COBALT: The Red Phantom (Book One)

Chapter 1: Káel (Part 2/2)

          Ray quickly relaxed with the turn of events, swiping his goggles back up with a worried smile and nodding at Káel.

          Káel didn't catch whatever signal the Russian exchange student was trying to give him, favouring a defensive frown as he drew back and tensed his shoulders up in caution. "What?"

          Ray continued to smile, his lips stretching out to cheesy proportions as he patted Káel on the shoulder. "Stay."

          "Excuse me?"

          Ray gave him a parenting nod as he gripped both his shoulders, turning away after the strange gesture with a casual wave.

          Káel took a moment as Ray walked away, looking around awkwardly as his mind still tried to work out pretty much everything. He didn't like Ray already, the guy had gone a little past oblivious, then had the nerve to pat him on the shoulder like a long lost friend while ordering him to "stay" like some dog, before up and walking away. He stopped, lifting his gaze from the cheap waxed floor it had fallen to. Ray was gone.

          A grip of panic stabbed his gut as he scoured his surroundings like a parent that just lost their kid in the mall, quickly sliding his phone in his pocket and speeding down the hall. He stopped to peek around the corner, his mind suddenly hitting a spike of reality as he wondered why he should care where Ray went. A relaxed smile touched his lips, until he visualized the jacked up blonde... and his textbook fastened under his arm.

          Káel gave the closest wall a stupendous stare, slowly closing his mouth as he buffered up a solution and thought about where the absent minded role playing Russian could've wandered off to. He homed in on a cluster of girls eating lunch in the halls, exchanging in a brief and awkward conversation before they pointed him in the right direction, and beelining for the front of the school where he caught a glimpse of his golden locks escaping to the outdoors.

          "And where do you think you're going Williams?" a voice boomed, stopping Káel in his tracks as he stared at his principal like a frightened gazelle.

          "Going outside to play tag with the exchange student," he blurted.

          "Exchange student?" The principal furrowed his snow white eyebrows, trying to jog a memory through the cobwebs of administrative jumble clogging his brain. "We have those?"

          "Yeah...?" Káel replied, his voice cracking with uncertainty as he backed away towards the door. "The office asked Sora to babysit him, remember?"

          "Oh maybe... yeah," he said, but his face screamed otherwise as he folded his arms with a frown. "Could you ask them to come to the office?"

          "Yeah, sure thing." Káel gave him a courteous nod and rushed outside, looking around the broad walkway and catching Ray's back as he nonchalantly walked across the road, in full view of the chattering students with a front row view to his clear ignorance of school rules.

          Káel sighed, taking on a commanding posture as he walked towards the oblivious student with a full, and simplified, exposition of the basic school rules in his head. However, when he drew closer he stopped, noticing the lightness to Ray's step as he snuck away after peeking around a bush and darting off.

          Káel flinched as he held back the urge to chase him, the curiosity dragging his body down to a crouch as he stole a glance around the bush. Ray's back was clear, hunched by his attempt at laying low while he remained fixated on the flapping black cloak of a figure ahead. Káel gave the scene some time to unravel, waiting for Ray to follow the figure across another road, straight for the small flat of land teeming with junk and hungry seagulls.