January. The life-saving trick of opening up about your weird traumas p.2

The janitor quizzed them again when giving them the key to the Eastern door. "You're not conniving with some seniors for a prank, are you? I mean I know you're not seniors, because you look like babies."

"No sir," said Dick, his hand held open for the key.

"Okay, now, listen. I'm coming in at ten to seven tomorrow. I'll knock on this door, you'll open for me, and then I'll open up the school. If you're not here, and I can't open up the school, I'll sell you out faster than you can say I duped the old janitor for popularity points with the seniors we're conniving with. Understood?"

"Alright," replied Dick, and was finally handed the key.

"I'll say you beat me up and stole the key," clarified the janitor, walking away.

"Gotcha."

Dick locked the door after him, the sound echoing in the empty halls.

Now the school was really just the five of them.

Kori asked, "What will we do, when the vandal comes?"

Dick tried to appear secure. "Face them. And tell them we'll say it's them. Like we did with Jade."

"So we're professional tattlers," said Vic.

"What else do you want us to do?" Dick asked him. "We're the good guys here. We're the snitches by default."

"Do we take pictures? And record everything, like last time?" asked Gar.

"Yes," said Dick. He looked the group over. "Maybe you girls should stay hidden and take pictures, and Vic, Gar and I will face them."

"And why's that?" droned Raven.

Dick scratched the back of his neck. "Don't be difficult, I'm just trying to protect you."

"Look, I don't know how to fight," admitted Raven. "So as far as I'm concerned, I agree. But I'll have you know that I've seen Kori deadlift the back of a car with her bare hands."

Everyone looked at Kori, who was wearing a bashful smile.

"Uh… when?" asked Gar. "And why?"

"Oh, it was weeks ago," said Kori. "I was trying to convince Raven to join me in hanging out at the mall of shopping."

"Why would that convince her to hang out?" Vic asked.

Raven shrugged. "I was impressed."

"Okay. But have you ever been in a fight?" Dick asked Kori.

"Have you?" Victor asked Dick in turn.

"Yes. I have," said Dick, his voice heavy.

"Me too," said Gar. He hoped no one would ask if he won them.

"I haven't," said Vic.

"Really?" asked Gar.

"Yeah. One thing I learned, no one wants to fight you when you're as big as me," replied Vic, but as he held up his hands he lost his smile. "And now… well. I don't know if people feel threatened or don't want to pick on a cripple."

"Well, I have not been in a fight," said Kori.

"You'll be our secret weapon, Kor," said Dick, smiling at her.

Kori happily smiled back. Victor tried to detect a change in their interactions that would support his idea that they had to have gotten together, but he found the same bashful nervousness between them as had existed before.

"So now what?" he asked. "We kick back and wait for this guy to show up?"

"Not much else to do," Dick agreed.

"Hey, shouldn't we have a battle cry when we face them?" asked Gar.

"Like what?" replied Dick.

"You know, like the Titans have. When Kismet goes…" Here Gar straightened his face into perfect seriousness and followed in a calm, low voice, "Titans, go."

"We're not the Titans," said Dick. "And I'm not Kismet."

They settled down in a second-floor hallway, right next to the indoor balcony from which they'd have ample view of the front of the school. The plan was, if the kid showed up, the boys would take the side stairs and surprise them, and the girls would stay in the balcony to record them.

Vic brought out a set of playing cards, and Dick decided to show Kori how to play gin rummy. The game went slow as Kori tried to take the mechanics in, but she laughed through her mistakes and made them laugh in turn.

Then disaster struck. Gar didn't particularly care that the game was so slow, but he had a moment where his mouth went off before his brain could catch it, and he said, "Speaking of dim bulbs."

Dick turned and glared at Gar, but Kori did a double take. Gar instantly knew he'd screwed up. Kori's smile fell, and her doe eyes opened up and looked at the others, seeking an answer. "What?" she reacted.

"Gar's just being an asshole, Kori," said Dick.

There was a horrified silence as they all realized she'd actually taken offense. Kori looked at her cards, then seemed to change her mind and set them down. "I do not need to play."

Immediately there were spurs for her to play.

But Kori had stood, making sure to smile. "It is fine. I am going to the bathroom."

As soon as she left the room, the other turned on Gar.

"Nice one," said Raven.

"What were you thinking?" demanded Vic.

"What? I didn't tell her to stop playing!" said Gar.

"But you made her feel self-conscious," said Dick.

"I was just teasing," insisted Gar, "I didn't mean it. That's just something you say."

"Yeah, but it made her upset," replied Dick. "You need to apologize to her."

"For what? It was a joke!"

Then Kori came back, and all discussion stopped. Dick glared at Gar throughout the game, and Raven and Vic too snuck glares at him, but Gar stayed put, arms crossed, mouth shut, and glaring back at anyone who looked at him.

He himself could hardly say why he was being stubborn. Maybe it was just because the others had ganged up on him. Maybe he would have apologized if it was just him and Kori, but now he'd made a point, and he felt he had to stick to it.

