by J. E. Cluney
“It doesn’t have to, but if you’ve got some crap in there you don’t want her knowing, then be careful,” Ollie said as he tapped his head to emphasize his point.
“I’m sure I can just ask her not to look into my mind,” I said, but I wondered if it were true. Could she choose to not listen in? Or would it randomly happen? Was she always listening?
“Maybe, I don’t quite know how it works, just that she struggled through primary school and ended up being home-schooled because she was bullied a lot. She’d accidentally share something she’d heard. I remember hearing how she told one of her classes that her teacher was out of sorts because her husband was having an affair on her. She landed in detention for that. It was true though, she’d overheard the teacher’s thoughts,” Oliver sighed.
It sounded like that cheery, bubbly girl I’d met today had had it hard growing up.
Fine, if everyone else wanted to act weird about her, I’d make it my job to be her friend. She’d been only nice to me, I had no reason to want to not be friends with her. Especially not just because she was a little different.
“Hey, can you help me set up a proper Facebook later today?” I asked as I reveled in the warm sunlight. It wasn’t too hot of a day, which I was grateful for.
“Sure! You should really invest in a phone soon too, an iPhone would be good, we’ve all got them at home, so you’d never go without a charger,” Oliver grinned.
“I might have to wait a while, I need to buy this MacBook off Lucas too, I don’t want to just use it for ages,” I sighed.
“Don’t stress about it, I’m sure he doesn’t mind. Actually, there might even be an old iPhone six lying around at home somewhere. I’ll see if I can find it for you,” Oliver said thoughtfully.
“No, I can’t keep borrowing things, I need to buy them myself,” I groaned. As much as I loved how sweet he was being, I hated relying on others for stuff. Especially expensive stuff.
“You can buy it off me if you really want to. And I doubt Lucas wants you to pay for the MacBook immediately, money isn’t exactly a priority for him,” Ollie gave me a knowing smile.
“Okay, how much would you want for the phone?” I asked carefully.
“I’ll tell you what, since you’ve organized your schedule to match up with mine, and if you promise to help me out with any shifting troubles should they arise at uni, then you can just have it. Consider it a gift,” he said warmly.
“No, no way, I can’t accept it as a gift, they cost hundreds of dollars,” I scowled.
“So? I’ve upgraded, I have no use for it. I would’ve just sold it eventually, but we’ll be helping each other out this way,” he gave me his boyish, bright grin that reached his eyes.
“Let me give you something for it, please?” I practically begged. I couldn’t just accept it.
Although the thought of finally having a new phone did thrill me.
“How about you shout my pizzas for the next four times we get them?” he suggested with a sly smile.
“That’ll be the equivalent of maybe $100, if you get a large pizza,” I groaned. And that was if he got them from the wood-fired place too.
“And?” he shrugged.
“How is $100 enough for an iPhone?” I said in bewilderment.
“It’s fine, it’s old anyway, jeez, just take the offer, Ally,” he rolled his eyes playfully.
“Ugh, fine,” I accepted begrudgingly, even if it did thrill me.
He pulled up and jutted out his hand, and I laughed as I shook it.
“Now, let’s get home and see if I can find it for you and get it charged. You still have a sim for your old phone?” he asked.
“Yeah, it’s in my bag. My plan included my phone, but since I dropped it, I couldn’t afford to replace it,” I shrugged.
“So you’ve been paying for a plan you’re not even using?” he frowned as we continued walking home.
“Well, only for about a month, I was saving up to buy a second-hand one, but then put my money towards bond here.”
“Well, we’ll get you with a phone,” he nodded confidently. “And then Facebook. So was it an iPhone you had before?”
“Yeah, I was paying off an iPhone six, dropped it after only being a year into my contract,” I muttered.
“That sucks. What’d you have before that?”
“A flip phone, cost me $50 back when I was fourteen, had it ever since. Did the job, but finally decided to upgrade.”
