CHAPTER 3
MINDIE CASUALLY THROWS TWO JERKS OVER THE SIDE OF THE RAILINGS
Another week, another rejection.
“Sorry dude, I’ll have to pass. Maybe next time, all right?”
Ryan was more focused on his phone than on Pike as he turned down his invitation to play basketball in the park. Even has he spoke, he was already moving away towards the corridor exit, where Erika was waiting for him.
This seemed to be a growing trend over the past several weeks. When they first met, Ryan was happy to accompany him to dinner in the cafeteria, play some one-on-one (not that Pike was any good at basketball), even just hang out in the dorm’s lounge while doing homework. Maybe he was starting to get bored of him.
Pike shook his head out of his thoughts. Well, even if that were the case that was fine. Ryan was a good guy; his priorities were just set elsewhere. Although he transferred here to HRU after the semester began, his popularity quickly skyrocketed once he joined the Halo Tour. As if his handsome face wasn’t enough, Ryan was a natural when it came to striking down those Shades that terrorized both the school and the town surrounding it. His many fans even started calling him the golden boy of campus. There was no competing with that.
So, if basketball was off the table, that just meant Pike could take more time in the art building. There was a competition on the horizon, and as an art student he would have to prepare a piece for that.
Just as he made his mind up to move, Pike was stopped by two shadows looming over him. He looked up. Staring down at him were the two basketball players who had given him trouble earlier in the semester.
The first grinned with all his teeth like a jackal. “Theeere’s my buddy! How ya been? Good?”
“I’m just on my way out.” Pike did his best to keep the trembling out of his voice and kept his face apathetic as he tried to slip past them.
The other one abruptly shifted his weight, cutting off his escape. “Hey now, no need to get skittish. We just want to ask you something.”
“You see, I’ve been kind of interested in learning foreign from you, midget. Remember what you called me before? What exactly does it mean?”
There were two problems with being a target. First, being smaller and scrawnier than his two offenders, Pike had little way of escaping once he was cornered.
Maybe he should go luminescent?
While he could use his luminescent state to easily phase through them, he would have to file a report to the Department. Using luminescence outside of its intended purpose—to combat chaos—always risked some form of reprimand. The Department’s main wing was only a few floors above him, so the chances of being seen by a Star was high. Also, there were a lot of his peers loitering in the hall.
Maybe he shouldn’t go luminescent.
If he went luminescent here, it would end up on social media for sure. Which ironically led to the second problem. While there was an ample number of people present, absolutely none of them wanted to get involved. In fact, a few stopped to watch with what Pike could only assume was some sense of morbid interest (and as expected, someone even pulled out their phone to film it).
Pike’s wandering gaze must have provoked his offenders. One shoved him by the shoulder to get his attention. “Hey. Don’t ignore my buddy here. He’s trying to learn something from you.”
“You think you’re too smart for me? It’s the glasses, right?” He plucked the eyeglasses off Pike’s nose and slipped them on—then immediately took them off, his laughter oozing with spite. “What the—! I can’t see a damn thing! That how nerds work? You can’t see stuff, so your brain has to pretend it does?”
For the record, Pike never claimed to be all that smart. The only reason he hadn’t failed his economics classes was because the semester wasn’t done yet. His eyesight wasn’t that bad either; it just wasn’t perfect. It was reason enough for these two jocks, though. The one player tossed his glasses aside like a stray piece of lint.
“I think we’ve found some malfunctioning member of society. Let’s put it out the pasture.”
The two players hoisted Pike into the air as easily as they would with any basketball bin—the first by his armpits, the second by his ankles. Pike struggled a bit, but he knew there was no way he’d wrench his way free. As they carried him down the hall, the students they passed watch with idle amusement.
Aww, these three must be such good friends to be horsing around like this. That’s what Pike hoped they thought. Yeah. Sure. That’s definitely what they thought.
As they approached the end of the corridor, Pike saw that Mindie had at some point entered the scene. She was by the exit talking to Ryan and Erika, the latter of whom tugged eagerly at the golden boy’s elbow to pull him away. She didn’t seem to like her claim giving his attention to another young woman.
Screaming and flailing for help seemed inappropriate, and no doubt Pike would just be giving these two delinquents what they wanted if he did. Surely if he raised his voice a little bit just as they passed, Mindie would hear even if her back was facing him. She exuded enough authority on her own to encourage his captors to let him go—or so he hoped.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
“Hey uh, Minz? Could use a little help here.”
She didn’t hear him.
Granted, she was locked in conversation. The corridor was a bit noisy with students either bustling to their next class or idly commenting on this small case of horseplay parading past them. As they approached the exit into the main hall of Central, Pike felt worse for having tried and failed to get help in a way that didn’t seem pathetic.
If he were to put this into a story, what was happening to him wasn’t the main focus. It was an amusing bit of background to give color to the protagonist’s scene. Right. He had almost forgotten he was a side character here. This reminder grounded him in acceptance of his situation. There was no way someone would dramatically appear out of nowhere to stop his perpetrators.
As the doors to the corridor slowly swung closed behind them, he saw Mindie wave goodbye to Ryan and Erika. He saw her turn in his direction. Then the doors stayed open just long enough for him to see her face turn from bright smile to appalled before closing. She must have been surprised to see him being hauled away. Maybe she didn’t know what to make of the defeated smile Pike was showing in the split second their eyes met.
Either way, Mindie burst through the doors and raced to get in front of them before they reached the stairs. She skidded to a halt and barred their way with arms out wide like a goalie. It wasn’t quite as dramatic as appearing out of nowhere, but it still caused them to stop.
