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Chapter 6
After a few weeks, Sis finally managed to convince Nina’s brother and Hugo to let me return to school. My sister was smart enough to wait until Sebastian stopped calling up everyday to check on me, and then she launched her counter attack. Nina’s brother looked like he was going to cry, but Sis threatened to tell Sebastian more of his embarrassing moments if he didn’t let me go back to class. Akito also managed to convince them that I was probably safe.
“Nooooooo! You can’t do this to me!” Begged Nina’s brother as he clung to my sister’s leg in desperation. “If anyone ever finds out, the best promotion I’ll ever get will be the main branch janitor!”
“I hear they’ve been trying to find someone to clean the outside toilet for a while now,” said Hugo. “Even the janitor won't touch it.”
“Please, please, think of my career!” Nina’s brother cried, but my sister refused to budge.
Unfortunately they left it up to Nina’s brother to explain my long absence, so he told the school that I'd caught Ebola. I think he also realized that he might need to pull me out again (in case Sebastian came back to check on them), so he told everyone that there was a high chance of me regressing.
I arrived at school on Monday to find that everyone had moved their desks as far away from mine as possible. My lonely desk looked like a remote island in a sea of tables and chairs. All my classmates were standing around in groups chatting with each other, but everyone suddenly fell silent and nervously watched when I entered the classroom. I thought school would be the one place where people would treat me like I was normal, but I suddenly felt more isolated than ever.
I trudged over to my desk, sadly pulled out the chair, and sat down. I could hear the guy sitting in the desk next to me trying to subtly move his desk away until it bumped into the wall.
I slumped to rest my forehead against my desk and pretended to be invisible. Why couldn’t Nina’s brother have come up with a better excuse? Like my pet hamster had died and I was so overcome with grief that I couldn’t leave my room for three weeks. Instead I was destined to be shunned by my entire class forever, or at least until they realized that I wasn't sick. It was like Nina's brother had some sort of grudge against me.
“Hey Michael,” said a muffled voice from in front of my desk.
I looked up to see my classmate Fred. He was an average looking guy with a bowl cut and glasses. He was my only friend outside of the exorcist organization, so he didn’t know anything about exorcists or monsters. It was a little annoying because I couldn’t talk to him about any of my current problems, but it was nice to have a friend who was normal. I only recognized him by his haircut because his face was covered by a giant surgeon’s mask.
“Hey Fred,” I said. “What’s up with the mask?”
“My mother said I couldn’t go to school without a mask, or stand within ten feet of you, but guess what? I’m a rebel-”
He was suddenly cut off by a guy in my class who shoved Fred out of the way, and leaned over my desk until his face was in front of my own. I was too busy leading a double life as an exorcist to remember most of my classmates names, so I always just called him bad breath guy in my head. “Hey Matsumoto, do you think that maybe you could infect me?” He asked in a hushed voice. “I haven’t studied for tomorrow’s math test.”
“Dude,” said another guy who grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him away. “Don’t you know that you could seriously die?”
“I’m better off dead than my mom finding out that I got an F,” said bad breath guy.
“I don’t have Ebola anymore!” I protested. As bad as it sounded, even I was beginning to wish that I had some sort of deadly disease. That way I could escape the uncomfortable feeling of Isaac glaring daggers at my back. I turned to see him sitting two rows behind me planning out charms in his notebook with a red pen. I thought his cold treatment towards me would get better with time, but I felt like it was slowly getting worse.
“Everyone sit down,” said my homeroom teacher as he entered the room. “We’re all pleased to welcome Michael back to school, I think,” he coughed and tried to move away from me as well. “And on that note, if any of you experience any cold symptoms, or develop a fever, please report to the school nurse immediately.”
The first class of the day was Math. I wasn’t a great student to start with, but after being absent for three weeks I had no idea what the teacher was saying. I could feel myself slowly drifting off to sleep until Fred shook me awake. I glanced over and he handed me a piece of folded up note paper.
