Everyone- high school
Jay made his way to his usual lunch area. A huge smile was plastered on his face. He had B lunch today, which meant he got to sit with his friends instead of alone. When he reached the cement blocks, he found that none of his friends were in sight, except for Neuro and Shade, but they were waiting for the doors of the TA to open so they could get to the student government meeting. He threw his bag onto the lowest concrete block and sat with this legs folded. Jay grabbed his sandwich out of his lunch box.

"Hey Jay," a voice called out from the clump of student government members. Jay looked up and saw Griffin hobbling towards him. The wrapper from Jay's sandwich blew off the block and onto the ground without anyone noticing.

"There you are," Jay commented, "I thought I was all alone."

"No, I'm here, just talking to somebody."

Jay spotted the wrapper. "Grab that!" Immediately after saying that, Jay felt bad since Griffin used the leg with a brace on it. Either way, Griffin handed the wrapper back to Jay, not really noticing the brace.

"How far did you get in the Spanish packet?"

Jay gave a snort. "That thing? You got farther than me, I saw your page in class."

"Oh, no. I skipped around a bit, did the ones I knew. Do you want to see them?"

Jay held his hand out to accept the papers from Griffin. He pulled his own packet out of his backpack and compared the two. "That's the difference between you and me, I have to go in order. It's an OCD thing." He copied down the words that he didn't have translated, which was everything past page three. "You can get the words I have when I'm done."

"Great! We can help each other out. It'll make my work easier, since I have play practice until six. Luckily, we're starting with Ursula's part today, so I should have some time."

Jay handed Griffin both packets. "I could translate the words for you and then send you a picture before six. That way you have less to do and can get some sleep. Ye know, since I have no social life."

Griffin's eyes lit up, "Really! That would be so much help. Thank you!" Play practice was taking up much of his time, and despite how much he liked it, he'd rather the stupid brace be gone so he could play soccer again and have a normal schedule.

"It's no problem. I have nothing to do after school anyway." Jay shrugged his shoulders and pulled out his dessert from his lunch box. A frown found its way onto his face when he discovered that the cream filled rolls were smashed. He held it up some Griffin could see."My dessert is smooshed."

Griffin nodded his head, not actually paying attention to his ADHD friend. "You're dessert is smooshed."

"I know that!" Jay unwrapped the dessert and ate it anyway, setting the wrapper under his shoe so that it wouldn't blow away in the wind.

Jay pulled his I-pad out of his back. He opened photos and searched for the pictures he took of his history book.

Griffin noticed this and pointed to his I-pad. "You know I have the History textbook if you want to use it."

Jay jumped up. "Really!"

"Yeah, it's in my locker. I'll have to go get it."

"No, no, no. I don't need it," Jay protested. He didn't want to have Griffin get up with a bad leg. "Do you know where Karloff is?"

"I don't. Maybe he's in the lunch line," Griffin suggested, pointing to the cafeteria.

Right then, Ash walked by with his food. Jay called to him, "Hey Ash. Have you seen Karloff?"

"Nope, can't say that I have," Ash answered. "Could you tell me if you see him? I need to ask him something."

Jay nodded his head. "Will do."

Griffin handed Jay back his papers. Jay took them and stuffed them in his backpack before turning back to his history work next to him. Griffin had taken to going through his lunch box.

"Move your legs," Jay whined. Griffin looked at him. "Just move back farther against that block over there. I want to sit here."

Griffin rolled his eyes, but moved anyway. Jay sat criss-cross on the corner the block, his history homework in his lap. He had a freshly sharpened pencil in his right hand and a granola bar in the other. Looking up from his work, he discovered that Karloff making his way toward them.

"There he is." Jay threw his arms up in the air. As soon as he said that, a strong gust of wind blew. Karloff smiled and pointed at air.

"Did you feel that? I got mad and the wind blew. I can control the freaking wind," Karloff boasted.

Jay rolled his eyes. "First off, you can't control the wind. Second off, why are you mad?"

Karloff pointed at Jay. "Because you said 'there he is' just like you did last week."

"I didn't call you annoying this time. I just said 'there he is' because we were waiting for you to show up." Karloff ignored Jay's words and started a side conversation with Griffin. Jay just rolled his eyes and picked up his trash. As he walked to the trash can, which was on the other side of the mall area, he called over his shoulder, "You can't control the wind."

When he came back to the lunch area, Griffin was slightly frightened and Karloff was laughing. Jay stopped in his tracks. "Did you feel that? Did you feel all that wind? I was mad and it sped up."

Jay rolled his eyes at Karloff. He continued to his seat, this time a slight bounce in his step. "I felt nothing." Jay stated simply, his voice edged with a sing-song sound.

Griffin turned to him. "I felt it. I think he can actually control the wind."

"Really Griffin? He can't control the wind." Jay pointed to Karloff, who had gone to talk to Camille and her group of friends. "This is just a coincidence. Don't believe what he says."

Griffin was going to say something, but Karloff returned and interrupted him. "Did you feel the wind? I was pretty angry over there."

"Whatever Karloff." Jay yelled.

Over by the auditorium, groups of two or three kids exited the TA, because the student government meeting was over. While Neuro made his way over to his friends.

Neuro placed his stuff on the bench behind Jay. Griffin called to him, "Karloff can control the wind."

Jay immediately protested, "No, he can't. Don't listen to 'em."

Neuro was taken back a little by the arguing, but immediately got over it since it was a daily occurrence. "Karloff, you can't control wind. Watch my stuff. I need to go print something in the library." He then left the three alone again.

Jay rolled his eyes for what seemed like the hundredth time that day. Although, it could have been one of my tics. Jay thought. He has gotten some interesting ones last year. For instance, his 'throwing' tic. It was really two tics working together, but the result was that whatever was in his hand went flying across the room.

