ELEMENTARY VIRTUE: The Savior

by Sonja Wuthrich

  “What do you want?”

  "My General but why should I tell the bum just about my fire arts and not everything else?”

  "Because I don't trust him, and if you call me General once more, I swear, I will kill you, which means that you will not have to report anything to him any longer.”

  Gregory grinned sardonically.

  “You see Reverend, so you don't trust him either. Then why should I reveal my secret to him?"

  "Damn it, I'm just about to hit you, you stupid Italian jerk and Reverend is not any better than General. In fact, Aiden is already suspecting that something is extremely wrong with you. He is the only chance you have got.”

  He grinned even bolder than before. Apparently, he did everything to irritate her.

  “Hey, you're so racist, Italians are cool and I thought you might prefer a religious title rather than a military one."

  Leyla got up and stomped through the room. She seemed to be far away with her thoughts.

  “Hello my Queen, I'm still here.”

  He looked at her questioning.

  “Ok, you can call me Queen, you pathetic dwarf. In any case, it is the best you brought up so far. I must ask Aiden to meet you, but you have to keep in mind that he thinks that you are some kind of incapable guy and we must keep the secret about your blanket with the four elements under all circumstances. I just have a bad feeling about you being different. He could somehow get it the wrong way. It means that you are stronger than he is and I don't get the impression that he could put that away so easily.”

  Gregory nodded and was suddenly very serious.

  “Then you’ll arrange a meeting, or maybe I should ask him myself. But what do we tell your parents?”

  Leyla shrugged, “Let’s just say that you tried to protect me from Jason and then he knocked you down. That will make the right impression on them.”

  Brooklyn is stalking Aiden

  The next day Leyla and Gregory went to school together. They were heading towards the subway station, both not exactly in a chatty mood. As luck would have it, they met Brooklyn and Aiden on the train. The two of them were engaged in deep conversation. Brooklyn was not even looking out for her friend, something that had never happened before. She unmistakably had put on her most seductive outfit, some kind of a summer dress with a big cleavage. Her whole body pose showed that she was heavily into flirting.

  Leyla couldn’t believe her eyes! Incredible! And that grim Aiden seemed to be playing along which was even more astonishing. He gave Brooklyn a big smile and looked at her face, which was remarkable considering her cleavage. Actually, Leyla didn’t believe in coincidences and gave Gregory a slight push. She shifted her head and pointed to the two of them.

  “Well, do you still think that he likes me that much?”

  He grumbled something unintelligible.

  “You are not really into communication today dearie?” she asked looking at him. She had to admit that his wrecked face made him look dauntless. He even looked better than he did under normal circumstances. She sighed to herself, “Come on let's go and take this opportunity.”

  Who knows when we will get the chance to get to him again, when his bad boy gang does not surround him. They reached Brooklyn and Aiden, hearing a few words about the summer festival. Brooklyn was in the organization team and apparently trying to tempt Aiden to come along. Leyla touched Brooklyn's arm.

  “Hey, what are you doing here?”

  Normally Brooklyn got on the train in Victoria Park.

  Brooklyn reacted quite strange and her cheeks looked flushed for a moment.

  Yet that was impossible, it had to be the light as Brooklyn never ever blushed.

  She turned around quickly and hugged Leyla. “Hey Leyla. Hey Gregory. I’ve stayed at Melissa’s house, but today she is sick and stays home. She blinked at Leyla without attracting attention. My God, Brooklyn seemed seriously to have stalked Aiden. Incredible! Meanwhile Gregory had turned to Aiden. “Hey, I'm Gregory. I heard from Leyla that you are possibly able to help me with something. Can we meet after school sometime?”

  “Well,” Leyla thought, “he had taken things in his own hands. He seemed to understand that the situation was serious.” Aiden gave her a pleased look and then turned to Gregory. He leered at him.

  “Interesting look you got there. Meet me after school at Starbucks on Main Street and be discreet. I don't want someone to see us together.”

  With that, discussion was clearly over from Aiden’s side and he fell silent again. Meanwhile, the train arrived at Scarborough Centre station and Aiden rushed out.

