I know mum has always hoped I'll talk to her about guys who might possibly be my boyfriends. I just haven't had a boyfriend yet. Though, I'm not so sure my mum would believe it now, as she has seen Jake at our place. At least I could dodge her questions after it had happened - I told her I needed to go study. And of course illustrate the poster.

Once back in my room, I took a better look at Jake's work. If I hadn't seen him doing it, I would have thought it took him at least an hour. I didn't spot even one tiny grammar mistake. Everything was smooth, perfect. And there was a lot of text, like he'd used more than one book as information sources. Or at least the Internet. But no. He took it all from the notes and his head.

Pulling myself away from the admiration, I took out my pencils. I already know that Jake is some should-not-exist otherworldly fantasy creature or whatever. I wouldn't be surprised if there were bunch of other things he could do that I'm not aware of. Right now I just decided to throw him out of my mind and start drawing. But a while after, I found myself drawing too gingerly. I realized I didn't want to ruin this poster - my illustrations couldn't be compared with his perfect handwriting.

The next day at school, I noticed Nicole looked a little jealous, although she tried to hide it. But still I was often hit with questions like: What else did you do? and What did you talk about? and so on.

Rudy appeared at school a little before the beginning of our third subject. He took his seat at the desk in front of us.

"Look who's here! Where were you for so long?" Nicole asked as soon as he had approached us.

"Looked after my sister," he said simply. "My parents were away this morning."

"And no one else was at home?" Nicole was referring to Rudy's big family.

"My uncle was, but he was busy." Rudy shrugged.

Nicole nodded. "Okay then. But you didn't miss much anyway. Mrs. Finley didn't show up, so our first lesson was called off."

I then remembered how the day before Rudy had left so suddenly after a phone call he'd received. I'd wanted to ask about it.

"Rudy, did something happen yesterday?" I asked worriedly. "You left so fast."

He looked away for a second. "It was about my brother. He got... attacked."

"Attacked? By who?"

"A dog," he replied, turning away from us to take out his things as the teacher had entered the classroom.

"Why did the dog attack him?" Nicole asked, her eyebrows furrowed.

"It had gotten out from behind the fence and... Karl happened to be on the wrong spot at the wrong time."

"Will he be okay?" I asked.

Rudy nodded. "It wasn't even as bad as it had seemed at first. He's okay."

As the lesson began, our chat stayed at that. I might be a bit paranoid, but I couldn't help myself when the thoughts of savannians crossed my mind.

The last lesson was biology. I had brought the poster already in the morning. Now I just took my seat next to Jake, trying to ignore him. Until he began speaking to me.

"You're a pretty good artist," he mentioned.

"Thanks," was my simple, almost monotonous answer. I didn't look at him. I know he just said it because he wanted my attention. I'm not that good artist. And he was kidding when he said he's hitting on me, too... Right?

"You have a nice home. Maybe I could come over another time?" He was searching my eyes, smiling.

"Better not," I said, maybe a little too fast.

He feigned to be hurt. "Why?"

"Hard to guess?" I muttered.

"So you still don't trust me." His tone actually sounded dispirited.

I sent him a look, my expression clearly telling: are you kidding me?

"I said I have changed. I didn't lie."

"But it doesn't change your past."

The lesson had already started and the teacher sent us a stern look, telling us without words to be quiet. This gave me a perfect reason to ignore Jake, although soon I realized he wasn't going to continue bothering me anyway. At the same time, Melany had shuffled further from us again. I began to wonder if I even should consider her as a threat.

When the lesson was over, Jake was the first to leave the classroom. He hadn't given me even one glimpse after the end of our conversation. Trying to remember my last words to him, I wondered if I had somehow offended him. I didn't remember I had. Unless he actually...

I shook my head, deciding it's better not to think of Jake or anything else that has to do with him. But after school, taking slow steps while leaving the school grounds, my thoughts still lingered over savannians. Do they have someone like police or something? Some rules? Would there be a way to report Jake's actions? There must be good savannians too, right?

"Hey, Selina," I heard the familiar voice again.

"What do you want now?" I didn't look at him when he came next to me. Too close.

"I like to be around you," he said. And I could imagine the smile on his face. A smile, that actually did look sincere.

"Leave me alone." I added some speed.

"Don't run away from me," Jake said mildly. He stayed next to me and I actually considered running. He seriously irritated me.

"Don't follow me around," I almost pressed through my teeth.

Suddenly I felt his hands on my shoulders. At the next moment I found myself pinned against a tree with my back. I was face to face with Jake who looked into my eyes. And somehow, I was unable to look away. I felt his hands slowly slip down to my waist.

"I didn't lie to you yesterday," he said softly, quietly. "I like you."

There was almost no space between our bodies. And when his face leaned closer, the fear inside me started to grow. But I felt almost as if a wall blocked it, not letting the fear come out and cause me to run away screaming. I didn't understand what was going on. All my thoughts ended up at nothing, making me confused.

"Please, don't..." I managed to whisper. But I was as if frozen to place, even if Jake's grip wasn't too strong. I wasn't tensed up either, rather other way around.

Then Jake softly pressed against me. I felt his lips on my neck and his hot breath, when he whispered, "I'm not going to hurt you."

His lips against my skin slowly moved up to my jawline. I stayed still. Why didn't I fight back? I suddenly felt my arms slip around him, on his back. They did it without my command. And I knew I wanted to pull him closer. I didn't want him to stop. All of a sudden that was all I could think of.

