Centum Malediction

Chapter 2-2

Monday, September 20th. 2010

To most people, the large intimidating student taking up most of a school bus seat alone would be uninviting. Michael recognized the football player as his friend Damien and gladly took the small space next to him.

"What up Michael?" Damien said, giving him hard slap on the back.

"Nothing much," Michael lied. Damien was clueless about Visceria and the other spells, and Michael intended to keep him that way. He didn't even want to tell Damien about his hospital stay.

"First you murdered that security guard and now you burned down the museum," Damien laughed. Before the museum was destroyed a security guard was murdered. Because of Michael's previous hijinks during the field trip to the museum Damien liked to pretend Michael was the killer, and now he had added arson to his list.

"Oh yeah. Next I plan to taking out the aquatic center." Michael decided to go along with the joke in fear that denying it too much would be suspicious. He and Damien joked about Michael's crime spree during the bus ride. Michael suggested his next murder victim would be Ms. Hope given how rude she was. Damien hadn't had a chance to meet with her yet, but was looking forward to it after hearing from Michael how attractive she was.

Normally Michael and Damien would wait in the parking lot for Chelsea to arrive in her red convertible, but a quick look around revealed her car already in its' usual place, and Chelsea was not inside. She must have already entered the school. Michael and Damien gave each other a shrug, and found her in their first period classroom, right where they expected.

"What are you doing here?" Michael asked before taking his seat. Damien and Chelsea still stood with him. Ms. Humphry's math class was the only class with assigned seats. Michael was forced to take his seat in the back, far away from Chelsea. It was likely done on purpose as Ms. Humphry was well aware of the relationship between the two of them.

"I'm here to learn, of course," Chelsea replied sarcastically, her eyes shifting towards Damien. Damien understood the hint she was trying to drop, but chose to stand around anyway. In the end Chelsea was unable to say what she wanted to Michael because of his presence, and was forced to walk to her assigned seat before class began.

Michael sat in the back corner, behind an empty desk and next to Matt. Matt was ahead of his age group by two years, which meant he was two years younger than Michael and the rest of his class. This made him an easy target, and he was often bullied by Michael and Damien. Sitting next to Michael was not Matt's locale of choice, but surprisingly there was very little conflict as Michael normally slept through first period anyway.

As usual, Michael and Matt said nothing to each other. Michael couldn't help but notice Matt was watching, almost glaring at him. It was a little unsettling, especially given what people always said about the quiet ones. He still managed to fall asleep regardless. Because Ms. Humphry put the assignments on the board, and his knack for picking up math, Michael was able to keep up with the classwork with no problems.

Much to Michael and Chelsea's dismay, Damien made sure to put himself between the two of them as much as possible. Damien was the jealous type, and always wanted Michael's attention. The closer Chelsea and he got, the more obnoxious Damien became.

The classes before lunch went by in a blur despite Damien's actions. Mr. Bean spent a large portion of his science class explaining that the science lab had been trashed, so they would be unable to continue their experiments with water and electricity until it was repaired. Damien gave Michael an inquisitive look during the lecture. Michael had been there when the science lab was trashed, but it had been Visceria's doing. Damien just wanted to joke about how it was the next step in Michael's crime spree.