The Matters of Power

Chapter 49- A Cut Truth

"Good evening, ma'am." He does a small bow in front of Mom. "I'm Marcus's friend, Guadaro. I'm here to give him a ride to the birthday party I'm hosting. I hope I'm not taking too much of your time." Mom is absolutely shocked by his bright presence, and becomes instantly enamored by him, not that I'm surprised to see. "C'mon sweetie, why didn't you tell me about your friend? Are you embarrassed about me meeting your friends that you won't even tell me?" "If I may," Guadaro interjects before she starts an interrogation, "Marcus has been a great friend to me. He has helped me countless times that I was embarrassed to meet him with his parents and confess such a thing to you. Please, don't blame him, just know he's an amazing friend to me." For some reason, that out-of-loop answer manages to keep Mom off my back and have a better standing with him. "Of course, of course! My Marcus is a good son, so I'm glad he is considered a good friend. Come on now!" She pushes me forward towards Guadaro and seems to urge me to go with him. "Have fun now! Oh, and if you can, please bring a slice of cake for your father, I'm sure he'll be craving a sweet tooth when he wakes up." I can only wave goodbye to her as I begrudgingly follow Guadaro to see a luxury car parked outside with someone ready to open the passenger door for us. I can only sit there awkwardly as he tells the driver to drive some fancy place and the car takes off from the rugged road, with only the silent atmosphere inside to worry about with Guadaro a seat across from me. The closest thing we had to a conversation was when he commented during a spotlight that stopped in front of a busy street, "Your mother seems like a good person, despite all that she's been through." "Yeah. Uh, yeah, she works a lot like my dad, but she always has a good heart."

By the time the car comes to a complete stop, he gestures the driver to open the door for us, and I exit the vehicle to see myself in an unknown part of San Anton, probably the central area, and in front of a skyscraper. "Come on, Marcus." Guadaro snaps me out of my imagination and gestures me to follow him. I tag right behind him as an employee guides us towards an elevator and rides with us to the top floor given. She's extremely excited to meet Guadaro in person, though she makes an effort to appear professional and indifferent. Neither of us buy it, but he nonetheless looks at me in a way that means, 'Don't worry about it, I get this a lot'. When the elevator doors open, I'm instantly greeted by a massive party room, filled with many partygoers as well as hosting an indoor pool and a lounge area with drink stands. Is this where Guadaro gets to go to because of his powers? "Come on now, we'll go to a quieter area for us to talk." It's practically a nightmare for us to cross the room, with many of the partygoers greeting Guadaro who look like big-time celebrities or businesspeople. Very few people actually acknowledge my existence and only give me a quick 'hello', but I feel so out of place here that I hardly try to strike up a conversation.

Finally, we go up some stairs to the VIP lounge and Guadaro gets the seats at the very end, prompting me to sit next to him as he gets soda for me and him. I sip on the soda, observing the massive party below and wonder how people could waste their time with all this. "So... is all of this happen ring because tonight's your birthday?" "Yes, and no." Guadaro leans back and chugs down on his soda before responding. "It's some other celebrity's birthday today, but I was invited because it so happened to be on the same day too. Small world we live in..." We don't say another word to each other until Guadaro finishes the rest of his soda and crushes it with his hands, leaving it flattened on the table. "You know, I thought you would be more... 'in-tune' with this setting, considering how famous you are with your looks." "What makes you say that?" "Well, think about it. With the face you got and the body you wield, you would surely be popular in crowds and got a lot of ladies trying to talk to you. You just look like the quiet guy who never got people to talk to." Ouch, way to hit me in the feels, man. Hold on though, does he not know about how my original body looked? I gotta test the waters a bit.

"Yeah, because I just so happened to change my body to look like a wonder of models with my powers, isn't it?" "Don't give me that. As if you got the ability to form your body to look from an unattractive loser to a pinnacle of perfect human form. Your brain can only do so much you know, so don't act like you got humble beginnings with that." Either he's trying to bait me into revealing my body transformation power, or he genuinely doesn't know anything about it and assumes I had this development since birth. Either way, I gotta know why he invited me to this place of all places.