Fox wasn’t in class, causing my nerves to fray more. I’d tucked the paper sword into my binder despite myself, as if a piece of paper could offer any protection. Even though I’d told Abigail and Nia I’d be fine, they still had retained their disbelief. Abigail even tried to insist she really didn’t want to go. When I’d looked at her, she relented and said to do what I want.

Not that this is what I wanted.

I lingered at my locker, unprepared for how this would go. The obvious scenario was I was going to be the wallflower. Abigail dominated everything, which meant I was in the background. It made it easy to sit and observe. I still had no idea whose magic I’d felt during the time of the fight.

Cyrus was loud. It was the main thing I’d gathered during class. Not loud as in obnoxious, but loud as in proving a point. He got along with the people he talked to, and if it wasn’t for the bruises I wouldn’t have suspected him to be one of the boys fighting in the first place.

“You’re spacing out.” I startled, finally noticing Abigail had come to a stop in front of me. A smirk pulled at her lips. “You’ll be fine. Promise.”

“I know.”

“You can still back out.”

“…I know.”

I wasn’t going to. I followed after Abigail as she weaved through the crowd. There was a pep to her step, her excitement obvious. For someone who couldn’t stand the people she was about to see, she was in a pretty good mood. I knew she would be.

The clubroom was in the back of the school. Right near the doors I’d run out of the other day after getting into it with Jen. By my teacher’s grace, she hadn’t reported it or gotten me in trouble. Jen hadn’t talked to me since. Everything was right as rain, by some miracle.

But most importantly, the fight had been back here.

Abigail walked in like she’d been here a million times. There were a few people already here, including Ava. She was leaning against the front desk, and her face lit up when she saw Abigail.

“You actually came.” She moved towards us, and offered Abigail a hug.

“I said I would. I brought Cinder, too. You met her the other day.” As they pulled away, Ava glanced over at me.

Her smile was still in place, but I could tell it was plastic, “It’s nice to see you again.”

“Yeah, hi.” I gave an awkward wave, unsure what to do with myself. Thankfully, her attention snapped right back to Abigail, leaving me to my own devices. I directed my attention to the other kids here.

The first thing I noticed was Cyrus wasn’t here yet. The only other ones here was a boy with curly hair and brown skin with the latest brand shoes in the brightest of colors on, and a girl with white-blonde hair and a collection of bracelets on her wrists. The two were bent over talking about something too quiet to hear.

Abigail collapsed in one of chairs, and I hesitated before I took a spot next to her, “This is the one and only time I’m coming here, by the way.”

“I promise Justin is never here anymore. You’ll be alright.”

“Like he’s the only problem here.”

Ava gave a soft sigh, the kind a mother gives to a whining child, “Alright, name who else you’re avoiding.”

Abigail rolled her eyes, “Does it matter? You know, I heard Cyrus got into a fight the first day—”

“Did I?” A stone dropped into my stomach. It was the first time I’d clearly heard his voice or seen his face directly. Even so, I only reacted for a moment before focusing on Abigail. I hadn’t realized she’d already known about him, but it should have been obvious she would. Ava probably talked to her about all the members of the club, and Abigail knew a variety of people.

“Did you?” Ava clasped her hands behind her back and watched as he hopped on one of the desks to sit. He ignored the two of us completely, and I dared to finally catalogue his face. His expression wasn’t nearly as severe as his voice. Boredom kept his features smoothed out, and I noted he was shorter than I’d previously thought. There were no traces left of the fight at this point.

He ran a hand through his short hair, “No. And anyway, how would I have gotten away with that?”

A lie. Even though everything had happened so quick, I knew it’d been him. He crossed his ankles, waiting to be challenged. Ava nodded once, before she turned to Abigail and Cyrus was pulled into conversation with the other two.

“I wouldn’t allow someone like that to stay in this club, Abigail. You should know better than to believe everything you hear.” The scolding had no effect.

Abigail eyed Cyrus, and he pointedly ignored her despite her obvious antics, “Do you know who I heard he fought?”

Cyrus gave no reaction, and Ava frowned. A break in her faux-calm, “Do you know some of the things they say about you?”

Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

“C-can we move on?” I cut in before Abigail could respond back. She looked at me, and I felt her hand wrap around mine and give it a quick squeeze. She didn’t even know the half of why I was so anxious. The last thing I wanted was to listen to whatever rumors floated through the hallways about my best friend.

Ava blinked. She’d clearly forgotten I was here, “Right. It isn’t something we should dwell on.”

I sagged in relief, head buzzing with noise so loud I missed most of what happened around me. The last of the club members filing in, Ava giving her speech and club discussions. Even Abigail’s laughter was muted next to me.

It wasn’t until the club meeting winded down and was dismissed I realized what had kept me on edge. It wasn’t just the reminder of the rumor mill or Cyrus. When Abigail tapped my shoulder and I came back to reality I noticed the floor. A ghosting of red slithered through the class. The place had been encased in magic.

“Cinder? Is something wrong?” Abigail waved a hand in front of my face and I snapped back to attention.

“Yeah. Sorry. Were you going to head home now? If not, I think I’m going to go on ahead.”

“Oh. Me and Ava were going to go to a corner store to grab some snacks are you sure you don’t want to come?”

