"I thought you were painting a group of purple calla lilies for the midterm assignment?"  Cyrus leaned over Thea's shoulder to stare intently. "Why'd you change your mind?"

Thea stared at the canvas and smiled softly, "I decided that flowers were too simple."  Pointing around the room at other canvases she added, "Plus everyone is doing flowers."  With a smile she pointed toward the painting, "I think my parents will like this a lot more."

"Really," questioned Cyrus with a small smile.  "They like this sort of thing?"

Thea's brow furrowed as she stared at the painting, "What type of thing?  Do you think the moon is too big?"

Cyrus cleared her throat as she pointed toward the silver wolf taking up most of the canvas, "Why does it have jade green eyes?  Don't wolves usually have brown or black eyes?  Why make them that particular shade of green?"

"I never really thought about it," responded Thea preplexed.

"Wolves aren't normally that pure a silver either," continued Cyrus as she stared in awe at the wolf.

"White, brown and black are so over done that I thought I'd do something different." she frowned thoughtfully, "He was supposed to be a dark gray though."  Mixing black into the silver she'd created she huffed, "But I didn't add enough black so now I have him."

"It's not a female wolf," joked Cyrus as she stared at the wolf that look remarkably like Gabe when he shifted.

"Nope!"  Annouced Thea proudly, "That is a male wolf!"

Cyrus took a deep breath and her crinkled her nose, "When's the last time you saw Gabe?"

Thea turned to stare at her curiously, "Why do you ask me that?"  Thea tossed her paint tray into the waste box as she looked at Cyrus, "Are you looking for him?"

"From the smell of you I'd say he was here maybe 30 minutes ago and no I'm definitely not looking for him," responded Cyrus with a knowing smile.

Thea pulled her shirt toward her nose and took a big sniff.  She only only smelled the perfume she sprayed to cover the scent of them having had sex in the art closet.  Biting her lip she looked away, "What do you mean by the smell of me?"

"You reek of tea rose perfume.  You only spray it on if you and Gabe were in the Art Supply Closet making out."

Thea blushed as she picked the box up and carried it to the large garbage can, "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Cyrus cocked an eyebrow as she whispered to herself, "I could be mistaken.  Even though everyone can smell him all over you now."  She gave Thea's back an appraising look as she shook her head dismissing her thoughts.  "Do you want to go get coffee before we head to your house?"

"Only if we aren't running to the cafe."

Cyrus bursted into a fit of laughter as she grabbed Thea's hand.  "We'll jog."

*********

Gabe stared down at the chess board with a frown, "I hate chess."

Roderick stared down at the black and cream pieces and nodded, "I'm more of a checkers man myself."  Waving a hand at the board he sighed, "There are too many pieces and they all do too much."

Nelson Oakton laughed as he walked over to their table, "But good leaders must know how to play the field."  He picked up the bishop he examined it with a perplexed expression. "A good leader knows when to sacrifice a pawn."  He placed the bishop back on the board he picked up the knight, "and when to send out a horse."

Gabe picked up a pawn, "A good leader should also know when sacrificing a pawn isn't necessary."  He held the pawn up to Nelson to indicate it was the pawn.

Nelson smiled, "Yes he should."  Nelson turned toward the other members of the chess team as he clapped his hands, "We have a game against Dalton Row High next week.  Does anyone want to volunteer?"

Gabe stared down blankly at the board and twisted his lips, "Are we hosting?  Or do we have to go over there?"

"Are you volunteering," asked Nelson as he turned to stare with amused sky blue eyes.  When Gabe shrugged he twisted his lips, "They have invited us to their school for the competition."  He looked around at the other fifteen members he smiled, "So aside from Gabe and Roderick who else is coming."

Roderick rose turning a blank stare toward Nelson.  "I don't remember either of us saying we wanted to compete."  Stretching he waved a hand, "This whole chess club is just a front for us to train."

"Well our little human asked why we didn't have any competitive matches."  Giving Gabe a pointed stare he smirked, "So what was I supposed to do?"

"Lie," exclaimed Roderick as he stretched side to side.  "Most of us don't even know how to set up the damn board!"

Nelson gave a sulking look, "But I've already called and asked them if they wanted to have a friendly match next week."  He ignored everyone's grumblings as he smiled excitedly, "This is a great chance for you guys to meet other humans."

"Don't act like we don't interact with humans on a regular basis," chided Max Greene as he rose and stretched.  "I wondered why we were in this room and not in the basement training."

Nelson gave everyone a coy look as he pointed toward a large flat screen TV.  "We are going to watch a few chess matches for an hour every day before training so you guys can learn the rules and stuff."

