Ink Cursed

Chapter 6

Ink Cursed

Chapter 6

“We made two hundred and fifty dollars!” someone standing to the front of the room announces enthusiastically.

I look at Jared and Sam, and we nod in approval.

“That’s pretty good,” Sam says over the bickering of countless senior students. There are about forty people in the classroom for this twelfth grade meeting. Faces I don’t recognize are even in the mixture. There are many senior students in our high school.

Mentally, I add up the amount of money in my head gained from the very beginning of the year up until now. Once I have everything added up, I realize happily that we’ve already gained a thousand dollars, and it’s only October. Our prom will be great.

“We have a good amount of money, huh?” I tell Jared and Sam who are smiling.

“Yeah, we actually do,” Jared says, crossing his arms across his chest. “Do you guys want to buy anything from the cafeteria? Second break’s about to finish.”

I sweetly mutter a “no” while Sam yells a “yes” and grabs Jared out of the classroom and probably towards the cafeteria.

Raising my eyebrows to myself, I decide I don’t need to follow them into the cafeteria.

Instead, I walk around the big classroom, examining the plain walls and faces.

And then I spot a familiar one.

“Hey,” I tell Chase, feeling a strange sense of interest towards the boy. I sit down next to him again the wall. I nudge his shoulder. “You really missed out on the haunted house; it was fun.”

Chase just gives me a half smile, looking somewhat nervous. “It’s good to know that I’m actually visible to you now,” Chase laughs, scratching the stubble on his face. He scrunches his lips together while looking me straight in the eye.

“Well, it’s good to meet a new person every day, right?” I say, shrugging.

“Right. . .” he says slowly, stressing the “t”. “Who do you usually hang out with?”

“Well, that’s random,” I admit, rolling my eyes a bit at his question. “And probably a bit too personal to start off your second official conversation with someone.”

“Right. . .” he whispers to himself, muttering things shortly afterwards.

“What did you say?”

“N-nothing,” he grins a goofy grin. “Just nothing.”

Silence.

“You’re an odd one,” I admit to him. “Where are your friends?” He doesn’t say anything. He doesn’t even react emotionally. “I’m guessing you don’t have any?”

“—I do. Just not in school,” Chase gives a comeback, and I can’t help but notice the slightest bit of vehemence in his voice. “Y-you know,” he changes the subject quickly, getting rid of the tenseness, “—we have classes together, you know that?”

I slowly turn my face to his, staring into his deep eyes. My eye twitches, and I take that as a note that my body is even screaming “weird”. There isn’t weakness in his eyes; I can feel a small flame.

“You know what? You’re very awkward in a conversation,” I laugh, pushing him on the shoulder playfully. His tense muscles relax, and he exhales. “Being around someone so awkward like you is rubbing on some awkwardness onto me, so get away.”

He manages a laugh.

“My bad,” he exhales, rubbing his forehead with his palm. “I tend to have that effect on people. And for the record, your breath-taking presence makes me nervous,” he jokes, exposing straight teeth.