The Clairvoyant

Eighth | 77 days, 16th hour

There's an abrupt noise of clapping hands in the distance, making me turn around. There, not too far away, is the same blacked haired boy I know well to be the son of the chairman of Memorial High. He claps his hand sarcastically until he reaches just a few feet away from me.

“You're still here?” I pant, sweat breaking from my forehead.

Nodding, he answers, “I had papers to tend to.”

Cain Graichen suddenly pulls me forward, though I push away because I'm filled with mud and sweat. From the time I learned he can shut me out of his mind, I've had less contact with reading him – but its the same for me too.

His hazel eyes meet mine, and then he's giving me a wan smile. “A penny for your thoughts?” He asks with such a soft voice that it makes me freeze for a second. But then suddenly he's touching collarbone, and I'm about to punch him until he closes my buttons.

“They were open,” Cain softly informs me, walking away and then leaning down to the opponent on the ground. He's not moving, but he's still breathing. “Man, you beat him pretty badly. You obviously didn't show any mercy in this fight. How's your wrist coming along?”

I stretch it by circling it around, then make a peace sign. “They're good. Hurts sometimes, but good.”

“There's a lot more coming, huh,” Cain mutters enough for me to hear. “Isn't this the third fight of the week? And if I'm right, its the first time you've ever fought near the school. You could get penalized for things like this again.”

By “again” I know he means how I was expelled from Regis High. I give out a chuckle, and then grin. “It's not like I punched him during class, and I didn't hit him until he was dead. If you look at his face, there's no wounds as well, see?”

Cain mumbles something like “if you say so”, but I turn around and help the guy up. Like me, he's a student of Memorial High, but maybe a year younger or so. Cain takes the other hand and anchors him, and then we're half-dragging half-pulling him to the nurse's office even though we don't say anything about it.

By the time we're inside, Cain tends to him quickly – just a few scrapes on the arms and such. He's a member of the Health Committee after all. He asks me if I have wounds of my own to which I answer “no”, and then I'm suddenly sitting on the edge of one bed, sighing.

“What's wrong?”

“The fights,” I mutter, remembering what Jaime once told me. “I'm just tired of it?”

“Then why not stop fighting?”

“It's really not that easy. I mean, I don't call for fights anymore, but one way or another, someone else is framing me and they keep chasing after me. Just because it's been almost a year from Regis High, doesn't mean my enemies stopped looking for me.”

Cain laughs abruptly so I glare at him and he apologizes. “It's just, you never really explain yourself much so I didn't expect you to be tired of fights.” He tells me, then sits on the empty space on my side. “And no one would really guess you love collecting clothes.”

“Well, no one but me knows the fact that you're really this arrogant sick bastard,” I counter, crossing my arms and looking away from him. “They all know you as this really awesome school president, when really, you're thinking you're tired of all their flirting and praise.”

“I have my reasons,” And they're all good reasons.

If they're so good, why not just stop pretending?

Cain's startled, which surprises me too. “You heard me?”

“Loud and clear,” I snap, getting up and away from him since I'm a little annoyed. “You know, if you don't want me to hear your mind, then why don't you actually try harder sometimes so that all I can hear is nothingness?”

“Stella, I didn't mean it that way...”

“Whatever, Cain.” I pick up a bottle of beta dine since I just realize there's this small wound on my knuckle. Quickly however, Cain pulls it away from me before I can react. He's already holding my hand firmly in place, and adapting the beta dine.

I wince in pain, and bite my lower lips. He notices this then grabs for a cotton ball. “You should wash this afterwards when you get home,” He informs me all too seriously. “And then reapply the gauze.” He wraps my knuckles with clean bandages.

Cain's holding my hand tightly in place as if its delicate or something, then he kisses the tips of my fingers but I don't pull away. He chuckles lightly, squeezes my hand, then looks into my eyes all of a sudden.

“What?” I ask him, looking away.

“Nothing,” He replies, and I can tell he's having fun with this. “I just-”

“President?” The door suddenly opens so I pull my hand away from him. Cain has this annoyed expression on his face when I do, but he quickly polishes it up to that charming-president-smile of his when the girl enters the room.

“I'm here,” He calls to his friend, but I can't see her since my back is facing her. But somehow there's this tugging sensation on my neck, as if I know this voice from somewhere before. But I can't seem to remember where.

