Friends

My jaw hits the floor. Wait, what? That is not at all what I was expecting to hear when he sat across from me. Caught off guard, I blink several times and wait for a punchline. When it doesn't come, I can only stammer out a response.

"I don't think that's going to be possible, I have a lot going on in my life to make room for friends, thanks but no thanks." I'm not lying about having a lot on my plate but I'm also not letting fate play it's little games.

"I'm not saying marry me," he says jokingly and that makes my stomach do some weird flip, "I'm just saying let's be friends or I can be your friend and you don't have to be mine. What's wrong with that?" Nothing, but the fact you and I end up together. I go silent for a while trying to come up with another excuse for why we can't be friends. He seems like a nice guy and I'm sure he's made tons of friends most of them are probably females, so why would he want to be friends with me.

"But why do you want to be friends with me?" I ask skeptically.

"Aside form getting to know you?" I raise my eyebrow "Call it curiosity. Isn't that how friendships are formed, you find someone who piques your interests and you become friends with them." I may not have the skills to detect lies like a vampire but I can tell he means what he says.

I sit back in my seat to allow what he says to sink in. I hear Rodney's words echo in my head and can't help inwardly chuckle. I can see there's hopefulness in his eyes that makes me feel a little bit guilty about turning him down, and like he said, he isn't asking me to marry him its just to be friends. When I don't respond, Chaviv leans forward and says "You don't have to give me an answer right away, you can take your time and when you've got your answer you can tell me, deal?"

I mull this over for a second before responding "Okay, deal."

His smile reaches his eyes as they light. "Great, I'll see you around than."

With that he leaves with the books he brought and I'm left alone to wonder what did I just agree to. Apart of me thinks that maybe he does want to be friends and this is his way of making friends while the other is thinking this is one of fates plans to get us together.

And if it is, I'm about to prove it wrong. Chaviv and I are friends and it ends there.

I grab the books to return them and head back to my room. I notice the brown bag and smell the greasy burger inside it, my stomach than growls and I realised that I didn't eat. So I sit down on my bed and prop my laptop open to watch a movie while I eat. I'll have to look for more answers tomorrow but for now I'm going to relax.

===

"Agh!" I groan hitting the mat harder than I've ever thought possible. Suddenly weight slams down on my stomach, a weight of a 6'5" muscular, and a very heavy shifter, expelling another pained groan from my lungs. I knew learning to fight against a smart shifter was going to be a pain but I had no idea it was going to be this painful.

"Dead," the instructor informs me that I've lost. Again. My jaw clenches tightly as I hold back from snapping.

"Up," he commands "One more time." I let out a frustrated breath. He said that the last time, and the time before that and the time before that, the first time he told me that was thirty minutes ago.

I push myself up, my shoulders slumped and I'm too tired to give a proper glare. I know I'm not the only one who's received an asskicking from him but it doesn't make it less fustrating.

"Now, attack me," he demands.

I focus on my frustration. Every hit rolls through my mind and I pull from that to renew my strength and charge at him but find myself hitting the mat once again with a hand on my throat.

I decided to take up the self defense classes held every weekend, and since I don't go to work Fridays to Monday this was a great opportunity for me to up my surprise factor, and fighting against shifters is just the factor I needed.

But, if I knew I was signing myself up for a weekend asskicking, I'd have passed up the chance. This is starting to feel less like training and more like being tossed around like a ragdoll.

"This isn't working," The instructor says contemplatively while he has me pinned down "You coming at me like I'm human, but I am a Shifter. I'm far more stronger and bigger than they are."

"You've said that already." I try to push him off me but he doesn't budge "And you keep repeating the same mistakes, I thought mystical hybrids were stronger," he says as if disappointed by the lack of discovery. I'm the only hybrid who signed up for the class and the only reason he even agreed to train me was to gain some knowledge to fight hybrids. It was a fifty-fifty deal.

The shifters sat around the mat and every time I slammed onto the mat a few of them would let out a cheer some stayed silent and just watched me get my ass kicked. Mr. Orwell, the instructor, is an Alpha in his pack and would take weekend offs to teach self defense and he's a skilled fighter, there are only four who've managed to pin him down while the rest got their asses handed to them. And those cheering, are the asses.

I'm not sure on the policy of using our powers but I've had enough, "Fine, you asked for it." His face lights up green as my eyes shift to green and vines shoot out from the ground and make a beeline for Mr. Orwell, he moves out the way with shifter speed before they could grab him which wasn't my plan, I just needed to get him off of me.

I use the vines as a distraction attacking him from every angle. Keeping a safe distance between us, I pull my glamour up to hide myself and than focus on pushing the illusion so he's seeing multiple me's coming at me from all directions to create disorientation.

I've never used both elemental and fae powers before and I'm not sure how long I'll be able to hold up, so I needed to make this count.

