No. 20: It Takes Time to Mend a Broken Heart

No. 20: It Takes Time to Mend a Broken Heart

"Kaleigh I don't think this is such a good idea -"
"Stryder. We talked about this."
Kaleigh whiled around looking him strait in the eye with a determined look, her hands on her hips.
Some of her long ponytail got caught in her mouth when she did, which she pulled out in annoyance.
"It's going to be fine. I'll be right there and nothing bad is going to happen. Besides they're already expecting you. I told Brandon to tell them you'd be coming."
Stryder looked from the weird pyramid like building to her face in shock.
"When did you do that? You've never left me alone since last night, and you didn't call anyone!" He gawked.
After he had taken out his contacts last night, Kaleigh insisted he stay with her.
The conversation wit her brothers was surprisingly short. After they saw his eyes they gave in with the condition that he slept in the living room.
But Kaleigh surprised all of them by camping out on the floor.
Not wanting to leave their sister with a strange teenage boy, the brothers decided to make a movie night out of it.
All of them camped out on the floor with popcorn and cheesy horror movies.
When the sugar high crashed, Kaleigh had ended up curled up next to Stryder, with her head on his lap. Venn had noticed and gave him one of those looks that said, 'do anything stupid and I'll kill you'. But Stryder was just happy with the fact that she was so close and trusted him so much even though they didn't really know each other.

"Well Brandon and I have a telepathy link so I can talk to him whenever I want really."
Kale must have noticed the bizarre look on Stryder's face. "It's like free cell phone service just with out the phone...and I can only call one person, but that's not the point!"
She paused a moment to gather her thoughts.
"We'll explain it all in a minute. Now come on!"
She grabbed his wrist and pulled him after her through the glass doors of the weird building.

Inside, Kaleigh quickly looked around to see everyone was in various stages of training already.
Brandon was doing his usual beam work, Cliff was focusing on channeling water to use as a shield. Venn and Terra were working together, trying to see what they could do acrobatically, and what moves would help them in battle.
The Professor was sitting on one of the benches shouting corrections, or encouragements or praises.
Kale waltzed up to him and tapped him on the shoulder.
Wallace turned and looked up at the young girl who moved aside, revealing a boy a year older than her stood a little ways away. The Professor recognized him immediately, and was even surprised to see that when the boy's eyes looked his way, they were golden.
"Ah...you must be Stryder." He said, rising from his seat and looking the boy over.
The boy just gave him a head nod but said nothing more.
Brandon jumped off a beam and landed gracefully next to Kaleigh, his arms crossed over his chest, his hair in his stormy eyes.
"Who's this?" He asked.
"This is Stryder....The....you know." Kaleigh muttered. Brandon looked at her, as if he was expecting her to finish her sentence, but she just jabbed him in the ribs and gave him a meaningful look.
"Oh...that you know." He finally got it when he looked at the boy's eyes.
"Yeah...that one. Idiot." She rolled her eyes and walked towards the closet that held the training garbs.
So, she hasn't told him. The Professor thought grimly.
"So, Stryder." He spoke up. "How did you find Kaleigh?"
Stryder hesitated, not quiet sure how to answer that.
"Bumped into her at the mall a couple months back." He answered finally.
The Professor nodded and watched as Kaleigh came up behind him and smiled at Stryder.
"I'll be right back, don't freak out. They wont bite." She said as she went off to go change.
The boy shifted when she disappeared and shoved his hands into his pockets.
"Well I'm sure this is all very strange to you and I apologize for that. But please let me enlighten you."
Stryder nodded slightly and shifted from one foot to another, waiting for him to tell him what the heck was going on.

.:+++:.

