fragile time

~chapter 1~

"Company?" She raised an eyebrow.

"A few older kids in our level. I believe Rambo is leading them. The half fox. The kid-"

"I know who he is."

"Right."

"What's the plan?"

Xavier cleared his throat, reminding us he was still there. I snapped my head around, but continued to face away. "Yeah, Mister Leader, what's the plan?" He repeated.

Right. Leader. My friends always use that when they want me to decide something. Being the "leader" was more difficult than I'd thought– but, I'll get more into that later.

The fire fairy behind me stepped forward, his wings flaring again, "I wanna fight. The thought of that—" He stopped himself before he said something he would regret, " —idiot... makes me want to burn his face off!"

"I told you to calm down once, don't make me do it again." Emily warned before turning towards me again, "It's up to you. But we're definitely not blowing anything up." Xavier huffed.

Fights were so common here, nobody got in trouble for it anymore. In fact, it was slightly encouraged. It gave the teachers and faculty something to entertain them. "Only if we must. Never throw the first punch, understand?"

"You sound like my dad." Emily retorted.

Before I could respond, Rambo, followed by a couple others, turned the corner. They all almost tripped over each other trying to stop. When everyone regained their balance, Rambo spoke, "Well, look what we have here."

The group laughed. Apparently, they were convinced that they were stronger than we were. By their thoughts, I knew all of them cowarded at my presence, thanks to my powers, though now I didn't hold a weapon. A couple boys in the back stayed together, casting nervous glances left and right. Looking for a teacher or... afraid?

Rambo talked again, being in the front of the group, and seeing as I wasn't going to respond, "We have a psycho," he gestured towards Xavier. "a murderer," Me. "and... a girl."

Emily scoffed, "What do you mean a girl?"

Though this insult was directed towards her, before I knew it, my hands were in fists. I could handle others calling me a murderer, a killer, a monster, (which none of is true, by the way) or whatever else they would call me, but others hurting my friends...

"Women are for household chores, darling," Rambo rolled his eyes, "Not bearing weapons."

And just like that, Emily jumped toward him and punched him in the face with as much force as she had. What part of 'never throw the first punch' did she not understand? In a blur, Rambo was on the floor, blood pouring from his nose onto his chocolate brown skin. His gang stumbled back, but a crowd of students just got closer. Rambo looked up at Emily, anger in his eyes.

I shot her a glare before turning back to Rambo. "There's more where that came from." I couldn't hide my smile, "Emily is more powerful than you'll ever be. She deserves to wield a weapon."

Rambo stood up, "You have a lot of nerve for a kid."

He threw a punch at me, but I was able to duck. I looked back up, but another fist was already heading towards my face. I dodged again. Rambo growled, "Too scared to fight back? Worried you might hurt yourself?"

His foot swung forward in an effort to try to take my feet out from under me. I jumped over with ease. Dodging attacks was much easier with my vampire speed. "It's not me I am worried about." I remarked.

"Whatever." Rambo grumbled in defeat, "You aren't even worth my time."

The group all shuffled away, muttering insults towards me as they did. Though, I couldn't hear them over Xavier's laughter, "Hah! That was awesome! I mean– wow! He was all like, 'ew a girl' and Emily went—" He punched the air. "POW! Punch to the face!"

He continued to laugh and ramble as Emily and I did our not-so-secret handshake. Though we did it many times in front of the other four members of our friend group, it was too complicated for them to figure out. The both of us spoke in rhythmic unison, "One, Two, One, Two, Three! Shoulders, On Guard, Up-Down, Left-Right, Bam-Bam, Duck, and Crash! Turn, Turn, Down and Done!"

Yes, our handshake was childish, but I believed everyone had an inner child, no matter how old they were. "Don't ask," I said.

He nodded, being too happy with our victory to really care what we did, "Wasn't planning to.

The three of us continued celebrating together, walking down the halls aimlessly. We always walked around as if we owned the place because we were the youngest in our level. We had to show the others that we belonged there just as much as they did. Suddenly, we heard the bell ring. "Of course." Emily grunted, "We're late!"

Both of us speeded down the hallway while Xavier flew overhead. "Can you come down here with us?" Emily complained, "It's no fair you can fly!"

Xavier laughed again,"Catch me if you can!"

We continued zooming down the empty halls, careful not to run into a teacher.

The gorgeous decorated walls, like the library, mocked me. The marble floors were so clean, they glistened like a diamond in the sun. The only thing which looked out of place was the three of us. Our somewhat dirty shoes and worn jackets made us look like we didn't belong. Well, technically we didn't belong. We belonged in class.

All of us immediately halted when we heard the click-click of a girl's heels walking down the hallway. Xavier swooped down and hovered next to us, ashes and all, but still prepared to fly away again. I could barely hear the whisper of a girl's thoughts as she came this way. 'I cannot believe I am missing Hand Magic 101 for this. Where could the three of them be?' Lillith. I nodded at Xavier, signaling that it was alright to land. Reluctantly, he obeyed.

A pale-skinned girl walked past, her black and purple lace dress flowing out behind her, barely reaching her calves. The corset she was wearing hugged her shape, and her wand was tied to her by a silk cloth wrapped around her waist. A leather jacket rested on her shoulders; on top of her head sat a purple witch hat, which was almost as dark as her eyes.

"Lillith!" Emily called, "Thank God, it's you!"

Lillith turned around, her eyes narrowing and her lips in a thin line, "I have come to fetch you. You are missing Hand Magic 101. You should be there this instant, not playing chase around the halls."

Xavier shamefully hung his head, "Sorry."

Emily rolled her eyes. "You need to learn how to have a little fun," She added in a mocking tone, "ma'am."

Lillith briefly scoffed as to say 'look who's talking,' but quickly turned towards me, "I did not think you would miss this class, Micheal. It is your favorite, isn't it?" I nodded as she continued, "Regardless, here you are running in the hallway."

I shook my head, accepting that she was right. "My apologies, but we were on our way to Hand Magic 101 now, not playing."

She stiffened. I knew she hated being wrong. "The... the quicker way is back where I came from." Lillith stammered in defense.

"Whatever you say." Emily snickered.

After a moment of silence, Lillith spoke again, disregarding what she'd said, "Let us be on our way, then, no time to lose." The four of us turned around and followed Lillith's lead down the hall we were recently running through. My friends began a conversation, but my head processed it as background noise for my thoughts. After this long morning, the feeling of an unfinished battle rested upon my shoulders.

Well, this was a somewhat violent start.