"Mason! MASON!" Dan shouts, sprinting down the A6 towards his best friend. Mason turns slowly, taking off his large black headphones. Turning the volume down, he waves and smiles and his friend's approaching body. This had become their routine now: every day Dan would be let out of his car on the side road just after Mason turned the corner, oblivious to anything but his blaring music. Dan would then run after him, trying with all his might to get his attention. This morning was extremely special though: Dan had had an exciting development in the night.
"Damn it, Mason! How many times have I told you not to turn your volume up full? And to WAIT FOR ME?" The blonde boy scolds him, lightly punching his raven-haired friend on the arm. Mason provides no resistance, opting to simply run a hand through his hair, messing it up even further.
"Yeah, sorry Dan. I keep forgetting." He says in his usual indifferent tone "I like your hair today. The new look suits you."
Dan gently touches his gelled, swept-back head. "You really think so? A lot of people didn't think so on Instagram."
"Maybe you shouldn't make a post that looks like an indie band's album cover then." Mason quips and is rewarded by another punch on the arm. He only laughs and wraps his headphones up as the two enter the school's front group. Dan suddenly remembers why he ran after Mason faster than usual today.
"Mason, we need to go somewhere private. I have something to tell you." He tells him as they walk through the quad.
"No can do, I'm afraid," Mason states "Olly AND Georgia have already texted me to meet them in their forms."
"Oh yeah. They told me as well. But this takes priority." A thought strikes him like thunder. "I'll just come with you. I can tell everyone then."
"Good idea." Mason says and the duo set off, Mason's hair bouncing up and down as he jump-walks across school. His is the walk of someone who has huge athletic ability but wants to keep it concealed. The two arrive at the Woodsmoor building at the far side of school, where the English, History and Classics classrooms are located. Walking up the stairs, Dan opens the door of Georgia's form and the two find the rest of their friends already gathered.
Olly sits on two chairs that almost brings him to the height of the others. Even with his ridiculously styled hair, he is at least half a foot shorter than everyone else. Alice stands next to him, not needing extra height as she is taller than them all, with Mason's hair reaching her forehead. On her right, sitting on a table to conceal her diminutive size, is Georgia. Mason takes one look at her and a torrent of sadness opens up inside him. He is still taken aback by her staggering beauty, standing stock-still as he drinks in her magnificent form. Her long, blonde hair cascades down her face, twirling inccessently like ribbons. It is different today, though. All the time Mason had known her, Georgia's hair had either been swept back and allowed to fall down her back or tied in a long ponytail. There had been one case of plaits, but they had all agreed never to talk about that again. However, half of Georgia's hair is made up differently, hanging down over the left side of her face. This frames her visible side quite wonderfully, and the sight makes Mason's heart flutter uncontrollably. Studying her face further, he finds himself thinking familiar thoughts, like his admiration for how beautiful she can look without a hint of make-up, a startling comparison to the girls in his year who drench themselves in the stuff but cannot hold a candle to her.
God, how did he let such a perfect girl go?
He is jolted back to the present by Alice's voice.
"Nice of you two to finally join us," she says in her usual passive-aggressive manner "We've been waiting for ages."
"Well, I'm sorry we didn't arrive exactly on time," Dan replies, again feeling his hair for signs of errors "But since We're all present, why are we delaying further?"
"Fine," Olly says, stretching in an attempt to make himself look taller "Last night I had an amazing experience, and it was shared by Georgia, from what I know"
The very statement makes Mason tense up. Are Olly and Georgia dating? Even worse, did they spend the night together? He resists the urge to pick the boy up and throttle him, but is determined to remain calm. He forces a laugh.
"What, did she join your furry pack?" He jokes, and Dan claps a hand over his mouth to stifle a laugh.
Olly's face tightens slightly, but his jubilant smile remains. The wolf furry rumours have long since subsided, but Olly takes them in good grace anyway.
"No, but the offer's still open," he retorts, then remembers what he set out to say. "Oh yeah! What happened last night! Well, I think it's easier if I just show you."
