Five
“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Kyan’s three year old backpack was slung around his shoulder, and he was just slipping on his shoes as Melan, Emmix, and Rysen walked into his room. All three were wearing backpacks. It was the only part that matched out of them. Emmix was wearing a dark, oversized, sweater that made her look even tinier with black skinny jeans and combat boots. Melan had on a loose summer dress with flower sandals, while Rysen looked like he’d stepped out of GQ. “No. No way.” He protested, knowing they were about to join him on his first day back. “When’s the last time any of you have been in a High School?” He looked between the three, Melan and Rysen exchanged looks of confusion while Emmix just stared back at Kyan. “I don’t need babysitters.” He proclaimed, continuing to tie his shoes.
“No, but you do need protection.” Emmix sat down next to him. Lately everyone had been watching him like a hawk, ready to pounce when he blacked out again. He knew they cared, but at the same time it was getting old. “Don’t worry, we won’t embarrass you.” She stuck her tongue out at him, receiving a smile back.
“Yeah! We’ve watched plenty of movies.” Melan added, smiling brilliantly. That wasn’t the part that bugged him the most; Kyan noticed something was different about all of them. Something that was too normal, past all of their abnormalities.
“Are all of you wearing contacts?” He looked at Emmix’s eyes closely, they were brown. “You know, most people think it’s cool to have yellow, orange, and pink colored eyes.” Kyan soon felt very aware of his sea foam irises, he’d never hide them in a million years. He was proud of their extraordinary color. “Take them out.” He insisted. “Do it.” One by one they each took out their contacts, releasing little pain protests.
“We were just trying to fit in.” Melan’s sad face began tearing at Kyan’s heart. Her small features were cuter than buckets of buttons. She was like the younger version of his mom, only with darker blonde hair. He had to constantly remind himself that they weren’t the same person.
“The thing about High School is that no one fits in.” He looked at her and waited for a positive response. When his waiting ceased to work he added, “But I guess if you want to wear them you can.” At this, Melan jumped in the air and yelped for joy. She immediately put them back in, using the mirror above his bed. “Alright, let’s go or we’re gonna be late.” They all piled out of the room when Emmix stopped them, “Wait!” she closed her eyes and activated. Then, just as soon as she started, she stopped. “Okay, now we’re good.”
As they all walked out of Abscan and into the driveway, Kyan noticed the four shiny sports cars sitting in front of them, each painted with a different solid color. “This is not blending in.” He froze in front of the entrance door. The other three walked over to the cars; pulled out keys that Emmix had also summoned in their pockets, and unlocked the doors. Emmix looked over her shoulder before getting in, “But didn’t you say no one fits in?” she winked and shut the door behind her. Here goes nothing. He breathed and reached into his pocket for the keys.
“We look like the Power Rangers!” Melan said, hopping out of her red car. They had all parked side by side right in front of the school. Kyan could feel people staring at him, which already happened enough due to his eye color, now they were staring for a whole different reason. He recognized Relia’s black truck turning the corner. She pulled in right beside the four of their cars.
“Kyan, when did you get a lambo?” She questioned after hopping out and walking over to the group of them. She stood the furthest from Emmix. They were still standing in front of the outrageous cars. “And I thought you hated the color yellow.” Emmix turned to look at Kyan; he could see a flash of sadness in her eyes before she turned back to Rysen and Melan. “Who are they?” Relia motioned towards the odd looking group. She had asked so many questions in so little time that his brain was about to overload.
“It’s not mine, I don’t hate the color yellow, and they are my friends.” He led Relia over to the group. “This is Relia, Relia this is Melan and Rysen.” He pointed to each person as he spoke their names. He skipped Emmix due to knowing the two had already met and didn’t get along very well. “I need to go pick up my schedule, so…” Kyan spun towards the school and began walking to the entrance. Relia ran to catch up, walking with him into the building.
He glanced back at the group, still standing, and motioned with his head for them to follow. When they didn’t understand, he stood at the front doors, waiting. The parking lot was full of students and cars. Out of all the vehicles, the four sports stood out like Fruit Loops in a box of Cheerios. They took a few extra seconds to realize that they needed to go with him. Relia gave him a questioning look. “They’re new, I’m helping them out.” He could already tell it was going to be a long day. “This is going to suck.” He breathed, receiving a nod from Relia. If only she knew what I really meant.