With the element of surprise on my side. I take off in a sprint and leap into the air, balling my hand into a fist and using the vines as the extra strength. Just before I land a hit I drop the illusion and glamour, and when he turns to see me its already too late. My fist connects and with the extra vine strength, it sends him flying backwards into the ground, when he doesn't get up immediately I couldn't help feel elated that my plan worked.

A few shifters ran to him to check if he's alright while some remained seated and stunned that a 5'3" hybrid took down Mr. Orwell, who is very much conscious just slightly disoriented but that didn't matter cause I finally landed a hit.

I do a little victory dance despite my aching body protesting against this but I was too happy. My celebration is cut short when my vision goes blurry and the world around me is spinning and I find myself facing the sky before blacking out.

When I come around, I am staring at a white ceiling and blue curtains around me. I feel too exhausted to even get up, using both powers took a lot out of me, and how long was I asleep for?

The curtains fly open and I immediately cover my eyes to protect them from the glaring light "Oh good, you're awake," the nurse walks in and passes me a bottle, I look at it skeptically "It will give you your strength back," she explains and pushes the bottle closer to me.

Still hesitant, I prompt myself up, take it and gulp the contents down. The bitter taste makes me gag and I give her back the empty bottle, "Not a very pleasant taste but it works, here," she gives me a sweet, "Should help with the bitter taste."

I thank her as I take the sweet and pop it into my mouth, the taste of peppermint coats my tongue, washing away the bitter taste, "What happened?" I ask, feeling my strength slowly returning.

"You passed out from over exhaustion," she explains, fully opening the curtains "I must admit, I'm impressed." I nearly jump out of my skin when I see Mr. Orwell sitting on the infirmary bed next to me with an ice pack on his left cheek and I'm immediately filled with guilt, and I sputter out apologies, "Mr. Orwell, I am so sorry, I allowed my anger to get the best of me. I'm really really really sorry."

Mr. Orwell raises his hand and I clamp my mouth shut, "No need to apologize, I knew what I was doing pushing you. I needed to see what you are capable of and you proved that. I hope to see you more in my classes," he says giving me a small smile before getting up and walking out the room.

I laid back on my bed and close my eyes as relieve and joy washes over me. Rodney is going to flip when he hears what happened. My thoughts were brought back when I hear a soft knock on the door.

I open my eyes to see Chaviv standing by the door and my eyes almost pop out, "Chaviv, what are you doing here?" I sound a little surprised, which I am. "I saw you being carried here, so I figured I should come by and check up on you," he says, walking towards my bed and sits on the seat near my it.

"You know you didn't have to," I tell him remembering that I still hadn't given my answer which means he doesn't have a reason to be here "I know, I was really worried and when they said you were still passed out I figured I'd come back later and bring you lunch," he says and pulls out a brown bag with grease stains from behind his back.

"It's that late?!" I exclaim and look out the window to see the sun was high up which meant it was noon, I was out for six hours.

I almost forget about the food when my stomach growls informing me of how hungry I am. A blush coats my cheeks and I give a sheepish smile before taking the food, "Thank you."

Chaviv nods and opens his own brown greased bag. I open the bag and I could already feel my mouth salivating, I took out the wrapped burger and I was shocked to see it was a burger supreme from Mr. Big "How did you know I like the burger supreme from Mr. Big?"

"I didn't, I originally got one for myself but felt that you might like it just as much as I do," he explains and takes a bite out of his own burger.

I look back at the burger and feel my lips slowly carve up into a smile. We sit there in silence as we eat our burger supreme, enjoying the sounds of birds chirping outside. I kept expecting him to ask about the deal we had and when he didn't I relaxed a little, figuring that he was serious about waiting for my answer.

By the time I was done, I was full and my strength at a 100%. As bitter as that potion is, it certainly does work. Chaviv left right after, saying he was going to the library, I think he wanted me to join him when I leave the infirmary. I'm still tired from this morning's training and plus I probably stink of sweat.

This realisation hits me and I cover my face, if it wasn't for the strong smell of greasy burger, I'm sure he'd have smelled how sweaty I was.

I thanked the nurse again and head back to my room to take a shower.

I slip out of my gym clothes and notice the purplish bruise on my sides and gut from where Mr. Orwell had landed his blows, luckily my face was sparred with just a minor cut on my cheek and a busted lip which by now had healed.

I got into the shower and quickly washed myself. After my shower, I got into my comfortable clothes and reached for my phone, texting Rodney a long essay of my day including what happened yesterday. I put my phone down and took out my notebook were I had scribbled down some notes on what I know about Seers.

I spent majority of those two hours staring at the text books and getting nothing. I close the book and lean back, staring up at ceiling before deciding to head to the library, there could be something I'm missing.

I grab my things and make my way to the library. It hits me that Chaviv will be at the library and I almost turn on my heels to head back to my room but the will to find answers continues to lead me to the library.

I head for the computers at the back of the library while scanning for any sign of Chaviv and figure he either left or is sitting at the secluded spot.