He sharpened his pencil again, since it had dulled just the slightest bit, and Jay didn't like that. He also reached for his red apple, which he always ate last.

Karloff was going on about something to Ash, where he came from, Jay didn't know. Jay got even more aggravated as Karloff continued to claim that he could control the wind. The pencil in his hand bounced up and down off his finger. "I should throw my apple at you."

Griffin backed farther into the cement block behind him as Karloff and Jay started arguing, this time he wasn't even sure what they were arguing about. He had learned from Neuro that the last year, Karloff and Jay got into an argument that resulted in Jay throwing his juice box at Karloff. Apparently the other times he hit Karloff were when he accidentally threw a pencil at him. But that wouldn't be possible today. Karloff was taller than Jay and standing up, instead of sitting down like Jay was. They were also on other sides of the cement block, it would take a miracle.

And a miracle it was. Jay's world went silent. He couldn't hear anything. Nothing except Karloff's face looking like random colors splattered onto a blank page. He unconsciously isolated his oncoming jerking tic to his right arm, his hand still twirling the freshly sharpened pencil. He watched as the pencil made its way to Karloff's face, somehow completely missing Ash. The tip of the pencil dug into Karloff's skin, right at his beard, before falling to the ground.

Everybody froze. Their eyes seemed to be jumping between Jay and Karloff. Jay was proclaiming (in a giggly voice), "Oh my G*d. That was a tic. I swear to G*d, that was a tic. I swear it was a tic. I'm so sorry, it was a tic. It was a tic."

Jay watched as Karloff slowly bent down and picked up Jay's pencil, not once breaking eye contact. He held it in both hands, one at either side. Jay watched as Karloff snapped his pencil. He tossed the pieces back to Jay. He shrugged, and in a mocking tone stated, "Oops. It was a tic."

If Jay wasn't mad before, he was now. Now nothing in his vision made since, everything was just blobs of color. His hearing only picked up the conversations going on around the group. "YOU BROKE MY PENCIL! IT WAS A TIC! IT WAS A TIC! YOU DO NOT TIC! YOU BROKE MY PENCIL ON PURPOSE!"

Jay positioned his apple to throw at Karloff. Before he could do anything, a pair of arms wrapped around him from behind, immobilizing his arms. Neuro had heard Jay's screams on his way back from the library. He had broken into a run, because he knew something bad was going to happen if he didn't interfere. He attempted to calm Jay down, first offering a pen for him to use, which Jay refused since he didn't like pens. Eventually, he found a mechanical pencil and gave it to Jay.

Once he was sure Jay was calm enough not to throw the apple, Neuro ran to the space between Karloff and Jay, spreading his arms to hold both of them back. "Calm down. Let's just all -"

"But it was a tic," Karloff mocked, emphasized the last part. Jay grit his teeth together. Karloff didn't know when to shut his mouth. Tears started forming in Jay's eyes, he did not want to have to explain Tourette Syndrome to Karloff again.

"That was not a tic. You don't have Tourette's. You can't tic." The anger from before was coming back. Jay switched the apple from his left hand to his right, secretly so Neuro wouldn't stop him. Karloff opened his mouth to retaliate, saying that it was indeed a tic. As soon as the first word came out, Jay threw the apple as hard as he could. It hit Karloff right in the stomach. Jay gave a little cheer and Karloff stared at him, debating the pros and cons of killing Jay right then and there.

Neuro gave a sigh. He wasn't so sure he was going to be able to prevent this from becoming a disaster. The focus on Jay and Karloff dissolved however when Shade showed up late.

"Hey guys. What'd I miss?"

Griffin, who had been sitting back and staying out of the whole incident, answered, "Nothing much, just Karloff and Jay having another argument. Jay's throwing his pencil and apple at Karloff."

Shade wasn't really shocked by the answer, he was use to Jay and Karloff getting into some sort of fight. Even if it was just over something stupid, like the number zero. "Jay don't hit my senpai."

Jay looked up from his history work. He shook his head in a confused manner. "Wha- what's a senpai?"

"A Japanese bae."

That didn't clear up anything. "Whatever." The feelings of anger hadn't cleared up the slightest bit, especially since the issue was brought up again and Karloff still claimed it was a tic, even though he didn't have Tourette's.

Jay's mind was made up. He would finish his work and leave for fifth period, which was starting soon. The words from his friends entered one ear but left the other. Anger was still building up in his chest. Jay's actions became more violent as he slammed his papers into his backpack and threw Neuro's pencil to the ground (which was an accident, he meant to throw it onto Neuro's backpack).

Once he was ready, Jay grabbed his backpack and stormed away. Griffin made an attempt to follow his friend, but was prohibited from getting very far because of his brace. Karloff didn't care and Neuro knew from experience that attempting to converse with Jay when he was mad didn't work well. Shade, on the other hand, didn't know anything on why Jay was acting the way he was, and followed him.

Shade grabbed Jay's arm before the latter could get to the science hallway. "Hey, what's wrong? Do you need alone time? We were just playing around."

"I don't care!" Jay yelled. The group of girls eating at the nearby table gave and 'ooh'. Shade backed away, offended.

"I was just trying to help but if that's how you feel," Shades voice was filled with betrayal. He had come with concern for his friend, and he was pushed away.

Jay ignored Shade and continued on his journey, avoiding the few students who were coming the opposite way. Tears fell through his eyes. He regretted his actions, but there was no way he was going back there.

The bell rang for class and students got up and said bye to their friends. Shade, Neuro, Griffin. and Karloff all went in different directions, the whole scene with Jay fresh in their heads.