Yeah, the tail thing will be aroundfor a bit. It'll be fun. Double Entendre.
"Geez, I go missing for one week and the school literally collapses."
School ended up being moved across town to the local community center. Though it was the best space for them to temporarily continue schooling, it wasn't the biggest place, and the rooms were easily overcrowded. With their lesson plans back at the elementary school, and the school being, understandably, deemed unsafe to step foot in, the teachers were left somewhat empty handed when it came to what to teach, as well as resources to use. Which was why most classes were watching educational videos throughout the day instead. This mostly consisted of The Magic School Bus and Bill Nye.
"You should've been there, Teej. That kid was amazing!" Vince said.
The six of them sat in the very back of the temporary classroom, talking among each other, not unlike other students around them.
"I'm never here when interesting stuff happens," said TJ. "I didn't even get to try out the new jungle gym."
"If it makes you feel any better, we only got on it for two minutes," said Gus. "Everyone was trying to get on it."
"At least we don't have to listen to one of Ms. Finsters lectures," said TJ. "So how much did you guys see?"
Vince started going on about what he managed to see, clearly the one in the group that was the most excited about it. TJ listened, though Spinelli knew it was all for show. The teachers rushed them out of the lunchroom as soon as they were sure everyone was inside, and she didn't get to see much.
#
One of the better things about having school at the community center was the amount of space they had to work with for recess. They still weren't allowed outside in the open field behind the center, but the large gym and ample amount of balls made available to them were a good substitute. At least they weren't stuck sitting in the lunchroom again.
And it was almost like being back to normal. The smaller kids were running around, the Ashley's were gossiping on the bleachers, King Bob was sitting on a makeshift throne, and the six of them were attempting to play a 5 on 1 game of basketball. Hopefully without being interrupted. And it was going well.
During one of those rare times where the five of them managed to get the ball away from Vince, the five of them were in a rush to score a few points before he inevitably stole the ball back. Spinelli, too far to attempt to make a shot, tossed the ball to TJ. She caught him of guard, and when he caught it, he stumbled and fell back.
He winced, and slowly go back onto his feet. The game stopped and the others came over.
"You okay, Teej?" Vince asked.
"Uh. . .yeah. Just got caught off guard," he said. "My back hurts. I think I'm gonna sit the rest of this game out, guys."
He stretched, and they could all hear the popping of his spine.
#
A picture of an arm and hand. One looked completely normal, while the other was a deep red, reaching about halfway onto the upper arm, as well as claws on the hands. More pictures of it from various angles, as well as variations of it, ranging from a lighter red to completely black. Another page with pictures of eyes of the usual colors, brown, green, blue, grey, hazel, with arrows all pointing to one eye colored red.
"This would be a lot easier if I could read this," Spinelli said.
She laid on her bed, causally flipping through the pages of the strange book, trying to get some understanding of what they could mean without any words to help. Another age, pictures of eyes of different colors, blue, green, brown, gray, hazel, all with arrows pointing to one red colored eye. That she could understand.
"So their eyes all turn red," she mumbled.
Thinking back on it, with or without the hat, TJ's eyes were always the same color, blue. So this must be something that'll happen later. She rubbed her own eyes. It was getting late, and she needed to go to sleep. She closed the book and tucked it under her bed.
#
True to her usual lectures, everyone was barely paying attention to what Ms. Finster was saying in front of the class. It was a little hard to, with how crowded the improvised classroom was, and that being in a new setting was still distracting to them. Students we're yawning and readjusting their seat to keep themselves awake. Getting caught sleeping in her class was one of the biggest offenses.
They all jumped in their seats when TJ's head hit the table when he finally succumbed to sleep. It was almost funny how, despite the impact, he was still asleep. A testament to how bored they all were.
Ms. Finster dropped a textbook on his desk, making him wake up and sit up straight.
"That's you're only warning, Detweiler," she warned before going back to the front of the class.
He stretched to keep himself from falling asleep again. The last thing he wanted was to get detention over something like this.
"You okay?" Spinelli whispered. He nodded.
"Long night," he answered.
The rest of the day was more of the same. Lots of yawning, stretching, and back twisting in an attempt to keep himself awake and looking alive. During lunch and recess, he took the chance to get some sleep, along with other students.
#
Several pages of the books were focused on wings. There were many kinds, of different sizes, ranging in color from a dark red or black. There pictures of them stretched out and folded in. And a very detailed picture of a back with deep scarring around the wings.
"How do they not just die from how painful that has to be?" Spinelli asked.
