A/N: I'm back! Did you all miss me? Because I certainly missed you. Unfortunately, I didn't get quite as much writing done as I would have liked, but I did manage to write this chapter and half of the next chapter so expect that up in a few days. Also unfortunately, it may take a little longer for updates to arrive as I now have a job (I know!) and I'm preparing to go off to college. But don't worry! I'm still very committed to this story and have a clear vision in my head of where it's going. So I hope you enjoy this chapter as it is my longest, and in my opinion my most wll written, one yet. Thank you for your continued support! Enjoy and review please!

Disclaimer: If it wasn't obvious already, I own Abi! But nothing else...

Chapter 6

Have you ever been so attached to a person that even the thought of you being separated terrified you? Then, when you realise this, you become even more terrified that you are so attached that person? That's how I felt about Charles. We were so close that even being apart from him for a month or two saddened me. It was silly, I know. I'd only known him for a year and, even though he was telepathic, there were some things about me that I'm sure he didn't know. There just always seemed to be this natural kinship between us. Of course, things are different now. Now I might have to leave him of my own accord.

July, Oxford University

It was the end of term, a time I always hated. All of the students in their last year were crying as they realised that this was their last day as a student. Tomorrow they would be adults living in a very adult world. There would be no more time for fooling around for them and I couldn't blame them for being scared. For students like me, however, who still had a few years of full-time education ahead of them, it meant saying good-bye to friends for the summer. For me, it meant saying good-bye to Charles. Him and Raven were going back to America to see Charles's parents and "pretend to be a family", as they put it, and I was going back to Canterbury to see my own family. Six weeks of the summer holidays would be spent apart and that upset me.

My bags were all packed in my room and spread out on my bed. My father would be waiting outside in the car and my mother would be sat at home waiting for my return. By all means, I was ready to go. But something held me back and I felt reluctant to leave, at least until I saw Charles.

I trudged over to their dorm and paused in front of the door. If I saw him, I knew that I would be even more reluctant to leave. I had to see him though. So I knocked on the door and held my breath as I waited. He could have already left for all I knew.

"Come in!" Charles's muffled voice called from the other side of the door.

I tentatively opened the door a crack and peaked in. Their dorm looked much like mine; unusually neat and tidy for a university student. Part of me mourned the loss of the mess of papers and books. The chaos was what gave the place character and only reminded that this was the end for now. Charles was the only one there so I assumed that Raven was off in the bedroom somewhere.

Charles smiled awkwardly. "Hello."

I gave him a small smile of my own. "Hello."

Casually tucking his hands in his pockets, he nodded, as if in answer to some unvoiced question. For some inexplicable reason, I nodded back, as if in acknowledgement of his answer to my unvoiced question.

"Charles! Which suitcase do you want me to put the toiletry bag in?" Raven asked, entering the room from the bedroom with the toiletry bag in question.

Charles sighed and rolled his eyes at me. That's the fifth time she's come in to ask me about where to put her bloody things. I stifled a chuckle; the bag did look a little too large for most of it to be his. He then rolled his shoulders back and turned to face her with a smile.

"You can pop them in my bag if you want." He offered.

She smiled brightly at him and then leaned to the side to smile at me. "Oh, hi Abi! I didn't see you there."

Giving a little wave, I smiled back shakily.

Oblivious to my gloomy mood, she bounded over to me. "So, are you all packed up and ready to go?" She asked cheerfully.

"Yeah," I said, trying to brighten my tone. "Dad's probably waiting for me outside in the car."

Raven nodded. Then, nothing was said as the three of us stood in a circle in the middle of their living room. The Three Musketeers, I suppose you could say. We'd been through a lot the three of us. I'd lived away from home for the first time, met a true friend in Charles and come to an accord with Raven; Charles had learnt what it was like to live outside of his parents' influence, met me (which I hope was a big event for him) and learnt that he was quite a hit with the ladies (not necessarily something I approved of but it was always amusing watching him pick up girls); and Raven had grown in confidence and self-esteem and accepted me as a part of their little family. That's what we were; our own make-shift, adopted family. We were formed out of a need to know that there was someone who could understand and found each other out of necessity. Finding each other under such circumstances might not seem too good, but it was the only way we would have met and not meeting really would have been a shame. But even though a year had gone by (at an alarming rate), hopefully it was only the first of many.

Always the first to break silence, Raven piped up merrily. "You'll have to come and visit us sometime!"

To say I was shocked would be an understatement. Though we were friends, I suppose, she'd never really voluntarily wanted to spend time. She only hung out with me if Charles asked her to, if there was nothing else she had planned or if Charles had to cancel. Her actually wanting to hang out with me spelled out another landmark in our rocky relationship and I felt more than a little warm inside.

Seemingly pleased with this himself, Charles brightened. "Yes, of course! Do you have a landline?"

Excited, I nodded. "Of course."

The two of us quickly scribbled our numbers on some scraps of paper and exchanged them, our hands lingering slightly as they touched.

"We'll be in touch to arrange something." Charles said.

"You make sure you are." I smiled.

And then the silence returned in full force and all of the happiness drained out of the room again. We couldn't stall anymore; this was it.

