It had felt like Caleb’s head had barely touched the pillow when the alarm begin baler in his ear signaling it was time to get ready for the school day. Dragging himself out of bed Caleb zombie walked to the shower hoping it would wake him up completely, turning on only the cold water Caleb took a deep breath and hopped in.
Five minutes later he was all clean, freezing and still sleepy. “Wonderful start to the day.” He said out loud looking at himself in the mirror.
He had a four pack and a descent chest but none of his body was completely muscle like he wanted, he had told himself every day that it would be the one he started working out but each day came and went without him dedicating anytime to it.
With a frown at his body Caleb pulled on his clothes again making a silent promise that he would workout after school today.
Yawning for the hundredth time Caleb walked into the kitchen where Lydia was bright eyed and bushy tailed as always cooking breakfast for herself and them.
“Good morning Caleb! Beautiful day isn’t it?” She beamed.
“I wouldn’t know, I haven’t looked outside yet. Tell me Lydia by chance are you on drugs of some sort you seem way to happy.” Caleb scowled.
“Why because I’m happy to be alive? Call me crazy but every time I come close to death and survive it puts me in a great mood.” She said rolling her eyes.
“Fair enough.” Caleb said lazily leaning back in his chair at the table. “Do you want some help with breakfast?”
“No thanks, I like my food cooked not burnt.” She smiled.
“Here, here.” Mace said entering the kitchen and immediately picking at the food until shooed away by Lydia. “No offense Caleb but the last time you cooked my mouth tasted like a fire had happened in it.”
“And yet you woofed it down like it was your last meal.” Caleb grinned.
“I was starving! I hadn’t eaten on like four hours.”
“Poor baby.” Lydia said sarcastically. “You know if you ate less and practiced more your fighting would be a lot better.”
“Not if I pass out from hunger.” He pointed out rubbing his stomach while staring at the food.
“Again I say poor baby.”
“When is the food going to be ready Lydia?” Caleb answered growing more hungry from the smell of the breakfast.
“When it’s done.”
“Helpful, why don’t we talk about something other than food while we wait because now I’m starving.” Caleb whined.
“Good idea, I know let’s talk about how you are supposed to have a girlfriend already to maintain your cover at school.” Mace said cheerfully.
“Let’s not and say we did.” Caleb says laying his head on the table.
“You’re not getting out of it that easy buddy, you need to get a girlfriend.” Lydia chided.
“Why? Having a girlfriend especially a mortal one invites too many questions.” He reasoned hoping to convince the others.
“That’s why it’s not a real girlfriend, you ask her out date her for a couple of days and dump her. The longer you take to do it the worse things will get, people are already talking about you never having dated anyone. Any longer and they are going to start prying into your life more which puts us all at risk not to mention the paranormal ones we protect.” Mace answered.
“It’s easy for you two because you have been pretending to be a couple for over a year! Try asking out a norm and then talk with me about what has to be done.” Caleb said tired of the conversation.
“We’re not saying it’s easy Caleb but you have to try, just pick someone that isn’t high profile. No one really popular they are always too high maintenance and want to see where you live and meet your family.” Lydia pointed out beginning to serve the food.
“Right! Pick someone who isn’t popular and would be afraid to meet anyone.” Mace smiled shoveling the food into his mouth. “There’s more of this right?”
“I made enough for five people.” Lydia answered.
“You know me so well honey.” Mace grinned winking at her.
“Call me honey again and you will have your balls for breakfast toad.” Lydia smiled playing with her knife.
Staring at her for a moment Mace asks. “Do you ever think about us actually dating?”
“Sometimes but then I come to my senses when I start throwing up.” She answered.
“This is a fake relationship and you want me to get one? Inspiring.” Caleb said washing his plate.
“Isn’t it though.” Mace said.
“I’m all a tingle with anticipation, look we better get moving for school.” Caleb pointed out hoping to change the subject.
“Yeah, we better get going or we’ll be late to find your new girlfriend.” Lydia laughed.
Five minutes later the three of them were on the highway speeding to the school in silence.
Caleb wondered if his friends were right in their assumption that he needed to get a girlfriend at least for a short period of time or if they just wanted to see him squirm. They had all done a stellar job in the past of blending in with the normal kids the only thing that had been missing from any of their covers was that Caleb had never had a girlfriend. At first it hadn’t been a big deal but as they all grew older Caleb had turned down four different girls two of which were the really popular ones, now that they were older rumors had began to fly around school that maybe he was gay or scared of girls. As such it had brought unwanted attention to their little click and the others weren’t very happy about it.
If he were to decide that he didn’t want to try dealing with a girlfriend the others would back him in the end the just liked to give him a hard time, in the end he knew the choice was his alone and he had to make it soon.
Mace pulled into their usual spot they parked in at the very back of the student parking lot away from everyone else who wanted to be closer to the entrance.
