Illusions.....
Jennifer sat in her room with her sketchbook lay on her lap as she sat on her bed, looking out her window. The sun was just about to set. The violet, red, orange, and golden hues of the sky reminded her of Seth. His dark red hair, his orange and gold outfit, and his piercing violet eyes were so clear to her. He was gone now. Gone for all eternity, as this realization hit once more, tears poured from her eyes.
***
“Jennifer,” a voice called to her. Jennifer turned to look at who said it, and saw her mother. “Jennifer, you better hurry. I’m going to be late if you’re not ready soon,” her mother said as she was putting her work jacket on, and she walked out of Jennifer’s room. Jennifer jumped up washed her face and brushed her teeth and hurriedly removed her pajamas and put on her maroon school T-shirt and her tan pants that were lying on her desk chair, neatly folded. She ran downstairs, carrying her shoes and her schoolbag as her mother started opening the front door, “Good, you’re ready.” Jennifer put her shoes on as her mother opened the door. As her mother drove her to school, Jennifer listened to her CD player as she shaded in the last bit of her sketch with colored pencils. The warrior had on an orange and gold tunic, his dark red hair clashed with his violet eyes. The car had stopped as she was about to finish coloring his hair, the final piece. She put her coloring pencils back in the box and got out of the car, her mother yelling, “Have a nice day!” She waved her mom off happily and went into the school. “Good morning Jennifer,” a voice called to her as she opened her locker. “Morning Donovan,” She responded as she removed a few text books from her locker, put them in her bag and closed the door. As she locked it, her old friend Donovan took her bag from her, “I wish you really hadn’t put that many books in there. You’re still healing, so take it easy.” She retrieved her bag from him, “I’m fine.” Angrily she stomped off to class leaving him to wander off to his own classes. As she walked into her classroom everyone looked up, “Welcome back, Miss Kobayashi.” She looked at her classmates surprised. When had they ever cared if she was gone from school? She responded to their greeting with a polite thank you and sat in her seat. As they waited for their teacher she pulled out her sketchpad and started to draw a new picture. She had been trying to decide how a new outfit she had to design for a friend would look, when the teacher walked in as the bell rang. “Alright, roll call.” the teacher said as he set a folder on his desk. Jennifer looked up and noticed the teacher was new. He was much younger than their 45 year old pervert from before she left. Out of the four or five teachers she had, only one was a male teacher, her math and homeroom teacher. She looked around, but all the students must have been under his teaching for a while now because none of them had a surprised expression on their own faces. She had been out of school for two months because of her clavicle and shoulder. It had been injured because of an accident, she knew the truth, but the word was that she had gotten into a car accident. Why now had they decided to switch the teacher? She responded after he called her name and then talked to the guy in front of her about the new, weirdly dressed teacher. She came to find out that the week after her injury, the old teacher had resigned. It took only two days to find a replacement, and her first thought was that it was a trick. She looked up at the board as the teacher had started to write out a math equation, she looked at her text and read the steps on how to solve it and worked out in her head how a few other problems would be solved. Just as she had finished, the teacher asked for a volunteer, she was the only one to rise in response. She stood at the board, the chalk scraping and tapping as she wrote it out. As an added bonus, she explained to the class what she was doing. The teacher watched and listened silently until she finished. Once she was done, he stood, “Now, any questions?” Nobody raised their hands. As Jennifer began heading back to her seat, the teacher called her back, “Now, you have five minutes to explain the next section to the class. At the end of the five minutes, if you do not make a mistake, and the class understands it, you may all leave for the remainder of class.” The entire class cheered as Jennifer read the rest of the section they were working on for the day. Once she finished, she started writing on the board again, while explaining the procedures that were to take place. As she wrote on the board and explained the lesson, the teacher continued to sit in his chair, watching her. Once she had finished, the teacher told her to take her seat. Once seated, he stood up from his chair placed beside the window, “Now, I want two volunteers to show me what Ms. Kobayashi has taught you all.” Jennifer’s two best guy friends got up and stood at