A.O.H Chapter:2 (pt2)

Clovefield and Frank leave the room, manging to make their way down the hall it isn’t long before June catches up with them they make a break through the cafeteria which had enough space you could fill two football stadiums with it. No one knew why it was so big it was never up for much debate, it was never stacked at all times so it really didn’t seem like much of anyone was in there when it was your lunch time. The chatter in the room was overlapping echoes, Frank, Clovefield and June having to constantly talk louder and vocal each time only hearing bits and pieces of the conversation inbetween them majority of their walk through, only catching whatever was after something so important.

With the calming white and light grey clouds rolling in Luke sat on the railing of the steps and unwraps his sandwich, overlooking the student parking lot. His concentration only disrupted when Clovefield walks past with Frank, his brain moving faster than his body makes him hesitate to say anything.  As he watches them walk away in the distance, he just looks down at his bacon, egg and cheese and continues; shrugging his shoulders, looking over and seeing the baseball portion of the field is full player practicing their swings and pitches, he squints his eyes trying to see who the curly haired kid was at the pitchers mount believing it to be Howard. It wasn’t until everyone on the field turned upward, seeming to look at Luke which made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

“no”, he said to himself, following their head tilt upward towards the sky that he sees it. A ball, he drops his sandwich and stands up on the railing barely catching it in his palm with the impact making him so off balance that he slips off the railing. He curls up like a rollie pollie, clutching himself tight as he braces for a impact that never seems to come; His eyes closed so tight he could feel the water pushing out before long he realizes still nothing is happening, he opens his eyes slowly, looking around and realizing he is a few feet off the ground turning his attention to who saved him from a dangerously close head injury. Only to be greet by the face of a golem, it’s face look of a angry old man just less defined and covered in mud and rock, clutter, bulky and mixed with dust as he stared at it before jumping out of it’s hands, it’s purple gem eyes looking back at him wonder-less, conscienceless “What the?”, “you alright, man?” June comes from behind him slowly.  Luke looks at her then back at the golem before pointing “is this you?”, “yeah, man….all me and good thing too or else you’d be on your way to the nurses” she chuckles at him “ball” the word can be heard echoing from a distance, only coming closer the longer he conversates with June.

“Well, Well, Well” a voice behind him says “wanna throw us back the ball”, Luke turns his head slightly “Hey Clark”, Albert crosses his arms with his one curl insisting on being on his forehead no matter how many times he tried to get it to lay down flat, it would just pop back out and dangle disregarding his wishes.

He reaches down attempting to snatch the ball from Luke hands but is only embarrassed when he swiftly moves his hand about, making him miss with every attempt. “you wanna ask or do you wanna continue being a jackass about it?” Luke doesn’t even bother to give him eye contact while checking his sandwich and seeing it is unscathed, continuing munch on it. His confidence undeterred by the mass crowd starting to form around them. Albert couldn’t help the redness his face showed as the wrinkles on his forehead became prevalent, Luke’s eyes cut away from his sandwich to glance at Albert’s fist, shaking; it was expected, his nonchalant attitude has gotten him into worst troubles before with even tougher mutants than this kid, he knew he could take him hell he was even welling to make a bet with a cross-road demon over it. He takes the last bite of his sandwich before tossing the ball in the air landing perfectly in Albert’s hands, turning around to see the crowd he puts his head down trying to cover his face with his hoodie as he pushes through. The murmurs were not all quite but rather in that moment sounded like yelling, he hated large crowds, always has since he was a kid but this was … “Hey!” Albert shouts from the circle, Luke hesitates to move his next foot forward  seeming frozen before he turns back around putting on his best stone poker face. “You think your top shit here don’t you? Prove it, at the baseball field, right now.”Luke tilts his head in confusion to the demand “what gave you that conclusion?”, “It’s simple” he paces himself before walking back to Albert “I’ll tell you what is simple, see a bully, so I bully the bully”, “bully?”, “dude, just the other day you didn’t push kelly into a locker?,or the fact you basically assault people on the daily” Luke’s words cut deep, “Do you know what caused those situations?” Albert retorts but Luke just shakes his head, swiping his arm across the air “Don’t care, I’ve seen how you handled it though. Do me a favor and just stay away from me”, “out the way…out of the way” Howard’s voice can be heard as he pushes through the crowd making to the center of the circle “Luke what the hell is going on?”, “Honestly…I have no clue, seems I’ve gotten myself into the usual situation” there conversation over heard by Albert makes him take advantage of the moment “Howard get your chickenshit brother, he rambling cause he is too afraid to see me on the baseball field”.

