The Matters of Power

Chapter 20- West Anton High, Winter War [3]

Instead of spending my night resting well enough to actively pursue information about West Anton High, I use the first half going through the internet pages and public information before giving up on the idea. Even as I sit through first period, I manage to nod through most of the Biology classwork with what half my mental state is trying to process what I am searching on my phone without getting caught. By Lunch, I can only seem to get basic information and not a whole lot about the students who get there, especially the ones who have their accounts on private and myself having no social media account to begin with. Fernando sits down next to me as usual except he doesn't act the usual silent way, rather twitching quite a bit and having a face of nervousness. "(Fernando) Oh man, I don't know how to tell Marcus about what happened yesterday, and I'm sure he's frustrated and confused about how I left him over by the western side of town. Please don't be mad at me, I hope that he doesn't know about West Anton High stealing my money there." I can't really blame him, too much happened in such a short time that I wouldn't have prioritized myself over the fact that I was just robbed by a rival school. Yet I can't exactly tell him that I knew that to begin with since I was with him in my original body shape than in the perfect one and can't possibly have known the details according to him. "Sooo.... Fernando?" I try to speak first. "Yes!" He straightens out stiff and turning pale. "I'm sure that you had your reasons to leave the west side of San Anton without me knowing. Is it okay to tell me about it?" I try to not sound displeased even though I never was to begin with, but he fortunately relaxes his posture and slides his head on the cafeteria table.

He lets out a big sigh, "Phew, thanks Marcus. I'm sorry, I just had sometime to take care of that couldn't wait. Don't worry about it though, I got it taken care of and I'm also sorry for not telling you sooner. Hehe..." He awkwardly laughs as he drifts off onto the table. All I get from reading his thoughts is a bunch of incoherent mumbles that go through his head, so I don't bother trying to dig deeper. As soon as I almost finish my lunch, I sense Quarter walking towards us and I brace for another confrontation, but instead goes over to Fernando and gets his attention. "Pardon me," he says, "but I'll need to borrow your friend for a moment. Good day." He signals Fernando to follow him and he does so, leaving me curious yet concerned for what he intends to talk to him about. I try to use my telepathy to the most I can use it to listen to what they are thinking/talking about, but the most I can get is to Yan, who is on the seat closest to the edge of the table. Payton interrupts my ability by slamming her hand on the lunch table, startling me in the process. "Hey! Marcus, what's got you in the clouds? I need your help to see if we got the same answers for that World History homework we got." "Oh, uh, yeah, sure. Give me a bit." I say reluctantly. I dig through my backpack to find the homework that we were assigned this morning, then Carl butts in the conversation as soon as I pull it out. "Hey, can I see that as well? I also need to check my answers." Payton shoots him a nasty look, the both of us knowing that he is taking the chance to get answers early, but I agree to give him the next turn on the worksheet. It's amazing how Carl has been able to get through school with his lack of abilities to do work seriously, but I guess I can do something nice for him every once in a while.

He quickly scribbles down the answers while eating his lunch, then finally hands it back to me. "Thanks, bud." He says, "But there is something I need to talk to you about." He ushers me to lean forward and whispers. "Look, something happened yesterday with Fernando that he didn't tell you about. You remember that he asked you about that Mar-cart meetup?" "Yeah." "Yeah, so it turns out some school kids from that area jumped him and stole his money. They used a girl as a disguise and had dropped a badge at that moment that displays West Anton High's insignia. Quarter and his friends have been looking into it and have figured out a way to get closer to them: pretending to buy from the same person on Mar-cart." I try to seem surprised by this and still listen in. "Okay, but why tell me all this? Don't you trust Quarter?" He shakes his head, "I do, but I figured that you care about Fernando enough and also be able to fight back in this war should we need to." This takes me aback. Not only do they trust me enough to tell me about this behind Fernando's back, I'm considered useful to them that I can get his money back from those thieves. But a war, between schools? I've been on the receiving end of those petty school rivalries and I wouldn't want to escalate this any more than it should be that it harms any more people than it should be, or worse, involve the police. Yet there's little way to solve this peacefully...