the chalk board. The teacher wrote two separate equations, “Now, solve these equations. If you can not, we will return to our lesson plan for the day,” the teacher returned to his seat and watched them work out the equations. As Donovan finished, Adam looked up, checking both their work, “Dude, right here. You’re supposed to do this.” Adam started to write down Donovan’s missing steps. The teacher smiled, “Everyone is excused for the rest of class, but make sure you all stay out of trouble. Ms. Kobayashi, please stay behind.” After everyone had left, the teacher stood at the board and began erasing the chalk, “Ms. Kobayashi, I’m surprised that you were able to complete such an elaborate equation just by reading the book in a few minutes.” He sat the eraser on its perch and turned to her, “Now, how would you feel if I had you teach the class for the remainder of the year?” She looked up at him, surprised, “Sir, I don’t think-” He raised his hand to cut in, “Ms. Kobayashi, I have been trying to teach this class how to work these equations for an entire week now. It seems that I was not able to explain the procedures, or anything else.” Jennifer stood, “With all due respect, sir. I have no intention to become a student-teacher.” She walked out of the room, politely bowing to him as she closed the door behind her. She walked down the hall, instinctively dodging a fist that whizzed by her head. She grabbed the fist and threw her opponent, feeling the weight she knew it was a guy. As she stood straight again, her opponent landed on his back on the ground. She smiled, “Nice try Andrew, but you’ll have to do better than that if you want to date me.” She walked past him as he tried to stand up, “I will defeat you, Ms. Kobayashi, I swear.” Jennifer sat in the gym after school, watching her old teammates. They seemed to have had an easy time replacing her with her junior. They all seemed to get along, so when she heard her coach call her name at the sight of her, she sprinted out of the gym as fast as she could. As Jennifer walked home, she saw most of her classmates already in their civilian clothes. Trying to keep from being noticed, she ran into a nearby shop. Once the door was closed she saw three of the girls from class run by the door. Once they were gone, she turned around to see an old lady in a violet cloak looking at her. Jennifer jumped in fright, dropping her school briefcase, which popped open, ejecting her text books and her other belongings. The old lady picked up the sketchbook and looked inside as Jennifer put her belongings back in her bag. Once she picked up her last textbook, she found her favorite coloring pencils broken, “Oh, no. This cost me my allowance last week.” The old lady closed Jennifer’s sketchbook at that, “Follow me.” The old lady turned around and walked toward a shelf, pulling a small chest about eight inches long, five inches wide and an inch tall. An engraving of a white tiger, a red bird, a blue dragon, and a green turtle were on the top. Jennifer followed the old lady behind the shelf, to a table with two teacups sitting on it. The old lady motioned for her to sit, and Jennifer willingly did so, to be polite. They had sat there for hours, talking about Jennifer, but soon she walked to her house, the chest now in her book bag. The only thing the old lady really said about the box was to not fall for its illusions, dreams made a reality. Jennifer acknowledged that fact to what the old lady had said, so she put it away in her precious drawer. As she slept after a small dinner alone, she dreamed of a beautiful forest surrounding a clearing of wild flowers. A man walked out of the forest towards her. She recognized him instantly, her picture of that young man she was drawing the morning before. A word came from her mouth before he kissed her, “Seth.” Her eyes opened. She lay there, blushing from what she had just seen. She looked at her clock, “Five thirty, in the morning? Man, I’m up early.” She rolled over and tried to go back to sleep, but the image of her and ‘Seth’ would not leave her mind. She got up, dressed, putting her homework and the chest into her book bag, going downstairs to cook some breakfast. Her mother came down at six-fifteen, still dressing. She had almost missed the step up to the kitchen when she saw Jennifer cooking, “My, you’re up early. What’s the occasion?” Jennifer told her mother about her dream as they ate, leaving the fact that the boy was her own work of art. As she was explaining, her mother spilled coffee on her skirt in surprise. As her mother went to change Jennifer cleaned up breakfast and waited on the bench by the front door. Jennifer’s mother was so happy her tomboy daughter had found a boy she liked, so they went to the mall and bought her a new book bag on their way to the high school. Leaving her mother’s car with a new book bag, Jennifer had a good feeling that the rest of the day was going to be great. Math class passed the same