the people we've met [serennn]

The days had become longer, drawing on student’s imaginations to make the hours quicken. Without other children to rely on, the school was so large and ominous. What was there to do here? Nothing for normal children; for the gifted children here at Foresta, this was a playground. Dungeons to scour, hundreds of acres to run through, a never ending field of play.

For Clara, her hours were spent in the gymnasium. From the early morning until the ink spots of dusk blot the sky, Clara trained. Her body was ten times as toned as it once was, her hair a little longer, her eyes with more passion than ever before. She was tired of being weak; it was not only her body she was training.

Standing in the center of the gym, her arms spread above her head, Clara’s eyes closed. Inhaling, the gymnasium floor before her riddled with trampolines and hurdles, Clara waited.

Two seconds passed before a large beam from the ceiling began to drop. Down, down, down it dropped, almost on top of her until Clara jumped out of the way, onto one of the hurdles. The beam began making its way toward her, following her every move. She jumped onto one of the trampolines, launching herself into the air.

At her descent, a floorboard ripped off and flew under her, keeping her in the air. Skimming the ground, a jumprope found her fingers, and Clara ran to the end of the board that carried her, jumping onto the beam. Directing the beam to the ceiling again, Clara leapt off it, catching herself on a light before the board found her again.

Back on the ground, Clara’s chest heaved for air, strands of hair sticking to her face. She had grown up in the past year, no longer the odd little goth she used to be. No, she wanted to be more lethal than that.

Sitting up at the very top step on the stands, as Clara finished her exercise - Jared began to clap wildly - his eyes large with fascination. "That was amazing!" he yelled across the gym to the young woman, unable to stop staring at her he offered up a huge smile. "I couldn't ever do anything like that," he continued - not realizing that he could have moved closer - but instead being very amused by the fact that he could yell across the gym at her.

Jared had originally come to the gym to get a little bit of work-out done for just his body, but when he had seen the determined girl walk into the gym- he had quickly ran up the stands to get out of the way and see what she was going to do. At the moment, the vivacious young man's appearance stuck out like a sore thumb. His hair was pale green - almost blonde, and his eyes were teal with a tint of gold in them.

Jumping down a few steps to get closer to the young woman, Jared continued with what he was saying "So, you're telepathic? Or is it telekinetic?" Jared frowned and shook his head, "I'm not really sure what it's called..." Jared stopped and took a breath before continuing "Any ways, I'm sorry if I'm interrupting but I was just wondering..."

Jared looked at Clara for a moment before speaking, taking in her appearance and her demeanor. She was extremely pretty, a dark haired woman who seemed to have quite a bit of mystery about her. On that thought, Jared hesitated once again - his actual flirting abilities beginning to affect him when he really thought about it.

"I'm Jared Taylor - I mean I'm Jared," the young man stuck out his hand quickly toward Clara, realizing that he had changed the subject but choosing not to acknowledge that.

As her hands came to her sides, exhaling softly, a horrible noise reached Clara. The sound of another person. Her icy stare found the intruder, but it didn't have any effect on him. He wouldn't shut up, just kept talking. She took him in, from his green hair to his odd little outfit and snickered. Oh goodness. She must not have looked very appealing either, sweat matting the hair on her forehead, no make up on... Still, she was not here to impress anyone.

Without another look, the trampolines infront of her began to move, placing themselves in different positions. "Why are you here?" she asked, not looking at him. If there was one thing Clara hated more than people in general, it was uninvited people. She could read his mind if she wanted to know anything about him. Thtat was the good thing about being a telepath; there was no need for casual conversation.

When everything in the room was ready for her, Clara turned back to her uninvited, intruding guest and crossed her hands over her chest. "If I wanted to," she growled, "I could find out anything I wanted to about you, your family, and any little secret you've ever had. So unless you want to become my next target, tell me why you're interrupting me. And it had better be important."

Jared had hesitated when she spoke - but only for a split second at that. He took back his hand, obviously realizing that she wasn't planning on touching him anytime soon. Instead he continued with his typical smiley behavior and nodded. "I was going to go work out, but you came in and I wasn't sure what to do so I ran over to the bleachers or the stands... or whatever those things over there are called." He nodded to what he was talking about before returning his attention back to Clara.

"I didn't think interrupting you was that terrible," he pouted for a moment - his whole being say stall on the subject for a little bit. He gave into his honesty though, and went ahead and told her the truth - "I think you're really pretty, I was wanting to know what your name was." He offered up another huge grin - hooking his thumbs on his large potion belt, his mind at the moment playing out what would happen if he mixed certain plants and liquids together.

Clara's usually pale face reddened quickly, and her face turned into a scowl. He was like a lovestruck puppy, and she had just met him! There was something seriously wrong with this child. He was a good few inches taller than her, so she was glaring up at him. When he mentioned her being pretty, one of the trampolines snapped in half. "Who do you think you are, Romeo or something? Give me one good reason I should get to know you."