“And you never got Facebook despite having an iPhone?” he just gave me the most astonished look. “What are you? Some kind of freak?”
“Hey! I didn’t have time for it,” I said as I hit his arm playfully and he snorted. “Besides, I didn’t really have friends, I just texted and called everyone. And technically I had a Facebook, just a crappy, fake one with my old email address so I could get Tinder. Deleted it when I had too much work going on, along with Tinder.”
“You’re nineteen and never had a proper Facebook, you are probably only one of a few in the entire world,” he exaggerated. “Why didn’t you just use it if you went to the effort of making one for Tinder? And why’d you have Tinder?”
“Yeah, well, we’ll get it tonight, properly,” I smiled. “And because I didn’t really have friends or any reason for it. As for Tinder, probably the same reason most people have it,” I said as I rolled my eyes at the obvious answered. He was watching me with an intrigued look, as if he hadn’t expected such a thing of me. And there was something else lying there, a darker look. An interested one.
“Well, we’ll be the first people you’ll add to your real Facebook then,” he said proudly, his deep amber eyes still taking me in. Like he was seeing me in a new light. Strange. Was it all because I’d mentioned Tinder?
We walked the rest of the way in minor conversation about the weather and plans for the weekend. Mine was working, whereas Ollie wanted to read and maybe go visit his grandfather. I didn’t ask about the fact that he had no contact with his family anymore.
Maybe things were different with his grandfather.
He offered for me to join him, as sometimes the other boys would come too, but I couldn’t say yes yet. I needed to find out what half shift my bosses wanted me to work.
Once home, Ollie was off searching for the iPhone almost immediately, and I tromped up the stairs to put away my laptop bag. I set it on the desk and eyed the stack of books I still wanted to read about supernatural creatures. Not to mention I had actual studying to do.
I decided to pull out the MacBook and sit down at my desk, opening up the student portal and finding my login details in my emails. I sifted through and deleted all my junk emails, and then logged into the portal to check it all out. My student account had all my courses linked up. I found the template for schedules, and got to work setting it up after checking my pixie magical class details. It took only a short while before I had it all set up in a neat timetable, two pages, first week and the second week, as some of my classes rotated, mostly the practicals.
“Hey! I found the phone, I’ve reset it already, and it’s got a decent amount of charge,” Oliver popped his head through my open doorway.
“Awesome!” I turned to him, excitement coursing through me as he strode over to sit on the end of my bed near me.
“You have a backup of your old one?” he asked as he peered down at the silver iPhone six.
“Nah, lost it all since my old laptop died too. I’ll be starting from scratch,” I sighed. So many photos just gone. Thankfully, those that were important to me, I’d emailed to myself as a safety precaution.
“Well, let’s get started then, here,” he said as he handed it to me. “It’s got a glass screen protector on it already.”
“Great, thank you,” I murmured as I turned the phone over in my hands. It looked brand new to be honest. “This is awesome. You’re awesome.”
“Aw, thanks,” he said bashfully, his cheeks reddening. God, he was cute as heck.
I pushed the home bu
tton, revealing the hello screen. We then went through the steps setting it up, signing in with my apple ID after connecting to the wi-fi. I was still trying to understand their password for it. ‘LucyisQueen123’. Ollie had said it had something to do with Lucas. It just made me smile stupidly.
I linked up my emails first before moving onto the app store to download the Facebook app.
“We can set it up on your laptop first if you’d like? While we wait for the app to download?” Ollie suggested.
“Right,” I nodded as I set the phone down on the desk and swiveled back to face my MacBook.
Ollie stayed on the bed, guiding me through the step-by-step process of creating an account. I could’ve done it alone, but he seemed eager to help me along, so I didn’t stop him. Although, I couldn’t remember setting up my old one. It was more out of necessity than need, since I’d needed Tinder. Yes, totally needed it.
“You should take a profile picture too!” he said excitedly now that we’d got the basics for it set up after some time.