Gabe leaned back in his chair as he stared at the board, "And you really think we'll be able to learn how to play in less than a week."  Shaking his head he looked up at the ceiling, "You could have just lied and said we only compete at a national level or something."

"But she was staring at me with those big brown eyes," whined Nelson as he walked toward the DVD player to insert a movie.  He pressed play with a sunny smile at everyone when 'Dangerous Moves' came on the screen.  "We'll start with this one."

Gabe shook his head as he stared at the screen in disbelief. "That is not a movie on how to play chess!"  Standing up he sighed, "I'll ask my dad."  With a dejected look at Nelson he shook his head, "He plays chess and has a movie called 'Game Over: Kasparov and the Machine'."

Nelson gave a disappointed look as he turned off the movie and walked toward a small door. "Since that's been decided why don't we head down stairs for some training."

*********

Cyrus stared into the depths of her espresso, "So your parents are going on a second honeymoon for their 15th year anniversary?"

Thea popped the last of her lemon tart into her mouth and nodded.  Thoughtfully she brightened, "The painting will be graded this Friday so I can give it to them on Saturday before they leave."

"Sweet," announced Cyrus before she sipped the bitter brew and she gagged. "Why'd I order this again?"  She pushed the little cup away she as reached for Thea's tea.  "I need to stop experimenting on myself."

 "You said," Thea straightened as she mimicked Cyrus and her fake Italian accent, "that it is all the rage in Italy."  

"I'm sure my accent wasn't that bad," laughed Cyrus as she set the hot tea down.  She stated at the sky and heaved a sigh, "Do you want to get home soon or are you hoping your boyfriend will come?"

Thea turned to look over her shoulder toward the school, "We aren't girlfriend and boyfriend. We're just friends. "

Puzzled Cyrus stared at her custard tart, "But you guys have sex....a lot. "

Embarrassed she shook her head, "I really don't want to talk about that."  Thea looked around the cafe and could swear every eye in the place was on their table, "And we're in public."

Cyrus waved her hand toward the waiter, "Can we get the bill please."  She pulled out a crisp $50 bill and paid.  "Let's go to your house to study and talk."

Thea nodded as she grabbed her bag, "I really don't want to talk about my relationship with Gabe."

"Yeah and people in hell want ice water," quipped Cyrus as she pulled Thea toward the bridge.

Thea smiled and waved to her mom before she pointed toward Cyrus.  When her busy mom nodded she took her upstairs to her bedroom.  Thea plopped down on her full-size bed and watched Cyrus make herself comfortable on the small pink recliner.

"Did you finish the math for Mrs. Gaddor's class?"

Thea nodded as she pulled the completed assignment out of a blue folder. "Did you want to check your answers or copy," she asked as she fanned herself.

Cyrus giggled as she pulled out her spiral, "I'm fairly sure I got number three wrong and wanted to see how you did it."  Cyrus started to erase her work, "I also want to know if you think Gabe had you moved to North Point so he could have sex with you everyday?"

Thea's smile dropped as she stared mortified at Cyrus. "Is that what everyone thinks?"  She looked down at her homework as tears filled up her eyes, "They think I'm a whore."  When Cyrius stared at her with a perplexed expression she jumped from the bed hysterical, "Oh my God I'm a whore."

Cyrus jumped up from the seat, "No that's not what I was saying!"  She ran around the room searching for tissue, "It's just that you and he are so close and  -."

Thea took the wad of tissue from Cyrus with a crestfallen look, "That I'm an almost 16 year old whore having sex with the town's golden boy."

Cyrus stared hard at Thea as she chewed her inner cheek for several seconds.  With an irritated sigh she snapped, "I'm sorry I even asked.  Why do you always think like that?"  With a huff she sat back down and picked up her notebook, "If he wasn't having sex with you it would be someone else."  Cyrus ignored Thea's hurt look as she mumbled, "He's 17 and was in heat for almost 8 months and hadn't had sex with anyone.  I'm surprised he was able to wait so long. "

Thea stared down at the tissue, "I don't know why he let me hang out with him."  Thea gave Cyrus an envious look while she pointed, "Not when he could have someone that looks like you."

Thea reached for her math homework. "Gabe obviously likes you." With a sigh she looked Thea in the eyes, "You two should define your relationship.  Are you girlfriend and boyfriend or fuck buddies."

"So I should just ask him like that," questioned Thea as she fiddled with her fingers. "What if he says something I don't want to hear.  What if he says we're just fuck buddies?  What if he's having sex with someone else?"

A short laugh burst from Cyrus mouth befit she could stop it. "I doubt he's doing any of that." Cyrus gave Thea an uncertain look as she continued to pace around the cramped room hysterical.  With a warm smile she took Thea's hands, "Trust me.  Unless you have a fear of commitment I believe it's going to all work out."