My name, email address, physical address, and phone number had become public property in a matter of days.

The video of Aaron and I floating had gone viral and now everybody knew every single detail about us.

Aaron drove us to my house, annoying me the entire drive there and parked.

"There's been so many angles, we can't just tell people it was CGI. I mean, nobody would believe it right? Well, I mean what if we told them that we have some weird shared power that switches between us occasionally and gives you headaches when you get too far. I wonder what happened to us at the accident though. I don't feel any different. I mean I could hear Mr. Craig's thoughts today when he was thinking about the woman he was seeing tonight. Could you hear anyone today? I wish I knew why we're like this and why we're so different. I hope this weird fame ends soon." Aaron rambled, it was as though he had been saving up his words his whole life just to speak a thousand words a minute and annoy the life out of me these past few months. I groaned as he parked the car and got out.

"Aaron, wait." I called, heaving my backpack and rushing out of his green toyota. "You forgot your backpack and I'm not getting it for you."

"What if we got some new super power now?" His gray eyes sparkled as he ignored me and continued walking. "Ooh! What if I can move things with my mind now."

"Aaron, your bag." I said again, rolling my eyes as I grabbed it from the back seats and dragged it behind me, making sure it collected as much dirt from my driveway as possible.

He stood at my front door, pointing his fingers at me and staring at his backpack. He looked stupid, truth be told, and I laughed as he attempted to move his bag from a couple meters away.

"Damn," he muttered, opening my front door like he lived here.

"Aaron, the first time you powers got transferred to me was your headache at that party I think."

"Or it could've been when you kissed me in the hospital." He winked, his tall build turning completely to face me, "maybe we can try that again and see if it works."

It took me a few moments for the words to register as I walked to the kitchen and began looking for the cereal.

"Maybe, actually." I said, opening the fridge and shutting it before turning toward the cabinets in the kitchen. I heard a noise coming from upstairs.

Was mom home? Did she know about Ethan? My heart froze for a moment as I heard movement coming from upstairs.

"Mom! I'm home." I shouted, ensuring she knew it wasn't some stranger in her house and that I was here.

"Why not try it?" Aaron stood in the middle of my kitchen, his arms crossed as he looked at me with warm gray eyes. I wasn't sure why he had become so much more attractive now than he was before. I thought back to all the times when I just didn't want to be around him, i had heard awful things about his reputation.

But I guess now that I had gotten to know him and his annoying and surprisingly smart self, I found him far more attractive. Maybe that's what all the other girls at my high school saw.

"Kiss you?" I asked, watching him carefully as he gazed into my soul. It wasn't like we hadn't kissed before, maybe this would be different because I was starting to admire him as a person and not just for his looks. I didn't want to boost his already over inflated ego though.

"Worth a shot." He smirked, stepping closer as his eyes twinkled.

The logical part of my brain tried telling me that this has never worked before and there was no reason to do it when so many other things were happening.

"Yeah, maybe." I whispered, my heart suddenly racing as the proximity between us shrank. He laced his fingers in mine as he stepped closer, forcing me to step back and be supported by my trusty fridge.

"Yeah?" He raised a brow, a smirk on his face as he got closer. I felt anxious, trapped and unsure of what I wanted as his lips pressed onto mine.

My brain seemed to shut off as we kissed, I couldn't understand or function and my thoughts flew to the incident that happened to me a couple months or weeks ago. Time was relative and I tried to forget it even happened. The kind security guard flashed in my memory as I was immediately taken out of the memory and was staring into shocked gray orbs. Aaron was staring at me, completely wide eyed.

"What?" I asked, kind of wishing he would kiss me some more.

He led me to the couch and proceeded to tell me that he had seen everything I had thought of. Shocked wouldn't begin to cover how I felt. He knew. Aaron was the only person who knew the true identity of my rapist, and by the way he was talking and how his jaw was clenching, he looked mad. Mad enough to kill, but our town didn't need anymore crime scenes at the moment.

I wondered in mom had learned about Ethan yet. I was too afraid to tell her, she would probably cry for days, weeks even.

"Aaron, please don't do anything drastic." I said, patting his leg and leaving the living room. I rushed upstairs and into my moms room. Nobody was there. I could've sworn somebody had been up there when we had walked in earlier today.

I called her, waiting for her to answer just to be sent to voicemail.

"Aaron," I called from upstairs, but nobody answered. I rushed back to the living room but he was gone. I checked for his car and he was gone. My heart began racing, expecting the earth shattering headache to start pounding my brain, but nothing happened.

I wondered how far he had gone; where he had gone. I prayed he didn't do anything that sent him to jail. But more importantly, I realized that my instance headaches were gone. I no longer felt pain from him being too far, maybe he hadn't gone far enough yet. I rushed back upstairs, entered my room and later in my bed, bracing myself for any impact that the potential headaches would bring.

But nothing came and instead, I just laid there confused and wondering how long he knew that we could be separate. And if he didn't know, why was he willing to hurt me this much if the distance headaches still happened.

I felt the stress of the past few months weigh on me as I dozed off, the two hours of sleep catching up to me as I knocked out.

***

In case you're interested in getting the totally edited/revised/changed paperback version of this book:

https://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Read-Minds-ebook/dp/B08RYV11F2/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=veronica+Soliman&qid=1609863783&sr=8-3

(Link will be available in the coming weeks)

(Link will be available in the coming weeks)