In truth, he thought he shouldn't have to apologize because she took offense to perfectly innocent banter. How many times had Raven insulted his intelligence? How many times had Dick and Victor? Granted, Kori was someone they took care of; she was kind of off-limits for banter and still…

Kori was one of those girls who was perfect. Gar refused to believe someone like her could be brought down by something he said. Kori, who clearly had a crush on Dick—Dick who was so competent and… so in girls' radars, in a way that Gar definitely wasn't. Gar firmly believed girls like Kori soared above everyone else. How could she possibly care what Gar thought of her?

The round came to an end and they started another, with Dick insisting on walking Kori through what was happening though she wasn't in the roster. People had stopped glaring at Gar, and now they were ignoring him—and now, instead of resentment, Gar felt a stab of fear.

He'd just gotten this group of friends. What if this was the way it ended? With him sticking his foot in his mouth and then refusing to back down? He'd tried so hard to get these people. Why was he screwing it up?

And then they heard the front door, echoing in the silent building. The five found each other's eyes, and sprung up with adrenaline. Dick signaled Vic and Gar follow him, as was the plan.

As they skulked through the hallway in silence, Gar went too far ahead and knocked into Vic. Vic turned and glared at him with a fury that caught him off guard.

Why was Vic angry…?

Oh, right. The Kori thing.

Before the boys rounded the corner, they heard voices. Dick motioned for them to stop and listen.

"…who keep pushing us around. They'll learn when it all goes boom, brother!"

"Correct, brother. Today, this school burns down to the ground."

First, the three froze into place. Then Dick signaled for them to go back to where the girls were.

"We couldn't catch anything yet," said Raven when they arrived. "All we got was footage of them walking in."

Dick made the girls step away from the railing. He took a deep breath. "There's been a change of plans. The good news is, that's definitely the vandal. Bad news is, there's two of them, and they're actually here to blow up the school."

There was nothing like imminent danger to make them all forget they were angry at Gar.

"Do they have names?" asked Raven.

"They just called each other 'brother'," said Vic. "Did you get a look at them?"

Kori put her phone forth, showing them a video. "There is a big fat one and a skinny short one."

"What do we do?" Vic asked.

"Dick?" called Kori, because Dick wasn't talking.

Dick made up his mind. "Tail them. See what they do."

"We should still try to film them," said Gar.

"There's no time," decided Dick, now sure of himself. "We need to prioritize making sure they don't do what they came to do, and staying hidden ourselves. We can't do that if we're trying to record at the same time."

They listened to him. They always did when Dick sounded certain like that.

Gar said, "Dude, we can't let them destroy the school. I can't go back to online classes. I nearly failed third grade with the first pandemic."

"Why are these guys doing this?" posed Raven.

"I don't know. It doesn't matter right now," returned Dick.

"Maybe we should find out," said Gar.

"Maybe we should," agreed Kori. "What could these brothers have against our school? It is quite odd."

"That's dangerous," said Dick. "If they plan to blow up the school, they have the tools to do it on them. I don't want anyone talking to them yet."

The five followed the brothers like shadows through the hallway. At one point the brothers split, and Dick motioned them to split too. He took Raven and Vic with him to follow the skinny one with spiky blonde hair.

The guy stopped in a hallway and took something out of his bag, fastening it to the wall. When he moved on to the next hallway, the three came out.

They stared at the grey stick stuck on the wall.

"This is an explosive, right?" asked Raven. "Can't we douse them with water or something?"

"We could throw them into the pool," said Dick.

Vic stopped them. "No, nobody touch anything. Look, I don't know exactly what this is, but I do know not all explosives should be doused with water. Some of them explode anyway."

"So what do we do?" asked Raven.

Dick posed, "Wait, exactly why are they planting these things? They're not gonna come back and light each one of them, right?"

"Meaning?" asked Raven.

Vic said, "They're most likely gonna use a bigger bomb to detonate these."

There was a pause, before Dick said, "We should take them. No charges, no boom." And he started pulling the sticks out of the wall.

Raven turned away, "I'm gonna get bags from a supply closet and meet you."

"Good," Dick approved over his shoulder.

She heard Vic say, "I'll hold the sticks, you follow Skinny so we don't lose him."

Only when she'd ran away did Raven come down from the high of adrenaline to realize what they should really do was call some sort of authority. She kicked herself, but she was already on her way, so she told herself she'd tell Dick when she went back.

Kori and Gar tailed after the big one. He was carefully carrying something big in a trash bag.

They turned a corner, and then got hit with a trash can from behind. Kori was able to swirl around and put her arm before her face, but Gar got it full on the head, and it sent him to the ground.

The skinny brother was behind them. "Surprise!" he said. "Brother, come!"

His brother came quickly and stood beside him. "Who are you?"

Gar's world was still half pain. He realized he was on the ground, with Kori kneeling over him.

"We are the ones who will stop you," Kori stated.

The skinny brother bristled. "You and who else?"

From what Gar could gather, the brothers both lunged at them. Kori pulled Gar up with surprising ease, swung his arm over her shoulders and, given she was a lot taller than him, made him run along nearly on his tiptoes. Gar didn't know where they were running to. When the world regained focus, they were in the swimming room.