My heart leapt and I placed it on my desk. It was the moment that I had been waiting for all year. One of the girls in my class had obviously desperately missed me, and now she finally had the courage to hand me a love confession. Maybe it was the girl who sat behind me, or the girl at the front who once lent me her eraser during an English test. I could tell from the way that she happily handed it over that she had fallen for my charms.
I began to unfold the paper with a grin, but instead of a love letter, I opened it up to find you may have the others fooled, but I’m watching you, in Isaac’s scrawly handwriting. He’d written it all in red pen, and even drawn a little skull and bones to emphasize his point.
I inhaled sharply and slowly deposited the note back into my desk. I was certain that he’d stop being so hostile once he finally realized that I wasn’t a monster, but Isaac was a pretty powerful exorcist, and I didn’t have Akito or my sister to protect me at school. I was terrified that he would ignore the others and pull out a lightning charm when I went to the bathroom. I made Fred come with me every time I needed to go, just in case Isaac attempted to kill me while I had my pants down.
“I don’t know how to say this,” said Fred as he turned away so that he wouldn’t have to watch me use the urinal. “But guys don’t usually go to the bathroom together.”
“Shut up and just keep a look out,” I said.
“Are you being bullied? Because that’s really something that you should tell a teacher about.”
“It’s nothing.”
“Is this about Isaac?”
“No.”
“Did you get into a fight over Annie again?”
“No.”
“Then why did he agree to come to my house on Saturday, and then suddenly say no after I mentioned you were coming?”
“Maybe he has a cold.”
I felt bad about lying to Fred, but I couldn’t tell him the truth. One, because Akito and the exorcists would kill me, and two, because I highly doubted he would believe me anyway. I once tried to drop a few hints about monsters to test if he was open to the truth, but he just told me that I’d been playing too many video games.
We had gym class after lunch. Our school sports day was in a week so the teachers made us run laps around a track every chance they had. I was ready to run out all my issues like there was no tomorrow, but Nina’s bro gave me a lecture about playing along with the whole Ebola thing, so I was left timing my classmates with a stopwatch at the finish line. Collin Harris was also there helping me. He almost had a heart attack when I sneezed on him, and he spent over ten minutes in the bathroom washing off his T-shirt.
I wondered if I could also run around the track at the speed of light with my new super awesome exorcist powers, but that would have to wait for another day.
“Did I ever tell you about the time I met a werewolf?” Asked Collin while we were waiting for our classmates to complete a circuit.
“Err,” I said while trying to pretend that I hadn’t been captured by the same wolf monster and was now mentally scarred for life. “I think you might have told me that on-”
“It was a dark night,” said Collin like he hadn’t heard me. “The wind blew through the trees like ghosts from a grave, I saw a strange man with a terrifying tattoo, and before my very eyes he transformed into a werewolf. I had no choice. I had to do something. Can you guess what I did Michael?”
“You hid behind a fence and waited for him to go away?” I said because I had already heard his story before.
“No,” said Collin. “I jumped up from that fence and roundhouse kicked him in the face like a kung fu master. The werewolf howled in pain as tears flowed from his eyes, and then he fled into the night with his tail between his legs. Never to terrorize the people of this town again! All thanks to me, Collin Harris, the wolf slayer!”
“Okay,” I said hesitantly. “I believe you.”
Fred wasn’t kidding when he said that Collin’s story got better every time he told it. Last semester he said that he just hid behind a fence and waited for the wolf monster to go away. His story led to a monster hunt with the other exorcists where I was kidnapped until Isaac rescued me. Akito's friend Sean Lopez was still apparently trying to track down the last remaining wolf monster, but we still hadn’t heard any news. For all I knew it could still be out there lurking in the shadows with the fox monster.
Just thinking about wolf monsters was enough to give me a panic attack, and I didn’t even notice Isaac dash past the finish line until his face was inches from my own.
“Check out Isaac’s time!” Said Collin with a grin as he raised the timer and waved it around in the air. “This has to be like a new record. No one else at school can possibly run this fast!"
“Are you sure?” I asked. “Maybe you just forgot to start the timer, like when I forgot to press the button until they were halfway around the track.”
