Valhalla High (A Magnus Chase Fanfic)

A Social Butterfly? More Like a Moth

November 21

   "Your last day of school before Thanksgiving Break is tomorrow," my mother reminded me as we drove to Valhalla High.

    I nodded. "It will be a good time to catch up on Doctor Who."

     "If you want," my mother said, " you could invite some friends over and have a Friendsgiving."

    I stared at her, agape for a few moments. "Do you think I'm a caterpillar who has suddenly turned into a social butterfly? No, I'm more like a moth."

    My mother frowned. "It was just an idea. I thought you might like it."

     "I do like it," I said after a moment, "but I'm sure everyone already has plans."

     "Why don't you at least ask?" my mother said. "If not, we can do our usual Thanksgiving."

    I nodded finally in assent. Usually, we went on a long hike and then enjoyed a large dinner that we'd cooked the day before. A turkey would be too big for us and I had no desire to be one of those guys who smelled like they wore honey-glazed cologne, so we usually fried up some salmon, roasted vegetables, and enjoyed potatoes in all their mashed glory.

    When my mother dropped me off, I was still thinking of her idea. I could always just not ask anyone, so they wouldn't reject me. I decided on that course of action and decided to go to my second block class.

Since we'd finished the fitness exams last week, Coach Thor let us take it easy. "Do you guys want to have an open gym?" he asked.

There were roars of approval. Thor divided the gym up so that on half of it, there was a volleyball match. On one quarter of it, there was a basketball game. The last quarter was just a catch-all. Someone started a game of Four Square, but there were also jump ropes and hula hoops to use, as well as other balls.

Mallory, Sam, TJ, Jack, Alex, and Halfborn ended up playing volleyball. I joined in for a few rounds until I got hit in the face. Then, I decided to sit it out and head to the quiet quarter of the gym. There were about five people playing Four Square and one girl jumping rope. I picked up a hula hoop to look like I was doing something and started spinning it around my arm.

I felt a tap on my shoulder and the hula hoop fell off my arm, hitting the shiny gym floor with a clang and spinning before it stopped moving. I turned around to see Alex holding a ball. "I wondered if you'd want to play catch today," he said.

"As long as you don't hit me in the face like Utgard-Loki did," I said.

"There's only one thing I want to do with your face," Alex said, "and it's not hitting it with a ball: it's adding it to Madame Tussaud's wax sculpture collection."

I laughed and he threw the ball in my direction. I caught it and dropped it, causing me to laugh further in embarrassment. Luckily, Alex didn't seem to mind my less than stellar hand-eye coordination. We weren't playing competitively or keeping score or anything. We were just throwing the ball back and forth while chatting. We talked about school, grades, and how our teachers were already warning us about finals.

Then, Alex brought up the conversation of Thanksgiving. "My father usually likes to go out to some fancy restaurant with his wealthy investor friends," he said. "He made me go last year and it sucked, but I acted out enough that he said I'm not going this year."

"Oh," I said. "What are your plans, then?"

"I'll probably just end up eating leftovers and watching YouTube videos," Alex replied.

"Would you want to go over to my house for Friendsgiving?" I blurted out before my neurons could fully process: this risked rejection.

Alex caught the ball I had just thrown and smiled, pressing it to his heart. "Friendsgiving, huh. Who else is going ?"

"I haven't asked anyone else yet," I said, my cheeks turning as pink as my t-shirt.

Alex scratched his chin, imitating the pose of The Thinker. "Well, I'll have to think about that," he said. "First of all: is my father invited, will my mother be there, and should I bring the serving bowls or an actual dish?"

     I must've made a really weird expression because he doubled down in laughter and the ball fell from his grasp, rolling onto the ground towards me. I picked it up. "Magnus," Alex said, still laughing. "Your expression is priceless. I'm just playing with you. I'll go."

    His last two words sent my heart thumping more than the pacer even had. "You gotta stop being like that or I'll have heart disease before I graduate," I joked.

Alex lifted one eyebrow. "Being like what?"

I shuffled my feet and brought the ball to my chest like he had just a couple minutes ago. "Umm, being so Alex," I said.

"I'm 'so Alex'" Alex said, his lips twitching.

I shuffled my feet more. "It sounded better in my head."

Alex took a step close to me and then another. We were inches apart now. "What did you mean to say?"

"Just that you make my oxytocin and dopamine levels go up without even trying," I said, thinking of our lesson on hormones and neurotransmitters in AP Biology.

To my surprise, Alex closed the gap between us. I was so stunned that I just stood there, immobilized and Alex ended up bumping his nose against mine. There were a few wolf-whistles. "Get a locker room!" someone shouted.

     At this point, I realized I must have dropped the ball and bent down to retrieve it. I wasn't sure what tp say to Alex and I was only too glad when Thor blew his whistle to tell us we needed to change out. Alex went to his private locker room, while I went to the boys' one. As I changed from my PE outfit back into my usual t-shirt and comfy pants duo, I couldn't help thinking of how Alex had tried to kiss me and how I had totally botched it.