Orlando Holmes hated chemistry class with a passion. Not because he wasn't interested in science, nor because he wasn't good at it even. It was just boring.

Watching paint dry sounded like a better idea than sitting through the lecture. When he first came to Lunar Falls High School around a month ago, he thought for sure he'd enjoy the class. The teacher was nice even if she was dull, and it was so laid back which was how he preferred to learn. Having his girlfriend Tait in there with him also helped of course.

The minutes dragged on, and soon he found himself having a hard time sitting still. There were only so many ways he could occupy himself without getting in trouble. Doodling in his notebook took up the bulk of his time and sometimes he discreetly did homework for his other classes.

Sleep wasn't an option, unfortunately. While it was his first class, by the time it started he generally was able to wake up enough for a few hours, and function.

No, he was stuck doing nothing, and it stunk. Especially when he noticed how his girlfriend was passing notes to her ex-boyfriend who also happened to be in the class.

Orlando didn't know a lot about their relationship, but he knew enough to come to the conclusion that the guy was bad news. Tait's body language started to change the longer the notes kept being passed, and not in a good way.

At first she slouched, then her head dropped, and finally she went rigid. He was about to tap her shoulder and butt in when they were asked to get into their lab groups. She stood up and left for her table, placing the note inside her textbook for the time being. Curiosity getting the better of him, he lifted the cover to take a peek at the exchange.

"It's true?" Written in sloppy handwriting.

"That you're a jerk? Yes." She wrote back in her unmistakably script. It was so full of loops Orlando couldn't decide whose writing was more illegible.

"That you're dating the delinquent."

"He's not a delinquent, and why do you care? You told me eight months ago you never wanted to speak to me again. You told me we couldn't be friends. It's none of your business."

"I thought you had better taste."

"He's better than you. Leave me alone. I was serious about the restraining order."

"Gold digger."

Orlando studied the last two words which her ex had written, trying to decide how he felt about the whole conversation. The fact she had threatened the guy with a restraining order was a big red flag. Not like he'd heard about it yet. Shouldn't he have? What if the guy tried something?

"Orlando?" one of his lab partners called him.

"Coming," he said and quickly shut the book. He searched the room for Tait, but she was missing.

No doubt she was in the bathroom crying her eyes out. As tough as Tait acted, he knew she had a gentle heart. She wasn't always like the other girls which was one of the things he liked about her the most, despite the fact that they came from completely different universes.

The pretty blonde cheerleader didn't usually date the Gothic "troublemaker". Even though he didn't cause problems, he had a reputation given how he had gotten to Lunar Falls. Getting expelled from another high school would do that.

Still, she wasn't heartless, and had emotions. The notes had upset him, which really said a lot since hardly anything fazed him. If he felt angry, he concluded she did as well and needed to deal with it accordingly.

The question was, how did he help? Should he butt in? Let her ex know to leave her alone—or else? Did he play dumb?

When she came back to class, he was still chewing over the predicament as he meticulously measured random objects to prove he did in fact know how to do so. Busy work was the worst.

He continued to think over what to do throughout the day. By the time lunch rolled around, he'd come to a conclusion.

It was possibly the last warm day of the year. The fall was always a little temperamental, especially in November and right before Thanksgiving. Soon the snow would be falling, and then it'd be back to staying inside. Some people were winter people. He wasn't.

Nice days were becoming few and far between, and Orlando wanted to take advantage of it. Fall was his favorite season after all, and sitting outside was the best way to enjoy it. Then he could also sequester his girlfriend away from everyone else. Like the old cliché, she wasn't just a cheerleader, but a popular one too.

Tait was still upset. She held her books tight every time he saw her in-between classes. In the few they had together, she paid more attention to her notebook than to the lecture—which wasn't like her at all.

Not only was she not taking notes, she wasn't writing anything, doodling, nothing. She just sat there blankly at her desk for the whole period. In the month and a half he'd known her, the one thing he picked up on right away was her studious nature.

"It's kind of cold out," she said as she sat down by him on the grass in the campus courtyard.

It was small with one bench, a young sapling tree, and a couple of small flower gardens. Nothing like the courtyard at Morningtide where he used to attend school, but Orlando liked its simplicity.

"You might be the only person who thinks so," he said while observing the small clumps of students sitting on the grass.

All of them were in T-shirts or, at the most, sweatshirts. Tait herself had a sweater on. Attempting to be a gentleman, he offered her his black hooded sweatshirt. She took it and wrapped it around herself tightly before picking up her apple and taking a small bite.

"You're going to make me work for this, aren't you?" he asked before starting to eat his tater tots. He noticed she didn't have a lot of food on her plate either, also unlike her.

Tait gave him a weak smile. "I'm not sure I'm following you."

