The Squirrel King

2 • Outside the School

Thankfully that was the only class I had with "The Squirrel King" that day. The day went by quickly because, obviously, nothing as eventful happened. I don't think the day could be weirder.

Just as I had that thought, I must have jinxed myself, the King himself showed up right in front of me.

"Shit..." I mumbled as he started walking by me.

"Huuuh? Did you say something?" Bennett asked.

"Ah, um, no. Sorry." I replied.

"Hmm... Okay." His voice lowered, "It was probably just the squirrels." He then pointed to a tree not to far from where we were standing, still staring at me. After a moment of waiting there, he walked away.

I watched him walk away until he got to the tree. I saw his lips moving and he tapped the tree. A squirrel came down, and another two followed. They climbed into his bag when he opened it. I felt like I have been watching for too long so I went to a bench and pretended to be looking at my phone. Once I looked back at Bennett, he was sitting under the tree. It looked like he was holding another squirrel but it was a baby.

"Hey!" A voice yelled from the school entrance. 'The Squirrel King' looked over, as did I, and he stood up.

The voice was another boy who looked very similar to Bennett. They were probably brothers or something. The two of them talked there for a long while. I was kinda getting restless and was about to go home.

As I got up, I saw them glance quickly at me. I got a bit freaked out so I kinda fell back on the bench. They stood up a little after that happened. I made sure they were far away so they didn't notice me when I walked to the tree.

"There has to be something going on here..." I was talking to myself. I'm probably catching his crazy. "Maybe they're fake..."

"No. They're 100% real. Wanna feel?" Bennett came back. Well, this won't go well. He stood there, staring at me. I looked at him and saw the other boy standing nearby. Just then, I noticed his hand was extended toward me with the baby squirrel on it. He's probably waiting for an answer.

"Yeah, I mean, uhm, n-no thanks. I... believe you now." I managed to get out.

"You said yeah first, so you must have a little interest in them." It's like he really wants me to pet the squirrel.

"No, no. It's cool, I don't need to pet it." I really don't want to.

"You might not need to, but you just have to." After that statement I backed away a little but Bennett suddenly grabbed my hand and started petting the squirrel.

"Hey, hey, get off of me! This is not a good way to make friends!" I complained.

He threw my hand back at me, "Who said I wanted to be friends?" He left me alone there. I sat on the grass and held my head. What the hell kind of day is this?