…

It had been two weeks since coming to the city and I was pretty overwhelmed by the learning curve I had ahead of me. I was enrolled in a high school where I was learning more advanced subjects than I had in the schools inside the wall. I guess with more resources the education system was able to train more skilled people instead of just trade jobs. I knew I wanted to become a nurse one day so I was taking a lot of science classes.

The hardest part was the social aspect in my mind. I came in the middle of the school year so people had already made their friends and I was definitely an outsider. Even when someone talked to me I felt like I wasn’t equipped to talk about the topic they brought up since I lived a completely different life than anyone in my class. A girl classmate had asked me what my favorite lipstick brand was and I had to lie and say I couldn’t pick one because in truth I didn’t have any idea what brand names made lipstick. So far no one hated me, but I wasn’t exactly accepted either.

Liam had found a part time job at a coffee shop and was going to night classes to get his GED. Since he didn’t go to school most of the time he had some catching up to do. He was unsure of what he wanted to go to school for after his GED, but that was part of the deal that Seth made for him to live with us. Seth wanted to make sure Liam was going to get a more skilled job since they usually paid more. Liam was actually doing pretty well on his homework and only needed a little coaching from me on some science questions. He was really skilled in math and I was jealous of that.

I noticed that Seth came home late a lot because his work didn’t close until 11pm most nights. Liam had taken to laying with me in my bed as I fell asleep because I told him I had missed sleeping next to him. That always led to make out sessions, but I didn’t mind. I was going to have to figure out how to find some condoms in order to take this a step further. At some point Liam would leave my bed after I fell asleep because when I woke up he would be either in his room or in the living room sleeping on the floor with a pillow and blanket.

Spending years in a survival state was really damaging and I was realizing just how damaged all of us were. I had nightmares and frequently couldn’t sleep well because of not feeling safe even though we were the safest we had been in all those years. Liam also had trouble sleeping which I realized when I would go grab water from the kitchen and saw Liam in the living room lying awake most nights. Seth was constantly stressed about his job and having to interact with people so much. He felt he was really awkward when speaking to people, but I tried to reassure him that wasn’t the case. I think Seth had gotten over the sleep issue since he had been here a while and he always looked exhausted after a shift at the restaurant so he went to bed right away.

Tonight was no different than the others and I laid awake, gasping after a nightmare woke me up. I sat up and wiped some sweat off my forehead. I got up to get a drink of water and found Liam in the living room once again. It felt like I was having deja vu.

“Awake again?” I whispered so Seth wouldn’t hear me down the hall.

“I don’t get why it’s so hard to sleep in a real bed for me. I’m only really comfortable when I lay next to you,” he sighed.

“Then come to my room. Seth probably wouldn’t even notice.”

“And what do we tell him if he does notice?”

“That I love you and you love me,” I smiled sitting down beside him. He sat up from laying down and kissed me passionately. I never would’ve thought that he would be this affectionate as my boyfriend. I was certainly okay with it, but up until a year ago he was my goofy friend that made me laugh as much as he could. Now he still makes me laugh, but I get to kiss him in between those laughs.

“You keep kissing me and I’m going to want more,” I warned him in between kissed.

He backed away from me and smirked. “Just wait until this weekend. I have something you will like planned,” he promised.

“A surprise?” I inquired.

“A big one. And we should wait to tell Seth after this weekend otherwise he might not leave for the night for his work retreat,” Liam said suggestively. I took the hint and nodded. I couldn’t believe it! This weekend I would finally lose my virginity and find some release! I was seriously looking forward to it.

“I’m going to try to sleep again and try to not imagine what’s going to happen this weekend.” I nipped at his earlobe playfully before standing up and going to the kitchen for water and going back to my room.

The next day I woke up ready for it to be over because tomorrow was the start of the weekend. I went to school like any other day. During third period a girl in my class named Stacy approached me on our break. Stacy was blonde and the most beautiful girl in the class as well as popular throughout the school.