  “See you guys,” passing them and disappearing into the crowd. Obviously, he was trying to avoid his gang seeing him with one of them.

  Brooklyn looked disappointed and Gregory muttered beneath his breath.

  “The guy is charming; you have to give him that.”

  All of a sudden, Melissa came running behind them.

  “Brooklyn, why didn’t you pick me up this morning as you said yesterday? I almost missed the subway.”

  She spotted Gregory and immediately putting out her tentacles, “Oh, you're probably Leyla’s cousin. You look kind of hot with your nose, just like a boxing champ,” she giggled.

  Leyla’s angry voice hit her from behind.

  “Damn it, he is my step cousin.”

  She turned to Brooklyn, “I thought you said that she was sick? Maybe in her brain, but otherwise she looks quite normal and she is not home either. What the hell were you doing with scary Mr. ‘I-growl-at-the-whole-world?’

  Brooklyn looked at her obviously feeling miserable.

  “I wanted to find out where he lives and as I had a look around, he caught me practically right in front of his door. So I had to come up with some kind of excuse, explaining my being in the neighborhood. I only promised Melissa to pick her up because of him.”

  Leyla sighed.

  “Brooklyn forget the guy, he is out of your league!”

  She looked at Gregory and Melissa walking in front of them and she was seriously pissed. Melissa had locked arms with Gregory and tripped next to him in her high heels. She threw back her hair like a Bronco and seemed to whisper the story of her life in his ear. She was dumb as a bucket of shrimp!

  At each step, her short skirt seemed to slip higher up. Probably, she could not keep up with the great strides of his long legs in her outfit.

  Leyla had almost forgotten Brooklyn who was brooding beside her. She was offended.

  “What do you mean? Why is he is out of my league, what is that supposed to mean?”

  "What I meant is that he is too much trouble. He will ignore you as soon as he is with his guys. Don’t forget that he is Jason's buddy! Haven t you told me something about a love bite in connection with Jason? That’s the law of the jungle, I thought you knew that.”

  Brooklyn did not want to hear anything about it.

  “I don’t care about Jason. He came on to me, and I had some troubles shaking him off. Aiden is different, he is nice and interesting to talk to and I find him very attractive.”

  “That may be true when he is alone, but he surely does not want to get into trouble with Jason over you and that’s why he will ignore you, you will see,” Leyla said.

  In fact, that was exactly what happened. Aiden did not waste one single look in Brooklyn’s direction, as he was lurking in front of school together with Jason and a few other guys. He looked fierce as ever and seemed to listen to something Jason was saying with a malicious grin on his face. Brooklyn looked sad.

  “How do you actually know all those things about him?”

  Leyla shrugged, “Let’s call it premonition.”

  Gregory had already disappeared into the school building together with Melissa without turning back looking for her. Melissa! First, she hit on her dad and now she tried to make out with Gregory. That silly excuse of a girl was really looking for trouble and deserved a pasting. No doubt about that.

  Jason, Greyson and oth
er accidents

  Today Brooklyn was to select along with Melissa a new girl for the cheerleading squad. There was a casting for all interested girls and Leyla didn’t have the slightest wish to be there; that was the reason she had left immediately after school. Anne Sophie, one of the cheerleaders, had broken her leg, falling off a wall backwards, while she was making out with some guy at a party.

  That was so typical, as most of the cheerleaders were dumb nuts, except Brooklyn of course. Well, she was the boss and was in charge of the whole bunch of dumb nuts. She apparently knew how to deal with them, Leyla smirked. Brooklyn had actually tried to convince her to become a cheerleader herself, but this would never happen, not over her dead body. She was more the martial arts type of girl and not at all talented when it came to dancing and doing any smooth moves. Maybe singing would have been an option, but then again, only in the shower. She had given Brooklyn a hint to ask that loner girl from Gregory’s class. She really looked gorgeous and her moves were smooth like a cat. In some ways, she reminded her of Aiden. She had the same inaccessible expression and was usually slightly absent, as if she was somewhere else. Unfortunately, there had been no chance to talk to her, as she had suddenly disappeared. Brooklyn, there was no doubt about that, was a very busy girl. The whole Cheerleader training, the choreographies, and then she was also in the organizing committee for the Summer Festival. Leyla sometimes wondered how she did it, how could anyone have that much energy? Leyla felt dizzy only by watching her busy friend. Leyla grinned to herself, when Jason suddenly appeared in front of her. He blocked her path and looked at her with his cold watery blue eyes.

