Chapter 5: Rejected

Shine bounded down the steps around eight.

Her hair was up, loosely falling in front of her face in thick curls. She was wearing a black blouse, the top couple buttons undone, and a pair of dark leggings that hugged her frame tightly. Her hands rummaged through her backpack before throwing it over her shoulder, hopping into the kitchen as she slid her foot into one of her flats.

"I overslept!"

Claire looked at her, bags under her eyes and very obvious she was still exhausted from the night before. There was no smell of breakfast of any kind, not even toast, which struck Shine as odd. Claire loved making breakfast.

"Oh.. You are. You know," She began, "You can always stay home. You must be exhausted."

"Mom, I'm fine," She reassured her, opening the fridge and crouching to grab a bottle of gatorade. Coming back up, the door closed behind her as she made her way quickly to the front door, looking back and waving to her mother before bounding the front porch and rushing down the sidewalk.

A mile. A mile between her and class.

Easy.

Shine approached the stop sign. She looked left and right, eyes finding no car or person nearby. She crouched once more, wincing slightly at an odd discomfort between her thighs. Shrugging it off, she hopped up straight, then took off running. She became invisible to the naked eye, bounding over parked cars further away and over the roofs of houses. It had been a while since she needed to rush this way, but it was always welcome. Cutting loose every once in a while was great for her body.

The school came into her field of vision.

She hopped off the house across the street, landing on the steps like a feather. Her feet carried her forward, through the front doors and around the corner. With how fast she was moving, she had no time to stop before crashing into a large body and hitting the floor.

Rubbing her head, and acknowledging the pain in her ass, she looked up and felt color drain from her face.

Mrs. Crow peered down at Shine, adjusting her glasses. Her face was one of complete disapproval, and there was a glare in her eye that would make even the most manly of men shiver in fear.

Mrs. Crow was the principal, unnaturally tall for a female capping at six foot nine with heels. All professional, with dark hair and eyes, and no tolerance for bullshit attitude. She expected the absolute best from all her students, and had even higher standards for the gifted.

Shine could imagine the look of horror on her face as she sat there.

Mrs. Crow watched her, arms crossed, before exhaling and saying, "How long are you going to sit there, Ms. Stevens?"

"I.." She bit her tongue and stood up slowly, brushing the back of her pants. "I'm sorry for being so late! I overslept and-"

Mrs. Crow rose her palm, and Shine silenced herself quickly.

No explanations. Even if she had a good excuse other than sleeping in, Crow wouldn't let her off without a punishment. It wasn't her style.

Crow placed two fingers to her temple, shutting her dark eyes and thinking. "Listen, I have really important business today. I don't have time to be dealing with a student who can't trouble herself to arrive on time."

Wait, does that mean…

"After school detention. No arguments. Now, head to class, and be swift about it," Crow warned. Shine lowered her head and walked by the amazonian woman. Crow's eyes followed Shine, noting the odd faint limp in her walking. "Are you alright?"

"Huh?" Shine was surprised by the sudden shift in her tone. She looked back, meeting Crow's eyes for a moment before turning away. "Ah. Yes, I think I slept wrong or something. I feel a bit sore is all."

Crow didn't speak. She nodded and turned, leaving the conversation in the air. Shine waited a moment, listening to Crow's heels clicking down the hallway, before turning and heading towards second period History.

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Lunch came quick.

Shine sat down at the table with the rest of her volleyball team and stretched. All the girls looked at her, laughing and commenting on her looks. Shine nodded thank yous and gave her own compliments. It was the usual routine between them.

One of the girls at the far end threw her red hair over her shoulder, eyes flicking towards the table behind Shine.

The girl wanted to look. Something compelled her to look in that direction. Slowly, Shine popped an unsalted french fry in her mouth and turned her head, playing it off as if she was just casually looking around.

Her violet eyes fell on a boy. He had shoulder length curled black hair and brown eyes. His skin was coco color, similar to Shine's but notably darker. He was taller than her, she could tell that much just from scanning him.

And scanning him she was.

He was amazing. So dashing, with a cold and chilling, but also warm and mesmerizing air about him. He looked defined, as if sculpted by God himself and placed on earth to ruin married women's lives.

The mystery boy was definitely the serious type.

