~Ø~

Streaks of faint morning light peered over the thick blanket of clouds that partially covered the sky of San Francisco on Friday. Spring breeze carried pollen in the air along the chirping birds that gathered on the thick, bushy trees all over the wide school. Multiple cars of junior and senior students roared in the distance, hurtling towards the parking lot before they run out of place.

Those that didn't have the luxury of owning a car settled on walking unless you're one of the students who lived far from the school like Ace, then you would take the bright yellow school bus wih a gigantic lettering of Cardinals on both sides.

It was a storm of loud noise inside the bus as rows of seat were occupied with overly enthusiastic girls that chattered on and on about their glitzy and fabulous dress for the prom tonight. The boys on the other hand were busy chanting Go Cardinals! for the heated football game next week. Their loud voice irritated Ace who sat at the back. An ace of clubs card twirled across his fingers while he looked at the passing faces of other students outside the musty window. The bus bumped slightly, its wheels immediately stopped and the driver hurried them to get off.

Ace was the last to leave to avoid getting his injured shoulder bumped by the horde of students. It had only been a day and he already adjusted to his shoulder cast though it took him great endurance not to scratch the itch underneath the protective casing.

"Ace? What are you doing here?" Jason ran towards him. "Aren't you supposed to be resting at home? Your shoulder is a mess and it might get worse!"

"You know Mom can't win an argument with my father," Ace replied as they started walking towards the entrance door.

"I swear, one day I'll kick daddy dearest in his balls if something bad happens to you because of him. I've seriously seen better parenting from that fatass on Family Guy that my uncle watches all the time."

Jason's face lit up, turning towards Ace with widened eyes. "Wait!" He stopped Ace while grabbing a pen from his backpack. A gleeful smile formed on his face before biting off the cap of the pen. "May I?"

"Knock yourself out," Ace replied as Jason proceeded to vandalize his shoulder cast.

Jason giggled which alerted Ace's eyes towards him. "I know you're writing some stupid shit there Jason so could you not? My mom could see it. Or someone worse," Ace said.

"Done!" Jason put his pen back to his backpack. Ace read it from his reflection on a nearby car window.

"This —s̶h̶i̶t̶h̶e̶a̶d̶— idiot is a hero." Ace raised both his eyebrows as he slowly developed a smile. He then turned towards Jason with a blank face. "Let's go inside."

Jason opened the entrance door for him. "Ladies first," he said.

"It's okay I don't need your help opening the door," Ace replied and the two entered the building when a crowd of chattering teenagers stopped talking or moving as soon as they saw Ace, and soon, started whispering little gossips while shooting curious— but mostly judgmental looks towards the injured boy.

Ace walked by them to get to his classroom along with Jason who kept his head down. The two felt like Moses crossing the halls as whispering waves of students split on either side of the wall making a clear path for them.

The two finally reached their classroom with passing students still whispering about him with curious glances that turned their head towards him once. And maybe a few more times.

Jason grabbed the doorknob of their classroom for him.

"Dude I told you I can open the door by myse—." Ace stopped when a petite girl with long brown hair and olive skin arrived to greet them. She held an inviting smile on her face and a big notebook on her hands. Her twinkling brown eyes were filled with curiosity though unlike others, it didn't have a disapproving glare.

Jason remained motionless as he looked at her with his widened eyes and a slightly opened mouth. "H-hi R-river," he greeted her. A smile formed on his face that showed his excitement building up to explode.

"Hi Jason," she smiled at him, her gaze turning towards Ace afterwards. "Good morning Ace."

"Who are you exactly?" Ace replied.

"Oh! I forgot sorry! That was so unprofessional of me. I'm River Moore and a writer for the school's newspaper. I've been given the task to get a couple of structured words from two people since Tuesday which is due today. I'm already done with her." She sighed heavily.

"Who?" Jason asked.

River's eyes darted wildly at her surroundings. "Adella," she whispered. "She gave me a feeling of a serial killer about to kill me while interviewing her. It was definitely un-easy so I was hoping we'd have a short spa-like interview."

"Spa-like?" Ace furrowed his forehead before looking at Jason who had his mouth stuck in a smile and his gaze fixated on River.

"I was whispering to the sacred being above for a child-like level of word exchange with you before coming here. I just wanted to receive a short monologue for what happened last Monday and how it impacted your life," she asked. Her left hand held a pen ready to create words on the blank paper.

"I don't really want to talk about it. It already happened so it doesn't really bother me anymore."

"B-but! I need to receive words from you in order for Joanne to spare my head! Please! Even just a crumble of words! I won't leave this area until I finish my task!"

"Well, you'll be waiting here for a long time then." Ace shrugged before opening the door.

The corners of Jason's mouth lowered when River looked as if she was seconds away from a waterfall.

"Dude, just help her and give a short answer. River won't leave until you give her a few words for her article which she always finishes on time. I think this'll be the last time because she interviewed you. I really can't stand it when she looks so miserable. I feel miserable too!" Jason whispered towards Ace which convinced him.

