The Xenton Chronicles: The Jenshia Star

Chapter 6: A Hero's Homecoming

"Two minutes earlier," said Sam, "a new record. Keep this up, and you'll be right on time."

I sat at the kitchen table and began my breakfast. Mom and Dad were nowhere to be seen. They must've got a head start on the day. On the table were leftover pancakes and bacon.

Good enough for me.

The mood at the table was tense. I guess everyone sensed I was in a mood mainly because I didn't snap back at Sam. Mack was still acting odd and Jason looked as though he was exhausted. It was only Tuesday and already we were wishing it to be Friday.

At least I was.

Because now I had to face the kids at school over what happened yesterday. Mack was grabbing his things which signaled to us that it was time to go. I hadn't touched my food. Between yesterday's awkward first day and last night's weird dream, I wasn't feeling up to the task of doing anything today, let alone eating.

After a quiet ride, we finally made it to the school. I entered the hallways and immediately regretted it as eyes locked onto me from all angles. My nerves grabbed hold of me. I needed to move.

I finally came to my locker and upon opening it, all I wanted to do was stuff my head inside. I grabbed my books for first period and slammed it shut.

"Hey," it was Joss.

"Oh, hey," I said, somewhat relieved, but mostly a bit skeptical.

"Man, that was sick what you did yesterday," said Joss.

Not the response I was looking for but alright, I'll allow it.

"I've never seen anything like that before."

"You and everyone else." I began on my way to class."I didn't know what I was doing, okay! It just happened."

"What are you talking about?"

I stopped and turned to him with a serious look. "Did you notice anything weird about me yesterday?"

He was taken aback. "Weird how?"

"Just...ugh," I couldn't even explain it to him because I wasn't even sure myself. "Nevermind!"

"I mean, your eyes were all weird and stuff..."

"Weird how?"

"Like, they might have been like...orange, but that could've been just the sun in my opinion."

Great, he noticed.

Would people really fall for that? Green eyes suddenly turning orange in the sunlight?

"What else?"

"You did start to look hot. Some veins started to pop out, but dude, you were mad. Everyone gets mad and starts to turn red, and has that one bulging vein every once in a while."

Okay, that made sense.

Maybe I was overthinking it. Sam made it sound like I had transformed into a fire demon or something. The way Joss just described everything put it all in a sort of perspective.

"There was one thing though,"

Here it comes. I knew it was too good to be true.

"I wanna say something was going on with your teeth...but I wasn't really paying attention. I was too busy watching you kick ass."

So, it wasn't really that bad after all. If Joss could make these justifications maybe everyone else who watched what went down yesterday could too.

Only one could hope though.