Schooled
“8-16-24.” Like a mantra, I whispered my locker combination to myself. I don’t know why I did this. Considering, by now I could open my locker with muscle memory alone. I think maybe my subconscious was worried I’d mess up, or something.
Note to self, I should try opening my locker with magic. That would be novel.
With the last rotation finished, I pulled open my locker. Inside wasn’t much, a few textbooks and notebooks, and one loathsome binder. Binders were the worst. They were awkward as hell and uncomfortable to write in. But, Mrs. Greene required one for her English class; which was baffling, considering we hardly used the cumbersome thing.
I unzipped my dark blue backpack to stuff the physiology textbook and the burdensome binder within it. My first-period class tended to be terrible, the teacher was always moody, and always had something to prove. My second-period class was good most days, even if I had to bring my binder to every class.
I had time before first period started so I decided to head towards the library. Libraries were awesome, they smelled great and were nice and quiet. The peaceful ambiance of a library never appealed to me until last year when I transferred schools and ended up spending a crazy amount of time there.
Trudging up the holy stairs always gave me a sense of satisfaction. I enjoyed climbing stairs even though I hated exercising; must be because I loathed elevators and escalators. So much so that my brain and body created some kind of insane loophole that let me enjoy stairs.
I entered the library and greeted the librarian. She was a middle-aged woman, with brown hair and a thin frame.
Something caught on the bulletin board by the help desk. There was a missing person poster tacked on it. I knew the guy on the poster, not personally, but he was in one of my classes last year. Vincent Young. He was a tall annoying guy who couldn’t stop talking about basketball.
I found the whole situation jarring; I didn’t know him as a friend. But, I still knew him, in a way, and seeing him on the poster made me feel uneasy.
Hopefully, he’d turn up.
There were a lot of things I needed to do before class. Things I should have been able to do at home. However, I no longer had the privacy of my room since the casino fiasco, three weeks ago. I ended up coming home late and my sister ratted me out, plus they noticed blood on my pants. Things didn’t end well for me. Most parents ground their kids or send them to their rooms. But that doesn’t work on me. I love staying in my room. Sure go ahead take away my video game. I’ll just read a book. Oh, no more books. Well, I have magic.
My punishment was staying in the living room, in the presence of my parents. Engaging in pointless conversations and getting criticized for my supposed social ineptitude. Mostly the latter. So no books, games, or magic for me. Just boring family time.
I pulled out my composition book from my backpack. That I generously named grimoire. I the grimoire and flipped through its contents. Passing the list of magics I could do and possible abilities; until I found the section where I wrote my dreams down. It was a new section I created after the casino fiasco. This section was supposed to help me glean clues about upcoming events.
Lately, magical dreams have been cropping up again. In the dreams, I saw the school which I knew was different from my other school-related dreams because no one was in it just like the casino dream, plus the dream was very detailed. Giving a sense of importance. For some reason, my magical dream only showed places and nothing more.
Which didn’t give me much to go on.
I wrote down the two places that were the most recurring. The library and the hallway my locker was in. Two places that were specifically related to me. I wished I could somehow avoid whatever tribulation that was going to occur. But skipping school for an indeterminate amount of time wasn’t an option. Took months for the casino fiasco to happen, who knew how long this would take.
Bell rang and I packed up and headed to my first class.
I sat in the back of the class and had a clear view of the whiteboard. Not that it mattered. Mr. Hua hardly used the whiteboard. When he did though it was rough; because we had a hard time understanding his writing. His penmanship was atrocious, more pictographs than actual words.
Mr. Hua came in just as the bell rang. He was never late but he was also never early.
“Open your books up to Chapter five. Read it. Then answer the questions at the end of the chapter. Whatever you don’t finish is homework. If you don’t have a book share.” That’s all he said, before sitting down at his desk. He had his laptop computer in front of him. Which meant he was in one of his moods. If anyone went up to him for anything, he’d chew them out.
Mr. Hua wasn’t a terrible teacher; in fact, he was great at times. Everyone, including me, just thought he was bipolar. Which him and his class unbearable.
