School of Marvel

Pranks (1,500 words)

I brushed my hand along a row of books, searching for the title I desired. I was doing what I did every Monday after school—browsing the school library. I came to get books that I needed to read for homework or something that would help me understand my lessons better, and occasionally I would pick up something just for pleasure reading.

A boy started coming down the same aisle as me, but I barely gave him a glance as I continued searching for my book, automatically moving a little closer to the shelf to give him space to pass, even thought there was plenty of space already.

But he didn't pass me. He actually stopped beside me, looking at me expectantly. "Alina?" he said pleasantly. Now I looked at him, nodding. I had no idea who he was, but he was kind of cute with his dusty blond hair and brown eyes.

"Steve said he's waiting for you out by the tree over at the running track," the boy said. "He wanted to talk to you before you went home."

I raised my eyebrows. "All right. Um, but who are you?" I thought I had seen him around before, but never interacted with him.

"I'm Aldrich. Steve asked me to give you his message."

"Okay then. Thank you, Aldrich, see you around." I went to go check out the books I had, thinking it strange that Steve hadn't introduced me to Aldrich before. They must not be very close, I thought. But he's kind of cute. My mind flashed to Steve, who my mind automatically thought of when I was thinking of good-looking guys, but then to Loki's green eyes when they were so close to mine as he picked up my papers. Wait, what? My brow furrowed slightly as I considered my out-of-place thought. I reluctantly realized that I liked Loki's looks just a touch better than Steve's, since I had never been into blond hair on guys, but the Steve's kind personality appealed to me more than a nice face.

With my newly checked out books in my arms, I made my way toward the track. I could see Steve sitting down, leaning against the tree, but it wasn't until I was closer that I could see he was breathing kind of heavily. And there were black marks all over his face. I recognized the work of a Sharpie and started giggling when I saw the black mustache etched under his nose. When I got up to him, Steve wasn't laughing. In fact, he had a frown on his face when he opened his eyes.

"What is this?" I chuckled, leaning over and reaching a finger towards his face without touching him.

"Just a prank," he said gruffly. That startled me. I had never heard Steve use that tone around me before, or anyone really.

I sat next to him, worry creasing my face. "Hey, are you all right?"

"I'll be fine," he said with a small sigh. "I just need to catch my breath." He was clutching his stomach, drawing my attention.

"Are you hurt?!"

"Nothing I can't handle." He didn't look at me while he spoke. I didn't like that. He usually looked me directly in the eyes with his baby blues confident and bright. Something must have been wrong to make him avoid my gaze.

**********

Steve felt a small twinge of annoyance when Alina walked up laughing at him, even if it was a cute giggle. Loki and his buddies had grabbed him, got a good punch in his gut to immobilize him, then scrawled all over his face with black markers. Apparently, they were playing pranks outside of school now too. Now Ali was laughing at him, almost like she agreed with the bullies.

He felt a little bad being so short with her, but first she practically had stood him up since she arrived so late without an excuse, then she thought it was funny that he would have to go to school the next day with marker on his face.