as the day before, two new lessons, four new people, and another offer to be a student-teacher. It was now lunch time. As she sat in the garden, coloring the last of Seth’s hair, Jennifer couldn’t help, but wonder why she had dreamed of him. Once she finished coloring in the last detail, Jennifer laid against the tree she had taken refuge under and ate the last of her lunch. As she sat there, relaxing, a stick comes into her peripheral view. She snatched it from her assailant and used it to knock him to the ground. Orange and golden colors flashed, then the dark red and violet as the figure landed on his feet and faced her. A silent moment passed as the figure looked down at his clothes and brushed off all the grass blades. Her mouth blurted the name from last night, “Seth?” He looked up at her, his violet eyes sharp, as if staring into her soul, “Yes, Mistress Jennifer?” She froze, she had thought that he wouldn’t know her name, considering he was just a sketch in her book, but it had to be something else, he had to be some sort of stalker that decided to make fun of her sketches. Suddenly the bell rang for classes to continue, she looked at Seth, “I’ve got to go to class, you hide somewhere.” She ran off to the gym. Once she was dressed, she ran into the gym and saw Seth sitting in the bleachers, dressed in a business suit. Looking over, she noticed how cute he looked, but once she thought about it she got upset about him not following her instructions, she ran up to him, “What are you doing here?!” He smiled, “I’m watching over you Mistress Jennifer. It’s my job.” She froze again, “B-b-but-” Suddenly, “MISS KOBAYASHI!!” She flinched and turned around, “Yes, Coach?” The coach, her P.E. teacher, was standing right behind her, “You do know you have gym class right now, I’m sure. So what are you doing over here talking with the assistant coach?” Jennifer almost fell in surprise, “I was just-” The coach glared at her, “Never mind, just get over there and play basketball with the rest of the class while I talk with Mr. Greaves.” Jennifer ran over to the basketball courts and started to play, as she was told. Every minute or so she would look over to watch their conversation, as she noticed that the coach kissed his cheek, Jennifer froze. When she did, the ball was just being thrown to her, and it hit her in the face. She fell back on her butt and rubbed her face. A tear rolling down, making the sting subside as it went. Her classmates went up to her, “Are you okay?” She smiled, “Yeah, I’m fine, why don’t we try that again?” She stood up, not noticing that the coach and Seth had stopped their conversation when they heard the impact of the ball on her face. She finished playing the basketball game with a score of 34 points to her team and 22 to their opposing team. She had made 6 two pointers, and a three pointer, making her personal score 15. Once she had showered and everything, she walked out of the gym, Seth meeting her at the gym’s entrance, “May I speak with you?” Slightly upset from what she had seen in the gym she started to walk off. Seth grabbed her arm, “Please, Mistress Jennifer.” She pulled her arm from him, “No, Seth. We can’t go. I’ve got one more class to take before we can leave.” She walked away, feeling even more upset about what she had seen in the gym. Getting to her next class, she was told to leave because she was required in the Principal’s office. She got to the office and noticed that Seth was standing in the office, waiting. She sat across from the Principal, unwavering in her posture, despite her uncomfortable pain. The Principal knew about her injuries, but didn’t let it on, “Ms. Kobayashi, you may relax. I just wanted you to come speak with me about your husband here.” Seth smirked, “Actually, sir. We’re not officially married yet, just engaged.” Jennifer sat there, dumbfounded by what Seth had told her own principal, “Sir. I have nothing to say. Obviously Seth has told you everything. If you’ll excuse me, I have to catch up for my absence.” She stood, without another word, and the Principal waved his hand for her to proceed. Once she had left, word had gotten around the school because of the girls that were already in the office. She was on her way into the class when someone passing by asked her, “Hey, Kobayashi-san, is it really true that you’re getting married?” She continued to walk as if she had not heard. Questions such as that continued through the rest of the day. She called her mom before school was over to tell her she was coming home late, and coincidentally her mother had to work overtime again. As school was emptied for the weekend she noticed Seth leaning against an expensive looking car, all the flirty girls of the school were around him, and some of the girls with boyfriends were looking as well. Seth dropped his cigarette and smashed it before waving at her. Everyone turned and looked at who he was waving to, she blushed as she continued to walk, Seth