Kaleigh weaseled into her training garbs and kicked off her shoes and socks. Jogging out of the changing room, she saw the Professor and Stryder talking on a bench farthest from everyone.
"Hey Kale."
She looked up and saw Brandon standing in front of her as she braided her hair in her usual French braid.
"We're working on jumps today along with the beams."
Kaleigh groaned. She hated the beams. She felt like the most clumsiest person ever when she was on the beams. Especially compared to Brandon.
"You've got to work on those okay? Someday you're going to thank me. I promise." He said, taking her hand and pulling her towards the ladder that led up to the beams.
"Yeah but I suck! Big time!"
"Compared to a guy who's been doing this for several years now. You can only compare yourself to yourself. Alright?"
Kale growled at him but quickly scaled the ladder.
"Why do you always know the right things to say at the right times?" She asked, not really expecting an answer.
Because I'm just that awesome.
She smiled at his voice in my head. It wasn't one of those things that someone gets use to, but it does become slightly more familiar over time.
Full of yourself much? Kaleigh asked.
The only response she got was a chuckle.
She strapped a harness on her and clipped the safety belt onto it.
"Alright you ready? We've got to work on our jumping from thing to thing, meaning you've got to keep your movements fluid. Here's a hint, your body will automatically try to find a foothold and get there. It's just the way God programmed your mind and how your body works."
"So what you're saying is start running and don't stop? Let my subconscious do all the work?"
"Well...sort of. We'll start off easy. See that cable? Swing around it and land back on the same beam. Okay?"
Kaleigh took a deep breath and with out another word she took off running.
Her bare feet gripped the padding and gave her good traction. The cable was coming up quick, she inhaled deeply and forced her mind to go blank.
Her hands gripped the cable slightly above her head, her momentum caused her to swing around when she pushed off. The pieces of cloth Brandon had wrap around her palms, kept her skin from ripping to shreds.
Halfway through the spin, she tucked her legs into her chest for a moment, aiming her body tightly around the cable and then letting her legs out. Her feet hit the beam and she pushed herself forward with her hands and landed squarely on the beam.
She exhaled and realized she had been holding her breath.
"See? I told you, you could do it." Brandon said, looking at her with a grin as he crossed his arms over his chest.
She sighed, and allowed herself a smile. Enjoying the small victory.
"Yeah but that was simply a turn."
"Yeah but that'll help you in some tight spot. I've used it more times then I can count. It's the basic stuff that counts."
Kaleigh sighed and pushed a stray hair out of her eyes.
"Alright, well teach me the basics. I hate the feeling of being defenseless." She said.
"You're going to have to convince me better than that."
Kale jumped when Stryder was suddenly standing next to Brandon, he was still in his street clothes, even his shoes.
"Someone who's defenseless doesn't jump a guy twice her size that she knows could beat her much faster than she could react. Yet you decided to make the first move and therefore you had surprise on your side which you knew, and therefore you had the upper hand. That's not the kind of planning someone who's defenseless has, that's the planning of someone who knows exactly what they need to get the upper hand that's with in their limits."
His golden eyes locked in on hers and she shifted, slightly nervous.
"I'm just a sixteen year old girl with a screwed up past and some whacked out powers. That doesn't make me Jason Bourne." She unclasped her lifeline.
Her emotions were mixed with despair, and an urge to prove herself that she could do just as well as the boys.
Brandon cried out when she suddenly dove off the beam. She was falling head first, and the floor was coming up fast. Last second she pulled herself into a tight ball, hit the ground on her left shoulder and rolled, letting the impact transform into momentum, propelling her into a fast roll and coming up on her knees.
Everyone gapped at her. Pure silence hung over them like a blanket, her own heartbeat pounded in her ears as her look of shock turned to a smile.
"You were saying?" Stryder called down. She looked back up at them and grinned before taking off into the changing room.

Back in her street clothes, she stood over the sink her face drenched with water as she tried to calm herself down.
What she had just accomplished wasn't completely her, it was part of her newly honed senses that had let her do that.
"So now I am like Jason Bourne?" She asked herself in the mirror.
Groaning, she threw on her leather jacket and ran out of the changing room. She didn't even pause when she ran through the training room, ignoring everyone yelling her name as she ran out and into the open air, taking off down the green hill in a steady pace and keeping her breathing even. At this pace she knew she could go at least a mile, which would get her beyond the school grounds which is just want she needed right now. A break, from everything, including Brandon asking her questions in her head.
She made it past the mansion but not any farther.
"Hey Kaleigh!"
She slowed her pace down 'til she came to a stop, turning to see who had called her name.
A blond haired girl with bright green eyes came running over. Crystal.
"Hey Crystal. What's up?" Maybe this girl was just the thing Kale needed to clear her head.
"Oh not much how about you?" The girl said, coming to a stop right in front of her.
"Same here."
"Cool. Well since we're both conveniently doing nothing, shall we go on that girl's day out?"
Kaleigh nodded.
"Yeah!"
Crystal's smile beamed on her small round face. "Neat! My cars just around the corner. Let's go!"
Crystal linked her arm with Kaleigh and led her away to her car.

