Johnny's been thinking hard, something he's not used to doing. Some weird, weird stuff has happened today, and he's not really sure how to process it. He's been sitting in detention with RJ and the various other bad apples of Mayview Middle for the past couple hours. He still doesn't have a shirt, which is fine with him, 'cuz he's like crazy hot right now.

"Ya get ahold of Stephen yet?" He leans across his desk to RJ, ignoring the loud shushing sound coming from the front of the room. RJ shakes their head. They'd been sneakily texting Stephen and Ollie under the desk, filling them in about what'd happened during lunch. Well, Ollie anyway. Stephen wasn't responding, probably 'cuz his mom took his phone again.

Johnny casts a glare at the detention overseer's desk where his own phone is lying. He'd run through a couple plans of how to get it back, but RJ had nixed all of them - even his favorite, which had involved a smoke bomb, a grappling hook, and copious amounts of glitter. They'd seemed to be seriously considering that one before shaking their head. Not worth it.

Johnny flumps backward in his chair with a heavy sigh, eyeing the clock. School'd be out soon, but they're still stuck in here for another hour. Johnny wants to get out, wants to move or fight someone or do anything but sit here alone with his thoughts. His mind keeps drifting back to gym class, to Jeff's speech and that...thing...he'd seen. Stress hallucination caused by almost taking a ball being thrown at Mach 20 to the head, maybe? If Jeff had been able to throw that thing hard enough to break Max's arm, it definitely woulda killed Johnny if it hadn't missed.

The end of the day bell rings, obnoxiously loud, and Johnny winces. A couple of the other kids in the room make to stand up, and the detention supervisor lets out a deafening SHUSH. They quickly sit back down.

He props up his chin in his palm, still thinking. He hopes Max is okay, 'cuz he feels bad he got hurt. He's kinda embarrassed he'd told that nerd - Ed? - that he respected Max and thought he was kinda cool. Okay, well, he hadn't actually said that last part, but it was implied.

He wonders what the heck that purple thing was.

Johnny glances out the window and almost does a double-take when he sees Max walk by. He's talking with his friends, and Johnny almost subconsciously seeks out his arm. That thing can't still be there, right?

It is.

He turns back to face the front of the room, biting the inside of his cheek. It kinda looks like an octopus, only purple and all see-through. Does Max even know it's there?

Johnny elbows RJ roughly in the side. "D'you see that?" He hisses, jabbing a finger towards the thing. RJ raises an eyebrow and taps out a text under the desk, angling their phone screen so Johnny can see it.

'max?' it says.

"No, the thing on his arm!"

RJ squints. 'the...sling?'

"No, the - forget it." Johnny rubs his eyes. RJ can't see it. It's gotta be all in his head. "I'm just seein' things."

'u ok?' RJ gives him a concerned look. Johnny's about to reply that yeah, of course he's fine, when the supervisor suddenly looms over RJ and snatches the phone out of their hands.

"Hey!" Johnny protests.

"Shh!" The supervisor says, throwing RJ's phone down on the desk next to his. RJ looks like they're about to go into full-on feral mode, and Johnny puts his hand on their shoulder.

"It's cool," he says, soothingly. "We're almost outta here anyway." RJ pouts but stays in their seat, and Johnny takes that as a good sign. He goes back to staring out the window. Max is gone by now, taking that freaky thing with him.

Maybe I oughta get my head checked out, Johnny thinks.

The next forty minutes are agonizingly slow. Johnny keeps alternating between watching the minute hand slowly make its circuit around the clock and looking outside. He half expects to catch of glimpse of purple every time he does, but there's nothing.

He's about ready to resort to trying to use his nails to carve into the fake wood of the desk just to have something to do when the detention supervisor finally dismisses them. Johnny bounds out of the classroom with a whoop, snatching up the phones on his way out. RJ's right on his heels.

They practically bounce off Ollie waiting for them in the hall.

"Hey, bro, what's up?" Johnny says, pinwheeling his arms in an attempt to keep from falling over. Ollie reaches out and yanks him back upright. "Thanks."