coming up to meet her, “Came to give you a ride home, Jen.” Jennifer went along with the act, “Oh, sure. Thanks, Seth.” Seth opened the door for her and closed it as she got in and put her seatbelt on. Seth waved goodbye to all the girls as Jennifer unlocked the driver side door for him. They drove off as the girls looked like they were on the verge of tears. Seth smiled as they made their way to Jennifer‘s home, “I think you just made an enemy of the entire female school body, Mistress Jennifer.” Jennifer smiled, “Well, it’s not like I’ll be with you very long.” Seth pulled into the drive way, “Yes, you will. I’ll always be here to protect you.” He got out of the car and helped her out as she lead him into the house she laughed, “Yeah, sure you will.” She opened the door and deactivated the alarms, “Take your shoes off and put them on the shelf, you can wear my dad’s old house shoes, or just walk around in your socks.” Seth smiled, “I’ll walk around in socks, thanks.” Jennifer smiled in her mind, ~Just like I like to walk around.~ She lead him up to her room, “If you’re going to be in here, don’t mess with anything unless you ask. I have homework I need to finish.” She walked into her closet and changed into her tank top and jeans, hanging up her uniform. She came out and turned on some music, “You can read the comics and books, if you’d like.” She sat down at her desk as Seth pulled her favorite comic out and started to read. She started on her homework thinking, ~So much like me, but he’s a ‘he’.~ An hour passed before she started to drift off into sleep. Shaking her head she stood and stretched, looking back to see Seth asleep in her bean bag, the comic on is chest, open to a page he must have stopped reading at. She walked down to the kitchen and warmed up some tea, and grabbed some of her favorite snacks. She went back to her room and set them on her little table before she started eating, watching Seth sleep. He moaned, “Jen….” She crawled up to him, ~Sleep talking?~ Sitting next to his head she listened to him moan as her name came every few minutes.Touching his shoulder she tried to help him see something else, thinking of a calm scenery, “Seth, I’m right here. Relax, I’m fine.” The grass was waving in the wind as she reached out to him, her hair down, and her dress flying in the breeze, “Seth, look, I’m fine.” He looked at her disbelieving, “Jen?” She smiled as she walked up and hugged him, “Yes, it’s me. I’m okay. See?” He held her close, “Jennifer…..you are safe…good.” As his eyes opened she pulled the tray of food closer to them, “Seth, here, have some tea.” He sat up slowly, “Yeah, sure.” She smiled as he sipped at the tea, “Don’t worry about your dream. I’m fine, you don’t have to worry.” He nodded his head as he set the cup down, “You called out to me in my dream…. Making me feel safe and happy. How did you do that?” She smiled as she picked up the comic, looking at the page he was on, “I really don’t know. I’ve had that ability since I was a child. My mom said it was a curse because I was always there to help others, and never had to worry about myself, but that’s not true. All the bad dreams I took from them, I’d have sooner, or later.” Seth thought for a bit before starting to eat the snacks, leaving the conversation at that.Jennifer closed the book and set it on the table. The story was about this couple, one of the real world, the other of another world, but they loved each other so much, they wanted to be together, but someone loved the girl more and wanted to destroy the man she loved. The page Seth had left the book at, was when the girl sacrificed herself to save her lover, not the man that loved her. Her death causing her lover to lose control and destroy his world, along with the man that loved her. Jennifer smiled, ~To think he would feel something like that would happen.~ After her snack she returned to her homework. She finished her homework as Seth finished the last comic book of her favorite series. She smiled, “Well, now my weekend is all freedom.” She looked up at her clock, “It’s only seven? Well, how about we go out and do something? I don’t want to be cooped up in here all weekend.” Seth replaced the comic as she said this, “Whatever you want to do, I’ll gladly participate. It’s my job anyway.” Jennifer frowned, “Quit saying it’s your job. I never gave you the job of being my protector or anything like that.” Seth smiled, “Yes, you did, when you said to yourself, ‘I wish he was my boyfriend. Always there for me, as my protector, to enjoy stuff with me….’ I am only following your wish.” Jennifer’s jaw dropped, “So, you can read my mind too?” Seth nodded, “Yes. But I don’t read it all the time. Only when you want it to be heard by me.” Jennifer laughed, “So, if I thought about something I wanted you and I to do, would you be able to see it in your own mind?” Seth nodded, “More or less. It depends on the details you want me to see, the actions you want me to take."
