The Matters of Power

Chapter 17- Wing Holder

"Come on Carl, tell me when you are allowed to have those casts off. I can't be babysitting you during Lunch to feed you by the spoonful and be your personal helper all the time!" He waves his arms (awkwardly with his casts still on) off. "What's the big rush? The doctor is gonna check them in next week's appointment, and he said that I have to keep them on for my arms to heal properly. You at least agreed to help me until then, so help me eat my fill for lunch today, please?" Another spoonful of yogurt goes into Carl's mouth as Payton sighs under her breath in frustration. It's been about a few weeks since the end of the Fall Festival and it seems as though school life has returned to normalcy and everyone has calmed down, if not for the benefit of my own sake. I've had to try and sneak my way through the school days as plenty of my peers had wanted to get my attention and try to talk to me even though I've been attempting to go incognito from all this publicity I have gained. Now with December being here and the sight of Winter Break on the horizon, everybody else has seemed to be more occupied on which high-end district of a city they want to visit for the holidays rather than try to get all the gossip from Marcus Fernandino, Rising Star of San Anton High. I haven't been causing much attention to myself, so I should be able to make it through the rest of the next few weeks and pass this Nine Week Grading Period.

"(Carl) I know that the doctor said that I can remove my casts for my arms at this point, but I just want to make sure I can keep this up a little bit longer, just until the weekend. I don't want to make her any more pissed off at me any more than I want to. Maybe I should do something to return the favor to her..." Huh, so Carl's been lying about having to keep the casts on? Just for his own benefit of keeping Payton as a helper for whatever reason? Well, I mean if he means to compensate her for the lie... "Hey Payton," Carl faces her. "I got an idea. How about I treat ya to some good food on my own pocket for your help? My treat, what do ya say?" She seems surprised by his offer, but smiles. "Ah, finally, yes! I would love it, especially if it comes out of your pocket. I think The Mara's Place sounds good, it's been a while since I've been there." He smacks his casts together as if he were clapping his hands in excitement, "Great! It's a date then." Payton recoils from what he said, and starts to fluster. "Wh- what do you mean, date? This is compensation for my hard work towards you, don't be playing jokes with me now!" She pinches his ear. "Ok, ok! I'm sorry, don't hurt me any more than I am! Marcus, help me out, you know that I was joking, right?" All I can do is nod and slurp the rest of my yogurt case as they bicker. It seems to be a miracle that they don't kill each other during the rest of Lunch.

*After school...*

I feel a cool breeze coming out of the school, the first one so far this season even though the Texas Sun still beats down on us. At this rate, I hope that my family can afford to pay the heating bill for this month or else it seems we will be resorting to heating packs again. Woah, someone's rushing up to me from behind! I turn around quickly to brace myself but they stop just in front of me, Carl being the one who approaches me. He seems to have run a lot to be breathing heavily, "Marcus. Marcus, thank goodness I found you before you left school." "Woah. Carl, what's wrong?" "Listen," he adjusts himself, "I need your help. Please, man, be my wingman for the date this weekend please." ...Wingman? Me? He means that I help him get a relationship even though I have never been approached by any girls or took an interest in romance? He continues on, "Look, I don't know who else to trust with this. This is the first time I've ever done a thing like this, and I'm sure that a popular guy like you has had some experience with dating, or at least with girls, right?" Yikes, I was not expecting that. What am I supposed to say to him, that this isn't my original body and that I was the a chubby laughing stock among the previous years of school? "Well, you see, uh... (I can feel myself start to sweat) I really couldn't give you an accurate description so-" "Ah ha! So you have gone dating before, this will help me for sure! Don't worry, I won't pry into your history, but this at least I know you will be there to help me out during the date." I interrupt him. "Wait, is this about what you and Payton talked about during Lunch? You plan to hang out with her this weekend, right?" He seems embarrassed by that, but keeps a poker face. "Well, yeah, of course who else would I mean? Listen, I'll text you the extra details and whatever we plan on doing this Saturday, so please don't be busy then. (He looks at his phone's clock) Oh crap, I'm gonna be late to do my house chores! I'll see you later!" He then runs out of the school and goes along the sidewalk, leaving me to contemplate on what mess I had dragged myself into.