.:+++:.

When Kaleigh had run out, with out giving anyone an explanation, naturally the boys wanted to go looking for her. Only they found Terra blocking the door.
"Let her cool down. You guys are giving her too much pressure and she's stressed. Back off and just let her be." She said, crossing her arms over her chest.
It took some convincing and a firm hand but they finally gave up and went back to training.
Terra sighed and told the Professor she was done for the day before she headed to the changing room.

When she was back in the comfort of her skirts, boots and turtle neck, she emerged from the locker room. The two brother's where cracking up jokes like normal, and even including Stryder a bit though he was still kind of shy and quiet, Terra wanted to applaud Kaleigh for being able to somehow talk that boy into working with them.
It was when she picked up Brandon's unique energy mark from the training room, he was alone and probably pouting that she told him off.
Terra sighed and moved past the three boys who took the locker room to themselves. Venn watched her as she passed by, but she told herself she had imagined it.

"Brandon?" She asked, walking up to him and gripping his shoulder.
He glanced up at her and forced a smile.
"Hey I'm good."
"Are you sure?"
"Yep. I just need time to think is all."
"Alright, if you say so. You know where to find me if you want to talk." She said, squeezing his arm before walking off.

Terra lost herself in the music so much she almost didn't hear the footsteps.
Her mind was spinning, jumping from Brandon's worried tone, to Kaleigh running off, to Venn.
When the rational side of her found that she had been thinking too much of him, she prayed. Every day, every second she spends around him. She's not sure what the feeling bubbling up under the surface means. She doesn't know what to do with it and it was getting harder and harder to hide it because of him being her partner and all. Something about him was off lately and she couldn't seem to figure out what it was, but she was dying to know.

The song ended softly and she finally noticed the life force behind her.
"Are you always going to be standing in the doorway just listening to me?" She called over her shoulder.
The now all to familiar energy came closer as Venn sat down next to her on the bench.
"I didn't know what to say." He admitted.
"Uh something like, 'what song is that?' or 'Who taught you piano?' and those are just the ones off the top of my head." She said with a growing smile.
Venn let out a sigh and nodded, his leg jumping up and down.
"What's up?" She asked, knowing something was wrong by the way he was acting.
"Ah it's just that things that are getting to me right now."
"Hmm...want to talk about it?"
"Uh sure, but my ADHD is going to drive me up a wall so want to come with me?" He asked.
She hesitated for a split second before nodding and following him out of the mansion.

Terra wasn't exactly sure what he was planning on doing for his ADHD, but when the smell of oil, diesel, and rust hit her nose, she figured he was going to be working on his new car he had mentioned he had bought a couple weeks back.
Venn started working on the car as soon as he walked into the garage. Grabbing a couple of tools, he popped the hood open and went to work putting the new battery in.
"So what's bothering you?" Terra asked, sitting down on top of an overturned bucket.
"Life. I guess I'm just angry at Cliff and Kale for moving on so fast." He admitted.
"Who said they have moved on?" She asked. "They haven't moved on, they're just dealing with it differently then you are. There's nothing wrong with that, it just is."
He groaned at the shrink answer. She seemed to know what the groan meant. She got up and walked over to him, placing a hand on his arm.
"Look, I'm not going to lecture you, or tell you how you should feel or any of that crap." His eyebrows rose when she used language that was fouler then normal.
"All I'm trying to say is don't be afraid to show emotions. You try to hide them, trying to cover them up with quick words or a smile. But it's not a weakness to show them every once in awhile."
Venn looked at Terra, and even though she couldn't see, she knew he was. It was hard to ignore his heavy gaze.
For a fleeting moment he leaned in hesitantly and Terra was scared he'd kiss her.
But that was when all hell decided to break loose.