She's Behind The Mask

Chapter 12 - Protective Older Brother

"Older brothers... the only people who pick on you for their own entertainment and beat up anyone else who tries to do the same."
- Unknown

_________Lucas POV__________

I sit on my bed as I recall my conversation with Aiden earlier today.

"It's been so long, it's cool to be able to play basketball with you", I tell Aiden and he smiles at me with his boxy smile, reminding me of when we little. "How are your parents, I should visit them sometime."

"Oh, right, Lucas..." Aiden starts. "My mum... she passed away with cancer a couple years ago." He looks down at his lap and fiddles with his thumbs.

"WHAT?" I yell, how come he never told me. I look at him with disbelief and shock. Aunty Naomi is dead. I feel a wave of guilt rush over me. I wasn't here for him during this time, I remember the time I lost my parents, I can't believe I wasn't there for him when he went through this. "I'm going."

I rush out the door, grabbing my bag on the way. I open my car door and chuck my bag in the back, tears running down my face. When we were younger my parents were often out working so his mum looked after us both, she was like a second mother to me. I slam the car door shut.

"Lucas wait!" I hear Aiden shout and he comes rushing out the door. He stands beside me and turns me to face him. "I'm sorry for not telling you sooner."

I see tears in his eyes and feel guilty, for not being there for him, for being sad over her death when she was his mum. He lost his mum and I wasn't there to comfort him. He looks into my eyes and then smiles at me with understanding, a habit formed over long years of friendship.

He pulls me into a bear hug and pats my back. Sobs shake my body and tears rush down my cheeks. "Aiden..." I say to him. "I'm sorry for not being there for you."

"It's ok", he says and hugs me tighter. I grasp onto his top and hug him tighter, wishing I had been there for him. "Lucas, I heard about your parents too", he says, and I feel him tense. "I'm sorry too."

More tears run down my cheeks. I wish we had stayed in contact; we were like brothers and I couldn't imagine my childhood without him in it. "I'm so sorry, I didn't know about Aunty Naomi", I tell him again. "I'm so, so sorry."

He pulls away from me and ruffles my hair. "It's alright", he tells me.

"I'm sorry", I tell him once more.

I look up and try to stop the tears from running down my face once again. I think about my parents and wish they were still here. "You're the reason they're not here." I say to myself quietly and hit my chest. "You're a murderer", I tell myself and hit my chest again. "You're lonely and it's your fault", I hit my chest again, begging my heart to stop aching for once. "You're a bad person."

I look over my room to the pair of black gloves sitting on my desk. The material is thick to help insulate electricity. They helped when I first got my powers. I don't want anyone to be hurt by me again, I tell myself. For safe keeping I decide to wear the gloves when I go anywhere from now on, nothing like what happened 2 years ago won't happen again.

_________Kaylee POV_________

The next week at school I see Lucas. I greet him and I decide to not mention Friday, I don't want to make him feel awkward. I notice he's wearing gloves and I compliment them; he says thanks. We walk in silence until we find Heather and Caleb.

I wonder what's going on with Lucas and Aiden. It seemed pretty serious when they rushed out of Noah's house on Friday. I want to let my curiosity get the best of me and ask what happened, but I know it's not the right thing to do and decide to ignore it. Maybe it's something private they don't want people to know.

I get to maths and greet Mrs Smith as I walk in the door, she's one of my favourite teachers. She appreciates hard work and treats everyone fairly. She only gets angry at people who purposely don't work in class or aren't very nice people. I go and find a seat beside Heather, turning around and greeting Asher and Hee-Chul behind me.

"Hey Kaylee, you wanna hang out after school today at mine?" Heather asks me before the class starts.

"Sure, my mum is working so I would be at home doing nothing anyway", I tell her. "Will your brothers be home?"

"Nah, Julian is going to Max and Damon's house and my younger brothers are going to a friend's house as well.", she informs me. Her other three brothers are all in Uni or working so they live elsewhere.

"Oh, right", I say. "It's a plan, I'll go home with you then, I have clothes at yours anyway."

The class starts and I get my notebook out of my bag. Halfway through the lesson I feel a tap on my shoulder. I turn around to see Hee-chul. "Umm, Kaylee... what does coefficient mean?" He asks quietly. "I asked Asher, but he sucks at explaining."

I explain to him what it means and carry on with my work. As English isn't Hee-chul's first language he often doesn't know what some words mean. Mrs Smith knows this and allows us to help him during class. Even if we're talking, she knows we're just helping him and carries on the lesson. That's just how she is, that's why she's probably my favourite teacher.

When it gets to lunch, I persuade Heather and Caleb to sit with the basketball team. I sit beside Lucas, Heather on the other side of me. We chat and eat, playing around like normal. Heather is comfortable with the team seeing as her brother is in it, and although we don't sit with them a lot together, Caleb gets along with them well.

The cafeteria goes silent and we look over to the double doors as Vanessa and her sheep walk in. She is clinging onto an arm and I look over to see the biggest playboy in school, Jedrek. Me and everyone else at the table roll our eyes, almost in sync. They start walking over to us and I know they're going to do something, but I don't expect what happens next.

Jedrek plies Vanessa of his arm and looks at Heather. "What's up hot stuff?" He says to her and she scoffs, her mouth wide open. Vanessa looks at him with shock.

"Babe?", Vanessa says. "What the hell, why are you talking to that slut?"

Heather glares at Vanessa and Jedrek and goes back to eating.
"I said, what's up hot stuff?" Jedrek says once again. "Wanna book a hotel or something?"

My eyes widen and Heather glares at him. Her answer very clear without her saying anything. The atmosphere is tense. The boys at the table all glaring at Jedrek's cocky face. I look around to see Julian glaring intensely at Jedrek, switched into protective older brother mode.
"F*ck off."