Psychics
© JAckles

Chapter Six

With You Here I Don't Have to be Alone

And you can't fight the tears that ain't coming

Or the moment of truth in your lies

When everything feels like the movies

Yeah you bleed just to know you're alive

*The Goo Goo Dolls- Iris*

Josh's POV

The effect I'd been hoping for was achieved. Brianna had shown some kind of emotion when she saw me with Nina. I should have been happy that the first part of my idea worked. But instead, I felt sick to my stomach. All I wanted to do was run after her and tell her why I let the herpes-magnet near me.

I looked back up at the bottle-blonde who was perched on my knee, batting her eyelashes and sending smug looks to all the girls nearby. I was overwhelmed by a wave of intense dislike for the girl, in fact what I would have liked most would have been to push her off and see how pretty her make-up looks when it's smeared all over the floor. Instead, I ran a hand up her leg and leered at her.

Nina would have been the type of girl I got with before I moved, but now mindless whores seemingly held no interest to me. I no longer felt any attraction to these easy lays, I had grown. I wanted something more.

But the girl that could make this possible for me wanted nothing to do with me, she went out of her way to avoid me. I suppose this was sort of my payback, as in my mind she cared that I was with someone else. So in my own head, we were even.

I spent the rest of the week walking the high school halls with Nina trailing behind me, latched onto my arm like a disease, and then had a blissful weekend of absence from her. I told her that my family were going camping for the weekend and so we couldn't hang out. I was really with my father, searching for signs and asking questions around everywhere to find any hint of the psychic. But then all too soon the weekend was over, and I returned to school to be attacked by the parasitic cheerleader.

For my plan to work, I couldn't just shake her off like I had been doing before. I had to pretend that she wasn't a complete waste of my time, rather that I was interested in what she had to say about why her hair shined more than the rest of the cheerleading team, and how they all looked up to her, as well as various bitchy comments referring to just about everyone in the school, especially Brianna.

"That girl is such an Ice Bitch. Did you hear that she told Rhani that I was a whore? Just because she's some frigid bitch who can't get any guys. And she was throwing up when Rhani walked in, so she was like, probably trying to get skinny so that people will like her. It won't help though, her nose-" I cut off Nina's blabbering.

"What do you mean, she was throwing up?" I asked sharply.

"As in puking, duh." She said with an irritated flip of her hair.

"When was this?"

"I don't know, like last week, Thursday or something."

Thursday. What had happened on Thursday? It was the day Nina and I made the display in the cafeteria, before that I'd had Calculus with Creeper Kade and Brianna... That was the lesson she ran out with her hand over her mouth. Maybe she was sick, but I didn't get that impression from her. She was even at school the next day. So what had happened?

A pink-taloned hand waved in my face. "Hell-o, anyone in there?" Nina asked impatiently.

"I have to go." I said suddenly, disengaging myself from her clinging hands and striding away. I didn't give a damn about how annoyed she would be, I wanted to find out what was wrong with Brianna. So I strode through the halls, people who saw my purposeful journey moving quickly out of the way, asking random people if they'd seen her. Everyone knew who she was, she was kind of hard to miss. At last, someone pointed me towards the bleachers. I made my way towards them, seeing her from behind. I noticed that there were holes in her jeans- not the kind produced in factories, rather just worn down. It was so Brianna.

The way I had gone about talking to her last time hadn't exactly been successful, so I decided on a different approach.

I walked up behind her. "Why did you throw up on Thursday?" I asked calmly.

Without a trace of surprise, she turned her head and looked at me with a bored expression. "I wasn't aware that my actions were any of your business, Tane."

I found it hard to maintain my speech. No matter how many times I saw her, I was always blown away by how beautiful she was. "Yeah, well, now you are. Answer the question."

She looked at me with raised eyebrows, unimpressed. "Too bad. I'm late for class." She told me, picking up her books and walking away.

"We have class together, Bree, it doesn't start for ten minutes." I called.

Without turning, she kept walking and replied "Well you can probably come to the conclusion that I'm not interested in talking to you, then."

As I watched her blonde hair disappear across the field and into halls that milled with students, I felt myself be torn down a little more. I had thought that Nina would be the key to making her jealous, I guess. But her attitude hadn't changed at all. I decided that despite this, I would continue with my plan and pray for a response.

I spent the rest of the week flaunting Nina. Whenever I saw Brianna, I would tighten my hold on Nina's waist and lean down for a kiss. I didn't even pay attention to the girl, the entire time I was watching Brianna out of the corner of my eye. But as soon as she saw me, Brianna would turn in the opposite direction. I had never had a girl dislike me so intensely before, and it wasn't a pleasant experience.

