26(bed)

"Who's she?" Via asks as I pull her out of my room so that Skylar won't wake up and see her. I can't imagine how Skylar will react if she sees Via, I don't want Via to suspect that Skylar is supernatural in any way.

"She's just a friend," I stammer and scratch my head suspiciously.

Her eyes pop out and my eyes dart around. I know what she is thinking right now after seeing Skylar lying on my bed, but she is wrong, nothing can ever happen between Skylar and me. Even though Skylar looks like a normal teenage girl she was the general of an army...

She can kill me!

"Does your mom know that she's here?" She asks with a hitch in her voice. Her eyes scan me and when she sees my facial expression she concludes that my mom knew nothing about a girl lying on my bed unconsciously wearing a skimpy school uniform.

"We were caught up in some mess so we had to use the window to come in."

"What mess?" She asks.

I try to defend myself but before I can say 'Jack Robinson' Via is already walking down the stairs. I run after her and I am clueless as to why she is angry about Skylar being in my room.

"Via, where are you going?" I call her trying to stop her but she keeps walking fast with her hands fisted beside her.

She stops walking when she reaches the door, she turns the doorknob and turns around.

"I wanted to let you know that I had a crush on you, but it's pointless," she pauses, "I'm just a fool, I shouldn't even be here," she lets out with a glitter of tears in her eyes. "I'm glad that you are fine."

I turn into human ice...a crush on me? What happened to me being a black nerd who has little friends? How is it possible that one of the hottest girls in my school has a crush on me?

She even came to my house!

I try to say something but only silent whispers come out of my mouth. Before she leaves our porch she half-turns and our eyes meet for a moment and time stops. My breathing slows, and my heart begins beating faster.

She quickly turns her head away and she continues walking away.

What just happened?

My mom comes out of nowhere and I straighten myself, I don't want her to know what happened.

"Where's Via?" She asks me and I clear my throat.

"She has some important business to attend to so she left quite early," I say hurriedly and I try to return to my room as quickly as possible to avoid a series of questions from my mom.

My mom blocks my way and she places her hands on her hips.

"Tell me what you did to her, Jayden." She narrows her eyes at me and I laugh mischievously.

Great, she is already suspecting I chased her away, while I didn't! I know that it is quite my fault because I am the one who brought Skylar to my room, but I never expected Via to visit me and enter my room.

"I didn't do anything to her, like I said earlier she left very early because she had something important to attend to." I explain and I try to avoid my mom's burning glare.

"You need more friends, Jay." She tells me and I sigh. Since I was little I had little friends, I was always busy reading books, playing games and watching anime, I was quite fed up with humanity and I always needed something to do so that I could escape from this world's harsh reality.

"I know Mom," I run my fingers through my hair, "I'm trying my best."

I walk past her and surprisingly she lets me pass.

"I promise you Mom I'll make a lot of friends very soon." I assure her. I am not ready to have a long conversation about the benefits of having a lot of friends. Her face lights up with a smile, but then she frowns...what is the problem now? Does she know that Skylar is in my room?

I gulp.

"Make sure you apologise to Via tomorrow." She eyes me and I scratch my head while chuckling.

Phew. Apologising to Via is way better than explaining to my mother why there is a pale white girl in my room.

"I will." I tell her and I climb up the stairs. When I reach my room Skylar is already awake and she is sitting on my bed.

I walk to the bed slowly and she stares at me blankly.

"How are you doing?" I ask awkwardly and she keeps staring at me.

I sit abreast of her and I scan her with my eyes, she seems fine and the bruises on her skin have healed already.

She stands up from the bed and begins to pace around my room.

"We have to start going now," she announces and my eyebrows wrinkle in confusion.

"Going to where?" I stammer and she drags me. I nearly fell to the floor because of the force she used to pull me. She leaves me and I straighten myself.

"You accept to carry the fate of Kovex right?" She asks and I nod slowly. "I didn't accept you at first but I see some potential in you."

Some potential in me?

I am confused about what is going on, this is so unlike her, why is she this formal and weird?

"You were able to knock me out even though I held back for the sake of Kovex." She smirks wickedly and I gulp.

I knew it, she held back!

But even still, I have a little chance to defeat her even though she goes all out.

"Next time," I chuckle and use my hand to cover a part of my face, "I want you to fight me with your full strength."

She comes closer to me and when she is only a few inches away from me, she turns her hand into a fist and places it on my chest.

"I give you my word that I will use all my strength to fight you next time." She asserts and my lips curve into a grin.

We stay in that position for some seconds and our eyes meet. Her cheeks begin turning red and I am tempted to use insight on her but I decided not to. It will be weird to just start reading someone's thoughts without permission. That's a privacy invasion.

"So where are we going to?" I ask again backing away. She shakes her head and her lips purses into a thin line.

"It's time to embark on our journey."

"What journey?"

"The journey that will determine the fate of this world."