The next day...

I was annoyed.

"Give that back!" I shouted, jumping up after my spare sketchpad.

"Come and get it!" Canberk Akbas laughed, holding my sketchpad high above me.

Correction, I was really annoyed.

The Turkish kid was about six feet two inches tall and more than tall enough to screw with me like this.

"This isn't funny, asshole," I growled.

"Isn't it?" Canberk smirked. "I should have thought Earthling Drifter humour would be a little different from the norm."

Then, Canberk tossed it over to Brendon, who promptly sprinted down the hallway with it.

"Frick!" I shouted as I sprinted after Brendon while Canberk laughed his ass off. I hadn't seen these jackasses yesterday, and now they were back in force.

It was the day after I'd met Spencer and the two groups he was part of. Thankfully, the entire day had passed without much incident. That was, until the middle of the afternoon, at least.

I was hanging out on the fifth floor of the main academic building. Since I was feeling in a good mood, I brought out a portable sketchpad I owned for a few moments of drawing. Of course, it had been ripped right out of my hands by Canberk fucking Akbas — one of Willis Kong's goons.

A couple of kids started laughing and cheering as I chased him around. "Go, little Drifter! Go get him, man!" they shouted.

"Get back here, you assclown! Give that back!" I shouted, running towards him.

"I don't think he's got it, guys," Brendon called out to the group of people laughing behind him. "He's just not fast enough!"

Brendon stopped in front of a stairwell and stopped, holding the book up high. He was laughing his ass off. "For the glory of Terra!" he shouted in mock triumph.

He giggled like a cartoon villain and slid down a spiraling railing. I didn't have the agility to follow him like that, so I sprinted down after him the old-fashioned way.

I reached the stairwell in time to see Brendon run through a door at the bottom of a side path down the staircase, the door slamming shut. I started to slow down and lean against the wall to catch my breath. God dammit, I needed to learn how to hop on a good exercise program to get in shape.

As I approached the door that said "Employees Only," I could hear giggling on the other side. I groaned, rubbing my forehead.

I could hear the two of them laughing like goddamned maniacs. Feeling my irritation get the better of me, I kicked the door open to find a pitch-black room. It swung open hard and fast, and as soon as I stepped in, I found myself plummeting head-first toward the ground.

I let out a scream as I fell.

But, the ground never came. And no, I wasn't actually falling down. I numbly realized that I'd been sucked a good ten yards into the middle of the room.

Instead, the wind rushed over me with a whistling noise that seemed to get louder and faster. I couldn't help but open my eyes and was absolutely stunned.

Instead of falling, I was floating! I instinctively kicked my legs out and found no ground as I tried to spin in the air. I was stuck floating facedown like my stomach was impaled on some kind of pillar.

"Checkmate," Willis smirked as he flipped on the lights and stepped in front of me at eye level, his smug grin growing wider, "Look who's scurried over like the little rat he is."

I kind of forgot to question where I was and how I wasn't falling from the start. I was too ready to kick Willis Kong's face in. "What the fuck, Kong?" I screamed, swinging my fist at him. Kong was way faster than me, though, and he quickly stepped back, letting me flail in the air.

Kong just looked at me with a shit-eating grin. "I'd ask you how you are, but it's pretty obvious. You're mighty pissed, huh?"

I didn't answer Kong's smug, condescending, douchebag-like comments. I was too enraged, and my mind started to center back into focus. Where was I? Why am I floating in the air? I looked around. I was in a giant room with a big, empty space and walls made of brick.

"Leave us," Willis said to Brendon and Mattieu. They nodded in acknowledgment and left the room.

It looked like I was in some storage room or loading dock. An intricate patchwork of lines and circles beneath me was drawn with some sort of weird, inky purple material.

"You're just a worthless little prick, and holy shit you've been a big pain in my ass," Kong roared at me. "What the hell do you think you are, huh? Putting my little sister on blast in the middle of the commons like that?"

"Fuck your sister," I spat. "Carrie's a damned bitch that's what she is. Screwing with Natasha like that for weeks. Fuck you especially."

In response, Willis suddenly shut up and gave me a silent death stare that sent a shiver down my spine. Kong looked as mad as I was. A bad feeling started to settle in the pit of my stomach.

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"You know, I do agree with that a bit, Ikki. But you know what else? Fuck you too. Carrie's still family, and you're a fucking retard."

I just looked at him, confused. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Kong growled, his movements slow and deliberate. His violet eyes bored into me like I was some sort of cockroach that he wanted to crush with his foot and not a human being.

He approached me and yanked my hair roughly. "You really don't get it, do you? You're just a stupid little kid, too wrapped up in your little power trip and your little life to realize what else is happening around you. God, you know what? I think you're just some goddamned attention whore who wanted to play the hero."

"What?"

"You heard me," he growled as spit rained in my face. "You're such a self-righteous prick that you're only going to listen to what you want to hear, aren't you? You didn't even care about Natasha, did you? You only came to save her to make yourself feel better. Isn't that it? Isn't that all this was about?"

"Nobody stood up for her," I said, grinding my teeth. "And you'd better watch-"

"Watch what, huh? You didn't accomplish shit by doing that. Do you even know why Carrie has been dumping on Natasha? Do you have any clue?"

"Because she's a bitch," I snapped. "I don't care."

"Holy shit. What a pretentious little shit," Kong made a fist, driving it back into my stomach. I gasped for breath as my eyes started to water. "You know what, you aren't even worth it, Ikki."

I couldn't breathe. "I don't get...what..." I managed to choke out. "Why do you even care?"

