CHAPTER 3

Jaida walked down the street, her book bag hanging on her shoulder. In her arms were Arius' black robes that she had taken with when she left the hospital. She had gotten lucky that no one had stopped her in the hallway. She figured that as long as they didn't know Arius' name, they wouldn't be able to find out about him. After all, he had no residence, no parents (at least on this planet), and no last name. How could they possibly track him down?

Eventually, Jaida ie managed to get to the store he had been talking about. Arius was there, sitting on the bench, a rather impatient scowl plastered across his face. He stood up as she approached, grabbing his robes out of her hands.

"Took you long enough," he snapped as he pulled his robes on. They fell just above his knees, but they were rather form fitting, made up of two layers of fabric. They hugged every aspect of his body, minus his legs.

"Let's go," said Jaida, trying to be nice to the rather cold and arrogant young man. He had a serious attitude problem. It's not like she could really blame him much. He wasn't human, and he was probably raised to think of them as nothing more than miserable insects.

Jaida began to walk down the street, and Arius soon fell into step beside her. He had his arms crossed as he walked, his eyes constantly glancing around. He seemed rather curious of all the different buildings and all of the very different people. He had probably never seen anything like this before. It was hard to tell if he found the city fascinating or just plain boring.

"What now?" he finally asked her as they walked.

"Well," she began, glancing at him. "I guess it's a good thing you like black, because that's what color the uniforms are for my school."

"School?" he questioned, sounding both curious and uninterested. Jaida already knew he'd be a hard one to understand. He just kept getting more complicated.

"Yes, school," she told him. "It's a place where we learn things."

"I know that," he told her sternly. "Why do I have to go?"

"Because all teenagers go to school," she explained. "Besides, in order for you to have a cover story, you'll have to go to school. You'll be staying at my house, and my mom would get suspicious if you didn't act like a normal teenager." Arius just gave an annoyed sounding growl and turned away from her, his scowl getting worse by the second. It was somewhat entertaining for her as she stifled a small laugh. She didn't want to upset him, after all.

Jaida glanced down at her wrist, watching the hands on her clock. It was only four thirty. The school wouldn't officially close until seven, so they still had time to get a few things done. She sped up a bit, and Arius easily fell back into step beside her.

"Just where are we going?" he asked her.

"To my school," she told him, earning her a questioning glance from the boy. "You see, my school's a bit different. Only the rich or the smart can get in. In order to attend the school, you have to take an entrance exam. It'll determine whether or not you can attend and then how much money it'll cost." She seemed a little nervous as she looked up at him, meeting his intense gaze. "Do you think…you can pass? And not only pass, but could you get every question right?"

"Why?" he asked her, raising one eyebrow.

"You see…" she began, seeming just a little embarrassed. "I can attend that school because of my grades. My mom doesn't pay anything. However…you don't have a way of paying, and I can't ask someone to pay the money for you, so…"

"So if I wanna blend in, I need to pass the test." He gave a rather tired sigh. "Being human is harder than I thought it would be," he mumbled under his breath.

"Can you do it?" she asked him.

"As long as it's not history. Otherwise, the rest of your knowledge is rather basic. What's on the test exactly?"

"Math, science…some reading and interpretation stuff…" she began, trying to recall the way it was when she had had to take it. "It's pretty easy."

"Don't worry then," he told her smugly. "I'll pass." Jaida only smiled, seeming a bit smug herself.

"Good," she told him slyly. "Because you're going to take it now." His posture faltered a bit, but he quickly straightened himself back out.

"Fine," he stated. "It doesn't matter." She hoped it wouldn't. The outcome would definitely affect her cover story, especially since the story she had to feed her mother and the one she would tell the school were a bit different. She was still working through the details, trying not to leave any openings for questions. She didn't want anyone to become suspicious of Arius, considering the fact that he was already suspicious enough the way it was.

It didn't take long to reach the school building, and Arius was impressed that it was so large. There were obviously a lot of kids that attended it. This wasn't just your average public high school, not in the least. He began to wonder why he had been dropped off here of all places. What had his people been thinking?

He followed after Jaida as she passed right through the gates, which were currently opened. The entrance to the school was led to by a paved pathway. There was a grassy yard all around it, the area being encased by a rather high stone wall. The gates they had just come through were made of metal bars, spanning the same height as the brick wall. It wasn't just a school, was it? It seemed pretty well protected, what with the gate and the wall. Then again, this was a school for the rich and smart. They obviously had a lot of money, because the majority of the kids probably couldn't pull straight A's.

They both walked casually into the building as if they owned it. Arius followed Jaida down a hallway and towards a room that was still glowing with soft white light. There were people inside who seemed to be working on something. Arius followed silently as Jaida led him into the room. He wasn't sure exactly what he was supposed to do, so he decided to just stay quiet.

"Excuse me," began Jaida, drawing the attention of a man dressed in a gray business suit.

"Ah, Ms. Carlson," he said with a warm smile. "What brings you here?"

"This is Arius," she introduced, motioning to him with a smile. "He'd like to take the entrance exams." The man in the gray suit turned his attention to Arius, giving him a skeptical look. Arius didn't falter once under the man's gaze, obviously not intimidated at all by him. This was a larger man, well over six feet. He didn't tower too far over Arius, but it was enough so that he could look down on the boy. None of this seemed to bother the Deslyan, and Jaida knew why. To him, even this man was nothing more than an insect that he could crush easily if given a reason.

"Very well," said the older man as he went over to a desk and opened a drawer. Inside were a bunch of paper packets. He pulled one out and then took a mechanical pencil from his desk. He walked over and handed them both to Arius. "You have until seven o'clock to finish."

"Fine by me," he said as he turned towards the doorway.

"You can take it in the classroom across the hallway," the man told him before leaving the area, heading back into his own room inside the office. Jaida then turned to Arius before he could walk out the door.

"Remember, you have to pass," she told him.

"I know," he told her, sounding a bit agitated. "It'd be an insult to my people if I didn't." With that said, he walked off, leaving her alone in the office, alone to wait for the next two hours. At least now she could get her homework done early. Something told her she'd need the weekend free. There were a lot of preparations that needed to be made if Arius was going to stay with her and her mother. She still had to work on his story a bit. Everything had to be perfect. There was no room for error on her part. If she didn't keep her end of the promise, there was no doubt in her mind that he'd dispose of her.