The first week rolled by. Everything was so calm, it was getting easier and easier to act like nothing had happened at all. If it wasn’t for Fox being in my math class, I wouldn’t have noticed. After he bought my journal, he’d descended into being a quiet, courteous student who didn’t bother me. I was almost tempted to talk to him by the week’s end to make sure he hadn’t been replaced with someone else.

The weekend only added to the clarity of the days and the haze of what had happened. It was nice not to be at the school. I could laze around without having to worry about who I’d end up meeting. I hadn’t seen Kade since that Tuesday, and Jen hadn’t caused anymore ruckus.

It was all slow, peaceful days for me. At least, it had been. I sat face to face with Jen in drama class, my brain scrambling to how this had even happened. She didn’t even look at me as she read over the exercise we were given. Normally, I was backstage and didn’t interact as much with the students that were more intent on acting. Jen was in such a different world from me, it was easy to forget we had drama class together since my Freshman year.

If there hadn’t been a student out of class, the teacher wouldn’t have picked one of us at random to fill in for some of the acting practices. It was an ill omen for what the rest of the week would be.

“You need to school your expression.”

“H-huh?”

“You’re twitchy.” She wasn’t even looking at me. “The whole thing with acting is making sure your facial expressions are in your control.”

I tried my best to do so. There was a clear reason why I was backstage help since the dawn of time. Her lip curled at my attempt, and I balked in wonder. She must have been good at paying attention to her peripheral vision to notice without looking at me.

She turned to a boy next to us. Two rows of chairs had been set up, facing each other. The boy next to her was one I vaguely knew. At least, I knew his face from having seen it around for so long.

He didn’t look at her, “What?”

“We’re switching partners.” I flinched, and he barely reacted. He raised his head to look at me, and I tried my best not to shrink away. His dark hair was short, and there were pretty heavy shadows under his eyes. It looked closer to being real bruises then being from lack of sleep.

He waved his hand, and his partner sighed and stood. I wanted to die. Jen only flipped through the next page, no further acknowledgement needed. It was better than how she treated Nia and Abigail.

I exchanged seats, ignoring how warm it was, “Sorry.”

“Jenny’s just like that.” It was the first time I’d heard anyone call her that. She threw a scowl his way, but again, he hardly offered any reaction. He pointed at the first exercise. “Don’t worry if you’re not good at it. Just follow my lead.”

At the very least I’ve played the mirror game before. It was where I had to follow someone else and following was something that I’d gotten very good at. For now all I did was follow whatever it was he was going to do and mirror it back to him. What I wasn’t expecting was for him to suddenly transform

It was like watching the opposite of Fox. Where Fox went from expressive to dull when he was around the Headmaster, the boy in front of me went from no emotions to being full of them. I was so startled, it took a moment for me to follow. I tried my best to mirror my expressions despite having no idea what I was doing. He went on, not seeming at all bothered by my clumsiness.

He waved his hands, he moved his head, he smile and laughed and pointed at things. It was all happening so fast I wasn’t sure I’d managed to do anything right. But he kept going and so did I.

I would have thought I was dealing with a different person by the end of it as we reached the last part of the exercise, which was the conversation part. I wasn’t good at conversing either, but at the very least, I knew we had a prompt. Following was a lot easier for me, despite how much I’d been failing this whole time. I understood why Jen didn’t want to be paired up with me when I was like this. Along with being Nia and Abigail’s friend.

At the end of it I was exhausted and he was back to normal. There was once more no expression on his face. It was almost impressive. I bowed my head, glad it was over, only to find I’d crumbled my paper in my stress.

“U-um, thanks.” I managed, trying my best to smooth out the paper on my lap.

He nodded, and said nothing else. Jen bumped her shoulder with his, a half grin on her face, “Thanks for switching with me.”

“It wasn’t like you asked me.” He shrugged her off, and she looked over at me. I stared back, waiting for a more targeted insult. Instead, she went back to ignoring me, quietly chatting as the rest of the students finished up the exercise. When the teacher clapped her heads to indicate we were done, I shot up towards the back, where the rest of the non-actors were. I could feel their pity as I took a seat.