Another page showing them breathing fire. The usual orange flames, then green, and finally blue. She didn't know what could change the color of fire, of all things. Just more questions to be asked. Ugh.
She placed the book back under her bed and turn out the lights.
#
"If you keep missing the mark, you're going to keep doing this, so you either learn how to hit your target, or get used to this."
With his arms straight up, TJ carried a large and heavy medicine ball over his head, back and forth to the opposite ends of the gym. His father stood by, arms folded, looking less than impressed, as usual. His arms were far from hurting, it was his back that was making him walk slower than usual. But it wasn't like he could stop without facing the wrath of his dad.
"Alright, stop," his father said. "You're going to try this again, and this time I expect you to hit all the targets. Understand?"
"I'll try, dad."
"There is no 'trying'. You don't 'try', you do," said his father. He looked at a small tablet in his hand. "Close your eyes."
TJ listened, and closed his eyes waiting for the signal. As much as he tried to ignore the stabbing pan in his back, it was getting worse every minute. He had no idea how he was still standing with how weak his knees felt.
"You've got 60 seconds. Go."
When he opened his eyes, different type of weapons were placed around the gym floor, throwing knives, spears, arrows, and poles. He quickly looked around the room for his target, a small round floating holographic bullseye target. He grabbed the closest weapon to him, a throwing knife, and hit the first target, which was quickly replaced by five more.
He kept grabbing and throwing, trying to hit them all before the time was up. He has to move fast to even get close, with less of a second between hitting one and another. And just hitting them weren't enough. His father, the perfectionist, demanded he hit a bullseye each time.
He was doing fine with meeting his father strict demands until he felt a harsh stabbing pain in his back that sent him to the floor. He tried staying on his hands and knees, but another wave a pain made him fall flat.
He heard his father's footsteps as he approached. He winced, unable to move on his own. He felt his father pull up the back of his shirt and inspect his back. His father signed, and picked him up, carrying him back to his bedroom.
"Your wings are coming in sooner than I expected," his father said. TJ heard the door to his mini fridge close. "I hope you've been doing your corrective stretches to keep them growing in correctly."
TJ opened his eyes to see his father preparing an injection.
"This is a pain killer. It'll stop the pain for a while. You're going to fall asleep about minute after I give it to you. Your job now is to wait until your wings come in," his father said. "I'm leaving for a business trip tonight, so more than likely, I won't be hear for when they come in. Try not to tear the tower appart."
He felt a small prick in his left arm before dozing off.
#
Spinelli glanced outside her window right when the clock read midnight. Nothing but rain. At this point, she wasn't that surprised; TJ only showed up about half the time, though he tried to let her know one way or the other beforehand. But four days was a stretch, especially considering how weird he was acting a few days before.
"This boy is going to be the death of me. Ima kill 'em."
Slipping on a hoodie, she locked her door and turned off her light. Carefully, she climbed out her window and into the tree, before climbing to the bottom. If this was anything like the other nights she snuck out, it'll only be five minutes before TJ popped up in one way or another.
And she was right. Walking on the sidewalk next to the woods, there was rustling, until he came running out, dressed in the usual outfit. At first, it seemed like he didn't see her, as he continued running down the street, until he stopped and turned towards her.
"If you don't want me to come out here, you should give someone a warning that you're going to go missing," Spinelli said casually. "Someone's gotta check on you."
He didn't say anything as he slowly came closer with a tilt of his head.
"Uh, you okay?" She asked as he got closer. When he stood right in front of her, he leaned in closer, and she leaded back, ready to punch him in the face if needed. That didn't stop him, as he leaned in closer until his head was right next to hers. Then he stepped back.
"If you weren't my friend, you'd be on the ground!" She said. "What's your deal?"
He stayed quiet and grabbed her wrist, pulling her towards the woods. The second she started to pull back, he scooped her up bridal style and continued on running. She huffed, doing her best to hold in her frustration.
Goddammit. He was being weird.
He stopped when they reached the same cave they sat in two weeks ago. He let her down, and patted his pockets in search of something.
"You gonna tell me what's going on, now?"
Her only answer was him tossing something to her and taking off. The familiar red shield surrounded the cave.
She looked over what was shoved in her hand. It's been a while, but Spinelli was sure the last time she was this thing, it wasn't heart shaped. She leaned against the wall of the cave. The sound of something breathing got her attention. Whatever it was, it was coming from deeper in the cave, but without any light, she could see what it was. It couldn't be one of those monsters; he wouldn't just leave her in a cave with one.
A warm wave of air pushed through, and for a second, she thought she saw a fire.
"Hello?"