Chapter 5: The Integumentary System
The text read.
Like all my classmates I jumped to the end of the chapter. I copied the questions down, then began searching for the answers, within the chapter. I didn’t like homework, doing schoolwork at home just didn’t sit well with me. I’d rather be doing things I enjoy.
To give me a leg up I used magic to reinforce myself. This way I could write faster, read faster, and avoid hand cramps.
I didn’t feel the slightest worry for any possible pop quiz as I combed through the chapter looking for answers. Ever since I had gotten my powers, my ability to recall had risen. This was a huge boon to me academically since all school was for the most part was memorization.
I finished my hybrid assignment early. I took this time to practice my magic, as I wasn’t able to in the library. I wish I had more time for magic.
I removed an orange rubber ball from the pocket of my hoodie. The ball was something anyone could buy from a slot machine, nothing special.
I began by pushing my magic into the rubber ball with my left hand. My goal in this exercise was to make the ball float, then teleport the ball while it's floating to my right hand and keep it floating.
Without much effort, the ball floated above my hand. Controlling objects was easy since I had plenty of practice with dice.
The struggle was trying to teleport. I want to teleport damn it; I did it once by accident with my eraser. I figure if I can take control of an object, then I could teleport the object. Makes sense after all.
I focused my attention on the ball. Pushing my intention on it.
Move dammit. Move.
For a brief moment, I saw the space around the ball slightly waver.
Yes! Victory!
This was a small step in the right direction. Direction towards Nightcrawler.
“Cornelius.” Mr. Hua called.
I looked up and saw the teacher calling me over with a gesture.
I walked over to his desk.
“Are you done?” He asked.
“Yeah.”
“So you read the chapter and answered all of the questions in the back within thirty minutes.”
“Well, I didn’t read the whole chapter. I skimmed it.”
Mr. Hua leaned back in his chair. Looking visibly upset.
This wasn’t going to end well for me. And if he was really upset, he'd also take it out on the class.
So I decided to do something slightly unethical. Tendrils of thin blue strings appeared around my head, they latched onto Mr. Hua’s scalp. Then projected serenity to his mind. Calming him. A Mistborn or Soother would most definitely be proud of me. Probably.
This mental magic allowed me to manipulate thoughts, memories, and emotions. I rarely used it, because I always end up feeling guilty afterward. Even when I practiced the ability on my sister’s cat. I felt bad.
Technically, Lilly is our cat but my sister did receive her, as a gift for her birthday. But I would never hurt her or do anything that would make her uncomfortable.
Lilly was the sweetest cat. If the not the best cat. But a guy’s got to practice his craft; birds and squirrels spurt off every time come I close to them.
“I get it. You’re bored and you’d rather be doing something else. But you can’t take shortcuts. You always have to be hustling. Working hard. When you get to college you’ll realize that cheating yourself won’t work. You’re gonna have to learn to do things you don’t want to. If this was a college-level course I guarantee you wouldn’t be getting an A in the class..”
My throat tightened. Because I knew he was right. There was also the fact that any thought relating to my future made me freeze up. I didn’t know what to do with my life. What career to pursue, or college to apply to. It was all kinda scary.
The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
I knew I wanted to pursue magic at the moment. Other than that I had nothing else I wanted to do.
“For homework, I want you to write me a detailed summary of the chapter. Has to be three or more pages and typed.” He counted with his fingers. “Alright.”
I nodded and went back to my desk.
I made some headway on my new homework assignment before the bell rang. I still felt crummy from the lecture, and the added homework only soured my mood even more.
When I got to my second-period class, I tried to ignore the turmoil I felt. English wasn’t my favorite subject, but Mrs. Greene made it pleasant.
We recently finished The Great Gatsby, via popcorn reading. So now we were reviewing each chapter for the upcoming final.
Mrs. Greene gave us all very explicit hints on what was going to be on the final. I loved teachers like her. They were champs.
Someone tapped me on the shoulder behind me.
“Hey, can I borrow a pencil?”
