Two Months Later...
Rachel POV
"Nicki, if you don't get your hands off my phone I swear that I will murder you!" Luke yelled.
"Yeah yeah yeah you don't have the guts! I bet I could fry your butt!" Nicki taunted, waving his phone in his face.
"Oh why you-"
"Boys boys boys," I teased as Nicki began to spark and Luke emitted waves of frostiness. "Stop fighting already! Nicki, give Luke his phone and Luke, if you murder Nicki I'll have no choice but to call the authorities."
Nicki threw Luke his phone while muttering under his breath while Luke plopped down on the grass. We were at a park, studying for our history test tomorrow. That was until Nicki got frustrated with Luke's teasing and stole his phone. Of course, that was a whole blow up. It wasn't like Nicki was in a particularly good mood anyways. By every passing day with no news of his brother, he became surly and agitated. He constantly looked exhausted and worn down and I was hoping that Caleb would be found soon. Nicki may have a breakdown if something doesn't happen.
"C'mon, just a bit more!" Luke urged Nicki.
"Luke, I can't freaking focus anymore," He muttered angrily. "I can't focus on anything."
He began sparking again and this time, I felt heat radiating off of him. From what I knew, he had my water powers, Luke's ice powers, fire powers, and electricity powers. You could always tell when he was mad when he began sparking.
"Nicki, calm down a bit," I soothed.
"Completely calm. I'm COMPLETELY calm," He growled.
"Yeah, sure you are," Luke mumbled.
After constant bickering and fights between those two for hours on hours, we finally packed up our stuff. Good studying did get done despite the constant interruptions. We began walking home. Nicki had his hands shoved in his pockets with a scowl stretched across his usually cheerful face.
"Wow, grumpy," Luke whispered to me.
"I heard that," Nicki snapped.
Luke smothered a smile as we just kept walking. It was pretty silent. To me, it was blissful. After having insults from Nicki and Luke being shouted in my ear, the peace was nice. Then we heard some faint yelling from around the corner. When we turned, we were greeted with the sight of a boy smoking and two other, much taller guys standing over him with sneers.
"Look at you. Trying to look all cool and tough by smoking that when you're nothing but some bratty fag."
"Hey!" Nicki yelled, striding over to them.
Luke and I exchanged weary looks. 'Here we go again, am I right?' I thought amusedly.
"Don't you guys have something better to do than jeer at an innocent kid?"
"And what does that make you? An infant?" They leered with cackling laughter.
"Why you-"
"Stop."
The boy stood up and looked up, expelling a fine line of smoke. His eyes were cold and dark as he surveyed all of us.
"I suggest all of you step back a few good miles and leave me alone."
Nicki looked shocked.
"But-"
"That's including you, dork," He snarled at Nicki.
Nicki's fingers curled into tight fists. The boy raised an eyebrow at me and Luke.
"Also you two. I don't need any sort of Prince Charming trying to swoop in and save me," He said coldly.
He began to walk away when one of them grabbed him by the hair and yanked him back. He stumbled into Nicki who caught him. Once he was into the light, we got a real good look at him. He had light blue hair and had heterochromatic eyes underlined by freckles and dark bags. His eyes narrowed at the other guys and he shoved Nicki away, standing up.
"Oh you'll pay for that you-" We winced as he shouted out profanities at them.
He lunged forward and I didn't even see his fist flying. For someone so small, he packed quite the punch. He slugged one of them right in the face. The other one's partner grabbed him in a bear hug but Michael stomped on his foot and bucked his head back. There was the sickening crunch of a nose breaking as he let go. Michael stood over their shaking forms.
"Trust me fellas. There's more where that comes from. Now... do you guys still want to go?" He said with fury in his voice.
They shrieked and scrambled away. He sighed and picked up his cigarette which was crushed and sighed.
"What a waste."
He threw it back on the ground and noticed Luke opening his mouth.
"Before you ask, no, I'm not addicted." He eyed Nicki with a scrunched up nose.
Nicki also sized him up silently. Nicki was taller by a few inches and was still lithe, but this guy definitely had more defined muscle to him. Not overbearing, just enough. He had this look of fierceness that said "you touch me and I put you in the hospital". Scary.
"Whatever. Thanks for nothing."
He walked off and literally... disappeared. Like, he was there and then he wasn't. What the heck?
"Wait-what? He-but-right there!" Luke spluttered.
"Weird."
I smiled.
"Is it wrong I kind of thought he was cute?"
"What? You found a guy tinier than you cute?" Luke exclaimed.
"Not in that way you ding dong!" I teased. "Just cute. You know, like if you were looking at a dog and saying awwww. That kind of cute. Not cute as in attractive cute."
"But that's like the same thing," Nicki said, confused.
"No it isn't."
"Yes it is."
"No it isn't."
"How did you find him bashing in someone's nose cute?" Luke asked disdainfully. "He looked like some gangster."
"Hey!" Nicki exclaimed hotly. "Don't go judging everyone you see. Maybe he has a bad home life or something and maybe got fed up of being hurt and learned to fight. That's what I would do."
"If you could fight," Luke shot back.
"Jerk," Nicki snapped.
"How are you two guys friends when you two won't stop fighting!?" I asked exasperatedly.
They quieted for a moment and I sighed, rubbing my face.
"Well, I'm going home. You two can argue until dawn I don't care. I'm going to go home and sleep."
I walked off, not knowing how tomorrow would drastically flip my life upside down.