"I don't want to go to a party," she told Frida.
"Come on, Cassia. You never want to go to parties. It'll be fun!"
"You know I hate David. And I'd've thought that after he crashed Piece of Shit, you wouldn't be too wild about partying with him."
"Isaac'll be there."
"I've told you a thousand times. I'm not attracted to Isaac."
Jenna walked up, trailing Sam. "Are you guys talking about David's party? Are you actually gonna go, Cassia?"
"She's being resistant," abruptly, Frida turned to Sean. "New guy! Do you want to go to the party?"
He shrugged. "I don't really know anyone."
Cassia rolled her eyes. "God, you guys. Push much? David is an asshole, I hate parties, and all I want to do tonight is go home and sleep. Aren't those enough reasons to not go to the party?"
"You're being selfish, Cassia," Jenna chided. "This new guy doesn't know anyone, and the party would be a great place for him to make some new friends. But only if we're there. Because he has to go with someone he knows, or else it'll be awkward."
"To be fair," Sean said, "I don't really know you guys either."
"Bullcrap!" shouted Frida, throwing her arm around Sean's shoulders. "We're like, best friends already! Right?"
"Uh…"
"Dude," said Sam, finally seeming to register Sean's presence. "You're the guy with the hair!"
Sean sighed. "And you're the guy with the coffee."
"Yeah! Dude! He remembers me! DUDE! It's lunch hour! Let's go get more coffee!"
In wordless agreement, the group began to move in the direction of the front doors. Cassia fell back to walk beside Sean. "They're all going to the coffee shop down the street. We can go with them, or we can just go to the cafeteria here if you'd rather."
"I'm fine with the coffee shop."
They walked in silence for a few moments. Cassia felt uncomfortable. She loved her friends, but they were all a bit crazy and hard to handle, especially on a first day in a new place. Their energy, insistence, and total disregard for customs, rules and laws were hard to digest.
"Sorry about all of them," she finally said. "They're kinda hard to handle at first. Especially Sam. I swear to God, that boy is proving that caffeine is as dangerous of a drug to teenage health as meth."
He laughed a little. "It's okay. They're all nice. It's sort of refreshing, to meet people who are that open. And Sam's fine. I knew someone a lot like him once."
A tinge of sadness had crept into his voice. She looked at him close, and noticed a peculiar look in his single eye, but it was gone almost as soon as she noticed it.
"So…do you move around a lot or something?"
He sighed. "Yeah. I'm never in one place for too long. It's…complicated."
She didn't want to press him. After all, she knew complicated. "I get that."
Silence.
"So…if you don't mind me asking, what's with the eye patch? Is it, like, there for a reason, or is it some sort of fashion statement?"
He stared at her for a moment, then burst out laughing.
"Fashion statement? God, I wish it was a fashion statement! No, it's because of my eye. I'd rather not go into detail. But, I've gotta ask, do a lot of people wear eye patches as fashion statements here?"
She laughed too. "No, not really. But you see things, you know? Some people come to school in cosplay every day. There's a guy here who dresses like the Doctor…you know, from Doctor Who? He even has a messenger bag that looks like a TARDIS. There's this hipster chick who wears saris and Doc Martins every day, and she's not even Indian. And you should see what some of the Goths wear! I mean, it just wouldn't be that unusual if you were wearing it for fun."
He considered that for a moment. "That's weird. I guess I shouldn't be surprised. I mean, I've seen a lot. But…still." He regarded her for a moment. "You're a lot like him, you know. You're a lot like Allen."
"Who?"
But as she looked at him, his face turned from open and happy to cold and completely stony. It was like he had pushed all his emotions away, like he'd gone completely empty. It was eerie to watch, and she felt a sudden pang of sorrow for him, though she didn't know exactly why. Moments later, the curiously empty look was gone, replaced with a false-looking smile.
"So. Coffee?"
"Right, " she said, still wondering what exactly was going on in his head. "Coffee."
The Frida girl was staring at him.
"So Cassia has dance next," she said. "You can't be taking dance. So what's your next class?"
His mind was still whirling over the slip-up earlier. He'd said his name. His name. What had he been thinking? How could he have let it happen?
A pool of blood, a limp hand falling from his wrist, a small, sad smile.
No.
He swiveled his hips slightly, taking care not to spill his overly full coffee cup.
"Maybe I am taking dance. Why, would that surprise you?"
So he was back to being the joker, the nice guy, frivolous and friendly. Just as he had been then.
She laughed. "Okay, dude. So you're a great dancer. But seriously."
He stopped swiveling his hips.
"AP Geography."
"Dude! That's my class! Sweet! Thank God you're in it now, it was full of total losers. Finally, someone else cool's in it!"
"I'm not that cool."
She laughed again. "No, you're not. But next to the people in that class…well, you'll see what I mean."
