Chapter 29
The summer flies by and soon I find myself having to take a massive test to make it into senior year. The test itself was a very thick packet on multiple subjects, and I had to sit with a couple of teachers in the room so they could make sure I didn't cheat. I had to hand over everything in my pockets, including my phone and a pack of gum. I blew through it like it was nothing, and turned in the test after two of the five hours I was given to take it. The teachers were shocked when I announced I was done, but I was dismissed anyway.
A few days later I got my results in the mail. Mom read the results aloud, and that night we went to Shake'n steak to celebrate my almost perfect score and my graduation into senior year. Faith wasn't able to make the celebration because she had work that night, but we made up for it a few days later.
Before I know it, school starts back up again and I happily go. I had missed my friends, the normalcy, but lately, I had begun to miss my other friends. I felt bad for not being able to say goodbye when I had fled the world, and I had considered returning to give a proper goodbye. The more I thought about it, the more I thought it wouldn't be the best of ideas because Dr. Strange would be well aware that I had returned, as well as Loki.
The first day of school is hectic. I am welcomed back by friends I hadn't seen in close to a year, and even people I didn't know come up to me in the halls. I feel kind of awkward with all the attention, but I quickly notice one friend missing from the crowd, one of my oldest guy friends. Faith and I roam the halls to find him, and we eventually run across him in the Agriculture Hall. He sits on a wooden bench, wearing his favorite band teeshirt and a pair of jeans, ripped at the knee. His brown shoulder-length hair is pulled back into a smooth half ponytail, and his mustache is darker than I remember it to be.
"Jameson! How come you weren't in the Cafeteria? We were looking for you." I say, and he smiles at me.
"Asta, I'm so glad you're ok! I would have come over to see you if I hadn't been in Tennessee for the summer." He stands from the bench and gives me a big hug. I return it, thumping him on the back.
"I was just thinking to myself, and, uh, can I talk to you for a moment? In private?" He asks, and I look to Faith. I suppose there's no harm, right?
"Uh, yeah, I guess. I'll be right back, Faith." I go with him around the corner, and he takes my hand in his. My heart pounds and I realize why he asked me to be alone.
Ooooooh no.
"Asta, I've been thinking. I am glad we're friends, but," He hesitates, and I feel him squeeze my hand. "Will you be more than my friend? I like you, a lot, and I think we'd be perfect together." He finishes his proposal, and I look into his blue eyes.
"Jam, I-" I hesitate, trying to figure out a way to not crush him. He waits for me to finish, and I shakily continue. "I like you as a friend, I see you as the brother I never had. You're a great guy, and I like how things are now, and I hope we can just be friends." I smile, and he drops my hand.
"Just friends." He repeats, his face blank. I nod, and his lips turn into a thin, white line. A muscle in his jaw twitches, and he scoffs.
"Just friends, got it. No, I see how it is," his voice gradually raises, and a few students that had been walking our direction pause to watch the drama unfold. "I see how it is. You think you're too good for someone like me. You think you're too pretty for an ugly fuck like me."
"Did I say that? No, I didn't. I-" I argue, but he interrupts me.
"No, but it was pretty well implied. You are just a snobby cunt that can't be bothered to take responsibility and date a guy that's always been there for you, no matter what."
"Yeah, that's what friends are for. Friends are there to help you, to bring out the best in you, not just be a kiss-up to get into someone's pants." I retort, frustrated. He had never acted like this in all the years I knew him. He was always sweet, peaceful, kind. He was there for every party I had, was always making jokes, he was one of my first friends. And now he's this?
He moves to slap me, but I catch his arm, startling him.
"Jameson, I guess you have made up your mind and there is no way for me to change it, so goodbye. Thank you for being a good friend of mine, and I hope we can fix things later, but right now, I'm leaving." I release his hand and walk to Faith who had lingered at the corner, listening to everything. We walk quickly back to the cafe, and all the while my head spins.
"You heard all of it, right?" I ask, and she nods.
"Yeah, I heard. He had acted all depressed after you had disappeared, and when I had tried to talk to him about your disappearance, he was so hostile and he acted like I wasn't even your friend." I turn to her, shocked.
"You're serious? Why didn't you tell me?" I feel kind of betrayed by her.
"I was afraid it was just me being stressed and scared and sleep-deprived. I was worried that it was actually not meant to be like that, so I didn't want to blow it up into something it wasn't." She looks to the floor, and I take her hand and squeeze.
"Hey, it's ok! It's ok. I promise I'm not mad. Just answer me this: has he done anything like that before I disappeared?"
"Yeah, he's acted really weird when you're not around. It's like he puts on a mask whenever you come around." This information makes me feel a little upset.
"Oh." Is all I can say, unable to bring my feelings into words. The bell rings for first period, and Faith and I depart in separate directions for class.
First period goes without hiccup, and since the chemistry class has a new teacher, all we do is make name tags and ask the teacher anything we want. Second doesn't go as smoothly, and instead of the normal name games we play, Mr. Toul decides that not only are we going to do introductions, but instead asks me about my little adventure.
"I heard that you had returned, but the reporters on the TV said you didn't want to chat about it. Would you like to now?" He asks, and I sit there confused. No news people had come to interview me, and I had never turned down any interviews.
Not that I would agree to one, though.
I decide to question it. "Not once did anyone from the news come over to chat, and even if they did I would have turned them away because I don't really want my face plastered all over the news and internet." I respond, my cheeks turning red.
"Well then, I'm sure you will be horrified to find that your face was all over the evening news for the past six months." He grins, and my breakfast threatens to make a reappearance.
"Ok, and I can't do anything about that," I say slowly, unsure of how to respond.
Looks like I may have another Mr. Yerth on my hands.
"And that, class, is why you don't run away." He says, and someone a few seats from me laughs.
"Uh, she didn't run away, but I wish you would." The class laughs, and Mr. Toul scowls in the direction of the voice.
"Is that a detention I hear? I think it is." He turns to his desk to grab a paper and a pen, then turns back to the kid.
"Name, and are you available for 4:30 today or tomorrow?"
"My name is Alex Hunt, and I will not attend your stupid detention for making you get off of a trauma victim's back." My heart thunders in my chest.
That story I made was a bad idea. Very bad, very bad, very bad.
The teacher walks over to the kid's desk and slams the paper down.
"I will not be disrespected!" He shouts at the kid, and I decide I've had enough. Maybe an illusion would be in order...
I focus on the paper, and imagine it on fire, but only for the teacher, no one else. I discovered that the physical magic I attempt to use is difficult, illusions being much easier thanks to secret practice sessions to entertain Faith.
I stare at it, and with a flick of my finger once more, the paper suddenly catches ablaze. The kid sits there, looking very confused as the teacher falls backward onto his butt.
He scrambles to his feet and freaks out. "Get away from that! You'll get burnt!" He shouts and runs to the hallway for the emergency fire extinguisher. I take away the illusion right as he comes rushing in, ready to blow out the fire. He rushes to the desk and is met with a completely intact detention slip and a very confused Alex.
Mr. Toul stares at the paper a moment, his chest heaving. He looks around at his extremely confused class, and walks out the door. No sub comes in to take his place, so we just fool around the rest of class. After second, school flies by and soon I am back home and snuggled in bed, recharging from today.
I felt proud of myself that I had managed to successfully create an illusion only seen by one person, and not get a nosebleed! Closing my eyes, I drift off into a happy dream of nothingness.