"I don't know Em, it's so complicated, I mean he's not horrible to be around but he has a dark side to him and I just don't want to get into something with someone that unpredictable." Clara confessed. She stretched her hamstrings tightly. She grabbed hold of her sneakers and brought her torso to her knees. She rested there for a long while, feeling the burning sensation of her pulled ligaments. Sleeping in a car for most of the night had her usual cat-like flexibility feeling more like the rusted Tin Man from the Wizard of Oz.
"Girl, you have a dark side too you know. You can be a downright mean girl. You're also feisty and actually pretty selfish." Emily candidly answered.
"First of all, rude. Second of all, that's kind of my point. If he keeps on this way, then there's nothing stopping me from doing the same and giving into my own dark side." Clara explained. She thought of last night and how Cyra almost killed a man and the only thing Clara could think of at the time was how the man had bound and beat Cyra and how he had every right to be electrocuted.
"Between me and you, Cyra has a temper. And I also have a temper. We shouldn't be tempting each other's fire like that." She released her toes repositioned herself into the splits and grabbed her toes once again.
"Temper? He's not violent with you is he?! Because I'll kick his skinny ass." Emily threatened but Clara just smiled.
"And THAT fire of yours is why I love you Em. He isn't violent with me. He is always kind and a gentleman when it comes to me. He's even a little romantic at times. And he's definitely not skinny." Clara smiled as she thought about it and Emily smiled even brighter as she stretched her long tan arms over her head and grabbed her elbow.
"Then you are crazy! You should at least give him a shot, nobody is perfect, we all have our dark side and maybe we just need to find the right person to change that for us. Make us be better. Right?" Emily nudged. They continued stretching and Clara rubbed her temples.
"Ok yeah, maybe, I don't know but can we talk about something else? All of this Cyra talk is giving me a headache." She had a headache for a few days now that she thought about it. This life of hunting down criminals was weighing on her.
"Sure. How is your anxiety doing? Are you taking anything for it?"
"Right, anxiety" Clara thought. She shook her head. "Um… yeah I think I'm starting to get a hold of it, actually. It use to come on suddenly and when it was happening I couldn't stop it. Now I can kind of figure out what triggers it and be more careful. Grounding techniques and whatnot" She knew that Emily would most likely know if she was lying so it's best to tell her as much of the truth as possible without giving away everything.
"That's good Clare Bear, I hate seeing you suffer and anxiety is a bitch."
"Anxiety is DEFINITELY a bitch!" Clara agreed.
After Aerobics class was over Clara looked around for Cyra. He said he would be here today and he was the one that had the project saved. "I have to remember to ask him to email that file to me."
After a few moments she seen a familiar black head of hair bobbing about the corridor between the crowd of students. "Cyra!" She called.
Cyra turned and faced a smiling Clara waving her hand in the air. He eyed her tight workout clothing and even her hair that was in a messy, high ponytail looked sexy. He smiled back at the adorable, peppy face.
"You're in good spirits I see." He put a hand around her waist and pulled her close.
"And you're as weird as ever. Who says good spirits? Like, do you mean friendly ghosts? Top shelf alcohol? I can totally go for a tall glass of some good spirits right now." Clara laughed nervously as her heart skipped a beat at his touch.
"Wow is Clara Lovesteen making jokes?" He teased and she hit him jokingly. He let go of her waist and offered his arm to her. She rolled her eyes but took it anyway, still smiling. She inhaled his warm aroma and squeezed his arm a little tighter.
He held the door open for her and they took their seats.
Clara watched Cyra and tried to invision how life would be if the strange complications didn't exist. If Cyra wasn't a criminal mastermind. If she didn't have super powers. Or if a dangerous king pin wasn't potentially looking to kill her and her would-be boyfriend.
But maybe she could change one of those things. Maybe her would-be boyfriend didn't have to be a criminal mastermind. Maybe she could convince him to change, just like Emily said. Then maybe she could actually see herself with him. After all, surly she could forgive his past if he promised a better future? She thought about all of these things when Cyra caught her staring.
