He was shaken to the bone; Leyla seemed to have become a hottie in the last three years, he thought frustrated. This morning, he had caught her flirting with Mr. Model in front of her locker and now she was out and about with this grim muscleman. His worries to have her all over him had probably been completely out of line. Wishful thinking or how should he call his delusional ideas. He could have spared his chilly manner. She did not seem to be into him any longer. He watched the two of them go by and his gaze lingered on the upper arm of the spike-haired guy. He had seen that tattoo previously at school, but he was too far away to see it clearly. As far as he remembered, it was a flame in a circle.
Somehow, it looked familiar. A flame, he thought about the fire he was not able to control and wondered why anyone would choose a tattoo with a flame.
He waited until they had disappeared in the subway station and decided not to go home just yet. His eyes fell on the cinema complex on the other side of the street and he decided to go to the movies. He would stay out, as long as he did not look forward to make a statement about his looks. He wrote a text message to his aunt telling her that he would be home late and they should start dinner without him. Then he entered the cinema complex near Bloor station, bought a ginger ale and stood in front of the display panel where various movies and playing times were displayed. He needed something to distract him. All of a sudden he felt being observed and saw two perky blondes who were standing in front of the panel too. They were looking at his face drawn from the fight, with undisguised interest. The smaller one looked up to him, beaming with her baby blue eyes and battered her false eyelashes, “What happened to your nose?”
Both girls giggled. Gregory was not in a flirty mood.
“I fell,” he said indifferently.
He turned away. For all he cared, the conversation was over. But the blonde touched his arm with her long false fingernails and looked deep into his eyes.
“On your nose?"
He growled at her.
“My God; yes on my nose, do you mind?”
She kept smiling at him seductively. Apparently, he couldn’t get rid of this one so fast.
He didn’t care if he was being rude and turned away ignoring her.
He went to the cashier and bought a ticket for Divergent. He hoped that there was a massive amount of bloodshed in this movie. The good news was that he would certainly not run into the blondes in this movie. They were probably more into movies like Endless Love with the oh-so-handsome heartthrob, Alex Pettyfer. He however definitely needed violence to calm down, even if it was only on a screen. He knew that it was kind of gross anyway.
About two hours later, he left the cinema; it was already past six o’clock. It had definitely been his kind of movie and he felt like Four, the male hero of the storyline, a tight-lipped warrior, only that this one had the right girl at his side. Of course, a tight-lipped warrior too. Somehow much of a battle, he thought to himself, but it didn’t matter. He had enjoyed it.
Except for the thing with the tattoos, it had reminded him of his dead mother and the only thing he had left of her - the blanket with the four symbols on it, which represented the four elements. The blanket had always given him comfort when he felt low. Thinking about it madehim sad. He sighed, but probably now it was time to go home; he couldn’t delay it any further. He was brooding what kind of explanation he would find for his damaged appearance. God knows what flirty Leyla had told her parents about him, he thought ill-humored.
He turned slowly into Enderby road and tried to sneak into the house without causing any noise. Maybe he could cover his bruises with a concealer if he found one, before anyone saw him. Since he lived in the basement and had a private entrance, this shouldn’t present to be such a problem. He approached the white house, built in Southern Style with the big porch and the green shutters. He was almost at the door when Rogan, his uncle’s Irish setter, knocked him down. Gregory lay on the ground and the dog barked like crazy. Rogan licked him across the face. Gregory tried to make calming sounds - Psst, Psst. When this didn’t seem to work, he held its snout closed with both hands.
Too late, the front door opened and Leyla, not busy flirting this time around, stuck out her head. She put a finger to her lips and whispered.
“Quickly come in before someone sees you.”
He slipped quickly through his separate entrance and Rogan continued howling outside. His uncle came to the porch and scolded Rogan to leave alone the poor squirrels. Gregory was just turning around to enter the bathroom when he was knocked down again. He landed backwards on his bed. Leyla, who had tried to come down the stairs without making any noise, had unfortunately failed as she slipped and fell on Gregory.
The two of them were laying on the bed, and Leyla remained slightly dazed lying on Gregory. When he said, “Why does everybody try to throw me on the ground today?”
They looked at each other and burst into laughter. He brushed a strand of hair from her forehead.
“Hey, you’ve still got some freckles.”
She grinned at him and said, “That’s because it is still summer.”
Their eyes locked and they smiled at each other. Her face was very close to his.
He pulled her even closer and the kiss seemed to be unavoidable, then something rattled very noisily on the kitchen floor above them. Leyla came to her senses; it was
like awakening of a dream, and she drew back and got to her feet. There was an awkward silence. She was embarrassed and stepped from one foot to another. She didn’t remember why she had come down here in the first place. Gregory felt probably the same way, but he apparently didn’t want her to notice.
