Ashley

It had been over a month
since Taylor and Angel disappeared into that portal. I did my best to find
them. I even got training from another rifter in New York, but it didn’t help.
I didn’t know where else to look.

Mandy and Joey followed Mr.
Carver with his plan to make superheroes. He said that with the impending doom,
it was necessary. I think he was just living in a fantasy. After rescuing
Arron, we found out that that doctor was just a puppet for the other guy. No
one really knew what his name was, and it was bugging us.

After about a week of
sitting around doing nothing, I decided to go out and try to enjoy life. With
MOER, we didn’t have to worry about government officials attacking us, so long
as we didn’t pose a threat. There was a Tier ranking put in place. I was a
level 2, which meant I had powers, but they wouldn’t threaten civilization.
Tier 5 was the worst, and they were placed in a special facility.

As I left the apartment that
I shared with Esme and Arron, I let out a sigh of relief. After my tireless
search for my sister and her girlfriend, I hadn’t really gone outside. There
never really seemed to be a need to. Esme and Arron took care of the food and
such, plus with my size, it made it hard to really do much anyway.

I decided to go to the library.
It had been a while since I went there because of what happened. However,  I felt the need to find something to get my
mind off everything. I could have easily opened a rift to the library, but I
felt that it was lazy. Instead, I flew there. I couldn’t exactly walk all the
way to the library. It would have taken me all day.

As I flew to the library, I
saw the parade that people were putting together to celebrate the ruling that
all emerged were considered citizens. They were already citizens before that
storm, but the government didn’t always see it that way—especially the overly
religious people. Once I had one of the priests attempt to exorcise me.

I reached the library about
twenty minutes later. The owners worked fast to restore it the best they could.
There were still books that they no longer had, and they would have to try to
get them off the internet, but there were still many books to keep them in
business.

As I entered the library,
Janis, the old woman who worked the desk, smiled and waved to me. I always came
in here before the storm, though I made sure that no one I hung out with knew.
I had had an image to keep up.

“Well, if it isn’t Ashley
Prescott. I didn’t expect to see you around here,” I heard a familiar voice
say. Turning around, I was shocked to see Erin standing behind me, her arms
folded. If I wasn’t already flying, I probably would have been jumping for joy.
I hadn’t seen Erin since the one day of school that we had.

“I used to always come here.
I just never told anyone. You know, popularity and all,” I said defensively.
Erin shook her head and sighed.

“I don’t know why you were
so worried about what other people thought of you. I mean, you are one of the
prettiest girls’ I know,” Erin said. I know she was just nice, but it was nice
to hear.

“Your flattery is nice, but
let’s face it. I will never live up to the projected popularity and beauty of
my cousin. With my parents claiming that she is their only daughter, I am no
different from any of you. Now I don’t have to pretend.” I said. She nodded at
me, then I saw a look of concern on her face.

“Have you heard from Angel
or Taylor? I haven’t heard from them in a while. I went by their house, but no
one was home,” Taylor asked. I could hear the desperate plea for an answer. An
answer that I couldn’t give her.

“They….are not here. I don’t
know where Taylor or Angel are or when they will be back, but after they saved
Esme’s’ brother, they went through some kind of portal.”

“Like yours? Couldn’t you
open one of your portal thingies and find them?”

“No. I already tried. I
didn’t find Taylor or Angel anywhere, and I even went to Japan. You wouldn’t
believe how long it took to fly around Japan looking for them.”

Erin’s face was enough to
make my heart drop. I was just as worried about them as she was, and the worst
part was that I couldn’t do anything about it. I don’t know how many nights I
laid in my bed, wondering where Taylor and Angel were. It was lonely without
them here, even with Esme and Arron.

“I am sure they will be back
in no time. You know that Angel is one of the most loyal friends in the world,”
I said, trying to comfort her. It seemed to work because she smiled and nodded.

“She has always been there
when I needed her. I know she will come back to us. I just hope it’s sooner
than later,” I said. She nodded, then waved to me before walking out onto the
sidewalk. I wished that there was more I could do to cheer her up. Then it hit
me, what if I asked her to go out for dinner, not as a date, but as two friends
having dinner and chatting. I rushed back outside.

“Erin. Wait. I wanna ask you
a question.” I said as I caught up to her. She stopped to look at me.

“What is it?” Erin asked
with a puzzling look on her face.

“I wanted to ask you if you
wanted to go out to dinner. I am not doing anything, and it sounds like you
could use the company,” I asked. It had been a while since we really hung out.
I think the last time we hung out was just before Angels’ mom’s funeral. That
wasn’t exactly the best way to hang out.

“Um.. sure? It has been a
while since I really went to dinner with someone. Please tell me that this
isn’t your way of asking me out on a date? Because, while I would be flattered,
I would have to decline. You know I am only into guys,” Erin said. With a sigh,
I shook my head.

“No. I am no tasking you on
a date. Just to get to dinner with me like we used to. I know that I don’t have
any money, but I can make it up to you and then some,” I said. Erin was quiet
for a bit. I wondered why.

“Okay. Sure, just let me go
home and change, then we can go out. Just let me know where we are going,” Erin
said before continuing down the sidewalk. I needed to head home, as well. I
wanted to get dressed up too. Even if I had to shop for my clothes in the
barbie section. I couldn’t wait until dinner. It would be the first time I had
done something like that in quite a while.