Blue Violet - By Abigail Owen Page 0,21

at me,” she whispered back. She glanced over at Alex, surprised to see a rather peculiar frown on his face.

“He’s really staring at you, Ellie,” Adelaide chimed in with a conspiratorial grin.

Ellie turned around, and immediately saw Brian across the library. He gave her that head dip guys tend to use when she caught his eye and waved her over.

“Umm… maybe he wants help with his homework,” she muttered. “I’d better go see.”

“Hey, Ellie.” Brian gave her a confident grin as she approached him.

“Hi.”

“I didn’t get a chance to talk to you today,” he said. “You seemed kinda distracted during economics.”

“Ummm… I was just bored. Letting my mind wander.” Ellie gave a nonchalant shrug.

“Oh. Anyway… how’d you like to go to a movie Friday night?”

“Oh!” She’d joined in on several activities organized by the crew Brian hung out with in the past few months. She always had fun, which had been a pleasant surprise after so many years of keeping to herself. “Sure! Are Lila, Adelaide, and Nate going?”

Brian looked puzzled, and Ellie was confused…She’d obviously missed something. With an inward sigh of resignation, she tapped into Griffin’s power again.

“… Guess she didn’t figure out that I was asking her on a date,” Brian was thinking.

Ellie bit back her amusement. I should’ve known, she thought. But high school boys often didn’t like to be direct when they were interested. They sort of fished around, or hinted, or assumed that you knew they were asking you on a date. Her first few times in high school she’d even confused an offer as a date when it wasn’t. It was never very clear either way. She didn’t know how normal girls managed it without mind reading abilities to help them out. Boys got better at asking girls on a date properly in college she’d found.

Pretending she hadn’t heard Brian’s thoughts, she continued, “Do you mind if I ask them along too?” She gave him an innocent, oblivious look.

Truthfully, she was flattered. Brian was a great guy. But there was a very good reason that she couldn’t date him. Although she was a student at the moment, she had been in high school several times. But being over two-hundred years old made dating a real teenager… creepy. There was something just not right about it. Knowing the track Brian was on, Ellie already had a plausible excuse prepared for when he did get around to asking her out properly.

Chapter 13

Alex tried to appear like he wasn’t watching Ellie. He tried not to notice that the boy she was talking to looked like the athletic, popular type that all the girls go for. He tried really hard not to think about how Ellie would probably be flattered by the attention. And most important of all, he tried not to think about the vaguely irritated feeling that came over him when Lila told Ellie she was being admired from afar. That feeling hadn’t gone away, and if anything, was growing stronger as he watched Ellie let out a small giggle and the other boy lean closer. Alex gritted his teeth. What could he do? He’d tried his best to keep his relationship with Ellie as casual as possible. Had even stopped texting her and tried to treat her like a little sister when they were on their runs. But that didn’t diminish his growing feelings toward her. Feelings he could never act on, no matter how strong they were becoming.

Alex shook his head and turned his attention back to his siblings, and caught Adelaide’s amused expression. He sighed.

“Ok, Delia, what do you see?”

Her eyebrows shot up. “I have no idea what you’re talking about, Alex,” she replied, pursing her lips.

Shrugging, Alex let it go. She’d tell him when she wanted to, if she wanted to.

*****

While Ellie and Brian were talking about the movie on Friday, an idea popped into her head. She didn’t date boys in high school, but she supposed being friends with them was alright. She tapped into Griffin’s power and checked through Brian’s thoughts a little more in depth. As far as she could tell, he wasn’t actually attached to the idea of dating her. She just happened to be the new girl in his group. Someone he had yet to date. And someone who hadn’t shown much interest which, of course, made him all the more interested. So if she encouraged friendship, and remained clear about that distinction, she wouldn’t hurt him. And she needed a distraction from Alex. He seemed