He leaned easily against the wall and looked at her indifferent.
“To what circumstances do I owe the honor of your visit anyway?”
He looked at her, and despite his indifferent mask, he couldn’t resist teasing.
“Rushing down here, you probably had too much swag,” he pointed to her T-shirt.
“You knocked me down with your weight. It seems to be a Canadian custom to knock down the new ones. Today, you are second in line to knock me down.”
Leyla glared at him, “I wanted to bring your birthday gift and apologize for being rude this morning. Turns out that you are no better at all. As a matter of fact, did you just tell me that I am fat?”
She grabbed the wrapped up gift and threw it at him followed by a couple of pillows. She threw them one by one at him like torpedoes. He went for cover behind the sofa.
“No, you are just unable to get down stairs.”
The next pillow hit him fully on the already damaged nose. He howled. Leyla came running along with the next pillow in her hand, “Jeez, I am sorry. I really didn't mean to hit your nose.”
She seemed seriously worried and gave up her cover, so he brought her down as he threw a large pillow from the sofa and it hit her unexpectedly.
He shouted triumphantly, "Touch down, or whatever.”
They both stayed on the floor, bursting in laughter and gasping for air. The air was cleared, at least for the moment. The sizzling energy between them had gone as well as the hostility. She raised her hands, “Ceasefire?”
He grinned, “Of course, you wouldn’t stand a chance against me anyway, I am too strong for you.”
He got into an offensive position, presenting his biceps. Leyla started giggling, “Unwrap the gift Arnold Schwarzenegger.”
He tore at the package, and seemed to be real happy about the gift. He hugged her and kissed her unexpectedly on the cheek. She tried to kiss him back, but then he was already gone again. Therefore, her kiss went into empty space. It was embarrassing; luckily, he had not noticed. He tore his shirt from his body and put on the hockey shirt. Leyla looked at him in awe, because there were indeed muscles beneath that T-Shirt, a lot of muscles. She stood there with her mouth open. Who would have thought that he looked like that by now? He was probably working out a lot lately. He hadn’t noticed her staring at him because h
e was checking the new T-Shirt. Leyla cleared her throat, ‘Gregory, I need to discuss something with you.”
He beamed at her and his nose looked like a rainbow. She tried to remain serious, although his nose was horrible to look at. “I must talk to you about the fire.”
His expression instantly darkened and he looked at her in hostility.
“I don't know what you're talking about.”
He took off the hockey shirt and lay back on the bed, dressed only in his sweatpants. He folded his arms behind his head and scowled at her.
Leyla sat down next to him. “If you think that I’ll give up that quickly, you are wrong. It is important for you to listen to me now. It could be even vital. Don’t you want to be in control of what you are doing? Is that not the reason why you're in Canada?"
Apparently, she had gotten his interest now. He gave her a look full of irony and smiled smugly.
"And you, the great master of fire can help me, I suppose?”
"Come down off your high horse,” Leyla countered.
“We're not kids anymore and we are not about playing Cowboys and Indians. You can’t shoot me down if things are getting uncomfortable for you. This is reality and I'm just trying to help you.”
He aimed at her with his index finger and said slyly, “Bang, bang.”
Then he blew out his imaginary smoking colt. She threw herself angrily on him.
“You're such an idiot Gregory!” she said, pounding his chest with both fists.
There was a certain mischief in his eyes when he grabbed her fists. There it was again, that damn sizzling feeling. She lost herself in the depth of his blue eyes and could not think straight anymore. It could not go on like this any longer.
She shook her head freeing herself from his grip getting to her feet.
She needed a clear head now and had to talk to him seriously, instead of always wondering what it would be like if he kissed her. He lay still on the bed and looked at her cocky.
“You should have kissed me Lela. You seem to be practicing a lot lately with all the eager guys you hang around with. So I guess a little kiss from your step cousin that comes from far away won’t throw you off track.”
"Enough!”
She made a dismissive gesture.
“What in heaven’s name are you talking about?"
He looked still challenging at her, but she was not going for it.
"Whatever is on your mind will have to wait, because we urgently need to talk about your problems and not about me.”
“Fact is, today you have caused a fire and you lit up Jason's clothes,” she sighed.
“Okay, I agree on the fact that Jason is an ass, but that is no reason to set him on fire. That is not acceptable ethically. If I would burn down everyone who is bugging me, we would be surrounded by torches.”
Gregory put on a crooked smile, “That’s quite interesting; you should become a lawyer or a salesperson for vacuum cleaners, with this fervor and this power of persuasion.”
She looked at him perplexed and gave him a withering look.
"Whatever, either way, you need to get it under control, stop denying, it makes no sense. I know it was you.” He shrugged, “I suppose then that you have some idea of what I should do about it, your honor?"
Leyla sat down wary beside him and tried not to stare at his naked chest.
