Chapter Two: Hard Choices

After breakfast, Gideon went out to the back for more training, and I went to my room to open my laptop as I check my email for any acceptance letters from the colleges I had applied to.

I applied to four universities; the University of California, Los Angeles, Preston University, Yale University, and the University of Oxford. I have always wanted to travel, and the first stop is going to Europe. Attending a university abroad would be good for me to explore and broader my horizon. The only problem is I don't think my parents approve.

Since finding out, I'm different than a human. Because of being too powerful, my parents predicted that I'm not acknowledged to save myself if something were to happen. I take lessons from both Mom and Dad to control my abilities, and I am perfectly a pro, but they still don't trust me if I enter the "real" world.

Whatever does that mean?

As I go through all the emails finding nothing, not even in the spam. The FaceTime app pops up as I smile, seeing my favorite person's name. I click "Accept" on the screen.

"G'Day mate!"

"Hey, Tala!" I lean forward, happy to see my best friend's face since she left on a family trip. Tala Cruz; my Filipino-American best friend since we were kids. Without her, I would have been isolated from my peers and thought the world hated me. But this girl always brightens my day with her obsession with Anime and always wears her favorite character in cosplay.

"How's Australia?" I ask her.

"It's hot here, but the guys here are hotter," she giggles as I roll my eyes playfully. "I can shag myself my own Chris Hemsworth back home."

"Oh, god."

"Anyways, how are you, your parents, and that hot brother of yours?"

I chuckle.

Tala has a thing for Gideon even though he's older than us by seven years. She often flirts with him whenever she hangs out with me, and Gideon would politely say hi and then runs away like a scaredy-cat. Gideon weighing over 200 pounds of muscle for a werewolf life, is scared of an eighteen-year-old human girl.

"Mom and Dad are fine. They are out of town for a week."

"Another secret mission?"

"Tala, I told you my parents are not spies," I giggle at her assumption. For as long as we have known each other, Tala has developed the craziest theories regarding my parents' planned trip outside of the country.

"I know they are spies because they never told you where are they going," she argues as she tries to make a point.

Once a month, Mom and Dad would leave the country for a week and then bring gifts to make up for their absences. In elementary, those trips would sometimes miss Parents Day, I had Uncle Stan perform magic tricks or when I performed on stage for a talent show competition for the first time, I had hopes my parents will be there to support me and cheer me on. Sadly, the only people who attended were Gideon and Uncle Stan.

I used to throw a tantrum at them for leaving me behind wherever they had gone. I would ignore them and they come back with gifts. Sometimes the bribing doesn't work on me because my closet are full with strangers gifts that aren't from this world. After learning about myself and that my parents aren't humans, once a month, they would visit their homeland at Grimwald to deal with "problems." They couldn't tell me about those problems because it's not my concern to know.

Not knowing still makes it harder for me not to ask.

I shake my head. "They are out of town because of their work."

I had to remind Tala that my parents are archeologists, and they leave once a month when called. However, archeologists take more than a month on an expedition, sometimes a year. In my parents' case, it takes them a week to return.

"They are spies, and maybe they are secretly taking down some evil scientist who wants to rule the world or a psychopath killer that escapes some isolated penitentiary of a coast from Guam or some other small island." Tala acquired to back up her argument as I shake my head again. "Also, it explains why you have the hottest parents who don't look a day over thirty. Because spies are always beautiful and hot, it's still hard to believe they are your parents and look like models."

She is still boasting about my parents' look young. Of course, they look young, and I mean they look mid-twenties, but their age doesn't match their features. My parents are over one hundred years old; Mom is three years older than Dad.

"Still can't get over it, aren't you, Tala?"

"Nope," she emphasized the 'p' in the word.

I chuckle. "Okay, and as for Gideon, you got to stop teasing the poor man," I tell her holding back my laughter from the memories. "You already scarred him for life when you wore as Nami from One Piece; the bikini top and jeans during that Halloween party last year."

"Oh please, you know he wants me. I can give him a Thunderbolt Tempo Blast."

I almost choked on the water when I took a sip. I wipe my mouth and shake my head. "You are crazy."

"I'm not crazy; I'm beautiful," she said in a sassy tone and flung her dark brown hair back with pink and purple highlights. "So, any emails from the Universities?"

"No," I went back to my email and clicked on the refresh button, but nothing changed. "Nothing. How about you?"

"Same," she sighed and moved her phone as she moved. I guess she's on her bed while talking to me. "Well, it's been a few weeks since we applied. I'm sure we will get accepted. Have you talked to your parents about living in a dorm?"

"You know how they are," I sigh in distraught. "If I tell them I want to stay in a dorm, even if you and I live together in a dorm, the answer is still a no."

"I can try and persuade them. Your parents love me."

"No matter how much they adore you and consider you their daughter, it's still a no, Tala." I place my cheek on my fisted hand and twirl my pen with my other hand without dropping it. "The most frustrating part, I didn't tell my parents about the universities I picked, especially the one in England."

"You haven't told them?" Tala gasps and is in shock. "I thought you did?"

I exhale sharply, letting all the sighing out. "No, they think I applied to the college close to home. I couldn't find the courage to tell them about it as if it was that easy. If I did, they would be unsettling about the idea."

"But you didn't apply to any of the colleges here."

"I know," I groan and drop my head on the desk, hitting my forehead. "What am I going to do?"

"Tell the truth," she states calmly. "I'm sure if you explained to them that you are a young adult and living outside your parents' house makes you independent. When I told my parents I wanted to stay in the dorm, they said as long as I'm happy and take care of myself."

"That is because your parents are cool," I say, resting my chin on the desk.

"Hey, yours are too."

"Thanks," I inhaled a breath and let it out slowly. "I'm so fucked."

"It's going to be okay. Whatever happens, I will always stay by your side."

I lift my head and smile at Tala's reassurance and confidence. "Thanks, Tala"

"No problem. What are best friends for?"

I open my mouth to answer when my nose and ears pick up on something. The smell is unfamiliar to me as well the voices. I hear three heartbeats. The scent I'm picking up is two werewolves and one vampire; two males and one female.

"Ria? Are you okay?"

I picked up Gideon's scent and voice, talking to the unexpected guest. "Yeah, hey Tala, I will talk to you later. Gideon is calling me to do something."

"Okay, but call back when-"

I cut off the call with Tala in a rush. I shut my laptop hard without using my strength and rushed to the living room window. I peer through the window to see the commotion as I hear the conversations between Gideon and the three suspicious strangers in front of our house.