If You Trust Me - An Onward Fan-Novel

◊ Chapter 11 ◊

Previously on Onward...

When Barley is forced to take a shower, Ian sees this as his chance to finally get the S.S. Medallion out of his brother's room. He successfully finds the pendant under a loose floorboard, but is hesitant to steal it and hurt his relationship with Barley even more. Regardless, Ian ultimately decides to take the medallion with him to school, ready to finally get some answers.

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◊ A Sense of Understanding ◊

As soon as Ian stepped through the doors of New Mushroomton High, his long day of learning had begun, and to him, it felt like it was never going to end. He had his first half of classes—all of which he couldn't get himself to focus on—and now the younger Lightfoot was having lunch in the cafeteria with his friends—Sadalia, Kagar, Parthenope, Althea, and Gurge.

The six of them sat at a rectangular table with Kagar, Ian, and Sadalia on one end, and Althea, Parthenope, and Gurge on the other end. As they ate, the friends each took turns sharing what they had going on for the rest of their day. Gurge had an essay due for English, Parthenope had a trig exam, and Althea and Sadalia both had their free period as their last class of the day. During that time, Sadalia was going to help Althea look for one of the cyclops's old props underneath the auditorium stage.

"Man, I wish I had a free period," said an envious Gurge, stabbing his fork into one of his dragon fire meatballs.

"For once, I agree with him," Parthenope said, pointing her thumb at the troll who was sitting right next to her. "I would love extra time to get my homework done."

"Yeah, it's pretty sweet," Sadalia said. "And what about you, Ian?" It was now his turn to share his plans with the group.

Even though Ian had made a promise to Mr. Vance not to let anyone else know about the S.S. Medallion, he thought that now was as good a time as any to cautiously reveal to his friends that he was trying to investigate a rare, magical talisman. He had essentially been doing so for the past couple days, and it was clear to him that it was the biggest thing he had on his mind right now. Plus, if Barley was no longer willing to help him in terms of support, he figured maybe his friends would. So he cleared his throat and answered Sadalia's question.

"I'm gonna go see Mr. Vance after school, and ask him about this talisman I've been researching," he answered with a smile. He then glanced at his bag that hung on the back of his chair, where the S.S. Medallion was still safely hidden inside. 

"But Ian, you promised to come with me to Master Froyo after school today, remember?" Kagar reminded him, then becoming excited, the satyr turned to face the rest of his and Ian's friends. "We're going to check out all the new flavors. I hear the Hydra Colossal is a major brain freezer!"

Everyone else in the group sounded as fascinated about frozen yogurt as they were about Sadalia and Althea's free period as they all murmured oohs and aahs. But Ian, on the other hand, had totally spaced out on meeting Kagar later this afternoon. As enticing and fun as the satyr made froyo sound, the elf wizard knew he just couldn't do it today.

"Listen, I'm sorry, Kagar, but I think I'm gonna have to take a rain check," Ian lamented. "This meeting I'm having with Mr. Vance is really important."

"You sure have been going to see him a lot lately," Gurge remarked.

"Yeah, what's up with that?" Sadalia asked the elf wizard, now remembering that he had done the same thing yesterday.

This made Ian feel pretty irritated. Why did it seem like everyone was against him going to Mr. Vance for assistance? The teacher was an expert in magic! Which—at the moment—was really hard to find. Ian felt like he could use some friends who knew and understood magic as much as he did. While his friends enjoyed the magic he could do, he also believed that they could take a greater interest in it if they wanted to—maybe even find out if they had the magic gift themselves. Regardless, Ian remained calm.