I had to do everything I could to get her attention.

*-O-*

Third Person POV

Jayden did not like his brother's girlfriend. It was easy for anyone to understand, seeing as that girlfriend happened to be Nina Hale. Basic attraction to her, sure. That was understandable. She had a variety of features that would allow her to be considered "hot". But Josh liking her? He strongly doubted it. He didn't know what his brother was up to, but involving Nina Hale made it a stupid plan.

Meeting her, being introduced as Josh's younger brother, had been positively painful. She had given him a wild smile and talked to him as if he were three, rather than fifteen. Jayden had merely raised an eyebrow at her and scowled, then turned to his brother and told him "Your standards have dropped." Oh, Barbie wanted to claw his eyes out at that, he could tell. When Josh had left for a moment to talk to a teacher, Nina had whipped around and smiled forcedly.

"So Jayden," she said carefully, her thick and nasally voice grating against his ears, "I think we could help each other out." Jayden didn't respond, choosing instead to simply keep looking at her. "I know some girls in your grade that will end up being the most popular in the school. If you show some support to your brother about our relationship, I'll hook you up. Your social life will be safe for the rest of High School."

Jayden looked at her blankly, before letting out a loud guffaw. "You don't know Josh at all, do you? And you definitely don't know me. No can do, Barbie. I can already tell we'll never be friendly."

Jayden's head snapped to the side, cheek stinging. He raised a hand to his aching jaw and realised that she'd slapped him. He met her eyes, his dark ones staring intently into her lighter orbs, a gaze he would fix on the prey of a hunt, and she flinched. "You're screwed when Josh and Brianna get together."

She narrowed her eyes at him, attempting to recover her dignity after her duck from his stare. She opened her mouth to retort, but Josh rounded the corner and sauntered towards them. Forcing her jaw to close, she smiled with sickly sweetness at Jayden's idiot of a brother and started to fawn on him. Jayden rolled his eyes with contempt and turned to leave the disgusting scene that was playing out before him. Whatever game his brother was playing, Jayden knew that he could do better than Nina Hale. And he had in mind a perfect girl for this. So now, he was on his way to talk to his mother so that he could help Josh find that girl.

"Hey, mom." Jayden said casually, sitting down at the kitchen island, across from her. She lifted her eyes from the newspaper reports in front of her and smiled. "I was wondering if I could ask you something."

His mother gave him a look of confusion. "Whatever I can do to help, honey."

Jayden considered how to phrase his request. "Josh's new girlfriend... she's not right for him."

Isobel raised her eyebrows. "Oh?"

"She's horrible, mom. She's completely promiscuous, and rude, and doesn't have any brain whatsoever." Jayden blurted, his frustration getting the better of him. "I hate her, mom. And she's trying to bribe me into making sure Josh stays with her."

She frowned. "Sounds completely awful. What's her name? I need to know who I'm refusing to allow in my house."

"Nina Hale. And there's more, mom. There's this girl at school who is perfect for Josh. And I know he's interested in her." He groaned. "I don't know what Josh is doing, but he's being an idiot."

Isobel nodded grimly. "I'll talk to him. But we have to start seriously tracking down this psychic." She slumped in her chair and sighed. "Don't tell your father this, but I'm not sure I can track this one down."

Jayden got up from his chair and went to her side, giving her a hug. "We'll find it, mom. I know we will."

*-O-*

Jayden knew his family well. He knew that his mom wouldn't eat anything that wasn't organic, got headaches at eight every night, and refused to go out on hunts because violence of any sort made her faint. He knew that his dad wouldn't drink a whiskey without two ice cubes in it, that he secretly loved the show 'Desperate Housewives' but if you called him out on it he got angry and vehemently denied it, and that he shot first and asked questions never.

He knew his brother best out of all of them. He knew that he had no CDs that weren't some kind of rock music, he liked to juggle knives when he was bored to "hone his aim", when he liked a girl he became really overly arrogant around them, he was afraid of cockroaches, he was allergic to apricots, and when he was embarrassed the back of his neck turned red and he hid it through violence. He also knew that his brother was an idiot. Josh hadn't said anything to him about it, but Jayden would say he'd been infatuated with Bree since he first laid eyes on her.

He'd liked girls before, but Bree was different. She'd held Josh's attention in a way that no other girls had, really. Jayden could understand why, she was absolutely incredible. She was pretty much fearless, but at the same time she was careful. He knew what drew Josh to her first were her looks, which were, admittedly, faultless, but now he'd become enamoured by every part of her personality.