"Fine!" Ace said before walking towards River. "I saved a severely injured girl last Monday from a brute with a gun who tried to kill the both of us before the police arrived late like they always do. How did it impact my life? Hard! So hard it penetrated through my shoulder. There!"

"Thank you! Oh my sacred being! You too Jason thank you very much!" She jumped up and down, smiling at them. The skirt of her green jumper dress bounced along with her. "The newspaper will be out this lunch so I'll save you two some copies okay? Oh and before I leave, may I write something?"

"You know what? Go ahead if that fuels your jumping and maybe you might fly," Ace replied. "Away from us," he added.

She wrote a long sentence before finally leaving the two.

"Bye bye!" Jason waved his hand with a smile.

"What did she wrote?" Ace asked.

Jason giggled. "She wrote; Be PAW-sitive! Hope you are feline better today amidst the cat-astrophic incident last Monday."

"That's a lot of cat puns." Ace tilted his head. "I feel like I've seen her with a bunch of cats before."

Ace opened the door for their classroom and walked towards his chair at the back near the windows which he opened as soon as the colliding scent of perfumes and colognes from the other students inside pierced his nostrils. His classmates were chattering and playing games on every corner of the room.

"Hey Ace, can you make your handwriting bigger so I can copy your answer for the quiz? I didn't review because I was jamming out with my band mates," Jason said.

"Good luck on that one. I can't use my right hand."

"Just write your answers super big okay? I really, really, really need to pass this one or else I wi—."

Miranda appeared between them. Her left hand was on her waist while the other held a small scented card. Ace however didn't acknowledge her presence as he rested his chin on top of his hand and watched the people outside running.

"This is for you Jace." Miranda handed him the card. "They recently announced that the prom tonight will be mandatory so I checked the list of the students that will attend and your name isn't there."

"But isn't that supposed to be the job of the council members?" Jason asked.

"Yes but Watson is basically my best friend." Miranda noticed Ace busy bird watching so she left the card on his desk and went back to her seat. "And he's not here today."

Ace immediately turned his head towards her, his eyes were fully opened and his lips tightened.

"Why is he not here? We have two quizzes today," Jason said.

"He still hasn't finished his gizmo for the tech fair next week and with all the school work, council work, organizing the prom for tonight and the expectations for his invention, he decided to focus on what was important which is the tech fair," Miranda answered.

Ace turned towards the window with a developing frown, his hand started to flip an ace of clubs card between his fingers.

"Aw man that sucks! And to think he really wanted to go to prom! He won't stop talking about it when we went to the hospital yesterday," Jason said, exhaling, his brows furrowed. "Why is the tech fair so important for him anyway?"

"It's just that the first place winner will receive a cash prize that he'll use for his younger siblings' schooling after this semester. Plus there's a scholarship for Cornell University at New York which is a big deal! And knowing how hardworking he is really concerns me."

"As you should," Ace mumbled, inserting the invitation inside his backpack.

"What do you mean?" Miranda asked.

"Well, the fact that Watson wouldn't eat or take a shower unless his work is perfect. When he's working on something, everything around him would disappear and he would be sucked inside his own world where the only thing that exists is him and his work," Ace muttered with a tiny grin, a hint of laughter followed afterwards.

Miranda and Jason looked at each other in confusion with the latter shrugging.

She switched her sights back to Ace, shaking her head lightly with a small smile. "I thought you hated his guts? Seems like he was right." Her eyes squinted at him with curiosity.

"I don't know what's happening." Jason's eyes wondered off. "I didn't know you knew Watson that much."

Ace quickly turned towards the window. "Uhh, lucky gue—"

The door opened and the scattered students quickly went back to their seat including Miranda. An old woman entered carrying a small stack of papers ready to be distributed for the class. A sharp feeling of terror stabbed Jason in his guts that made him grabbed Ace's hands tightly, looking at him with helpless eyes.

*****

The sun soon fell out of the sky leaving a trail of golden strokes of winter fire that stretched widely on the horizon. Ace stared at it for a moment but soon returned to read the newspaper on his hand. It featured Adella on the front page with her wise and inspiring words on beauty and pre-prom jitters.

"I would love to give advice for everyone in regards to our prom! Majority of the students seem to be nervous but don't! I am calm and excited, and every girls should be. I know most of you are very insecure about yourselves but you shan't! We should celebrate individuality! Everyone is born different! I mean yes some better than others but that shouldn't stop you from having the time of your lives. Be yourself even if most of you are ugly fat losers who has no chance of survival in the real world because of your self doubt, low self esteem and may I add horrendous social skills. Oh and zero sense of fashion."

Ace let out a tiny laughter. Her words were so funny to the point it was almost sad to read. But he still continued. His eyebrows are raised and continuous hint of amusement escaped from his mouth.

"So you people shouldn't be nervous at all! Unless you're not attending which honestly is a wise choice." He read the final words as his face went back to its neutral state. His eyes were still fixated on the last sentence, a certain someone popped on his mind. He shook his head lightly. Did she really thought he was so gullible just because he doesn't have social skills?

The old school bus quickly stopped, mildly launching the students forward. "Hayes Street!" The driver shouted.

