Up ahead of them was Kwon and the others. Carl's muscular arm was wrapped around Adam's broad shoulders. Kwon was off to Adam's side and the three of them were laughing about something, a carefree expression on Kwon's face.
It was strange seeing such an expression on Kwon. Luna hated to admit it, but Kwon was rather good-looking. . .when he was scowling. But his looks still couldn't compare to Adam's. The two of them were like night and day when they were together. . or an angel and a devil for a more apt description.
Her eyes flitted back to Carl and the arm he had around Adam's shoulders. The two of them were so close together that there was hardly any separation between their bodies.
Luna stared at them until they disappeared around the corner and out of her sight. Her brows were furrowed together in concentration, and her lips puckered into a hard line as a strange feeling swept through her.
Why was Carl always with Adam? That shameless jerk was always stuck to Adam's side. It was a strange sight to see and it gave Luna pause every time she saw it. She hoped she was just being paranoid, but she was pretty sure that most boys weren't that touchy-feely with each other. Or were they?
"Do you think Carl likes Adam? Romantically?" She knew that Adam wouldn't view him that way since it was a known fact that Adam was a shameless flirt who hooked up with every girl he saw. Well, almost every girl. Luna was sadly the exception. Not that she wanted to be just another hookup to be crossed out in Adam's book.
But Carl.
She actually didn't know Carl's sexual orientation. Not that she really bothered with trying to get to know anything about him since he was just as big of a jerk as Kwon. . . though Carl was just a tad scarier than Kwon.
Isaac paused, causing Luna to stop walking. "No? No. At least I don't think so. I mean-he could? I have no clue if Carl is gay or straight. Never thought about it, and I never want to."
"Fair point," Luna conceded.
* * *
They were in the south corridor where all the science classrooms were located. Classmates bustled by, heading to and from the classrooms.
"Haha!" Adam laughed at a joke Mark had made while shoving him at the same time. Mark stumbled, his ankle twisting just enough to throw him off balance. He reached back to catch himself by grabbing onto Adam's arm, which was still extended out from when he had shoved Mark.
"Adam," Carl growled in warning. "He can't get an injury so close to the game."
Next Friday was an away game. It was against one of their most annoying competitors.
"He'll be fine." Adam waved off Carl's concern.
"He's right." It took a lot more than a light push to do any real harm to him, so Mark easily agreed with Adam. Carl was just being overprotective, a weird trait for the burly boy to have. And one that Mark was still not used to even after all these years.
"Oh, right! When did you and Moon Girl start dating?" At Adam's question, both Mark and Carl found themselves frowning.
"You're not actually dating her, are you?" Carl asked, his hazel eyes narrowing a hard stare at Mark.
And that was another thing that Mark couldn't get used to or figure out-Carl's animosity toward Luna.
Luna was actually a very well-behaved and nice girl. Albeit she was practically a loner and a bookworm. She was someone who would make a great daughter-in-law, despite her tomboy appearance. At least that's what his mother told him when she 'met' Luna during one of their games. Not that Mark didn't agree with his mother's assessment of her.
Maybe that was why Carl didn't like her? She wasn't like the other girls who preferred boys over books, parties over studying. But that still didn't explain the extreme animosity.
"I'm not," Mark answered Carl's question. "We decided to study for exams together."
"You don't need to study," Adam commented, starting to find the conversation rather boring.
Before anything else could be said, the door to Mr. Traskey's room opened. The teacher was walking out of the open doorway at the same time that a poor kid with baggy clothes and glasses that were way too big for his face took a tumble, tripping over an unseen foot.
Mr. Traskey, who had been looking at something in his hand, did not react in time. The tumbling classmate crashed into Mr. Traskey, sending whatever was in the teacher's hand flying.
Something purple flew through the air, landing on the ground right in front of them with a clatter. Mark was reaching down to grab whatever it was, when Carl's veiny hand snatched the object up before Mark's fingers could even reach it.
"What is it?" Adam asked.
Carl held the object up for them to see. It was a purple quartz that had been cut into the shape of a teardrop. Carved in the center of the teardrop was the Eye of Ra.
Mark leaned closer to get a better look at the small keychain. He could have sworn there was a faint glow coming from the Eye of Ra symbol in the center of the stone.
Carl moved away from him and Adam, the keychain clutched tightly inside his fist. The brown of his hazel eyes looked red as they narrowed into a furious-looking scowl.
"Teach!" Carl called out to Mr. Traskey, his voice sounding a lot like a snarl. Mr. Traskey, who had just finished righting himself and the student who had tumbled into him, looked over at Carl. "Catch!" He then tossed the keychain to Mr. Traskey.
"What was that?" Mark asked, finding Carl's behavior rather strange.
Carl's scowl smoothed out, though only minutely. "Stay away from him," he told them. "You better tell Luna to watch out too."
"Why?" Why did they have to watch out for Mr. Traskey? And why would Carl tell him to warn Luna?
Carl was still glaring at Mr. Traskey. And the strangest part was that Mr. Traskey was staring right back at them.
"I'm not sure," Carl growled low in his chest, the tone of his voice contradicting his words.
What was going on? And what had Carl figured out? And why was he refusing to tell them?
Mark wouldn't have been so concerned by his friend's strange behavior except for the fact that he was pretty sure that Carl either knew about or belonged to the magical world. The guy had dropped way too many hints for Mark not to be suspicious.