Altered

Thirty-Three: Preoccupied

James could feel the heat rising in his cheeks as he strode into the senior training lesson. The rest of the seniors were already gathered in the large training hall, lounging on the monstrous stone bleachers. Charlotte glanced in his direction, her large, bright blue eyes scanning his face, before darting away awkwardly. James gritted his teeth, turning away from where she was seated on the bleachers with Iseult and Ian. He didn't want to have to deal with her yet. He had even thought of skipping the class, but doubted Doctor Beasley or Doctor Porter would approve of his absence. He had successfully managed to avoid her for the past two days, but it didn't deprive his mind from reliving her attack again and again.

"Alexander," Ethan Jansen called, beckoning him over where he was sitting with their other friends, on the far end of the bleachers, away from Charlotte. Carrick Jones and Annakiya Fall sat with Ethan in a tight huddle, laughing and joking, oblivious to the torment Charlotte had reawakened him to. "Where the hell have you been? We haven't seen you in days," Jansen asked, his electric blue eyes tight as they tried to read deeper into his body language.

"You weren't taken below again, were you?" Annakiya teased, grinning a bright smile. James slumped down beside them, not bothering to answer. He glanced at his hands imagining the blood - her blood - dripping from his fingers. He pressed his lips together and closed his eyes.

"Were you?" Alexander opened his eyes to find Ethan staring at him earnestly. The laughter and joking had immediately vanished from the faces of his friends. Annakiya stared at him with worried, brown eyes.

"No - of course not," he growled, as if the idea was ridiculous.

"Well what's wrong with you then?" Carrick grunted, his brutish features serious.

"Is it Owens again?" Annakiya asked, scooping up her shoulder length black hair and pulling it into a tight bun. James stared at her a moment, as if he hadn't heard her correctly. Annakiya was a foot shorter than James, at only five foot three. Her skin was a cool brown, with rose-blue undertones, and as she blushed, her cheeks seemed to glow with a rosy brilliance. Annakiya was fun, lacking the seriousness James knew he possessed, or the sullen broodiness of Carrick.

"What did she do this time?" Ethan asked, his tone gentle, almost sympathetic. He understood James' aversion to Charlotte more than anybody. He was the only person who truly knew how difficult it was having to work so closely with her.

"Nothing," he grunted, shifting restlessly on the cold, stone bleachers. He couldn't look them in the eye, knowing that he couldn't bring himself to repeat what she had done.

"Alexander, seriously, what's going on with you?" Annakiya laughed, pulling him into a half hug.

"Nothing, Kiya," he sighed, as she released him. "I just haven't slept well since..." he frowned, unable to form the words. Since she made me believe she had died. Since I thought I had killed her. Since she had found out... "Ugh," he groaned, pressing his palms to his eyes. "It's just a really bad dream".

"The same bad dream or is it multiple bad dreams?" Ethan frowned, looking from James to the others. In Kingston nightmares were nothing new, nothing strange. They were a part of life on the island.

"It's always the same dream," he muttered, glaring ahead of him.

"Is it about the detention?" Annakiya asked, in a soothing tone.

"No - it doesn't matter. It was a bad dream. I'm just tired. I will sleep tonight and everything will go back to normal," he murmured, fully aware of the wary glances the others were passing.

"Did you finish your assignment for Dalton, Carrie? Ethan sighed, deciding it was a better idea to leave James brood, than to try and force the truth from him.