Gifted Connections 1

“Who’s that?” I asked.

Jax looked up from his phone. “Oh, that’s Sue.”

I looked over at him. “What’s she doing?”

He looked at me like I was slow. “Ummm, cleaning.”

“Why?” I stood up. “We made that mess and it’s pouring down rain. I thought we had to clean our rooms and bathrooms,” I looked over at Jemmy.

“Oh, hey, Blake, where have you been hiding? Do you feel as crappy as I do?” she asked dramatically, rolling over on her stomach to look at me, chin in hand. She waved a hand at me. “It’s true, she won’t touch our rooms.”

I started heading towards the doors.

“Where ya going?” Noah asked with concern.

I pointed at Sue and then at them. “We made that mess. Your friends made that mess. It’s pouring down rain,” I pulled my hood up. “And you expect her to clean it all up.” I scoffed, my mind boggled at the privileged life they led.

It was common decency to clean up after yourself. I could understand if they needed help cleaning this massive mansion, but I couldn’t understand us not helping when and where we could.

“It’s her job,” Stacey said drolly. “That’s what they pay her for,” she laughed condescendingly at me.

I rolled my eyes at her and closed the patio door behind me. I wasn’t going to give her the satisfaction of acknowledging her.

I ran over to Sue. “Hey, Sue,” I smiled as the rain beat down on me. “I’m Blake. I just moved in here. Do you have an extra trash bag?”

She was shorter than me, which didn’t often happen with adult females. Her Asian features were ageless, hard to determine her true age, but the wisdom in her eyes implied she was around Will’s age. She looked at me shrewdly before she smiled at me. “Ahh yes, met your sister. Beautiful aegiya, baby,” she said in her semi-broken English. “It is raining. I do it.”

I smiled at her, shaking my head. “I know you can, but we made a big mess.”

She grinned at me and handed me a trash bag from her raincoat. I began dashing across the yard to pick up the trash: red solo cups, paper plates, half eaten food, cans, bottles, cigarette butts, and even a few joints.

I wasn’t out there for long when I noticed that Noah, Jemmy, Jax, and Rick had joined me.

“You know you’re our nucleus, not our conscious. It’s not fair to make us feel guilty for being lazy,” Noah said with a small smile, and I knew he was teasing me as he put some trash in my bags.

“I’m sorry if I thought cleaning up after ourselves was common decency,” I stuck my tongue out at him.

He chuckled, dropping a kiss on my forehead. “I’m glad to see you seem to be okay.” A shadow crossed his eyes.

I knew he was talking about my meltdown the night before. “I will be, eventually,” I said quietly turning away to pick up more of our mess.

Jemmy walked passed me carrying a table with Rick. “I love ya girl, but you could have just stayed on the couch wallowing in pain,” Jemmy said dramatically.

“Can’t you just heal her?” I asked Noah with a smirk. “Otherwise, she’ll be whining all day, milking it.”

Noah shook his head with a frown. “Pops won’t let me. He said our stupidity, our punishment. Plus, anything with the head and brain is…tricky.”

I looked at him in confusion. “So, it’s like an honor code system. He trusts you not to do it and you won’t? And you healed that bump on my head before.”

He looked undecided for a moment. “It took a lot out of me,” he shrugged, but then smiled. “And I’m not saying I won’t, within reason, but I try not to.”

“Soo…” I pondered aloud. “If we were to connect, do you think your gift will amplify? That your gift won’t drain you as fast?”

He shrugged. “It’s a possibility. From my experience, yes, especially if the nucleus is equal to or greater than their connections.”

“Am I equal to or greater than you?” I asked, carrying some chairs back to w

here they belonged. “And why would a connection want to bond with someone less than them? Wouldn’t it weaken them?