This odd guy - Jared, was it? - had interrupted her practice, inadvertantly broken one of the trampoline's... Looking up at him, she let her mental guard down, searching his mind. As soon as she was in, she wanted to get out. He was thinking about plants, liquids, potions, magic, everything and nothing all at once!

Her hand went up to her head and, as she began shutting him out, one of the last thoughts she heard was Gosh she's pretty! Clara glared at him again before a chair slid behind her and she sat down, rubbing her temples. Reading his mind had given her one of the worst headaches she had ever experienced.

Jared frowned at Clara's behavior, pausing for a moment before replying - that was until he felt his mind being invaded. He narrowed his eyebrows together, the young man honestly feeling a little violated. As she got out of his head though and sat down, obviously looking like she was in pain. His frown deepened and he pulled out a small bottle with orange liquid in it.

Kneeling down in front of Clara, he opened up the bottle and a very citrus smell drifted out. "You seem lonely," he said to her quietly, "This will help you get rid of your headache, you can just smell it or drink it if you like... "

He looked to the young woman in front of him, with not necessarily concerned eyes - but very patient ones. His demeanor at the moment was full of sincerity, kindness and child-like trust and honesty. "You don't have to get to know me, if you don't want too. But you seem like an interesting person, and I'd like to get to know you... if you don't mind."

Clara's eyes landed on the bottle and its scent caught her nose. It smelled like organes. And lemons. The fragrence alone made Clara reach a hand out to grasp it, holding it under her nose. "Thank you," she muttered. She watched his mannerisms and, surprisingly, she found them enjoyable. He was like a child. Clara hated children. Yet, there was something innocent about this Jared fellow.

"Why do you want to get to know me?" she asked. "I destroy things that get close to me."

It was somewhat true. Clara had since controlled her power, yet there was always that slight chance that she could relapse. If her emotions were too strong, sometimes things would break. It was never intentional, but it always seemed to happen.

"I destroy things that get close to me."

Jared looked Clara in the eye when she said those words, and a small yet challenging smile crawled onto his face. How lucky for him to come across someone like this, thinking or probably knowing they could ruin anyone around them - and him already having so much experience with that that it quite simply didn't affect him anymore. "I guess it's a good thing you can't destroy me then," he said to her with almost a very flirtatious smile.

He was such an unlucky person, it was almost like a curse for him. His sister was gifted with it being the other way around of course, but as for him - he was destined to be unlucky, so... was it good or bad luck meeting this girl? He looked at her for a moment with a very inquisitive expression. "What's your name?" he finally asked her with a slight tilt of his head - not minding the least bit as she held the bottle to her nose. He was pleased with his power most of the time, in his mind it was a simple sort of thing.

Clara glared at at Jared and felt the bottle in her fingers break. "And how is it I can't destroy you?" she muttered, still glaring at him, his smile only adding to her anger. How could he possibly have any idea what she could do? If she wanted to, she could take his body and snap it in half...

Flicking the liquid from her fingers, she tore her eyes away from him. "Clara Linscott. What was that liquid you gave me?"

[bahhhh writer's block!!!]

As the bottle broke, Jared stared at her wide-eyed for a moment - her harsh question not phasing him in the least bit. "You just couldn't," he said in a dismissive sort of manner - more concerned with whether or not she had gotten any cuts on her fingers. "Are you okay? You didn't get cut did you," Carefully the young man reached forward - unsure on whether or not he could touch her and finally decided that he didn't care either way and if she pulled away then it was simply her choice.

Grabbing her hand he opened up her palm to look for any bleeding, worry scattered all across his face. "It was something I made," he said to her - still double checking her hand for any signs of bleeding. "It's my power, I can make potions to alter someone's health, or appearance, or even personality - I mean I've only tried it once... and it was with myself. I couldn't really do it with anyone else, it's kind of really difficult and everyone's unique in there own way," Jared looked up Clara helplessly for a moment - as if trying to show her how much of a good person he was. Shaking his head though, he brought her attention back down to her hand as he continued to talk, "Anyways, I usually only make potions for people's health - I like to make potions for my appearance though - I wouldn't really do it for anyone else unless they asked me too." The young man scrunched his lips together thoughtfully for a moment, finally deciding that Clara was safe from any cuts for the time being.

His hand, so warm and soft, made a blush gently creep onto her face. Nobody had touched her so gently before... Her heart hammered behind her chest, and she kept her eyes planted on the ground. She had never had such an intense feeling before, from somebody just touching her hand. Her face was burning, crawling down her neck and over her shoulders.

