Chapter 21 I Receive My First Compliment

I waited outside the door to the head's office once more while my friends requested a meeting with her but to our surprise... that wasn't going to be happening.

Jack came out quickly with a pale face while Kyle was once again fuming filled to the brim with anger.

"Mavis... what happened?"

She forced a smile and sighed, "Our head... she's frozen."

My eyes widened, "What?" I shook my head, "No we have to tell someone. Who are we supposed to turn to now? What do we-" Mavis placed her hands on my shoulders and forced me to look at her and breathe.

"It's simple. We hold an election."

"Are you kidding? That's going to waste time are you telling me no one is next in line-"

Jasmine snickered, "This is a democracy. Just like how Jack lost fair and square when he was fourteen."

Jack rolled his eyes and sat down on a bench, visibly defeated.

"I can't believe she was conveniently the next person to freeze up," Jasmine laughed humorlessly, "God it's funny how life works. She wouldn't be much help anyway."

Mavis nodded, "Yes. But you know who should run?" She nudged Jack's shoulder and he flinched away from her, making me frown.

"No one cares more about obtaining his own sister's philosophies than Jack does. All he's done is shown how much he cares about this place," she sported a toothy grin. "I can't think of a more worthy candidate."

He snickered, "Yeah like that went so well last time." He shook his head, "Absolutely not Im not putting myself through that again. I'm too easy a target."

I sat down next to him and leaned my head down to meet his eyes, "Jack, you saved me more times than I can count, you got me out and brought me here, and all throughout my time being here you've taken the lead and protected me." I gave him a smile, "You'd be perfect. You're a natural."

He stood up, "I am not a natural. My sister was a leader and I'm the follower that got her killed can you all shut the hell up about this?"

I flinched and looked away, hearing loud footsteps stomp further away.

"He's still on that?" Jasmine asked.

Mavis rolled her eyes and elbowed her, "Jas, Eveline was the last of his family. He was a kid involved in something messed up how could he not blame himself?"

I stood up and watched Jack slowly fade away as he made his way down the hall back to our shared room. I wanted to go and comfort him but I knew nothing of Jack's past and he was very specific when he said he didn't want to talk about it.

"Did he... actually?" I said nervously.

Mavis shook her head, "Jack used to adore being an Insurgent and when he found out Eveline didn't, not even that was started an entire rebellion, they didn't speak for weeks until they executed her in front of the whole base."

My jaw dropped and I audibly cried out, "What the heck..." I shook my head, "I should go after him."

"Ayla you are not going to get through to him trying to comfort him about his mistakes or all the loss and sadness that follows him around. It's a thick wall no one can get through. If he wanted to talk about it then he would but you can't force him to." Mavis grabbed my arm before I could run off and pulled me back toward her.

Mavis would make a good candidate too.

"I'm going to go sound the alarm so the base knows another person has been frozen. After that I'll make an announcement over the PA. Go to your rooms and stay there but Ayla, do not push him. He's strong enough to get through the day but he can't handle it."

I slowly nodded and took a couple steps backwards before I turned and ran toward my room.

Jack is my friend and my guardian and I've brown to like him very much. He doesn't have to tell me anything he doesn't want to but I want him to know that he can turn to me.

-

I opened the door and shut it quietly behind me, Jack was writing in one of his multiple notebooks and only glanced up at me before looking down again.

"You know I've always wondered about that chain you always have around your neck."

I heard him audible sigh and pull it out of his shirt to reveal two rings around it.

My eyes widened, "You were married?"

He looked up at me again and snickered, the first time I think I've ever heard him remotely laugh. "Come on seriously?"

I blinked and shrugged, "I've seen in a lot of movies and TV shows that people who lost their spouse keep their wedding rings on a chain."

He shook his head, "No, when you pick your power at the base, you get a ring with the crest of your power on it. The other one is Eveline's."

"That makes a lot more sense."

I approached his bed and laid my hands on it, "May I?"

"Didn't we share a bed last night?"

I felt heat pour through my face and I retracted my hands, "Sorry... nevermind."

He sighed and shut his notebook, "That wasn't meant to hurt your feelings I was trying to say you don't have to ask me that."

"Oh," I nodded and slowly sat down.

"And you certainly don't need to be so gentle. I'm not going to break just because I'm not in a good mood."

I shrugged, "I don't like when people are upset."

"I've noticed that." He opened his notebook again, "I'm not going to lash out at you either if that's what you're thinking." His hand graced over the page, flipping it over to the next. "Whenever they bring up old stuff like that I put it in this."

"Jack I want you to know that I care about you... a lot."

