Devil's Fate

Accidental Triggers

Chester pushed his glasses up on his nose. It felt like the millionth time today already as he looked up at the silver name plate over the classroom door. 543, he read to himself. This is it. He let out a sigh as he shoved the door open. Thankfully, this was his last class of the day. Marketing and Design had been brutal, and Chester had felt rather lost the entire three hours he'd spent between the two classes.

But this was parenting - his elective class - and he was hoping it would be a cakewalk by comparison. I just have to get through this and I can go home for the rest of the day. No Score until tomorrow.

It was an encouraging thought as he stood at the back of the class, scanning his options. This room was much smaller than his other two classrooms had been. People were paired off two at a table, and Chester wasn't sure where he should sit, until someone waved to him. It was a quick search through his memory as he tried to place the guy with the wide smile and head full of brown curly hair. For a moment, he reminded Chester of Brad, even though this guy was much younger.

At any rate, he was smiling and waving and Chester took comfort in the resemblance to the chef he missed. He crossed the room, zig-zagging around the wooden tables that were each colored yellow, blue, or orange. The guy inviting him over was at a blue table.

Chester let his leopard print backpack fall from his shoulder as he pointed to the empty seat. "Is this okay?"

"Sure, man, that's why I was waving," the guy said as he motioned to the available spot. "I'm glad you're here. I need a partner. I was on my own last semester."

Chester smiled as he quickly sat down. "That sucks. I'm Chester." He stuck his hand out to shake the moment his butt was in the seat.

"I'm Jordan, but everyone calls me Grandson," he said, accepting Chester's handshake. "That's my rockstar name."

Chester cocked an eyebrow. "You sing?"

Jordan shrugged before he grinned. "I do it all. Rapping, singing, screaming. Growling," he stated with a playful bite of his teeth into the air. "I'm still trying to find my artistic voice. But I'll get there."

Chester turned in his seat so they were facing each other a little better, their knees almost touching. The teacher - a middle-aged woman with short dark hair and a belly - was on the other side of the room, looking like she wasn't quite prepared for class to start yet, and that was fine with Chester. His other two instructors had been overly punctual. The break was nice. "So what are you taking this class for?" he asked. "Shouldn't you be in the music program or something?"

Jordan waved away the theory. "Naw. I don't want my art influenced by any of this place." He rolled his eyes around the room. "My art is mine, and I'll do it however the fuck I want."

Chester grinned. He liked Jordan already. He was by far the most interesting - and the most friendly - person Chester had met all day. "I'm down with that."

"I'm actually taking some business classes," Jordan explained with an uninterested shrug. "Gotta be able to hold my own when I do make it big. I need to know how things work so no one can take a piece of me."

"That's smart."

Jordan nodded as he leaned back a little in his chair to cross his ankle over his knee. He had on a pair of baggy black shorts, and he picked at them while he looked Chester up and down. He smirked just a little over the black framed glasses that wouldn't stay put on Chester's nose, and the lip ring he'd already watched Chester suck in and nurse on twice since he'd sat down. "So what about you?" he asked. "You got a kid at home or something? I mean, I'm only in here because I need the credit, but I think most of these fools already have munchkins or want to sometime soon."