“No way,” said Collin and he stared at his timer with a manic grin. “I did it right and everything. Isaac and I are in the same house so our team will definitely win for sure this year.”
“You don’t know that, maybe he’s just having a good day,” I said. I refused to praise anyone who was trying to kill me.
“You’re just upset because your house’s going to lose this year!" Said Collin.
“No, I’m not!” I protested. “I’m going to do great this year because I’m a super exorcist!”
“A super exorcist?” Questioned Collin. “What’s that?”
“I mean I’m, like super ex..ex..extremely fast,” I said in an attempt to cover up my miss of the tongue. I anxiously looked at Collin while doing my best poker face to see if he’d bought my lie.
“Are you for real?” Asked Collin. He clicked the stopwatch and reset it. “Why don’t you run a lap around the track and I’ll time you?”
I opened my mouth to accept his challenge, but then a chilling voice from behind me said “yeah why don’t you run a lap Michael? Then you won’t be able to hide it, and everyone will know what you really are?”
I turned to see Isaac with his hand on his hip and his eyes glaring into mine like he was trying his best to be super intimidating.
“What’s he talking about?” Hissed Collin while tilting his head towards Isaac. “That guy’s pretty smart, but I can never understand anything he’s talking about?”
“Isaac,” I whispered with my eyes wide open in fear. I wanted to say a witty remark, or show him who was boss by running around the track, but my mind went blank, and all I could think about was how my close friend had transformed into a cruel bitter exorcist who was gunning for my blood. No matter what I said or did, it was like nothing could shake his determination that I was some sort of monster. We both stood there staring at each other in a deadlock, until Colin could no longer endure the awkward silence.
“Hello, earth to Michael,” said Collin as he waved his hand in front of my face to get my attention. “Are you going to run a lap or not?”
“I..I..I,” I stuttered. A moment earlier I had been prepared to run, but Isaac's glare was terrifying, and I didn't know what to do. Collin's eyes anxiously flicked between us, and even a few of our classmates had stopped talking and were staring in bewilderment.
I thought our stare off would never end, but suddenly the bell for lunch rang and my teacher made the decision for me.
“Okay, everyone, back to the locker room!” Called my P.E teacher as he started signaling everyone to go back and get changed.
“I knew that you didn’t have the guts,” hissed Isaac. He shoved me in the shoulder as he walked past. He caught me off guard and I almost fell to the ground from the impact, but luckily Collin caught me and pulled me back to my feet.
"Hey, are you alright?" He asked. "I always thought that Isaac was an alright guy, but man was I wrong. What did you do to piss him off like that?"
"It's nothing!" I said more harshly than I intended and Collin looked a little taken back.
I felt ashamed for backing down and not saying anything to Isaac to defend myself, but I was convinced that maybe it was best not to give into him and his strange delusions. Isaac despised all monsters and anything to do with them, so maybe all he needed was some more time to come around.
At least that's what everyone kept telling me.
* * *
“I don’t know how much longer I can endure this!” I protested to Tyson, Kurt, Katie, and Laurence after school as we walked up the stairs to headquarters. “It’s like no matter what I say or do, Isaac still treats me like I’m some sort of monster! I thought that we had already established that I'm a super exorcist who was born to avenge my older step brother.”
“Don’t worry about Isaac,” said Tyson as he walked hand in hand with Katie. “He just has a hard time getting along with people, that’s all.”
“Except me!” Said Laurence.
“And me,” added Kurt.
“Yeah, now that you mention it, he does get along well with Nina,” said Tyson. “And Akito, and me, and most of the people at school.”
“Yeah," said Kurt. "The only one he doesn’t get along with is you."
“I’m doomed,” I cried dramatically. “ My ex-bestfriend is going to set fire to me in my sleep and there’s nothing I can do to stop him.”
“Don’t worry,” said Tyson in an attempt to comfort me. “I’m sure that things will go back to normal soon. Isaac’s just the type of guy who doesn’t forgive easily.”
