Chapter 2
A/N: *blushes and then cries for mercy because dang son it's been a long time* Enjoy children... chances are it will be another year before this goes up again. *also rolls eyes because sarcasm is pretty cool* Honestly though, I'll try to update more often.
X and I got through the day surprisingly well. Kitten and I had to separate after getting to the school, so I only had X for company most of the time. Which would have been fine by me, if he hadn't been whispering random memes when the class was at it's quietest. Bursting out in laughter in the middle of class for no apparent reason? Not the best way to start your Freshman year of high school. Thankfully, I never actually laughed, so I didn't have to worry about ruining people's conception of my sanity.
At noon, I discovered that, (thankfully), Kitten and I had the same lunch. We grabbed food, then went to sit down at a table with some of Kitten's other friends. There were quite a few people there, including a guy who looked to be a Sophomore with a black beanie, dark blue hair, and green eyes, a guy who looked like a Junior with lots of freckles, dirty blonde hair and hazel eyes, and two Freshman girls: one with crazy long hair and unnatural green eyes, and another with dirty blonde hair and blue eyes. They looked at me, slightly uneasy, as Kitten and I approached the table.
"Okay, guys," Kitten sang out as she put her food down on the table, "This is Max! She's new! And..."
Her voice lowered as she sat down and leaned forward, then whispered,
"She's like us."
Everyone let out a collective sigh, and the guy with the beanie moved over to let me sit down.
"Hey," he softly said, a friendly tone to his voice, "My name's Blue."
"Nice to meet you," I happily exclaimed. He nodded, then quietly continued eating. The guy with the dirty blonde hair simply watched me.
"This is Christoffer," Kitten said, grabbing the guy with the dirty blonde hair's shoulder, "He's the group lunatic."
"I'm not the group lunatic," Christoffer muttered, then, in an even softer tone, he added, "Usually."
Kitten rolled her eyes and exclaimed,
"You're always the group lunatic! It's a fact! Of life!"
"It's not a fact," Christoffer mumbled, "You're just saying that."
Kitten held up her hands and exclaimed,
"Fine, fine, think whatever you want about yourself! But in the end... you crazy!"
Christoffer rolled his eyes, and smiled, then continued to eat. Kitten took her place, then exclaimed,
"So, we need to initiate her! Let's take her up to Upper D! And I am definitely not using her as a pass to get up there!"
"Huh?" I asked, "What's Upper D?"
"No," Blue softly said, "Let's not."
"Yeah," Christoffer agreed, "It's too dangerous for Freshies."
"We're experienced enough to face anything up there," the girl with the incredibly long hair said.
"No you haven't," I suddenly blurted out, "There are some pretty bad things up there. Not enemies, of course. Allies. But... if you guys just come derping in, then you'll be in some pretty big trouble. They're always on guard, and no offense to you guys, but you look painfully human. As do I. Which sucks. I mean, I could take the form of a raven, or a talking potato with wings, or a tree, or a table, but no, I have to be a human. I can't even regrow limbs, or something useful like that. Humans are such a useless species. Ah, well. You know what they say. Beggars can't be choosers. But back to my original point. If you walk in there, looking like humans, they'll wipe your mind! You won't remember that you can shapeshift into a wolf, a cat, or a horse, or that you have the ability to teleport, or fly, or that your embarrassing childhood nickname was Toffee. You won't remember a thing about your powers, because the people in Upper D are like us. They're still learning to use theirs."
I then clamped my hands over my mouth. I had no idea what that outburst was, although I knew that X probably had something to do with it. Christoffer leaned back, then urgently whispered,
"How do you know so much about Upper D? You've never been up there in your life. At least, I assume you haven't, since most Freshmen don't know about it, even the nonhumans. And not only that, but right before we mentioned it, you even asked what Upper D was. So how do you know about it? Oh, and uh... don't tell anyone that my nickname used to be Toffee. Got it?"
Kitten raised her eyebrows, then exclaimed,
"Well, this is a historical moment! Chris says more than three sentences in a row around a new person! We're going to have to make this a holiday!"
"No," Chris said, back to his normal voice, "I was just ranting. Got carried away."
"Can we please get back to the original topic?" Blue asked, "We can focus on Chris's ranting later, but first... how do you know so much about Upper D?"
I took a deep breath, then softly said,
"If I told you that the demonic creature that possesses my body just took control of me and made me say that, how would you react?"
"I've heard stranger," Chris replied, then added, "And it would explain why you know so much about Upper D."
"Yeah," I laughed, "Sometimes the demon, his name is X, he'll take control of my body. Make me say things, do things, stuff like that. So if I ever act strange, that's why."
Chris nodded, then Blue said,
"That's cool. You know, after we finish eating, let's go to the band room. I'm not in the band, but I know some nonhumans there, so we can use that as a training room. The band teacher won't mind. He's like us."