He froze. His cheeks flared up but he didn't look at me. Partially, I was grateful he didn't.

"And I consider you to be my best friend. I'd tell you anything that was bothering me and I told you about things that happened at my house..."

"So therefore I should tell you all my deep dark secrets in return?" He huffed and shook his head. "No."

"But why not is what I want to know-"

"Because it sucks, Ayla," He looked at me with his eyebrows upturned creating a crease in his forehead, his lips parted and trembling. "Because everyday I hurt and no one else seems to understand that. I've tried to tell people and I have but they just expect for me to move on like she wasn't my own family."

He closed his eyes and turned away from me, "They all talk about how extraordinary she was and I'm just the brother that-" He cut himself off abruptly. "Whatever. They considered her family but they didn't mourn the way I do everyday."

I slowly nodded, "Of course. It makes sense that it would hurt you more. You knew her before she was extraordinary."

"To me, my big sister was always extraordinary. She always had good grades and thought fast on her feet and literally beat up my own bullies."

I giggled and smiled, "She sounds great."

"You would've liked her and she would've liked you too. She read people really well too which would have saved me from wasting time inside the Insurgence when I could have been spending it with my sister before they..."

"I know," I whispered.

"I... usually don't talk about this with anyone."

"Well I appreciate what you did feel comfortable telling me, and you know I'm always here for you."

He turned around to face me with a confused look on his face. "How do you do it?"

I felt my eyebrows raise and I glanced around unsure of what he was talking about.

"You stay so good, so nice, despite all of this." He shook his head gently, his eyes not leaving mine, "How?"

I shrugged, "I don't really know what you're talking about to be honest-"

"You quickly adjusted here, you quickly trusted us, you and I we-" He bit his lip. "We became friends even when I at first hesitated and thought it would be best to keep this professional but you're just so genuine. You make everyone you talk to happy- you literally brought Kyle back down to earth last night when he was enraged."

I smiled and felt a tingle on my skin. No one has ever given me a compliment like that before and in general I can't remember the last time someone complimented me.

"Well, I'd like to say I was always nice but after when I got kidnapped and all these adults wouldn't listen to me and told me I was a monster... All the whispers I heard at school or in the guidance counselor's office, anywhere really, all I heard were all these fake things about me and I had no idea what to do about it. I heard the same things at home. I was the only one who knew the truth and no one would listen and I started to lose my energy and lashed out a couple times." I shrugged. "It felt like I was losing my mind."

Jack frowned but nodded, "I guess I should be happy that I got to miss out on high school."

I laughed and shook my head, "We would've been friends if things were different, at school."

He squinted at me, "I don't know about that," He laughed nervously.

"You don't think so?"

"Well come on I feel like it's obvious. You would be wealthy while my family was unstable, you would definitely be popular while I'd sit alone at lunch. Maybe we'd have a class or two and you'd talk to me if you had to but there's no way you and me would be friends."

I slowly nodded and looked away to the comforter, "Well then."

"And Ayla you're..."

I glanced up, "I'm what?"

He gave me a smug look, "Well... you know..."

I raised an eyebrow and straightened my head up, "What?" I giggled as Jack groaned.

"Ayla Gordon you're... gorgeous."

My eyes widened and I felt my breath stagger, "Oh..."

"And I'm not saying that just to say it or whatever, I'm saying it because it's the truth. You're a gorgeous person, inside and out."

He seemed very nonchalant about which made me question how much he meant it or how he meant it but I thanked him anyways.

"I thought that way back in elementary school and I thought that was when I found you in that bathroom." He grinned. "You remind me what it's like to be human. Like you're the last connection I have to the outside world."

I pinched my eyebrows together, "But you are human?"

He sadly shook his head with pursed lips. "No, I may look human but I'm altered in a way that I could never backtrack from."

"Just because some guy made your eyes silver and suddenly you can read minds does not mean that you are no longer a human being." I paused and took a deep breath. "He hurt you in ways that I can't even imagine and he may have made you think that you no longer fit that title but you are human, Jack. No one can take that away from you."

He stared at me with wide eyes and the most human silver eyes I've ever seen. And I watched as they flicked down to my lips.

My stomach ached and my mind was all over the place. Did Jack want to kiss me right now? There's no way right?

He sat up and wrapped his arms around me, "Thank you."

I exhaled, "You're welcome."

"I think you should try and run for head of the base," I whispered into his black hair.

He sighed, "Maybe. At least I know I'd do better than the previous but I don't know, everyone will easily make fun of me if I don't pull it off."

"People who really are here for the rebel cause would easily follow you. You want to get things done, remind them of what you guys can do."