Wouldn't it be Funny?

Chapter 13

I don't know if it was the breakfast pizza, but I was gassy.

This was my third trip to the bathroom this morning. Whatever it was that I ate, it was not agreeing with me. My protesting intestines were so loud that students thought that there was a cat fight outside. I'm 90% sure that they put two and two together when I asked to be dismissed to the bathroom. The lockers along the hallway stretched in the distance like a cartoon.

Instead of making constant trips to the paper office, I really wanted to find Aaron. Alas, my stomach made another protesting gurgle. I wanted to ask him what he saw that night. I overheard the doctors talking about weird stuff that went down while I was passed out. I was exhausted; there were too many unanswered questions and it gave me too many sleepless nights. Hopefully, Aaron could give me some answers. To my luck, Aaron was nowhere to be seen.

Wouldn't it be funny if he was in the hallways too?

The thought buzzed through my brain. I glanced ahead of me, to humor myself. There he was, walking out of the principal's office. He looked like a mess. Aarons black hair was all over the place like he had been running his hands through it multiple times. His clothes were all rumpled like he had slept in them. The bags in his eyes matched the nervous twitch in his left hand. When we locked eyes we both froze. I couldn't believe that it actually happened, and I didn't know what to say...

How's it going?

Hi?

Sorry I got you stuck in some magical tornado of elvish PMS? My bad??

Before I could say anything, Aaron took off running. It was the strangest thing to see someone running down the hallway. One of the most sacred laws of our childhood, and it was being broken right in front of me. I hesitated too long; Aaron already had a five-second head start. My muscles clenched in anticipation. I almost chased after him, but I was stopped by the mass of men's cologne and hair gel that turned the corner. Immediately I was engulfed in a bear hug.

"Zayne! Seriously, this is not the time! I need to... If you could wait a minute..." I struggled against his ridiculous act of affection, shaking me side to side like a dog with a chew toy. There was a sharp pain in my middle. If he continues to squeeze me like this I was going to pop. Aaron disappeared around the corner.

"Ember! I can't believe I missed you this morning. I've been wanting to check on you since I heard about what happened at the Old School Center! Are you okay?"

I was suffocating. I was being squeezed to death, and every breath I could manage was infused with his heavy cologne. It was taking everything in me, not to release a gas bomb in the hallway. My eyes watered, and my throat tightened. My own body was trying to kill me.

Suddenly, Zayne stiffened and put me down. He had shaken my hair into my face; his grip on my shoulders tightened as I looked up. Zaynes grey eyes were glowing red and his face twisted into a sneer.

"No..." I breathed. Red Eyes looked down at me, and they seemed the slightest bit angry. My hand fell from my face and dropped to my side. Red Eyes had "shadowed" Zayne. This person in front of me was no longer my dear, yet strange friend. In my shock, I had no control over my lower muscles. The deadly, yet silent, toxic gas leaked into the hallway. I wasn't sure whether I should be embarrassed, or use it as a distraction to get out of Red Eyes clutches. I just stared into those glowing orbs, not sure what to think.