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Locke wasn't much for playing pretend. When he was little sitting in a cardboard box was lacking in the entertainment value when he could go outside and try to strike up a baseball game. It was a good thing that there had been twins, because Locke wasn't going to act as though the plastic scone was delicious or that a towel was a super hero cape. Him having a book was important, though he didn't care if Gina had a register or not. You didn't see them all the time in stores, usually there was a little light up thing that showed the price, but he didn't look at those. To be honest he hadn't looked much at KD either. There had been a brief moment in which their eyes had met followed by him staring at the wooden courtesy desk. Why did Gina have to question his need for a book? Locke had told her that KD worked at Barnes and Noble. To not have a book when approaching her, or ask about one would just scream "I'm creepy!". When one questions if they inherited their stalker mom's insanity you do not try to be creepy.

As much as Gina might have questioned him needing a book she did at least give him something to hold in his hands. There was always comfort in being able to actually hold onto something. It was like the security that his hair had offered, or being barefoot in the summer. As long as Locke had something physical in his hands he had something to hide behind. Gina gave him a textbook, prompting the teen to frown. You don't go to Barnes and Noble to buy textbooks. Not the hard cover ones like this at least. He even opened his mouth to protest this to Gina, but thankfully that part of the brain that usually told him "Go ahead, you won't look stupid" did as it was meant and let him know to let this one go. "It works" Locke mumbled into his shirt.

He had managed to buy himself a little bit of time, so with act two maybe Locke could actually manage to say words. The whole pretend thing felt fake to him. Not just in the sense that Gina wasn't KD. That he could maybe get around. What bothered him more when it came to the fakeness was that it just wasn't natural. He didn't flirt with girls, and to the best of Locke's knowledge, girls did not flirt with him. Sure they might say they went for the quiet brooding type, but he wasn't a sparkling vampire. No, Locke was more of a dirt clod. "Do we try again?"

The difference between guys and girls was that Locke had picked up on Gina saying you have to be nice to a girl to get what you want. Meaning, to him at least, that she had said there is no other reason to be a decent person than to have someone do things for you. Maybe it was just he was a big brother and when it came to dating, his view was that guys would only be interested in one thing from his sister. But she was seven and still didn't like boys, especially when she had to deal with a twin brother who sent her into the men's room at the firehouse. Possible that that was why Locke had gotten the wrong idea, but just as likely not. So once Gina started to berate him he was left totally in the dark as to what he had said wrong.

Nothing seemed to offend Gina for very long though, because she took Locke's pointing out that her description of guys resulted in a smile and gentle teasing, of both herself and him. True, there were plenty of half-decent men in the world, and there was probably no shortage of people taller than the gargoyle, but Locke questioned the "alright with dating a winged/horned/tailed girl who didn't wear shoes". Locke got weird looks just for his eye, and that wasn't anything in comparison.

Gina turned her chair around so that she could pretend to be KD. Locke would correct Gina about her portrayal, but he didn't know enough about his crush to give her any guidance. The winged one wanted to act this out, presumably to give Locke practice, but it felt more like an excuse to make him look and feel as awkward as possible. The fool stared at Gina as if for the first time really noticing how out of the ordinary she was before talking. "I don't have any books."

There was always such a sense of relief when Locke was outside of Ms. T’s range. He would admit that he depended upon his earth sense way too much, but he didn’t want to try to function without it. Part of the mending from the car crash involved him having to learn Braille. Locke had learned the alphabet, so as long as things were spelled out, letter by letter, he was able to read it. However this did nothing for him if the different contractions were used. In other words, he was stuck on Cat in the Hat when the world was reading War and Peace. There hadn’t been a need for him to get a service dog or start walking with a cane, but Locke substituted that with his powers. For Ms. T to back away enough that Locke’s powers were turned back on was important. Not only because Locke felt more comfortable, something that he didn’t feel since he had been attacked in the library, but also because it meant that finding Chase would be that much more easier.

