Demon Hunters: Book 1 Faith [editing]

Chapter 20

"What were you doing yesterday at the computer?" Austin confronted her in the hallway, just outside Mrs. Willow's door.

"Studying for the ACT test." He blocked her entry into the classroom, and Zoe pondered the most efficient way to kill him. Well, maybe just knock him out. I would make it look like an accident, like he fell over and hit is head on the concrete—really hard.

"That didn't look like studying. Your screen looked different."

"What are you talking about? It was my first time at the library. Mrs. Brockman helped me get on the computer."

"Oh." He paused. "Well, there's something weird about you."

"Really?" Wasn't weird supposed to be a good thing?

He smirked. "Well, for starters you seem to be very resistant to my charm."

Zoe laughed, perhaps a little bit too loud. "Charm?"

Austin pouted. "Hey, come on now."

"You are just a human child who thinks too highly of himself."

"Human child? Who speaks like that?"

At that moment, Riley poked Austin in the shoulder with the end of her crutch. "My friend speaks like that. Now get out of her way, you human child."

"Hey." Austin stepped back.

"Is there a problem here?" Dominic walked up to Austin, flaring his chest outward.

Austin backed up even more. "We were just talking."

"Well, maybe she doesn't want to talk to you." Dominic inched closer to Austin.

Zoe saw the boy's eye widened and heard his heart rate increase. Was he frightened? "Fine," he said and moved away, walking into the classroom.

"Are you okay, Zoe?" Riley asked. "He's such a creep."

"Okay? Yes." She wondered why they asked.

Dominic laid a hand on her shoulder, of which Zoe forced herself to accept. "If he ever gives you trouble, just let me know. I'll take care of him."

"Take care of him?"

"Yeah, you know. Make sure he gets the hint to leave you alone. We don't let any mess with our friends."

"Oh, okay. Thanks."

"Come on, Zoe, let's go in. The bell is about to ring." Dominic handed Zoe Riley's backpack and rushed off.

"See you at lunch," he called from down the hallway.

The two settled into their seats. "Oh, my god, I don't know Becca can stand that guy."

"Who's Becca?"

Riley shook her head. "She's Austin's girlfriend. A sophomore. Volleyball player."

Her eyebrows rose. "So, if he has a girlfriend why is he trying to...what do you call it?"

"He's just flirt, that's all. A human child who thinks too much of himself."

"A flirt? So why does he want to flirt with me?"

Riley chuckled. "Because he thinks you're attractive."

"But you are attractive."

Riley smiled. "Thanks. He's tried to flirt with me. I had to put a stop to it. Anyway, some boys are just stupid like that."

Zoe thought about Austin and then Ren. She grinned. "Yeah. Some boys are just stupid." Could Ren be considered a boy? Wasn't he about ten thousand years old or even older?

The class ended, and Zoe escorted Riley to the cafeteria, which was now becoming part of her routine. Today, Lin held up the same can of soda, but the chips were nacho cheddar flavor. They left orange stains on her fingertips that she greedily licked away. "Breakfast of champions, people."

"Not that again," Diego said. Everyone laughed.

Riley just shook her head. "Whatever."

"So you ready to spend the night tonight, Mason?"

"Yeah, I guess so."

"Hey, guys!" Dominic announced, holding up his phone. "Guess what I just got!"

"Detention?" Riley asked.

"No! Why would I ever get that? I'm too cool for school, peoples."

"Too cool? Gee, that's original," Riley remarked.

Lin patted him on the arm. "Don't worry. I still like you even if you are a dork."

"See, that's real love," Dominic replied. "Anyway, look!" He displayed his screen to the group. Zoe read the text message off the phone.

"Well, what does it say? I can't read it," Diego protested.

Lin grabbed at the phone and read it aloud. "Dominic, I just picked up a gift certificate for cosmic bowling from a drawing at the office. Do you want it? Love, Mom." She giggled. "Love, Mom. Awww.... Is mommy still taking good care of you?"

Dominic yanked the phone out of her hand. "Well, she doesn't take care of me that way you do, baby."

"TMI!" Riley yelled. What is TMI?

"Whatever," Lin said. "It's not like you two love birds don't get all mushy and gushy!"

"Anyway, peoples. Look, we have twenty bucks for cosmic bowling. Today is Thursday. So, it's teen night. I say we all go."

"What is cosmic bowling?" Zoe had heard of bowling, but never cosmic bowling.

"Oh, Zoe," Riley consoled her. "You are way too sheltered. It's on. Tonight we all go cosmic bowling. Let's meet at Diego's house. Say around seven?"

"Yeah, my house. We can celebrate Mason spending the weekend. And we can introduce Zoe to some really crazy bowling. What do you say, Zoe? You game?"

Game? Does that mean that I want to play a game? "Sure."

"Cool," Diego said.

At the library, after lunch Zoe sat at one of the computer terminals. She loaded up a web browser and typed in "cosmic bowling" into the search engine. Why do people bowl when it is so dark? Don't those black lights make it harder to concentrate or see the pins? Zoe had never bowled before. This would be a new experience.

Then she typed the word "friend" into the search engine. Both Dominic and Riley had called her a friend in the hallway. She wondered how they could possibly consider her a friend when they didn't really know her. The first link that came up was the definition of friend:

1. a person who has a strong liking for and trust in another person.

2. a person who is not an enemy <friend or foe>

3 a person who helps or supports something

The second link was a quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson. The only way to have a friend is to be one.

She shrugged. Human adolescents seem to really be concerned about being friends. What did Muriel call it? A social group?