Derek waltzed into school Monday morning with an old-fashioned clipboard and pen. He made sure Hazel Jones was the first signature, followed closely by Evelyn, Annie, and Brandi. It was all he needed to work his magic.
“Oskar!” Derek shouted, waving as his friend turned around. “Hey, man. CCNC is changing times.”
Oskar was confused. “Changing times? How do you change times of an after-school club?”
“We’re not having it this week to spread the word. It’s no longer after school. It’ll be at seven in the morning.”
Oskar laughed. “Good joke, man. Seriously, what’s going on?”
“Just a move that will be talked about for generations.” Derek handed Oskar the clip board. He took it, glancing at it before he noticed her name. His entire face froze, staring at it for a good thirty seconds.
“I’m sorry… what?” Oskar asked.
“Seven in the morning is the only time Hazel Jones can make it.”
“You know what? Even if you are trolling, I’m going along with it.” Oskar signed his name. “If this is one big lie, I can mock you for thinking you could involve four cheerleaders in CCNC. But if you aren’t lying—” Oskar shrugged, “—then four cheerleaders are coming to CCNC. This is a win-win in my book.”
Derek patted his shoulder. “I’ll announce what day we’ll have it.”
He filled an entire page in the first fifteen minutes. He let them have their laugh about coming to school at seven in the morning before showing them Hazel Jone’s name at the top.
“I’m just as mad I can’t do after school,” Brian said as Derek explained the time change. “But I’m also not waking up at six-fifteen for CCNC club. Not all of us are as obsessed with it as you are.”
“It’s the only time Hazel Jones could be there,” Derek said.
From the moment Derek said Hazel Jones to the end of the sentence, Brian signed his name and wrote his phone number.
“What!” Joaquín shouted when Derek talked to him. “Dude! You know I have jazz band in the morning! Why would you torture me like this? No!” He headed toward the band room. “I’m talking to Mr. Lopez right now. I could miss a day, right?”
Derek had no answer as Joaquín headed toward the band door. Evelyn walked up to him, smiling. “Hey, how’s it going?”
“Great.” Derek showed the page and a half of names he already filled. “I think one guy almost wanted to lick her name. I stopped him, though.”
Evelyn made a face. “That’s gross.”
“I understand the worship, though.” Derek counted all the names again.
“Seriously Derek?” Evelyn asked.
“What?”
“We’re humans to, you know.”
“Oh, I know.” Evelyn responded by rolling her eyes. “Hey, how do you feel about being game master to the middle group?”
“You think I’m ready for something like that?”
“Totally,” Derek said. “We’ll need three groups now, and I don’t want to pull my character out of the advance group in order to game master. You’ve done this with Hazel Jones, Annie, and Brandi. You can totally do this with a bunch of guys who, I guarantee, will be in awe of whatever you do.”
Evelyn gave him a playful shove. “We’re human, too.”
“They’re here to witness four cheerleaders playing CCNC. It’ll blow their mind when one of them is the game master,” Derek said.
“Oh, hey wait. There were two guys who wanted me to join their campaign. Maybe they’d be interested in CCNC club?”
“Who are they?” Derek asked.
Evelyn frowned, glancing around at the students meandering the halls. “I… don’t actually know. I never got their names. One was a guy who never spoke, just sort of stared at me, and the other was… pretty obsessed with CCNC.”
“Right.” Derek layered on the sarcasm. “That narrows it down.”
She gave his shoulder another playful shove. “I don’t think they’re theater nerds, necessarily. I think they’re more into… general pop culture. Gaming and stuff.”
“Oh, the gaming nerds. I haven’t gotten them yet. Come on, they’re usually hanging out near the cafeteria,” Derek said.
He and Evelyn walked to the cafeteria, and Evelyn tugged on his shirtsleeve. “You’re totally right! It’s those two right there!”
“Ah, Noah and Reed. Yeah, that makes sense.”
Total gamer nerds, trying to start their own gaming channel. They had some pretty good stuff. Derek had seen a few of their videos. They hit a level of game nerd that even he wasn’t capable of. Outside CCNC, of course.
“Here, let me take this one.” Evelyn took the clipboard from him.
Derek smirked, following her into the crowd. He needed to see this. The two boys were there, talking and laughing with their friends, but the change was obvious when they spotted Evelyn. They grew silent, eyes widened. Evelyn walked up toward Noah, sticking her hand out. “Hey, I don’t think I ever caught your name.”
“Oh uh, right.” Noah stared at her hand like he didn’t know what to do with it, then looking at Evelyn like he forgot his name.
“I’m Evelyn Larsen,” she prompted.
“Noah,” he said, as though just remembering. Derek bit the side of his cheek to keep a smile from appearing.
“Noah, hey. You talked to me before about playing CCNC with me, but I’ve been too busy. My friend Derek is president of the CCNC club, and we had a chat over the weekend that maybe more of my friends could come if we changed the time. I know seven in the morning might be a hard ask for some people, but it’s the only time my friends and I could make it. Do you think you’d be interested?” Evelyn held out the clipboard to him.