"You've been off all day. I noticed, I'm observant when I want to be." He raised an eyebrow and then took another bite before adding, "I want to know why." A gentle nudge to hopefully encourage her to open up.

"You know Vance and I dated," she said quietly.

"Yes, you dated, and I think he's a moron. You confirmed this for me. What does this have to do with you being upset?" He'd play dumb about seeing the note for now.

She sighed, and finally decided to eat more than just the nibbles she'd been giving her apple. "We were together for almost a year. He was emotionally abusive, and he liked to manipulate me. He talked me into doing a lot of things we probably shouldn't have. I dumped him because I didn't want to do them anymore, and I was tired of feeling like such a crappy person all of the time. When we broke up, he threatened me and assaulted me with a soda can."

"A can of soda?" Orlando tried not to laugh. The idea just sounded too ridiculous to him. What kind of person attacked someone with soda pop?

"Yes," she said, not looking amused, so he quickly stopped smiling altogether. "I think he tried to slash my tires while I was in class once too, but I don't have any proof."

"He sounds like a psycho. Please tell me you did something about this."

"I tried to. The staff doesn't believe me though because he's such a good student. He's never caused problems before, so apparently that means I made it up. I told him if he didn't start leaving me alone, I'd go to the cops." She stared down at her food.

Orlando let the silence linger as he processed her story. The two had their share of deep talks, but had only grazed the surface of their past romances. The most each had shared was how many times they'd tried dating.

More often than not they discussed their respective family lives. A thing he didn't enjoy talking about much, but it felt a lot more necessary than discussing his ex-girlfriends. Now he was starting to rethink that plan. At least when it came to talking about her exes. His were far from newsworthy.

He clenched his fists, trying to keep his anger at bay. Everything about her story boiled his blood—especially the part about how Vance got away with it all.

There was nothing Orlando could do about it now except to keep treating her as best he could. Talk about baggage, though, and along with that came pressure.

"Are you mad at me?" she asked.

"No, I'm not mad at you. I'm mad at him. Can I keep asking you questions about this, or would you rather I save them for later?"

"Might as well get them out of the way now." She glanced at him, but he didn't meet her eyes.

He wasn't sure if he could look at her and ask her what he needed to.

"When you say he talked you into doing things you weren't ready for, do you mean...?" He shook his head, deciding it better not to ask after all. Was that really a can of worms he wanted to open just then?

Tait nodded, answering anyway. "Yes, we had sex. If that's what you're asking, I mean."

He nodded. Now his appetite was gone. What kind of a slime ball did something like that? It was disgusting.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"Outside of wanting to punch him, yes," he said and gave her a forced smile. She let out a soft chuckle, so he felt better for being able to make her feel a tiny bit happier at least.

She shook her head slowly. "What about you?" she asked.

"What about me?"

"Have you?"

"Have I?"

"You know..."

"No, I don't," he said and quickly finished eating. "Do you mean 'it'? Have I done 'it'?" The fact that he couldn't talk about sex like an adult should have been her dead giveaway that he hadn't.

She nodded some more, apparently not picking that up. "Yeah."

"No." He averted his eyes, and stared down at his plate as if he were looking for something on it.

Not a conversation he wanted to get into, especially with the lunch hour quickly coming to a close. Being reminded about his lack of experience would only make him feel insecure.

Tait wasn't going to let it go it seemed, because she grabbed his chin and forced him to look into her steel eyes before saying firmly, "It's in the past. I thought I loved him a long time ago, but what was going on between us wasn't love. Promise to try and not let it bug you?"

"Try, yes, I can promise to try," he said, but he knew there would be no way for him to say it wouldn't bother him completely.

It did. He was jealous and nervous.

What if she expected the same thing from him? What if he couldn't live up to whatever standards she had? What if he couldn't be better than Vance?

The longer he waited, the more he knew his chances of finding a girl in his same position would become slimmer. He'd accepted a while ago that he was probably the last virgin on the planet over the age of sixteen. All the same, he didn't want things to happen the wrong way.

"You're thinking deeply, aren't you?" she whispered.

"I do that a lot," he pointed out, trying to remain casual and not let on just how deeply he was, in fact, thinking. He didn't want to worry her, nor was he about to break up with her over it. Quite the opposite.

"Please don't be up—" she started, but he silenced her by placing a finger to her lips and then quickly gave her a soft kiss.

He had to be careful about the PDA in front of the entire student body as well as the teachers. Being seen as affectionate to his girlfriend was not something he enjoyed, nor did he want to get detention for it. They were having a private moment, and he liked to keep it that way. Outside of hand holding, it made him uncomfortable to have his business where everyone could see it.

He made the exception to reassure her.

"I'm fine. If you're not bothered by it or worried, then I'm not either," he said. "I mean, I shouldn't worry, should I? He's not dangerous, is he?" Though he was positive she hadn't meant Vance causing the upset.