She heard slow footsteps coming closer, and the sound of something dragging. After a few moments, who it was finally came close enough for her to see who it was. TJ. He leaned against the cave wall, arms wrapped around himself. The expression on his face showed that he was in pain, and she saw why. A pair of wings had sprouted from his back, and were dripping with blood. What was let of his hoodie was in shreds and barely hanging on him, and she was able to see the dark red discoloring on his arm.
"Oh my God! Teej, what are you doing out here? You need to be at home if your wings just came in!" She said.
Spinelli helped him sit on the cave floor. He slouched over and let out a breath of fire as he caught his breath. Sitting next to him, she got a closer look of his back. The wings weren't very big, in fact, they were closer to the smallest pair she saw in that book, but there was a visible tear in the skin.
"Geez, you're in really bad shape, huh? I know it's a long shot but is there anything in that bag you keep here that could help?" She asked.
He seemed to ignore her question altogether. He stretched out his wings, letting out a long stream of fire from his nose. One wing looked completely fine, but the other was obviously crooked and only halfway out, and it had to be painful. It twitched as he attempted to force the rest of it out of his back, failing. Spinelli was caught off guard when he laid his head on her lap.
"H-hey1 What are you doing? Do I look like a pillow to you?" She asked. He looked up at her with his now red eyes. She scoffed. ". . .whatever. Just don't get used to it, okay? I dunno who you think I am. . ."
He blinked before closing his eyes.
Well. That's one question answered. At least she knew what the problem was now. That still left her wondering who was that kid who brought her here.
"Probably his wife," she mumbled. "I can't believe he has a freakin' fiancé."
With nothing to do except wait, she lazily ran her fingers through his messy hair. There was a light clicking sound, not quite purring, but not too unlike it either, and it didn't take longer than a few seconds for her to figure out where it came from.
"Are you serious right now?" She asked. "I thought you were a demon kid, not a cat, TJ."
A small amount of steam came from his nose as he rested his head on her lap. She able to get a closer look at his arms. It looked just like the pictures in that book, complete with claws that looked like they could do some serious damage, but he kept them tucked close to himself and away from her.
She took this chance to get a good look at his horns. They felt like dry wood, but were smooth, despite the small nicks and cracks she could see. He flinched when she accidently tugged on one too harshly, and pulled her hand away using his tail.
"Sorry," she said, letting go. "You know, this would be a lot less weird if you told me more about this before it happened. Now you're taking a nap on me like you don't have huge bleeding scars on your back."
She watched his tail unwind from around her wrist and go back to lazily waving. That book didn't help her figure out what the big deal about it was. At this rate, he wasn't going to tell her anytime soon. She reached over and grabbed it again. He flinched and looked up at her again with a growing blush, but made no movement to get his tail out of her grasp. It only went limp. She could feel that it was smooth and covered in fine hairs
". . .Am I interrupting something?"
Spinelli saw the other kid standing just outside the cave. The voice definitely belonged to a girl.
"I can come back if you want, that's fine," she said, pulling back her hoodie. Curly red hair kept up in a loose bun stood out the most. Spinelli vaguely recognized her, but couldn't put a name to her face.
"Have I met you before?" Spinelli asked.
"Yeah, once, so it's okay if you don't remember my name. Our friends played kickball against each other once," she said, holding her hand out to shake. "CJ Rottweiler, at your service. Sorry about earlier. When I'm focused on doing something I don't talk much. I was actually on my way to your place."
"My place?"
"Yep! TJ told me about you and where you lived, and when his wings came in, I couldn't get him out of this cave, so I figured since you knew about this whole thing, you'd be someone he'd come out of hiding for," she said. "Looks like I was right. So do I need to leave you two alone? 'Cause you've gotta pretty tight grip on his tail there."
"Okay? What's the big deal about it? He wouldn't tell me anything," she said.
". . .of course. I think I have a minute," said CJ. She joined Spinelli inside the cave, sitting at the opposite wall. "How do I explain. . .Our tails are, um, sensitive. But only when someone else touches or grabs it. Kind of like how you can't tickle yourself but someone else can. You're not hurting him, because, our tails are kinda, um,. . .a hot spot."
"A 'hot spot'?"
"It's intimate, and feels really good when it touched. So you're more or less groping him."
"Oh. Oh."
Spinelli immediately let go of his tail. That made a lot of sense, and she almost felt stupid for not realizing that soon.
"You could've just told me, Teej!"
"In his defense, he can't exactly talk right now. And besides, if he feels safe enough around you to put his head on your lap then you can pretty much do anything and he'll still stay there. You could push him off a cliff and he'll just climb back up," said CJ. "It's just more awkward than anything."
