Life Within Crystalfort: Our Story Continues - Part One [COMPLETED]

Chapter Seven

"Alright. Nukem is a version of volleyball, folks. Two teams, one ball. You throw the ball over the net and to the other team without going out of bounds," Coach Igor said, pointing out the out of bounds lines. "When you catch the ball, you can't move from that spot until after you throw it. If the ball hits the net when you throw it, you're out. If the ball goes out of bounds when you throw it, you're out.

"If you throw the ball and the other team doesn't catch it and it hits the ground, that's when you're team starts winning. Whoever the ball landed closest to is out. The only way to win is to get everyone out. Now, you can get back into the game, but it can only happen with one player left. That player has to catch the ball thrown. If they catch it, you're all back in. Got it?" We all mutter our agreements as it was the fourth time he had explained it.

"Play ball!" He exclaimed, blowing the whistle around his neck. He forgot to pick teams. Coach Igor looked so confused that I couldn't help but feel sorry for him.

"You didn't pick our teams," I whispered. He looked at everyone and blew the whistle again. Clawd's hands cover his ears.

"Next time I forget something, one of you needs to speak up. No one should be that immature," he said, shaking his head. "Draculaura and Cleo, you're both captains," I nodded. If it was up to me, my team would consist strictly of girls, prove people like Manny Taur wrong. But, Coach Igor had a rule where you had to pick the opposite gender each time. Boy, girl, boy, girl, over and over again. Cleo gestured towards me, telling me to pick first.

"Clawd," he uncovered his ears and walked over to where I stood. In the end, I got stuck with Manny and Cleo got stuck with Deuce. Maybe they'll get back to not hating each other after having to be a team. After ten minutes of the game, Manny was sent to Bloodgood's office for bring a soar loser. By the end of gym, my team had lost by one point. I went to the locker room, changed, and went back to my locker.

"You lost because I wasn't there," Manny whispered as he walked past me.

"I don't care, Manny. It's a game!" I rolled my eyes and opened my locker. The day was almost over and I was happy about it. I wanted to go home. My only other class today was history. Not my favorite class, but the teacher was brilliant. I waited for Clawd to reach my end of the hall so that he could get my books for me.

"Alright, what class?" He asked, his hand on the top shelf.

"History," he laughed and grabbed my book, handing it to me. I held the book to my chest, crossing my arms over it. "What's so funny?" I asked, confused.

"Nothing's funny. It was meant as a good luck kinda thing. Lou Zarr is substituting for history. So, um, good luck. Remember, five minutes of him sleeping and you're allowed to leave," Clawd said, shutting my locker, smiling. He gave me a hug when we walked towards the stairs.

"Yeah, I know," I laughed and gave him a quick hug before heading for history. I quietly walked into the classroom. Lou Zarr was writing him name on the whiteboard. Why did they have to hire such a boring guy as a substitute for a class that was already boring? I walked towards my seat; I just wanted to leave.

"Take the sunglasses off," he said, staring at me. I looked into the screen of my phone. I could see my earrings in the screen, but no glasses.

"We've been over this many times, dude," Deuce said from behind me. He walked into the classroom. "Can I sit here?" He whispered. I nodded.

"No sunglasses," Lou Zarr said, crossing his arms. Deuce shook his head.

"Listen, dude... uh, sir, I don't want to stone you, again. We go through this same conversation every time that you substitute here," Deuce said, looking over the brim of his sunglasses. Lou Zarr walked over to Deuce and put his finger on Deuce's sunglasses. I ducked down behind my book, as did everyone else. Lou Zarr took Deuce's glasses off. Within a second, he was frozen in stone.

"Class is over," Deuce said, a low chuckle escaping him. Deuce covered his eyes with his hands, preventing himself from stoning someone else. I walked around the desk and grabbed Deuce's glasses from Lou Zarr's hands. I placed them on his head, right above his hands. When he moved them, his glasses fell over his eyes.

I looked around the classroom. Everyone else had already left. I grabbed my books and waited for Deuce. He didn't deserve to walk down an empty hallway by himself. That, and I didn't want to walk by myself, either.

"Hey, thanks for waiting for me," Deuce said, walking right behind me. Once we left the classroom, he walked beside me. I nodded.

"No problem. Thank you for getting me out of a class with Mr. Zarr," Deuce laughed.

"Seems that we'll never have an actual class with him," I nodded my agreement and stopped at my locker. I unlocked the lock and looked up at Deuce. He grabbed my book and placed it on the top shelf of my locker.

"Can we talk?" I asked. Deuce looked around and then shrugged.

"I guess that depends. What, exactly, do you want to talk about?" He knew exactly what I wanted to talk about. And it made him nervous. I hesitated.

"Cleo," he shook his head, his snakes hissing with his disagreement.

"I'm not doing that. I already apologized for what she did to you and Clawd. What else do you want from me?" His voice rose and I backed up against my locker, wrapping my arms around myself. It was a habit I had devolved whenever my father was yelling. I didn't reply with an answer. I didn't even move my head to acknowledge that he had spoken to me. I was terrified. Deuce drew in several deep breaths, his chest heaving with the emotional weight on his shoulder. He walked off, down the hallway, out of sight. I slid down to the floor, my arms still wrapped around me.

It wasn't him raising his voice that I was afraid of. It was dark black-red in his eyes. The burning fire in them. Something you could see even with his dark sunglasses pushed up against his face.