And he had to admit that he did, even though he didn't generally judge right away. The class was full of slackers sleeping in the back and way too eager kids sitting up in the front. Frida looked completely out of place in the group.
As soon as the first bell rang, the teacher yelled from her corner, "Current Events, guys! Get going!"
"Oh, damn," Frida whispered. "It's Current Event Friday. Most boring day ever. Get ready to fall asleep quick." She winked, then laid her head on her desk. Sounds of even breathing ensued almost immediately.
Soon enough, he could see why. Kid after kid stood up, droned for three minutes about a newspaper article, then sat down again. Soon it was Frida's turn.
"So my article was about all the political stuff that's going on right now, because there's nothing else in the newspaper, ever. Anyway, it was mostly about Mark Evanston, who's the frontrunner in the polls around the West right now. It's really weird, cause he's running as a Democrat, and he's totally dominating Republican strongholds like Utah and Idaho and Wyoming. What's even weirder is that he's the CEO and creator of this major multi-billion dollar computer company. And I'm not trying to generalize here, but guys like that usually run as Republicans. Anyway, most of you have probably heard of the company. Most of you probably own computers developed by them. N.O.A.H."
Most of the room nodded at the words.
"Yup. Pretty big powerhouse, in direct competition with Apple. N.O.A.H.'s gonna take over the world!" She fake-swooned dramatically, then stood up straight. "That's it, I guess."
The class applauded dully, and she sat back down, grimacing at him.
The teacher stood up. "Frida's brought up a very good point there. Mark Evanston is a political surprise, and an utter powerhouse." She walked over to the board and pointed to the front page of The New York Times, which was tacked up. A massive photo of a man's smiling face dominated the display.
The teacher continued to talk, but he stopped hearing her.
That face. The face of that man, or god, or whatever he could be called. The face that had once looked into his eyes and laughed as he'd been crushed and tortured. The face that had spat at his feet as he cried, begging for it to end.
The man…the man that had killed him, and so many others. The man that he had comforted himself in thinking dead.
White hair, turned red by blood.
Stretching fingers.
"Is it over, Lavi?"
He bolted from his chair and practically ran out of the room, shouting back to the teacher, "Sorry! Feel ill suddenly!"
He didn't stop till he reached the bathroom, till his hands and knees were resting on dirty blue tile and his head was suspended over a toilet.
The tile was cold, cutting through his pants and freezing his hands. Much colder than it should have been…not tile at all…
…he was chained to a stone wall. It radiated cold, freezing him down to the bone, the effects only highlighted by the cold, heavy chains wrapping around his appendages.
Everything he saw was through a shade of red. Leering faces, laughing him. And one. That one.
"Bookman still refuses to speak on the topic of the 14th."
An angry blow crashed across his cheek.
"So we'll have to punish you again."
"I told you already," he croaked. "He doesn't care. He won't speak to save me."
"Perhaps if he witnesses your punishment firsthand…"
Then, pain. And through that, the laughs of the man. And through that, the angry cries of another, a voice that he knew well. Sorrowful, yet still refusing to speak. For that, he was grateful. He didn't want to be the cause of the betrayal of his…dare he say it?...friends.
"Where is the 14th?" asked the man. " What is his history? What are his weaknesses? Do you know where Allen Walker is? Tell us, Bookman! Where is he?"
And then, suddenly, it stopped, all of it, and light filtered through the darkness. He managed to open his eyes a crack and saw in the doorway three figures, the one in front emanating such brightness that he winced and had to turn away.
"The 14th's so close, " said a new voice. "But I'm afraid he's not in right now. Just me. Sorry to disappoint."
His lips formed the word, though he was unable to speak it out loud—"Moyashi".
Another voice in his ear, female, whispering something comforting. And then, the pain was gone, and he was warm. And he slept.
But he dreamt of the man's eyes. He would never forget the eyes, laughing derisively as they destroyed him. He couldn't forget them, even after they were gone. Even after they were dead. Even after he stopped caring about anything and everything. Even after they became nothing more than ink marks on a page.
He couldn't forget those eyes.
Please please please review! I'm really unsure of this chapter…it's kinda drabbleish and fillery. I promise stuff'll happen in the next chapter. But what I want to ask is: are the flashbacks working? Are they giving an adequate sense of his inner turmoil, and what happened to him and everyone else without giving away too much? Please tell me what you think!
Also, the last flashback is, of course, the whole "Lavi and Bookman got captured by the Noah and Lavi's being tortured by Sheryl (or whatever that guy's name is)" thing. Remember that? Yeah, I know. Feels like ancient history. I had to write something about it, considering that particular plot point has been MIA in the manga for, like, AN ENTIRE YEAR. RAAAGGEEE.
Also, sorry for any stupid mistakes. Está muy tarde.
Thanks for reading and the nice reviews! Hope you like!