Reed stared at Evelyn, his mouth gaping. Noah stared too, though he had a bit more emotion on his face. Mostly shock. Evelyn kept the clipboard out to him, waiting for him to take it.
“Your… friends? Which friends?” Noah asked.
Derek took a step forward, keeping his head low. “Hazel Jones.” He then took the clipboard from Evelyn and placed it in Noah’s hands. When Noah still stared at Evelyn like he was in a dream, Derek lifted the pen and placed it in his hands before setting it on the paper. Noah wrote his name and number, not on the line at all. Derek nodded, and gave it to Reed, who wasn’t paying attention either.
Evelyn smiled. “I’m so excited you’ll play CCNC! We just need a week to get things organized, then Derek will let you know when session zero starts. We might organize into a few groups, because there’s a lot of new people coming.”
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Evelyn said all this while every single gamer in the group stood up and made a line, writing their names. Derek was hiding a smile the entire time. Evelyn was positively beaming. “I’m so excited you’ll play!”
“Uh-huh,” Noah said, still staring at her.
Evelyn and Derek waited as the gaming nerds wrote their names.
“See? I knew this would work,” Derek said.
Evelyn shook her head. “Just remember we’re human, please.”
“You all rarely interact with us on the social hierarchy. It’s hard to remember,” Derek said.
“It’s a bit scary for us to interact with you all,” Evelyn said.
Derek frowned, glancing at her. “What?”
“We’re human, Derek. It’s what I keep telling you.” Evelyn played with a lock of her hair, giving him a look. “We like to be respected, not worshiped. In worshiping us, you still, in your own way, don’t consider us having human emotions. That we get embarrassed. Cry. Get hurt. Break.” Derek noticed the slight trickle of fear in Evelyn’s eyes as she looked out among the gaming nerds, her hands dropping. “Despite the respect you think your worship is, it’s still an almost… inhumane way to look at us. We all keep guarding ourselves from boys who will undoubtably high five each other if they even catch a glimpse up our skirts, because that’s all we are. Statues to be worshiped. Admired. Looked at. Touched. Not humans who have a panic attack because of how unsafe we can sometimes feel at nights.”
Derek wasn’t sure what to say, though he did feel like all the air left his body. Evelyn sighed, folding her arms, one of her hands over her shoulders. “I… don’t mean to be a downer. But I don’t think you quite realized what you were asking when you asked me and my friends to attend this club. I agreed to this because I want Noah and Reed and everyone else to see me as human.” She smiled, though it didn’t seem genuine. “I hope it works.”
She walked off, leaving Derek to collect the clip board. Derek frowned, his mind racing. He did sort of suggest they do it without asking their permission. He got the clipboard back in time to notice a few of the gamer nerds staring at Evelyn’s butt as she turned a corner. A brotherly protectiveness came over him.
“Stop, guys. She might be your game master,” Derek said.
“She’s more than welcome to,” someone said as another boy snickered.
“Oh, my god, no. That’s not what this is about,” Derek said.
“Why else did you invite cheerleaders?”
The casual phrase struck Derek. True, in a way, he wanted Hazel Jones there to bring more attendance, but not that kind of attendance.
Derek started flipping the pages of names on his clip board. “What’s your name again?”
“Aaron Summers?”
Derek found the name on the list and crossed it out. “You’re not allowed to attend CCNC club.” He tucked the clip board under his arm and walked away, not caring to see their reaction.
***
Nick unloaded his textbooks into his locker. Everyone else, as usual, ignored him. He got things organized in his bag, then closed his locker. He tucked his reading book under his arm and headed down the hall, trying to find a place to read before school started.
He found a wall in a quiet area and opened his book, starting to read. He didn’t get far.
“There you are!”
Nick only looked up because he recognized Derek’s voice. Derek smiled as he walked over to him, clipboard in hand.
“How goes the recruiting?” Nick asked.
“Fantastic! We might even have to break this up into four groups. You’re coming too, right?” Derek flipped through the two and a half pages of signatures.
“Sure. As long as no one tells my dad,” Nick said.
“Wouldn’t dream of it.” Derek wrote Nick’s name down. “Your dad is terrifying.” Nick wasn’t sure how to respond to that, but judging by how Derek plowed on to the next conversation, he didn’t have to. “Speaking of scary, Milo’s got a plan to sneak into school to use the lab. It involves using disguise self to look like you.”
Nick blinked. He wasn’t sure how that segue worked, but he ignored it. “Me?”
“Yeah. He couldn’t change into me, because that’s a dead giveaway if two of us are walking down the hall. He’ll pretend to be you, sneak into Mr. Anderson’s lab, and then set up defenses and what not to make sure Pippa can’t discover him.”
“Right. And… what do you need me to do?” Nick asked.
“Don’t be startled if you see yourself in the hallway. We’ll get to school somewhat early tomorrow to—” Derek stopped short, horror flickering across his face as he glanced down at the book Nick was reading. “What’s that about?” It was almost too casual, and the hair on Nick’s neck stood up. He lifted the book, showing it as he refused to turn around.
“Oh, you know. Demonic possession. Portals to hell. Halloween’s getting close. Figured I’d get in the spirit,” Nick said.
