POV: Melissa Odinson

“So, what do you think is wrong with Adrian?” Semy asked as we sat down for lunch.

“A lot,” I answered immediately, “Dare I say, everything.”

“Jeez Melissa, that's not what I meant.” Semy laughed with his massive ear-to-ear grin.

“I think he was called into the Vice Principal's office.” Jennifer said, “That's what Mr Stienfaust said after Adrian got beat by Jerry's team.”

I tsked and eyed her, “Of course, you would pay attention with Jerry involved.”

“It's not like that.” She snapped back with a blush. It clearly was very much like that. “They were causing a ruckus and bullying Alice.”

“Bullying Alice?” Donovan seemed shocked, “How? She's way tough. I have her in my transformation class. She projects some serious power.”

“Well she doesn't use it,” said Argento as he ate chicken tenders with a fork and knife like the pretentious bastard he was. “Good on Mr Jarvis.”

“Yeah, good on him for standing up to Adrian.” Semy agreed, “Which reminds me, what's Adrian’s deal.”

“Well first, his stupid shades are lame as hell. Second,” I started listing until Semy placed his whole hand down on my head.

“Shoosh, tiny one,” he said, “put thy rage aside for but a moment.”

I swatted his hand away and leaped onto my chair, “You got some nerve thinking you can-”

He plapped his hand again. “So as I was saying-”

“Hey!” I yelled at my full volume, “You can't just silence me however-”

He plapped me again. I just gave up and sat back down.

“Right, so we do recon to figure out the deal with Adrian.” Semy finished.

Jennifer raised a hand and timidly asked, “Umm… Why?”

“Because it's fun. Like a secret agent mission.”

“Should we bug his house? Spy on his family?” Argento suggested, “Because I have the resources for that.”

“No, nothing that extreme.” Semy waved him off, “We start off with asking around. His own team is likely to have information. I can talk to Ashley since we're on such good terms. Argento, Donovan, you want to try and take on Runesir?”

“Not a good idea.” Argento said between bites of high school quality chicken. “He likely has a low opinion of me considering.”

“Considering what?” Semy asked.

“He is a wizard. I am a vampire.” Argento gestured as he answered. He could never just say something. He always talked with his whole body.

“And that's a problem because…?”

“Wizards and vampires famously hate each other.”

“They do!?”

“Yes. Were I to approach Runesir with questions about an ally he would likely insult me, decline to answer, and then call me a slur in that order.”

“Wow.” Semy scratched his head, “I didn't know that.”

“Do you hate wizards like Runesir?” Jennifer asked Argento.

“House DelSegugio stands proudly for the values of equality and equity as laid out by the founding fathers.” He said with hand over heart in a tone of pride, “I would never pass unfair judgment on any of my fellow countrymen, even if they are a book-thumping, lead-drinking, spark-pinching bastard with no sense outside his own inflated ego. This, I assure you.”

“Oh… okay then.” Jennifer dropped the subject, “So if Runesir is out, then what other options do we have outside of Ashley?”

“Hmmm…” Semy rubbed his thick chin, “You know who's really good at recon? Jerry and his team. We could outsource to them.”

“And how do we do that?” Jennifer asked.

“Well, you and him seem close enough. Maybe you can get some information out of him.”

“What?” Jennifer yelped, “You think I could do that?”

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“Sure. It wouldn’t be too difficult.” Semy said with a growing grin, “The hard part would be finding a reason to talk to him in the first place, but you could always just ask him on a date.”

“Ask him! On a date?” Jennifer’s blush was overpowering her dark skin and turning her red, “I can’t just do that!”

“Can’t do what?” Carl Star, our team leader, asked as he came up to the table.

“Carl!” Semy greeted with a cheer, “Welcome back! Just in time for the best part of the day.”

“Thank you, Semy. What are we planning?”

“We’re working on a recon plan to figure out what got Adrian so mad today.” Semy explained.

“Adrian being mad sounds like an improvement to his general demeanor,” Carl huffed and some of us chuckled, “Semy, Adrian respects you quite a bit. Why not just ask him?”

“Well, honestly,” Semy smiled wide, “because that would be boring.”

“Fair enough. Okay, I'm in.” Carl just sighed before putting a serious look on his face. “What's the current plan so far?”

“We're outsourcing to Team J3. We just need points of contact,” Semy explained, “I'm still going to try Ashley, but I can also try Samuel or Brick.”

“I can approach Abraham,” Argento said as he wiped his mouth.

“I thought Abraham was also a wizard.”

