『Guardian Angel』»〈skephalo〉

III

•zak•

I walked into the school with Darryl by my side, slightly nervous as to what my friends would think of him. He already received his new schedule, which unfortunately was slightly different from mine but not too different. Together, we made our way around the commons area until eventually we came across my friend group's meeting spot.

There, I saw Clay, Vincent, and George standing next to each other. "Hey guys!" I called to them with a big smile on my face. Darryl walked next to me, flashing them a big grin as well. The three of them looked a little confused but didn't say anything until Darryl and I got closer.

"Hey Zak, who's this?" Clay asked in a friendly tone, beaming at the secret guardian.

"Oh, this is Darryl. He's one of my long distance friends that moved back to Springfield," I explained to everyone.

"Oh cool, I'm George by the way," The third one greeted, sticking his hand out for Darryl to shake. As the two shook hands, Vincent decided to introduce himself.

"I'm Vincent," He introduced, fistbumping Darryl.

"I'm Clay," The other added. Clay gave Darryl a small wave.

"Hi guys," The angel replied in a super soothing tone. I was amazed by his oddly calming voice. Wait, is this one of his powers? "This school seems super nice."

"The school isn't the best part," George pointed out. "Our friend, Zelk, throws the best parties. He's throwing another one this upcoming Friday, you should come!"

I furrowed my eyebrows. "Didn't Zelk just host one last Friday?" I asked George with confusion.

Clay shrugged. "I'm not complaining, are you?"

I bit my lip. That's strange. Zelk normally doesn't throw parties that often. Dave went missing after the last one... I shook my head. No, Zelk wouldn't do that. That's totally unlike him. I sighed to myself, knowing I'm feeling conflicted.

I looked over at Darryl and noticed he was staring at George with slight intensity, making me feel as though something was up. I didn't say anything though, I kept my nerves to myself.

"Who's the new guy?" I turned and saw that Finn showed up, eyeing Darryl suspiciously.

"Oh, hey Finn! This is the new student, Darryl!" I exclaimed, patting the guardian on the shoulder.

Finn narrowed his eyes. "Oh... why are we friends with him?" He questioned. Finn wasn't trying to be mean, he could just be blunt sometimes. I didn't judge him, since a random kid popping into our friend group would be weird from an outsiders perspective. "I've actually known him for a while, he was a long distance friend until he moved here."

Finn looked at Darryl with confusion. "Then why have you never mentioned him?" I stared at Finn, not really knowing how to respond. I wasn't the best liar.

"I suppose it would be difficult to work a long distance friend into a random conversation, wouldn't it?" Darryl pointed out. "Perhaps Zak never got the opportunity or situation to announce my presence in this world."

Everyone stared at Darryl because of his strange wording, but nobody said anything. He was right, after all. It would be hard to explain to the group about Darryl (if he were actually a long distance friend, of course) without any given context.

Right after that conversation, the bell rang. Everyone said their goodbyes and each of us parted our ways, trudging through the halls of Lincoln High.

The school day was slow, but eventually lunch rolled around. At lunch time, Darryl and I got back together and discussed our findings.

"I dunno. Finn seemed really suspicious of you but I don't think that means much. Also, Vincent said we couldn't study after school together, he said he was busy or something. Again, it probably doesn't mean anything, so yeah," I informed the angel, not really having anything important to say.

Darryl nodded with furrowed eyebrows. "This morning... I felt some sort of inhuman energy around... it was... I think his name was George. Yeah."

My eyes widened. "Wait, so like... you sensed demon in him?" I questioned.

Darryl shook his head. "No, not specifically dark energy. I don't have enough training to decipher good energy from bad energy. I just know that it's... energy."

I bit my lip. "What else could it be besides a demon?" I questioned the guardian, wondering if there were more creatures that I was unaware of.

He shrugged. "Many things, Zak. Many things."