"Substitute," I muttered under my breath and whirled around to look at the person.
I wasn't surprised when everyone was staring straight at the stranger. Tanned complexion, raven hair, messy and just all over the place. His shirt was buttoned wrong and half of the hem was untucked. But his eyes… his eyes were just like mine. While Esmé was still chatting with Helen and batting her eyelashes and stuff, she somehow had an eye in the back of her head because later on at lunch, she literally remembered every single detail about him.
"Hi guys," He said confidently, "I… am Mr. Brunner's substitute for the rest of semester. Call me Mr. Jackson."
The substitute –Mr. Jackson– continued with his introduction, opening his laptop, sitting down and the chair squeaked.
"Did Mr. Brunner plan out anything for today?" Esmé raised her hand. When the professor didn't bat an eye, she squealed in delight.
Weird.
The class went silent. No one wanted to remind him that we have a test today, even Helen, who was supposed to remind the professors of the tests and exams. "I don't think we have anything today," Helen–that girl's kinda… nevermind–uttered, "…sir".
"Right," Mr. Jackson said, attempting a scowl, though I could see the blush creeping into the hollows of his cheeks. "Anyway, Mr. Brunner left these assignments for you to finish."
Right at that moment, I started doubting the qualification of this 'professor'. Mr. Brunner rarely gave us any work, mostly because he knew that we had dyslexia, unlike a certain someone (the name starts with 'Will'. Physics, I think, he teaches Physics and… did you guess it? This is going nowhere).
After the announcement, he shuffled out from behind his desk and started handing out the worksheets. When it was my turn, he stared at me like I had a giant spider on my face. Honestly, if you squinted, we kinda looked alike. But the more I thought about it, the more it felt like I was in some weird sitcom.
***
The assignments were mostly Yes/No questions.
I reread a question under my breath:
Question 17: Ded Hades ch-eat on Purse-e-pho- wait… what?
Dead Hades eat on Purse and phone? What the hell?
There wasn't exactly an I don't know option, (I mean, who the hell is Purse-e-phone?) so I decided to leave it and come back to it once I was done with the others. Right at that moment, Nebby spun around to face me, she opened her mouth to say something but then glanced at my paper. "What about that question?" She murmured.
"Huh?" I asked, my eyes not leaving the sheet. "What question?"
"The answer to 17 is obviously 'Yes'."
"I'm dyslexic, y'know." I muttered, frowning. "Also, it's se… oh, it is 'Yes'."
"We both are, idiot," She said, fixing her hair as she put her pen down and let out a long sigh, "I give up."
***
Time passed slowly and that did not go well for my brain. The letters kept dancing around and after this, I do not think I would be able to walk straight ever again. I finally finished the sheet and rubbed my temples. Just then, the bell rang and I collapsed onto the table. Not because I was tired, well, I was tired, but to recharge my social bar because I was going to do something that may come off a bit weird.
"No homework for the week," The substi–Mr. Jackson (Y'know what? I think I'm just gonna call Mr. Jackson The Substitute from now on) announced.
I waited for the others –all except for Esmé– to hurry off for lunch break, then grabbed Nebby's wrist tightly and forced her to follow me to where The Substitute was.
Nebby yanked her hand back to unwrap a gum but accidentally ripped it open instead. "Shoot. Girl, you want some?"
"No thanks." I muttered, not taking my eyes off my 'target'. I had only one chance to ask this question because this is our only Greek Mythology class for the week. "I'm good."
Nebby shrugged and plopped the whole thing into her mouth while I grabbed her other wrist and pulled her in with me. I need someone to at least talk to if this ends in him just looking at me like I was something alien. Ooh, the word is humiliation, ugh, how come I never figure out the good, juicy words? (Note: you don't even read.)
I lightly tapped on his shoulder , trying to get his attention but it didn't seem to work. Finally, my patience ran out so I yelled instead, which worked perfectly fine, if you ask me, "The Sub- I mean, Mr. Jackson, may I ask you some questions?"
The man whirled his chair around to face me. I noticed that he had fixed his suit, shoving it into his pants. "Sure, ask away."
"Oh… um… you haven't told us your full name yet… sir." I tried phrasing it into a statement instead, since I do have quite a lot of questions for him.
"Ah," He seemed quite uneasy with this topic, even though it was only his name, "My name is actually… Perseus Jackson."
Perseus… my brain was still processing this information… But why Perseus? That's not exactly a formal name. Also, it reminds me of… wait, who again?
Trying to forget about the puzzled teacher while walking away even though questions started popping up as soon as I did was hard. Just as I was about to slip the bag onto my shoulder, Nebby chimed in, kicking me in the shins while she was at it. "Girl, you forgot to tell this guy something." She then dragged me back into the classroom and dropped me there like a bag of luggage.
"There's something Mr. Brunner wanted us to tell you, Mr. Jackson." I said slowly, not knowing what to say. I just thought I'd use the last of my brain cells for this question. We'll be doing the test sooner or later anyways so… why not next week?
"Really?"
"Uh, we have a test next week, I think."
"Oh?" He mumbled, nodding slightly. "Ah, yes. I see."
I quickly said goodbye and slung the bag over my shoulder and made my way to the cafeteria with Nebby behind my tail.