“At least you got paired with Wells. He never says anything about anyone.” A sophomore girl whispered, and I held the name. While I knew the faces here, names weren’t really something I had learned. There were a few I knew, mostly because they consistently were taking the top spot, or being a pain when it came to backstage people, trying to ‘make sure’ everything was running well.

“I don’t recognize him.”

“He took a break last year to focus on sports. I heard he’s quit soccer altogether this year, though.”

Alarm bells went off. I added Wells to whatever list I was making. If he knew Kade, then it was possible that he was a part of this story. It seemed even if I had made the decision not to do anything, the pieces would slowly find their place.

With that thought, I opened up my binder, and looked at the little section I made in the back. After having realized writing everything down in my binder would mean I may be found out, I’d handed out nicknames. And by nicknames, it was really just letters.

With how nonsensical everything was, if anyone found it, I could just say I was thinking up a story and they’d move along. The only people who’d question it would be Abigail and Nia, as they wondered about my newfound interest in storytelling. I hoped they wouldn’t dig too deep into it, especially because I didn’t have an excuse at the ready for them.

Class went on, with the teacher letting us vote for what we wanted the winter performance to be. There were a lot of different options, and most kids were calling out whatever they could think of. The teacher either shot them down, or noted them. Whichever one was the most popular would be the one we’d do.

Jen caught me staring at where she and Wells sat. I didn’t turn away, despite every part of me screaming so. It was better to make her think I’d been staring at her, instead of how I’d been glancing at Wells ever since. She pressed her lips together, and returned her attention forward.

At least she wouldn’t cause issue, and since I was in the back, I’d be able to duck out before she could get to me.

It was five minutes till, when the teacher said, “Oh, before class is over, would anyone be willing to run some documents to the front office real quick?”

A few hands raised, and the teacher ignored all of them as she settled on Wells, “I know you won’t goof off if you do. Do you mind Wells?”

“I think Cinder should do it.” I blinked at Jen, staring hard at her back but she didn’t turn around. “She’s got nothing to do anyway.”

Before the teacher could say anything, I rose, “I don’t mind…?”

Wells rose as well, taking the folder she’d been holding, “Let’s go then.”

“W-wait, both of us?” I followed anyway, grabbing my backpack and skipping over a few legs to hurry after him. As I fell into step behind him, I casted another look back, and caught Jen’s gaze once more. She looked like she was plotting a murder. If I didn’t know better, I would have thought she had a crush on Wells—

I shut down the thought. Romantic feelings were all bad news. Even if the Headmaster had told me to go about my life as always, it was impossible to act as normal with the knowledge something was going to happen. I didn’t think I could handle it if Jen played some part in this. Especially if she had the potential of being placed under role of villain.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

She’d eat me alive.

At least I was away from her for now. Wells continued walking, never sparing me another glance. The silence around us was heavy, and I didn’t have the courage to break it, no matter how awkward it got. Now that I was actually next to him, I couldn’t find it in myself to look at him.

It was as we were approaching the front office of the high school, I blurted out, “We both didn’t have to come.”

“I had nothing to do.”

“…Sorry for bothering.”

He again said nothing, and only offered a shrug. It was an eternity by the time we reached the office and handed the document off with the lady at the front desk. When she smiled and thanked us, I couldn’t help but be reminded of the Front Desk lady from the main offices. At some point, I really should find out her name.

As we finished, the bell rang overhead. The constant savior of my day, I quickly bade him farewell and ran away to my next class. It was English. It had Nia. It didn’t have a Jen who looked like she was out for blood for some reason.

I hoped this was the only weird day of the week.

//

“Queen B again?” Abigail noisily sipped from a grape juice box, and I pretended like I didn’t wish I had one for myself. “When has she ever taken an interest in you before?”

“I don’t know! Maybe she was extra irritated last time? Maybe she sees me as the weakest link?”

“Like going after low-hanging fruit. She can’t face Abigail because Abigail would be down to fight, and she got fight me because I’m on the team and she could get de-promoted from Captain.” Nia tapped her fingers on her legs, looking more serious about this than I’d expected.

Abigail, to my surprise, shook her head, “I don’t think so. As much as Queen B sucks, she wouldn’t ever do anything without a reason.”