Derek’s eyes lit up with humor as Mr. Stower came into view, with Akshi not that far behind. Derek nodded at the vice principal. “Hey, Mr. Stower.”
“Hello! I see you’ve been canvasing the neighborhood!”
“I guess you could say that,” Derek said.
Mr. Stower held out his hand, and Derek reluctantly gave him the clipboard. The vice principal raised an eyebrow, flipping a page to scan the names. “I’m impressed. And to think it’s only Monday.”
“Thank you, sir,” Derek said.
Mr. Stower handed the clipboard back. “Keep up the good work.” The vice principal continued down the hall, and Nick and Derek both ignored Akshi following close behind.
“How’s play practice going?” Nick asked.
“Ugh. It’s tech week, also known as hell week. Meaning we practice every night before the start of the show on Friday. Kinda bummed I’ll be missing the dance on Saturday.”
Nick frowned, his brows furrowing. “There’s a dance on Saturday?” Derek gave Nick another humorous look before pointing at a huge handmade banner above the lockers, announcing the Halloween dance on Saturday. Nick blinked, then glanced back at Derek. “I guess I block out social things now, since I can’t go.” Nick paused, seeing a familiar face walking down the hall. Alejandra held her textbooks, looking ahead. She must have felt the weight of his gaze, because she turned, noticing him. He didn’t know what else to do but lift the corners of his mouth in a polite smile and wave.
Her brows furrowed together, and ice trickled into her gaze, freezing Nick’s hand in place. He stared at her, his hand still up, watching her turn a corner and disappear with other students as the bell rang.
“Well, that was certainly cold,” Derek said.
“I don’t think she’s forgiven me,” Nick said.
“Pity. I think my mom is trying to set you two up,” Derek said.
Nick froze. “She can’t be serious.”
Derek shrugged. “She’s my mom. She sets everyone up. Alejandra hasn’t gone to a dance yet, and my mom wants her to have an enjoyable high school experience.”
Nick stared at Derek. “Then tell your mom to find someone else for her, because as you clearly saw, Alejandra hates me.”
Derek shrugged again. “I mean…”
Nick waited, but Derek didn’t look like he wanted to finish his thought, so Nick continued. “I clearly destroyed her trust, and she’s not interested in dating someone who punched her brother.”
Derek shook his head, double checking his clipboard. “All I know, man, is that you two have a super long history of not communicating with each other. And dancing around hard conversations. Just have the damn conversation where you ask her why she’s being so cold and be done with it.”
Nick had nothing to say to that. He adjusted the straps on his bag before starting toward his first class of the day. “See you later, Derek.”
***
Rafael finished the workout and gave himself a moment in the bathroom to talk himself into this. It felt like a Monday, with school piling on the homework and football practice pushing him even harder. Now he could go home, but not before he fulfilled a promise.
This was dangerous. Deadly, even. He was putting Ezekiel’s life at risk. He didn’t tell the others he was doing this, and it felt reckless.
Rafael took a deep breath, then walked out of the workout room bathroom. He took a long walk through the empty school, passing the main office. He glanced inside, seeing Mr. Stower at his desk, reading a book. It looked like the player’s handbook, and Rafael felt another knot tie itself in his stomach.
He stepped outside, then stopped, trying to breathe easily. He walked down the steps, heading toward the parking lot. His car was in a different parking lot, and he wanted to make sure he could make a fast getaway if he needed to as he jogged to his car.
Rafael hated this. This was spontaneous. This was not him. He liked schedule and order. The last time he tried doing something spontaneous he hurt Evelyn.
He swallowed the lump forming in his throat as he slid into the car and closed the door. He cleared his throat, then closed his eyes, concentrating. He sensed Ezekiel, and the portal connected.
The weight of a body made the front seat squeak. Rafael opened his eyes to see Ezekiel sitting there, a blanket over his head. He glanced around, patting around the car. “I guess my book didn’t follow me.”
Rafael reached behind him and grabbed the binoculars. “Here. I’ll drive to the other parking lot. See if you can figure out what we need from Akshi.”
Ezekiel nodded, tightened the blanket over his head, letting it shade his eyes. Rafael pulled out of the parking lot, driving near the school before pulling into another empty lot. Rafael was terrified something would go wrong. Even bringing binoculars made him feel ridiculous. He watched as Ezekiel placed them against his eyes, resting them on his pointed nose. Rafael drummed against the steering wheel, glancing around. The office window was there, and he could make out Akshi reading something else. Something would go wrong. Things always went wrong. He waited for the dice to appear, some sort of prompt, but there was nothing.
Ezekiel lowered the binoculars, a thoughtful expression on his face. “Got it.”
The knots in his stomach loosened. “You know what to get?”
The cleric nodded, handing back the binoculars. He grabbed the blanket, pulling it closer. “One of his swords.”
Rafael frowned, then grabbed the binoculars. He searched and saw Akshi, noticed the two swords. The swords currently sheathed on his back. The weapons that never left his back.
Rafael slowly lowered the binoculars, his eyes wide. He grabbed his phone, texting the information to the group chat.
Sometimes nothing had to go wrong. Sometimes, figuring out what they needed was horrible enough.