The Hidden(14)

We never used the term “mom.” It was strictly a human term. In our society, parents were called by their first names, and ours were Thayer and Katerina. Kate for short.

This was just Mel’s way of trying to hurt me, and she succeeded.

She raised her voice. “So, college, huh? Mom and Dad would be so proud. What are you pretending to be this year–a sophomore? Junior?”

I grabbed her arm and pulled her off to the side of the courtyard. “Stop it.”

“You brought this on yourself,” she hissed. “Maybe if you ever returned my calls or came home at some point within the past forty years, it wouldn’t have come to this.” She looked at the humans walking around us with disgust, like we were surrounded by cockroaches.

Mel was such a hypocrite. She watched their movies, listened to their music, and used their technology, but God forbid she actually have to be in the presence of humans.

“I can’t believe it’s come to this,” she murmured. She looked up at me, her huge blue eyes tinged with sadness. “Were we really that unbearable?” She shook her head and laughed bitterly, wiping away the tears that had spilled onto her cheeks. “We must’ve been, since you prefer the company of humans over your own family.”

And here comes the guilt trip. Shit.

Our kind could be very manipulative. It was part of the reason why I didn’t live among them anymore. I just didn’t have the patience for their head games. And Mel didn’t used to be this bad, but…I guess a lot can change over forty years.

“It’s not like that, Mel. It’s just…it’s better this way.”

My heart sputtered as I noticed Emily under an oak tree. She was with a group of humans.

“Thomas?”

I blinked a couple times and looked back at Mel. “What?”

She frowned. “I’m trying to have a conversation with you and you keep staring off into…”

I glanced over Mel’s head again, letting her words go in one ear and right out the other. The male that had been at Emily’s feet now had his head on her lap, and he was smiling up at her. It was the same guy from Monday, the one who’d intervened.

My eyes narrowed on them as an ugly feeling bubbled deep inside me. I didn’t like him touching her. I didn’t want him anywhere near her. I wanted to go over there and rip him off her, which was ridiculous. Emily wasn’t mine, and I had no right to feel–

Wait a second. Was I…jealous?

I’d read about it countless times, but never actually experienced it. I didn’t care much for it. It was quite painful. And it made me want to smack the smile right off that guy’s face.





Beth sat her sunglasses on top of her head. “Who is he?” she asked, still awestruck.

Josh sat up to get a better look. “Hey, that’s the guy who–”

“That’s Thomas,” I said, purposefully cutting Josh off. The last thing I wanted was to rehash Monday’s ugly turn of events. I opened my bag and dug out my notes, handing them to Beth. “He’s in our sociology class.”

“What?” Beth exclaimed as she took the notes. “Are you sure? Emily, that guy is sex on a stick. I’d remember him.”

I smiled at her choice of words.

Yes…yes, he is.

Hey, just because the guy’s personality sucked didn’t make her statement any less true. “Yeah, I’m sure,” I said. “I sat next to him yesterday morning and on Monday.”

Beth turned to face me, her eyes narrowed in mock anger. “And you didn’t tell me about him?”

I popped another grape into my mouth. “What’s there to tell? He’s in our sociology class and I sat next to him twice. That’s it, that’s everything.”

More or less.

I glanced at Josh, my glare silencing him as he opened his mouth.

“Um, hello? He’s gorgeous,” Beth insisted. “That’s what you should’ve told me.”

I rolled my eyes. “Sorry. Next time I’ll tell you.”

Beth leaned forward and looked at Andy, who was in the middle of a whispered conversation with Hayley. That didn’t stop Beth from saying, “Andy, do you know who that Thomas guy is?”

Andy frowned when he saw him out in the courtyard. Yes, I would say he did know who Thomas was. “That’s Thomas Paige, and he’s just a guy, Beth. He wakes up with morning wood just like the rest of us, and his shit don’t smell any better either.”

Beth smirked. “Someone’s jealous.”

“Maybe I am, but so is every other guy on campus,” Andy said. “I bet it’d be nice to be treated like a god and have women constantly throwing themselves at you.”