***
“Jennifer,” a voice called to her. Jennifer turned to look at who said it, and saw her mother. “Jennifer, you better hurry. I’m going to be late if you’re not ready soon,” her mother said as she was putting her work jacket on, and she walked out of Jennifer’s room. Jennifer jumped up washed her face and brushed her teeth and hurriedly removed her pajamas and put on her maroon school T-shirt and her tan pants that were lying on her desk chair, neatly folded. She ran downstairs, carrying her shoes and her schoolbag as her mother started opening the front door, “Good, you’re ready.” Jennifer put her shoes on as her mother opened the door. As her mother drove her to school, Jennifer listened to her CD player as she shaded in the last bit of her sketch with colored pencils. The warrior had on an orange and gold tunic, his dark red hair clashed with his violet eyes. The car had stopped as she was about to finish coloring his hair, the final piece. She put her coloring pencils back in the box and got out of the car, her mother yelling, “Have a nice day!” She waved her mom off happily and went into the school. “Good morning Jennifer,” a voice called to her as she opened her locker. “Morning Donovan,” She responded as she removed a few text books from her locker, put them in her bag and closed the door. As she locked it, her old friend Donovan took her bag from her, “I wish you really hadn’t put that many books in there. You’re still healing, so take it easy.” She retrieved her bag from him, “I’m fine.” Angrily she stomped off to class leaving him to wander off to his own classes. As she walked into her classroom everyone looked up, “Welcome back, Miss Kobayashi.” She looked at her classmates surprised. When had they ever cared if she was gone from school? She responded to their greeting with a polite thank you and sat in her seat. As they waited for their teacher she pulled out her sketchpad and started to draw a new picture. She had been trying to decide how a new outfit she had to design for a friend would look, when the teacher walked in as the bell rang. “Alright, roll call.” the teacher said as he set a folder on his desk. Jennifer looked up and noticed the teacher was new. He was much younger than their 45 year old pervert from before she left. Out of the four or five teachers she had, only one was a male teacher, her math and homeroom teacher. She looked around, but all the students must have been under his teaching for a while now because none of them had a surprised expression on their own faces. She had been out of school for two months because of her clavicle and shoulder. It had been injured because of an accident, she knew the truth, but the word was that she had gotten into a car accident. Why now had they decided to switch the teacher? She responded after he called her name and then talked to the guy in front of her about the new, weirdly dressed teacher. She came to find out that the week after her injury, the old teacher had resigned. It took only two days to find a replacement, and her first thought was that it was a trick. She looked up at the board as the teacher had started to write out a math equation, she looked at her text and read the steps on how to solve it and worked out in her head how a few other problems would be solved. Just as she had finished, the teacher asked for a volunteer, she was the only one to rise in response. She stood at the board, the chalk scraping and tapping as she wrote it out. As an added bonus, she explained to the class what she was doing. The teacher watched and listened silently until she finished. Once she was done, he stood, “Now, any questions?” Nobody raised their hands. As Jennifer began heading back to her seat, the teacher called her back, “Now, you have five minutes to explain the next section to the class. At the end of the five minutes, if you do not make a mistake, and the class understands it, you may all leave for the remainder of class.” The entire class cheered as Jennifer read the rest of the section they were working on for the day. Once she finished, she started writing on the board again, while explaining the procedures that were to take place. As she wrote on the board and explained the lesson, the teacher continued to sit in his chair, watching her. Once she had finished, the teacher told her to take her seat. Once seated, he stood up from his chair placed beside the window, “Now, I want two volunteers to show me what Ms. Kobayashi has taught you all.” Jennifer’s two best guy friends got up and stood at the chalk board. The teacher wrote two separate equations, “Now, solve these equations. If you can not, we will return to our lesson plan for the day,” the teacher returned to his seat and watched them work out the equations. As Donovan finished, Adam looked up, checking both their work, “Dude, right here. You’re supposed to do this.” Adam