Highschool Rangers Apprentice AU

Chapter 3

"Ugh, finally," Horace complained as the two boys sat down at a table in a shady corner of the lunch room. "I felt like my stomach was going to eat its way out of my body."

Will snickered. "You like to eat a lot, don't you."

"Hey!" Horace said. "I like food like a normal person!"

"Really?" Will questioned skeptically. Horace already had a lunch in a paper bag he'd brought with him to school, and he had still been waiting in the lunch line.

Horace huffed. "Shut up."

"About your eating habits? That lunch food you have, and the paper bag you have with enough food for two kids at lunch?" Will questioned.

"Willllllll!" Horace complained, causing the boy to snicker.

"So... did you get what Jenny was talking about with that great food?" Will asked, deliberately pushing it. Horace gave him a disgruntled look.

"No...?" Horace said warily.

Will gave him an innocent look. "Aw, what's with that expression, Horace?"

Horace grumbled something about how annoying people were, then bit down into his sandwich. "Nothing, Will."

"Okay, whatever," Will said. The boys were silent, until the noise in the cafeteria suddenly got a whole lot louder, which seemed prompted by someone walking in the door.

He was tall like a rubber band that had been stretched out. Will noticed that he seemed to attract a lot of attention from people around him.

"That's Gilan," Horace told Will. "He's a sophomore."

"You're kidding me. That guy's a sophomore?" Will said in disbelief. Gilan had to be six foot something. Will would've thought he was a senior.

"Yeah," Horace said. "I heard about him a bit before I started highschool. He's supposed to be really athletic, but he doesn't join sports groups because he's interested in stuff most people aren't into."

"Like what?" Will asked.

"Archery and fencing," Horace said. "Stuff that people don't typically do on a day-to-day basis."

"Wait, fencing?" Will asked. "That's kind of-"

"Crazy, am I right?" Horace said. "Gilan pretty much seems like the popular guy that both of us outcasts should try to avoid. But then again, so is Jenny, and she's your adoptive sister, so who knows?"

Will actually hadn't been about to say Gilan's hobbies were crazy. He'd been about to say that that had sounded kind of familiar. It was probably a good thing that Horace had cut him off, so that Will wouldn't sound crazy in front of his new friend.

Why did Gilan's talent seem familiar...

"I mean, I'd get into the fencing group if I got the chance, it sounds kind of cool," Horace said. "But the people who get in there tend to mostly be people just trying to be near popular kids and look cool, or really rich, and I don't want to look desperate trying to learn how to swing a sword."

"Makes sense," Will said.

"Yeah. Gilan's part of this other group in town, too. They're really cool, and you don't get in without an invite," Horace said. "Sometimes, they'll do tricks out on the docks."

"So... the best way to survive the school year is to avoid the popular kids, Gilan, and his groups so no one targets us," Will said.

"Basically," Horace said. "Failing would kind of put a halt to anyone's social status during their whole time at high school, unless they moved far, far away."

Halt. The word made Will remember something, why he'd thought Gilan's talent sounded familiar. Wow. Small world.

"Is Gilan new to the area?" Will asked.

"Um... I think he moved in a year ago. Why?" Horace asked curiously.

"Never mind," Will said. No need to say anything about the mysterious, intimidating man from the previous city he'd been in, who Will had accidentally learned was teaching a guy archery skills. The guy's name was Gilan, which is an uncommon name, to say the least. Gilan, who was very good at sneaking up on everyone.

Coincidence? No.

Will just wondered what the odds were that he'd somehow gotten into the same city as the serious, intimidating man named Halt. Well, it probably couldn't effect him. He decided to focus on eating the rest of his lunch before Horace noticed and tried to ask for it.