'Called it,' X sang out. During band camp, he had been telling me repeatedly that the band teacher wasn't human. I didn't really take him too seriously, though, because some other things and people that he said weren't human included the following: the only male drum major, the painfully human Harry Potter fan in the saxophone section, the marimba, everyone in the colour guard, the colour guard's flags, the crash cymbals, the asphalt, and so many other things that it began to become something where I stopped paying attention to him.
"Fine, fine, congrats on getting something right for once," I sarcastically said, "Good job. You get a cookie."
"Huh?" Blue asked, "Did you say something?"
I quickly shook my head and replied,
"Yeah, but not to you. To X. He's annoying."
'Oh, that's harsh,' X whined. I rolled my eyes, then continued to eat, ignoring his whines.
When everyone finished, we left the lunch room, and headed over to the band room. I was excited to show off my powers, and since X was happily humming, I assumed he was excited, too.
As soon as we got into the band room, I ducked as... the... marimba... flew by my face, almost crashing into the wall.
"NO!" someone yelled, "WATCH OUT FOR THE WALL! AND PUT THE FREAKIN' MARIMBA DOWN! DISRESPECT!"
The voice was coming from Alex. She was the leader of the drum line, and was, undoubtedly, the guardian of all percussion - instruments, people, if it was in percussion, she was probably fiercely protecting it.
"H-hey Alex," I shyly said. That girl intimidated me. Extremely. She was extremely intimidating.
"Hi Max," Alex said, glaring angrily at the marimba, "Nice to see another nonhuman. Please ignore the flying marimba. That was an accident caused by the stupid piccolos.
"We're not stupid," Rita, one of the piccolos, (and one of the three people in the room) protested, "And if anything, the blame falls on me. I was the one who levitated the marimba, it wasn't a section-wide effort."
"Hi, Rita," Blue said. Rita smiled, and waved, then pushed her short red hair back from her face, and muttered,
"Okay. Let's try 'levitating the marimba, part two'. But this time... I'll avoid all walls."
"And the drum major," Alex reminded her, "Don't forget the drum major."
"Y-yeah..." Noah, one of the three drum majors, nervously stuttered, "D-don't forget me. Please. I'm duct-taped to a chair and I can't move and if that hits me, I'm a dead man."
"Calm yourself," Rita reassuringly said, "I won't hit you."
"And if she does, I'll laugh," I blurted out. Then I clamped my hands over my mouth again, blushing fiercely.
"Oh, thanks," Noah sarcastically said, "I appreciate the love."
I sighed, then softly explained,
"I'm possessed. The demon made me do it."
Noah rolled his eyes, then asked,
"Can we get this over with, please?"
Rita nodded, then slowly brought the marimba back over to where it had been, carefully avoiding Noah. As my group watched, Kitten whispered,
"Is this what happens in band camp?"
"No," I quietly replied, "Not everyone levitates the marimbas in band camp - that's the seniors' job."
"What?" Kitten asked, a confused look on her face. I sighed, and shook my head, smiling. Rita set the marimba safely down, and clapped her hands, then turned to us and asked,
"So, what brings you here?"
"Practice," Blue replied, "Or... showing off. We're making her show off her powers."
"Hm," Alex said, "I'm interested."
"Can someone get me out of this chair?" Noah called out. Alex turned on her heel, clapped her hands, took a deep breath, then said,
"No. We're using you for... avoiding the target practice!"
Noah's eyes widened in terror as Alex shoved me in front of him, and said,
"Here. Practice."
I sighed, then quietly said,
"Sorry about this, Noah. But don't worry, I'll try not to hit you."
'You sure about this?' X piped up. I rolled my eyes, and thought back,
'Yes. Positive. You wouldn't let me hit him, anyways, right?'
'Yup,' he replied, 'I wouldn't. But... it would be funny...'
"But it would also probably kill him," I accidentally said out loud. Noah's eyes widened, and he whispered,
"What? What would kill me? I'M TOO YOUNG TO DIE, I DON'T EVEN HAVE MY DRIVERS LICENSE YET!"
'Same here, and I'm ten billion years old,' X mumbled. I bit my lip to keep from laughing, then glanced at Noah and said,
"No, I was saying about what would kill you if I hit you. And I'm not going to do that. Neither is my demon."
Noah snorted, then said,
"Get it over with."
I nodded, then summoned a ball of energy in my hands, and blasted it towards the wall. It missed Noah by a hair of an inch, and slammed against the wall, causing blue sparks to scatter into the air, like fireworks.
'Let's try levitation now, shall we?' X suggested. I nodded, and he happily hummed out,
'La-dee-da-dee-da, levitating drum majors is so much fun!'
I almost burst into laughter as I carefully caused Noah - and his chair - to levitate above the ground.
"P-put me down," Noah awkwardly stuttered, his face now almost as pale as a ghost, "I'm really scared of heights... especially ones that I experience while duct-taped to a chair."
I shrugged, then slowly put him back down again.
