Free Exceptional by Jess Petosa

            “Should it?” she responded.             “I think so.  It is okay to be angry and upset over something, even if you cannot change the outcome.  They are normal human emotions, and you should allow yourself to feel them.”             He was alluding to the fact that she could show some emotion in reaction to the events of the past couple of days, but he couldn’t find the words to say it outright.             Ally watched him for a minute, her jaw line tightening.  “Do you have any brothers or sisters?”             He shook his head.  “No.  When my mother gave birth to a son my father said there was no need for other children.”             “He sounds lovely”, she laughed.              “Look, Ally, there are some things I need to tell you…” Luke rubbed his clammy hands on his pants.  He had stalled long enough, and now he needed to come clean.              She rested her chin in her hands, watching him.             “In the woods, when I claimed you from the Guards, I wasn’t doing it to prove a point to them or just to save your life.” He started, taking a different direction than he had planned.  “I was truly interested in you from the moment I saw you.  I want to get to know you better, if you’ll give me a chance.”             Ally seemed surprised at his words, her green eyes growing wide.  She turned and stared at the fountain, bouncing her foot on the ground.  She finally opened her mouth to speak, but another voice called out in the garden.             “Luke!  Hey, Luke.”              “Pax,” he cursed under his breath.             “There you are.” Pax ran into the garden and grinned when he saw Luke and Ally sitting on the bench.  Luke hadn’t realized it before, but they were sitting rather close to each other.   He moved over a few inches and turned toward his best friend.  A moment later Maver slid up beside him.             “Luke,” Maver started.  “You need to come with us, now.”             “Why?”  He stood and stepped toward his friends.  “I’m kind of busy here.”             Pax laughed.  “We can see that.”             “Watch it,” Luke snapped.  “What is so important?”             Maver practically jumped beside them, his expression brimming with excitement.               “Tighe has challenged you.”             “What!” Luke let out a frustrated groan.  “Today?  I’m not even at the Warehouse, isn’t this against the rules?”             Maver smirked.  “He didn’t do it officially.  He told us to come get you, making sure to add that a refusal would be cowardly.  We told him that you would come, and you would destroy him... again.”             Pax slapped Luke on the shoulder.  “Looks like any business you had with the Ordinary today is off.  You have a fight to win.”             Luke looked back at Ally, who was watching their interaction with curiosity.  He didn’t want to leave her, especially after she had started to open up to him, but he couldn’t risk his friends seeing him have a weak moment.  He had had more since Ally arrived than he had in the past year.  He hoped that what he said before Pax arrived had left some sort of good impression on her, and that she would start to trust him.  Without a word he turned his back to her and followed his friends out of the garden.
     

Chapter Seven
                When Luke left Ally in the garden, she had spent almost an hour wandering the paths, wearing a nice pattern into the already packed down stones.  Luke’s words settled into her mind.  He was interested in her ?  Back in the settlement, dating had never been something she considered.  A few of the boys her age had seemed