It wasn’t that he felt he had anything to prove, but more so wanting to knock Albert off that pedestal he had claimed within his own delusional mind. “ight, bro” Luke says “ one pitch verses one swing, if I miss you get to have my lunch for the rest of the year”, “nah, If I win then I get to take that ring you always seem to be wearing”. Luke grits his teeth at Alberts request, he had completely forgotten he was wearing it, it was his father’s and there is no way he was willing to give that up especially over something so trivial. “No deal”, “no deal?”, “did you not hear me or …”,”I got it, I got it!” Albert barks to Luke shooting down his demand, “ you only get one chance Albert to make Luke shut up about you, you better take it” Howard cockiness shines from behind Luke, leaning  over just enough to whisper to Luke “When you pitch, think De La Rosa”. It wasn’t so much what Howard said but how he said it, Luke knew when Howard was clever enough to use his abilities.

Howard rubs the side of his head, before blinking, his eyes turn to a pale white. It takes a while for his eyes to adjust even going so far as to strain his eyes if he carries on too long and he was well aware. Last time he over used his powers he had to wear a set of protective sunglasses for three days, but he would do it again if it meant helping out Luke without question but he was never sure if that was because he was foolish and dumb or the fact Luke is the only person to genuinely show him any amount of bond over the years. He white eyes pierce Albert’s flesh with ease, Howard up and downs him when he sees a slight shin fracture. “What do you mean?” Luke says resulting in Howard droping his head in disappoint forgetting Luke isn’t the biggest sports fan “Think…Mace Windu vs Palpatine.”, “wait wait…am I Mace Windu in this scenario” the question only frustrates Howard as he was no Sci-fi fanatic “just throw a little towards his left leg, bottom center dude”, “You know your star wars reference doesn’t…”, “yeah I know, I know”. Luke shrugs off Howard’s arm “Albert, how about this. You get 1 swing; if you home run it then I’ll give you two hundred bucks but if you miss it then you owe Howard a spot on the baseball team.” Albert stands there for a moment letting his folder arms seem more bulky as he tries to hide his puffed out chest, redden face only seeming to get more like Henz ketchup the more the moment went on. He sticks out his hand, doesn’t take Luke long to get the message, tossing him the ball as he ascends into the air returning back to the baseball field while Luke trails behind walking over to the once mildly empty field that was now cluttered with bodies of classmates. Standing around once again giving him that sinking feeling, the indisgushable faces, with the mixing and mashing of voices, one overlapping the other while the heavier tones carried above the rest.

As he makes his way to the pitches mount, he gets tossed a ball from the catcher, “You ever pitched before rookie?” Bleu shouts, Luke blows off the question as the team gives him a hard time. Albert comes next to the home plate, letting off a few practice swings before stepping in closer to the plate, stopping for a moment before tapping the plate; he then watches the mount before switching to the left side of the plate this made Luke scratch his head, he looks over to Howard who is mouthing something but all he can make out is the single word Right. He knew he was alluding to his right hand but nothing else, as Luke really wasn’t a baseball scholar like Howard, there was only a few time in his life he ever got the chance to play catch let alone baseball but maybe he could wing it or so that’s what he kept telling himself even with the sun beating down on his hood. He grips the ball tight, letting it rotate between his fingers “Anytime now, iceman” Albert yells across the field for the first time in a long time he felt his gut tighten as the laughter around him picked up like the wind and sparked like a firecracker he stood up straight then cranking back, he wines up and slinging the ball with all the force he had; it felt as if time was moving slowly at that moment as the ball left his fingers Albert swings.

Albert knocks the ball out of the park, sending it flying as if it had wings and was taking flight the loud pop that came from the bat hitting the ball made the watching crowd cheer even louder. Luke looks up as it flies over head, then back at Albert who props his hand out gesturing for him to pay up; Luke reaches in his pocket pulling out the two hundred as he walks up seeing the smug grin on Albert’s face he keeps the eye contact not letting it drop “nicely played” not even staying for the rebuttal he grabs his backpack and Howard both making their way through the crowd. This time instead of the murmurs he could here the whispers of compliments various “He has heart” and “whoa, sloppy but impressive throw” it made him smile slightly but again he just rushes through the end of the gathered group. The bell rings just in time for first period as they exit.