Kori closed the door behind them. It was a double-edged sword—they were safe and they were trapped. The brothers loomed outside the door. Soon they heard the distinct sound of wood on metal—they were passing something through the handles, effectively locking them in.

Kori looked at Gar helplessly. "I am sorry."

"No, it was the right call to run," Gar replied, a bit stunned she would have second thoughts on this. His world had only just stopped spinning; he couldn't have helped her out there.

"You watch them, brother," one of them said on the other side. "I'll go take care of the bombs."

"Hey, come back!" Gar shouted at them. "Who even are you guys? Why are you doing this?"

Skinny's face occupied the circular window. "To you, little one, we are the gods of Lightning and Thunder."

Gee, what a douchebag, thought Gar. "You do realize if you do this, there's no going back for you two? What do you think will happen when you blow up the school? I'm pretty sure you get tried as adults for something like that!"

"Think again, little one," the god of Lightning said, his angry breath clouding the glass. "Our father is a diplomat. Nobody can touch us."

"Go, brother," said Thunder. "I'll watch these two."

Gar stepped away from the door and took out his phone. "I'm telling the others," he told Kori.

When he looked up, Kori was giving him a look he couldn't decipher. She turned away when he looked at her. It made Gar remember about earlier all of a sudden.

"Hey, are you still mad at me?" he asked.

"I never was mad at you," she replied.

"Oh. Cool!" said Gar, brightening up. "Then it was really just the others making a big deal out of it. You know it was just a joke, right?"

Here she frowned. "Gar. I do not mean to offend. But how can you realize the effects of the actions of other people, and yet you cannot devise the effect your words have in your world?"

Gar deflated. "I… what? What do you mean?"

"You have just told those boys that their actions have consequences. But you do not seem to see that your words have effects too. I can see you do not feel you hurt me, but you did."

Gar winced. "But… come on, you can't take me seriously. You know I just… say stuff."

"You are my friend. How could I not take you seriously?"

Gar felt simultaneously chastised and touched. "I guess I don't… have… a lot of experience with that."

"Having friends?"

Gar nodded, and felt a surge of panic that he was confessing this. Didn't he usually keep this stuff close to his chest? Maybe the odd atmosphere of the pool was getting to him. The heat from the sun-filled windows, the reflection of the water in the tiled walls, the smell of chlorine. It made him feel like they were in another world.

But then Kori said, "Neither do I."

He looked up. "What?"

She was smiling. "I have never had a group of friends before."

"Really? You?" Gar reacted. "But you're so… so nice, and pretty! How did you never have friends?" He narrowed his eyes. "Is there something you're not telling us?"

Kori laughed. She sat by the pool and hugged her knees to her chest, motioning for Gar to sit next to her. "It is, as you say, a long story. Growing up, children did approach me. But whenever I did have any friend, they were taken away by my older sister."

"That's so crappy," Gar replied. He ran a hand through his hair, still bewildered. "I guess I always thought you were really popular all your life."

"At this moment, I am only lucky you have not met her," she replied.

It took him a while to understand what she meant. "Whoa, Kori… even if we did meet her, she couldn't take us away. We're your friends."

Kori looked like she debated saying what she said next. "My sister and I moved schools a lot. She always took to the languages so easily, but I do not find languages easy. So Komila's easiest route was to say to people I was slow and could not keep up with them. The kids would see me in that light, think of me badly, and leave me behind."

Gar felt sick to his stomach as it dawned on him. "That's why you got upset when I said that about the card game." He sunk his head. "Oh, Kori. I'm so sorry."

"I forgive you."

In turn he told her, "We wouldn't think badly of you or leave you. Even if your sister was here, it wouldn't matter. Hell, if she made us choose between the two of you, we'd choose you. You were our friend first. Plus, she sounds like she has enough friends."

This time his words seemed to sink in.

She hugged him. Gar felt like he'd been blessed; the forgiveness vibrated off her body.

When they parted she looked at Gar. "Why did you grow up without friends?" she prompted him sweetly.

Gar threw his head back. "Oh, you know how it is. The other kids felt intimidated by my sheer…" Kori's knowing look cut through him. Gar cut himself off, coughed and reconsidered. "Um, I was the only kid in the village where I grew up. And after that, I was always the runt of any orphanage or foster house I was in. So kids picked on me, and… nobody wanted to be friends with a target." He shrugged.

He didn't feel better after telling it; he felt hollow. Reality was overrated, he'd always thought. He much preferred a nice story, even if it was fake.

But then Kori reached for his hand and thanked him for telling her, and that did feel different, in a good way. He was now in possession of her story and she was in possession of his. It was new and alien and he still felt kind of icky and uncomfortable… But maybe this was what having friends really was. Letting someone else be the depository of your secrets; letting them see your true self, even when you didn't like that guy a whole lot.

I had to do so much explosives research and I'm STILL not sure what I have is right. But yay Gar and Kori bonding!

Guest: Thank you! There's RobxStar moments sprinkled in pretty much all the coming months ;)

Eris: Glad you like where it's going! Thanks for reviewing!

Thanks for reading!