"Ok Darling seriously, what has gotten into you?" He cautiously asked. "I don't want to rock the boat but I need to know why my fiesty beloved is acting so out of character. Is everything ok?"
She opened her mouth to speak but got interrupted by Professor Floz who was starting class. She glanced once more to Cyra and shrugged at him. She looked down at her desk and then at the professor.
Cyra wanted to get out of his seat so badly and pick her up to his face and make her tell him what she was thinking.
When Professor Floz gave the ok to break up into pairs, Cyra couldn't have gotten out of his chair sooner and was at Clara's side in an instant.
"Ok, tell me what is going on. Why are you, the person who usually finds my affection annoying, so loving to me all of a sudden? Is the moon gem changing your personality because if it is we have to figure out how to stop it. I like you much too much how you are, I don't want you to change."
Clara stared at him intensely. "Why is everyone so rude today? No, it's not the moon gem or brain damage! Sometimes change is a good thing right? Like when someone changes for the better." Clara offered.
"Impossible. You are already perfect my Love." He said smugly.
"There's not one little thing you'd change about me? Everyone has one thing!" She insisted.
"Nope. I wouldn't change a thing." He smiled. "I don't believe I have yet to have the pleasure of meeting the insecure side of Clara Lovesteen yet." He teased.
"I'm not. I'm pretty confident actually. I just don't believe you. Everyone has something they hate about someone else. It's human nature to want to fix people." Clara defended.
"Well I definitely do not hate anything about you. Why do you say that? Is there anything you would change about me?" Cyra wasn't liking how the conversation was going.
"Well I mean, I don't think it's a bad thing to change. But yes, there are some things I would definitely want to change about you. And then we could be together. And personally I think if you care about me you'd want to do anything for me. Including change who you are for me." Clara stated.
"Sorry Princess, I don't agree." Cyra said cautiously. "I believe if you love someone, you love all of them, including their flaws and you wouldn't want anything about them to change."
"Can you just let me tell you what I mean. It's for the best. I just think that if you were to just stop doing immoral things like-" Cyra stood up and cut her off mid sentence.
"I'd rather not know how you plan to fix me Clara. If you'd excuse me." He collected his laptop and stalked out of the classroom, a wave of maple leaves and cedar smelling air wisping by with his stride.
"I wonder what the hell that was." Cyra thought. "That girl can be so immature." The bright sunlight burned his eyes as he opened the door. He put his sunglasses on and headed towards his car.
"Cyra! Wait!" Clara called behind him. He took a breath and stopped to wait for her to catch up.
I'm sorry Cyra, look, can we talk? About us. Please?" Clara asked apologetically.
"No Clara, I don't have time to play your games. You can either accept me and join me as my partner and my friend or you don't. You have your guard up, I understand and I'm more than willing to take the time and effort needed to bring down those walls and gain your trust and maybe one day you'll even return the affection that I have for you. But right now you are toying with me and I won't stick around for that when there is still so much needed to be done. I came here today because I would not bring myself to ask you to skip school because I know how important your studies are to you but we also need to go over important things like how to find a way to contact Emor so he doesn't murder me. You need to get it in your head now that I am who I am, I'm not a broken object to be fixed Clara, I am a cold blooded criminal." He ripped off his sunglasses and moved closer to Clara. "I've done unspeakable things." He grabbed her by the shoulders and stared deep into her eyes. "And I will continue to do despicable deeds because that's who I am. I'm the villain and you are not the hero." His voice spit poison as he spoke and Clara looked as if she might cry.
"Look, love." He said softer. "You can't fix my level of evil. You could have the whole world under your finger," Cyra held up his forefinger. He pressed it against his thumb. "Have it under your control."
"But that's not what I want," Clara protested.
"So this is what you want instead? A life of disappointment? You deserve better." Cyra muttered as he slowly ran his fingers through her hair.
"Maybe," She whispered, eyes dark and serious. "But you're the one I want."
He released her and turned away. "I'm sorry". He replaced his sunglasses and walked to his car but stopped for a moment. Without looking at Clara he spoke coolly. "I feel I no longer have need for your services Ms Lovesteen."