started to write down Donovan’s missing steps. The teacher smiled, “Everyone is excused for the rest of class, but make sure you all stay out of trouble. Ms. Kobayashi, please stay behind.” After everyone had left, the teacher stood at the board and began erasing the chalk, “Ms. Kobayashi, I’m surprised that you were able to complete such an elaborate equation just by reading the book in a few minutes.” He sat the eraser on its perch and turned to her, “Now, how would you feel if I had you teach the class for the remainder of the year?” She looked up at him, surprised, “Sir, I don’t think-” He raised his hand to cut in, “Ms. Kobayashi, I have been trying to teach this class how to work these equations for an entire week now. It seems that I was not able to explain the procedures, or anything else.” Jennifer stood, “With all due respect, sir. I have no intention to become a student-teacher.” She walked out of the room, politely bowing to him as she closed the door behind her. She walked down the hall, instinctively dodging a fist that whizzed by her head. She grabbed the fist and threw her opponent, feeling the weight she knew it was a guy. As she stood straight again, her opponent landed on his back on the ground. She smiled, “Nice try Andrew, but you’ll have to do better than that if you want to date me.” She walked past him as he tried to stand up, “I will defeat you, Ms. Kobayashi, I swear.” Jennifer sat in the gym after school, watching her old teammates. They seemed to have had an easy time replacing her with her junior. They all seemed to get along, so when she heard her coach call her name at the sight of her, she sprinted out of the gym as fast as she could. As Jennifer walked home, she saw most of her classmates already in their civilian clothes. Trying to keep from being noticed, she ran into a nearby shop. Once the door was closed she saw three of the girls from class run by the door. Once they were gone, she turned around to see an old lady in a violet cloak looking at her. Jennifer jumped in fright, dropping her school briefcase, which popped open, ejecting her text books and her other belongings. The old lady picked up the sketchbook and looked inside as Jennifer put her belongings back in her bag. Once she picked up her last textbook, she found her favorite coloring pencils broken, “Oh, no. This cost me my allowance last week.” The old lady closed Jennifer’s sketchbook at that, “Follow me.” The old lady turned around and walked toward a shelf, pulling a small chest about eight inches long, five inches wide and an inch tall. An engraving of a white tiger, a red bird, a blue dragon, and a green turtle were on the top. Jennifer followed the old lady behind the shelf, to a table with two teacups sitting on it. The old lady motioned for her to sit, and Jennifer willingly did so, to be polite. They had sat there for hours, talking about Jennifer, but soon she walked to her house, the chest now in her book bag. The only thing the old lady really said about the box was to not fall for its illusions, dreams made a reality. Jennifer acknowledged that fact to what the old lady had said, so she put it away in her precious drawer. As she slept after a small dinner alone, she dreamed of a beautiful forest surrounding a clearing of wild flowers. A man walked out of the forest towards her. She recognized him instantly, her picture of that young man she was drawing the morning before. A word came from her mouth before he kissed her, “Seth.” Her eyes opened. She lay there, blushing from what she had just seen. She looked at her clock, “Five thirty, in the morning? Man, I’m up early.” She rolled over and tried to go back to sleep, but the image of her and ‘Seth’ would not leave her mind. She got up, dressed, putting her homework and the chest into her book bag, going downstairs to cook some breakfast. Her mother came down at six-fifteen, still dressing. She had almost missed the step up to the kitchen when she saw Jennifer cooking, “My, you’re up early. What’s the occasion?” Jennifer told her mother about her dream as they ate, leaving the fact that the boy was her own work of art. As she was explaining, her mother spilled coffee on her skirt in surprise. As her mother went to change Jennifer cleaned up breakfast and waited on the bench by the front door. Jennifer’s mother was so happy her tomboy daughter had found a boy she liked, so they went to the mall and bought her a new book bag on their way to the high school. Leaving her mother’s car with a new book bag, Jennifer had a good feeling that the rest of the day was going to be great. Math class passed the same as the day before, two new lessons, four new people, and another offer to be a student-teacher. It was now lunch time. As she sat in the garden, coloring the last of Seth’s hair, Jennifer couldn’t help, but wonder why she had dreamed of him. Once she