That Monday morning, Sally walked through the hallways of her high school with relief, feeling the same invisibility that had plagued her life till recently wash over her again. The previous week had been a nightmare. Peter Pan had attempted to spread bad word against Sally for, as he put it, 'trying to turn Tink into a taxonomy project'. But the rumors clinging to Vanitas' back were much stronger, rendering Sally's faux pas pale in comparison. The dark boy stuck out like a sore black thumb against the white and green of the school walls. He trod by them in uncharacteristic silence, staring at his feet as he walked, with wide eyes and pursed lips. Posters reading 'save the animals', with pictures of various missing cats on their fronts, lined the school walls in retaliation for his rumored crimes. Drifting like a ghost, Vanitas passed them by with smoldering eyes, but fearing his grandfather's capabilities, he kept his building hatred for his fellow students silent. Pence told the story to Olette and Hayner while they sat in the schoolyard eating their lunch.
"Then, the Saturday before last, old Vanitas couldn't take it anymore!" he hissed, his hands gesticulating around his head. "He tried to burn his old man's house down, but his granddad was too fast for him. He beat him so bad he was in hospital for a week."
"That's not true!" murmured Olette in response, fingering her sushi. "I heard he was in a psych ward," she blurted out, blushing with a sheepish grin. But Hayner nodded his head. "Herc was talking about it. During the week of Vanitas' suspension he was in an asylum. He thought he had been attacked by a monster."
"Is that why he set the fire?" asked Olette. Hayner shrugged in grim reply, whispering, "No matter which story is true, it's clear that he's insane." Pence and Olette nodded in response, shifting back and forth with discomfort. But Hayner's somber visage left him when he went to the lunch line. As he stood waiting for a slice of pizza, he felt a hand on his back and he turned, noticing Hercules and Shang standing behind him with big smiles. "Did you evade the dork patrol?" snickered the tan boy, his chiseled cheeks turning up with a wide grin. Hayner scowled in reply, shaking his head as he turned back to the lunch lady who was serving the food. When Herc and Shang received no reply, they eyed each other with worried glances before Shang stepped forward. "You can leave your friends for one day right?" he asked. Hayner glanced at his fingers and clenched them into fists, before reaching for a lunch tray. One of the lunch ladies slapped a slice of pizza onto the Styrofoam and Hayner picked up a carton of milk, before inquiring, "Can my friends come?" To this, Herc rolled his eyes, and Shang furrowed his brows as he frowned. Then, pursing his lips, he nodded. "Bring them along," muttered the black haired boy, and with that, turned and shuffled back to his lunch table, with a confused Herc following him. Hayner stood staring after the seniors for a good minute before he reached for a fruit dish and went back to the schoolyard in excitement.
When Olette and Pence saw him coming, they glanced towards each other in suspicion. "What happened?" asked Olette with a polite tone, but when Hayner told her what Shang had said to him, she nearly choked on her sushi. After making sure that Hayner was not joking, though, the three lumbered into the cafeteria and followed Hayner towards the jock squad. Herc was throwing a piece of his corndog at his friend Phillip, who dodged it and laughed like crazy, snorting his milk. When he glanced over and saw Olette and Pence walking towards them, he furrowed his brows in confusion. "Who are these guys?" announced another member of the table. Herc's smile had disappeared, and he nudged Shang in the side, indicating it was his turn to explain. In response, Shang stood up and threw his hands around Olette and Pence's shoulders, announcing, "These are Hayner's friends. They're going to hang with us for today." Like mice, Pence and Olette scurried to the farthest edge of the lunch table and sat down, nibbling at their food with fearful bites. Hayner glanced at them in desperation, wanting them to talk. But they did not say a word. Their eyes stayed trained on the table before them, unmoving.