“You wanna tell me where you’re going with him?” True to form, she adjusted her posture and looked as ready for a fight as the tone in her voice. Pike hoped it wouldn’t come to that.
“Nothing to see here,” one of the jocks said. “We just need to take this thing outside.”
“That thing happens to be my partner.” Mindie gave a leering smirk. “I’m gonna need to kindly ask you to put him down right there—and I won’t ask twice.”
Pike knew what that meant. He grimaced to himself and hoped some more.
The second jock laughed. “Look, we’ll get to you next if you wanna join him in the trash.”
“Out of the way, midget number two.”
At this point, Pike just sighed and closed his eyes. He had hoped. He really did. But it just wasn’t meant to be. For better or worse, his partner was well-versed in the crudest form of dealing with delinquents.
Maybe he really should have just gone luminescent from the get-go.
“Everyone, stay back!” Mindie cried. “I think these two are being controlled by chaos!”
In the momentary confusion that ensued after her abrupt warning, the bright, luminescent Mindie pounced on the jocks as fast as sunlight through an open window. It was over just as quickly too. She didn’t knock them out or resort to anything overtly violent. Goodness, no. She just casually threw them off of her bestie—
—and over the side of the railings.
In the aftermath, both basketball players were on the floor in front of the Leaderboard, momentarily dazed amidst a stunned crowd. One of them snapped back into focus and propped himself up by the elbows as Mindie phased back to normal beside him.
“What the hell was that for?!”
She just gave him a smug grin, arms held in haughty akimbo. “My bad. It wasn’t chaotic energy after all. Just two idiots being idiots.”
=-=-=
“Miss Tachibana-Callahan, what you did to those two students was a flagrant abuse of your abilities. By all rights I should be confining you for your misconduct.”
Mindie had immediately been summoned to the Luminescence Department, where she was now being reprimanded by Artreius Nor. Because he was involved in the incident, Pike was also present. It didn’t really matter to him though. Being Mindie’s partner-in-crime naturally meant being her partner-while-caught too. He was idly looking over his eyeglasses. Someone had stepped on them so the lenses were cracked and the frame was warped.
The proud, solemn expression on Artreius’s face then softened slightly from its initial gravity. “But I understand that you’re still young and learning the rules. Improper use of luminescence is something the Department takes seriously for a good reason. Luminescence exists for the sole reason of ridding the world of the chaotic energy that plagues it. We Stars use our abilities to protect.”
Part of the reason why Pike kept his focus on his broken glasses was to keep his own mouth from running. If he had been the only one involved, he would’ve readily taken his scolding. The hint of irony and shallowness in Artreius’s words wasn’t lost to him. Luminescence may not have been the answer in this case, but Mindie did what she did in order to protect him. There seemed to be a certain unfairness for her to be called here when one put it that way.
Of course, arguing the point with the Department’s newly appointed Chair was likely to be futile. He was sure Mindie herself knew it wasn’t worth the exchange and just wanted to be dismissed as soon as she could.
“It should never be used for any kind of personal gain or grudge beyond that purpose. Is that understood?”
The Chair gazed steadily at the young aspiring Star, expecting to see some kind of remorse written on her face for her misconduct. There wasn’t any. She simply stared back at him with a steady leer, arms crossed over her chest.
When Mindie didn’t respond, Artreius’s expression hardened once more. He gave his verdict. “Let this be your first and only warning. The next time this happens, you will be subject to the consequences.”
=-=-=
They were dismissed from the Chair’s office a moment later, and Mindie needed a moment to diffuse.
Artreius had nothing to say about how the whole thing started, which made her fume. She may have used her luminescence inappropriately, but those jerks were dragging her partner off and even got off scot-free after the fact by playing the victim card. It was just plain dumb. Sure, it was a common that bullying went without any tangible consequence—in school drama movies. Did life really have to go imitating art like this? Giving thought to all these injustices made her fume even more.
Her partner saw the look on her face and cracked a line to lighten the mood. “Heh. Good thing he didn’t know about the first time you did this, right?”
Mindie shot him a look that was less than amused.
“Sorry.”
Pike discreetly shifted to create some distance between them in front of the elevator. The marshmallow must have thought she was annoyed with him too, but that wasn’t true. She quickly nabbed him by the arm and pulled him close enough that she could nuzzle her cheek against his shoulder.
This was all she needed. A moment later her lingering frustrations dissipated silently. When she looked up, she saw him distractedly looking his glasses over—probably trying to decide if they were somehow salvageable.
“Lemme have a look at those.”
Her tone must have been sharper than she intended it to be; Pike flinched and looked at her with a bit of hesitation. Warily, he did as she requested and handed his broken eyeglasses over. Mindie plucked them from his grip, but she didn’t look at them as she said she would.
She craned her neck upward and took her turn to examine his eyes—his real eyes, dark and curtained slightly by the long bangs of his dark equally hair. The circles surrounding them made him look like a chronic insomniac. Indeed, for as long as she’d know him, people had always thought Pike looked like someone to stay away from. Those people were idiots.
She caressed her fingers along his cheek.
Then pinched his nose playfully. “It’s not your fault, okay?”
“Ah—aah—hey! I know, I know, I get it! Leggo!” Pike wriggled his face free from her clutches and scrunched his nose once he did. He scowled at her in faux irritation before letting his face relax into a dull grin. “…Really?”
As the elevator arrived, Mindie casually tossed his glasses into a nearby trash can. But unlike the jerk who did the same thing to him earlier, she offered a bright, reassuring beam and tugged him along at the elbow. “C’mon, partner. Let’s go get you a new pair downtown.”