"Because Natasha used to be our friend!" Kong shouted with a red face. "Because she's a fucking good person! Carrie and Natasha used to be best friends at that! And Natasha's one of the only people who's been good to me in life with backstabbing sycophants all around me. But, I'm staying out of it. You'd best stay out of it too, punk."

With that, he turned around and walked out of the room.

"Ikazuchi — get it it through your thick earthling skull that you are a retarded maggot, and not the fucking protagonist of some high school anime. For the foreseeable future, you're on my shit list. Let this be a lesson to stay in your own damned lane, Ikki. Hopefully this timeout puts you in your place."

He flicked a switch and slammed the door behind him, and it was pitch black.

I couldn't hear anything but the sound of the wind ripping past me. The current in the room picked up, and I started to spin, whipping myself around in circles in desperation as I flailed, trying to get back on the ground.

"Help!" I shouted into the darkness. "Help! Somebody! Anybody!"

And all the while, I was floating in the middle of the room, kicking my legs and punching the air. The wind was still roaring around me, and I could feel myself becoming disoriented and losing my sense of direction. I felt like I was turning and spinning faster.

I could hear the blood rushing in my ears. I cursed Willis Kong and his smug fucking face. Even if there were more to the story, this was beyond psycho shit he was putting me through.

This was literal fucking torture!

"I'm trapped in here!" I shouted to the darkness. "Someone, please! Help!"

My voice cracked, not used to shouting for my life. I screamed as loud as possible, but I couldn't yell enough to compete with the roaring wind. I could only scream until I had nothing left, and my throat was sore and hoarse. Eventually, I couldn't scream anymore.

I could feel my throat closing up and felt the need to throw up. I couldn't even calm down to think straight. I felt the need to hurl. My heart pounded in my chest like I had a heart attack.

I didn't know where I was. My head was swimming. I was dizzy. I really was about to throw up.

Time passed. I wasn't sure how long, but I had to have floated there for at least an hour. I eventually calmed down, and my stomach settled. I couldn't feel any pain, but I could feel the blood rushing around my body.

Then, the door to the room clicked and opened inwards. A small amount of light poured into the room. I closed my eyes and breathed in the fresh air.

"H-help!" I whispered. I was so surprised that I was still able to talk. "H...h...e..l..p..."

The light flickered on, and a plain-looking girl with glasses and a pink bow in her curly black hair rushed into the room. She stared back at me with a worried look and blush on her face.

It was Natasha Zamir.

"W-what?" I whispered, "W-what are you doing here?"

Natasha silently walked past me and approached the circle of arcane symbols and runes beneath me. Then she approached me and somehow yanked me out of the air into a hug, and the winds swirling around me abruptly stopped. I gasped, never more thankful for the feeling of solid ground beneath my feet.

And uh, if I had to be honest — for human contact that wasn't a fist in my gut. Slowly but surely, I sucked in a breath, and my ridiculous heart rate began to settle down.

"Shhh. I'm so sorry," she whispered. "I'm so sorry Ikazuchi..."

She held me tightly in her arms for a moment, and I could feel her soft, warm skin against mine. I blushed deep into several shades of red and smelled a strong scent of strawberries in her hair.

"I-I'm okay," I croaked, throat hoarse. "I'm okay."

"I'm sorry," she replied, letting go of me and giving me a soft smile. "I didn't mean for any of this to happen to you."

Her eyes were full of tears. She wiped her eyes with the sleeve of her sweater. "It's my fault that you got wrapped up in this, and Willis has always had a habit of taking things way too far."

"It's...okay," I said, my voice coming out a bit sharper than I wanted. "Not all of it is your fault."

Natasha's face flushed red, and she looked away. "Well, what's important is that you're okay now. Did Willis hurt you?"

"No, he didn't," I smiled wryly. "I'm just a little bit bruised. I've had worse."

"Oh..." she smiled, half-sad and half-relieved. "I... I didn't want this to happen to you."

"How did you find me? I genuinely thought I was going to die in here. And what the heck just happened with that circle?"

"I don't know," Natasha said. "I just followed the sound of your voice. I heard you calling for help when I was nearby and followed it. As for the circle, umn. I know a thing or two about Willis's tricks."

It was a weird coincidence that she'd managed to find me like that, but I'd file it away for later.

"Oh..." I said, staring at her. "D-do you want to know what happened?"

"No, I don't." She shook her head. "This is my fault and I don't want to know everything. In the deepest walls of my heart — I just want things to go back to how they were before."

"Are they ever going to get back to normal?" I asked before I could think of what I was saying. I cringed at myself for blurting that line out immediately.

She just shook her head in response, "Some things can't be fixed. Um. Are you really okay, Ikazuchi? Really. I... I have a bottle of water on me. You should drink some water quick. You sound terrible."

Her face was very, very red now. She wore a baggy vibrant pink sweater over her uniform as usual.

"Y-yes. Thank you," I said, pressing my lips together to avoid making a dumbfounded face.

I took the bottle, unscrewed the cap, and took a sip of the water. A cool sensation washed over my body, and I began feeling much better. I took a few more sips, enjoying the feeling of having moisture in my mouth again before choking on the water, making myself look like a fool yet again.

I hadn't realized how thirsty I was until that moment.

She gave me a quick smile and pat on my back, then turned and walked out of the room, holding the door open for me. I took a deep breath as I sat down on the ground for a minute and stared at the walls. The adrenaline rush was wearing off, and I was suddenly exhausted.

I had to get out of school. I had to get some time to think and process this.

I stood up and followed Natasha as she led me out of the room.