“No way it's going to be that easy,” said Katie. “We all know that Isaac is never going to let this go.”
“Ha ha, Katie you’re so funny,” said Tyson as he threw an arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer. “That’s not what we agreed to say,” I heard him whisper into her ear.
“Laurence,” I said while patting my friend on the back. “When I die, you can have my trading card collection. Tyson if you really want it, you can have my phone.”
“Michael aren’t you getting a bit ahead of yourself,” said Tyson, but I ignored him and continued.
“Kurt you can have my mini doughnut maker if it’s okay with my sister. ”
“Sweet,” said Kurt.
“And Katie-” I said while looking at the blond teenager and wondering what item of mine she could possibly want. “You can have my left over hair gel.”
“I’ll be fine thank you,” she snapped.
I was thinking about what else to offer Katie until I noticed an unknown girl standing with her back towards us in front of the shrine. Her short black hair gleamed in the sun, and she was dressed in our school uniform. She had a duffel bag strapped over her shoulder, and I thought she may have been one of Tyson's ex-girlfriends who'd come to stalk him. But she was just staring hesitantly at headquarters like she didn’t know what to do.
“Wow, who’s that?” Asked a bewildered Laurence who suddenly stopped dead in his tracks.
At the sound of his voice the girl quickly turned to face us. Her hand was wrapped in bandages, and there was plaster covering most of her face. I thought she looked familiar until I realized that it was Annie.
“Annie?” I asked in disbelief.
“Hey, it's Annie,” said Katie with a smile.
“We missed you so much!” Cried Laurence as he dove in and gave Annie a very awkward hug.
I wanted to run up and greet her too, but my body froze and I stood back and watched while everyone rushed towards her.
I suddenly recalled Tyson's words about her never wanting to see me again, and I lost the courage to approach her.
Who could blame her for not wanting to see me? She had every reason in the world to hate my guts.
If it wasn’t for me, the fox monster would have never come that night, and Annie wouldn't have been caught in the middle. If she had never met me, Annie would still be at school smiling and laughing with her friends instead of stuck in the hospital.
I anxiously clenched my shirt jacket with my fists, and looked at her while waiting for the moment where Annie’s eyes would make contact with my own. I was certain that she would flinch and cringe in fear before brushing me off and treating me like I didn't exist.
I turned to quietly walk away, but Annie finally looked up towards me and I felt the bottom drop from my stomach.
I knew what was coming. I was sure it was the moment where our friendship would finally end, and I would gain another mortal enemy who would look down at me with hatred and fear.
Annie pried Laurence’s arms off her and slowly made her way towards me. I could hear the grass crunch under her feet with every step, and I could already imagine my heart being crushed to pieces.
I clamped my eyes shut so that I wouldn’t have to witness her anger and disgust when she ripped me apart in front of everyone. But instead of punching me in the face, Annie reached out and took my hand. I opened my eyes to see her smiling at me like an angel.
“Thank you for trying to save me Michael,” she said. “It was my own fault that I got hurt. If I hadn’t dashed off without thinking I wouldn’t have gotten injured.”
I wanted to say something cool, but I was too overwhelmed with joy. I couldn’t believe that Annie was actually holding my hand. It felt warm and soft, but she had many rough calluses from her exorcist training.
I wanted to take hold of that hand and go skipping off into the sunset like a romance movie, but Katie quickly grabbed her other arm and began dragging her away.
“You have to see all the redecorating,” said Katie. “I finally managed to convince Akito to get rid of all that moldy junk he used to call furniture. Just wait until you see our room.”
I looked down at my hand which was still warm from her touch. It was the first time that Annie had ever wanted to hold my hand.
“See, what did I say?” Said Tyson with a smile as he patted me on the back. “It was all me. Didn’t I say that I would convince her?”
“Tyson, you are officially the greatest guy ever!” I cried out in joy and ran after the others.
I was over the moon that things were going to be normal between us again. I couldn’t believe that I’d ever given up on our fabulous future together. I knew deep down in my heart that someone as terrible as Isaac would never be able to keep the two of us apart.
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