He shuts his eyes and concentrates, pudgy little hands squeezed into fists. After some laboured breathing, he finally lets out a huge sigh, not dissimilar to the one Mason himself let out when the exams finished. Following this, Olly opens his eyes to a gasping and shell-shocked group.
Both of the small boy's eyes have changed. Instead of the calm whit sclera of the former Olly, pitch-black circles now rest in his face. Inside them are bright, demonic red pupils, sending red spiderwebs rampaging across the sclera and continuing across his skin for a short while. His friends look on in horror as Olly only chuckles.
"Pretty cool, right?" He gushes, gesturing at his new feature. "I'm a full-blown ghoul!"
Dan backs away, eyes wide in his sweating face.
"I-I'm not the only one?" He stammers, wiping the sheets of perspiration from his forehead.
"What do you mean, Dan?" Alice enquires, peering at him "are you a ghoul too?"
"Yeah... It happened last night..." He begins and staggers, only to be caught by Mason, who places him on a desk with almost no thought. Sighing, the boy continues.
"I was lying in bed when I started feeling sick. Like, really sick. So, I ran to the bathroom and puked up all of yesterday's food. It was disgusting... It just kept coming and coming..." He once again wipes his face and Mason looks at him with sympathy. He knew of his friend's plan to eat as much food as he could to counteract his prominent thinness, against his advice. When Dan composes himself, he carries on.
"Then I looked up at myself in the mirror, and..." Without warning, his eyes change too. The normally blue irises are flooded by the red, bloody material as his sclera transform. Mason stares, shocked that his best friend kept this from him, even if it is only for a day. Dan seems ashamed of his new form, blinking the ghoul eyes away almost as soon as they appear.
"I threw my food up too," Olly confirms, then a look of excitement crosses his face "go on Georgia. Show everybody what you showed me."
Blushing, Georgia looks away from the rest of the group, blushing. The sight gives Mason a strange fluttering in his stomach. He is unable to drag his gaze from her and hopes it isn't too obvious. Eventually, the girl straightens up and takes a breath. Without speaking, she too begins to change. However, unlike the others, only her left eye transforms, darkness engulfing it. At this, Mason utters an audible gasp. Georgia, a ghoul?! And a one-eyed ghoul at that, just like... him...
A smile spreads across the boy's face for the first time in weeks. His beloved Georgia is the same as him. One-eyed ghouls are more powerful than regular ones. Than Dan and Olly. If she knows about him, she would like him over them again. It's almost poetic.
He's jolted back to reality to Alice's face. The girl's eyes are also ghoul eyes by now, but there's something different. Her usually strong and determined face is stretched thin and is covered in small beads of sweat. Mason has quite a good idea of what's happening: the newly formed Rc cells in Alice's body are overwhelming it. It's probably to do with the lack of gluten in her diet. The ghoul expert in him knows that she'll adjust in time, but he imagines it must be tough on her. Staying silent while they excitedly discuss the experience, each one of them going through roughly the same thing, Olly finally asks the thing that has been playing on Mason's mind for some time.
"So, have any of you done a kagune yet?" He gushes, looking from one face to another quickly. The appendage exclusive to ghouls has always been a fascination to the boy, himself wanting nothing more than one of his own. However, Mason can tell by the look in his friend's eyes that he hasn't obtained one yet. He's answered by multiple head shakes and questioning looks at the other kids. Mason knows this would be the case, though. A ghoul cannot activate their kagune until at least a day after they consume their first sizable meal. Common ghoul knowledge.
Snapping out of his dream-like state, he realises the rest of his friends are staring at him, all except Georgia, who is trying to concentrate on her phone. A sharp stab of loneliness and loathing slices through him. Had he screwed things up so bad that she won't even acknowledge him? He wants to reach across the room right now, hold her and tell her all the things running through his head, but he can't. It's like his throat is wrapped in a vice and whenever he tries to speak, it tightens. Looking away, he realises that they're expecting him to say something, perhaps to tell of his own ghoulish experience. Instead, he poses a different question.
