"We're gonna fail this project, Blake." "PFFT! As if! I'm telling you this baking soda volcano is our ticket to the top of the class!" Aaron skeptically eyed the chipping brown paint coated over a thick shiny layer of tin foil.
"Why did you put relish all over the base of the mountain?" He asked. "Those are bushes!" Eve pointed to the thin sheet of paper sitting under the monstrosity of a project. "Why did you use paper as the base?! Won't it dissolve as soon as we pour the vinegar and baking soda in?"
Blake pushed her away. "I'll just pour the baking soda in first obviously! Christ you're all a bunch of heretics! Why didn't you guys say anything BEFORE we put the project together!?" Aaron shoved his face in his hands as he counted the number of brain cells he just lost talking to Blake.
"Look if you guys wanna bail out I can present the project myself." Aaron's face lit up. "YES! Yes! YOU can present this thing to the class!" Aaron pointed at Noah who until now was mouth-deep in a bag of cool ranch Doritos. "Even he knows this is the stupidest thing to ever be created by humanity!"
Noah didn't answer but instead shoved another handful of chips in his mouth. "Okay! Be that way! But don't get mad at me when you guys get a zero on this!" Aaron smiled, "A ZERO is gonna be better than whatever you're gonna get for bringing THAT to class."
Annoyed, Blake shoved Aaron out of the way, his pace quickening as he turned the knob to enter the classroom. "Locked...guess we ARE late huh?" Eve face-palmed her tolerance with Blake wearing thin. "We wouldn't be late if YOU hadn't started a pencil war on the bus and got the whole bus sent to detention!"
Noah spoke through his loud munching. "Still don't-" CRUNCH "Understand how they got the whole bus to fit in the principal's office at once…" Slowly the classroom door opened and someone finally noticed the group's approach. Now came the worst part of arriving to class late...everyone awkwardly staring at you for no apparent reason.
As expected, Aaron and the others all caught shifty looks on the way inside a trademark of entering class behind schedule. "Well look who FINALLY decided to come to class! You were supposed to be presenting first, where were you?"
"Detention." Blake quickly answered before setting the baking soda volcano down on a nearby desk. "Oh really?" The teacher adjusted her stance trying to seem as disapproving as possible. "And might I ask why you were in detention?" "Well you see, Blake-" Aaron was quickly cut off by Eve. "War-mongering."
Who said it was wrong to hit a lady again? "War-mongering? That's your excuse! What are you, war criminals!?" Noah stuffed his empty bag of chips into his pocket, his dust-covered fingers signifying the end of his snack.
"I mean technically we're not really war criminals we're-" The teacher slammed her fist on the board, her patience quickly exhausted. "Get up here before I give you all a fat zero." Aaron rolled his eyes and fell in tow behind his group mates.
She might as well give us a zero…
Now standing front and center Noah, Eve, and Aaron stood awkwardly while Blake struggled to get the slide projector running. "Hurry up, they're all waiting…" Aaron whispered right before the screen flared to life, the title slide marking the beginning of what just might be the worst project in human history. The other three team members stepped back to give Blake the spotlight, a smart move by many accounts. "It's your show, Blake! Entertain the masses." Aaron mockingly said followed by Eve nodding richly. "Yes, show them your stupidity, please!"
I swear I can't tell if she's being sarcastic or if she's really that socially inept. You never know with this one…
Blake shrugged and walked to the front. "Alright then! Watch and you might learn something, plebs." Blake plopped the tin foil monstrosity on the table any hope for a good grade dying as he reached for the baking soda. "As you all know in nature there are these things called Volcanoes. Basically, they're giant mounds of dirt that shoot lava, not to be confused with magma into the air and-"
"We already know what a Volcano is!!" someone shouted to which applause was given.
"I have a feeling that'll be the only applause we hear this time around." Aaron jokingly said right as Blake was regaining his cool. "To teach you about the POWER of the volcano I am going to show you just how an eruption would go down!"
Aaron watched in silence from behind silently berating Blake for his stupidity. His arm's folded Aaron considered taking a step forward only for his body to act in response to a sudden twinge of fear running through him. Aaron's muscles stiffened and he felt himself cramping as he tried to move forward as though held down by some imaginary force of gravity.
"Hey what's going-" CRASH!!! Shattered on the floor the board's monitor broke into a thousand shards, its old wires exposed and its corroding metal rusting even now. "Shit! Now they're gonna blame me for it!!" Normally a teacher cussing would warrant at least some response from a room filled with such immature vessels but one quickly finds that Aaron's school isn't exactly what you'd call an upstanding establishment.
