Gifted Connections 4

“I think we should bring Cooper,” Jaxson stated in front of us. He was casually leaning against the wall in the hallway. He looked at me with a mischievous smile before the little capuchin monkey materialized and came running forward.

“Cooper!” I cried happily. Cooper was the first illusion Jaxson had created that we realized could be touched.

Cooper launched himself into my arms, and I cradled him in my chest. “I missed you,” I cooed to the monkey.

“You’re going to drain yourself quickly,” Jace said dryly to Jaxson. “We haven’t had the use of our gifts for a while, and you can cause yourself fatigue.”

Jaxson grinned and shrugged.

Last night, or should I say early this morning, Drake and I had spent some time practicing our gifts, but we had noticed that we had gotten exhausted faster and easier. We knew better than to push it too much or too soon, so we had stopped. I knew Jaxson hadn’t and didn’t have the self-control to do the same.

It was a conscious effort not to look back at Lincoln. I didn’t know how to act now that we finally made our connection. If it had been any one of the other guys who went down with me, I would be showing more concern towards them. This was all new territory for me.

“I think Cooper needs to go,” Jaxson shrugged.

“Getting tired?” Jace asked smugly.

“Nope,” Jaxson said mulishly.

“Bye, Coop,” I cooed as I kissed his head.

He quickly vanished, and a second afterward, I felt warm arms embrace me from behind. “Wanna skip school today?” Jaxson said huskily in my ear.

“Mmm,” I contemplated as I tried to awkwardly walk with him embracing me. “As tempting as that sounds, we can’t really afford to miss any more school. Just because you have a few col

leges looking at you, doesn’t mean you’ve been accepted.” I reminded him.

“Mr. Bates loves me, he’ll hook a brother up,” Jaxson said cockily. “Besides, I’m in need of some loving.”

I laughed at him. “We’ll see what we can do.”

“Mmm hmm,” he said skeptically.

I laughed once more and gently disengaged from him. I stood on my tip toes and pulled his ear down so I could whisper in it. “We’ll slip away to the locker rooms before lunch and training.”

“Promise?” he asked hopefully.

“Promise,” I smiled up at him.

We entered the dining facility, and some of the chatter died down.

“Ever feel like everyone’s watching you?” I joked.

“Well… our search for you last night caused a stir,” Jace said with a shrug.

I groaned, remembering the condition I was in when I passed out.

“Don’t worry,” Noah teased. “We found you so…”

“Some people thought you left us for Lincoln,” Jaxson teased.

I looked over at Lincoln, and I could see the smirk on his face.

“Remember the days no one barely knew who I was?” I sighed dramatically. “Let’s eat.”

I started to advance to the line to get our breakfast. I could see that Will, Megan, and the children had beaten us there this morning. I looked down at my watch and noticed that we still had thirty minutes before class started. It was Alex who spotted me first.

“Blake!” he cried out before running towards me.