Mania

Chapter 6

After study hall ended, Ireland came outside looking for me.

“It’s lunch time,” she said. “Aren’t you gonna come eat?”

I shrugged. “You’re not hungry?” she asked. I shrugged. “Don’t have any money?” I gave up on shrugging and nodded, hoping she would go away.

“Well, why didn’t you say so?” she said. “You can eat our food.” She reached her hand out to me. I was so tempted to take her tiny hand in mine and let her lead me away from my problems and eat food that her fingertips had touched.

But I couldn’t. I would endanger her, myself, and her friends.

“No, Ireland,” I said. “I’m fine out here. Leave me alone.”

“Jesse, get your ass in that lunch room right now!” Ireland said and made this crazy noise. I caught a glimpse of her fangs, but she did some weird thing and stuffed them back in her gums. I was intrigued, but in a way it was kind of gross.

“What’s your problem today?” she asked me. “Just come on. Come eat lunch with us. We won’t bite you.” 

I sighed, getting up and ignoring her hand. She walked beside me to the lunchroom and sat down beside me at her table.

“Hey, there he is!” Julia said as I sat down. She looked so happy to see me that I cracked a smile and decided to relax.

“Here I am,” I said. Me and Hunter pounded fists and I looked expectantly at the three other people sitting at the table I didn’t know.

“Oh,” Ireland said. “This is Nichole, Julia’s stepsister. And this is Dylan and Alex. They’re brothers. Believe it or not, all of them just got here yesterday.”

“Nice to meet you,” I said shaking hands. “I’m Jesse.”

I saw Nichole eyeing me and got a little uncomfortable. Her wild, curly red hair and her eyes made me nervous. 

“Nichole,” Julia hissed, “stop it.”

“What?” she hissed back. “I’m just looking at him.” I laughed.

“It’s okay,” I said.

“So what’s been up with you?” Julia asked. I shrugged.

“Nothing much,” I lied. “This place is really confusing. I mean, it’s always cloudy, one minute it’s cold and the next it’s hot. I don’t know where anything is.”

“We can help you with that,” Julia said, smiling. “We’ll take you sightseeing.”

“I mean, there’s not that much to see,” Hunter added, “but it’ll be fun. Whaddya say?”

“I can’t,” I said. “I have something to do this afternoon.”

“We could skip school and go,” Dylan offered. He had a really, really strong accent, but I’d never heard any accents except for American.

“Where are you from?” I asked Dylan.

“We’re from Ireland,” Alex answered for Dylan. “Are you coming with us or not?”

There was something about Alex that made him way different from Dylan. His voice was higher and he dressed differently. His jeans looked like they were sewn onto him.

“I don’t want to skip my second day of school,” I said weakly.

“Don’t make me knock you out and drag you with us,” Julia said, smiling sweetly. I sighed, then smiled. I might as well relax and go. I mean, we’d be back by the time school ended. He would never find out.

~ ~ ~

“You were totally looking at her ass!” Julia screamed at Hunter. 

“No I wasn’t!” Hunter yelled back. I heard Alex snickering in the back seat. Dylan had decided to stay at school with Nichole, to help her get ‘aquatinted’ on her first day.

“I saw you look at her and smile!”

“Maybe I was just being polite!”

“She was walking away already! What were you doing, being polite to her spine?”

“You’re so jealous!”

Julia gasped. “And you’re a thirsty man-whore!” she yelled back. 

Hunter backhanded her. “Don’t talk to me like that!” I could see a bruise forming on Julia’s cheek. I felt bad for her, but not as bad as I felt for Hunter when she slammed her elbow down on Hunter’s balls. 

Ireland, who was driving, rolled her eyes. “Can you take the wheel for a sec?” she asked. I’d never driven before and didn’t have a license, but I guessed all you had to do was stay in between the yellow and white lines, right? Should be easy.

“Sure,” I said lightly, and took my seatbelt off, sliding into the driver’s seat and putting my seatbelt on. Okay. Foot on the first pedal- oops. Brake. Foot on the second pedal. There we go. It’s like the Scary Maze Game. Stay in between the lines.

“Fuck!” I yelled when Ireland kicked me in the head. 

“Sorry!” I heard from the back. Okay. Stay focused. Scary Maze Game. Scary Maze Game- another kick to the head.

“What the hell are you doing back there?” I shouted, trying to avoid Ireland’s heeled combat boots and focused on getting us to her house alive.

When we did get there, Ireland, Julia, and Hunter were full of cuts and bruises. I watched as a scratch over Julia’s eye smoothed itself out and disappeared.

We got out and went into the house. It was nice and cold inside, since today Louisiana’s weather decided to turn 95 degrees. 

“Who wants drinks?” Hunter asked, and I raised my hand along with the others. Hunter tossed me a cold, cylinder shaped can and I caught it easily, on reflex. 

I’d never had a drink like this before. The label said “RootBeer.” Root beer?  I had no idea how to open it. I watched as Alex slid his finger under a oval-shaped metal piece on top of the can and pulled it up. It made a weird noise, and Alex tipped the can back and drank.

Okay. Now it’s my turn. I had forgotten by this time where Alex had put his fingers, and I didn’t want to disturb any of the others. I concentrated on the can, clearing my mind once again. 

This time, my power came more easily to me, probably because Ireland was in the room. Pulsed it once, gently, and the little oval-shaped object popped right off and fell under the couch somewhere. I tipped the can to my lips and drank the brown, bubbling liquid.

It tasted like nothing I’d ever tasted before. It was acidic and burned my throat a little. Still, I kept drinking and started choking. I thought that was supposed to happen, so I kept drinking and choking.

“Jesse!” Ireland shouted, running over to me faster than humanly possible. I couldn’t answer her because I was still choking. She ripped the can from my grasp and threw it somewhere. I wondered who would clean it up.

She put her arms around me into a fist at my stomach and pushed up. I coughed up the Root beer and stopped choking.

“Are you okay?” Ireland asked, her arms still around me. I nodded.

Julia suddenly gasped, dropping her drink.

“What?” Hunter and Alex asked, jumping up. Julia pointed a shaky finger at my stomach.

“What’s wrong?” Ireland asked her.

“His- his bellybutton is gone!” she breathed.

*God, I suck at this. Idk why i'm still typing.