  "If you want to pass, you will have to pay toll, tiny.”

  He pointed to his cheek with his finger. She frowned, did he want her to kiss him? Leyla had always felt uncomfortable around Jason and her good mood was gone in a flash. Despite the bad feeling, she tried to be quick-witted.

  “What do you want from me? Are you supposing that I jump in your face?”

  “It depends. Would you be doing it naked? He bawled and looked her up from top to bottom.

  “But then again, if I take a closer look at you, nope not interested. You're still a kid tiny, and your boobs are way too small.”

  He seemed to enjoy the situation and felt probably like a big shot.

  “Where's your girlfriend? Boy, this one is really hot!”

  He made a few inappropriate movements with his pelvis. Leyla backed off.

  “She is at cheerleader training. There is a casting; you might want to show her your dance moves, who knows? Maybe you are just what they are looking for.”

  She stood her ground and returned his gaze, even if she felt cold sweat running down her spine. He roughly grabbed her with one arm and because she was much smaller than he was, she was stuck beneath his arm.

  “Don’t be so cheeky, tiny. Tell your girlfriend that she should better stop teasing me, tiny. The bitch has stood me up yesterday. I told her, that I was going to wait for her after school. Nobody does that to Jason without being punished.”

  His breath smelled like beer.

  Leyla struggled against him and could finally free herself.

  Out of breath, she yelled at him, “What exactly do you want me to do about it? Do you want me to push her in your direction or what? As far as I know she's not a sheep and she can speak quite well for herself.”

  Jason pushed her so hard, that she crashed into the opposite wall with her shoulder.

  “How dare you talk that way to the master, you tiny little bitch? I will show you what I do with little girls that have a big mouth like you do!”

  He slowly came over to her.

  Her shoulder was hurting like hell, but she would certainly not show any reaction in front of this violent moron. She remained there standing on the wall looking furiously at him. All of her muscles were tense, as if she was a predator just before the attack.

  Just at that moment Aiden came strolling around the corner.

  “What’s the matter? Jason is there a problem?”

  His voice had the usual slight sullen tinge.

  Jason answered reluctantly.

  ”I am busy teaching this little sassy bitch some manners, so don’t interrupt, she really needs a lesson.”

  Aiden gave Jason a comforting slap on his back, “Let the little girl go, she is just a kid, who has no clue.”

  He winked at her barely noticeable and moved his head slightly in her direction, which probably meant that she should get away as soon as possible. Still, Leyla felt petrified and did not dare to budge. Jason turned to his buddy saying whiningly, “But I told her slut girlfriend that I wanted to see her last night, but the bitch stood me up.”

  He staggered slightly.

  “Come on Jason, forget her and let’s go. You shouldn't be drinking at school. When Mrs. Perry finds out that you’re drunk, you’ll get in trouble again with your dad.”

  He dragged Jason down the corridor and gave Leyla a nod.

  “So you think that drunk old bastard will beat me up again? If he does, I'm going to kill him, I swear to God.”

  He clenched his fists. Aiden was doing his best to calm him down and the two of them disappeared down the hallway. Leyla remained behind still leaning on the wall. It was really a good thing that Aiden was on her side. Things were often not as they seemed. Even Jason appeared to be a poor bastard in some ways, who was afraid of his drunken father. Who would have imagined?

  She had the feeling that she could trust Aiden. Another one of her premonitions, but she was sure about it, and she decided to help Brooklyn to get him if that was what she truly wanted; perhaps, they had a connection. They were completely different, but still. As she raised her head, she looked straight into Greyson’s gentle green eyes.

  "Are you ok?” he asked worried.

  “What did Jason want from you? I was too far away and came as fast as I could. Did he hurt you?”