I groaned internally. I hated when people asked me for a pencil. It was annoying.
Every week she asks for one. I’m almost tempted to buy her a pack of pencils.
“I only have one pencil. Can I give you a pen instead?
“Cool with whatever.” The girl said.
I handed the hot scary girl one of my pens. Ria was the don’t fuck with me, with a dash of, I told you not to fuck with me bitch, type of girl.
“Thanks.” She said, taking the pen from me. I always got strange vibes from her, for some reason. It’s hard to describe. I felt warmth from her but not with my skin.
Ashlyn said it was because I liked her. Which couldn’t be true, since I’ve had crushes before and they’d never, gave me the same feeling.
So this sensation was odd.
Class finished without a hitch, as expected. Of course, I didn’t get my pen back and I didn’t ask for it back either, since she chewed on it, like a weirdo.
Nutrition had started after second period finished, but before I headed towards the library, I needed to go to my locker. To swap my books.
As I was heading to my locker someone crashed into me from behind. I fell forward, hitting the ground.
“What the hell man!”
The ingrate in the white hoodie ignored me and kept running. Out of anger I charged my ball up with magic and threw it at him. The orange ball hit him in the back of the head.
“OW!” He yelped. Turning in bewilderment.
“Vincent?” Wasn’t he supposed to be missing?
“You can see me? Holly shit you can see me!”
This a prank?
He grabbed my shoulders tightly. “Yo, how is it that you can see me? You psychic?”
“Get your hands off me,” I said, pushing his arms off me. “Whatever bullshit you're pulling Vincent, do it somewhere else.”
With the aid of magic, my rubber ball returned to me. I turned to leave but the six-four basketball player blocked my path.
“No. Just hold up. Hear me out. Please.”
“Fine, whatever,” I grumbled.
Vincent cleared his throat obnoxiously. “Okay so. A week ago I was at a bonfire with my girlfriend. We were all drinking and having a good time. And I was getting into it with my girl. Eva took my hand and started leading me. I thought that was my chance to, you know.”
“Is there a point?”
“I’m getting there. So we end up walking pretty far. At the time I thought that she wanted extra privacy. But that wasn’t it. She did it to kill me.”
“So she murdered you?”
“Yeah man, I’m dead and no one can see, hear, or feel me except you for some reason. Here I’ll prove it.”
Vincent took a deep breath and yelled. “I LOVE TIDDIES!”
I began distancing myself from him. Feeling embarrassed by his vulgar outburst.
“See.” He said, cheerfully. “I’m a ghost.”
I looked around and no one had heard him. Then I finally noticed the intense warmth coming from him. Like with Ria but more.
“I think you might be,” I said a bit quietly. I had too many thoughts racing in my head. Thoughts of souls, the afterlife, possible deities, Ria, and a murderer. The last one worried me the most.
“I was running after Eva before you hit me.” He explained. “I know that’s stupid since I’m dead and all but seeing her got me heated.”
“Why’d she kill you?”
“I don’t know.” He said, shaking his head. “Just before she killed me, Eva said, “You need to be better.” THE FUCK DOES THAT EVEN MEAN! I know I wasn't a shitty boyfriend or anything. I swear was good to her. You gotta believe me.”
I believed Vincent. He was annoying but he wasn’t a bad guy. Opposite, he was nice, probably the nicest guy in the whole damn school. The few reasons I found him annoying was because he kept “borrowing pencils” from me and his long ass legs kept hitting my desk.
“Can you help me out? You’re the only one who can see me. And I don’t know what to do.”
“Sure. We’ll figure this out together.”
“Who’re you talking to? Ashlyn interrupted.
Crap.
“Meet me at the library,” I told Vincent.
“Seriously, stop that.” She glared.
I turned to her. “Hey, what’s up.”
“Nel. Are you okay?” She asked concerned.
“Yeah. I’m good.”
Ashlyn adjusted her new glasses, she still wasn’t used to them. She never needed glasses until three months ago at the start of the school year for most of her life. My parents thought it was because of all the anime she watched. Idly, I wondered if I could restore eyesight.
