Timestamp: Flashstepper
No, reflection was Rose's thing, for Rose to do way over in Rainbow Falls. She could think about her day if she wanted to. But not him, thought Dave.
And yet, it was the need to reflect that kept him from falling asleep. Dave rolled from one end of the mattress to the other, pulling a blanket over his shoulder. He rolled again, switching back and forth between leaning over the edge of the bed and leaning over the edge of the bed. Didn't make any of the words go away in Dave's head. Didn't keep him from thinking, remembering events that really didn't need to be relieved. It wasn't cool of him one bit, and besides, wasn't one of the Japanese guys on Pesterchum a mind reader or something?
But it wasn't likely, Dave reminded himself, that a guy could read someone's thoughts all the way across the ocean. He sighed, squinting when the light from his phone screen showed him the time. 4:13 in the morning. Guess a coolkid could spare a little time for thinking about things that happened, then. Maybe without ending up in the past moment itself, though, like John was so keen on doing all the goddamn time. Yeah, that'd be great.
The cafeteria was cream walls and blinking LED lights, spiced curry air and noise. God, it was loud, with everyone talking over each other. Did anyone ever shut up in this Washington school? Dave wasn't complaining, though. If this was going to be the only lunch hour of the year where he wasn't cooped up in a teacher's classroom for flashstepping or some shit, he'd enjoy it as much as he could.
When it was his turn to get curry and whatever else the cafeteria was serving today, the lunch lady only squinted and frowned when pushing food in the coolkid's direction. She broke and remade eye contact every couple of seconds, from the part where Dave strode up to her to the part where he dropped the money into her hand and stepped off. Once he was out of the lineup, her shoulders relaxed and words spilled out of her mouth again. Some of the other kids waiting to get lunch were even doing the same thing - but while carving a space around that kid in the red hoodie.
Add ten to the pile of judgers, then. Dave walked on.
He caught a spot of blue hoodie in the corner of his eye, somewhere way over in the back of the hall. John couldn't be easier to pick out in a crowd.
"'Sup, John?" Dave asked.
"Oh, hey Dave!" John looked up from his lasagne, mouth still full of pasta and tomato sauce. He swallowed. "You're not in detention today! I can't believe it."
"It's a fucking miracle, that's what it is. So, John, are we going to talk about normal things like normal kids who have not – " Dave dropped his spoon, putting his fingers up in air quotes " – 'lived' through weird shit?"
"Oh come on, Dave! Let's put the quote-unquote 'weird shit' aside for a day. I mean, I could pull out my PDA and talk to Rose if I wanted to do that. And before you ask, I am not going to fall face-first into my pasta and end up in social class a couple of hours ago.
"Haha, nice," the coolkid answered.
The kids at the tables across from John and Dave's picked their food up, looking to eat further away from those two. Some even left the cafeteria entirely.
"So, is the new house you're staying in also filled with creepy puppets?" John asked.
"I fucking wish it was puppets. Instead it's a whole bunch of sport team jerseys and flags everywhere. The couple that decided to take me in really loves football, and I don't want to ask why." Dave took a shot of apple juice.
The chatter in the rest of the cafeteria was dimming.
"John, do you ever eat anything that's not baked? Ever?"
"Bluh. I don't even know why Nanna has a stove when all she uses is the oven."
Whispers. The other kids were whispering now, trying to be discreet about what they were saying. John and Dave weren't deaf, after all.
"So Mrs. Whatever-her-name-was keeps insisting she was pranked by someone. That something that has to do with you, John?"
"I told her, no! I didn't…" John stuck his fork in his food. "Dave, I think something's wrong around here."
Oh.
Haven't you guys seen the things that happen around those two? murmured someone from one table.
There's no way that kid in the blue hoodie is human. He's got snake eyes sometimes, and then he doesn't! Something from another table.
Don't let the shades fool you into thinking he's cool. That guy in the red hoodie – I'd bet a million bucks he's some sort of demon. Yet another whisper, and another in the same vein.
Dave lost his appetite.
End