Not that it was easy to pick up on Chase. If it had been one of the twins Locke could find them instantaneously. The longer he knew someone, the more familiar he was with how they picked up on. Other factors helped to make it easier, or harder. When Locke worked with a golem his earth sense increased dramatically. A good solid rock, or a when there was a layer of frost, Locke could ‘see’ almost as well as if he were to be sitting on the ground. Sand made everything fuzzy, while the carpet on the concrete floors muted the vibes. Glass and certain metals spoke to the teen, however the former was too brittle to work with and the latter too heavily modified. Wooden floors were the bane of his existence, much like adapts were. Should he kick his shoes off and lay on the ground in hopes of picking up the elusive changeling? It would seem that he didn’t have to. Although incredibly faint, Locke was picking up on someone. Locke found himself doubting what his powers were telling him. For one thing the person was far enough away that they just barely registered to him. They were like a blur that’s just behind the corner of your eye, or the word that rests in your mouth but not in your brain. To be honest Locke wasn’t even sure that what he felt was human. There wasn’t any height given to what he sensed, only the knowledge that something was resting against the vibes he sensed. Still, it was the best that he had to go on, and he pointed in the direction, his arm trembling, but unaware he was trying to get them to go to one of his worst nightmares.

Ms. Taylor insisted that this wasn’t his fault. Perhaps Locke was just cynical, which he was, but there was no way on earth that this could not be his fault. Who was the one with the stalker sending creepy photos? Oh yeah, that’d be me. And who had stuck the pictures into the dictionary? Yup, me again. Now, does anyone know who didn’t hand those ones to the detective investigating the case? I’m starting to see a trend here. Renee’s words haunted Locke. ”If Mommy can’t have you, nobody can.” What had he done in the past to make his mom, if Renee was his mom, to drive her to this. Kids change their parents, be it in subtle ways like a few gray hairs or a fondness for Disney songs, or drastic measures. While he had no children of his own, taking care of the twins had gotten Locke to actually step out of his room and go back to a more normal sort of life. Had he been able to deal with the pressure that loomed over his head, who knows. Maybe then Locke wouldn’t be as grim as he was these days. Even if he hadn’t done anything to Renee it was something. The absence of him sure didn’t seem to make her happy. She wanted to own him, which you can’t do if someone is already yours. On the whole, the concept of owning someone was antiquated, but Locke could understand it. Although he might have been more athletic, there was no denying that he was his father’s son, a part of his dad that still was running around. Where was the part that belonged to Renee.

If one were to operate under the assumption that it wasn’t Locke’s fault he had a stalker, which was how Ms. T was going about this, he still was to blame for Chase’s running away. It had been his elbow that had given the kid a bloody nose, nobody else’s. At the time there had been more concern on Locke’s part for his own safety than that of the child. That on it’s own could possibly be waived off as basic human survival. He was being threatened and needed to defend himself. When you factored in Locke’s emotions though, that was where the guilt laid. Not the sense of it, but the actual judgment. In the end Locke hadn’t taken the pictures away from Chase the second the kid laid eyes on them. Not because Locke was focused on his homework, not because he had trusted that Chase would listen to him, but because that part of himself that he so despised had wanted Chase to take them. A large and dark part of Locke wanted to know who had sent him the photos and didn’t mind using the kid to find out. One thing Locke knew, really knew, was earthquakes. The problem with them isn‘t always the quake itself, because there are ways to live through it. The problem was the after effects of it. Food spoiled, water mains break, dust released into the air, and the damages invite all manner of dangerous creatures to find a new shelter. His stalker was up there on the Richter‘s scale, but these after shocks were nothing to scoff at.”You keep saying this isn’t my fault, but some how I keep ending up being the epicenter.”

Now that Gina had gotten out some of her girly excitement maybe Locke could get her to be of more help. ”I'm not that good with talking to girls,” Locke said. That much was obvious by now. It struck the poor guy that what he said might bother Gina. ”You're different,” crap that sounded worse, ”I mean that you're not like other girls. I mean...” Crud how do you get yourself out of a hole you've dug yourself into? It wasn't as if Locke was unable to say words. He just couldn't say what he meant when there was estrogen present. ”Help please,” Locke pleaded, ”Before I end up in China.”

What he needed, besides insight into the female mind, was to know how to talk around a girl. He wasn't going to be able to ask K.D out for a date if he couldn't even talk to her. Talking to her was only half the battle. Should Locke be able to say the right words there was still the chance, the very likely chance that he would fall over his feet, or knock over a display, or some other spectacular display of idiot boyness. He had been taught how to dance, and he had pretty good rhythm, so that was one thing she wouldn't necessarily have to help him out with.