finished coloring in the last detail, Jennifer laid against the tree she had taken refuge under and ate the last of her lunch. As she sat there, relaxing, a stick comes into her peripheral view. She snatched it from her assailant and used it to knock him to the ground. Orange and golden colors flashed, then the dark red and violet as the figure landed on his feet and faced her. A silent moment passed as the figure looked down at his clothes and brushed off all the grass blades. Her mouth blurted the name from last night, “Seth?” He looked up at her, his violet eyes sharp, as if staring into her soul, “Yes, Mistress Jennifer?” She froze, she had thought that he wouldn’t know her name, considering he was just a sketch in her book, but it had to be something else, he had to be some sort of stalker that decided to make fun of her sketches. Suddenly the bell rang for classes to continue, she looked at Seth, “I’ve got to go to class, you hide somewhere.” She ran off to the gym. Once she was dressed, she ran into the gym and saw Seth sitting in the bleachers, dressed in a business suit. Looking over, she noticed how cute he looked, but once she thought about it she got upset about him not following her instructions, she ran up to him, “What are you doing here?!” He smiled, “I’m watching over you Mistress Jennifer. It’s my job.” She froze again, “B-b-but-” Suddenly, “MISS KOBAYASHI!!” She flinched and turned around, “Yes, Coach?” The coach, her P.E. teacher, was standing right behind her, “You do know you have gym class right now, I’m sure. So what are you doing over here talking with the assistant coach?” Jennifer almost fell in surprise, “I was just-” The coach glared at her, “Never mind, just get over there and play basketball with the rest of the class while I talk with Mr. Greaves.” Jennifer ran over to the basketball courts and started to play, as she was told. Every minute or so she would look over to watch their conversation, as she noticed that the coach kissed his cheek, Jennifer froze. When she did, the ball was just being thrown to her, and it hit her in the face. She fell back on her butt and rubbed her face. A tear rolling down, making the sting subside as it went. Her classmates went up to her, “Are you okay?” She smiled, “Yeah, I’m fine, why don’t we try that again?” She stood up, not noticing that the coach and Seth had stopped their conversation when they heard the impact of the ball on her face. She finished playing the basketball game with a score of 34 points to her team and 22 to their opposing team. She had made 6 two pointers, and a three pointer, making her personal score 15. Once she had showered and everything, she walked out of the gym, Seth meeting her at the gym’s entrance, “May I speak with you?” Slightly upset from what she had seen in the gym she started to walk off. Seth grabbed her arm, “Please, Mistress Jennifer.” She pulled her arm from him, “No, Seth. We can’t go. I’ve got one more class to take before we can leave.” She walked away, feeling even more upset about what she had seen in the gym. Getting to her next class, she was told to leave because she was required in the Principal’s office. She got to the office and noticed that Seth was standing in the office, waiting. She sat across from the Principal, unwavering in her posture, despite her uncomfortable pain. The Principal knew about her injuries, but didn’t let it on, “Ms. Kobayashi, you may relax. I just wanted you to come speak with me about your husband here.” Seth smirked, “Actually, sir. We’re not officially married yet, just engaged.” Jennifer sat there, dumbfounded by what Seth had told her own principal, “Sir. I have nothing to say. Obviously Seth has told you everything. If you’ll excuse me, I have to catch up for my absence.” She stood, without another word, and the Principal waved his hand for her to proceed. Once she had left, word had gotten around the school because of the girls that were already in the office. She was on her way into the class when someone passing by asked her, “Hey, Kobayashi-san, is it really true that you’re getting married?” She continued to walk as if she had not heard. Questions such as that continued through the rest of the day. She called her mom before school was over to tell her she was coming home late, and coincidentally her mother had to work overtime again. As school was emptied for the weekend she noticed Seth leaning against an expensive looking car, all the flirty girls of the school were around him, and some of the girls with boyfriends were looking as well. Seth dropped his cigarette and smashed it before waving at her. Everyone turned and looked at who he was waving to, she blushed as she continued to walk, Seth coming up to meet her, “Came to give you a ride home, Jen.” Jennifer went along with the act, “Oh, sure. Thanks, Seth.” Seth opened the door for her and closed it