“Is that why she’s always left me alone so far, despite being friends with you both?”

It was a question I’d always thought about whenever Jen came up, “Potentially. Her issue is with me and Nia, not you. All because you’re friends with us doesn’t mean you have anything to do with us.”

“But wouldn’t it be like… ‘A friend of an enemy is an enemy?’”

“Oh no, she hates you by association I’m sure. But at the end of the day, I think she sees it as dragging in innocent bystanders. Plus, she hasn’t ever seen you as a threat before.”

But she had been glaring at me. I was sure of it, “Then why was she looking at me like that? And she was singling me out during class, too.”

A phone chimed, and Nia fetched it from her bag, “Ah, sorry guys. I forgot to give one of my friends something from class. I gotta go.”

“It’s fine, we’ll see you later.” Abigail waved her off, and we descended into silence. I picked at my food, listening to Abigail finish off the box. She crumbled it in her hand and then bounced to her feet. “Let’s go.”

“Where?” I gathered my things, and took her hand as she offered it. I stumbled to my feet, looking up to find a smirk on her face. I didn’t like where this was going.

She pulled me forward, “We’re going to go figure out what Jen’s deal is.”

“…She’ll kill us.”

“But you’ll worry about it all day if we don’t. And you have class with her, which means you can’t just avoid her.” It was a terrible idea. But like last time, I followed along with her, watching as her eyes scanned the courtyard trying to find where Jen spent her lunches.

“I doubt she’s even going to answer us. She’ll probably just curse us out.” If not actively try to start a fight. But Abigail didn’t seem to care about my protests at all. She just tugged me along, examining every group we passed by. I hoped lunch would be over before we managed to catch sight of her.

I never understood how Abigail could so easily search out trouble, “Listen. We’ll just talk. If something happens, she’s the one who’ll have thrown the first stone and all that. I can just claim self-defense.”

“I doubt the Headmaster—” If she got in a fight, she’d have to meet with the Headmaster. The idea hadn’t even occurred to me, but now it was enough to render me silent. She glanced back at me, a question in her eyes, and I shook the thought away. She wouldn’t end up in a fight. They wouldn’t be sent his way. It’d be fine. “He wouldn’t care who started what, I think.”

“My parents would give him hell for it at least.” They’d always told her to stand up for herself. Her dad had even been the one to teach me how to make a fist so I wouldn’t hurt myself if I ever threw a punch. Thankfully, I’d yet to need to do so.

We finished the courtyard quickly and Abigail circled back towards the sports fields. Sometimes kids hung out on the bleachers, although we technically weren’t allowed to. A few groups of students were clumped together on various areas, and my eyes skidded over towards the field. It was still only just a field. I didn’t know what I was expecting.

“There she is!” She sang, and I winced. Somehow hearing us, Jen snapped her head to look down at us from where we sat. I gripped at Abigail’s wrist, a desperate attempt to pull her back. She only continued to pull me along.

“Oh for God’s sake, haven’t I seen enough of you freaks today?” She said, her other friends all going quiet and glancing between the both of us.

“Actually that’s why we’re here.” Abigail plopped down on the space next to Jen. It was just a sliver of metal, and she was shoulder to shoulder with Jen. She bared her teeth, ready to bite. Abigail only smiled. “Was there a reason for your ultra-effective death glare earlier? It’s rude to stare at people like that, didn’t you know?”

Jen frowned at me, and if I hadn’t been on steps I would have backed away. At least it wasn’t the same glare as before, “Always playing hero for all your friends. You need to stop babying them or else they won’t be able to handle anything on their own. Or maybe you like that, making people rely on you so much.”

“Cinder is completely capable on her own, thank you very much. I just don’t think she should have to deal with other people who are taking out their anger on her.” Abigail leaned closer to Jen, meeting bite with bite. “So just ignore her and we won’t have an issue, kay?”

She pushed Abigail away, and I noted the way her hands tensed, seconds away from pouncing, “I don’t give a shit about your favorite toy. Have you ever considered she made the whole thing up because of her own insecurities?”

“Abigail, let’s just go.” She didn’t move, and I wrung my hands together. “It’s not a big deal. We shouldn’t have come.”