This was probably a Herculean task that Locke was asking to undertake. What was the protocol for a situation like this? Usually with asking people for help with personal issues you offer to do them a favor. There probably wasn't an equal favor to do in return. Locke had problems with picturing Gina needing dating advice. That was why he came to her in the first place. To his knowledge she didn't have a crush on anyone. This wasn't like asking someone to help you move, where you can just thank them with a pizza.

Dogs within a five mile radius might very well have gone deaf at the sound Gina was capable of making. Didn't she say that she had brothers? Surely they must have gotten some of that out of her, or drilled into her mind that guys don't go around squeeing over every announcement. If the squee wasn't bad enough, she was now giggling over it. That was almost worse than her girlish squeal. He could deal with the noise she first made, after all he did have a little sister who enjoyed small fuzzy critters, but having a girl laugh at him was one of the main reasons why he thought it best to keep his mouth shut.

Gina promised that she would do the same with hers if he were to continue. Did he really want to? All he had said thus far was that there was a girl he liked and Gina had done both of the things he had feared the most. Saying that he liked a girl was one thing. The world was populated with them and he could be mentioning any one of them. Telling Gina about her would just make it that more humiliating. You don't flash bad test scores to other students. It wasn't that Locke was ashamed of his crush. She wasn't some sort of monster from what he could tell. It was just he didn't know if he wanted to keep it to himself or not.

"She works at Barnes and Noble," Locke said. Gina probably wanted more detail than that, like what she was like. To be honest Locke didn't know much about her other than her job and basic appearance. What he liked was that she didn't even notice the scar or the dead eye. There had been no quick glance at it and then averted gaze. She looked him straight in the face two without any shock. "About so tall. Dark hair, or maybe it's light. Dunno, hard to tell with the way it's cut."

The fact that Locke was struggling to talk with Gina was proof enough for him that he needed to get advise quickly. She was smaller than the girl that he liked, and the wings helped to make Gina seem more human rather than an imposing thing that he couldn't even look at. Locke wanted to get a date with someone that was taller, and to his knowledge, not winged. Gina should be easy to talk to. Even if they were off to a bad start. "Oh, yeah," he mumbled when Gina pointed out that she was a girl, and that's why her room was where it was.

Locke hadn't gone into a girl's room before, not really. Kendra's room was at first his dad's, and the twins shared a room. It was weird to think that a guy's room might be cleaner. Generally speaking they had larger messes. Then again Locke was meticulous about keeping his room orderly. Maybe it was fear of the darkness making him want to have nothing that could look like a monster, but more likely it was that he didn't want to trip over anything. Thankfully the invitation into her room wouldn't require more than just a nod of the head.

He'd have to do more than just nod if he wanted to impress his crush though, which meant he'd have to get to the point sooner or later. Preferably sooner. "You got a nice share of bids on Valentine's. Who won in the end?" he asked. About two nano seconds after asking it he realized that it was a dumb thing to say. He wanted Gina as a friend and going from that into him liking a girl might be threatening. Could he just blame it on his insanity gene? No, that would make things worse.

It was for the best that Locke had lost the bid for a date with Gina. For one thing he wasn't able to leave the mansion at the time, which would have left the two of them would be left with only the school to go around in. Secondly given how he was approaching her about how to get a girl to like him it probably would be a good idea to not make her think he was chasing after her. Gina was a friend. To date her would be like dating Eaan, minus the guitars. Weird.

While Gina had preened herself before going to the door Locke had done nothing to make himself more presentable. He dressed as he always did, long sleeves under two t-shirts, jeans that had dirt stuck to the bottoms of them, and thin soled high tops. Why bother spending money on new clothes when these weren't in that bad shape, minus possibly his shoes, and the dirt stuck to him anyways.

It took Locke a few seconds before he was able to answer Gina's question. She was, after all, a girl and talking to them did not come easily. If it did he would have no need to seek her help. There wasn't anyone else that he felt that he could talk to about these sort of things. The memory of Gina giving directions to the characters in Zombieland and squeezing the ever-loving stuffing out of a pillow snapped him back into conversation mode. "You're a girl right?" he asked.