“Hey Ash. Would you want to eat lunch with me and my friends today?” Stacy asked me. I was confused, but knew not to reject a chance at friends after being here for a week.

“Sure! Where should I meet you?” I asked smiling.

“I’ll come to your locker at the beginning of lunch,” she stated. I felt like things were looking up and I looked forward to lunch since I’d been eating alone for the whole week.

Once it was time for lunch Stacy was at my locker and I followed her to the cafeteria. Her group of friends sat at tables near the doors and I didn’t know them from my class. We sat with another girl and two guys.

“This is Amber, Ethan, and Jake,” Stacy said introducing them.

“Hi, I’m Ash.”

“Ash the newcomer. We’ve heard about you and were curious,” Ethan stated. He was an attractive guy with brown eyes and dark brown hair. He was sitting with his arm around Amber so I assumed they were dating or something.

“Curious about me?” I asked trying to get more information. I hoped this wasn’t some sort of prank they were playing on me.

“Well, you haven’t lived in this city your whole life like us so we wondered where you were from,” Amber responded to me. She had a brown to blonde ombré. She was cute and wore heavy makeup that looked flawless and like it took a lot of practice to get that good. I wondered if she could teach me the ropes with makeup.

I had no idea how to answer where I was from. If I told them I was exiled to inside the wall would they automatically assume I had powers? It was hard to tell if I could trust these people. “I am from a town a couple hours away and it was a lot different from here. There wasn’t really a name for the place though it was so small,” I hoped being vague would let them drop the topic.

“You got a boyfriend?” Jake asked me suddenly. I looked over at his hazel eyes and smooth grin on his face. He looked to be a pretty boy type with his perfectly styled light brown hair.

“Yes. We moved here together. And my older brother Seth moved here six months ago so now we live here with him,” I said. “You don’t have parents?” Stacy asked.

“They died when the meteor landed,” I explained. “We grew up in an orphanage, but my brother is now 20 so I could live with him.” I remembered the backstory I came up with. It wasn’t a total lie because I did grow up in an orphanage for the first year after the meteor hit earth.

“Wow, that must’ve been hard to go through,” Stacy said in a comforting way. They continued to ask me more questions that made me nervous because I didn’t know how to answer these questions. What was my favorite restaurant to eat at? Did I see that new show that came out a few weeks ago? Were gas prices ridiculous? I wasn’t sure because I had only been in Fairview for a less than a month and I wasn’t used to things like television and having a car. I felt very isolated from them at this point, but I did my best to keep up with their topics. I wanted friends and it was important that I try to have a normal life after all I had been through. I would do everything I could to start appearing like a normal 16 year old girl that grew up in Fairview.

Then the topic of powers came up. “Did you hear about the person who was caught having lived in this city for two years before being discovered?” Jake asked. “It was on the news this morning.”

“Oh yeah! That was wild. I feel bad for the lady. She didn’t harm anyone and she was arrested. She was just trying to live her life,” Amber replied.

“I say good riddance. Those magic people need to stay out of the city because they are dangerous,” Ethan said.

I felt bad when he said that. “I don’t think they’re all dangerous. Some would probably rather live here than inside the wall,” I retorted.

“I think it would be cool to have powers. I heard some of them can control the elements,” Jake said in an excited tone.

“I wonder what power I would get,” Stacy commented.

“Have you ever thought about it?” I asked getting curious.

“I have. I would want the power to seduce any girl,” Jake smirked and then winked at me. I wanted to roll my eyes but I resisted since this was our first interaction. He reminded me of Brian with that comment and if they were alike I knew how to handle him.

“I feel like that one would backfire a lot,” I laughed.

“I always liked water. Maybe I could control water,” Amber said.

“I’d want fire if we are picking elements!” Stacy exclaimed. Lunch came to an end, ending the conversation and I was glad they were a little more open to powers than I thought except Ethan. I felt like I could hide my powers and live this life normally now that I had some friends.