Shift (The Neturu Chronicles) (21 page)

               
“What?” Kayla yells.  “They can’t do anything to my parents!  No!”

               
Her dad steps over to her.  “No, honey, we won’t be punished.”

               
“They will have to explain their actions and the council will vote on what will
happen from there.  You’re underage.” Damien sighs.

               
“What do you mean?  Something will happen to me?” Kayla squeaks.  “I
don’t get what you’re saying!”

               
Kayla’s mom exhales. “We don’t need to worry about all that right now. 
It's going to be fine.”

               
“Let me ask a question.  Why did you hide it from me?”

               
“We wanted you to have a normal life,” her dad says.  “You were so happy
and fit in well with the humans.  We also don’t have much contact with
others of our kind.  We didn’t want you to feel pressured to meet other
members of our race or feel isolated from humans.”

               
Glaring, Kayla says, “This is completely ridiculous.  Did you not think I
was intelligent enough to know who I am and make my own decisions about who I
get involved with? You should have trusted me, Mom.”

               
“That’s the council’s attitude toward everything,” Damien interjects.  “I
will be watching over you while your parents are gone.”

               
“Really, Damien?” Kayla snaps. “You
’
re
only seventeen; we
’
re both
seventeen.”

               
Jackson’s dad says, “We will be here also.  Your parents shouldn’t be gone
that long.”

               
“You know what,” Kayla finally growls.  “I want to go home and go to
bed.  I want to crawl under my sheets and pretend this didn’t happen.”

               
“But it did happen,” Jackson says.  “You can’t ignore it.”

               
“For one night I can.”

               
Her dad rubs his hand on her back.  “Okay, we’ll take you home.”

               
“I don’t want you to talk to me!” Kayla snaps, pointing her finger at
him.  “No talking, not one word.  I want to go home and go to
bed.  Take a long hot shower and ignore the world for a while.”

               
“Okay,” her dad replies, nodding.  “Understandable.”

               
Jackson walks over and sticks his hand out. “Here’s your cell phone.” 
Kayla grabs it, but as she does their fingers brush each other.  It sends
shivers down her spine.  “I’ll call you in the morning,” he states.

               
Kayla nods. “Oh, joy.”

               
“Then I won’t,” Jackson mumbles, looking down.

               
“No, it’s fine.  You and Damien are probably the only two people I can
turn to right now.”

               
Damien nods. “We’ll help you through this.  Why don’t you go home and get
some sleep.”

               
Exhaling, Kayla says, “See you guys later.  Jackson, I’m
really
sorry I hurled all over your pretty car.”

               
He points to Kayla’s dad. “He’s paying for it to be professionally cleaned
tomorrow.   It's fine.”

               
“Okay, bye.” Kayla sighs, waving at everyone.  She and her parents walk
out of the house.  Her parents respect her space and don’t say a word to
her the entire ride home.  When they get back to their house, Kayla
trudges up to her room.  She grabs her stuff and heads to the shower. As
soon as the hot water hits her, she starts to cry.  She loses track of
time as she stands beneath the stream of water, letting the tears fall.

               
Kayla wakes up the next morning and senses someone sitting on her bed next to
her.  She opens her eyes and scrambles to sit up.  “What in the world
are you doing in here?” she yells.

               
Jackson smiles. “Keeping an eye on you.  Your parents left two hours ago,
and we wanted to make sure you didn’t accidently shift.  Don’t want you to
hurt yourself.”

               
“Shut up,” Kayla mutters. “So you just watched me sleep?”            

               
“No, of course not. I actually just came in to wake you up.  You have to
eat something.”

               
She rubs her eyes. “Chocolate cake. I want chocolate cake.  It’s that kind
of a morning.”

               
“I’ll go buy you a cake,” they hear from the doorway.  “Be back in a
bit.” 

               
She watches Damien turn and walk out the door.  “Geez, not even a good
morning from either of you.  At least he’s getting me cake.”

               
“Here, eat this,” Jackson instructs, holding out a few leaves.

               
“No, I’m not eating that stuff anymore, freaky crap!”

               
Chuckling, Jackson says, “It helps you control your shifting.  We never
needed to worry about it when we were on our own planet, but now, now we have
to worry about randomly shifting, especially you.  So eat it.”  Kayla
snatches the leaves away from him and starts to chew them.  “Good girl.”

               
“I’m not a dog,” Kayla snaps. She stops chewing and stares at Jackson. 
They both burst into laughter.  “Well, I’m not one right now!”

               
“No, though I have to ask, why did you pick a golden retriever?”

               
Kayla smiles.  “Tracy had this dog named Spud and he loved me, just
absolutely loved me.”

