I shook my head. He can't be talking about what I think he's talking about, I thought. There's no way he could have noticed. He was staring into my eyes, searching for an answer. I could just tell him, I told myself. I knew I could tell him anything, but I also knew that I was more scared of losing him then than I had ever been.
"Are you sure?" he asked.
"Yeh." I answered, breaking my eye contact.
"Hmm," he said, brushing the usual curl back behind my ear. "Well, I guess I don't know either. It’s just, being with you gave me a feeling. It was a warm feeling I guess, but it was one that I've never felt before. You have felt it too, haven't you?"
Yes, I thought. But I said "I don't know."
"I think you have!" he said. "You see I was never sure if I should say anything to you, you know because you guard how you feel so well, I wasn't sure how you felt. But the night of the snow fight, you couldn't disguise it, you were feeling the same thing that I was." he straightened himself in the chair and brushed his hand along my cheek again, although there weren't any curls to remove this time, and then he cupped his hand gently under my chin. His hand was cool as usual, making my skin tingle beneath his touch.
I swallowed hard as he stared at me, my heart beat doubling and then tripling all at the same time. His gaze slowly drifted to my lips, which were now trembling. What is he doing right now? Why is he looking at me like that?
There was a rummaging sound in the hallway as Charles came out of the kitchen and opened the cupboard under the stairs. Solomon glanced partially to the doorway and then, sighing gently removed his hand away from my face.
Breathe, I said to myself. Inhaling deeply and leaned over to rest on my knees. I didn't know how long I had been holding my breath, but my head was spinning quite violently.
"Are you okay?" Solomon said, leaning forward next to me.
I didn't answer, I was still a little lightheaded and, I didn't know if it was visible or not but I was shaking.
"Claudia?" he said.
"I'm fine." I said, slowly straightening myself back up. Charles closed the cupboard door and went back into the kitchen. "You're right. I do feel it. I probably have for as long as you. It's just, I haven't really spent much time with boys, so ..." I looked away again, but I could see he was smiling.
"Claudia?" he said softly, brushing my hair out of my face again. "I wanted to ask you something." Then the cupboard in the hallway opened again and the light sound of Charles rearranging the items in the cupboard could be heard.
Solomon laughed quietly, "It's okay." he said and sat back in the chair. I sat back next to him, resting my head on his shoulder after he wrapped his arm around me and then I picked up the remote and started flicking through the channels. I knew Solomon was hoping that Charles would go to bed, but I also knew that Charles was not going to go anywhere. So we stayed like that for a while, watching a few minutes of this and that between various conversations. Solomon was speaking very quietly now, almost whispering into my ear, causing my eyes to flutter sleepily with each word he uttered. Eventually I wrapped my arm around his waist and closed my eyes, feeling slightly intoxicated with the sweet smell of pine wood that came from him, the coolness that emanated from his body and the cool air that brushed against my neck and ear every time he spoke. Solomon stopped talking at some point becoming engrossed in a kung fu movie that was playing and between the soft sound of his laughter every now and again and Charles wandering about from the hallway to the kitchen, I found myself drifting to sleep.
* * *
Charles must have returned at some point to send Solomon home as I woke with my blanket wrapped around me and Solomon nowhere in sight. Whatever time he did get home that night, he still managed to wake early enough to collect me as usual for school. We made our way to our usual table where I sat watching Solomon's eyes, which were a deep indigo, flicker in the sunlight.
“I'm so sure your eyes change colour.” I said.
“Yeh, I've been told that. Emily calls them mood eyes, she says they change depending on my mood.”
“Ah.” I tried to think back to all the times I'd noticed that they were a different colour and wondered what mood he must have been in on each occasion. “What mood are you in now?” I asked.
“Guess.” he smiled. I thought back over all the times his eyes had looked as similar. There was the day in the juice bar when we first hugged and then the night when we danced in the park. I smiled back, biting my lip nervously.
"I think indigo might be my new favourite colour" I said.
Solomon laughed softly and then a serious expression quickly crossed his face. “Oh, I wanted to warn you.” he said as he stroked my hand. “Expect a lot of questions from Emily. She saw me getting in at around 4 yesterday morning and has been bothering me ever since.”
“That should be fun.” I said “Does anyone else know you stayed so late?” Solomon looked at me mischievously from the corner of his eye. “Ah yes. You tell Michael everything.”
“Most things." He corrected. “But sorry, yeh. Wasn't I supposed to?” he laughed.
“No, it's fine. What did he say?”
