Meeting Matthias

Chapter 7: Confidante

Ava tugged her leather bag over her shoulder as she and Racquel walked out of the school building, past the quadrangle and to the parking lot.

"So much homework to do..." Racquel groaned.

Ava grunted in response, fully aware of how heavy her bag was, considering all the books she had to take home. Most of their homework that night weren't actually due until the next week, but Ava figured her best friend wanted to say something in order to break the silence. Ever since her encounter with Matthias, Ava found herself constantly chastising herself for what she said to him. She wondered to herself if she should apologize, but it seemed out of the question.

Racquel had been bugging her all afternoon about what happened, but she simply diverted her best friend's attention to other things – not an easy feat – or changed topics.

"Sooo..." Racquel drawled, her raven eyes twinkling as she slightly tilted to the side, almost walking backwards in an attempt to look Ava in the eye. "What happened with the Gatorade?"

Ava knew that she couldn't dodge the topic forever. But how am I going to tell her? Images of the demon seemingly feeding off of some strange substance oozing out of Matthias returned to memory. She winced. She knew that Racquel deserved an explanation, but she had no idea how to explain. She missed the times when she felt like she could tell Racquel everything. They used to understand each other like no other, but that all seemed to change when Ava became a Christian. It was hard to explain her choices to Racquel. And what's been happening lately... she couldn't even explain it to herself... how much more to anyone?

"Well?" Racquel pried. "Come on, Ava... Details..."

Ava sighed, hesitantly replaying the scene in her head. "He took the Gatorade and then..."

"Hey, girls." JM caught up with them and he had a distinctly scrutinizing look directed at Ava – the same one that he'd been giving her all day.

"JM!" Racquel exclaimed. "Do you know what happened between Ava and Matthias earlier today?" She cast an accusing glare at Ava. "She won't tell me."

"I was wondering the same thing myself. Ava?"

"Nothing... nothing happened..." she lied. "I gave him the Gatorade I owed him. That's all."

"Right." JM gave her a curt nod and it seemed like he was tempted to roll his eyes. "If nothing happened, then why did you leave him looking like a complete zombie? What did you tell my cousin?"

Ava gritted her teeth, beginning to get annoyed by the interrogation. "I don't want to talk about it."

"I'll find out anyway, Ava. If not from you, from him..." JM pushed, shoving his hands on his pocket as he stood in front of her, blocking her from proceeding to the parking lot.

"Then why don't you just ask him?"

"Come on, Ava... Will you just fricking tell us?" Racquel snapped before JM could reply.

That caught Ava's attention. In their years of being high school best friends, Racquel had never once shown a single hint of irritation towards her. Yet at that moment, her best friend looked thoroughly annoyed by her. Ava's shoulders sagged in resignation. "Fine," she relented, glancing at JM before giving Racquel a meaningful look. "I told him that there was something about him that I found terrifying."

"What?!" Both exclaimed.

JM's face twisted in confusion as he grabbed her arm and made her face him. "Why would you..."

"Hey, JM!" Matthias' voice called out from the black Jaguar in the parking lot. "Let's go!" He began honking the horn impatiently.

Though not daring to look at the young man, Ava had never been more relieved to have Matthias around than at that moment. Still, for some reason, she could feel him staring at her and that left her completely unnerved.