“You were talking to yourself. You know that, Nel.”
“No, I wasn’t.”
“Yes, you were.”
“I was talking to Vincent.”
“Who’s Vincent? Your imaginary friend.”
“Vincent Young, the guy who’s on the missing person poster. His girlfriend Eva killed him at the bonfire and now his spirit wants my help.”
“I’m calling mom,” Ashlyn said, scrolling through her red Razor.
“Okay, but stay away from Eva. She’s a murderer.” I said, seldomly. Then I realized Ashlyn probably didn’t know who Eva was.
I left my sister in the hallway, quickly rushing to my locker to swap out my books. Then headed straight to the library.
Vincent was waiting by the entrance. He looked frazzled.
“Hey, you alright?”
“Thinking about family. Everyone thinks I’m missing, hoping I’ll turn up. But I won’t. I’m gone, man.”
“I can talk to your parents if you want. You’re still here for now. I can be your proxy.” I said, trying my best to reassure him. I’ve never been great at making others feel better. That’s more Ashlyn’s schtick. “If you want, I’ll even punch your ex.”
“I wish I could punch her.”
“So what do you want to do?”
“Like I said, I don’t know. But I know you’re the only one who can help me. Honestly, I don’t want to think about any of this anymore. Let’s talk about something else. Do you like basketball?
“Sure we can talk about something else if you like.”
Vincent started talking my ear off about basketball. He was super passionate and animated about it. I could hardly follow along, but I added a “yeah” and “uh-huh” every now and then. He talked about his favorite team Lakers immensely, then somehow he went on a side tangent and talked about his favorite anime slam dunk. Apparently. There was an entire anime about basketball. Crazy.
I didn’t know much about anime, that was Ashlyn’s thing. I preferred fantasy books and western cartoons. Like code lyoko or avatar.
“Hey, dude why are we at the library? Shouldn’t we be somewhere more vacant, so people won’t think you’re crazy?”
Mornings tended to have fewer people, but the library was always decently packed during nutrition and lunch. Some of the kids played games like yugioh and magic. Others focused on their schoolwork. AP classes were no joke, they were tough and brimming with the workload.
“I don’t care what they think. The library is where I like to spend my time.”
“You got friends here?”
“No. However, I do know some people here.”
“So you have no friends. That’s sad.”
“Well, I was going to make new friends. I just got caught up in magic stuff.” I said defending myself. “Trying to figure it out on my own wasn’t easy.”
“Magic: The Gathering isn't that hard to learn. You should have asked one of those guys to help you out.”
“No. Not the card game.” I griped. “Real magic. Look.” I showed him by levitating my orange ball.
“Oh shit! That’s some Harry Potter shit.”
Yeah... Harry Potter shit.
“I bet that’s how you see me huh. Because you're a wizard.” He said in his shoddy Hagrid impersonation.
I cringed at the last part of his statement. I’ve never heard someone butcher an impersonation so badly.
“Do you have powers like Jace?”
“Who?”
“Jace from MTG.”
“I don’t know what he does.”
“Oh. I need to teach you Magic.”
“Pass.”
The bell rang and nutrition was over. Honestly, the longest fifteen minutes of my life.
“What’s your next class?”
“I’m a TA at the library.”
“Course you are. Don’t worry I’ll be your friend.”
“I’ll think about it.” I joked.
I waited for everyone to leave before I entered the library. My first task at the library was always the same. Clean up after everyone.
The school library let students bring in food as long as they didn’t handle any books or leave a huge mess. Most of the time this wasn’t a problem. But, there was always a little bit of a mess.
I looked around searching for spillage, crumbs, crumpled tissue paper, anything that didn’t belong. I found some stray m&ms and picked them off the ground. Thankfully none of them had gotten smooshed. Cleaning a carpet wasn’t easy.
Vincent also helped. He laughed when he found a pack of unopened condoms. I found it out that he could touch and grab things. But people couldn’t feel him. I bet if he grabbed their shirt they’d notice something was off. Or push them down.
