The (Temporary) Creators

Chapter 7

The past few days are all a blur to me right now. It feels like everything happened in a matter of weeks, but it was only about six days. My mind wanders through everything that happened. When I get to the part where Zack dragged me to the school, I remember the last time I was in Science, and I got his number. I grab my phone, and text him.

Me: Hey, it's Alexandra. Can you tell me why you freaked today?

After 20 minutes, he doesn't reply, so I decide to go to bed.

Once I'm in my pjs and sitting on my bed, I pull out a sketchbook and start drawing the man I saw today. He was tall. Probably six and a half feet tall. And honestly, for me anything over 5'5" feels tall. I draw him in an all black suit, with a shimmering force field around him. His face looks angry, and he has a dark but thin beard that covers half of his face.

When I finish, I look at the paper satisfied with my drawing, and put the sketchbook away. I lay down to get some sleep. My eyes feel heavy, and I'm almost asleep when I hear my phone vibrate. The screen lights up, and I'm temporarily blinded by the brightness. Sitting up, I read the name. I expected it to be Zack, but Will's name shows on the screen.

Will: I'm really sorry for lying to you yesterday. If you give me the chance, tomorrow at school I'll explain.

He'd better have a good explanation for all of this. That stupid liar.

I don't bother answering him. Instead, I text Cody about it to see what he thinks.

After a few minutes, he says we should just see what happens tomorrow, but not be too forgiving. He lied once, who knows if he's going to again.

The next morning, I quickly get ready for school. I throw on a light blue tank top, a thin dark blue jacket over it, and a comfy pair of gray shorts. After grabbing a quick breakfast, I head to my bus stop. Most of the people there aren't talking since it's the dreaded Monday morning, but the people who are talking talk about the long weekend and why school was cancelled. Everything they say is the school's altered version. If only they knew.

Natalie walks over and joins their conversation after saying hi to me. She starts talking to an annoying popular girl named Caitlyn Henry. I used to always see her by Cody's locker trying to flirt with him. Of course, she knew about my crush, so she'd look over and give me a look when he wasn't looking. And I wasn't the only one she did that to. She'd flirt with other guys and do the exact same thing to other girls.

She says something to the guy next to her and then starts to do her annoying giggling like an idiot. She lifts her water bottle in her hand to take a sip, but the water splashes in her face. "Ack!!!"

"Whoa, dude did you see that? The water just like jumped out of the bottle and into her face," the guy next to her shouts. He and his friends start laughing as Caitlyn glares at them and dries her face.

"Nooo. My makeup is ruined. Ruined. Ugh, you guys are soo annoying. Shut. Up!" She whines before she carefully reapplies lip gloss. It takes me a second to realize that my hands are in fists and I've been staring at her empty water bottle for the past minute. Wait... did I make the water move? I know I have water as my element but I didn't think I was able to move water that I didn't create.

When I walk into the building, I see Will waiting at my locker. He sees me walking over and offers a weak smile. "Wait here. I'll get Cody and then you can start your apology." He doesn't say anything, but he listens and stays with his pleading eyes watching me. In that moment he reminds me of a guilty puppy.

Cody's taking out books from his locker when I find him. I'm about to walk up to him when I see Caitlyn standing near him. "Hey Cody! Ugh. My makeup looks horrible. My water bottle splashed water all over me this morning, and then some nerd started laughing at me," she complains as she leans closer to him.

He close his locker and takes a step back. "Um, okay?" When he sees me he smiles. I smile back and walk over to him. Caitlyn gives me the same look she always does before turning back to Cody.

"So, do you have any plans after school?" She asks him extra loudly.

He looks at me and replies with a matter-of-fact tone,"Actually, I do. I'm going to hang out with Alex," he gestures towards me. I smile at him while Caitlyn glares at me.

"Will's waiting for us by my locker," I say.

"Okay, let's go hear his 'apology'," he responds as he starts walking over. Caitlyn's still at his locker, but after a second she moves to another guy.

When we get to my locker, Will's still there waiting for us. His pleading eyes have become a little impatient looking.

"Okay. Go ahead," I demand.

"First off, I'm really sorry. I was just being an idiot," Yeah, kinda,"and I guess it's just been hard moving. I don't know many people, and my family consists of just my not-so-caring mom. Since we move a lot, there's not many friends I can talk to from where I used to live. And Alexandra was the first girl in this school who was nice to me. So I kinda liked you, but so did Cody. And I guess my anger got the best of me. So basically I was a lonely, jealous idiot who has no friends and a broken family," he concludes with a shrug.

"What does your family have to do with you lying to us?!" I demand.

He looks at me with a hurt expression. "I don't know. I guess since I lost my dad I'm really possessive of things that make me happy. The only problem is, if that thing starts drifting away in any way, my anger kicks in and I become an angry, possessive idiot."

"Got the idiot part right," Cody whispers next to me. I elbow him in the side. "Ow! Gosh, you have a bony elbow," he says in response.

Will looks at us with a weird expression. "So? Are we good? Do you forgive me?"

I have to think for a second. "Well, I wouldn't say you're completely forgiven, but I'll let you talk to me." I was joking about that last part, but he takes me seriously.

"Okay... Cody, do you forgive me?" He asks hesitantly.

"I don't know. I'm just gonna say: what she says goes," he responds, pointing at me.

"Okay. Well what do I need to do?" Will asks desperately.

"I don't know, but I have to go to class. Bye," I say as I start walking away. I hear Cody say bye to Will and walk over to me. "Is Will following us? He does have the same class as me."

"No," he responds," I think he still needs to get stuff from his locker."

"Oh. Isn't your next class that way?" I point behind us. He nods in response,"So why are you following me?"

"I decided I'd walk you to your class," he states. He looks down, and I smile. We reach the art room and I say thanks before walking in. I sit down in my usual spot, and open my sketchbook.

Will walks in as the late bell rings a few moments later. He sits down next to me. I ignore him, and start drawing. He doesn't open his sketchbook, but proceeds to stare at me until I look up. "Can I help you?" I ask.

"I will find a way to make you guys forgive me," he states. I look at him questioningly.

"And how exactly do you plan to do that?"

"I don't know... I'll... I'll be your personal servant or something all of today. I'll be extra nice to you guys and stuff. Just give me a chance to make this up to you. Please?" He begs as he gives me the puppy dog eyes.

"Okay. I'll give you a chance." He relaxes and smiles at me. "By the way, the principal needs you to meet him in the cafeteria with us after school."

"Why?"

"...long story..." I respond as I try not to laugh at his confused expression.