"I see you have a good pair of eyes." Shine tore her gaze away and made room for Frannie to sit down next to her. The captain followed Shine's returning gaze to the boy, who seemingly took no notice of the looks he was earning. "Pretty boy showed up this morning. Brand new and fresh."

"What's his name?"

"Why not go ask him yourself?" Frannie crossed her arms. "I'm not hooking you up with MY future man."

"Future-" Shine smiled at her and laughed, standing from her seat. "You're crazy, girl. I just wanna talk to him and I don't want to be some weird girl who fawns over a guy she doesn't know."

"You wouldn't be weird," All the girls said together.

Shine blinked at them, then replied, "Yeah, it would. Wouldn't it?"

"It's high school, Honey. No one cares about the small shit." Frannie reached onto her tray, picking up a piece of bread and biting into it. Shine nudged her friend, forcing her to swallow hard. "Well, no one does!"

"I think you got high school mixed up with something else. All anyone does in this place is sweat the small stuff." With those last words, she took a deep breath and approached the boy. When she got close to the table, he glanced up from his book and her heart skipped a beat. There was a faint glow in his eyes.

Oh god, he's so… beautiful.

"H-Hi." She choked up. "Can I sit here?"

He scanned her up and down, before nodding yes and returning to his book.

She sat down across from him, looking back at her teammates, all of which giving her thumbs up. Her gaze returned to the boy, and she waited a moment before speaking. "My name is Shine."

He glanced up at her, then back down. There was a long, agonizing few seconds, before he spoke. "Yeah, I know."

The sound of his voice made her quiver. She hadn't noticed it had sounded so familiar until she already started speaking. "Y-you do?"

"You're the best player on the volleyball team. How can I not know about you?" He looked up and closed his book. His face, even more dashing up close, also had a sense of familiarity to it, but Shine couldn't place her finger on why. "I've heard plenty about you from most of the guys around here."

"Oh," Her tone deflated. "I bet a bunch of things like I have the best ass, or best looking tits or something dumb like that, right?"

"Uh, yeah, sort of. I don't really care much about that though." He rested his head on his knuckles, watching Shine closely. "I prefer brains and personality over looks anyway. Of course, the body is a bonus," He said, smiling. "What brings you here, anyway?"

"Oh. I… Uh.." She paused a moment, thinking of a response. She sat there for a full minute, trying to think of something to say. "I… Don't really know," She answered. "Looking for a new friend, I guess."

New Friend?!? That's the best I can think of!?

"Sure," He said simply, opening his book back up.

"No wait!" She spoke a bit louder than she wanted to, drawing a few extra eyes. "I meant… Um… Maybe… We could go for a meal.. Or something, sometime."

Silence followed her words. Not just the silence from him, but the whole cafe, as if everyone was suddenly invested in the situation. It made her stomach feel uneasy. The silence of something bad coming her way.

"Not interested." He said coldly.

A couple Ooos could be heard behind her. Her face heated up in embarrassment at being rejected, and she lowered her gaze. "Oh… Well, that's.. Fine."

"The nerve of this guy…"

"He actually said no? Who's this cocky asshole?"

A few other words from the boys around were within ear shot. The boy glanced in each direction slowly, before sighing and shutting his book, standing. "Listen, don't take any offense or anything."

"No, It's okay, really." She tried to project her voice, and make sure there was no sadness. "Do you already have a girlfriend?"

Hesitantly, he closed his eyes and nodded. "Yeah. Someone very special to me."

"Lucky girl." Shine said, standing up. "Well, I at least hope we can still be friends, despite the awkwardness of you rejecting me just now."

WHY. DID. I. SAY. THAT.

"Yeah." His voice sounded distant, "Excuse me." He moved around the table and past her. Shine looked at him, asking, "What's your name?"

He stopped, pausing a moment in his movements before saying, "Justin." He then continued walking on.

All eyes were on him as he left the cafe, Shine included. There was something about him. Something different. Shine could tell that much because she knew what to look for.

Yet that difference gave no hint he was "special" like she was. He didn't seem the athletic type, nor the type to be gifted. She could more than likely beat him in any contest involving sports. She was hesitant to believe it though.

She had no explanation for what made her different, better than most. She chalked it up to her just having stored away powers. Super speed, super strength and such. The coldness to him, the warmth that followed the cold, just opened more and more mysteries about that boy, and Shine found herself determined to find out more about him.