Uncanny Boy

Chapter 3: Meeting New People

Jace’s POV:

At recess, I could still feel the sting of the compass on my back, so I called Nikki who was sitting with a couple of other people.

“Hey, Jace, come here!”, she yelled.

“Uh……. okay.”

“Let me introduce you to some of my friends. So, this is Chase, Cameron and Sydney.”, she said, pointing to each of them.

“Oh, uh, hi, um…. I’m Jace.”, I said with my introvert traits kicking in hard.

“Yeah, Nikki already told us your name. What’s up?”, Chase said.

“Love your hair, it’s cute.”, Sydney complimented me making me feel flustered.

“I saw you jerking earlier. What happened?”, Nikki asked.

“Uh, it was nothing. Just that Richie A guy poking me in the back. I told you it was him who made me move like that, you didn’t seem to believe me.”

No, I did. Just didn’t react, you know? So it could not raise higher than that.”, said Nikki.

“At least, you didn’t bleed.”, said Cam

“I guess not”, I said while checking myself.

Just then, Richie A passed through the door close to where we were but I could clearly see his face like with a creepy look like I was in for more, that that was not the end. Immediately, I was nervous.

“Why do you look like that all of a sudden?”, asked Sydney.

“Because, I think Richie A is still onto me. I have a feeling he’s not done with me just yet.”

“No offence but you? What could you possibly have done to Richie A?”, asked Chase.

“Nah, only because he called me a weird name and I said my name was Jace. I mean it felt so inappropriate to call me names without knowing who I was”, I replied.

“Yeah, I see why he’s onto you, see, he thinks this whole school is under his control, since his dad is a big supporter of the school, so anything done to face him will land the person in trouble, and you couldn't  say anything to higher-ups.”, said Cameron.

“Nikki, all I wanna ask is that can I switch seats with you for the next period, please? I have a feeling he will try something again.”

Just then, the bell rang and Richie A came in with the same people he left with earlier. Just me, but something felt off. A bully being early for class? Or did he come in early just to torture me?!

“Nikki, please!”

“Okay, fine. But I doubt that is gonna change anything.”

“Yeah, he could just stretch and poke you again. Or he could….”

“No, no, no, I don’t wanna imagine that. As it is, I’m already scared.”

“Okay, let’s get ready for class.”, Cameron said.

From that short conversation we had, I could already tell what Chase, Cameron and Sydney were like. Chase was the outspoken stand-up-to-everyone guy, Cameron was an introverted guy just like me, also loves to read, and Sydney was the happy-go-lucky social girl with a puppy energy. I might have been wrong in some places, but that is what they felt like to me at first.

I was still so nervous when I got into Nikki’s spot. I kept looking at my back in case he would do something. Every time I looked back, he seemed not interested in anything at the moment, much less in me. Lucky me, sitting in Nikki’s spot for the next few periods before lunch, made me feel at ease for a while but I still felt paranoid for some reason.