His lips made it to the corner of my mouth. I had closed my eyes.

But somewhere deep in my mind, something told me something was wrong.

"No, no..." I said under my breath, weakly trying to push him away. "It's not right." Or is it?

Jake pulled back enough to look me into eye. At the same time I felt his hand on the back of my head, caressing me. "I know I didn't leave a good first impression," he said softly. "But I want to make it up to you." He kissed my neck again.

I wanted to resist, but I couldn't. There was something holding me back. I... I didn't want him to stop. I really didn't. Again, I felt my mind go empty of all thoughts. There were only us two.

"Excuse me?" I suddenly heard a startled voice. My eyes popped open and head snapped towards the voice. A wave of guilt washed over me when I saw the betrayal and anger in Nicole's eyes. And there were no explanation I could give her. I had lied to her. Our friendship is going to be over. And I felt helpless. I wanted to say something, but nothing would make it easier.

Jake let go of me and took a step back.

"Nicole, I..." I began, but cut myself off. Even if I knew there would never be anything between her and Jake, I had crushed her dreams. There was nothing I could say to her.

"No, I understand. I won't bother you then." She was good at keeping her voice nonchalant. Abruptly she turned her back to us and began to walk away.

"Nicole, please," I called back to her, but she ignored me. I didn't want to lose her.

"Nicole, wait."

I turned to look at Jake. I wasn't expecting him to say anything. But Nicole stopped, looked back at Jake who now walked towards her. Suddenly I was overcome with fear. I had no idea what Jake was planning.

Nicole was as confused as I was. She didn't say anything as Jake stopped in front of her. Just in case I stepped closer. Jake wouldn't hurt her, would he?

"Am I causing you two problems?" he asked, his voice pleasant and calming. Nicole slightly opened her mouth but no voice escaped her lips. She probably wasn't expecting that.

"In that case, I'm sorry," Jake said when he didn't get a reply. "Maybe I can make it up to you somehow?"

Nicole frowned, trying to get where Jake is going with that. "W-What do you mean?" she finally asked, hesitantly.

It came unexpectedly to both of us when Jake's arm reached around Nicole's waist. My first reaction was jealousy, which startled me. Clearing my head, I felt fear ripple inside me. Nicole reacted too slowly and already Jake raised his other hand, putting it onto Nicole's forehead. And then - all of a sudden Nicole began struggling rapidly. She screamed, as if fighting for her life. I froze at the sight. I had no idea what Jake was doing to her, but I wanted him to stop. So I ran towards them, but I couldn't get closer because of Nicole's arms, which flailed around aimlessly. She also kicked Jake pretty strongly, but he didn't even seem to notice it.

"Jake, stop it!" I yelled at him. "Please, let her go! Please!"

Gradually it looked as if Nicole grew weaker. Jake slowly bent down, letting Nicole's limp body to lay on the ground. She was unconscious, if not dead. Jake let go of her, silently studying the girl's face.

"What did you do to her?" I yelled, shocked.

But Jake remained calm. "Wouldn't have wanted you two to get into fight because of me."

"But you hurt her!" I looked at Nicole, who seemed so lifeless, her eyes closed. But I noticed her chest rise and fall slowly. So she was still breathing, luckily.

"It wasn't pain, it was fear," Jake explained. "A natural reaction if someone gets too close to your entity."

I hesitated. "Entity? What... now you can access people's minds?"

"Nicole?" I was somewhat startled by the new voice. "Jake, what did you do to her?" Rudy ran over to Nicole while Jake pulled back.

"You will thank me for it." Jake almost looked annoyed, like we were little kids who won't understand what is right.

"Thank you?" Rudy asked, and I was startled to hear such an anger in his voice. "Playing with someone's mind is never a thing to thank for. And you would be the last one I'd trust."

I found myself holding my breath. How does Rudy know about these things? What does he know about Jake? Was he...? No, he couldn't...

Rudy stood up from next to Nicole and took a step towards Jake. "You better stay away from her. And stay away from Selina," Rudy said threateningly, which also expressed in his stance. I had never before seen Rudy like this, and it scared me.

But it didn't seem to affect Jake. He also stepped closer, arms crossed over his chest. "I only made things easier. And do you really see me surrendering to you? You can't make me do anything." Jake was absolutely certain about his superiority.

"Don't underestimate me," Rudy said quietly, his tome perfectly controlled and still showing a hint of threat.

Jake only grinned at him, but before he could say anything, something very unexpected happened.

Jake had come close enough for Rudy to grab his arm. And with no warning, Rudy flung Jake over his back. Jake landed several metres away, barely able to restrain his balance. He then turned to look back at Rudy, clearly surprised of what had just happened. "Wasn't expecting that," I heard him mutter under his breath.

When he stood up, I saw that he wasn't going to let it stay that way. And at the next moment, he lunged. But Rudy was faster, jumping out of the way and giving a strong punch at Jake's jaw, causing him to fall down on the ground.

Rudy eyed Jake, who slowly tried to get up, wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth.

"Don't think too much of yourself," Rudy said. "I'm not weak."

I had been frozen the whole time, not knowing what to say or do. Now I finally found my voice. "What is going on here?"

Both of their heads snapped to look at me. A startled and regretful look washed over Rudy's face. It seemed as if he had forgotten all about my presence. I couldn't read anything from Jake's face, though. Maybe a bit of irritation from what Rudy had just done to him.

"Now you've lost your watchfulness," Jake murmured towards Rudy.