as she got in and put her seatbelt on. Seth waved goodbye to all the girls as Jennifer unlocked the driver side door for him. They drove off as the girls looked like they were on the verge of tears. Seth smiled as they made their way to Jennifer‘s home, “I think you just made an enemy of the entire female school body, Mistress Jennifer.” Jennifer smiled, “Well, it’s not like I’ll be with you very long.” Seth pulled into the drive way, “Yes, you will. I’ll always be here to protect you.” He got out of the car and helped her out as she lead him into the house she laughed, “Yeah, sure you will.” She opened the door and deactivated the alarms, “Take your shoes off and put them on the shelf, you can wear my dad’s old house shoes, or just walk around in your socks.” Seth smiled, “I’ll walk around in socks, thanks.” Jennifer smiled in her mind, ~Just like I like to walk around.~ She lead him up to her room, “If you’re going to be in here, don’t mess with anything unless you ask. I have homework I need to finish.” She walked into her closet and changed into her tank top and jeans, hanging up her uniform. She came out and turned on some music, “You can read the comics and books, if you’d like.” She sat down at her desk as Seth pulled her favorite comic out and started to read. She started on her homework thinking, ~So much like me, but he’s a ‘he’.~ An hour passed before she started to drift off into sleep. Shaking her head she stood and stretched, looking back to see Seth asleep in her bean bag, the comic on is chest, open to a page he must have stopped reading at. She walked down to the kitchen and warmed up some tea, and grabbed some of her favorite snacks. She went back to her room and set them on her little table before she started eating, watching Seth sleep. He moaned, “Jen….” She crawled up to him, ~Sleep talking?~ Sitting next to his head she listened to him moan as her name came every few minutes.Touching his shoulder she tried to help him see something else, thinking of a calm scenery, “Seth, I’m right here. Relax, I’m fine.” The grass was waving in the wind as she reached out to him, her hair down, and her dress flying in the breeze, “Seth, look, I’m fine.” He looked at her disbelieving, “Jen?” She smiled as she walked up and hugged him, “Yes, it’s me. I’m okay. See?” He held her close, “Jennifer…..you are safe…good.” As his eyes opened she pulled the tray of food closer to them, “Seth, here, have some tea.” He sat up slowly, “Yeah, sure.” She smiled as he sipped at the tea, “Don’t worry about your dream. I’m fine, you don’t have to worry.” He nodded his head as he set the cup down, “You called out to me in my dream…. Making me feel safe and happy. How did you do that?” She smiled as she picked up the comic, looking at the page he was on, “I really don’t know. I’ve had that ability since I was a child. My mom said it was a curse because I was always there to help others, and never had to worry about myself, but that’s not true. All the bad dreams I took from them, I’d have sooner, or later.” Seth thought for a bit before starting to eat the snacks, leaving the conversation at that.Jennifer closed the book and set it on the table. The story was about this couple, one of the real world, the other of another world, but they loved each other so much, they wanted to be together, but someone loved the girl more and wanted to destroy the man she loved. The page Seth had left the book at, was when the girl sacrificed herself to save her lover, not the man that loved her. Her death causing her lover to lose control and destroy his world, along with the man that loved her. Jennifer smiled, ~To think he would feel something like that would happen.~ After her snack she returned to her homework. She finished her homework as Seth finished the last comic book of her favorite series. She smiled, “Well, now my weekend is all freedom.” She looked up at her clock, “It’s only seven? Well, how about we go out and do something? I don’t want to be cooped up in here all weekend.” Seth replaced the comic as she said this, “Whatever you want to do, I’ll gladly participate. It’s my job anyway.” Jennifer frowned, “Quit saying it’s your job. I never gave you the job of being my protector or anything like that.” Seth smiled, “Yes, you did, when you said to yourself, ‘I wish he was my boyfriend. Always there for me, as my protector, to enjoy stuff with me….’ I am only following your wish.” Jennifer’s jaw dropped, “So, you can read my mind too?” Seth nodded, “Yes. But I don’t read it all the time. Only when you want it to be heard by me.” Jennifer laughed, “So, if I thought about something I wanted you and I to do, would you be able to see it in your own mind?” Seth nodded, “More or less. It depends on the details you want me to see, the actions you want me to take."
{to be continued}
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