"Well guess I'm going to have to deal with this now! Congratulations, Blake! You get to wait an extra two days for me to thoroughly crisp this obscene project of yours. Back to your seats!" The instruction only barely scraped the surface of Aaron's mind as he mindlessly walked back to his seat on autopilot.
If that just fell on my head I would have been seriously injured. But how did I know that? No, that's not true. I didn't know. the thought never even crossed my mind but...it's like the rest of my body did somehow. That thought to stop, Blake...it wasn't just a fleeting thought...I MADE the order to approach him...and my legs didn't listen. It was short but for just a moment there I could feel myself pushing against my own weight. If that didn't happen I undoubtedly would have stepped forward and into harm's way. So what stopped me? Why didn't I move forward? How did I KNOW not to move forward?
Once again questions without answers a conclusion the boy was getting weary of especially with Eve's ever-present eyes melting the back of his skull.
Geez old, Titchener was right. You really CAN feel when someone is looking at you…
Aaron slumped back into his chair and shut his eyes vaguely aware of the teacher leaving the room presumably to secure a new monitor.
These damned lights. Makes it impossible to sleep! The hope of relaxation dashed, Aaron opened his eyes to a dark shadowy figure looming over him bright emerald globes of light where their eyes should be. Aaron had come to know what such an ominous presence was.
"What do you want, Eve?" He sighed. "I'm just making sure you're okay!" She said more insulted than Aaron would have expected. "Oh…well…uh…" Aaron was caught off guard but pulled himself together before things got awkward. "Thanks," he said, putting his feet up on the desk,"Least we get a free period out of it, eh?" Eve didn't say anything and walked back to her desk.
Wait, now's the perfect time to ask her.
He'd debated with himself for a while but Aaron in the end Aaron concluded that he wouldn't get any answers by just letting himself be flooded by more and more problems one after another.
"Wait a second." Eve turned around her face placid.
This time he'd be the one seeking her out. "Does this key mean anything to you?" Swinging from the key chain he attached it to, Aaron brandished the rusted key he found on his windowsill the other night. "I found this on my windowsill Sunday night, and I've been keeping it on me since."
Eve shot him a skeptical look. "You've been carrying around a rusty key for three days? I wouldn't advise picking up things you find on the ground, especially something like that," she chided sitting on his desk. "I didn't find it on the ground, I found it on my windowsill and I know I closed my window." Aaron stared longingly at the key. "That's not all though, I saw someone run through our driveway after I found the key."
Eve waved him off, "that could have been anything. An animal or just your mind playing tricks." Aaron scowled, "even animals don't like the smell of salmon casserole. Well…maybe only when it's cooked by my mom."
"Is that why you didn't eat anything when you were at my house?" Eve smiled sinisterly, having caught him in a compromising position. "You're evading again." Aaron said his gaze hard and his words putting Eve off balance. "What do you mean again…?" She asked innocently. "I mean you're an evasive person in general, except when it comes to others, then you become incredibly pervasive. On the day you met me you read me like a book and then didn't say another word to me."
Aaron dangled the key in front of her face, his eyes widening, "You answer questions with questions and give answers that confuse people more than they already were." Moisture began to rise onto Eve's skin, "I-I don't know what you're-" Aaron cut her off, "And then on the bus the other day you said your family didn't want to meet my mother. What was that about?"
Eve was breathing heavily. "Well because they already met your mother, how else would they invite you over?!" Aaron put the key back into his pocket. "No, no no, you meant something by that. You always mean something by something and I'm getting to the bottom of it." Eve looked to the side, her expression fading from apathy to one of panic or desperation.
"You never answered my question."
Eve looked back at Aaron pulling on her sweater's collar as sweat dripped down her. She's sweating? She must be feeling the heat then. I'm getting close to something. "So tell me. What does this key mean to you?"
Eve winced at Aaron who showed her no mercy, no recourse, his eyes digging into her. She opened her mouth to speak but then closed it, she did so a couple more times as though thinking carefully about what to say.
Finally her face hardened and that cold demeanor returned. "Aaron…are you religious?" Aaron groaned, "Stop changing the-"
Eve put a hand up, "Let me finish. What I'm about to say is going to involve a lot of concepts about spirituality and morality in general." Aaron titled his head at Eve, the girl was making less sense than usual and she made zero sense to begin with.
"Every single person from the beginning of time had a destiny tangent on their character, and every single person from the beginning of time had a character dependent on the comprehension of their own." Eve forcefully took Aaron's hand in hers, "Our fate as people are inexplicably but undeniably linked with our desire, and our understanding of desire." Eve locked her fingers with Aaron's and drew closer to where her face was mere inches from his.