Her shoes click and clack on the floor as she walks up to Cain. “You've got more paperwork’s to finish off,” She says in that sweet voice of hers. One way or another, it’s as if I can tell her voice is lying. “They need to be finished before the twenty-eighth.”

And that's two more weeks from now.

Cain suddenly lets out a chuckle, and his friend asks if there's anything wrong to which he replies: “No, there's nothing wrong. Just leave them there and I'll finish them once I'm done tending to Stella's wounds. Thanks for informing me, Audrey.”

And that brings me twirling around on the seat, while she asks, “Stella's wounded?”

I see the redhead again, her magenta-like eyes focusing on mine. “Hi,” I greet her sheepishly.

“You two know each other?”

“She saved me last Sunday,” Audrey chirps.

“Saved her?” Cain echoes.

“Long story,” I mutter a reply, shaking my head. Then we're all strangely quiet: Cain eyeing me with a million questions, Audrey with that wide smile on her face, and me just staring at the both of them.

Finally, I get off my chair and say, “So, I guess that's it then. I'll be taking my leave.”

Wait for me? Cain sends to me while Audrey says, “Take care! Good bye!”

“Bye Audrey,” I bid my good bye to her with a smile. Why should I? I send to Cain.

Please? He sends to me, then gives Audrey that same fake smile. “So are you going home now?”

Audrey hesitates, her magenta eyes flickering towards Cain. “I was supposed to but... Actually yeah, I'm going home right now. I have to do something. I'll walk home with Stella then, I guess?” Audrey brightly beams at me, even though I haven't said anything.

“Uh, yeah, sure,” was all I could tell her.

We're leaving the nurse's office when I get that telepathy conversation which Cain, that went this way: So you're not waiting for me?

I'll just send Audrey home. Delinquents might pick a fight with her after all.

Take care of your hands then.

I will, you'll be at the student council office?

Until dusk. He nods, and I nod back, then close the door. Then Audrey begins this tale of asking so many questions that usually starts with how, what, and why. And they're mostly about Cain – I mean the “what” questions that is.

“So what were you doing in the clinic together?” or “What were you guys talking about?” or maybe even “What are you going do once you're going home?” or maybe a dozen more what's before we reach the school gate.

I answer her with all simple questions, but with each answer I give her, it's like she gives out twice the questions so it's really never ending. And then as we're reaching the gate, she asks me another one, “What do you feel about Cain?”

We stop dead in our tracks, Audrey with her bright smile and me with that dumbstruck look on my face.

“What do I feel about Cain?” I echo her question, our surroundings eerily quiet. “Well, I don't really think much about him. I mean, he's a good friend who saved my life, that's all.” I tell her, noticing that her expression only beamed brighter afterwards.

“That's great! Do you think he has a girlfriend?”

“I don't really know,” I reply as I scrunch my eyebrows. “We never talk about those things.”

“Then what do you usually talk about?”

“Stuff,” I mumble, my eyes noticing the moving leaves on the ground. They're being swept away by the cold wind, and this only makes me colder than usual. I tighten my scarf around my neck, then realize for the first time it's Cain's scarf.

The maroon one.

“That scarf looks a lot familiar,” Audrey chirps again like a docile little girl. She takes hold of its end, and actually I want to tell her to let it go. To tell her not to touch it. But I keep silent. “What were you thinking about when you bought it?”

I never really bought it myself though, I wanted to tell her but instead went with, “Nothing.”

And then our conversation ends just like that. “So who do you usually hang out with?” I ask her moments later, tired of the awkward silence that came up. We're walking outside the school gates already – I plan to get a bit of food for Cain and I.

“Oh, just Bri and the others,” She replies, a tired voice emitting from her lips.

I know Brianna Cortez for being one of the popular students at school, just like Cain, and then I immediately think that Audrey's the type of girls who I don't usually hang out with. “Usually Brianna and the others don't take notice of me, what about you?”

“Me?” She purses her strawberry lips at me. “You saved my life.”

“I saved your life, once.” I agree. “You don't have to feel indebted.”

Audrey bobs her head up and down, her lips turning into a grin. “Then I should just warn you instead, shouldn't I?” We stop walking when she suddenly steps in my way. I'm about to ask her what's wrong, until she says, “You're getting awfully close to Cain lately, and they hate it.”