“Um, okay,” I shrugged. I’d done the odd selfie here and there, but it was more for personal use really, generally a photo with an ex or something for Tinder.
“Here, I’ll take it,” Oliver beamed as he plucked my phone off the desk. “The app will finish downloading in ten minutes, we can finish setting your profile up then.”
I just nodded as Ollie stood before me carefully with my phone at the ready.
“Smile,” he said, and I did as told. He took a few photos from different angles before handing it back to me to check through them.
“Surprisingly, you take decent photos, most guys take shit photos of their girlfriends,” I chuckled with a wink.
He looked completely stunned for a moment, and I wondered if I’d overstepped my boundaries with the joke. But then he grinned and rolled his eyes.
“You seriously going to pretend to be my girlfriend whenever Glenda is around?” he mused.
“Yeah, I don’t like her,” I shrugged as I went through the photos and decided on the third one. It was a good angle looking down on me, showing off my decent boobs and making my chocolate eyes pop.
“Join the club,” he muttered.
“She said she ran into your sister, she’s studying beauty, right?” I asked.
“Yeah, Bec, she’s been studying it for two years already. It’s not a long course, Corviticus offers some courses that you’d usually find at a Tafe. But you get more hours to complete it or something. She better get her arse into gear or she’ll fail it, they only give her three years to complete it, full-time you should be able to complete it in eighteen months,” Oliver scoffed.
“Not very close, huh?” I raised an eyebrow as I checked the app store on my phone. It was down to seven minutes until the download was complete.
“Nope. She’s twenty, two years older than me. Haven’t really seen her since I left home to be honest, but I hear about her occasionally. She hasn’t changed much, still a party girl, social life comes first. Mom and Dad wanted her to studying business or something better than beauty, but she had her mind set. I’m surprised they allowed her to be honest,” he shook his head.
“You never talk about your parents,” I murmured.
“Yeah, well, nothing to talk about,” he shifted uneasily, and I saw the barriers slam up behind those amber eyes. They’d cast him out. He hadn’t just run away. And it still pained him.
I could see it so clearly, the hurt and grief in his eyes.
“Well, tomorrow we have our first Animal Management Practical day. You looking forward to it?” I asked.
“Yeah, I guess so. We’re starting with cats and dogs, so it should be good. I can focus more on my ability too. I can recognize pain in many animals if I actively search for it, but my magic can also allow me to ease their pain too. I’d like to use it more. I used to help my grandfather out on his farm, I spent a lot of time there as a kid, so did Lucas, Skip, and Marcus. We could be real kids there, no overbearing families trying to make you act a certain way,” he sighed. “Every now and then he’d have a horse go lame, and I could help ease the pain and try to understand where it was originating from. My grandfather taught me a fair bit about finding the source of pain using my magic, but it’s been a while since I’ve seen him.”
“You guys are on good terms though?” I asked.
“Oh yeah, Pop was the only one who didn’t go weird on me after the curse thing. I think Lucas confided in him about the truth, but made him swear not to tell. I’ve seen him a fair bit over the years since I left home, but last time I saw him was a few months ago now,” he frowned.
“If I’m not working the afternoon shift Sunday, I’d love to come meet him too,” I said honestly. I was also eager to visit a farm. I’d never actually been to one growing up.
“Of course, you know what, we’ll work it around your shift. If you work in the morning, we’ll go in the arvo, if you work the arvo, we’ll go in the morning,” he grinned. “Pop will love you, he’s a true shifter too, my entire lineage is.”
“What’s his farm like?”
“He mostly rescues dogger horses from the sales and retrains them. Sometimes gets some thoroughbreds right off the track for retraining. He also has a few rescue cows, he’s vegetarian, so he doesn’t eat meat.”
“How old is he?” I frowned. Retraining horses? I was picturing an old man in his seventies or eighties.
“Seventy-two, but he seems a lot younger. Don’t worry, he’s got a few workers who help him retrain the horses too now, he doesn’t do it all himself,” Oliver laughed, understanding my bewilderment.