Solomon laughed even harder “Well, he was surprised that Charles didn't kick me out way earlier. But I told him nothing happened, we were just watching movies, and .. he kind of thinks I punked out.”
“Punked out? How?”
“Because I didn't even get a kiss.” he said interlacing his fingers with mine.
“Oh.” I said, butterflies invading my stomach with full force.
“I mean, I've practically declared my undying love for you and we've already agreed to get married. So I don't think it's too farfetched for me to expect one, is it?”
“Err, I don’t know." I said sliding down from the table. "I've never kissed anyone before.”
“That's okay.” he said, still holding my hand he stepped down from the table too and slid his other hand around my waist to pull me closer “It's actually quite sweet.”
"Wait!" I said, pushing my hand against his chest. My voice was trembling almost as much as my body. “I don't know how to.”
Solomon chuckled quietly, and gently cupped his hand under my chin raising my head until my eyes met his. My heart beat fiercely, and blood rushed to my head. I squeezed my eyes shut in anticipation, partly hoping to keep my balance as my head began to swoon and partly struggling to control my ability as sparks of heat flew through me. But Solomon's kiss never came. I opened my eyes slowly, he was staring but not directly into my eyes as he usually would. He was watching my face, my cheeks in particular with a small smirk present on his lips.
“What's wrong?” he asked.
“Nothing.” I replied, but I knew my internal inferno had spilt over to my external.
“You're face.”
Dammit. I thought. I knew my face was overheated and could only imagine what it looked like. I tried to look away, but Solomon’s hand was still holding my face. “Maybe I'm just nervous.” I lied.
“It's okay to tell me, you know.” he said, confusing me enough to forget why I was so heated in the first place.
“Tell you what?”
“Your secret.”
“What ... makes you think I have a ... secret?” I stammered.
“Everyone has a secret Claudia.” he said.
A smokey haze, clouded over his eyes which we no longer a deep indigo. They were softer, similar to how they looked the night in the snow. What was that he said about moods? I tried to recall his words, but my own mind was still clouding over with the memory of the night of the snow fight. His apparent lack of any need for warm clothing and his whole manner on that night when the other teenagers were complaining about the cold.
R's story about the people from the experiments who had all run to the south coast and how a lot of them died leaving behind orphans ran through my head. Solomon's father was an orphan, but how could Solomon be the descendant of one of them. How could he have an ability similar to mine and I had never
noticed. Or have I? I took his hand and pressed it against my face allowing my cheeks to heat up even more, but the hotter I got the cooler his hand got.
“What are you trying to tell me?” I asked.
He brushed my hair behind my ear leaving a cold trail along my face. His face serious but soft, but before he could say anything his eyes diverted to something behind me. He sighed sadly and nodded his head as if greeting someone, simultaneously loosening his grip around my waist.
“Ahh, so this is why you two always come in early?” Michael said as he approached with Peter. His eyes quickly glancing over the length of my body before looking away again.
“Yeh. What's your story?” Solomon asked.
“I need to talk to you.” he said walking around to the other side of the table and sitting down. Michael had gotten into the habit of giving me a soft jab whenever we met, but that day he'd simply nodded.
"Are you ok?" Solomon said, turning me so he was standing between myself and the two boys.
I nodded as his eyes surveyed my face. I would have asked why he was acting so strange except that I knew he was behaving in a way to exclude his friends. I inhaled deeply, concentrating on controlling my temperature. Solomon smiled and nodded and then turned back to join the table.
“Ok, two things,” Michael started as we sat down opposite him. “Firstly, I spoke to Robert last night. There’s a club opening next month and he has some tickets. I was thinking it would be a great place to go for your birthday so I asked him to reserve some tickets, but I need to let him know today for definite.”
“How many did you reserve?” Solomon asked. I took a book from my bag although I wasn't interested in reading at all. I desperately wanted to talk to him, but I couldn't remove him from his friends company and besides, the type of conversation we needed to have would be better done if not at school.
“Just me, you and Peter.” Michael said trying to keep a straight face but he quickly broke into laughter. “Don't worry, Claudia too. I reserved one for Emily as well because I'm going to need a date.”
“Right!" Solomon said. "We both know Emily's not going to be your date.”
“Come on man. She wants to go with me, girls have dreams you know Solomon.”
“Yeh, and whenever she wants to dream you're taking her on a date, that's fine with me. But once she wakes up we all know it's not possible.”
“Whatever.” Michael said, he still had the same playful expression on his face even though he sounded irritated. “Can you believe this Claudia? My best friend doesn't even trust me.”
I smiled, grateful that he had acknowledged me. “I don't know. I wouldn't let you date my little cousin either.”
