Absolutely, Positively, 100% Normal

Chapter Nine

Gray came for me later that night, an hour after my father and I had returned home together from visiting my mom at the hospital. He appeared on my deck the way he always did: suddenly and with no warning whatsoever. It was just after twilight, and he had appeared the second I had stepped outside after washing dishes to look at the stars.

"Real smooth, Raina", he drawled as he melted out of the shadows. "At least you teleported successfully. Not bad, for you." He smirked.

"I'm sorry I ran", I replied honestly. I didn't like the fact that he had witnessed that brief moment of vulnerability. 

"You'll get it right next time."

"There won't be a next time." Gray leaned back against the deck's railing, aiming a serious look my way. 

"You can't avoid it."

"I don't have to reap. My self written contract had a loophole. It's not my fault your boss approved it without noticing."

"You may have found a loophole, but you're better off reaping, Raina. You don't want to catch the attention of my superiors any more than you already have." I felt like there was a deeper warning buried in those words, but dismissed the feeling.

"I can't. I'm sorry. I don't think I can handle working so closely with death."

"Do it for me, Raina", Gray said, batting his lashes and putting his hands together as if in prayer, all traces of seriousness gone. "Pretty please?" I scowled in annoyance. 

"I'm not joking right now, Gray."

"If they find out that you're not reaping they might terminate our partnership", he pointed out.

"So?" 

"I don't want to lose what we have, Raina. You mean the world to me!" He laid a palm over his chest dramatically. 

"You're such a douche, you know that?"

"I can be nice. When I want to, at least." Gray looked up at the night sky above us. "I'm going to find a way to get you to reap, Raina."

****

A week had passed since the day of my failed reaping. I had been persuaded by Shay and my mother's continued recovery to resume attending classes. Things were kind of back to their usual pace, and I felt normal again. Well, sort of normal, anyway.

I still looked out for the familiar black-clad figure of one Gray Immens. He had said he would find a way to get me to reap, and I, for some reason, did not doubt that he would do what it took to keep his word. No doubt he would appear again any second now. I scowled at that thought.

"Is something wrong, Carlisle?" a masculine voice intoned dryly, interrupting my thoughts. I blinked up at my Math professor.

"Pardon me, sir?"

"You've been giving your textbook a really mean look for a while now, and mumbling. Are you having trouble with the exercise?" I looked down at the complex questions before me and nodded. Okay, so technically, I was lying about having trouble - as I hadn't even started yet - but one look told me I would have trouble when I did start, so why lose this opportunity to gain some help?

"I don't understand what to do." 

Ten minutes and several math questions later, I left class with a sigh of relief. I was truly happy that we'd been let out of class thirty minutes early. Shay would be waiting for me at the monument in front of the Business school's building. He usually did, and we would go to the coffee shop on campus from there for breakfast or a snack and kill time until our next class, which we had together. This was our usual routine on Wednesdays.