"You know we have to keep this quiet, right?" He asks, with a particular glance at Olly. They all know how the boy likes to talk to his "popular" "friends". The others follow suit and he holds up his hands.
"Hey! As if I'd tell anyone! I'm mixed up with this too, you know!" He exclaims, and they look away from him. Mason can see that Dan doesn't look convinced and shares the feeling with his best friend. Casting another eye over the group, Mason's gaze lingers a little longer on Georgia before the bell rings, signaling the start of morning school. Dan jumps, cursing under his breath.
"Gotta go, guys. I need to get to maths." He stammers, rushing out of the room to the other side of school. Olly follows suit, walking out of the room where Georgia and Alice stay. Mason slowly walks out, saying nothing and trying not to make his staring at Georgia too obvious. As he closes the door behind him, he finds Olly waiting for him outside the door. The two begin to walk together, and it isn't long before the gossip-mongering begins.
"What's the deal with you and Georgia, then?" Olly starts, staring deep into his friend's eyes. Mason tries to keep his composure in vain.
"What do you mean?" He asks, not meeting Olly's accusatory gaze. "No deal."
"Don't be like that!" Olly replies, sniffing out some gossip "You were staring at her all morning!"
"No, I wasn't!"
"You WERE, my friend. I mean, you usually stared at her a lot when you two were going out, but you swore to me that you'd forget about her."
Olly isn't the smartest of their friends, but even he can see through Mason's futile attempts at deception. He playfully shunts Mason, sending the tall boy into the wall with next to no resistance. He recovers and instantly pushes him back.
"What did you do that for?" He asks, and Olly grins.
"Because you lied to me! You told me you didn't have feelings for her anymore!" The small boy responds, tending to his enormous quiff.
"I don't! What are you on about?" Mason retaliates, his cheeks filling with colour "Me and Georgia are in the past. Done. It's ancient history." However, even as the words escape his mouth he knows he's convincing himself rather than Olly. His friend's eyes close in suspicion, but soon widen again.
"Ok... if you're sure..." He says, reaching up to pat Mason on the shoulder as they stop outside his form room "just come to me if you need any advice."
"I will, don't worry." Mason replies, discarding the fact that Olly has never had a serious girlfriend and the rumor circulating about his activities with a certain second year. The two say their goodbyes and Olly walks off, leaving Mason in form with the kids he doesn't like.
The rest of the day passes slowly. Mason daydreams through most of it, thinking of Georgia, his kagune, Georgia, the other kids, Georgia. When the bell finally rings for the end of the day, he bolts out of the door, ignoring Jake and Liam's conversation starters as they begin to pack up their maths equipment. Rushing to Fred's shed, he finds the rest of his friends waiting as per their lunchtime agreement. Alice is the first to see him, exhaling sharply.
"Late again! What's up with you today?" She asks, blowing a loose strand of hair away from her face. Mason shrugs and the group head off for Dan's house, the closest to school. They walk without hurry, looking like the least menacing gang of kids ever seen. They reach the crossroads between the main road and a backstreet, the former crowded by the state school kids.
The sight stops them cold and without speaking, they turn off the beaten track and into the alley, avoiding the potential jeers and name-calling. The alley is the epitome of dingy: trash lines every corner and flies every corner of that. Mason hears a faint rustling from his position at the back of the pack and turns around to investigate. Nothing. His gaze returns to the back of Georgia's head as he feels a little prick in his lower back.
It's barely anything, just a small tingle, until blackness clouds his vision and he crashes to the ground, his left arm outstretched. His eyes slip shut, briefly glimpsing a figure clad in a pure white robe before unconsciousness claims him. The figure is nothing, a shadow, but Mason can hear his words clear as day.
"Get them on the plane, Kaneki," It says, murky in the boy's mind "we leave in one hour"
With that, Mason's brain shuts down and he sinks into the darkness of the floor.