Chapter 8- Girlfriend

  Neo

  For a whole week I do my best to avoid Jax as much as I can. I'm afraid that if we look at each other for too long then he'll guess that I know. I can't keep a secret to save my life.

  Rosa keeps looking between us every time we have to be in the same room. Like for meals. After our meeting at the stone, she hasn't come up with any ideas. Just keeps saying we should go to someone. And I just keep pushing her off.

  While I'm avoiding Jax, I start hanging out with Ari more. She's my girlfriend now, asked me after a week or so of us hanging out. Rosa of course hangs out with us. And when Ari had asked me out, I looked to her to see her thoughts. I always do that. Rosa's opinion is more valuable than gold to me. And she knows it.

  So yeah. Now I have a girlfriend at least. And bloody hell what a girlfriend she is. Ari is....very hands on. Touchy feely, you know? She loves to snog and I feel like every moment we're alone together that's all we're doing, usually in the Kissing Korner or some other hidden nook in Whisperise Tower (those are where the magical csses are taught).

  And trust me when I say I don't mind. Most of my other girlfriends only wanted to talk or show me off (to who, who knows. There's not that many people at Dempsey). And Ari is a really good kisser.

  When we're not kissing, we are talking. But this talking is different from the other girls, too. We talk about everything. Our past. Our futures. Our favorite things and hated things. Scotnd. Illinois. My different creatures. Magic. The world. The stars. Just, everything. And it's nice. A nice change. The only person I felt I could really talk to like this before was Rosa.

  I learn that Ari is an excellent nature metamorphist. She can turn anything natural into another natural thing. One day, she took a pebble from the ground, whispered a single word, and with a blow from those perfect, soft lips, the rock changed into a butterfly. It fluttered in her palm for a moment before leaping into the air away from us. I grinned silly at her. She was brilliant! I'd never seen magic like hers. Not even Rosa's nature magic could do that.

  She was ughing at my excitement and before I knew it, we were kissing in the middle of the empty Mind Power room.

  And then, of course, Jax walked in.

  His face was cold. The wide pnes of his cheeks were stony. His eyes were shadowed, haunted. I expected him to retort with some snarky comment like he usually does but he just shot us a gre and walked away.

  Jax

  Neo is avoiding me.

  I don't recognize it at first. I mean, it's not like we spend any time together besides the csses we have. But he doesn't usually just ignore me like this, looking away every time our eyes meet, not staring at me like he usually does. I don't even see him at meals or at our lockers. And when I do, he usually high tails it the other way.

  And then I start seeing him hanging out with that elf, Ally or Ari or whatever her name is. And they're together almost every second of the bloody day.

  I'm not jealous. I mean, I'm used to Neo and his little girlfriends. He's never taken any of them seriously. But this one...she seems different. I walked in on them making out one time, in an empty cssroom in Whisperise. Disgusting. And painful. Fucking ass. Sometimes I hate him as much as I love him.

  I didn't know how I felt about Neo until that year he almost drowned in Lochness Lake. And I never would have thought that I was gay.

  But I can't help it. Those green eyes are mesmerizing. And the way he stands up to the school board and fights for the lesser creatures here....it's a sight to see. He shines. A bloody, autumn shine. And I know I'm supposed to hate him, hate all of them, we're all monsters, but I just....Can't. That day, when I thought I was going to lose him....I'd rather turn myself into the hunters than see a beautiful auburn hair on his head hurt.

  And so I'm stuck watching. Watching him kiss other girls and ignore me.

  Fucking hell when did I become such a hopeless mess.

  Neo

  I decide I need to talk to someone else about the letter and Jax and this whole situation. Not because I'm worried that Jax is up to something...but because it just doesn't seem right that he should go through this on his own. No one should have to struggle to find their family. And if it were the other way around, if I was the one looking for my family, I'd want someone to help me.

  Maybe not Jax exactly...but someone.

  So one day I stay after Magical Pnts css to talk to Professor Kai. She's definitely my second (third?) favorite person at Dempsey. And not just because she teaches about pnts and flowers and things (which Rosa was right, I definitely love).

  Professor Kai is a stout, round woman. She's short, only 4.5 feet. And she's got a massive head full of silver curls that bounce just above her shoulders. No one's quite sure what kind of creature she is. Some people even think she might be a hybrid. Perhaps that just makes me like her even more.

  "Neo! Ah how are you boy-o? What can I do for you?" She sps a thick calloused hand on my shoulder, nearly knocking me over.

  "I've been good, Professor Kai," I say, giving her a wide grin that isn't even forced. "Is the mortapeleus still thriving after the transpnt?"

  "Ah yes La Morta," she says, leading me to the back of the green house where the more dangerous and difficult pnts are kept. "She's doing just fine, I think. Hopefully going to bloom in a week or so. And then we can harvest that seed and pnt more. We'll have jars full of her nectar before we know it!"

  I see the bright red flower standing tall beside the Veralo and Wappy Tree. The mortapeleus' nectar is one of the deadliest potions in the world, magical or not. But the opposite is also true. If brewed just right then it can cure almost all ills. Professor Kai is hoping to have her research on the fierce pnt published in the National Creatural Paper.

  We walk back to the main room of the greenhouse. She stops by a wooden work table, questioning me with those intent brown eyes.

  I fiddle with the strap on my messenger bag, looking away from her, wondering just how to approach this.

  "Professor," I start. "I have a question for you. About a hypothetical situation."

  She nods. "Well go on then boy-o, out with it."

  "What if there was someone...who was looking for something, something very difficult to find. And you know what they're looking for but you don't really like that person. So you're caught between watching them struggle and feeling guilty...or sucking it up and helping someone who treats you like garbage."

  I gnce up at her then, to make sure she understands the question, and she's peering at me intently, like she knows exactly what I'm talking about. I swallow nervously and pray to the gods that my hair isn't changing colors.

  "Well, Neo, I would say you have to trust your gut and whichever feeling is stronger- the one to help, or the one to watch," she says firmly. I nod. That's just the kind of response I was expecting from her.

  I start to thank her and turn to go but she puts a hand up to stop me.

  "However, you should also consider that no one ever actually knows what's going on in a person's life. Even if you can read their mind, you won't ever know the whole story. Sometimes you have to ignore your usual instincts...and look beyond the cover."

  Her words sink like a rock in my stomach and I know exactly what she means. And what I'm going to do.

  "Thank you, Professor," I say quickly, turning to head back to the common room where I know he will be studying for our math, english, and history exams. I've got to talk to Jax.