***
We walked into the cafeteria and the cold air brushed my skin. It was finally lunch break and now we can finally enjoy our school li-
"Ugh! I swear to God, why did it have to rain today?" A voice interrupted my thoughts and I whipped around. Esmé stood by the doorway, her hair, clothes were damp and she was shivering. "Do not question me."
"No need. Just looking answers my self-made questions." I smirked, trying to stop myself from laughing.
"I slipped and fell into a–" She continued anyway, deliberately contradicting herself but then got cut off by none other than Helen.
"Did Mr. Jackson assign any homework?" Helen said with a serious expression. "He's weird. Also, Esmé, what did you wanna say?"
"Like I said, I slipped and–" And then she got interrupted once again.
"This girl over here tried to do a Q&A with the teacher." Nebby said plainly, not looking up from her phone. "She got his name and it's something, I guess?"
I ignored their chirping and dipped my fries into ketchup, stuffing them all in my mouth at once. It's kinda good once you pick out the soggy ones.
"I mean, his eyes are pretty… But the thing is that they look kind of familiar." Esmé murmured, filing her nails and suddenly flinging the filer at Helen. Helen caught it.
"They did? I didn't notice." Helen shrugged.
"They looked exactly like-" Esmé nibbled on a fry and looked me deep in the eye.
"Mine." I finished the sentence for her. I guess I wasn't the only one who thought that.
"Ooh, do you think y'all are related?" Nebby blurted out, suddenly interested in the story. "I mean, your father left you –sorry– but the genes are definitely there. You didn't get your eyes from your mother, girl."
I frowned. She just had to ruin the vibe.
"Nebby, first, explain to me why you are dressed like this, will you? You look like you went to a funeral…" I bit my lips, ignoring everyone else and focusing on the tiny spider on the windowsill.
"Laughing." Helen murmured.
"Hear again?" Nebby stared at her in disappointment .
"You… um… how do I make this less offensive… You kinda look like you went from a funeral…laughing?" Helen chuckled nervously. "I mean, haha… you look kinda too… black? No, that's wrong…"
Esmé suddenly burst out laughing, setting down her Vaseline and patted Helen on the back. "Are you serious right now?" She took a light breather then continued with a glare. "How about we start talking about how Helen became a freaking LED light bulb in Physics class?"
"Please don't." Helen squeaked in embarrassment. "I'm not now, am I?"
"Wait, when did this happen?" Nebby leaned in, almost knocking over my drink. I scowled but my gaze didn't leave Helen. "Got a different schedule, sorry."
How did that happen anyways? Last time I checked, humans have not evolved that much, I thought while fumbling for my cup.
Maybe it was because I stayed up too late. I don't know…
"What exactly happened, Christal?" Nebby kicked me again.
"I… uh…" I glanced over at Helen for her approval. Helen took in a deep breath and nodded, not looking away from her chocolate pudding. "I kind of saw Helen …glow?"
"Christal." She repeated, glaring at me and putting down her Sprite.
"Fine. So in Physics, we," I gestured to Esmé then back to me. "witnessed something very strange. Helen over here was glowing."
"Don't forget about the owl." Esmé looked up from her mirror and added. "My turn. Why an owl?"
Everyone looked away and she groaned. "No one?"
"Any more weird circumstances lately?" I decided that I needed more information. Either from the Substitute or from these girls. I expected it to be Nebby, since she was kind of weird but no.
"Whispers. Like, everyday." Esmé was the first to reply and just now started to get some food.
"You hear them too? And here I thought I was going insane from having only 5 hours of sleep every single day." I mumbled and yawned. "And those shadows… they're creeping me out. Seriously." I shuddered slightly, remembering the shadows all those years, lurking around me…
"Girls, girls, look here." Whatever Helen tried to say, she did not get the chance to because Nebby interrupted her. "There's a section in the library named Mythology and there's this poster… I don't really remember much but it sounds good to me."
I tilted my head in curiosity while Helen started asking more questions about the place. I didn't really have the strength to actually go and exercise by taking the stairs so I just walked my way to my dorm. Thank God they gave us 2 hours of lunch break because the whole quiz thingy was tiring.
***
I overslept. At least for the next period I didn't have to read much since the teacher's pretty chill and everyday was movie day. I was alone at that time and I didn't feel like using my brain so I dozed off. The next few subjects too were the exact same.
The strange thing is that sometimes, when I wake up in the middle of the lessons, I see shadowy figures outside the window, again. But hey, after you've seen a person glow, nothing seems to make sense anymore.
***
Just as the last lesson came to an end, it was already time for dinner. Perfect timing since I was hungry and Nebby was very cranky.
We walked together in the corridor and straight to our dorm. On the way, I kept babbling about those shadows outside the window.
"Today was pretty strange, don't you think?" I muttered as I attacked a nearby rock.
"Tell me about it. Vivzie delayed the season 2 release!" Nebby grumbled. "And it's my comfort movie too!" She groaned.
"No, Neb, I was talking about those weird shadows and stuff… don't you think that it's really weird?" I smiled slightly, kicking the rock back and forth. "They kinda remind me of those Fantasy novels."
She didn't look like she was even listening at this point. She just suddenly knelt down and snatched the rock, shoved it deep in her pocket.
"What did you do that for?" I yelled, completely annoyed. That girl just took away my stress-reliever!
Before I could continue glaring at her, we were already at our destination. We then entered the cafeteria.