As he stepped out of Mace’s jeep a little smile played at the corners of his mouth when overlooking his vehicle, he drove a beat up 88 jeep wrangler that had a faded blue paint job. The interior of the jeep was in decent shape but was visibly older in style. It was another good cover they had been trained to do since they were young. If people saw the cars they really had, where they lived or knew about the kind of money they had their popularity would sky rocket overnight.
Mace was glad that instead of being allowed to flaunt the money they had ordinary middle class kids was the guise adopted for them, in his opinion the three of them knew who their friends really were now. At first their parents (who had also grown up together) had told them to keep to only themselves but Caleb and Mace quickly disregarded that, in their collective opinion they figured that it would draw more attention if they remained isolated from everyone. Lydia had two close friends, Mace had one and Caleb had three.
The school itself was beyond old at a glance you could tell it had been built in the early nineteen hundreds and had refused to update with the times.
Many of the buildings were wood paneled with a faded brown color that was repainted every five years in the same drab color as the dirt around them. The school rooms were dotted about and looked more like tiny houses that were merged together by corridors and covered hallways on the outskirts of a small village, once you passed into the inner buildings it was a hodgepodge of different size buildings that sported towers here and there remnant of a time when kids were locked away for misbehaving. Scattering the massive grounds were giant courtyards where the grass was lush and green beneath giant trees, in two of the greater size courtyards were large ponds filled with coy fish giving almost a Zen feel that didn’t quite mix with the look of the buildings.
The inside of the buildings however were a different story looking beyond perfect and well kept with all the benefits of modern society, top of the line computer labs were provided with the best computers and software, the chalkboards were digital along with the desks allowing kids to interact with everything the teacher did. Cate
ring to grades kindergarten through twelfth grade lead to a diverse experience of everyone and although this was considered a public school rumors had floated around that the only reason so much had been given to the place because that’s where the governors children chose to go rather then the more exclusive private school a few miles up the road.
As they walked towards the inner courtyard closest to them Caleb’s friend Grace Collins came running through the crowd towards them.
Caleb had always got along with Grace, kind of taking her under his wing so the other kids wouldn’t pick on her. It wasn’t so much that Caleb fought off people physically it was more along the lines of the using his own body as the punching bag instead of hers. Like a lot of school experiences every once in a while the three of them got pushed around by bullies and that was when the toughest part of blending in came, instead of crushing them like bugs with their fighting ability and spirit powers they allowed the bullies to beat up on them so they blended in.
Mace didn’t understand why Caleb was so protective of Grace since they were five he had been obsessed with protecting her almost like they were a couple and that’s when the thought hit him.
Staring at her a little more intently Mace noted that she wasn’t actually too bad looking, she was around five feet tall with light brown hair which was a tingled mess as it stuck out of the baseball cap she always wore. Her eyes were honey brown with a hint of yellow in them when the sun caught it just right her features were pretty but not beautiful and her figure although hidden in baggy clothes he could tell was very shapely. She would be the perfect girl for Caleb to start seeing, she already knew him and wouldn’t push to be around them to much.
“Hey Caleb here comes the very girl you are going to be dating.” Mace whispered to him as she neared.
“What are you talking about?” Caleb said clearly shocked. “She’s one of my best friends I’m not risking that on a fake relationship.”
“Who says that it has to end badly?” Mace questioned.
“What are we talking about?” Lydia asked leaning over to them.
“We decided that Caleb is going to date Grace as his cover girlfriend.” Mace answered happily.
“Good choice.” She smiled. “I like her.”
“I never agreed…” Caleb started before Lydia cut him off.
“Don’t worry Caleb I’ll talk to her for you, I’ll take care of everything.” Lydia smiled as Grace finally reached them. “Hey Grace good to see you.” She said hugging her.
“Hey Lydia looking sharp as usual, better keep a close eye on her Mace before someone realizes she’s too good for you.” Grace joked punching Mace in the arm playfully.
“I’ll keep an eye out.” Mace said twisting his face making it look weird.
“What’s the news Grace? You seemed pretty intent on getting to us; did you miss me that much?” Caleb joked.
“Yeah stud I just can’t get enough.” She grinned. “Truthfully though you have to see this new kid that everyone is talking about, he just started today and already Buck and his friends have him surrounded and surprise, surprise there are no teachers anywhere in sight.”
“How bad is it?” Mace asked shaking his head at the situation.
“That’s the thing, he’s already taken down one of the bullies and is fending off the others all by himself.” She smiled. “Finally someone is standing up to them but that’s not the craziest part you really need to come see what I mean.”
Without waiting for them to answer Grace turned on her heels and ran off back through the crowd that was now making his way to the fight everyone had heard about. Pushing their way to the front of the gathered crowd the trio stared in amazement as they watched the new guy ready to fight pacing back and forth but the most astonishing thing was that he looked almost exactly like Caleb.