Riley's Box

Part 31

I soon went to math class and immediately got to work on some of the questions. I had taken what my mother had said to heart and I really did want to do well in my class, even if it was suffice to say I had many distractions of late. 

Class was going perfectly fine, apart from the fact that Ira was really unamused by the fact that he had to come with me. 

The others had split up, so they could look for shadow spirits around the school grounds and on the road outside of the school. 

They were a lot more versatile when it came to entering and exiting the school building, so it made more sense for them to take charge of those matters. 

"So, remind me why they made you stay with me?" I whispered to Ira, really thankful that my usual desk partner was off sick. 

"These desk chairs are tiny and uncomfortable," he complained. He then realised that I had asked him a question and went on to explain. "They think I'll get angry and scare off the shadow spirits. It's happened before." 

I met him with a somewhat sympathetic gaze, then. I could imagine that must have made things difficult. Ira was the King of Wrath- it was effectively his job to be angry. I could also understand the whole thing of him not being pleased with the size of the chair- Ira was above six foot tall and even some of the tallest basketball players at the school had been known to complain about the seating, once in a while. 

"I hate these lousy chairs!" Ira yelled. 

"Shush," I said. 

"I will not be quiet!" he said. 

"Calm down," I said. I know. I suppose that I really should have thought better of it, but unfortunately that was not the case.

A few moments later, Whit entered the classroom and attempted to sit down beside me. I immediately stopped him from doing so. 

"No!" I said. 

His eyes widened in astonishment. 

"Why not? Can't I sit with you?" he asked me. 

"No," I said. 

"And why is that, exactly?" he asked. 

"Really bad stomach cramps," I lied. "I don't want you to catch the bug." 

Whit's eyebrow shot up, but he didn't comment on it. 

"Alright," he said and then went to take the seat beside me. 

Phew. That was definitely, what I would call, close. 

"Hey, Riley, right?" Ira said, drawing my attention back to him. 

I gave a subtle nod. I didn't want to draw too much attention to myself, as most of the students had shown up by now. They probably wouldn't respond too well to a girl talking to herself. 

"Thank you for stopping him from sitting on me," he said. "I'd really have to beat him into a pulp if he dared to sit upon the lap of Ira Flame, King of Wrath!" he yelled. 

I was really glad that only I had the ability to hear him. 

Nobody turned to him. 

It was true what the Sins had said then. They really could only be seen by people who had touched the box. 

At least, I hoped that I was seeing them and that I hadn't gone crazy. That would have been rather unfortunate. It also didn't explain how I managed to jump from a seven foot drop and not end up seriously injured or worse. I didn't like to think about it. 

I looked towards him with a friendly smile. 

"You're welcome," I whispered. 

Nobody heard me. 

Thank goodness. 

Class went by fairly quickly, and it was soon time to walk out into the hall again to find that Jason was nearby my locker. 

"Hey," I greeted him. 

Ira informed me that he was going to go and find the others. 

I couldn't exactly prevent him from doing so, so I gave him a silent nod and watched him depart. 

I then returned my focus to Jason. 

"Hey," he replied. 

"Are you alright?" I asked him. 

"I...I've been better," he replied. "It's just...with everything going on with my dad recently, I haven't exactly felt understood. I've tried to speak to people about it but I feel as though that isn't going very well." 

I felt my eyes flicker with friendly warmth, as I placed a hand on Jason's shoulder. 

He looked at it for a moment and then, though it could have just been the fluorescent lights playing tricks, his cheeks seemed to grow a little pinker. 

Jason's eyes soon locked on mine again. 

"Hey, Jason. I'm here for you. You can always come and talk to me. I know I haven't been around much, lately. It's a long story, trust me." 

One that I knew I wouldn't be able to keep from him forever, but right now I wasn't sure what I was going to do. 

"What happened with you?" he asked me. 

"Let's just say- I maybe should have listened to my grandma," I said.

Although, perhaps I shouldn't have. If I had never opened the box, then I never would have found out about the shadow spirits. 

If I had never found out about the spirits, then myself and the Sins would not currently be working on a plan to get them all back into Hell. If the shadow spirits for any reason did not return to hell, then it would be very bad indeed. I could hardly think about it. 

Jason raised a dark eyebrow at me. 

"Well...okay," he said. He seemed a little confused and I honestly couldn't blame him for that. 

We lived in very confusing times, of late. 

At least, I lived in very confusing times, recently. 

"I can tell you've been stressed about things. I just want you to know that you can always talk to me too, Riles. We're best friends and for good reason. I'm sorry about what I said yesterday. I've been stressed about the whole situation with my dad, if I can even call him that. He barely acts like a father..." his voice faded out, as a serious expression appeared on his face.