“Hey Queen B, Cinder has a question of her own for you.”

I didn’t want to be in the spotlight. Jen and her friends turned towards me. I shifted from foot to foot, knowing what it was Abigail wanted me to ask. I’d wished she hadn’t brought it up, “N-no, I just…You normally leave me alone. I—”

“You should be glad it’s stayed that way. If you want me to continue ignoring you, you’ll take Abigail and get the hell away from me.” She looked ready to shove Abigail again, but Abigail danced to her feet.

“You’ve never been good at answering questions. It really isn’t that hard.” Abigail was beside me again. I felt so small next to her.

“I leave her alone because she’s pathetic. Were you expecting something else?” Heat flooded my chest, but only because I knew she was right. Although Abigail had more bullets loaded, I pulled on her wrist again. A plea to leave.

She relented, although reluctant, “If you bother her again, this won’t be over.”

“It never is.”

I practically hauled Abigail away, feeling Jen’s eyes burn on my back all the while.

//

“How do I do this?” Fox glanced up at me, eyebrows raised.

“Bad day?”

“How do you figure?”

“You’re willingly talking to me.” He leaned forward as I turned around to show him the problem I was stuck on. Really, I shouldn’t have been in pre-calc, having C’d my way through every math class up until this point. But there were no other math classes available, and so I kept advancing to higher math courses despite this.

“Is that…really so strange?” Fox moved his things to the side a little so I could set my sheet on his desk. Apparently, we were still on the review section of this class, yet I couldn’t recall learning any of these concepts prior.

He referenced his own sheet, and I found he was already almost finished with the assignment. My own was barely halfway finished, “So what questions do you have?”

“…This whole sheet.”

“I meant outside of this.” A half grin took shape. “But I’m fine with being a math tutor, too.”

Fox being good at math was both convenient and annoying. He somehow managed to get me to understand most of the questions on the sheet, each explanation patient and precise. With my brain whirling for most of the day, it was prelaxing getting into rhythm.

As I finished the last one, I slumped in relief, “Thanks.”

“I did say I was here to help.”

“I thought homework would be outside of your job description.” The more I talked with him, the easier it felt to get along with him. I needed to remind myself to stay wary, just in case.

“Well, we’re both here regardless. I don’t want you anymore worried than you already are.” He wasn’t asking about why I’d seen so anxious earlier.

It’d be best not to say anything, but I couldn’t help it, “I’m just…not good with confrontation. I feel like I’m stuck in that moment for days sometimes.”

“Most people aren’t. It’s easy to imagine being able to get the one-up on people in our minds, or act like people can say the worst and we don’t even react, but that really isn’t the reality.”

“Abigail feels like that kind of person. People can do their worst and it’s like she never flinches.”

“Maybe she’s just good at pretending. I think pretending is easy, especially when compared to actually being strong.” He tapped his pencil between my brow, and swatted it away. “Are you still worried this was all a mistake?”

“It doesn’t matter. I have to do this now.” His eyes were…soft? It made him look almost like a different person, or like he’d tried on a new coat to see how it fared. Anything else I thought of saying melted away, trying to decode this new look he’d acquired.

“I wish you luck.”

I didn’t like this softness. The harshness of Fable was terrible, the newfound softness of Fox was terrible. What did I want from these two? I didn’t know, “How much are you allowed to help me?”

“Hm, not much. I can answer various questions, but not anything that could give away the ‘story’ being told. I also can’t interact with anyone whose a part of the current tale in any way. My role is to be a complete observer. Chatting like friends in class could even count as going too far if we’re going by Fable’s standards.”

“So you’re like…the tutorial pages in a video game.”

“That’s one way to describe me, certainly.” He almost sounded insulted.

Despite myself, I smiled, “What? It’s the truth, isn’t it? You provide all the information on how to play the game. Math class is like the menu screen where I can review information.”

“Well gamer girl, I think you should be focusing on reviewing your math notes for now. If you do poorly in this class, I’m going to think all my efforts went to waste.” He was changing the subject, and I wondered if he even felt a little embarrassed by that comparison. My smile remained, and I realized that for a moment, I really did feel a little bit better.

I hated to think it, but maybe I was getting used to having him around.