“What do I do with this?” Rysen asked, looking at his class schedule. Melan had skipped her way into the hearts of the office secretaries, flashing them all sweet smiles with big eyes. Her soft voice asked for new schedules for herself, Emmix, Rysen, and Kyan. When they inquired about residency and parents, she sweet talked her way out of it again, spilling out lies that were so absolutely convincing even Kyan almost believed them. She even worked her way into setting their schedules up to have one venator in each of his classes.
“Those are your room numbers, we have first period together so you can follow me.” Kyan knew they’d be watching out for him in each one of his periods. Knowing there’d be someone waiting for him to screw up, he felt self conscious. He was worried they’d also get lost so he knew it was a fair trade. He could make sure they made it to each class; while they made sure he didn’t trigger or black out. As much as he’d hoped for an average first day back, he knew it wouldn’t happen.
The school was completely redone. The halls had been revamped with tall dark blue lockers, and shiny chrome locks. The flooring was replaced with dark grey tile; the doors were painted over, hiding the chips and dents from previous years of wear and tear. Walls surrounding the attendance office and nurse were knocked out to be filled with glass. It appeared as though all the oldness was kicked out to the curb and replaced with new and modern. Kyan missed the aged features; they had given the school character. Now it looked like a preppy rich kid school similar to the one in metro that was notorious for disrespectful kids.
Rysen followed him into their first class. Kyan took a seat in the middle row towards the back; Rysen chose the seat right behind him. He stood out, with his handsome jaw line and muscular figure. He looked like a professional model, trying to act seventeen in a twenty year olds body. Kyan silently hated him for it, feeling incompetent sitting in front of him. As the teacher walked into the room, he began scribbling on a loose leaf paper.
“Are you feeling okay?” Rysen leaned over and whispered in his ear. Kyan rolled his eyes and scribbled profane words on the paper, handing it to him. Rysen slunk back into his chair and smacked the back of Kyan’s head. After realizing what he did, he slipped the paper back to Kyan with an apology written on it, worried he could’ve triggered a black out. Kyan grew more irritated with the careful precautions that everyone was taking with him.
The middle aged female teacher glared at them, “Believe me; you do not want to get on my bad side mister…” She looked down at her clipboard, searching for a name. “You are not on my list, why are you not on my list?” She continued to stare at the clipboard. Kyan glanced back at Rysen pointing to himself, confused who she was talking to. Rysen shrugged and yawned, classic thug response. The teacher impatiently looked over her glasses at them. “Yes, you in the green shirt,” Kyan sighed relief as he realized Rysen was the one she was talking about. “You aren’t on my list.”
Rysen stood up and waltzed to the teacher, schedule in hand. Kyan watched as every single teenage girl, and one boy, stared at him. He now understood why it was hard for the man to settle. Rysen smacked the paper onto her clipboard, receiving an even harsher glare from her. “Sorry Mrs.…” He looked around for a hint to her name, spotted it on her ID badge and continued, “Oh, Miss Brinton.” He winked at her, watching as her glare faded into flattery. “Not married? That’s shocking.” He played her up; throwing in every chance he got to please her. “For a young and beautiful woman like you; I’d imagine a husband attached to your youthful hips.” Her cheeks flushed, she tried hiding them behind her clipboard. Rysen winked at her and walked back to his desk, pleased with himself. He has now become the teacher’s pet. Not surprising.
Emmix had no desire to be at a High School, she wanted nothing more than to go back to Abscan or to even visit Cranver Street to murder a bunch of spineless demons. As she lazily walked into her first class, taking a seat in the back, she noticed a familiar scent. The stench of too much perfume and makeup with the hint of awful flower shampoo, it was Relia. She scoffed to herself, wishing now more than ever that she could summon a bucket of mud.
Relia walked into the classroom, a girl in tale. They were laughing and talking obnoxiously, drawing everyone’s attention, which annoyed Emmix greatly. They took their seats in the front row, predictable, Emmix thought. Her hatred for Relia was expanding every second like a disease. After she heard the comment from Relia that morning about Kyan hating yellow, she’d put the girl on her summon a giant hole to fall into list. She knew if it came down to it, she could whoop Relia’s ass into the next country; which was why she wasn’t sure how she could feel threatened. She took a moment to think about her feelings; she didn’t have a solid reason for hating the girl. Kyan is friends with her; so there’s a possibility that she could be decent. Emmix took a long breath in and attempted to see Relia with an open mind.
