Gifted Connections 2

There was a guy I didn’t recognize manning the door. “Five dollars,” he said cheerfully.

“I don’t think so, buddy,” Troy stated with an easy smile. “This is our party.”

The guy looked skeptically down at his clipboard. “Troy, Jace, Jaxson, Noah, and Misty?”

I snorted knowing Jemmy had told him my name was Misty. “That’s us. Flash is right behind us.”

The guy gave me an appreciative look. “You’re probably the third Wonder Woman I saw tonight, but you,” he eyed me up and down. “Fill out the costume the best,” he smiled at me with a wink.

“Look away, my man,” Jaxson said with an easy smile, but steel was in his voice. “She’s taken.”

He quickly held up his hands, clip board and all. “No sweat, dude. Didn’t hurt to try.”

I was ushered inside ahead of the guys and was momentarily taken aback at the transformation inside. There were wall to wall people. I could see several people eating at tables, getting food, and dancing on the makeshift dance floor.

Ben, Taylor, Rick, and Mike were currently playing some upbeat music on the makeshift stage. Remy had built a stage for us originally, but I guess without me influencing his decisions this time around, he hadn’t.

I grabbed the closest hand to me. On stage I didn’t have any issues with the amount of people around me, but among them I had anxiety issues.

Noah squeezed my hand reassuringly. “It looks like Jemmy has a VIP area near the stage. We can head there, there aren’t as many people.”

“I’ll go get us some food,” Jaxson stated. At the mention of food my stomach growled. I hadn’t eaten much food today.

“Sounds good,” Troy gave Jaxson a fist pump before he took the spot on the other side of me and started maneuvering us through the crowd.

I tried to keep close to them, letting them buffer me between the crowd. It took us a few minutes to make our way across the room to the VIP section. It was in the corner near one of the bars and roped off. Jemmy, Gavin, Rachel, Terrance, Michael, Sam, Dawn, and Marcel were sitting, eating, drinking, and talking in the large corner booth. There was still room for us to squeeze in the booth and drag additional chairs up to the table.

“Woah, Blake,” Terrance said in a flirtatious tone as he winked at the boys.

The team had become like family, and he was well aware of my connections, but I also knew that wouldn’t stop him from pushing their buttons.

“Thanks,” I blushed, glad for the low lighting in the restaurant.

“You look fabulous girl!” Dawn exclaimed.

“Thanks,” I muttered with a smile.

“I heard you had an altercation and botched kidnapping attempt today,” Michael said as he leaned forward with concern. “Are you okay?”

I gave him a feigned smile and nodded as the others groaned at his lack of tact. “Fine.” I said as I glared at Jemmy.

“It wasn’t me.” She held up her hands.

“Will told us,” Terrance explained gently. “We have a team meeting on Monday, after the o-course, with the other teams. He has apprised us of the new situation regarding your…brother and Horatio.”

We had a ‘friendly’ competition on Monday, involving all the active Knights. We canceled our normal morning run in lieu of the race. It also gave us a little extra time to sleep in. It was scheduled after school began.

“Am I permitted to come?” I asked with interest. I didn’t want to be out of the loop. My hatred for Horatio had grown since this morning. I wanted to hit him where it hurt, more now than ever.

Terrance nodded. “All the teams will be there. Jemmy, Jaxson, Rachel, Gavin, and Noah will be excused from all their classes for the complete day, not just the morning.”

“Why didn’t I hear about this?” Jemmy asked affronted. This afternoon, we had already had a family meeting, minus Remy, to let them know about the new development.

“Because Pops wanted you to study for the test you’re supposed to be taking,” Noah said with a snort of laughter.

Jemmy rolled her eyes. “It’s not the first time I had to take a make-up test,” she said petulantly.

“Enough shop talk,” Rachel insisted as she handed me a drink. Her eyes were glazed over, her cheeks red, and she looked more perky than normal.