"No, just annoying." Tait sighed softly and finally offered him a small smile. "Excited for Thanksgiving?"

Normally, Orlando didn't enjoy changing the subject to avoid unpleasant topics, but this time he was grateful. There was nothing more to talk about anyway.

Granted, Thanksgiving wasn't a pleasant topic for him either, but it was better than his sex life, or lack thereof.

He shrugged, standing so he could walk with her to return their plates. "It'll be good to have a break from school." That seemed like a safe reply.

"We're going to have so many people over, and my mom wants to shop in the morning. She's one of those people. Do you get together with all of your family?"

"No." He shook his head. They went back inside and walked through the short hallway to the cafeteria. "Last year my sister and I had one of those pre-made meals from the grocery store, watched the football game, and then caught a movie. This year, I'm not sure what's going to happen since she's got her boyfriend. I think she mentioned us going to his mom's house where I'll get to mingle with all of his family. They'll no doubt give me pity attention since I'm such a sob story. You know, she is raising me since my parents won't."

"Sorry to hear."

"I like the food from the grocery store. I go there all the time for it, in fact. I also like football, and movies." He hated pity and awkward small talk. Even more so with strangers.

"You don't have any family in town besides your sister? Any other friends to visit?"

"Not at the moment, no." He rolled his eyes.

She knew that already. His parents were never home. The last time he saw them was briefly at the beginning of the summer. He'd hardly call it a bonding experience since it had literally lasted three hours.

They were too busy working to be home. Their job required them to be out of the country a lot. He hardly got so much as an e-mail from them. All things he'd told her before.

"You can come over to our place. It'll be fun. Your sister can come too, and then you don't have to be in that big house all by yourself."

"I don't mind. You should also make sure your parents are okay with me coming along to begin with before inviting."

"I don't see why they wouldn't."

"They barely know me?" He gave her a weak smile.

He'd briefly met them the night of the Sadie Hawkins dance two weeks ago, and by met, they exchanged a quick wave, took a few pictures, and then left. They were not properly introduced.

"All the more reason for you to come then. You can actually meet them this time."

"Don't jump the gun. I'd hate to get my hopes up," he mumbled, only being half-sarcastic.

"I'll ask and call you about it later, or you can come over after school? I could go over there?"

"We can hang," he said with a nod.

Then his pocket started to vibrate with a text message. Cell phones weren't allowed in class, but he always kept his phone on vibrate unless he was taking a test.

Lyssa, his sister, was his legal guardian while his parents were gone. They kept in touch much better with her than with him. If something went wrong, she'd be the first one to know. When he saw the text was from JD, he scowled.

"Hold that thought," he said as he checked the message.

"Code Green meeting @ apartment after school."

"Would tomorrow be okay? I just got a text saying I need to come home and do some stuff right after school. I promise I'll call you tonight as soon as I'm done." He didn't want her to think he was purposefully trying to avoid her.

She nodded but didn't seem fine with the new plan. "I can do something after practice tomorrow if you don't mind waiting for me. I would like to talk later either way. I feel like there's something that still needs to be said about our earlier conversation."

"If you have more to say, yeah." He shrugged, stopping outside of Tait's next classroom.

She gave both of his hands a squeeze. "I do, but I might just be feeling paranoid right now."

"Don't feel paranoid," he said firmly.

"Easier said than done."

He knew all about that one. "You can explain it all to me later then, but I promise everything is fine."

For the most part.

He still wanted to pound Vance's face in, but he'd probably end up with an assault charge instead of just getting off with a warning. He had a reputation of being violent.

The whole reason behind his transferring out of Morningtide to Lunar Falls in the first place was because he had gotten into a fight. Because of his money, the school board was willing to let it slide. Besides, everyone in town knew Jesse Jordan and his gang of bullies had it coming. It was only a matter of time, and Orlando had no problems with stepping up to deliver.

The problem was he wasn't a violent person by nature. Lately, he'd been starting to question who he was.

Ever since he met Alan, everything in his life started changing. He had power and he liked it. For the first time in years, he was starting to feel like his own person again. He just had to decide if he liked who that person was.

"I'll call," he said.

She kissed his cheek and then went into class. He rushed to his, not wanting to be late. Taking his seat, he prepared himself for the last half of the day, but he doubted his focus would be there.

His mind kept wandering. If it wasn't about his recent drama with Tait, he was thinking about JD's text.

Someone got powers.

Code Green was the code word JD had picked for such an occurrence. He and Angela were the only two who didn't have them.

Cadence was inhumanly smart now, and Orlando had gained telekinesis, and who knew what else, in terms of psychic abilities.

Whatever power JD finally got, he hoped it was something useful. It wasn't easy being the only aggressive power in the group. No doubt the guy would be gloating about it.

On the plus side, at least he'd stop whining about being powerless.