“So you're telling me to stop talking to him?” I ask, a faint Cheshire grin appearing on my features this time. “It's not like you guys can actually bully me to submission, so what are you guys going do to stop me from hanging out with him?”

She turns around, her auburn hair flowing carelessly behind her. “That's what we were talking about. How to stop you, I mean. And so far we're planning on just dropping you in mud, or maybe pouring water on you, or we're just going start stupid rumours.”

“Well, I guess that can work,” I agree, still stuck in the same place.

When Audrey realizes that I'm not following her, she twirls in place and gives me that ghastly smile. “But that's not really going stop you, right? To top it off, you're a delinquent-”

“Just like you,” I point out.

Audrey gives me a chuckle. “Yeah, just like me.”

“But they don't know, do they?”

She's quiet for a second, her eyes suddenly fond of the gravel. “Yeah, they don't know.”

“So doesn't this really mean I've got an upper hand on you?”

Audrey crosses her arms, a pout appearing on her face. “Yeah, you do, and I hate it actually. But there's nothing really I can do. And if you do dare tell them, I'll just send guys to pick fights with you so you'll be too busy fighting, kapeesh?”

“I've already got a lot of fights on my hands, though,” I laugh at her, raising an eyebrow. “You sure you can't think of anything else?”

“Bri and the others keep on thinking of stupid stuff, but hey, they're all going to be failures anyways.” Audrey gives out that cold laugh Cain usually does. This makes me think on how many more students exist like them.

“So, tell me again why you told me?”

“So I won't feel indebted anymore.”

“That's it?”

“Yes,” She explains, then points at me. “So you better stop hanging out with him.”

“I'll try,” I tell her, giving her that grin that obvious tells her that I'm not planning to do whatever she says. “Does Cain know? I mean, you know, you being a delinquent as well? Does he know that, or am I the only person who knows?”

Audrey nods – we're already at the corner of the school. “He doesn't know. Only you do, and I plan to keep it that way. I swear if anyone else finds out, you're dead meat, you understand Stella? I don't want them finding out.”

“Why?” I ask her, frowning. And then I realize why. “You're afraid of being alone, aren't you?”

“I'm not,” She snaps too quickly.

“You are,” I give her a smile, a taunting one. “Cain's there.”

“Once Cain finds out I'm a delinquent, he'll stop hanging out with me. Just like Bri and the others,” Audrey exclaims, an obvious death stare in her glare. “You don't understand what it means to be alone, Stella, that's why you're not... oh.”

“'oh' is right,” I step beside her, and she just stares at me. “I was alone, before Cain talked to me.” I walk ahead of her, not caring if she's going to follow or not. “Besides, if you're that scared of the others learning, you don't have to worry. I'm not really into black mailing people.”

“Why are you so nice to people?” Audrey tells me, frustrated. “I thought you were different.”

“People talk crap about me, Audrey, but it doesn't mean all those things are true. Heck, I think most of them are all lies since I hardly talked with anyone else, yeah?” She's staring at me intently with her magenta eyes. “And was that a compliment?”

Audrey quickly blushes – I mean, the type where her expression changes right away, and her cheeks turn into this bright shade of red. “I am not complimenting you! I'm saying you're different, b***h! Don't turn things around that way!”

I laugh out loud at her quick response, shaking my head, I say, “Yeah, sure you weren't.”

“I really wasn't!”

“Uhuh, you want to come with me to the convenience store?”

But without even answering, she's following me either way. “I really wasn't compliment you,” She repeats again, and I tell her I'm believing her – in a halfhearted way. “I really wasn't,” She keeps repeating over and over again.

“I wasn't really giving you a compliment...”

I knock on the wooden door to the student council room, the bags of food from the convenience store on my other free hand. When there's no reply at all even after ten seconds, I just open it up and surprise myself at the view inside.

There's countless of papers on the table, stacks of them actually, and in the middle of them with his head on his arms and he's actually sleeping – is Cain. He's snoring lightly, the cute sound you usually hear in movies and whatnot.

This makes me laugh.

“Cain, Cain,” I laugh, shaking my head. “Wake up, I've got chips.”

I sit on the arm chair and open a bag of chips myself. I start nibbling on them as I take a peek at the papers everywhere on his table. Most of them are all about the field trip taking place next month during the tenth and eleventh.