Charles quickly stepped forward and tightly hugged me. "Goodbye Abi." He whispered in my ear.

"Goodbye Charles." I murmured into his shoulder.

We stayed that way for as long as we reasonably could and then reluctantly parted. Turning to Raven, we stood awkwardly, neither of us sure whether we'd reached the stage where we felt comfortable hugging. Deciding to "suck it up", as my father would put it, I swiftly wrapped my arms around her, not giving her time to react. I seemed to have caught her off guard as she stiffened momentarily and then, slowly, enveloped me with her arms.

"See ya Abs." She said, her voice choked with emotion.

I smiled. "Abs". That was a new one, and yet, not an unwelcome one. "Goodbye Raven."

Drawing away, I saw a glint of moisture on Raven's face before it was hastily wiped away. It was nice to know that separating wasn't only a sad affair for me. Nodding once at them both, I hesitated slightly and then, realising that if I didn't leave now I never would, I turned around and left. Like ripping off a plaster, only much more painful.

Absolutely refusing to look back, I strode into my room, grabbed my bags and powered out of there. Seeing my father's car on the opposite side of the street, I quickly crossed the road, dumped my bags in the boot and shuffled into the front passenger seat.

"Somebody's in a hurry." He quipped with a raised eyebrow.

Forcing myself to smile, I turned to him with a raised eyebrow of my own. "Nice to see you too dad."

Chuckling with his deep baritone voice, he stroked my hair affectionately. "Always a pleasure Abi."

This time, my smile was real.

Shifting back into his driving position, he started the car. "So how was school?" He asked, perfectly innocently. After all, he hadn't seen me since Christmas.

Looking out of the car window, I caught a glimpse of Charles's dorm window. He stood there waving at me with that twinkle in his eye that I could see even from the ground. I grinned at him and then turned to address my father.

"It was alright."

Three hours later, Canterbury

Home was nice. Very normal (or as normal as my crazy British/Asian could be). It was very…cosy. Mother had been waiting by the window for my arrival as expected. She'd had my favourite meal waiting (salad, strange, I know) as well as a cup of tea, as expected. Within moments, the grandparents had also been called and came to welcome me home, as expected. When asked about school, I would just say that it was a privilege to attend such an esteemed school and that it lived up to all of my expectations. When asked about whether I'd made any friends, I briefly mentioned Charles and Raven, glossing over some of the finer details. When asked if they knew about my…powers, I said that not only did they know but they understood, having powers of their own. Delighted to hear this, mother said that she couldn't wait to meet them someday. For hours it was like this, them asking question after question about what life was like at university. It was nice to be the centre of attention, I admit. But I also couldn't wait to steal away to my room and have some quiet time to myself.

Finally breaking away by claiming that I felt tired, I went straight to my room and lay on my bed. It was strange to sleep in my old bed again. It almost didn't feel like mine anymore. I remember when I used to go on holiday, after sleeping in a different bed for a week or two, returning to my own bed felt strange. But I'd been gone for a whole year. Now my bed didn't feel like it belonged to me anymore. The bed at university belonged to me, but for some reason, my bed at home didn't feel the same anymore. I knew it was silly and that in a few weeks everything would go back to normal and I'd feel at home again but for now it just felt…odd.

While lying on my bed, I couldn't help my thoughts straying to Charles. Would he be talking about me like I'd just been talking about him? Would his parents ask him if he'd made any new friends (unlikely considering their lack of involvement in his life but it was possible!)? Would he tell his parents about my mutation? Did they even know about his mutation? What would he say about me? The paranoia was maddening and quite…enlightening.

I'd always claimed to be a modern woman; an independent woman. That was one of the reasons for moving so far away for university, to assert my independence. I didn't need anybody's help and I was always quick to jump on anyone who implied otherwise. Yet, I was very dependent on Charles. Technically, my relationship with Charles went against everything I believed in. What did that make me? I didn't want to be that woman that was completely dependent on a man (even if our relationship was purely platonic). I'd seen it happen before and usually the woman wasn't very happy. I did not want to be that woman. But what was I supposed to do? Not be friends with him? I didn't think I could do that. It was then that I realised. I didn't have any other friends. There was only, and had only ever been, Charles and Raven. The greatest fiends I could have ever asked for. But they were the only ones. I had acquaintances of course though they were mainly the people in the same class as me who I chatted with occasionally. My days were spent either in class, hanging out with Charles and Raven or sat in my room reading like the loner I was if Charles and Raven weren't available. They weren't always free to spend time with me as they each had friends of their own and other things to do. I didn't. Perhaps that's what I needed. Other friends whose company I enjoyed to hang out with; a true girlfriend that I could tell everything to when Raven and I weren't speaking to each other. Perhaps moving further away from Charles and Raven would help. Still close enough to visit, but far enough away to force me to make new friends. That was it then. I had to make new relations, because, one day, maybe they wouldn't be there.

I didn't know how right I was at the time. Charles and Raven wouldn't always be there. Dependency on one or two people is never a good thing. Because no matter how much you trust them, you never know when they may hurt you.