“I was going to say, jeez,” I breathed.
“How’s the download coming along?” he asked as his amber eyes flicked to my phone.
“Two minutes,” I said as I checked it.
“Well, once you’ve got it, upload your photo, and I’ll help you get your privacy settings and everything set up. Oh, and we’ll add messenger too, you’ll want that,” he added.
We spent the next half an hour setting up my Facebook once it had downloaded to my phone, adding the boys to my friends list, and Emma from uni. I set up a cover photo, added a few things I liked, and my last places of work.
Oliver also added me to a few supernatural Facebook groups. They were hidden groups that you needed links for, which he sent me, and then your identity would be verified as supe. You needed to answer a series of questions before they’d accept you, like your date of birth, family name if not the one listed on Facebook, and a few other things. I’d be accepted into the groups within forty-eight hours once they did a background search on me.
“So, what are these supe groups for anyway?” I asked. The idea that there Facebook specific groups for supes was boggling, but apparently there was more to Mr Zuckerberg than we thought. He was one of us, a supernatural creature, although it was kept pretty quiet as to what he was. I couldn’t help but be curious as to what the Facebook genius could be.
“They’re for finding out about events in the area for just our kind, keeping updated on news on us. I’ve added you into the University group, the Events group for the Coast, and the buy, sell, swap page too for South East Queensland. Oh, and just a social group too,” he beamed.
“There’s a buy, sell, swap group for supes?” I muttered in disbelief.
“Um, yeah. Where else would you buy all the potions and enchanted objects from? Many witches will also offer their services to humans, but they are less potent for humans. Just the way it is for some reason, you need magic inside you to activate potions to their full extent,” he shrugged.
“Great,” I sighed. So was that where my aunt had gotten the pendant for me? From a Facebook group?
“Hey, I’m going to go do some reading for my Animal Management stuff in the library, want to join? It’s only just after four-thirty now, and Skip said he’s making dinner.”
“I might just hang around here for a bit, lie down and do some standard reading on supernatural
creatures. But I might pop down soon.”
“Okay, well, enjoy the phone,” he said with that gorgeous, boyish grin.
“I will, and thanks again, I owe you,” I smiled back.
“Just shout some pizzas and we’re even!” he shot over his shoulder as he headed out of the room.
I flinched as my phone sounded off, and I flicked it onto vibrate.
Emma had accepted my friend request and had sent me a message.
‘Hey Ally! Good to see you got Facebook finally. I was thinking we should catch up sometime outside of uni. I have a feeling we’ll be paired up, and if you have any questions, just let me know :)’
I smiled at the message. Emma was sweet, and I liked her already. Besides, it couldn’t hurt to make some friends. Finally some friends like me too.
What I wouldn’t do for some real friends for a change. I’d lost contact with most of my school friends, and I didn’t feel like rekindling the relationships. They could never truly know me, and it just made things harder.
‘Sounds great! I do have one question, I have the ability to sense when animals have serious illness, things that are life-threatening, but I’ve been told fae don’t have that ability.’
I shot the message back, moving to my bed to lie down.
Skip had accepted my friend request, and I decided to check out his profile.
Yep. Definitely Skip. His profile picture was him posing in front of his beast of a landcruiser. I trawled through his photos, finding some from a few years back of his family.
He had a little sister, only a few years younger than him by the looks of her.
Emma messaged back, and I moved my focus to the message.
‘Yeah, that is a weird one. Shifters have it, maybe it’s your wolf side.’
‘Lucas said that my shifter gene isn’t the dominant one, which is why it’s really weird,’ I sent back.
I waited as she typed back quickly.
‘That is weird. I’ll do some digging. You got class tomorrow?’
‘Yep, prac. Got lunch at 11 though.’
‘Damn, I’ll be in class. Maybe we could hang after classes? Pop into Dingo Diner maybe for a coffee or something.’