The Last Defender (FINISHED)

Chapter 8: The Whole Story

I stared at the black cover of the book. I didn't know what to think. Everything led to it. That I'm a mage. Except for the demon part. I didn't know how that was supposed to work. I mean, elves didn't get demons. But surely I wasn't an elf, was I?
I mean, I'd gotten teased in Elementary School for my pointy ears, but some people have that, you know. I noticed that I was unconsciously putting my hair behind my ears. I sighed, but left it.

I decided to go downstairs. But as soon as I was on the landing I noticed the voices were gone. I sighed, relieved. That would make things a lot less awkward, being alone. But when I came downstairs, I saw Racer, sitting alone at the table.

'Uuh.. Hey,' I said.
'Hey Steph,' he replied. I half expected him to ask if it was okay to call me Steph but he didn't.
'Yes, you can call me Steph,' I said so softly that I was sure he couldn't have heard me.
'Hmm?'
'Nothing, nevermind,' I said, and then I came a little closer. 'Mind if I sit down?' I said, indicating a chair across from him.
Racer shrugged. 'Go ahead.' So I sat down.

'Where are the others?' I asked.
'Back to their own nations,' he said simply.
'Why didn't you go back, then?'
'Well... I, uuh, decided to keep you company,' he said,
'Is that so?' I asked suspiciously. He nodded, a little too eagerly.
'Totally not evading responsibility, what are you talking about?'
I laughed. 'Except, I didn't say anything.'
'Dude, that's the point,' Racer said, mildly annoyed.
I grinned. 'I know. I'm just a bit of a party-pooper.'
Racer rolled his eyes, but I could've sworn I saw the hint of a smile in them. And as I said before, I pride myself for being fairly good at reading expressions.
'So...' I said, trying to get conversation going but not being the best at that sort of stuff.
Racer raised an eyebrow in reaction to my voice, as he'd been distracted for a moment.
'Well,' I said, 'I was hoping we could... Talk, or something?'
'Eeeh...'
'It's fine if you just ignore me and pretend to listen but I just feel like ranting about life.'
Racer shrugged. 'Go ahead, I guess.' So I started talking (am I the only one who's starting to see a pattern?)

'Okay, so, bitching about live. Well, I was born. That's how most lives start, I guess.' I laughed, halfheartedly, and when Racer just stared at me, I continued. 'Well, I know pretty much everything from the moment I got found by the older sister of my what later became my best friend and her twin brother. She was two at that stage, and the twins were about two and a half years old. I was about two. Alice, the girl who found me by the side of the road, got her mother, and she, burdened already with two toddlers and one four-year-old, couldn't adopt me herself. So in the end, her neighbour adopted me. From then on, I grew up in a loving family with loving friends that I'd literally known for as long as I could remember, even longer.

'When I was five or something, Alice died in a car crash, together with her best friend and her best friend's parents, which was pretty sad and pretty shocking for three five-year-olds. I'd always been even closer with Alice than Kim and Vince had been, because even at that age I knew I owed my life to her. I knew the truth and I knew that I probably wouldn't have survived a very long time on the streets if she hadn't found me, even if I hadn't been a baby. It's a cruel world out there on Earth for those who don't have anybody.'

I paused there, because Racer'd muttered something.
'What was that?' I asked.
'I said "Tell me about it,"' he explained. I waited for another moment to see if he was going to explain, but he didn't, so I continued on.

'But anyway, we moved on. I hardly ever talk about Alice to anyone. In fact, I think you're the first person I talked with about her since I was seven or something, and I've never talked about it to anyone except for the twins or their parents or my parents. Even the rest of our friend group, which came after we were seven, don't know that the twins even had a sister, let alone that she died.

'But soon, as soon as you can call kids actually popular, the twins became popular as can be. I think we were eight when that happened. I always kinda stayed in the background. Even then, those who knew what nerds were called me a nerd. And they also called me Pointy Ears,' I said, indicating the slightly pointy ears that were still showing and covered them with my hair again.

'The nerd thing,' I continued, 'was because, even if I do say so myself, I was the brightest kid in the class, which wasn't so hard, and I loved to learn and read. Anyway, Vince and Kim stayed fairly down-to-earth for popular kids. They stayed my friends even though I was everything but popular, and they even defended me when necessary. I am really grateful for that, still, after all these years. Some of their friends actually started to talk to me as well, particularly Alex. Although Jo and Nicky hung out with me as well. But Alex... He'd been one of my best friends ever since we met each other when he joined our class a year or two ago. Then about 6 months ago... six months ago he asked me out. Since then I've been his girlfriend and I can't believe that he's my boyfriend. I mean, seriously, I don't know how. But don't get my wrong, I appreciate all of it. And, well, then Dino came in my class and I guess from there you know the story.'

Racer said nothing. I was silent for a little while, too, until another thought popped in my mind.
'You remind me a bit of Alex. I mean, in looks,' I told him. That caught his attention. He'd been staring at some point behind me, but now his eyes snapped back at me.
'Are you flirting with me, Stephanie?'
I shrugged. 'No,' I said, 'I already have a boyfriend, remember?'
'Which makes it weirder because you were just rambling about your boyfriend and then boom you look like my boyfriend.'
I shrugged again. 'I know. But I was just pointing it out. It is true, though, and don't think it a bad thing that you look like Alex.'
'Uuh-huh,' Racer said, still not certain that I hadn't been flirting with him. Truth be told, I hadn't and, in a way, had, at the same time. I just really really missed Alex, and, well, I don't know.. I guess that seeing him in someone else made me feel better. But it wasn't meant as something to try to let Racer know that I liked him, because I didn't think of him that way. I didn't really think of him in any way yet. That was soon to change, though.
'Thanks,' I said to Racer, who, as I expected, asked for what. 'For listening to me,' I said, 'Or at least, pretending to listen to me.'
'I listened,' he said softly, and after a short silence he stood up and said, 'Well, I'm going to go, dunno, play video-games or something upstairs. Care to join?'
I thought about it, and then shrugged. 'Why the heck not, hmm?'
And so we went upstairs and played video-games.

Hey guys!! I am SO happy about this chapter. I was trying to find a place in the story to do this because honestly, this happened irp but that was literally them playing video-games and Racer helping Steph in a part that she couldn't get through and I wanted to do something more like this so you also get to know a little more about Steph. So yeah, I'm happy with this. And I personally think I did better on Racer this time than I have been recently. And there's not too much of a cliffhanger because I figured I'd let it end normally for once xD. So yeah.
Signing off.

Xx Rissa