While his friends attempted invisibility, Hayner beamed twice as big as he had before and said hello to everyone sitting at the table, his eyes resting on Peter Pan, who was walking from the lunch line towards him with a sour look on his face. When the pair met eyes, Peter Pan raised his brows in surprise, only to scowl deeper when he noticed Pence and Olette. "What are they doing here?" the boy tried to ask in a polite tone, but it came out acidic, making Shang roll his eyes. "Hayner wanted his friends to come along," muttered the black haired boy, stabbing at his pizza. Herc wolfed down his corndog and nodded in affirmation, so that Peter Pan narrowed his eyes and sat down himself with a shrug. "Hey, if Hayner's sitting over here, I might as well!" chuckled the younger boy. As he said this Peter sent a wink Hayner's way. But Hayner did not respond.
A conversation was starting up on the other end of the table regarding the dead animals, which purportedly were getting larger in size. For a few days the killings had died down, but now the culprit had come back full force. A few hikers had found a dead puma at the beginning of the week, and authorities were advising city dwellers against visits to the woods. It was guessed that an exotic species had been torn loose in the forest, such as a lion or a tiger, and was roaming the forest grounds undeterred. The more logical explanation was that a jaguar had wandered its way up the coast and was now having a field day. For most of the city's high school students, though, the culprit seemed within walking distance.
"I'm sure that bastard Vanitas did it," barked Henry, another resident of the 'popular' table. In return Hercules tapped his chin with his fork before asking when the attacks had started up again. "It was definitely after the ape returned to school from psycho land," Henry continued, snarling that the authorities should have kept him there. From the side of the table nearest Hayner, Peter Pan piped in that another possible culprit was Sally, who he added admitted that she had tried to experiment on his dog, Tink.
"Maybe it's been her this whole time!" cried the red headed boy with conviction. "No one ever suspects a girl! Maybe all these animals are her experiments gone wrong!"
"Wait, who's Sally?" asked Hercules in return. Peter scowled and shrugged, muttering that she was a fellow freshman- the one with the joker scars. At this the rest of the boys at the table sucked in a breath of revulsion, recognizing the girl immediately as they formed a picture of her in their minds. As Hercules pondered it, he began liking the idea more and more. "She does have that weird bluish skin," he blurted out, continuing that ever since his uncle had gotten silver poisoning, his skin had turned blue, his hair had fallen out, and most importantly, he'd started acting like a major asshole. Henry, on the other hand, was not entirely convinced.
"Everyone knows Vanitas is a nut job!" reasoned the boy. "Heck, even Meg has stopped hanging around him, and she'd boff anyone!"
"Don't talk about her like that!" snapped Hercules in response, near breaking his plastic spork in half. At the ensuing glances he returned to his corndog crumbs. Then he slurped the remainder of his chocolate milk and wiped his hands with his napkin, peering towards Hayner good-naturedly. "So I hear the playoffs are in our future thanks to you," the golden skinned boy murmured with a mischievous grin. In reply Hayner blushed but grinned. As Peter attempted to fire in his two cents he was ignored, and took to sulking over his food as Hayner spoke with the seniors. On his other side, Olette and Pence bent closer and closer to their own food, until they seemed ready to disappear between their packed lunches' dips and apexes. Occasionally Hayner would glance towards them to see if they were all right. The conversation, meanwhile, had turned again towards the cat killer.
"Some people are saying it could be a jaguar," Shang tried, but was soon thwarted by Phillip, who was certain that jaguars only lived in Africa. It was then that Olette poked her head from her sushi and pursed her lips. With a slight cough she cleared her throat and leaned forward, so that the rest of the table stopped speaking to look towards her.
"You're thinking of leopards, Phillip," murmured the brown haired girl. "Jaguars are native to the Americas."
"What's the difference?" snorted Phillip in return. Olette replied that jaguars were bulkier, for one thing, and had a powerful bite. "They also frequent water, which makes our coast very enticing."
