Dead!

Chapter 9

Chapter 9

When Raj and I went over to the spot, Maya, Jack, and Henri were already in a heated discussion over which Avenger was the best. "I'm telling you, Iron Man is definitely the best superhero," Jack argued.

"No way," Henri said. He was kind of short and he had dark brown curly hair and brown eyes. Henri also spoke with an odd accent. "Captain America is way better."

"That doesn't even make sense!" Jack exclaimed. "You're from Quebec! Why would you like Captain America?"

"Because he's so awesome," Henri said. "Besides, I've been living in America since August."

"Both of you are wrong!" Maya exclaimed. "The best Avenger is clearly Loki!"

Jack and Henri both gave Maya strange looks. "Loki's a villain," Henri said.

"So?" Maya said. "Tom Hiddleston is so hot...well, he's not quite as hot as Brendon Urie, but he's pretty close!"

"Hey everyone," Raj said.

"Hello!" Henri said. "What's your name?"

"Raj," Raj said. "What's yours?"

"I'm Henri." I stood back a little bit. I wanted to watch this, but I didn't really want to get involved.

"Nice to meet you Henri," Raj said. "Have you been looking at the scores for the Blackhawks game? It's really close right now."

"Are you talking about hockey?" Henri asked.

"Yeah," Raj said. "I read online that Patrick Kane scored the last goal. He's playing really well this season. Honestly, I think the Blackhawks have a good shot at the Stanley Cup again this year."

"What's the Stanley Cup?" Henri asked.

Raj facepalmed and then said, "It's the championship trophy for the NHL."

"What's the NHL?" Henri asked.

"The National Hockey League," Raj said.

"Oh, you meant the LNH," Henri said. "La Ligue Nationale de Hockey."

"Where are you from again?" Raj asked.

"I used to live in Montreal," Henri said.

"So you like the Canadiens?" Raj said. "That's cool. They're the oldest team in the NHL!"

"Les Canadiens?" Henri said. He shrugged and said, "Ça m'est égal."

"What did he say?" Raj asked.

"Henri said that he doesn't care," Jack answered. "Hey, you're the guy who owns the Darth Vader glove, right?"

"Yeah," Raj said.

"That's super cool," Jack said.

"Thanks," Raj said. "Henri, why don't you like hockey? Hockey's the best."

Henri ignored him and started talking to Jack. "What were we talking about before this Raj boy so rudely interrupted us?"

"We were talking about how hot Brendon Urie is," Maya said.

"I won't disagree that Brendon Urie is attractive, but he's not as perfect as Henri," Jack said, giving his boyfriend a peck on the lips.

"Aww, you two are like a match made in nerd heaven," Maya said. "I'm going to call you Jenri. Can I call you Jenri?"

"Sure, why not?" Jack said.

"I kind of like it actually," Henri said. "Jenri. It's a good ship name."

"Anyways, I thought we were talking about The Avengers," Jack said.

"Can we just agree that The Avengers is a great movie?" Henri said. "The plot's awesome, the characters are good, and I love the score. I even learned how to play the main theme." Henri sighed. "I miss Sebastian."

"Who's Sebastian?" I chimed in. I didn't know anyone in our school named Sebastian.

"That's what I was going to ask!" Raj exclaimed.

"My oboe," Henri said.

"You named your oboe?" I said. I thought that naming instruments was kind of silly, but I had seen all kinds of weirdness during my time here.

"Yes!" Henri said. "I had one when I was in primary school named Vera, but I upgraded to a better oboe and I named it Sebastian. But now Sebastian's gone."

"You're way too attached to your oboe," I commented.

"Yes, but Sebastian was like my friend," Henri explained. "He's always been there for me. At least I have Jack. He's just as good, if not better." Henri smiled and wrapped his arm around Jack.

"Aww, thanks Henri," Jack said.

"See?" Henri said. "I'm not that attached to my oboe...well, maybe a little bit."

"But you're a really good oboe player," Jack said.

"Thank you Jack," Henri said. "But in reality, you should have heard me when I first started. I sounded like a dying duck."

Jack laughed. "I'm sure you weren't that bad."

"Yes I was!" Henri insisted.

"The oboe is such a cool instrument. Did you know that the fastest oboe player in the world played Flight of the Bumblebee in 26.1 seconds?" Jack said.

"How did you know that?" Henri asked.

Jack shrugged. "It's just one of those random things that I memorized."

That's when I heard it.

"Now serving Number 667! Number 667, please come to the front of the room! Number 667! To all others: remember that numbers may be called out of order. Number 667!"