I was already on my feet, trying to find where the magic was coming from. Everyone was talking with each other and everyone was calm. If I focused on the feeling, it was similar to what I felt the first day. I cut a glance at Cyrus, but the smile on his face wasn’t matching the zap of anger. With how easy he lied, it could very well be a mask. I couldn’t call it, though. It wasn’t as obvious as it had been with Kade.

“No, it’s fine. You both can enjoy yourselves. I’m going to go, but I’ll talk to you later, kay?” With a wave, I was gone before she could stop me. The minute I left the room, my head was clear. I leaned against the door for a moment, head spinning in an attempt to pinpoint when the feeling had started.

Nothing came to mind, and the entire meeting was barely encoded in my memories. I may as well not have gone at all. I pushed myself back up and looked through the glass pane on the door into the classroom. Ava, Cyrus, and four other members had been there. I couldn’t remember what the other two had looked like.

Creeping dread wormed it’s way down my spine and I hurried down the hall. Even if it was better for me to start this story on my own terms, there was something wrong with that place and I didn’t have any information on what.

Distracted in my head, I failed to notice someone walking down the halls. It wasn’t until their shoes stopped in front of me that I skidded to a stop. Most clubs were getting out, but this wasn’t the direction towards the front doors. If dread wasn’t hanging over me before, it certainly was now as I raised my head.

There, with messy, chin-length blonde hair and a sardonic grin, was the last person I wanted to see, “Well, if it isn’t Cinder. Fancy meeting you here.”

//

“You’re the same as ever.” Justin being in front of me wasn’t real. The last time I’d seen him was a year ago, and it had been when Abigail and him briefly dated. He shouldn’t have remembered me, when I wasn’t even a background character in whatever fake romance the two had built up.

It’d caught me so off guard, I’d ended up walking with him down the halls and out the backdoors. I’d feared we’d get caught by one of the club members, although I wasn’t sure why it bothered me ate at me so. In the distance, I could see the sports teams were still hard at work with practice.

“D-did you need something, or…?” There was nothing he could need with me. I eyed him, but he wasn’t looking at me. His eyes were fixed on the point ahead of us.

He tilted his head, “What, I can’t catch up with an old friend?”

“Um?”

His smile made me feel like prey, “You went to the literature club meeting, didn’t you?” He didn’t wait for an answer. “I don’t think they’re your crowd. I’d avoid that place unless you want to get eaten alive.”

“Aren’t you still a part of it…?”

He shrugged, “Sometimes. The connections are nice, but you probably don’t know anything about who they are, yeah?”

I swallowed, “Not really. I just went because Abigail wanted to go.”

“Is that so.” He returned his attention forward.

He was searching for something, I realized. I just couldn’t figure out what, “If you don’t need anything I’m going to go home—"

“Here.” He fished out something from his pant pockets and threw it at me. By a miracle, I caught it. A black USB drive stared up at me and I furrowed my brow. “I don’t want anything to do with it.”

“…What’s on it?”

“It’s better you don’t know. Keep it safe for me. No one would ever think you’d have it. See ya.” He hopped off the steps, ready to leave and I scrambled after him. His wrist was unnaturally warm would I grabbed hold.

I let go instantly, “Why are you giving this to me? What’s…wrong with them?”

“I’m giving it to you, because it’s you.”

“…Which means?”

“You’re a pushover, so you’ll hold onto that if I ask you to even if you don’t like me.” He motioned towards the USB. “And I know you. Whether I answer you or not, you’ll still end up holding onto it.”

Justin and Abigail’s relationship hadn’t been bad or ended bad. It’d just been like any other high school romance. A ‘mess around and find out’ sort of thing. I’d avoided him like the plague throughout tenth grade, a difficult feat when he’d always been around. While I’d always agreed with Nia he’d been a jerk, I couldn’t pinpoint a truly terrible thing he’d done. He’d just been some boy who was around for a few months and vanished right after.

When I combed through memories for interactions beyond this, I could only vaguely recall giving one word answers and avoiding looking him in the eyes. I was the ex-girlfriend’s friend, not someone he’d ever been close enough to do this at random.

“If…if you want me to hold onto something shady, I want something in exchange.” His eyebrows rose and a smile tugged at his mouth. “I want you to tell me about the people in the Literature Club.”

“Oh? Showing interest in people other than Abigail? Maybe you aren’t the same as you’ve always been.”

“That isn’t—”

“I got shit to do but if you really want to know, meet me after school on Thursday. Remember to keep it safe.” He dismissed himself and even when I called after him he didn’t respond.

I watched his form disappear around the school building. Whatever he’d been focusing on in the distance wasn’t obvious to me. I squinted at the fields and figures, but nothing was out of the ordinary. It was another day of practice.

My phone rang and I was jolted out of my stupor. As I dug into my backpack to grab it, I tried to ignore the USB I was given and what may be on it. Even if I wanted to check, we didn’t have a computer at home. I’d have to make a stop at the library.

After a successful retrieval, I snapped my phone open, “Hey mom, sorry to worry you. The meeting ran later than I thought.”

On the topic of lies, I wasn’t sure how to even begin to tell Abigail about Justin. It’d be wrong to hide it from her, but I couldn’t exactly tell her I was meeting up with him to ask about the Literature Club. She’d have way too many questions that I wouldn’t be able to answer.

I told myself I’d figure something out. I had to.