For this year, apparently we're having an overnight trip near Island Lake which is about an hour away from Eau Claire. The lower years however aren't having the same trip, and will just be taking tours at some other cities.

I'm busying myself with the details, taking notes at different events and time during the trip, until Cain suddenly pulls me onto his lap and a small stifled cry escapes my lips. He suddenly rests his head on my shoulder.

“Cain! What if I fell?” I angrily exclaim, frowning at him.

But he's only smiling at me. “I'd catch you if you fall.”

“Dude, that's cheesy.”

“I know,” He chuckles, and then sighs right away. “I've got tons of paperwork’s to finish off. The field work isn't even a percentage of what should be complete. And then there's the upcoming exams starting on the twenty-eighth.”

I'm prepared for the exams, always have been.

“Hmm, you smell good,” Cain suddenly whispers, and I suddenly feel a brush of warmth on my cheeks. I can tell I'm blushing, and I can't even tell if it was the same as Audrey's blush. But this is just Cain, I think to myself, my mind getting dizzy for a moment.

“I am just Cain though?” He suddenly asks me, frowning.

And then I realize he read my mind.

“Stop,” I jut his chin abruptly – he's making me conscious but I don't even know why. “Stop reading my mind!” I blurt out loud, my hand still on his chin, his lips, and just below his noise. “Stop being so nosy, Cain you i***t!”

His voice is muffled, but his mind isn't. What's wrong?

“Nothing is wrong,” I mutter, and I don't know if I'm giving a pout.

You're cheeks are flushed, And then his hands caresses it. Are you sick perhaps?

“Am not.”

Then what's wrong?

“Nothing,” I stubbornly reply again, looking down and anywhere other than his eyes.

Stella...

I don't pull away from him, and keep my hand there. My mind's occupied by a dozen things right now, and they're all so jumbled up that I can't tell which one I'm actually thinking of. But those ideas are all brought to a sudden end when I feel something on the palm of my hand.

Yelping, I pull away and jump on the table – good thing there's no paper works there.

“Y-you licked my hand!” I stammer, holding my hand to myself as if it's important.

“You wouldn't stop covering my face,” He replied, then placed both his hands on either of my side. “What were you thinking Stella? Why are you so flushed right now? Are you sick? Do we need to go to the doctor to check it out?”

“N-no, I don't. And I'm not even sick!” His face is inching closer to mine, and in return I look to the side. I can hear his mind calling my name, but still I don't look at him. Finally tired of my actions, he suddenly drops his head to my lap, and stays there.

“If you won't look at me, Stella, then I'm staying this way.”

And I don't push him away this time because I don't have it in my heart to tell him all the crazy things that went through my mind, “Fine,” I mutter, sighing heavily. I play with his black hair which surprises me actually since I expected it to be gelled.

Then a small laugh escapes my lips.

“What's wrong?” Cain asks.

“I'm just wondering,” My voice is in the middle of trying not to laugh.

“What are you wondering about?”

“Well, it's just – aren't you sort of docile today?”

“Docile?” Cain asks, his voice rising at the word. “No way.”

“Sure you are,”

“Am not.”

“You are. You are and you won't even admit it. You're awfully nice right now, you're not teasing me like you usually are. And you're most definitely awfully kind at the moment. Something must have happened for you to act like this all of a sudden, and I'm wondering what it is that made you so-”

His head comes up, then suddenly he's grabbing my face near his. “I'm going kiss you if you don't stop talking,” He taunts. His hands are on either of my cheeks, and I can somehow feel that they're quite warm from our closeness to one another.

Finally, Cain chuckles and let's go, and I take a small breath in. He returns his head to my cheek, and one way or another I can feel the thumping of my heart beat quicker than the usual pace it does. The type it does when I'm usually fighting, or falling off the bed.

I hear him snicker again.

I'm about to ask him why but I don't really want what just happened to happen again. If I send him my thoughts, if I let him inside my mind right now, does that count as talking? I begin wondering, and I'm about to ask until he cuts me off.

“Now you're quiet.” He says with a chuckle, and then he dozes off.

He's snoring again, the light snore he usually does. And I find myself touching his soft black hair, twirling it around my hand even though its already so short.

And then the next thing I do surprises me: I kiss the back of his head.