Howard sat there plotting his next move “Bishop? No”, he reluctantly reaches forward before the shakes begin and he nervously pulls his hand back. Letting it rest comfortably on his chin, waiting when he glances up to see the kid across from him being to tap on her wrist “anytime now, Stone!”, “yeah, yeah, well this may be easy for you Anatoly, but for common folk this junk isn’t a slice of cake.”, “okay, first off Howard it’s not that complex nor is it junk, don’t you ever call it that again” her face rested on serious she walks over and playfully nudges her shoulder into his cheek, moving his Bishop instantly over taking her piece and landing it into checkmate, he snares his nose before leaning in then looking up at her, greeted by her smile; her loose curly dirty blonde hair, braces and green eyes all made Howards hands run cold as the heat packs into his cheeks. He goes to speak “Hey ma….” But his words are cut short, the sounds of the fire alarm going off “what the hell?!” He shouts as it shocks his core throwing him off his game. The rumbling off the ground can be felt beneath them before a loud boom, comes from the P.E. stadium.
They both ditch the board heading to the hallway stairs at first thinking they made it clear, but the closer they reach the bottom they are squeezed and jammed between other students. Reaching the court yard, they both start to try and look over all the taller students “Marilee, you seeing anything?”, “no, not a thing..hey try your x-ray” He leans forward as his eyes gloss over a milky white before his eyes cleared back to brown, Marilee raises her eyebrow before Howard takes a breathe “Too fast to tell what is happening”, “Mr. Stone!” he hears from the backside of the field, the power in his voice made even the wind crawl silent, but he knew that voice, it had burned it’s way into his memory ever since the first day. “Hey, Howard!” Marilee shouts watching on as he pushes his way through the crowd with heist, pushing and shoving he doesn’t even notice her voice anymore as it begins to blend with everyone around him. Finally reaching the front, Howard’s heart sink and his mouth ran dry seeing Colt looking to be fighting someone, someone massive in size, someone beastly, someone a monster. Even he was no match for The Dean in appearance or spirit given the distance between had to be the length of a football field, Howard still felt his footsteps. A breeze comes over him with the with the voice of Luke making him jump “uh, what’s Colt doing?”, “funny enough, I don’t know” Howard shrugs “getting us more attention than we need that’s for sure” The Dean snaps his fingers releasing a bright white burst of light blinding the field, the two brothers drop their arms as the light fades. Nodding at each other as they take off for The Dean’s office, past a few quitters than normal hallways, slippery floors and power walking past a couple of teacher circles before they finally arrive at the office, hearing the lecture from outside.
“This is the most inappropriate and dangerous display of abilities that I have seen since the class of ’03. What an embarrassment you both have been not only on the school but to yourselves and clearly neither one of you are mature enough to handle your abilities on school grounds let alone to have extracurricular activities. So, this is what we will do, both of you get one-week suspension, a call home to your parents and a temporary ban on your extracurricular until after your first report cards are sent home and brought back with a parent or guardian signature of approval. Is that clear?”, “That’s not…” the other boys words are silenced in moments, only the huffing sounds of The Dean could be heard, “Now, leave my sight and lets never have to do this again!”
“Hello, my I help you boys with something?” A woman at the front desk asked, she was skinny and tall, the face of a young women with orange fire for eyes and long bunny ears with a short nose to match but big thick brown circular glasses. The brothers shake their heads, getting entangled into each other’s sentences and rapid pointing; Luke paused sticking his head out, “what we are trying to say is…our brother is in there with The Dean”, “oh, well normally I’d have to send you back to class but in this instance since everyone is still outside and this is technically now the middle of a class change, I’ll let it slide but seriously don’t do this again” he eerie serious tone change was enough to send shivers up both brother’s spines as they shake their heads “Of course no madame” Luke says trying to keep a steady voice but unable to hide the shakiness in it.
Footsteps move quickly causing the draw of their attention when both come out of The Dean’s office, Colt behind the previous student with his head down, water still dripping from his hair and running down his bare chest. Moving out the office and earshot of the other student “Care to explain why you were fighting?” Colt says nothing he just keeps on walking, head down. “Colt, what’s up, was that guy bullying you?”, “Colt, colt, Colt, colt” his name begin to ring in his ears like a dog whistle, he grits his teeth “leave me alone! Geeze it was just some asshole, I handled it. Honestly, why do you guys even care, huh? not like we are even real brothers anyway” Luke and Howard stop as Colt keeps walking, his words cut sharper than any pocket knife. “Colt….” Luke let’s out a ghost of a whisper as the hallways come cluttered and packed then silent again, lingering footsteps as the school bell rings once more.
Leave a comment