By: Anne Olsen and Michele Bumbarger
Chapter Seven
“Haven’t you got a home to go to, Megabyte?” Megabyte looked up at Ami and put on his best ‘who me’ look.
“I thought you wouldn’t mind me waiting here for Celia,” he answered, stretching and sticking his feet up on Ami’s desk. He’d turned up at Ami’s dorm room about half an hour before claiming that he had some time to kill and surely Ami wouldn’t mind some company. Obviously he was beginning to outstay his welcome he thought.
Ami glared at him. “I suppose that’s why you were hanging around the lecture earlier this morning as well?” she asked. “Stalking young college students now are we?”
Megabyte fell off the chair he was balancing on at that remark and landed on the floor. “Me stalking? Come off it, Ami, since when was it was crime to be seen in the same place as someone you like. Besides I don’t see Celia complaining, do you?”
“Maybe that’s because she’s too busy seeing someone else. She’s dating Guy now, Megabyte, or didn’t your spy network tell you that?”
“She’s dating a guy called Guy? Did she tell you that?” Megabyte tried hard to stifle a smirk, and failed. A guy called Guy? He knew it wasn’t that funny, but couldn’t help himself. Must be a sign of sleep deprivation he thought.
“Yes, she did tell me that,” said Ami losing patience.
“Geez, his parents must have really hated him to call him that.”
“Well, I suppose you’d know about that, wouldn’t you Marmaduke?”
“Hey,” protested the redhead, frowning, as he rose to his feet and settled himself onto Ami’s bed. It wasn’t like Ami to come out with comments like that. She knew how he felt about his given name.
“Sorry Megabyte.” Ami saw his expression and apologised. “I’m just finding it a bit hard going seeing you and Adam everywhere I turn. I know you guys are worried about me, but as I keep telling you, I’m fine.”
Well you don’t look it, Megabyte stopped himself in time before he blurted out what he was thinking. In his opinion Ami still seemed really jumpy.
“We’re only trying to look out for you, Ami.”
“So you admit you’re not here waiting for Celia then?”
Megabyte nodded. He hadn’t really thought that Ami would fall for that story for too long either. “Angel…” he began.
Ami sighed. “Look, Megabyte, I’ll be honest with you. Much as I appreciate you guys looking out for me, I’m all right with this whole bonding with Angel thing. There are parts of it I’m still trying to deal with but it doesn’t help when you and Adam carry on as though he’s eyeing me up for lunch.”
“Maybe it has something to do with the fact that he’s a vampire, Ami. I know everyone says he’s one of the good guys but it’s this whole ‘vampires are bad but hey I’m not’ thing that has me wigged.”
“You’re just going to have to trust me on this one, Megabyte.”
“Yeah like the fact that you keep saying that you’re not having these dreams even though I’m sure you are.” Megabyte regretted that comment as soon as it was out of his mouth. One look at Ami’s face told him that he was in trouble.
“So that’s the real reason you’re here spying on me, is it? Maybe you and Adam should try listening to me once in a while and realise you’re not always right about everything.”
“I never said…”
“Yes you did. Not in so many words, but I’m not stupid, Megabyte. Stop treating me as though I am or that I’m some little kid who needs looking after.”
“Ami, what’s wrong? Look I’m sorry if I upset you. We’re just worried about you.” Megabyte stared at his fellow Tomorrow Person. Even though he’d seen Ami lose her temper before, this time the vibes coming off her felt different. She seemed so full of anger, so unlike her normal self it gave him the creeps. He wondered if Adam was right in thinking that somehow Angel was affecting her.
“Well if you and Adam spent a bit less time worrying about me and more time listening to me maybe this whole soul bonding thing wouldn’t have happened in the first place.”
“Hey that’s not fair, Ami,” Megabyte protested, trying to ignore the feelings of worry at the back of his mind.
Ami carried on with her verbal attack as though he hadn’t even spoken. “Remember I told you that I was scared, and what happens? Adam leaves me alone for a moment and gives Giselle the opportunity she needs. Then you have the nerve to follow me around like a shadow ever since it happened and keep asking me if I’m okay.”
“We’re only trying to look out for you, Ami.” Megabyte repeated his earlier statement. “Maybe if you opened up and told us about these dreams we could help.”
“I told you before, I’m not having any dreams!” Ami’s voice rose as she spoke. “I wish the two of you would just go away and leave me alone. Maybe if you’d left me alone when we first met I wouldn’t be in this mess in the first place. I’m sick of all this Tomorrow People stuff and having creepy people after me all the time.”
Megabyte stared at her with a shocked expression on his face “Ami, this isn’t like you at all. Come on, what’s wrong?”
No answer.
“Ami?”
Megabyte reached out and shook her. She was standing there just looking at him, with an expression of utter disgust on her face.
[Ami?] Megabyte reached out for her telepathically and as he did so recoiled as he felt the anger in her mind.
[Ami?] He tried again, ignoring the feelings coming at him from her.
“How dare you?” Ami screamed at him. “Don’t you ever invade my privacy again, Megabyte Damon.”
Megabyte ducked as a large textbook came sailing off the shelf by Ami’s desk and hit the wall behind him.
“Don’t you think you’re over reacting here much, Ami? I was only trying to find out what’s wrong.”
“Over reacting? Me over reacting? That’s rich, coming from someone who’s been stalking me all morning.”
“Stalking? I told you before I wasn’t stalking…” Another book came off the shelf, this time catching Megabyte on the arm when he didn’t move out of the way fast enough. “Hey Ami, enough already. I’ve got the general idea. I won’t use telepathy unless you want me to. Okay?”
Ami replied by telekinetically hurling something else at him, a large potted plant this time. It was followed by the hairbrush and several plastic bottles that usually sat on the top of her dresser.
“Ouch, that hurt!” exclaimed Megabyte. “Hey Ami watch it, okay? This isn’t funny.”
“Good. It wasn’t meant to be.”
Megabyte thought about trying to reach her telepathically again and quickly shelved the idea. If he hadn’t known better he could have sworn that initiating telepathic contact with her had been the cause of his current trouble. “Can’t we talk about this, Ami?”
“No.” Ami sent a vase hurling across the room, and if Megabyte hadn’t teleported it would have hit him squarely on the head.
He reappeared behind her and tried once more to reason with her. “Ami, come on. Why don’t you come back to the ship and we can sit down and talk?”
“Yeah right, Megabyte. You’d like that wouldn’t you? I’ve already told you how I feel about the whole Tomorrow People thing and you want me to go back to the ship. You haven’t been listening to a word I’ve said.”
“Well maybe if I didn’t have to concentrate on ducking…” Oops, wrong thing to say, he thought, as something else came sailing through the air.
“Get out!” Ami pointed to the door. “Now!”
“But Ami…”
“Don’t you listen to anything I say!” Ami seemed almost hysterical. “Leave me alone!”
“Okay, okay.” Megabyte started backing towards the door.
Ami glared at him again, and Megabyte decided that he’d definitely outstayed his welcome. As her alarm clock started through the air towards him, he focused on Adam and teleported. Hopefully the Australian might be able to make more sense of the situation than he could.
As he disappeared, Ami shook her head, sat down on the bed and surveyed the damage around her…
******
Entangled