Ace slowly walked towards the entrance, the cold breeze greeted him as soon as his foot step out of the vehicle. His eyes were immediately pulled by his father's car parked outside. A burning sensation flickered on his stomach in which he breathed deeply before climbing the white marble stairs that led to the front door.

He entered the house as the scent of rosemary and butter welcomed him home. The scent lured him towards the kitchen where he saw his mother brandishing a silver knife in front of a lifeless salmon.

"I'm home Mom," Ace said.

Priscilla's face lit up and stopped before she could dismember the creature. "Welcome home Sweety! How was your day? Did your shoulder get hurt or anything?" She walked towards Ace and helped him remove his backpack.

"Mom it's okay I can do it by myself," he said as he laid it on top of the table afterwards when Priscilla noticed something on her son's cast that garnered her gaze. "School and shoulder are both fine. I stayed two extra hours at school just so I can discuss things with Mr. Smith about my piano and violin lessons in the future before going to Mr. Carlos for the tutoring session."

Priscilla took a closer look at his cast. "You are forbidden to write on this cast," she read, "How nice of this person."

"That was just my classmate Miranda."

"What about this cat lady because I'm quite sure Jason wasn't the one who wrote that."

"Jason might've wrote tha–," Ace stopped when his mother pointed at the sentence that crossed out the word shithead.

"Anyway, I better continue prepping our dinner. It's your favorite; grilled salmon." Priscilla quickly went back behind the counter where she proceeded to decapitate the sea creature.

"I almost forgot to mention Mom, I'm going to attend the prom tonight," Ace said. His hand slithered inside his backpack searching for the card Miranda gave him, showing it to his mother as soon as he found it.

"I thought you hated social gatherings?"

Ace took the ace of clubs card from his pocket before playing with it around his fingers. "Well, I changed my mind. Too bad I don't have any clothes to wear though."

"I actually prepared a suit for you just in case. Good thing I kept it."

"Where is it?"

"It's in my room. There's a brown box on top of my dresser, don't worry about scent and some wrinkles here and there, I haven't touched it since I bought it," she smiled before continuing to bisect another fish. The sizzling salmon on the frying pan emitted a scent that made Ace's stomach grumble.

"I better hurry before 7," Ace said, grabbing his backpack and walking carefully and quietly towards the stairs and unto the second floor.

He peered left and right from the wooden railings. Nothing but a sound of silence came from every direction including the door to his parents' room at the end of the hallway. Right next to it was his father's private office room which he never set foot up to this day. His eyes stared at the door where he guessed his father might be. Not once did he questioned himself what his father was doing inside since he was a workaholic man.

Ace tiptoed towards their room, slowly opening the door and peeking through the slight space in between. He breathed once before going inside, going straight to the wooden dresser at the end of the room. His hand opened the brown box that was on top of the wooden furniture revealing a clean, folded navy blue suit. On top laid a bowtie of the same color.

A smile formed on his face before grabbing it with his left hand when he noticed a briefcase with a familiar crest. Ace reached his hand towards it only to stop when he was close to touching it.

He turned around. His hands let go and dropped the box on the marble floor when a face of someone he wasn't expecting froze him in his tracks. His body tensed. He lowered his head to the ground, staring at the container.

"What are you doing here Jace?" Oliver asked him, his spiteful glare turned to his vandalized cast.

"M-Mom said I should get this brown box."

"Then do just that." His father's voice sparked a blazing fear within him that caused him to move faster, grabbing the brown box on the floor and running towards his room.

The box on his hand flew towards his bed while he dropped his backpack on top of his desk. He turned on the radio, turning the knob though all the channels started to lose signal.

"Come on," Ace muttered while moving the antennas back and forth but it was useless.

His shoulders jerked upwards when the windows slammed close with a loud bang. Ace walked towards it, the howling winds became more audible as he got closer. He opened the windows only to be greeted by darkness. Only the moon on the black, starless sky and flickering streetlight on the street in front of his house lit the view. The tree branches moved as though they were waving at him but he didn't get bothered by it. There was nothing unusual outside.

The dread from his encounter with his father still lingered. "My father sure is scary huh?" He said to the still shadows standing underneath the flickering streetlight before closing the windows when a crow croaked outside causing him to open the windows again.

He peered his head out, switching his gaze left and right, not noticing the door to his room slowly opening as the cold winds that whispered unto his ears masked the gentle creaking of the wooden entrance.

"Annoying bird," he muttered when his gaze was pulled down the street.

The streetlight has stopped flickering and the still shadows underneath was gone.

He tilted his head while his brows curled up before quickly closing the windows. The howling winds continued to call unto him through the glass barrier though its cold touch still imprisoned him. The branches' silhouette on the window appeared as though they were skeletal hands waving at him. His eyes almost escaped its sockets when the radio buzzed, an old song started to play afterwards.

"There is someone, walking behind you. Turn around, look at me."

Ace swallowed a huge lump of saliva, he felt his heartbeat running on fumes as he slowly turned towards the door. His mouth dropped on the floor.

~Ø~