So what the hell was the moron hoping to achieve by going out with Nina?

He'd been going out with her for almost two weeks when Jayden finally lost it. He didn't spend even a fraction of the time that Josh did with her, but he wanted her gone. Selfish? Yes. But he knew that Josh wasn't too pleased with her presence either, so he decided to knock some sense into the retard. At the end of the day, he drove Jayden home. As soon as they were in the privacy of the car, Jayden exploded.

"What the hell is wrong with you, Josh?"

His brother stopped and stared at Jayden. "What?"

"What are you doing with Nina? Seriously, dude, she's a nightmare, and I know you don't like her." He accused.

Josh's jaw clenched. "Stay out of it, Jayden."

"Why aren't you trying for Brianna?"

Josh's gaze dropped to his little brother for a moment, and the look in his eyes made Jayden almost stop. Almost.

"What's going on with you and her?" Jayden persisted.

"Nothing." Josh replied shortly. Jayden said nothing, simply waiting for his brother to be honest with him. With a frustrated sigh, Josh acquiesced. "I think I... like her. I dunno, we haven't even talked that much, it's stupid."

Jayden raised an eyebrow at him. "So you have talked to her?"

Josh nodded. "I mostly talk at her. She doesn't respond... usually."

"But she has responded before?"

"Yeah. That day at the bleachers, we had talked before that. She was warning me off, though." Josh let out a gust of air, looking tired. "I don't understand what it is about her, Jayden. She's just... different."

Jayden nodded. "I get what you mean. She's special." His brother nodded, an absent smile on his face. "So now we've established that you like Bree, why are you with Nina?"

Josh frowned. "I want to see how she feels, seeing me with someone else."

Jayden scowled at him. "Okay, but did you have to pick her? She's such a pain in the ass."

Josh let out a low whistle. "I know what you mean, dude. But Brianna hates her, I figured it might get a reaction outta her."

His little brother paused. "That is probably," he started slowly, "The stupidest thing you've ever done. Wow, Josh. Brave of you."

He glared at the road in response. "Yeah, well, I've already tried telling her I like her, she just thought I was trying to get into her pants."

"And going out with Nina won't do anything to disprove that, you idiot."

Josh stepped on the accelerator, screaming down the streets of Fairview to arrive at their home, and throwing open the door after jolting to a stop in their driveway, and stalking inside, slamming the front door after him.

Jayden frowned. His brother was worse than an adolescent girl. He could only hope his mother would knock some sense into him.

*-O-*

Brianna's POV

Banging my head against my locker door with a sigh, I realised that somehow school had become different over the past two months. It had gotten even worse, and that was all because of Josh Tane.

Ever since he'd arrived, everything had become so much worse for me. Nina was no longer just a slut who harassed me, she was a bitchy, possessive, jealous slut who harassed me, and I didn't even want anything to do with her boyfriend. Mr. Kade now hated me even more since Josh sat next to me and wouldn't shut up. Almost every girl in the school, and a few guys as well, watched me with beady eyes to analyse and dissect every miniscule interaction between he and I. Eric had become more vigorous in his harassment of me. But that wasn't the worst of it.

Tane's effect on me was in itself phenomenal. And I wasn't okay with it. He made me second guess myself, doubt the course of action that had kept people around me safe for nearly two years. He made me want to feel again. He was idealistic, normal. Who was I to take that from him? To drag him into the sordid world of crazy, unnatural powers and faceless threats.

Who was I to steal his life like I'd stolen Michael's?

My inner turmoil was interrupted by the locker's rattling as a heavily muscled male leaned against them. I didn't have to look up to know who it was. He'd been harassing me even more than usual lately. "Eric." I said through gritted teeth. "What do you want?"

"You." He said simply.

I rolled my eyes, exhaling heavily through my nose, and turned to face him. His hair was still pulled up in his short faux-hawk. He moved further towards me, until his body was practically crushing mine against my locker. I turned my head in distaste, refusing to meet his hungry eyes. I felt his hand come up to grab my chin, turning me back to face him. His other hand wrapped around my waist and back, pulling my body into his. My heart started thumping in my chest, I was close to gagging. I lay my hands on his chest and sharply pushed him away, desperate to breathe. "That's not gonna happen."

He smiled at me, but there was nothing good or happy about that smile. For the first time, I felt a flicker of fear in my heart because of Eric. I'd never liked him, but he had never come close to frightening me. Not like he was now. "Sweetheart, I'm getting tired of waiting."

