UnFamiliar

Chapter 3

The clothes Ivy provided were clearly an attempt to provoke me. There were flip-flops, jeans, and a t-shirt. The flip-flops were bright yellow. The jeans were dyed red. The shirt was orange with the saying "Witches be Crazy" printed across it. Despite having his own pants, Val put the entire horrendous outfit on.

I took his picture and sent it to Ivy. No matter how much it annoyed me, Ivy wasn't someone I wanted to be on the bad side of. The mother of all school gossip was surprisingly intelligent and vicious when she wanted to be.

After all that was sorted, I took Val to the cafeteria. My body needed food at this point, even if I didn't feel all that hungry. Val stood behind me in line, which is probably the only reason Ethan didn't notice him.

"Wassup, pathetic-excuse-for-a-witch, I heard you manifested a familiar. So, what is it? A mosquito?" Ethan was a year ahead of me only because I was held back a year, and he never let me forget it.

Before I could even speak, Val leaned over my shoulder to intrude on the conversation. "Do I look like a mosquito to you?"

Ethan gawked. Ethan was at least partially African-American and what some people referred to as black, but compared to Val's dark as coal skin, even he looked pale. Finally, Ethan said, "What the hell is that thing?"

"Hell indeed," Val replied, as if that was enough of an explanation. Then he turned to me, "I believe it is our turn, master."

I was frozen, what was Val playing at? Then I caught sight of Ethan's face, which was flushed and a bit angry. Val was taunting him, not submitting to me. With that realization, I turned to where the line had indeed dwindled to the point that it was our turn. I walked towards the lunch lady and gave her my student ID.

She looked at Val. "Is he eating off your account too?"

"I, uh, thought familiars eat free?" I asked. I didn't have enough extra pocket money to pay for food for the both of us for the rest of the semester.

She gave me a speculative look. "You're claiming this demon is your familiar?"

"Yes?"

"Right, well, I'll let it slide this time. I need some proof for next time," she said, waving us forward. For all the different kinds of curriculum our school provided from the typical American public school, our cafeteria looked pretty much the same. Dimly lit, the ceiling too low, muted blue tiles splitting up the carpeted walls.

Styrofoam trays were handed to us by a board looking lunch lady. I thanked her, then turned to Val. "The pizza isn't terrible, but does taste a little like cardboard. I wouldn't recommend the sandwiches; they tend to have unidentifiable meat shoved in them. I usually go for the salad bar."

Val stared at me. "I only sort of understood what you just said."

The person behind him said rather loudly, "he's saying the food isn't good."

I scowled at the intruder; she was going to offend the lunch ladies. She didn't even acknowledge me, just stuck her hand out to Val and said, "I'm Ivy, by the way."

Val raised his eyebrows. "The one who wanted the shirtless picture?"

Ivy had the decency to blush.

"Ambrose," said the lunch lady dishing up vegetables, "you're holding up the line."

I turned away from Ivy and accepted different foods offered to me. I got the mashed potatoes and chicken nuggets, because they were the meal of the day and aren't too bad. Val, I noticed, simply got whatever I did, including the chocolate milk.