Clara's fingers wrapped around his and she looked up at him. "Stop trying to take care of me." She pulled her hand from his as the chair, with her still sitting on it, pulled back. Standing up, she turned her back to him and began stretching again. "I don't know why you're so interested in me, but I don't trust you. If you can't even be yourself, why should I trust you? You change your appearance, you said so yourself."

Turning to look at him, she put her hands on her hips. "How about this. You show me what you really look like, natural hair, eyes, height, everything, and... we'll go somewhere. To hang out. Not a date."

Part of Clara didn't want him to do it. She was afraid that feeling would come back, that maybe she would start to really like this kid. And she didn't want to.

She took a hold of his hand, and Jared looked up at her briefly, his eyes widening like a deer caught in the headlights. A second passed and color rose to his face, but as she spoke and pulled away from him - the young man frowned and stood up. Frowning even more as she turned his desire to be unique around on him. It wasn't that he couldn't be himself, it was that he enjoyed different colors - he enjoyed variety and constant changing things. Routine bored him.

She did offer to go somewhere with him if he showed her the real him, it wasn't a major thing to ask from him anyways - so Jared nodded and went for only one potion in one of the pockets in his belt. "I can't change my height or body type, I haven't ever had the desire too. My hair and eyes are the only things that constantly change." As he said this, Jared looked down at the potion and swirled around the liquid in the bottle. Looking contemplative, he looked up at Clara and back down at the potion. Finally, popping it open - he took it in a quick swig - his face clenching up and his eyes closing tight from the disgusting taste.

Within minutes though, the pale green of his hair faded to his natural pale roots - the color of blond spreading over the rest of his hair. As his face relaxed and the taste faded from his mouth, Jared opened up his eyes and his natural light blue color was there, the color itself enhancing his child-like innocence.

"My family has European roots, but it's really funny because my sister and I look nothing alike... she goes here also." He looked at Clara, his eyes full of curiosity and almost pleading. "This is me," he said to her simply holding out his hands in an accept me sort of manner.

His frown made her smile, gave her comfort in knowing that he could be hurt. If there was anything that truly annoyed her, it was perpetually happy people. How could anybody have such a happy lfe? It wasn't possible. No life was that good; unless you had millions of dollars, perhaps.

Clara folded her arms over her chest as Jared took another little bottle and drank its contents. His discomfort made her snicker, putting a hand to cover her smile. This boy either really wanted to get to know her, or he didn't mind drinking all his little bottle-things. She wouldn't do it, no way. They didn't look too appealing either...

Watching his green hair fade away, her smirk faded into a small smile, her hand moving to rest on her cheek. He was very...cute. She walked over to him, looked up at him and smiled. "See. Green hair doesn't really suit anybody," she said quietly. She reached out with her power to push his hair from his face and felt her face burn again.

She smiled again and took a step back. "Alright, where do you wanna go?" Clara cleared her throat and chased that stupid smile from her face. Her arms crossed over her chest again, and she had to kep her eyes away from his. He looked too innocent to ever be in her life. She had a tendency to ruin things...

Clara approached him, and Jared stood still for a moment - the hair in his face being pushed back - and he automatically assumed it was Clara's doing as he spotted the color in her face. Grinning at her, Jared stuck his hands in his pockets - he had just met the girl and he already wanted to give her a big 'ole bear hug.

As she asked him where he wanted to go, Jared froze for a moment - his eyes widening in horror. Where did he want to go? Oh dear god, he hadn't thought it all the way through. He had no idea he was actually going to be able to really go somewhere. Mentally pacing around in his mind for a moment, he spoke before thinking "I... ummmm..."

Jared took a deep breath, the panic of not knowing something clearly written on his face. After a second passed though, he finally came up with something "Let's walk to the village, is that okay with you? I mean we can go somewhere else if you don't like there... but I figured it'd be a nice walk since it's still the afternoon I think..." Jared quickly shut his lips hoping not to completely talk the girls ear off. Anxiously, he rocked back and forth on his heels - beyond excited to get to know more about the dark haired, pale eyed pretty girl standing in front of him.

The telepath watched Jared curiously, watching the thoughts travel through his head. No, wait, "travelling" was a bad word for it... "Rushing" was better. She didn't bother trying to read them this time. Caching glimpses of words, all flustered and worried, made her smile. He seemed so young, so innocent. There was no way he c ould be her age, or even close to it. Yet, he was taller than her and looked her age. She'd find out during their conversation.

The village... She hadn't been there since the festival in the fall. It was a nice little place. She nodded in agreement and pursed her lips. "Sure, but I'll need a shower and to change my clothes. Would you want to meet at the front of the school in, say, an hour?"


Having no intentions of truly getting to know Jared, Clara kept this coy act up. She hadn't liked the way he touched her, and, then again, she had. It was an unfamiliar feeling, one that frightened her. He was cute, but he was too bubbly to ever be her friend. Too much had happened to her for her to be as bubbly as him.