"Thanks," Noah sighed. I nodded, then glanced over as Alex asked,
"So you're a nonhuman, huh? Honestly, I wasn't expecting it. Like, you seemed so normal at first."
"At first," I pointed out, "And then... you completely missed the time that I made the crash cymbals hover during the football game, so you probably didn't know. But I did that."
"James mentioned that," Alex said. James was the bass drummer, who was famous for falling in a hole, and his uncanny ability to know exactly what was going on in a situation before anyone else knew.
"Oh," I quietly said, then shrugged, and walked over to Noah. I quickly un-duct taped him and he slowly stood up, saying,
"Thank you."
"You're welcome," I said. He sighed, then ran a hand through his hair.
"What are your powers?" I asked, after a moment of silence. Noah shrugged, then replied,
"Basic telekinesis. I can move stuff with my mind. That's just about it."
"He's the closest thing to a human that we have here in the band," Rita added. I glanced over at her, and asked,
"Wait, so nobody in the band is human? Then why are all of our practices so normal?"
"For the Freshmen," Rita explained, with Alex adding,
"Think about how much one of you would freak out if you didn't know you weren't human, because high school tends to be the time that people learn about not being human, and you saw us levitating a marimba. Or how about flying tubas?"
"Literally, flying," Noah laughed out, "The players and everything."
"That is such a strange image," Blue mumbled. Marie nodded in agreement, and whispered,
"Yeah."
"And then remember the time Colby figured out how to shoot lasers from the bass drum?" Alex asked. Rita laughed, and exclaimed,
"Yes! Oh my God, that was hilarious! Rest in peace, percussion's mallets..."
"So that's why we have new ones," I mumbled under my breath. Alex nodded, then whispered,
"Yeah. It was a dark time for all of us."
"It was amusing," Noah said. Alex rolled her eyes, then asked,
"How's life? And are the other people who you dragged in nonhumans as well?"
"Yes, we're all nonhumans, and life is fabulous," I replied. Alex raised her eyebrow, and asked,
"Life is fabulous? How do you say that with such a straight face?"
'I can't take this any longer,' X mumbled. I gulped, then sucked in a breath as the air suddenly left my body, and X stood in front of us. Everyone jumped, except for me, since I had kind of been expecting that to happen.
"I know, right?" X asked, "This, right here, is disgusting."
He motioned at me, then turned to Alex and said,
"You've got it co-rrect. She needs more... pizzaz. I'm thinking... jazz hands. Yes. We need jazz hands. You can't say 'fabulous' without doing jazz hands."
"You can't say fabulous with a straight face, either," Alex laughed out. X turned to look at her, and calmly said,
"I don't have a face."
"Oh," Alex softly mumbled, "Okay, then."
He nodded, then turned to me and exclaimed,
"Let's see some jazz hands! Jazz hand like you're in the jazz band!"
"The jazz band doesn't do jazz hands," Noah softly said. X shook his head, then pointed at me and said,
"You. Jazz hands. Now."
I sighed, then weakly mumbled,
"Fabulous."
I shook my hands around, and X sighed, then said,
"You... are a piece of work. I'll figure something out."
"Is he, like, the source of all your energy?" Rita asked, glancing over at X. I shrugged, and replied,
"Sometimes, yes."
X looked between us, then asked,
"So... what time does lunch get over at? I wasn't there when Max was looking over the schedule."
"Ah, it doesn't matter," Noah replied, "We have band after this, anyways."
"I don't," I sighed, "I'm in Concert Band, not Select."
"Wow, sucks to be a not-individual-snowflake," X sarcastically said. I shook my head and explained,
"No, Select Band is for the upperclassmen. So unless you find a way to magically make me a talented upperclassman..."
"Aw, thank you!" Noah sighed. I snapped my fingers at him and said,
"I wasn't talking about you."
He shrugged, and I continued,
"Anyways, unless you can turn me into a talented upperclassman, I'm not in Select. And we have... one minute, by the way."
"Okay," X said, "Cool. I'll just stay outside of your body for a little bit. Terrorise the school, perhaps."
"NO!" everyone shouted. X folded his arms, deep in thought, then, after a moment or two, asked,
"What if I only terrorised a specific group of people... say... the trumpets?"
"Okay, I'm listening," Rita said, leaning forward.
"As am I," the long-haired girl, whose name I had never actually caught, said. I knew she was in the band. And I knew that she was pretty nice. But... I hadn't gotten her name.
'Marie,' X suddenly said, 'It's Marie.'
'Could you not use telepathy, please?' I asked, 'It's one thing to have you talking to me from my own mind, but it's a completely different thing to have you communicating with me from outside of it.'
'Okay,' X replied, 'I'll keep that in mind... your mind, for exact.'
I rolled my eyes, then glanced up as the bell rang. X vanished, and Noah exclaimed,
"Okay! Run along, little children!"
I quickly walked off to my next class, along with Marie, Blue, Chris, and Kitten. It was becoming very clear that I was going to have a very, very interesting year.
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