Chapter 2

Gabriel got up before the sun and groaned loud and clear, "Mondays suck." He then got out of bed and stretched for 15 minutes and started exercising. He then did 70 leg lifts, knuckle pushups, jumping jacks, crunches, and squat thrusts finished with ten minutes of jump rope and thirty minutes of stretching. Gabriel then got dressed in a black track suit and jacket and tennis shoes and went out to jog for thirty minutes. Gabriel was breathing hard when he got home and stretched for ten more minutes then got his shower. He checked the mirror, looking for signs of…him. His hair was still its full golden blonde color, and his eyes were still their usual shade of grey. He checked his teeth before brushing, no fangs. He checked his Ghost Form too, no fangs there either. But he was a little distressed to see that his cheekbones were more prominent than before…like his. Gabriel went back to his Human form and got dressed in his usual white shirt and sneakers and regular denim jeans completed with his cross necklace.

He opened up his bedroom door to see his twin Michael pass, Michael was wearing a black long sleeved shirt with his black shoes and jeans, and his St. Peter Cross necklace that made people think he was some Goth/Satanist. Gabriel went back in his room and changed into a white long sleeved shirt himself then ran out his room. "One side!" he yelled as Michael shuffled to the side so he wouldn't get run over by his more athletic brother. Gabriel slowed down just enough to not fall on his face going down the stairs and was about to jump on the couch when he saw his Mom just in time. His Mom was slim, about 5'10", still looked good at 38 with grey eyes and long red hair in her Human Form. He stopped running and she nodded at this, "Uh huh. Nice try, Champ, but the rules are still the rules. Don't try it again." His genes were starting to show with Gabriel's Mom, she now had a grey skunk stripe running down the middle of her long red hair. "I got it Mom," Gabriel said, and sat down like a gentleman while he waited for his Mom to make breakfast, "Where's Dad?"

"Your Father decided to sleep in today, and he needs it," Marie told her son. That wasn't like his Dad; his Dad was practically a living dynamo of pure workaholic attitude when there was a problem. Gabriel guessed that what happened three weeks ago with the Halfa Suits he had designed, and the new problem of the Purifiers that he had to leave in the government's hands for now meant that he had no tangible problem that needed to be personally solved by him. Michael came down and their little sister Anna did as well with her red hair in pigtails today and her purple eyes behind purple sunglasses, she was also wearing a long sleeved purple shirt and jeans with matching shoes. Marie fixed up some pancakes and sausages for breakfast that they ate together after saying grace then drove them all to their schools, Martins Middle School for Anna and Christopher Miller High School for Michael and Gabriel.

The two brothers made their way to their first class, Trigonometry with the Grand High Inquisitor himself, Mr. Fayed. Gabriel could feel Mr. Fayed's eyes follow him and Michael around as they took their seats, even as Mr. Fayed turned his head to write down a problem he wanted answered on the Touch Screen. "Gabriel Fenton, solve the cosine of the triangle in five minutes, and you will be exempt from Friday's test, if you don't answer correctly, I will assign extra homework for everyone, a few people here need to work harder," Mr. Fayed announced. Oh St. Jude, help me out here! Gabriel silently prayed for an intercession as he approached the screen. One of the triangle's angles was 52 degrees, and that was his only clue and an angle of the other triangle was 84 degrees. He quickly figured that the third angle had to be 44 degrees. He checked to see the sides and wrote down the answer, cos=AC/AB=VW/VU.

Mr. Fayed looked at his answer and said, "Very good, Gabriel. Now, for extra credit, write down the angles, and I will let everyone off of the test. Gabriel blinked at this and wrote down the remaining angles to the cheers of the class. "Silence," Mr. Fayed coldly said, and the noise stopped. "You've improved greatly, Gabriel. It would seem that pressure really does form diamonds. You may return to your desk while I explain today's lesson," Mr. Fayed said, and Gabriel went back to his desk and whispered, "Thank God Almighty."

After Trigonometry Gabriel and Michael headed for Geography class and Michael met his best friend Cole Stephens and Gabriel saw two of his friends, Stacy and Lacy Cosgrove. They were twin sisters of African descent and both were in the Soccer team; Stacy was the goalkeeper and Lacy was the wing-back. Stacy had on her usual baggy jeans, green sneakers and green jersey with a diamond on the chest for their team and her hair was cut short while Lacy wore skinny jeans and two inch heel purple boots and long sleeved shirt and her hair was in a pony tail that ran down to the middle of her back. "Hey girls," Gabriel greeted with a double high five. "Hey Gabe," the girls greeted and then Stacy said, "You good for tomorrow night after the game?" "Yeah, I'm always ready, got the tickets and everything," Gabriel told them, Gabriel was going to take the Team out to see a movie tomorrow night, Guards! Guards! It was based on the fantasy classic Discworld books, he remembered reading it, and it was awesome.

"Got everything ready for the whole team," he told them as they sat down and Mrs. Grant announced, "Today we are studying the long term effects of volcanic eruptions on the surrounding landscape. Turn on your cyber textbooks on your phones and turn to chapter 8." For the rest of the class they studied that exact subject and Gabriel took notes for Stacy and Lacy. Once Geography was over they headed off for the Cafeteria for Lunch where Gabriel and Michael separated, Michael went to sit with his friends and girlfriend while Gabriel went to sit with some of his team. At the table were: the team defender Lucas Ryefeld, a 6 ft tall bald kid of Samoan ancestry in his usual green jumpsuit, centre-back Mike Pi, a shorter but solidly built kid of Indian ancestry in his normal red shirt and jeans with brown shoes, sweeper Lily Monroe, redhead brown eyed girl who stood two inches taller than Michael and was built like a swimmer wearing her grey short sleeved dress with knee length skirt, and finally the attacking midfield, Kory Farmerson, he was a wiry kid about three inches shorter than Gabriel with black hair and amber eyes who was like greased lightning on the field, he wore a black jumpsuit like Gabriel's Grandpa Danny's Ghost Form.

"Captain on deck," Gabriel announced and everyone groaned at his lame joke. "Alright, that wasn't my best," he admitted, "so, everyone ready for the movie?" Everyone gave a chorus of 'yes', 'yep'; 'yeah' and they ate lunch. Before the bell rang Kory asked, "You come up with a good strategy for the Hooper County Hellions yet?" Gabriel nodded; the Hellions were the rivals of his school's team, the Christopher Miller Diamonds, and they lived up to their names, playing a game with them was almost like playing rugby. "Yeah, we can't focus on defense, we need to play offense and not let up. The Hellions aren't prepared for that, they're based on offense but their defense is weak while ours is strong. Kory, you need to dig deep for this one, you're our main weapon," Gabriel told him. Nothing really happened the rest of the school day; Gabriel went with Kory and Lucas to English Literature with Mrs. Groo along with Michael and his friends then American History, where Lily and Mike had to help him take notes on Mr. Addams' lecture.

Finally, it was time for Soccer practice.

Gabriel hurried to the Gym's locker and changed into his black sweat shirt and shorts and soccer cleats and got out in time to get the team ready while Coach Turner stepped up. The coach was short and skinny with a bald head and piercing blue eyes, but he had a voice that was as loud as a foghorn. "Alright rockheads, tomorrow's the big game; and we're not going to lose to the Hellions like we did last year!" Coach Turner bellowed. "Your Captain has given us a strategy that is going to work, and we're going to work on it until you got it etched in your skulls!" Coach Turner yelled again. "Yes sir!" the whole soccer team yelled. "Now let's get to work!"