PROVERB OF TRUTH - 3

She looked like she wanted to disappear. Rae decided to come to the rescue and end Molly's little impromptu inquisition. "Hey, why don't we head over to where Devon's playing?"

"And meet more cute boys?" Molly gave a little kid-like bounce. "Let's go."

The girls headed off to the sports fields.

"Thanks." A soft voice spoke inside Rae's head, causing her to misstep, but she quickly caught herself. She glanced at Maria from the corner of her eye and nodded. When Maria smiled, Rae grinned. Holy cow! That really happened! She talked in my head! This school is going to be so amazing!

Molly suggested they head to the middle of the sidelines, so they could see both teams. They sat down on the bleachers to watch. It didn't take long for Rae to figure out Devon was easily the quickest and most talented on his team. The boys seemed oblivious to the girls sitting in the bleachers, which Rae didn't mind. It gave her time to calm the butterflies in her stomach.

A boy on the opposite team dribbled the ball near his goalkeeper. In the blink of an eye, he'd passed midfield and streaked around a defense player. He took a shot on the net, scoring easily. Rae blinked and rubbed her eyes, wondering if she was seeing things.

"No goal! No goal!" Devon waved his arms in the air. "Riley, you know the rules. Only natural play-no gifts!"

"Give me a break! I can't help if my slow running is faster than everyone else's!" Riley shouted. His teammates cheered and slapped him on the shoulder.

"You're not faster than the speed of light without your gift! No way can you argue with the laws of physics." Devon tapped his head and the other boys laughed.

"Trying to impress the girls?" The guys started walking over to where the girls sat.

"Whatever." Riley scowled at him.

Devon bowed dramatically to the girls.

"Hey, I'm Riley." He stepped in front of Devon.

Rae noticed a tattoo of a cheetah on his wrist. That explained his speed.

"Gals, this is my team. Our keeper is Nicholas, our two defensemen are..." Riley's eyes and mouth stopped moving when they came to Rae. He simply froze, staring at her like he couldn't believe what he was seeing. Is it hair? Is there something on my face? my She suddenly wished she could hide behind Haley. But no matter how hard she wished, she could see by the look on his face the something which had stunned him to silence was her. "You're Rae Kerrigan, aren't you?"

All laughter and jostling from the guys walking toward them stopped instantly. Rae swore all their jaws dropped open at the same time. Her temper flared from embarrassment and the stress of the day combined with the fact that she had no idea why everyone was acting so strange. Words rushed out of her mouth before she had a chance to think them through.

"Yes, I'm Rae. I've no idea what you've been told about me, but let me assure you I feel ten times more uncomfortable around you than you do around me." You strange bunch of gifted people have no idea how terrifying you are.

Devon came to her rescue. "Don't mind Riley. He may be fast as a cheetah, but he has the tact of a rat." Riley scowled at Devon's comment, but it broke the ice and the boys laughed and relaxed. They obviously trust him. Hmm...cute,

Superhero, tactful, and now

trustworthy...nice package.

Molly piped up, "I'm not inked yet. My birthday's in three days. Rae doesn't turn until November fifteenth."

Rae stared at her roommate in shock. How did Molly know that? She hadn't told her. Molly had the date wrong. Due to a clerical error when she was born her birth certificate showed the wrong date, but at this point Rae didn't really feel like correcting the mistake since Molly shouldn't have known it in the first place. It suddenly seemed like a very good idea to make sure her true birth date remained a secret.

"So you're just normal 'til November?" one of the younger boys asked. "Poor you for the next few months."

Rae just stared mutely at him. Poor me?

"That's Brady. He turned sixteen four months ago, but he's been here since he was thirteen," Devon said.

"Didn't help him learn any skills on how to control his gift," a different boy teased. Brady just smiled and pushed his fingers at the commenter, who went sprawling backward.

"Brady can control wind, like Haley." Devon ruffled Brady's hair. A tall boy with his dark, almost black, hair tied in a ponytail, rested his arm on Devon's shoulder. Rae noted the confident, comfortable gesture. This was obviously one of Devon's friends, and Rae decided she wanted to know all of his friends. She'd need to start gathering information since everyone seemed to have the details on her already.

"Hiya. I'm Julian. My talent is by far the most interesting. I can draw the future." He tapped his long, artistic fingers on his wrist. "I've just had a vision telling me it's half-past four and Lanford's getting hungry. If we want to eat, we'd better start heading back."

The guys collected their belongings. Rae stayed close to the girls as they headed back to the school buildings. She felt uncomfortable about the impact her name caused, but she didn't know what to do about it or even the reason behind it. She was glad that Devon walked beside them, along with Julian, who seemed unfazed about her identity. Anyone behaving like a normal person ranked high on her good list at the moment.

About halfway back, Devon interrupted what had become a comfortable silence. "We'll see you shortly at the table." He let his shoulder rub against Rae's. "We'll save you a seat." The guys headed into Joist Hall, and the girls continued to Aumbry Hall.

"Don't you think they're all super-hot?" Molly whispered as they headed up the steps.

"Dunno." She shrugged, caring more about information than boys at the moment. The headmaster had better be at dinner tonight. She wanted to get some answers to the millions of questions flying around in her head.

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