Relia turned around to look at her. Her smile flattened, a caddy girl smirk replaced it. She noticeably whispered something into her friend’s ear while glaring at Emmix, which in return caused the other girl to join in the giggling. Nope, that bitch is going down. Rage rushed through her, practically spilling over onto the desk. She knew it would be too obvious to summon then, she also knew she couldn’t do it whenever she wanted. But now would be so perfect. As Emmix was listing off ways to torture Relia on a sheet of paper, the professor walked in. His voice hit her with familiarity.
“Hello class, my name is Mr. Clares.” Emmix whipped her head up, and as she guessed, Dailen was standing before her by the board. He wore fake glasses on the brim of his nose, an ugly brown sweater with leather elbow patches, and long black slacks. He looked ridiculous, but to everyone else he looked like an average teacher. She stifled a laugh, knowing only the others would understand why it was funny. She wondered why he would apply to be a science teacher; out of all the subjects available. She knew he was doing it to stay involved with Kyan, but being a teacher might’ve taken it too far. Thinking of Melan, Emmix wondered what the girl was doing right now, not having anyone she knew in her first High School class. She noted to ask later.
The clock ticked by gruesomely slow, she wondered how Dailen didn’t get as bored as she did. She had spent the entire hour and a half drawing vulgar pictures of ways to murder Relia who had continued to be caddy those same ninety minutes. Dailen had been ranting on about the elements in the periodic table. None of which interested Emmix in the least bit, and to her shock, didn’t interest anyone else. She stood up as soon as the bell rang, and hurried out the door, pushing through people on her way. Kyan walked around the corner and ran right into her, spilling all her stuff and some of his stuff onto the floor. As they both leaned down to fix the mess, he pulled their stuff over to the side, mixing some on accident, to get out of the way.
“Hey Kyan,” Relia leaned on the wall next to Emmix, who was still picking things up off the floor. Kyan glanced up at her, not acknowledging what she had said. “Need any help?” She prodded, growing impatient with the two. Emmix felt enraged at Relia’s persistence, she really began to hate the girl.
“Not now Relia.” Kyan stuffed everything into his backpack and stood up, holding his hand out to Emmix. She took it as he pulled her up. “Are you alright?” He asked, still holding her hand. She nodded, and quickly let go. He grabbed her schedule, still ignoring Relia unintentionally, and looked at what class Emmix had next. “We share MatSci together. You can go with me.” Then to Relia he said, “I’ll see you later?” She gave a silent nod and strutted away with her unkind friend.
“She hates me, Kyan. If she was given a knife and a fork to kill me, she would use the fork.” Emmix walked beside him, dodging other students in the hall proceeding to get shoved around. She reached out and grabbed onto his shirt and backpack to catch herself up. “I just don’t see us ever getting along.”
“You don’t have to get along; just don’t rip each other’s hearts out.” Kyan stopped walking in the hallway and looked down at his feet. She watched his head make faint circles; he glanced up at her and swallowed hard. He braced his hand onto the nearest locker. She knew instantly what was about to happen.
“Kyan are you alright?” Emmix held onto his forearm, keeping him from collapsing. She looked around to see if people were watching, then spotted a convenient janitor’s closet about twenty feet down the hall. “Hold it back for five seconds!” She yanked on his arm and pulled him to the closet, quickly closing them inside. The darkness took over; the only light came from the thinnest of cracks around the door frame. It was enough to see an inch away from the door itself. “Kyan,” Emmix whispered, still holding onto his arm. She felt his hand feel for hers.
She reached her hand out to find his shoulder, but met his face. She flinched for a second, and then let her hand rest on the base of his neck, her thumb on his jaw line. He moved towards her causing her hand to close in towards her body. He was inches from her face, looking down at her. She could feel his warmth and heart beat, his hand reached for her cheek. Then, in a swift movement too dark to see, Kyan blacked out and fell to the floor again. Emmix knelt down and felt around the cold concrete for him, “Wake up!” She whispered loudly, hearing the passing period bell ring. Shit she thought, feeling an adrenaline panic fill through her veins. Why here? She was flustered, knowing she could only do one thing.
She closed her eyes and summoned the door.