Burn in Water, Drown in Fire

~2~ The Great Escape

"UGH," I complained as I looked to see who else was in my last class. Zac Tyler.

"Why the long face, Miss Hallow?" my teacher who I had known for an on-going three years said at my scoff. "You know why..." Ms. Rye and I were good friends, you see, she was a family friend even before teaching the first aid/CPR, health, and sports medicine classes. I told her everything.

"Class, we have a new student teacher...Devin Hallow," she announced. I stood up from my seat.

"You've gotta be kidding me," I groaned and received looks. "He's not a student teacher, he's only a senior!"

"Yes, but I'm in a dual credit class paired with the department of education for one of the community classes and I need a certain amount of hours for instructional teaching," he replied to me with a nervous grin. I scoffed and then stormed out. Someone grabbed my arm and placed me against the wall.

"Stop," Zac said. I narrowed my eyes. Why did he care? If anything, he finally had someone I disliked more than him.

"He's been in my life for not even twenty-four hours after learning about his existence. I can't stand having to have a class with him!" I reasoned.

"So what? What can you actually do about it?" he asked, his rich brown eyes searching mine.

"Drop the class."

"You don't wanna do that," he whispered.

"And why not?" I asked, finally breaking the grasp he had on me.

"You can't legitimately help people without taking this class," he started because it was a new public health and application course. "And I know you wanna help and save people."

"Then why the hell are you taking this class when you won't even help yourself?" I asked, changing the subject. His jaw tightened and then he looked away. Come to think about it...why did he even care? "Start settling your own shit before you comment on mine."

"'Shit' seems like a good word for it," was all he muttered and took a step away from me. Before this could be made into any type of moment, I rolled my eyes and walked around him to go into the unused auxiliary gym.

***

"Hey, girlie," Lulu greeted to me when the last school bell rang. I looked up to her as she pulled her very long dark brown hair into a ponytail. I sighed after greeting her and then decided to get up. We were walking out when she started to speak again. "So I heard that you have a new brother," she said. I looked to her and stopped walking.

"Who told you that?"

"Well aside from everyone in your eighth period class...Zac did," she answered. I rolled my eyes. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"It's not like it's something I want to brag about, Lu," I retorted. She shrugged. "Stupid Zac..."

She shrugged and her face didn't change in any sort of defense. I wondered if her indifference had something to do with their relationship status.

"You and him fighting or what?" I asked. Usually she defended him or at least commented that she didn't have a retort. She only shook her head.

"Well, how would you feel if—"

"Hey babe," Brian greeted, leaning down to peck my lips after walking up from behind.

"If what?" I continued on mine and Lulu's conversation.

"Never mind. I'll tell you later," she said, looking between me and Brian. I only shrugged and walked off with Brian, our fingers laced.

"What?" I asked him, noticing that he looked away from me, thinking hard about something.

"Nothing," he lied. "So...Devin?"

I groaned.

"Fine, I'll leave it," he decided. He already knew that I didn't want to talk about it. And because he knew me better than most people, he knew not to hover over subjects I was nervous about. It was one of his best qualities in my opinion.

He drove me home and I sighed heavily at the teenage boy who stood in the kitchen.

"Remind me, why did you decide now to come back?" I wondered. He shrugged and then continued with his work. "What a nerd."

"Well my IQ maxes out and I'm a certified genius so thank you," he scoffed, standing up from his stupid microscope.

"If you're so smart, then why'd you come back?" I spat.

"I wanted my family."

"You had one back from wherever you came from," I reminded, dropping my bag at the corner and walking over to the counter where he worked. "Now what are you trying to do?"

"Genetically alter transcription into coherent abilities," he explained, mixing two chemicals that bubbled.

"Um, I don't know what the hell that meant, but could you do that outside? I rather not wake up with a genetic mutation," I commented. He scoffed.

"It's harmless in this form," he informed. "And it's not even ready to be tested on animals, let alone humans." He flashed his dark eyes up to mine and a flicker of lies transported into my vision. Either way, I was confused so I started to turn to leave. "Wait. Where'd you go last night?" he asked, taking off his science goggles and gloves and retiring his experiment for the time being.

"Out," I hissed. "And don't bother telling Mom and Dad because they don't care."

"I'm sure they'd care if they come back one night without their daughter being home," he replied.

"They already know where I'll be," I said with narrowed eyes. It was the truth. They encouraged me too.

For some reason, my trigger for stress and anxiety culminated into anger and as soon as I got into my first fight at school, an anger management diagnosis was expected. To curb that, I used swimming and diving. It cleared my mind and was simple enough to be effective. So effective that I thought the "diagnosis" was a fluke because I hadn't been truly angry enough to have any other outburst. With Devin's return, he should be so lucky that I had an outlet because I had a feeling my usual calmness would be changing.