," Hailey grumbled.

  Jessica sighed. "Are you and Weston fighting again?"

  "Me and that arrogant good-for-nothing control freak? No, of course not, what gave you that impression?"

  "He's just trying to keep us safe," Jessica said, giving her a pained look.

  "Jess, you do know that as my bestie you're supposed to support me against any guy unconditionally, right?"

  "Oh. I am?" Jessica answered, sounding genuinely confused. Hailey mentally reminded herself that Jessica hadn't really had any friends before she'd met their group in college and had definitely missed many of the important finer points of being a best friend. Still, over the past few months they'd bonded over so much, Hailey couldn't possibly be annoyed with her. Jessica was simply the best, kindest, and most genuine person she knew.

  "Nevermind. It's okay. You're right, he is. He could just be a bit nicer about it."

  "I guess so," Jessica answered. She watched the pencil rattle about her desk, quivering as it slowly delivered each stroke. Hailey didn't have nearly as strong control as Ian, but it vastly outstripped Jessica on the bed next to her, who couldn't do much more than the strength of a gentle breeze. The younger girl was staring longingly at the pencil, a mixture of jealousy and sadness plainly stamped on her face.

  "I've decided to call it a 'diffinity'," Jessica spoke up suddenly, still watching the pencil twisting around the desk. "Like how we call it an affinity for Elemental magic, like what you've got. I've got a diffinity for Movement magic."

  "I like it," Hailey said encouragingly, splitting her focus for just a moment to smile at Jessica and letting the pencil wobble and fall. She managed to catch it before it hit the table, keeping her personal goal alive of maintaining it upright until she finished writing her note.