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Chapter Twelve

My sleep didn't last as long as I had expected because insomnia wanted to kiss me and wrap me in its loving embrace. I glanced at the clock and saw it read "2:06am" and overthinking had already taken its usual place on my mind. I started thinking about Mlle Alexis had said and maybe because she said it but something about what we said stuck with me. I sat at the foot of my bed playing with the illusionary mist, changing it into various mouthpieces until finally deciding on one which looked like a wolf baring its fangs. In addition to this, I decided I would change my eye color every time I fought. "Now that that's done.... what do I do now?" I asked myself, hoping an epiphany would drop from the sky. The echoing silence mocked me as I stared aimlessly at the ceiling, my inbox drier than the Sahara and my usual chatters were offline. I decided FIFA would take my mind off of the insomnia for a while. After a few matches I got into a serious groove and started destroying online players with Germany or Chelsea. My defense was impenetrable with the commentator often shouting with elation at Emre Can. Since he was German it was pronounced "Jan" and I don't know if I was over thinking it or if this was a subliminal message but I started thinking about Jan. Although I had seen her just a few hours ago, I seemed to miss her. And in my moment of weakness my team's defence crumbled, relinquishing a clean sheet record equal to that of Petr Cech. In that moment of weakness and emotions, my team and my reputation suffered. I persevered and won the match scoring goals in anger and ending the match 27-1. I sat in my chair staring at the screen in disbelief and bemusement as a solitary purple flame rolled down my right cheek. I dropped to the floor and feel asleep for all of 45 minutes because my alarm blared waking me for school. I semi groggily scraped myself off the floor and into the shower. About 15 minutes later I was in the scout room cramming for my weekly Economics test. Resolving myself that I could wing it anyway I decided to play a round of table tennis to ease my mind.

"Don't you have a test to study for?" asked Nathaniel, serving to my far left so I had to dive to return it. "I'm gonna wing it and this time it's something I could pass by winging it" I replied, returning the ball with a vicious backhand from the floor. We rallied for about 5 minutes before I won the point with a slam. That seemed to the final play of the morning as the principal came and started banging on the door for us to go to class. Nathaniel and I headed down the corridor to avoid more conflict. As we reached the end of the hallway we parted ways, with him going to geography class and me to economics class. Thankfully the test came on stuff that I knew, at least one thing went right for me. I answered every question confidently, drawing every graph exceptionally and utilizing all of the time like Mr Ruddy recommended. When the time had elapsed Mr Ruddy collected the answer sheets and reminded us that final exams were a month away. (Happiness levels went from a hundred to zero real quick). On my way down from Economics class I saw Daniel, "Bro, you're going to meeting tomorrow?" For a moment I stared at him with a blank expression on my face until it finally hit, "Oh of course, you're going right?" I replied as we walked down the stairs. "Why do you think I asked." he retorted sarcastically. How could I forget Astronomy club meeting, the only place other than scouts where I could hang with most of my bros. Probably because it was only on the first Saturday of every month, the wait for the next one seemed light years away but the meetings were so fun that it passed in the blink of an eye. This meeting could not have come at a better time as it would take my mind off of Jan. Daniel and I sprinted to our respective classes as we saw the principal roaming the corridors looking for any excuse to punish students. When I got to class I took my usual seat next to Micah as he was having a conversation with Simon and EJ about our teacher. Occasionally I'd input in the conversation but my mind was firmly planted on Astronomy. Our teacher didn't come to her class which meant another free period. Having not slept until this morning I took this opportunity to sleep, spreading myself across the table like butter on toast I fell asleep. 15 minutes into my nap (And chill) words and symbols etched itself in my mind; up, up, down, down, A, B, A, B, start, select. What did this mean, I tried going forward in my dream and as I was about to uncover the meaning...... "Nico!!!!!!" shouted someone from the doorway, wrenching me from my dreams. "What could those symbols mean?" I thought to myself as I walked towards the door to meet Riad who was calling me.