Revolt: New Haven

II. Back to Basics

Aria was sitting on the bottom deck of the ferry, on her phone. She was swiping through her photo gallery, when she came upon one of her with two older-looking gentlemen. One had blue eyes, the other brown, with differently styled hair each and more stubble.

She took a moment, then tapped over to her messages and began typing out a message to Noah, her second brother.
"Miss you"
No, too short.
"I know it's been a while"
Too casual?
"Hey from the west coast!"
Eh...

She kept typing and retyping various messages, before finally giving up and slouching in her seat as the ferry made a turn.
Suddenly, two people plopped down next to her on either side with arms around her shoulders.
"Sayyyyyyy 'Happy 2017'!" Luke said joyously as he held up his phone.
He and Lena looked at the phone camera with pleasant smiles while Aria looked on in shock.
Once the photo was taken, Luke and Lena began giggling.
"Hey hey hey, Aria!" Luke smiled, "It's, er, really good to see you."
Aria blinked, and smiled as she brushed her hair behind her ears.
"It's nice to see you both, too," she smiled back.
"Apparently, he and Kai spent five hours struggling to find where you lived over break," Lena pointed out.
Luke frowned at her, "Shut up."
Aria just giggled, "Aw, I must have just sent you the address wrong I guess."
"It hardly matters at this point," Lena pointed out, "We're all here, going back to Elfen."
"Yes, right!" Luke agreed enthusiastically.
Lena then looked down the cabin, past the many other young Gifted to see Jace standing by the window on his own.
She perked up, and then turned to her friends.

"I, uh, see Jace," she said, "I'm gonna go see him."
"You do that," Aria giggled, winking at her.
Lena huffed and stood up, heading down the cabin.

"She likes him," Aria whispered to Luke.
"Oh?" Luke asked, chuckling, "Eh, can hardly blame her. The guy's cute."
"You think so?" she asked.
"Yeah, I mean, it's the truth," Luke shrugged.
Aria looked to the floor anxiously.
"So... I take it you like him, then?" she asked.
Luke blushed, looking at her, "Wha-?! No no no!"
He then took a moment to regain his composure.
"I... don't, like, like him," he said, "I like... somebody else."
"Oh?" Aria asked, hiding her relief, "...May I know who it is...?"
Luke paused.
"Sooner or later...?" he shrugged nervously, his face red.

Meanwhile, Lena made her way across the cabin towards Jace. As she did, out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Hunter sitting in the middle of the ferry cabin, glaring at her.
Despite becoming slightly perturbed, she brushed him off and pressed on, ignoring him.

She went over and joined Jace in looking out the window a moment later. The window had a view of the sea, with boats visible far off in the distance.
"Hey," she said, "What are you looking at?"
"Oh, hey," he greeted her, "And nothing in particular."
Lena paused, trying to think of something to say.
"Was... your family happy to see you?" she asked.
Jace nodded, "My mom wouldn't let me leave the house for the entirety of break, though."
"Oh," Lena stifled a chuckle, "I guess she just wanted to make sure you don't get teleported anywhere."
She awkwardly chuckled, then stopped as she realized Jace wasn't laughing.
"Sorry," she uttered.
"It's fine," Jace sighed, managing a smile, "I'm just glad to be home."
Lena smiled back, "Me, too."

They then returned to gazing out of the window, Lena deciding to take the opportunity and lean her head on Jace's shoulder.

🥀

The Hurricane came and docked at pier three of four on the shore in front of New Haven's campus, and all the Gifted that were aboard began to descend the ramps off the ferry.
As the crowd of Gifted made their way off relatively slowly, Lena noticed Max amidst the sea of bodies in front of her.
"Max?" she said aloud.
Max stopped and turned upon hearing his name, and he noticed Lena.
"Lena!" he exclaimed, waving.
Lena tried to make her way over to him, only for Max's hand to be grabbed by Martha, his sister, and she pulled him down the ramp.
Lena saw this, both confused and annoyed.
"Come on, Lena," Luke said behind her, "Keep it going."
"Shut up," Lena huffed.
Luke blinked, and looked to Aria and Jace, who just shrugged.

Lena eventually made it onto the pier with her bag, and she went over towards the end, waiting for her friends.
She could see Max off in the distance among the crowd being dragged along, much to her annoyance.
Luke, Aria, and Jace got off and joined her a moment later.
"You okay?" Jace asked, worriedly.
"I saw Max but he got pulled away by some girl," Lena huffed.
"Some girl?" Aria asked, "But, I thought he was..."
She then held her hand up and flicked her wrist.
"...y'know."
"He is, so I don't know who that girl is," Lena sighed, "I just want to talk to him a bit, since he knew what we were doing at the start of break."
"Oh..." Jace realized, "...Right."
"We're talking about the little cute boy that you and Dai talked to at the tournament, right?" Luke asked.
Lena blinked, "Yes, Luke. The little cute boy from the tournament."
"Gotcha," Luke nodded, finger-gunning her.

A moment later, the Fray siblings joined them.
"Hey, guys," Kai waved.
"Raina!" Aria greeted excitedly, and she went over and hugged the tall blonde girl, "I missed you."
Raina blinked, and awkwardly hugged her back, "Hey, Aria. Lena."
"Hey," Lena forced a small smile, trying to seem pleasant.
Dai noticed this.
"Lena?" he asked, "Everything okay?"
"I just saw Max but because of the stupid crowd and some girl dragging him with her, I couldn't talk to him about what happened," Lena grumbled.
Dai looked down slightly, realizing.
"Oh, well, I saw him on the boat," he said, "I didn't really tell him what happened but there's something... off, about him."
"Really?" Lena asked.
"Yeah, that girl that you saw is probably his sister," Dai said, "He said his family was being... a lot, right now."
"So, is the new headmistress really his mom?" Luke asked.
Dai nodded, "I get the feeling she puts too many expectations on him."
"Hey," Kai interjected, "I'm all for theorizing, but I'd like to get in my dorm and just chill for a bit before the assembly this afternoon."
"Oh, yeah," Aria said, "We got a few hours before it."
Jace twiddled his thumbs, "Do... you guys wanna do something...?"
Kai then wrapped his arm around Jace, "I like your thinking, my guy."
"Ugh," Raina groaned, "Y'all go ahead, I'm gonna take a nap."
"I just might join you," Lena agreed.
"Lame-os," Luke stuck his tongue out at them.
Lena elbowed his arm, "Shut up."

The group began laughing as they made their way to join the other Gifted in entering New Haven for a new semester.