               
“Animals tend to like us.”

               
Falling back on her pillow, Kayla tugs the blanket up to her head.  “I’m
tired.  Wake me up when Damien gets back with cake.”

               
“No, no, no, it’s one in the afternoon, you need to get up,” Jackson says, pulling
her blanket away.

               
She yanks it back. “I don’t care.  It’s Saturday, leave me alone.”

               
“I’ll make you get up,” Jackson teases.

               
“Bull,” Kayla grumbles, putting the blanket over her head.  She lies there
for a second before her bed starts to bounce.  Throwing the blanket back,
she glares at Jackson.  “Stop jumping on my bed!”

               
He grins. “Nope. Get up, get up,
get
up.”

               
“NO!”

               
Jackson reaches down and completely yanks the blanket off of her bed.

“Hey!” she yells.

               
“Now, you have to get up,” Jackson declares, standing over her.

               
“No.”

               
He falls down to his knees and starts to tickle her.  Kayla screams. 

“Are you getting up?” he
asks.

               
“Get off of me,” Kayla squeals through her giggles.  “Or I
will
hurt you!”

               
“You think so, huh?” Jackson says, sitting up.  “I’d like to see you try.”

               
Narrowing her eyes, Kayla growls. “I will have Damien punch you.”

               
“Oh
puleeze
, he has nothing on me.”

               
“He knocked Jude on his ass.”

               
With a scoff, Jackson replies, “Whatever, he’s capable of much more, but he
still has nothing on me.”

               
Kayla shoves Jackson off of her.  When he falls, she jumps on top of
him.  “See?  You’re not so big and bad.”

               
Laughing, Jackson says, “Really?  Like Im going to stop a girl from
throwing me down on a bed.”

               
Kayla’s face reddens.  “Shut up.”  She falls down next to him. 
“Get out of my bed.”

               
“Aww, actually getting kicked out of a girl’s bed, that’s a first,” Jackson
states, looking at her.

               
“You are so full of yourself. Get out.”

               
Jackson hops up and looks down at her.  “Now, that you’re up, there’s
coffee made downstairs.  I may not be Johnny Depp, but I have coffee.”

               
“Yes, but Damien is the one with chocolate cake, which one is more tempting?
”
She inhales a short breath and her
eyes widen. 
“
I have
an idea, why don’t you guys take your shirts off and serve me breakfast in
bed.  I can better answer my question then.”

               
With a wicked grin, Jackson says, “Now who’s the one with the naughty mind?”

               
“I didn’t say naked,” Kayla says, getting up.  “Who says I
ever
want to see that?”

               
“Oh really?” Jackson laughs.  He pulls his shirt off.  The smile
slips away from Kayla’s face. Jackson’s hands move to his belt and start to
undo it.

               
Kayla covers her eyes. “What are you doing?”

               
“Making your dreams come true.”

               
“No! Stop it! Put your clothes back on!”

               
Silence. When she moves her hand away from her eyes, Jackson is standing right
in front of her.  “Boo!”

               
She jumps and screams.  “You ass!”

               
“What?” Jackson asks, grabbing her. “What did you call me?”  He starts to
tickle her.

               
Trying to pull away from him, Kayla yells, “Let go of me!”

               
“No.” 

Kayla brings her foot up
and slams it down on his.  Jackson buckles for a second, which makes it
easy for Kayla to slip out of his grip.  She tears out of her room and
into the bathroom, slamming the door and locking it.  After a few seconds,
a knock sounds on the door.  “Kayla, my dear, you’re going to get it.”

               
“Go away!”

               
Jackson starts to drum his fingers on the door. “Nope, we’re spending the day
with you, so that means I can stand here
forever
.”

               
“Not fair.”

               
“Who said life was fair?”

               
“Well, you can just wait,” Kayla shouts through the door.  She crosses her
arms and leans against the counter.   It seems like forever passes
with no word from Jackson.  “Are you still out there?” Kayla
exclaims.  No reply.  She taps her chin.  Turning around, she
looks at the bathroom window.  It leads to the porch off her parents' room. 
Quietly, she goes over and lifts the window.  When there is no sound from
Jackson, she slips out of it and sneaks to her parents' porch door.

               
Kayla is relieved to find it unlocked.  She carefully opens it and enters
the bedroom.  She creeps over to the open door and peaks around the
corner.  Jackson is leaning against the bathroom door, fidgeting with his
fingernail.  His shirt is still off and his belt is gone too.  Kayla
smirks and then, taking a deep breath, she sprints down the hall and past
him.  She flies down the steps as fast as her legs can carry her and darts
into the dining room. 

               
Jackson is right behind her, but she puts the table between them.  “You'll
never catch me,” she says with a laugh.

