Firefly

11: The Castors

Chapter 11: The Castors.

Elena

I walk to the parking area after bidding goodbye to the girls' team. I haven't gotten to know them personally but I don't intend to either. My relationship with them is just the way I like it—strong, professional, and brief. 

I let my helmet be. I'm in need of fresh air after the events of today, my dream still at the back of my mind. I've never remembered thoughts for as long as I've kept this dream in my head. I'm about to drive off when I see a girl standing by the black gates. I stop in front of her. 

She takes a glance at my bike and then at me. "Do you need a ride?" I ask her, gesturing to hop on. 

She looks at the empty road, checks her phone, and hesitates before nodding. "My brother is caught up with something. He wants me to wait but I don't feel like staying alone here." 

I give her a warm smile. "I'll drop you, come on. It's no big deal." I hand her my helmet since I'm not using it anyway. I study her—brown eyes, dark brown hair ending at her shoulders, cutting cheekbones, and about five-five in height. She looks young. "Are you a Junior?" 

She grins taking the helmet from my hand. "Sophomore." 

So close.

"Why is a sophomore still in school at 5 pm?" I wonder out loud. 

She gives me a guilty smile. "Library. It's a guilty pleasure. I was reading and I lost track of time." I raise an eyebrow in delight. "The Hunger Games." 

"Ah, it can be addicting," I tell her and she chuckles. I hold my hand out. "I'm Elena Summer. Senior." 

Her laugh fades and her smile pulls back into a blank stare. She looks at my hand before judging my face again. I feel an unsettling drop in my stomach. She folds her lips as she takes my hand. "Eden . . . Castor. You must be Dylan's sister, it's nice to meet you finally." 

Goddamnit. 

She's Justin's sister. I'm meeting her on the day I met his brother. Justin—the jerk who emptied a bottle of water on me. Her brother for whom I co-founded a hate club. The boy who broke his friendship with his best friend because he hit on this girl shaking my hand. 

I gulp. Guilt wraps around my previously confident voice. "I am--Eden, I'm--"

"I love your hate club page." Oh, lord. She knows. She puts my helmet on before she hoists herself onto my bike. "I thought it was badass. I was tired of women falling at his feet. You restored my respect for our clan." 

I'm dumbstruck when I get the opposite reaction from her. I almost thought she'd belt me for tarnishing her brother's image.  

"So you're not mad?" I ask out loud to clarify it. 

She laughs. "Of course not, I'm rather relieved. Justin would've never introduced me to you." 

I let out a heavy breath as she begins to guide me from school. Their house is in the opposite direction to mine. I've never explored this side of the town. As little as Justin talks, Eden makes up for it. She talks to me like she's known me for a long time. She has an upper hand though. Dylan's mentioned me quite a few times apparently. And as ironic as it seems, the juniors know me as a Mockingjay. They're reading too much of Hunger Games. 

Eden talks so much. She tells me street names and the kind of plants grown on the sidewalk. She even stands up from her seat as I ride. She loves baking cookies with her mother—especially white chocolate strawberry cookies which they baked this weekend. She loves books, movies, and Chemistry. She loves her brother the most, and she also hates him the most. But she said I beat her in the latter. I got all this in twelve minutes before we reach her front gates.