"The power of our desire, the weight in our words, we attract not what we want out of life. But rather we attract what we have afforded ourselves. You could want a life of great riches and prosperity but live as an impoverished servant if you don't have the willpower, the passion to get those riches."
Eve poked Aaron in the chest, her fingernail digging into his chest. "You could be the smartest, most attentive person in any room at any time and still accomplish nothing if your words are unweighted, your mind unfocused, your spirit un-trained." Aaron had dropped the look of confusion and now just listened attentively. That didn't help him to understand much however.
"Eve…what are you trying to say here?" Eve crossed her legs and she leaned further onto Aaron's desk. "Aaron. Did you meet a man named Luccas?" Aaron nearly fell out of his chair. "H-How do you?"
"Mmmmm…so he's making his move sooner than I thought…guess I'll have to improvise." Aaron stood up. "Wait, what do you mean improvise? And move? What are you talking about? What do you know about this key-" It was then Aaron noticed the shift in weight within his pocket, it was miniscule something most would pass by but to Aaron who prided himself on the small details who heard everything, saw everything he was alerted right away.
"What did you do with the key you filthy pickpocket…?" He seethed through grit teeth. "You saw that? No that's not possible, not yet. You must have felt the weight leave your pocket. That's incredible! Maybe you aren't as inept as I thought."
"Oh my God your such a fucking loon! Now gimme the damn key!" Aaron reached for Eve's right hand where she presumably had it given she pulled it out of reach. In a blur of motion the girl's left hand had grabbed his wrist with frightening strength, so much that it threatened to crush his bone to pieces.
Aaron bit down on his jaw to keep from yelping as Eve pulled him forward, her body faintly shimmering with a bright blue sheen made of coursing energy. In the brief instant he saw it the aura flowed like water and with it Eve's strength increased as Aaron was pulled from his seat and over Eve's shoulder effortlessly.
She's strong! She's fast! And she's glowing! She's fucking glowing! Why is she glowing! What is wrong with this damn town-
With tremendous force enough to shake the room or what seemed like the entire building, Eve slammed Aaron through the desk adjacent to them, splinters cutting into his back as the wind was pushed out of him and the light was ripped from his eyes while his head spun and his body cried out in horror.
Despite all that had happened, all that had led up into that throw, it happened in an instant so fast that signals couldn't reach his brain and then his muscles.
Honestly after a throw like that I probably should have conked out completely. I mean she slammed me through a desk, yesterday I nearly got knocked out by a damn trash lid.
Sitting up in the pile of shattered wood Aaron melted under the pointed stares he received from his classmates. "My guy got dropped AGAIN." Noah's laughter came out as a wheeze as he ended the recording.
How does that guy always have his phone out at these split second moments? If he could run as fast as he pulled out his phone maybe he'd lose a couple hundred pounds.
The classroom door flew open and Coach Hal, known for having the most durable vocal cords of all time stood in the doorway, his face red with rage. "What in the good holy name of jove are you ingrates doing in here?!" On autopilot every finger in the room pointed at Aaron who was still processing how a girl with the muscle mass of a rotten chicken wing threw him through three solid inches of wood.
"TROY! PRINCIPAL'S OFFICE!" What was it with coaches and calling people by their last name? And then when they act as a sub for another class they start addressing people on a first name basis.
Perhaps remaining on a last-name basis makes the torture of physical exercise impersonal.
"Why am I the one getting sent to the Principal's office?! I'm the one who got thrown through a desk!" Clark scowled at Aaron, "That's what you get for trying to cop a feel!" Aaron would have shouted if his head wasn't still throbbing, "What are you on about?" Blake made his disgust known, "Don't try to act dumb! You're not slick, we all saw you try to get a grip on those chesticles and get flattened for it!"
The class erupted with murmurs, rumors carried on the wind, lies produced by ignorant lips, and all of it fell on Aaron who still couldn't believe what was happening. "Well, then we'll ask the fair lady." Coach Hal brought the class to attention. "Miss, did Aaron Troy assault you?" Everyone turned to Eve who sat cross-legged on Aaron's desk, her face expressionless and her emerald eyes cold.
Aaron looked up at Eve, his face plastered with fear and horror, his eyes silently pleading with Eve's dark and empty pupils. Her eyes were cold, colder than ice, colder than evil because there was something that was worse than to inflict harm upon another, a thing worse to inflict trauma, inflict pain that one might grow from, there was something worse than even that…
Apathy. Nothingness. A void. An enigma. A bystander.
Eve's eyes bore down on Aaron a certain weight to the apathy behind them.
"No. No, he did not."