9

I continued to think about the question, even after she had left. It bugged me more than I thought it would. I spent the entire night trying to peice together the answer, but in the end I still came up with nothing. I left it at that, she didn't neccisairly need  a reason to be interested in me; after all, it seemed as if she only wanted friendship for the most part. 

I continued to think threw the possibiltes the next morning. I thought I'd be over it after the consistant theories I managed to come up with the previous night, but I wasn't. I was confused and perhaps it made me seem distant because Aunt Carol kept looking at me with a worried expression written across her face. She could tell when something was bothering me, she was always good at that. I tried not to seem so noticible by smiling lightly as I ate, but she knew; there was just no hiding it from her.

I finished eating and set my plate in the sink before heading upstairs to get ready for school. It wasn't much longer after I had gotten dressed that she had come up to check on  me, to make sure that I was okay. I'll admit she startled me a bit when I came out of my room because she was waiting patiently outside my bedroom door.

"Sorry didn't mean to startle you" She says giggling a bit as I jump.

"It's okay," laughing with her as I step out into the hallway.

"James, I have to ask. Are you alright?" she says lightly

"Yeah, why?" 

"You just seem a little, I don't know, 'off' this morning."

"I'm fine, I promise" I say smiling at her. "Just thinking over some ideas for a drawing." That was a lie, but I didn't want her to know what I was really thinking. Least not untill my car was ready to be painted.

"Alright."  As she begins to head back downstairs, she stops and looks back towards me "By the way, if you don't mind me asking, what happened to your car? I didn't see it in the driveway this morning."

"It's in the shop, had some problems with the engine last night." I say as I look over at her.

"Okay, just checking" she says heading back downstairs.

I shake my head lightly and finnish getting ready, grabbing my bag and cell from my room and heading dowstairs for the front door. A horn sounds and I look out the front window seeing Mika's car in the driveway and smile a little, laughing as I notice Carol stairing at me with a bright smile on her face.

"Have fun" she says teasingly with a laugh.

"I make no promises" I say laughing with her as I open the door. "love you."

"Love you too."

"By sweetheart" I say waving to Casey as I head out the front door and lock it behind me.

"Come on slow poke" Mika yells playfully out of her window as she honks her horn.

I laugh and get in on the passenger side, throwing on my seatbelt as she backs out of the driveway.

"What made you decide to come this way?" I ask her teasingly with a smile as we turn onto the main road.

"Thought you might need a lift" She says smiling back as she glance over at me. 

We smile at each other for a moment as we stop at the light; staring into each others eyes as if we were trying to read each others thoughts. Mika looked away as she noticed the light had changed, for once I felt contempt after everything that's happened. I did'nt know if she could see it, but at the same time I was hoping that she did and that she also had felt the same. 

It wasn't much longer until we arrived at the school, everyone was still hanging out by their cars or by the main enrtance waiting for the morning bell to ring. I could see Conner as we pulled into the parking lot and easily found an empty space, he was covered in bruises and had a couple of cuts on his face. I looked at him and just shook my head lightly; god only knows that he had probably done something to deserve it.

Putting that aside I looked back over at Mika before grabbing my bag out of the back seat and getting out of the car as she did the same. I could see her glance over at Conner and smirk a little when she saw how banged up he was. I kinda felt sorry for him, but knowing Conner, he was usually getting himself into some type of trouble.

"What do you think happend to him" Mika asks as she leans against the car next to me.

"Don't know, but my money says he ran his mouth to the wrong person last night." I say looking at Conner then back at Mika. "You know, I've gotta ask you something."

"Really, like what?" She says smiling lightly.

"Like what has you so interested in me?" 

"If you must know" She says as she tucks a loose strand her hair behind her ear. "It's because you remind me of my older brother Derek. He lives in Los Angelos with our mother, and don't take this the wrong way, but you two have similar personalities."

"Do you miss him?" I ask her lightly.

"Everyday, but that's why I'm interested in you so much." She says as she looks down at the ground momentarily. "Because when ever I'm around you, it 's like he's right here with me."

I smile softly at her words, looking towards the building just as the morning bell rings. I could see her smiling to herself as she lightly griped my arm; I must've blushed a little when she did because she giggled shortly after. It wasn't much longer until Conner had caught up to us just as we were going up the stairs.

"So what, are you to a couple now?" he asks as he jogs up beside us.

"No, just friends" I say as I glance over at him, getting a full on impact of the damage from last night. "Jesus, what happend to you?"

"Like you don't know" he says quickly snaping at me.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" I ask, now confused and a bit irritated.

"Don't play stupid, the guys that did this said they got their orders from you."

"What are you talking about?"

"Yeah, James was with me last night." Mika says, chimming in on our convostaion."

"Oh don't even try to cover for him Mika."

"Your out of line." 

"Really Jay, I'm outta line?" Conner says taking a step closer towards me.

"Your damn striaght you're outta line" I say as I do the same. "Because for one I was with Mika last night, my aunt and six other people will tell you the same. And for two, if I was gonna kick your a*s, I would've done it myself. So before you go pointing fingers at anyone, I suggest you get your facts straight first." I say as I turn and begin to walk off, Mika following closely behind me.

"You're gonna get yours Jay!" Conner yells as Mika and I walk up the stairs and into the school, heading strait to our homeroom class.

I had calmed down by then, I new better than to let my anger get the best of me. At least for Conner's sake anyways. With the combat training that I got from my father and his friend Jayson, for me to even fight him would probably be considered illeagal...well in my eyes at least. The close-quarters combat training I had gotten from Jayson came from the military and with the police combat techniques I learned from my father, pratctically made me a killing machine. 

So, I tried my best to keep my anger under controll. As well as keeping my distance rom my enemies as well because if someone were to make the wrong move, it would be over. Not just for them, but for me a well.