I set my things down and get to researching and hit a dead end. Seriously, how is it possible to find the same information over again. Its like they want to keep their location and training a secret, and the only way to get that is if I let them know I'm a seer which I what I'm trying to avoid.

"You look like you're about ready to throw the computer out the window." Chaviv appears almost out of nowhere and I almost jump out my skin, "Jesus, don't scare me like that."

"Sorry, didn't mean to startle you," he says apologetically, "It's fine, I was distracted anyway," I tell him and lean back in my seat as I rub my eyes.

"Personal project giving you a tough time?" he asks, pulling out a chair for him to sit.

"Yeah, I just keep hitting dead ends and I'm almost at my limit."

"If I didn't know any better I'd think we were searching for the same thing," he jokes and I find myself chuckling, "Highly doubt it."

Chaviv shifted in his seat, looking around to make sure there wasn't anyone with sensitive hearing nearby before leaning in and whispered "What would you say if I knew how to solve both of our problems?"

I lean in as well, "How?" I ask, skeptically.

"I heard that there's a secret library that keeps all kinds of records, dating as far back to the 1800s. Maybe you can find whatever it is you're looking for there."

A secret library. Why does that sound like something out of a novel? It raises suspicion as to why would they have a secret library, what could be so bad that a secret library is needed? Red flags were going off in my mind, warning me to not get involve but I ignore the warning. I needed answers as to why I'm having visions now.

"Do you know where it is?" I ask him and he nods "Somewhere in the principals office." The moment he said that, I knew there was no way I'd get a book on the Fae's history. I might as well forget about it.

"I think whoever was your informant was just pulling your leg," I tell him but he shakes his head and looks me dead in the eyes "I'm serious, I know this sounds crazy but there is a secret compartment in her office."

I search his eyes and could see he strongly believed the story, and I couldn't help wanting to believe it to.

"Okay, say that this library does exists. How exactly did you plan on getting into the principals office?"

Momentarily he looks stunned, like he hadn't figured out the plan than I see a light bulb go off in his mind. He looks at me with that mischievous grin I've seen on Rodney and I immediately shake my head.

"No, I know that look and I'm not apart of whatever bright idea you just had."

"Okay, just hear me out just for a moment," he pleads, I want to say no but I also want to find answers. I sigh and allow him to continue and his eyes light up.

"Okay, I was thinking that you and I sneak in to the office, we'll be invisible that way we won't worry about getting caught but-"

"But?" I narrow my eyes.

"But that window of opportunity has a time limit, tonight," he says and my eyes open wide.

"Tonight?!" Chaviv quickly shushes me when my voice goes higher than normal, catching a few peoples attention who glare at me, I give them an apologetic smile and then turn my attention to Chaviv "Tonight?" I hiss out.

Something like this has to be planned weeks ahead of time, know the persons schedule, synchronise watches and have a look out in case the said person returns. I couldn't help but feel like I was being taken for a ride.

"Is this why you wanted to be my friend, cause you needed someone to help you break in to Mrs. Marigolds office?"

"No, I promise you. Me wanting to be friends with you has nothing to do with this. Originally, I was going to go in on my own but than I noticed that you seemed stuck with your personal project so I figured I share and we both get something out of it." I continue to narrow my eyes at him, scanning him to see if he was lying but I could tell he wasn't. Why was he being honest with me, there had to be some angle but I can't figure out what it might be.

"Why? What's in it for you?" I asks skeptically.

He goes quiet for a second and responds "Like I said before, aside getting to be your friend, I get to get answers to questions I've been asking myself and probably a proper nights sleep," he says the last part half jokingly and for the first time I actually notice the little bit of dark marks under his eyes.

I lean back into my seat to think this over. So far his been completely honest with me and we have the same goal, to find answers. To what? Neither of us will tell the other or questions what it is cause we don't want to let anyone know. Although, I'm curious as to what keeps him up at night but I won't ask him.

"Okay."

"Okay?"

"Okay-" I repeat and his eyes light up and I quickly added before he got ahead of himself "-but at the first sign of trouble we get out of there, deal?"

"I promise," he says excitedly and I can't help smile at how happy he looks "So, at what time is this all taking place?" I ask him, "Midnight, she won't be in her office and we have until five in the morning to get out before she comes back," he tells me and reaches into his pocket, pulling out a pen than looks around for something to write on.

I open my notebook to a clean page and slide it towards him, he thanks me and writes two numbers down before sliding it back to me, "The first one is my room number and the second one is my phone number," he explains.

"Aren't phone numbers for friends?" I question him, "Who said I can't give my number to someone I know," he says nonchalantly.

I want to argue back but feel like that's a fight I wasn't going to win so I just take the notebook, and bend the corner to bookmark it and close it.

"I must ask though, how do you know all of this?"

"Informant," he says vaguely.

"And do you trust this informant of yours?"

He answers without hesitation, "Yes."

"Okay, than I'll see you tonight." I collect my things and get up to leave, "See you later," he says as I walk away.