I wiped the tables and chairs down with Lysol wipes then moved to the computers. I powered off each computer individually before I started cleaning them. They required a microfiber cloth and a light dab of Windex. I sprayed it on the cloth and not directly on the computer equipment like I was taught to.
“When you're done with that computer, take this to room 104.” The librarian said.
“Freshmen forgot their textbook, again?”
“Yup.”
“Hey, I’ll be back,” I told Vincent, he acknowledged with a thumbs up.
I grabbed the hall pass and the health book. Then headed down the stairs. I always found the empty hallways of a school fascinating, it was tranquil and nice.
I passed by Ria and said hi. She gave me a nod. I didn’t have the confidence to engage in a real conversation with her. Not because I was a coward or anything, but because she was intimidating.
How does one even ask someone if they’re dead or not? Based on warm feelings inside themself. Not a landmine I felt stepping on. One weirdness at a time.
I delivered the book. The old health teacher shook his head and grumbled under his breath.
Before I headed back to the library, I needed to use the restroom. I would have gone during nutrition if a sudden magical quest didn’t run into me, and a certain worrywart sister hadn’t come to investigate the status of my mental health.
I opened the restroom door and was immediately assaulted by the smell of urine and some other foreign stench. It was a potent concoction.
Inside I found a cute girl with her arms crossed.
“Um, you're in the wrong restroom. Unless you’re not. Look I promise I won’t tell anyone. If you want I can use another restroom.” I rambled. I had no idea what the protocol was for this type of situation.
“I want you to convince Vincent that I am the only one who can help him.”
“Eva?”
“Yes.”
Fuck this was bad. I quickly scanned her, looking for any weapons she might be carrying or concealing. I saw nothing that indicated she had a weapon.
“I’m not doing anything for you, murderer.”
“Is that what you think, Cornelius. That I’m some killer. Oh, you have so much to learn. What I did for Vincent was for his own good.”
“You killed him, you psycho.”
“No. He’s not dead. He ascended to the ranks of a White Arcanist. All because of my intervention. I’ve given him an opportunity of a lifetime.”
I was getting sick of crazy talk and I wasn’t going to let her harm Vincent anymore than she already had. I called on my magic to strengthen me. I had no intention of letting her walk out of her.
“Cornelius, don’t be silly. You’re only a Blue neophyte, you can’t-”
I charged at her, but she casually moved out of the way with a simple sidestep. I ended up running past her, putting equal distance between us again.
“I see I’ll have to teach you a few things.” She smiled.
I was about to charge in again but stopped myself when Eva started to change. Eva’s hair black hair with pink highlights turned bone white, her alabaster skin changed to concrete gray and her green eyes became black.
“First lesson. There are five types of Arcanist. I’m a black and you’re a blue. Which makes me more powerful than you. Second lesson, there are eight branches of magic: Reinforcement, Reconstruction, Fabrication, Dimensionalism, Fulmination, Compulsion, Semblance, and Animation. Now let's apply them.”
Eva shot a bolt of black lightning at my chest, knocking me to the ground. I wheezed and struggled to get up. It hurt so much.
She teleported in front of me. Her hand gripped around my neck, she picked me off the ground, then casually threw me at the wall of a stall. The stall broke from the impact.
Black tendrils grabbed my right arm and slammed me upwards into the ceiling. Then I fell onto the tiled floor.
Eva wrapped her hands around paper towels, then turned the ugly brown things into metal. She rained down judgment on me with her makeshift brass knuckles.
“Please stop,” I begged. Everything hurt so much.
“You should have listened. You should have done what I told you to. But I guess we can stop early after this one.” She clamped down on my mouth.
Black threads emerged from her head and pushed their way into my mind. I felt a searing heat as her power burrowed into me. My skull felt like it was ready to erupt.
If she hadn’t held my mouth shut, my scream would have reached the entire school.
I was glad when my vision darkened and the pain started to recede. I was losing consciousness. So I surrendered myself to it. Letting myself fade.