"Hell yeah, it's awkward. I've just been groping my best friend. . ."
"But you didn't know."
"Doesn't help. I feel like a creep," said Spinelli. "So why is he like this?"
"The details are a little complicated, but when our wings come in, our brains sort of reset in a way? We're basically growing another set of limbs, and it's a lot for our brains to adjust to that fast, and to cope we go into a kind of a feral-ish mode, if that makes sense. We're forced to act on our most basic instincts to protect ourselves. Some of us are more aggressive and attack, others are more docile and want to hide until it's over. Like him.
"It only lasts for about a week and a half, but for now, he can't talk, or stand up straight. He just wants to sleep. And protect you if him laying his head on your lap is anything to go by," she explained. "There's a lot more to get into, but I really have to get back out there to make sure I didn't miss anything. I'll be back in ten, maybe fifteen minutes."
She pulled the hood of her jacket up and walked out of the cave. At least she helped explained this whole thing.
"So you're out of commission again, huh, TJ?" Spinelli asked, not expecting an answer. "There's no way you can come to school like this."
She returned to running her fingers through his hair, and the clicking returned. There was some sense of pride with learning that she was the only one who could get him out of hiding, where his fiancé couldn't. Of course she would be able to. They're best friends; who better to do it?
He stretched his wings before tucking them in as best as he could. She pulled one of his arms he kept tucked close, and he didn't do anything to pull it back. She opened his hands for a better look. Even the palm was red, and unlike his tail, it wasn't covered in thin hairs, it was all skin. If it was possible, the claws looked more dangerous up close.
"I wonder what you could cut through with these," she mumbled. He loosely wrapped it around her waist. "Woah, I dunno what you're thinking after that incident earlier, but it was a misunderstanding."
He kept it wrapped around her. She slouched against the cave wall and let his hand go. The things she gets herself into. Sitting in cave with her best friend sleeping with his head in her lap, making some weird clicking sound as she ran her fingers through his hair. She was starting to learn that not thinking much about it makes it easier. A demon boy, capable of taking down monsters, sleeping in her lap. She scoffed. That weak spot of her for obviously dangerous things that were also cute.
He yawned, unintentionally fully exposing those fangs of his and hiding them again, reminding her that he was basically a walking talking weapon.
"I'm back. Everything's taken care of, and it's safe to call it a night," CJ said. "I'm gonna wrap up my arms before heading home. Any more questions?"
"What's it like to be married before you're born?" Spinelli mumbled before she could stop herself.
"Annoying, actually. Lots of practicing stuff you never signed up for," she said. "I can't wait until we're old enough to call the whole thing off. So you can have him, if that's what you're worried about. 'Sides, he's a lot more interested in you than me."
"And what makes you think that?"
"We don't relax around just anyone when we're most vulnerable," CJ said, nodding to her lap. "We gotta feel comfortable around them, and be really close. And even then, laying our head on their lap isn't guaranteed. That's usually reserved for people we especially wanna protect. Usually young family members, or crushes."
". . .He doesn't have a crush on me."
"Could've fooled me. He talks about you a lot. Says you're the strongest person at your school."
"That's because it's true!"
"And he trusts you with his biggest secret. If he didn't trust you to keep it, we have ways to erase peoples memories," she said. "And he hasn't. Gotta like you a whole lot to break one of our biggest rules."
". . . . What's with the clicking sound?"
"The clicking sound. . .It's a sound of content. You're running your fingers through his hair, that's like a shoulder rub," said CJ. "Anything else?"
"Those claws of his look dangerous," she said.
"They are. We can cut through metal with them, so imagine the damage we can do to another person. It's awesome!" CJ said. "He's not gonna hurt you, though. He's got them tucked away from you, right?"
"Uh-huh."
"Yeah, you're fine, don't worry about it. Remember when I said he's one of the one who prefers to hide and wait this thing out? I mean, unless he thinks he's in danger, then that'll be. . .something. But hopefully that won't happen," said CJ. "I'm done with my arm. We can take you back to your place, just to make sure no more are lurking around."
Spinelli took her up on that offer, and after some pushing, managed to get TJ to get off her lap. He followed the two of them as they travelled back to her house, slouching, and clearly in pain, but determined to stay close. When they reached her backyard, he still managed to help her into the tree near her bedroom.
"See? He likes you," said CJ.
Spinelli rolled her eyes and climbed back into her room. She watched the two of them leave her backyard before climbing into bed.
I'm sorry, this chapter is rushed in some places, but I couldn't think of a way to change it.