  Leyla rolled the aching shoulder.

  "No problem, I can defend myself against creeps like Jason, but thanks anyway for wanting to help me.”

  She had to throw her head back to look at him. He was pretty damn tall. Well, maybe she was just extremely small with her 5.2 feet. She had always been small and skinny, and today two different people had called her tiny, which bothered her and made her feel really small. She had to buy some high heels. If these stupid shoes only weren’t as uncomfortable, she thought.

  Greyson cleared his throat and fiddled back and forth with his skateboard, which he carried with him. He seemed to be nervous about something.

  "Leyla, I wanted to ask you something.”

  She had no idea what he wanted to ask her. He looked at her and said.

  “I wanted to ask you whether you're going with me to the summer festival."

  Leyla was caught off guard. She hadn’t been thinking at all about this stupid festival and had absolutely no yearning to go there. She just wasn’t the type of girl for such dance events.

  Yet, as he stood there giving her that expectant hopeful look, she just couldn’t tell him no. He was so handsome and he was damn charming, not to forget nice and reliable. He was such a nice guy and could have probably had at least ten girlfriends on each finger. Still, the thing was, he had chosen her to go to that stupid festival.

  Well, he was not Gregory, but with Gregory, things were complicated for now. Maybe she needed someone like Greyson, someone solid as a rock. A bad voice in the back of her mind said that everything was too easy with Greyson and that there was no excitement at all. She ignored that voice and smiled at Greyson telling him that she would love to go with him to the festival. He seemed really happy about it, hugged her and kissed her on the cheek.

  Natalie's attitude towards chocolate cakes

  Gregory left the classroom together with Natalie and Mila. They asked him if his nose still hurt a lot. However, he couldn’t get rid of the feeling that Natalie was not the slightest bit interested in his nose because she told him embarra
ssing things about Mrs. Perry he definitely did not want to know about. Mila tagged along not saying anything. Gregory’s thoughts drifted and he blended out Natalie’s voice when suddenly she nudged his elbow and pointed with her head to the opposite lockers. He turned his head and saw that Greyson hugged Leyla and then bent down and kissed her.

  Natalie snorted, “Seems that your cousin grabbed Greyson. What a waste. He is so hot and I have cast an eye on him for some time now.”

  Gregory’s expression had darkened at the sight of Leyla and Greyson and suddenly it was his heart that hurt him more than his nose. Mila followed his gaze without him noticing. She put her arm around Natalie's shoulder.

  “Better be careful on whom you are casting an eye my dear. Did you already forget what happened with Jason? You have a tendency to attract crazy guys.”

  Natalie grinned and linked arms with Gregory and Mila.

  “But Greyson is not crazy at all and he is also incredibly hot. He is a handsome devil and yet such a nice guy and so charming!”

  Mila indicated a yawn saying, “My God, that sounds like a douche bag to me. Incredibly boring. Does he sell Bibles in his spare time?”

  She earned an approving look from Gregory. Natalie snorted, “Mila shut up, you don't know him like I do. Anyway, my chances are below zero for now. Look at the way he is looking at that little piece of shit, as if she were a chocolate cake or something. She has already snatched him from under my nose.” Gregory’s mind was somewhere else and he heard them talk from far away. What the hell had he expected from Leyla? She didn’t owe him anything, and yet he was sure that there was something between them. It could not be denied, there was a strong connection. Mila looked at him thoughtfully, and Natalie talked constantly. She had still no date for the summer festival and this seemed to be her biggest problem for now. Gregory didn’t feel like having a conversation anymore and wanted to move on and meet Aiden to figure out how to solve his problems with the elements. That would distract him for a while and put the image of Leyla and Greyson kissing out of his mind. There was no denying this time, he actually was jealous. He had to admit it to himself. Whether or not he liked it and he had driven her into the arms of the best-looking basketball player with his stupid behavior. Exceedingly well done, he thought with a certain irony. It made him feel pretty dumb and uncomfortable and he couldn’t get rid of his feelings. He wanted Greyson to disappear from the picture but he also knew that it was not his fault at all.