As the rest of the table pondered, Hercules threw his remaining food away and announced that he was heading to the gym early. Shang joined him, and as both stood at each other's side, Hercules asked Hayner if he would like to come along. "Your friends can hang as well," he added. At first Olette and Pence objected loudly, but Herc and Shang were so insistent that eventually the whole team traipsed out together. As they left Peter watched after them in disbelief, wondering if he should tag along. Phillip and Henry continued eating and did not seem to object the freshman's company. Instead of clinging to Hayner, Peter turned back towards the others, who were again discussing whom the true culprit of the cat killing could be: man, woman, beast, or something worse.
...
Though he was not supposed to, Phoebus frequented the high school gym enough that people should have noticed him. But while he wandered about giving kids pointers on form and chatting about his years as a senior, the staff ignored him, deciding quickly that he was no harm. Right now he was hidden in the storage room with his tin, pipe, and lighter, and as a strange, sweet burning smell drifted through the ventilation system, a horde of students entered the weight lifting room, two with lunchboxes and one with a purple camera clasped tightly to his chest. As Hercules strode ahead of them he grinned and set his hands on his hips, sucking in a large gust of air and closing his eyes at the gentle scent. His bliss ended quickly, though, and in disgust he barreled forward and sniffed louder, ending with his nose upon the door to the storage room where Phoebus was hiding.
"Faux-pas!" Hercules called in after him, banging the metal double doors with closed fists. When he tried the door handles he found that they were stuck. "Phoebus, quit shitting around! Everyone can smell you a mile away!" he hollered, and there was clambering inside before the lock undid and a blonde head of hair peeked out from within. Its breath was metallic yet sweet, and the face hiding beneath glowed tan with dark blue eyes.
"Alright, alright, alright..." muttered the man through a haze of smoke, and Hercules grabbed the joint from behind his back and stomped it into the gym's green rubber flooring. The ashes disappeared amongst the white speckled design as Phoebus gasped. With watering, bloodshot eyes he looked on Herc as if the boy had diagnosed him a sixties poser. Then with gritted teeth the blond boy stumbled forward and prodded the senior in the belly, furrowing his brows together and growling. "This has gone too far," muttered the man. Whatever he was going to say next got lost in his train of thought. But Hercules agreed with him.
"You can't come in here, man," the boy continued, herding Phoebus further into the supply closet. In curiosity Olette and Pence peered in after him, while Hayner stayed behind with his arms crossed in front of him. "You can't be here if you're not a student!" snapped Herc further. "You can't give weight lifting tips if you don't work here, and you can't smoke in the backroom full stop!"
"Hey, I'm just hanging with the people I love, man!" blubbered Phoebus in return, wiping his running nose with the back of his hand. With rolled eyes Hercules gave up and beckoned Hayner and his friends to follow him. Shang was already doing chest flies with the butterfly machine in the gym's left corner, so Hercules strode towards him with Pence toddling close behind. When the camera-clad boy was within a foot's distance from the butterfly machine, Shang moved the weights to start position and stretched. Then he stepped from the chair and shook Pence's hand.
"You ever tried the peck deck?" asked Shang. Pence shook his head with a gulp, so Shang did not entreat him. Instead he led the sophomore over to the bench press, slapping his hands against the dumbbells with a smile. "This one's safer on the shoulders, anyway."
"It doesn't look like its safer on anything," squeaked Pence in response, but Shang insisted, so with hesitation Pence removed the camera from his chest and set it to the side. Then he slid his back onto the bench press. "How much do you weigh?" asked Shang. With a blush Pence replied that he was one hundred ninety eight pounds. Hercules and Shang agreed that ninety might be a good starting weight. But after the struggle of the first two reps, the weight was knocked down to fifty. This proved easier, and Pence got through fifteen before he started to tremble. Afterwards Shang had him do a few pushups while Hercules let Olette try the bench press for herself, getting twenty reps out of the fifty pound weights. After finishing, Hercules and Hayner clapped for her, making Olette beam and decide to join Pence in his pushups. Sit-ups were next, and then Hayner and Shang asked everyone if they wanted to join them in the pool. Neither Olette nor Pence had swimsuits, while Hayner had forgotten to take his out of his locker. Phoebus volunteered his old speedo, but it was swiftly declined. Instead of swimming Hayner's friends took off their shoes and dipped their toes in the water, slipping on sunglasses Phoebus had located in the lost and found.