“Yes, but he's not as bigoted. Maybe because his magic comes from infernal blood.”

Semy nodded his head, “Alright. If you say so. With Jenny approaching Jerry, that's over half their team covered.”

“Wait! What?” Jenny squeaked, “But… I…”

She swallowed hard as she tried to form a full sentence, to which Carl took the opportunity and spoke up, “No need for that. I'll handle Jerry.”

The table fell into an uneasy silence that Carl didn't seem to pick up on. Jennifer went from anxious and flushed to quiet and dispirited. She kept her eyes down and had nothing to say. So I spoke up.

“No.”

The whole table stared at me. I just took a drink off my milk carton until it was empty. The straw glugging to pull the last drops.

“No, what?” Carl asked.

“No to you.” I glared at him in the eye, “We'll handle approaching him.”

Carl was slack-jawed for a moment before he scowled and leaned in, “Jerry is my best friend. I already have an in with him. I'm the best man for the job.”

“I don't care,” I said plainly, “We will handle Jerry. You do something else.”

Carl's face turned into a snarl, “I'm the team leader. I say I'm taking the Jerry task.”

“Oh, so now you're our leader.”

“What's that supposed to mean?”

“It means you're always running away at every opportunity you have.”

Carl punched his fist into the table, “I have responsibilities. I work for my father to progress the scientific community.”

“How convenient.” I spat back.

“Hold up.” Semy tried to come between us, “What about Samantha or Amanda? You two are on good terms with them, aren't you?”

“Carl would be better for that,” I said whatever came to mind in the moment, “We know Samantha is into him and he could charm Amanda well enough.”

“Come on now,” Semy said nervously, “You know what, let's just forget about it. It's not actually important after all. Let's focus on our studies.”

“No!” Carl and I said together. Neither of us were going to back down on this. I could only tsk and turn away.

“You know what, let Jennifer decide.”

“Umm…” She choked out, “What can Gwen do?”

At that, we all turned an eye to our seventh team member, Gwendolyn Bell. Who had been slowly eating and staying so quiet we had forgotten about her. Now she was under the weight of collective glares. She swallowed a bite of food in a gulp before turning her in own seat and talking so softly we wouldn't have been able to hear if not for our own silence, “I have to go to the library.”

And with that, she walked away. We just sat in the silence of the moment until Carl punched the table again. “Whatever. Do whatever you want. I have other things to take care of. Semy, meet me after dismissal.”

“You got it, boss.” Semy gave a thumbs up.

“Argento, Donovan, I trust you two to keep up with your own training,” Carl asked and the two boys nodded. “Good. Dismiss, or whatever.”

Carl turned and walked off past several other students who had been trying to casually eavesdrop.

Semy sighed, “Well, that went well enough.”

I tapped my foot on the ground. We all just stayed quiet until the surrounding ears seemed to stop listening. I huffed and said, “Jenny, I'm…”

“It's okay,” she cut in, “In fact, thank you. For… all that.”

She seemed to be honestly content and we left it at that.

Semy inhaled deeply, stretching his belly against his clothes and to the table before sighing, “Melissa.”

“What!” I snapped back.

“Melissa, Carl is our team leader. You can’t just…” He trailed off, sighing again.

“Oh, what?” I tsked, “Just because the school system says so we have to let him push us around?”

“No, of course. It’s just…” Semy rubbed the back of his neck, “I don’t know Melissa. You just got to respect the chain of command.”

“Chain of command!?” Melissa almost laughed, “You’re more our leader than he is. He should be respecting you!”

“That’s not his fault Melissa,” Semy said firmly, “He’s trying his best, and it wouldn’t hurt you to cut him some slack.”

“Some slack!” I jumped up again, “I’m mundane big guy! I can’t afford to be slacking around here.”

“What do you mean?” Jennifer asked, “No one here would hurt you.”

“Indeed,” Argento agreed before I could rebuke her, “You're usually the one catching others slacking.”

“Quiet fangboy,” I stomped a foot on the table, “I'll come over there and slack some garlic down your throat!”

Argento lifted his hands in surrender and the others chuckled.

“Melissa, just…” Semy sighed again, “Let me apologize to Carl for you.”

“No!” I snapped back, “I’ll apologize for myself.”

I sat back down and I sighed, “You’re right. I shouldn’t have been so mean. After all, he is just…”

I gritted my teeth, “You know what I mean!”

Semy laughed at me, “I do, even if it’s in dogspeak.”

“What did you say!” I stood up again, “You think you can just-”

Semy plapped me again.