"Actually, I might know someone, who can probably help you.”
She told him what she had heard from Aiden. Unfortunately, she could not remember everything. She was confused with the tribal clan story. She did not remember the names, only the essential parts of it.
Gregory said nothing. He was probably simply speechless for once and looked at her thoughtfully.
“You mean there are others like me? Then it was probably your Aiden, who torched Jason.”
Leyla slowly lost her patience.
“Gregory, think about it! It was not Aiden and he is certainly not my Aiden. What’s wrong with you? Have you been stalking me? Are you some kind of pervert?"
There was no answer, so she continued.
“He has it all under control, but you my dear are not for the slightest bit in control. To tell the truth, you don’t even know how to spell the word control. By the way, he has approached me because of you, not to proof his undying love for me.”
Gregory was still suspicious. “And how do you know that he's got the fire under control?"
"He has shown it to me with a match. He lit the match with pure will power and then again, he put it out again, just looking at it. It was incredible."
Gregory made a hissing sound; it sounded like the roar of a big cat. She grinned naughtily at him.
“Okay, okay, don't explode my dear and if you light me up, I'll kill you.”
He grumbled something to himself, but didn’t say anything out loud.
"So,” she continued, “Aiden’s friends have this tattoo on the upper arm too. The element that they can control. But I think that you are unique in this way; you are different from the others.”
He gave her a confident look. She made a dismissive gesture and snorted.
“You're a selfish jerk, it has something to do with your blanket, and it is not about your looks. There are all four elements on it and not just one. I think you can influence all of the elements.”
At first, he shook his head in disbelief, but suddenly he closed his eyes and appeared to be in deep thoughts. Then he abruptly got up and hugged her fiercely.
"You're a genius. I thought I was going crazy. Then it was not just the wind lately when I was angry.”
He stilled hugged her, when after a short knock her mother came down the stairs and cleared her throat.
"What is going on here?” she asked.
Leyla and Gregory drew immediately apart.
Her mother had seen Gregory's swollen nose glowing in several colors.
"My God, Gregory, what happened to your nose?"
She pointed to his nose and then looked at Leyla incredulous.
“Did you do that?"
Leyla could hardly believe her ears.
“Me? Why would I do such a thing?"
"Well, I figured since you were so angry with him this morning.”
Leyla ended the sentence with a slightly sarcastic undertone.
“I mutated into a brutal bully girl.”
She shook her head.
“Really now? Well, thank you very much.”
She grabbed her mother by her shoulders and pushed her towards the stairs.
“Would you please leave us alone, I have to talk to Gregory about something important urgently.”
Her mother wanted to say something, but gave up.
“Ok, but you two still owe me an explanation.”
She walked up the stairs and disappeared through the door. Leyla made sure that they were alone this time and came downstairs to Gregory, who had gotten comfortable again on the bed.
This time, she sat down on his chair and rolled to the bed. “So, where were we?"
Gregory stretched and yawned hearty.
“If your dad hears about my nose, he will be faster in this room than you can say shit. That’s why you should hold back and not come on to me again. I know that you can hardly keep your fingers from this.”
He moved both hands along his body showily.
“Please, pull yourself together Gregory.”
Her voice had taken a threatening undertone.
“You stupid moron, stop annoying me! I'm trying to help you and you have nothing else to do than hit on me stupidly.”
Her temper flashed. It seemed it was not the right moment to play his charms on her, even though it was so much fun, he thought.
“Ok I get it, and what I am supposed to do in your opinion?"
“You have to meet Aiden as soon as possible. I know that he has his ability under control and I am sure he can teach you how to do that.”
Gregory started to say something, but Leyla cut him off.
> “Do you have a better idea, genius? Do you think that you are able to survive without any help in this school after you've lit up someone on your first day?”
He cut a grimace and made a gesture with his hand, as if he was cutting his throat.
“Probably not, but this Aiden is an ill-tempered moron and he is into you, I insist, which means you are not being objective,” he pouted.
Leyla threw him a scathing look and moved away with her rolling chair towards the desk. She was feeling the urge to hit him, so she was probably better off not being too close to him.
"Are you out of your freaking mind? He is maybe into energy drinks and protein bars, but surely not into me. Can you tell me what makes you think that actually every guy likes me? You are having a problem, not me!”
He muttered something to himself, but she did no longer care what he had to say.
“You are going to talk to Aiden and there is nothing to discuss any further.”
Gregory looked beaten.
“Of course, my General.”
"Don’t you dare calling me General again!” she continued unmoved.
“You should not tell him though, that you can probably influence all elements. You’ll only mention the fire, understood?”
Gregory raised his hand as if she was a teacher. Leyla felt her temper rising again.
ELEMENTARY VIRTUE: The Savior Page 4