Hers (#1)

18| a freudian slip

because i'm feeling generous

I walk lazily towards Central C, in good spirits. The sun's out and I'm more relaxed than I've ever been.

"Get him Riccione!" I hear.

I turn to see two boys locked in a violent scuffle with the bigger boy clearly winning. There is a group of 3 boys surround them, cheering the older boy on. The smaller boy seems to be trying his best; but with a bloody nose he doesn't look like he's going to overpower anytime soon. Rushing over, I grab the collar of bigger boy and drag him back. "Hey! Enough! What's going on?" I questioned, looking into the enraged hazel eyes of the larger boy. His pupils suddenly grow larger and he shrinks back in fright. "Jaci," he whispers, and the four boys take off, sprinting down the forest fields.

"His wolf recognizes you," A croak from the ground calls, and I look down to meet the eyes of the smaller boy. "As Jaci, I mean. And thanks for helping me."

"No problem," I reply, accepting his apology. I help him up and hand him a handkerchief from my back pocket. "Here. Do you want me to escort you home?"

"Yeah," he says meekly. "It might stop my sister from losing her shit."

My eyes widen at the swear word. "Aren't you like 12?"

"I'm 13 actually, but what's it to you?"

"That kind of language at 13?"

He makes a face at me. "My sister lets me say it all the time," he taunts, handing me back the bloody handkerchief. "No thanks. And just because your sister thinks it's okay, doesn't make it okay."

"Whatever. Are we gonna go or not?"

I don't argue and we walk down the path, the sound of hummingbirds echoing across the forest plain. "You never asked me where I lived," he questions, breaking the silence.

"I figured you'd know your own house, since you are capable of walking." I retort back, tilting my head towards him. "So, tell me about this sister of yours."

"Jen's cool," he starts, the name causing me to freeze. This is that Alex kid mentioned yesterday, I thought. He apparently doesn't win fights a lot. "She gets angry a lot though. Dad was one of the people who died in a Kraken attack so it's just been her and me. She's really young and she had to get a job out in the human world to pay for my treatments." Treatments? I look closely at him and notice a long, gruesome scar that stretched from his ear lobe down to the base of his neck. "You're a Hazard." I state.

He nods and continues. "Yup. It's really hard for her to deal with me sometimes so she gets kind of frustrated. I'm probably gonna frustrate her some more after getting into another fight."

Struck with a sudden bolt of sympathy, I ask, "Do you want me to lie for you? I can say you were hanging around the training area and by mistake one of the warriors elbowed you in the nose. She fawns over you, you probably get ice cream for dinner, " he smiles at that, "and you don't get your ass beat. Deal?"

"Deal." he smiles again, a gummy smile that makes me smile back.

We reach his house and he tentatively knocks on the door. The sound of slippers on wood grow louder till the door swings open and we come face to face with a stony looking Jennifer. She eyes me up and down, probably horrified and confused that I'm on her doorstep, then her gaze shifts towards her brother and she swears. "Fucking hell, Alex! What did you do this time?" she screams, pointing at the currently bruised nose of the 13 year old.

"I--"

"No, it's my fault. I'll explain. I was walking towards the warrior's central to see Logan and Lana, and I spotted him trying to sneak in. I was too slow in trying to get him to back away, he was excited to see some action and by mistake he got elbowed. His nose started bleeding so I gave him a handkerchief," Alex shows her the stained cloth for credibility, "And I helped him get back here."