As the warm weather returned more people sought the outdoor pool, which was open for free swimming from eight in the morning to one in the afternoon Monday through Saturday, around the time that lunch ended. After one, though, the swim team came in and civilian swimming was pay only. In the uncharacteristic quiet today Hercules and Hayner dived into the pool together, Hayner having retrieved his trunks and goggles from his locker. Shang jumped close behind, and soon all three were racing. As the remaining pair watched, Phoebus joined them at the edge of the pool with a sigh, taking a long slurp from the can of Dr. Pepper he'd found in the swim office's fridge. "Beautiful day for catching some rays, eh, friends?" the man added, dipping his own bare legs in the brominated waves. Unfortunately for the surrounding patrons Phoebus had donned his ratty speedo and was now rolling onto his belly so he could sunbathe with his feet in the water. The sun shone directly on a balding patch at the back of the suit, and the faint beginning of Phoebus' buttocks reflected through the greyish, thinning thread. Though he had been chiseled and dashing in his youth, now Phoebus was sporting young love handles, which curled over the top of his speedo like golden muffin skin as it toasted in the heat. While Pence wrinkled his nose, Olette looked on in pity. Beside them Phoebus had started humming nirvana.
"They're not so bad," blurted Olette suddenly. Pence shrugged in return but agreed with a mumble. "It was quite nice what they did for us today," Olette continued. "Letting us eat with them and then inviting us to exercise."
"I could have done without the latter," muttered Pence in dejected response. But Olette continued that maybe they had been wrong to be so scared of the boys.
"I remember my first year as a senior," Phoebus chuckled, making Olette and Pence jump out of their skins. "Hercules was just a wee freshman. Major klutzo. In the middle of custody battle between his mom and dad no less. Eventually they remarried and he got into sports. But that first year, I took him under my wing..."
"I thought coach Phil took him under his wing," responded Pence in confusion. Phoebus shrugged in response and rolled to his front, exposing a fluffy chest and soft stomach red from the heat of the concrete. As Olette looked upon it she let out a huff, remembering that she had forgotten to buy watercolors for her next art project. Maybe Naminé would let her borrow hers for the time being, and she would let Naminé borrow her ink.
"There's this girl in my art class," murmured Olette. Beside her Phoebus opened one eye while Pence fiddled with his purple camera. "Naminé. We should invite her to the beach sometime. And if Roxas comes in from the mainland we could bring him along."
"Naminé," purred Phoebus, his navy blue eyes glazing over in remembrance. "She's friends with Taxo, right?"
"Taxo?" barked Olette. "You mean Jane?"
"Yeah, yeah Jane," returned Phoebus with a wide grin. "Cool kids. They're the ones who told me about Vanitas killing those cats."
"What?" replied Olette and Pence as Phoebus chortled. In amusement the man reminisced how fast the truth had spread, from his girlfriend Esmeralda down to the lowliest members of the high school's freshman class within a week. "I'm surprised the cops haven't questioned the bugger yet!" he added with a belly laugh. But Olette was puzzled. The authorities were sure that a jaguar or some large feline had perpetrated the killings, not a sixteen-year-old boy. But Olette had never known Naminé to be a liar. Jane had a penchant for exaggeration, but not Naminé. As she thought it over, a wheezing sound like air from a balloon faded past on the breath of the wind, and suddenly Phoebus dived into the pool to race with Herc, Hayner, and Shang. The oldest man didn't get far before he had to take a breather on the other end of the pool. "Would Naminé lie?" Olette thought to herself. As she watched Phoebus panting and rubbing the peach fuzz against his chest, Olette's lips curled up, until finally she was left with no choice but to conclude that the man had misremembered the whole event.