Umber In Level 8

+Chapter Nine+

"Have you seen Gisela?" I asked a random passerby.

He shook his head. "Nope. If you're lonely–"

"Bye." I went to the next person I could see and received a similar response. I was about ready to give up when I saw a door cracked open.

I pushed it open. "What are you doing?"

Gisela looked up at me. The anger in her eyes made me take a step back. "What are you even doing here?"

I was at a loss for words. "Uh..."

"Save it!" Gisela snapped. "If you won't leave my party, I'll leave!"

I watched as she stormed off. "What was that about?" I asked Claude Trix, who was sitting on the floor, looking like he wanted to turn invisible.

"Uh, she saw this." No-Longer-Dorky Trix held up a photo. I squinted at it.

"You have a photo of me in your pocket?" I took yet another step back. "What the–"

"I can explain!" Trix interrupted.

"No, you can't! You have a girlfriend. Don't carry around photos of me in your jacket!"

Trix looked dejected. "But I want to."

I let out a frustrated groan. "Why are you always like this?"

"Like what?" Trix almost looked offended. I waved my hands wildly. "Like you! Why can't you just leave me alone? It's so hard to focus when you're constantly trailing me like a lost puppy!"

Trix stared at me for a second, his face a mixture of anger and hurt. "Is that so? Because if anyone's the lost puppy, it's you!"

"Excuse me?" I asked, aghast.

"You've been following me for days! Why else did you come here?"

I gaped at Dorky Trix. As much as I hated to admit it, Dorky Trix was right. Had I stooped as low as him? Shame filled my gut.

"Uh... I came to uh... look for Gisela!"

Trix guffawed. "Funny. If you were truly looking for Gisela, why wouldn't you have followed her when she left?"

I hesitated. "Well, I wanted to see what you two were fighting about. Just to see if I should approach her."

"Sure. See you around, Umber." Dorky Trix pushed past me and disappeared into the crowd outside.

+++

I walked into Foxfire the next day and the sight stopped me in my tracks. What was going on? The normally silver walls were covered in red papers. And–if I wasn't mistaken–Claude Trix's face was in the center of each one, with glasses and a mustache drawn over his photo. It was complete with stink lines.

I squinted at the words on the poster. Did you know that Claude Trix only showers once a month?

Covering my mouth to mask a cry, I ran to Trix's locker to wait for him. I put my hair over my face to disguise myself. Even though I had considerably less stalkers than I did a week ago, some guys still gathered around to ogle me. Don't worry.

Finally, Trix entered my line of sight. His face was as red as the posters.

"That's not true, right?" I asked him, pointing at the nearest poster.

Claude Trix gulped. "No?"

I stared at him, wide-eyed. "It is true?!"

Trix reddened even more. "I'll shower more often, I swear, and–"

"Claude!" Gisela's voice cut through the hallway. "What do you think of the posters? It took me forever to hang all of them."