I shoved him again, his hands staying firm around my back. "Well, I'm getting tired of you asking." I growled.

He pulled me even closer, his hands moving down and grasping me tighter to him, squeezing me too tightly. He was crushing me so hard that I couldn't breathe, and his hands were groping me lower, and lower.

I spat in his face. He slowly reached up and wiped it away, his eyes never leaving my face. I squared my jaw and stared right back at him. Suddenly, his arm shot out and I heard a loud smash, closing my eyes and flinching against the movement and sound. I waited to feel pain, but after a few seconds I opened my eyes, looking to the side. His fist was on the lockers, a massive dent beneath it. He'd managed to punch a huge dent into a locker.

I felt myself go pale as I was forced to realise that though Eric was a perverted bastard, he was not harmless. And I had been pushing him away continuously for almost two years, insulting him and emasculating him at every turn. He wasn't going to take it anymore.

I leaned back, frightened, and knew that no matter how many people walked these halls, I was helpless. None of them would go up against Eric when the fuss was only over me. My mind briefly flashed to Josh Tane, but I immediately banished the thought. Nobody could help me now, let alone him. And my powers were useless in a place this public unless I wanted to end up in a lab as a guinea pig.

I was stuck.

"Leave, Eric." I said firmly, my voice far more confident than I really was. "You can't bully me."

His arm that remained wrapped around me pulled me further into his body, my breasts crushed to his chest. I pushed against him desperately, struggling to get away. "You know what you're problem is?" He hissed into my ear, his hot breath uncomfortably close to my neck, making the hairs stick up. "You're a frigid little bitch. You probably have no idea how to handle a man. Never been kissed, I'd bet. Well, baby, I'm willing to change that. You better start playing ball."

I pushed him again. "Go away, Eric. It's not happening."

He laughed cruelly, no longer bothering to whisper. "You may be a frigid bitch, but I bet you're secretly a whore, aren't you? You'll prove it, too. When you spread those long legs for Tane."

I opened my mouth to retort as I flushed red with anger, but Eric suddenly jerked backwards and hit the wall. Suddenly the subject of Eric's insult had moved in front of me, as if protecting me from him. "Shut the fuck up, Tyson. Don't talk to her, don't touch her." He said lowly, his voice dangerous.

I felt a shiver run up my spine. I had realised Eric was dangerous, and now I was realising that Josh was too. Much more dangerous than Eric. I had been foolish to assume that just because I was the only one with abilities beyond a normal human, others weren't a danger to me. I had very little doubt that should Josh ever find reason to take me out, he would be able to, abilities and all.

Eric moved forward and attempted to take a swing at Josh, but he effortlessly blocked it before punching Eric in the face with a lot more force. Eric stumbled and fell to the ground, finally scrabbling to his feet and fleeing, cupping a nose that now had blood spraying from it.

Josh had kept his protective stance in front of me throughout the experience, refusing to allow Eric access to me. I was so shocked that it took me a moment to realise Josh had made everyone leave the hallway, the two of us now alone. He hesitantly walked up to me, carefully running his eyes over me for signs of damage. "Brianna, I'm sorry, I just... Are you alright?"

My head hurt. The epiphany I'd had confused me, and Josh Tane confused me. I shook my head, squeezing my eyes shut. I opened them and glanced at the enormous dent in the locker next to mine. "I... I don't know... What to say." I managed to tell him, stumbling over the words. "Josh... You need to stay away from me."

His eyes widened, shocked. "Brianna, what happened to you-"

"Is irrelevant. Stay away. Everything has escalated because of you." I told him, refusing to meet his eyes.

He ran a hand through his hair, distressed. I couldn't help but notice the bulge of his hard bicep. "No, this isn't just some game. I care about you, I want to help you. Hell, I think I might really li-"

"Stop." I interrupted again, harsher this time. "I don't want to hear this."

"Please just listen to me!" he begged, reaching out to hold my arm and twist me to look at him properly.

Part of me truly ached to simply melt into those arms, feel them wrap safely around me and comfort me. I wanted him to tell me that he could protect me from Eric.

But as I said earlier; I wouldn't steal his life from him.

I shrugged his hand off me and pushed him away, stalking off and ignoring his pleading calls for me to wait, to listen. I didn't expect it to hurt.

Feel free to kill me. I'm the worst updater in the world. If anyone is still reading this, please R&R. It means a lot!

Anything you did/didn't expect in this chapter? Did/didn't like?

Thank you for reading!