"What'd you two even do to land in detention this time?" Ollie's got an eyebrow raised. "Also dude, where's your shirt?"

"I thought RJ told ya? We helped a nerd hunt down a teacher." RJ nods excitedly behind him, putting their hands into circle shapes and placing them over their eyes, miming either Ed's or Mr. Starchman's glasses. Johnny's not really sure which.

"Woah, seriously?" Ollie's so flabbergasted he actually uncrosses his arms. "I thought RJ was just kiddin'. What for?"

"Well, 'cuz..." Johnny trails off, a finger in the air. "Um...I don't actually know why. It was pretty fun, though."

"If ya say so." He ushers them down the hall. "You didn't say what happened to your shirt."

"Oh, uh." Johnny looks down at his bare torso. "The nerd took it. 'cuz he, uh...beat me in a fight." He says that last part very quietly. Ollie still manages to hear it, and he practically falls over.

"He what? Johnny, you feeling okay?"

" 'm fine! Why's everyone keep askin' me that?" Johnny protests, self-conscious. "I wasn't really feelin' it, okay? Plus he's like, a cool nerd or something. He's got skills."

"Cool and nerd are opposites and they cancel each other out," Ollie deadpans.

"Mm." Johnny doesn't say anything else as they exit out the front doors. There's one or two stragglers hanging around the courtyard, waiting for their parents to come pick them up. There's a breeze kicking up, and it smells like fall.

Ollie shivers a bit, casting a glance at him. "Ain't ya cold?"

"Nah," Johnny says, and he's not. He's been hot ever since gym, practically boiling at some points. It feels nice to be outside. He glances around absently, and his eyes skip past something purple. Johnny feels his heart seize up and he whips his head back around to get a proper look.

It's just someone's backpack. Johnny lets out a sigh of relief, turning back to Ollie and RJ in time to see them share a look. "What?" He scowls at them.

"You sure you feeling okay, bro?" Ollie ventures. "You look like you just saw a ghost."

"I'm fine!" He says, just a bit too loudly. A couple of people nearby look over at him, and he gives them a death glare back. They quickly avert their gaze. "C'mon, let's go home already."

"Ya get any info from that nerd, though?" Ollie asks as they leave the schoolyard.

"Nah." Johnny kicks a rock, watches it skip along the sidewalk. "He wouldn't squeal. We're gonna have to call an emergency meetin' and try a different tactic."

"Might be tough with Stephen extra-grounded this weekend," Ollie says, scratching his head. "I saw his mom pick him up earlier. Man, she was so loud you could hear her halfway 'cross the building."

"Ugh, just what we need," Johnny mutters. He goes to kick another rock and stops when he sees it's not actually a rock at all. It's another...thing...and it glares balefully at him as it skitters away from under his foot. Johnny ends up doing an awkward half-skip to avoid stepping on it. "Tripped," he says, unconvincingly, in response to his friends' curious looks. He takes a quick peek in the direction the thing went and finds it's gone.

"Guess we'll just hafta wait 'til Monday." Johnny's absolutely refusing to believe what he just saw was real. "Figure out something after school."

RJ and Ollie nod in agreement, but right now Johnny's not thinking about the plan. He's doing his best to think about absolutely nothing at all. Especially not those purple things. They're not real. He's just seein' things 'cuz he's tired.

Johnny passes by about twenty more of them on their walk home and studiously ignores every single one of them.

When he finally gets to his apartment building after having seen Ollie and RJ home and done their special secret parting handshake/fistbump combo (RJ's gotta babysit their lil' sis and Ollie's gotta study for a test, so they can't hang), Johnny books it up the stairs faster than he's ever gone before, taking the steps two and three at time. He unlocks his door and slams it shut behind him, leaning heavily against it. The apartment is dark and quiet. His dad's not home.

Johnny stays there for a bit, then shakes his head impatiently. What's the matter with him, getting spooked over something silly like this?

Maybe he just needs some sleep. Yeah, Johnny thinks, heading towards his room. That sounds good.