               
“That’s what you think.”  She watches him curiously as he takes his shoes
off.

               
“What in the world are you doing?”

               
Wiggling his eyebrows, Jackson answers, “Embarrassing you.”

               
“No,” she whines. “Jackson, stop it.  Keep your clothes on!”

               
He shakes his head.  “Nah, there’s no fun in that.”

               
“Jackson,” Kayla snaps, trying and failing to be serious.  “Keep your
pants on!”

               
“N-O-P-E, ever seen a guy naked?”

               
“NO!  Stop it!”

               
When he undoes the button on his pants, Kayla runs through the side doorway and
into the kitchen.  She hears Jackson quick on her heals.  “Kayla.”

               
She screams again and runs through the house.  When they make it all the
way around again, Damien is coming in the front door.  Kayla runs over to
him and jumps behind him.  “Beat him up!”

               
Damien laughs and looks back at her.  “Why am I beating him up?”  He
turns to his cousin and frowns.  “Why in the world are you almost naked?
 What were you two doing?”

               
“He’s being a jerk,” Kayla shrieks.  “He thinks I want to see him naked,
but I don’t!  Plus, he was trying to tickle me.”

               
“Jackson, leave her alone.  No one wants to see you naked, especially not
me.”

               
Kayla leans over from behind Damien and sticks her tongue out.  “See, keep
your clothes off!”

               
“Off?” both guys chirp.

               
“NO! NO! NO! ON, oh
my gosh
, ON!” Kayla yells. 
She presses her face against Damien. “No, I want you to keep your clothes on!”

               
“Weren’t you the one who wanted us to feed you with our shirts off?” Jackson
asks.

               
Turning around, Damien looks at her.  “What conversation did I miss? 
If you want me to take my clothes off, all you need to do is ask.”

               
“She doesn’t want to see
you
with your clothes off,” Jackson scoffs.

               
Looking at him, Kayla says, “Says who?”

               
“Really?” Jackson snorts.  “Me or him?  The answer is obvious.”

               
Kayla’s jaw drops. “
How rude
!  You know what, I would
much
rather see Damien without his clothes on.”

               
“Sounds good to me,” Damien interjects.  “I have chocolate cake.  Why
don’t you and I go into the kitchen?  I’ll take my clothes off there.”

               
“No!” Kayla giggles.  “I swear, what is with you two?”

               
Damien leans over and kisses her on the head.  “Perversion runs in our
blood.”

               
“I guess so.  What would your parents say?”

               
Snorting, Damien says, “My mom would shake her head and my dad would say good
job.”

               
“Doesn’t your dad have to be all noble and set an example for his people?”

               
“Yes, but when it’s just family, he lets loose a little more.”  Damien
holds the cake in front of him.  “The best chocolate cake I could find.”

               
Kayla grabs it from him and walks into the kitchen. “Breakfast of
champions.  Come on.” 

               
“I still think she would much rather see me naked.” Jackson sighs.  “Just
saying.”

               
Kayla sets the cake on the counter.  “You are so full of yourself.”

               
“Well, I say it’s true.”

               
Pulling out a knife, Kayla leans against the counter and looks at him. 
“You think you’re so hot.”

               
“That’s what you say,” Jackson quips with a devious grin.

               
With a click of her tongue, Kayla snidely replies, “The real question is, whose
clothes am I more likely to take off?  Oh…let me think about it…probably
Damien’s.”

               
Damien laughs.  “Now,
that’s
what I like to
hear.”             

               
Jackson narrows his eyes at her.  Kayla raises her eyebrows back. “Well,
that
is probably a good thing,
”
Jackson says,
“
since I
don’t particularly want you to take my clothes off.”

               
“Wow,” Kayla snaps.  “Way to take a good mood and ruin it, douche.”

               
“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” Damien holds up a hand to each of them, cutting off any
further argument.  “Let’s not start a fight.  We have chocolate cake;
let’s eat it.”

               
With heat in his eyes, Jackson spins around and strides out of the
kitchen.  Damien sighs and takes off the lid to the cake.  “Just let
Jackson be for a bit,” he whispers. Kayla stabs the knife into the cake,
causing Damien to laugh.  Kayla glares at him.  “Oh sweetie, don’t be
angry.”

               
“I’m not mad…I’m hurt,” she says as a tear rolls down her face.

               
“Hey,” Damien murmurs, pulling her into his arms.  “Don’t let him get to
you. You bruised his ego and he lashed out.”  Kayla lays her head on his
chest.  “You don’t need to cry.”  Kayla bursts into tears. 
“Wow, okay, you don’t need to get hysterical.”