Michael laughed, “Really? He can’t exactly talk. I mean, he is the captain of the team. Girls love that kind of stuff, don’t they?"
“Michael ... what else did you want to talk about?” Solomon asked abruptly, possibly due to the fact that we had been interrupted.
“No, I’m joking.” Michael continued. “He’s a living angel for sure.”
“Mike!” Solomon said, this time a lot firmer.
“Ok" Michael said giggling from behind his hand. He eventually calmed himself down and raised his hand in surrender. “Ok, there's something else I needed to speak about.” he finally said, “but I'm going to have to steal you a minute.”
Solomon looked at me so I smiled In agreement, then he and Michael got up and walked down to the far end of the school yard and started talking about something that seemed very important. I put my elbow on the table to rest my head on my hand and watch them.
“You know Michael's just messing with you.” Peter said. I'd almost forgotten that he was sitting with me. He was still looking down at his games console playing a game.
“Yeh, I know.”
“It's really nice to hear you two finally went out together. It looks like it went well.”
“Oh thanks.” I said and then remembering my promise to get to know him better I asked, “What are you playing?”
“It's a space war game.” he said.
“Like space invaders?”
“Yeh, I suppose.” he giggled, “Only it's much better.” He had a very soft voice for someone his age and an almost childlike giggle which I had never noticed before, probably because he rarely spoke. He had always looked fairly young for his age, but his voice made him seem even younger. “Do you want to play?” he asked.
I looked back down to Solomon and Michael who were still deep in discussion. “Ok.” I said. Peter came around the table and sat next to me, giving me a quick run through of the game and the controls. It didn't take long to get the hang of the game and I soon became so absorbed in the game I barely noticed when Susanne, Stacy and Emily arrived.
“Now I know why they find that game so addictive.” I said after Peter had gone to sit with Solomon and Michael. “Have you guys played it?”
“Nope.” Emily answered “Peter never lets anyone play his game.”
“Really? Maybe he was just being nice.” I said, not sure why he suddenly paid me any attention.
“Nope! Probably has more to do with the fact that you and Solomon are now ‘official’.” she said, hand quoting the final word.
“What does ‘official’ mean?” I said mocking her hand signal.
“Come on Claudia. He was out practically all night. What happened?”
“Nothing. We watched movies and then I fell asleep.”
Emily raised her eyebrow in disbelief. “Well, when you’re ready to tell me the details. I am all ears.” She said.
“Thanks. I’ll remember that.” I said and turned back to watch the boys.
They finally finished talking and Michael came back to the table first to get his school bag while Solomon and Peter spoke with a group of boys from their football team. He didn't speak to anyone, just picked up his bag and began making his way back to the other boys.
“Hey Michael.” I said, catching up with him as he walked. “Is everything cool between us?”
Michael looked at me, his face was more serious than normal. “Why do you ask?”
“I don't know, you're just quieter than usual.”
He let out a long sigh. “We're cool Claudia. It's just, I know you and Solomon are a bit more serious now and I have to have some respect for him, you know?”
I nodded, I really hoped things weren't going to change too much, because I actually quite liked Michael as a friend. Michael looked back over to Solomon, who was standing with his back to us and then a cheeky grin appeared on his face.
“Well, when he's around anyway.” he said hitting me quickly in the arm before running over to where the boys were.
Ouch! I thought, that one was harder than usual. By the time Michael had reached the boys Solomon turned around and saw me approaching and walked over to meet me.
“I need to go, the coach wants to speak with us before school starts.” he said.
“Okay.” I sighed, it looked like my talk would have to wait. “I'll see you later though right?”
“Michael needs me to do something with him after school, so I won't be able to bring you home.”
“What about lunch?”
Solomon groaned softly. “I'm really sorry, but the coach is really upset about our scores last week so we have to practice during lunchtime too. I'll try to sneak away for a minute or two if I can.”
“So tomorrow then?”
“Definitely. But I'll call you later.” he said. I smiled, but it was more of a wistful one than anything else. "Have I told you how much I love you today?" Solomon said. I shook my head slowly. Solomon leaned forward and whispered in my ear. "Too much." Then he kissed me lightly on my cheek and walked away to catch up with Peter and Michael. I watched as they walked down to the gym, my heart heavy with the burden of having to wait a whole day before I saw him again. Slowly I walked back to sit with the other girls, but I couldn't get what Solomon had said to me before Michael arrived out of my head.
> Is it possible he might also have an ability similar to mine? I thought. Yes, anything is possible, but I'm going to have to find out for certain.
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