Millions (#2)

Snap

After an hour, the school bell rang and everyone rushed out of their seats to leave.

"I haven't assigned homework yet-"

" 'Make sure you practice at home.'", the class mocked in unison as the door slammed behind them.

Once outside, Frank nudged Charles with his elbow, "See. That wasn't so bad."

"That's it? Just one class per week?", Charles asked.

"It's not that hard of a concept to get down. Sing, attract two fins, hide behind the rock again. The more advanced classes are like three hours long though.", Frank answered.

Whilst swimming, they were stopped by a small crew of four of their classmates. The four girls seemed friendly, but Frank appeared to be more hostile at them.

The girl in front of the group smiled at Charles, "We just wanted to say that you were, like, amazing in class for your first day."

The others in the group all nodded and agreed.

"What do you want from him?", Frank hissed.

The leader's gaze shifted to Frank," Nothing, nothing. We just wanted to give him a compliment."

"Yeah. Like, chill.", another girl piped.

"I am chill.", Frank snapped, sending a glare at her direction.

"Hey, new kid.", the leader spoke, looking back at Charles, "Whenever you want to hang out with someone who's not a complete jellyfish, you let us know.", she gave a cheesy smile as she led the group away.

"So.. that was weird. Do you guys have history?", Charles asked.

"Plenty.", Frank replied reluctantly, "Knave."

Charles closed one of his eyes, "Arr!"

"Arr!"

~

Midnight had come again. There was a loud patter across the beach as Kurt ran to the edge of sea. His eyes were wide in terror as he quickly pushed his boat. He threw an end of rope to Charles and jumped in the boat, "Pull me as far as you can.".

Charles quickly began swimming away from shore, "What's going on?"

"She's after me, Charles. She won't leave!", Kurt replied, taking a blanket out and wrapping himself in it.

"Who's after you?", Charles felt his hands tremble around the rope as he began to swim faster.

The same girl from a few nights ago was running on the beach. "Kurt!", she yelled, "Kurt, come back! We're going to get you back home, and get this fixed. We'll give you meds if you need them, just please come back!"

"You can't save me, Cindy! I shouldn't have even told you.", Kurt yelled back.

"Come back to shore, Kurt.", Cindy pleaded, "I don't want you to hurt yourself!"

"Charles won't hurt me."

"Charles isn't real-"

"SHUT UP!", Kurt covered his ears with his hands as he pulled his knees to his chest, "SHUT UP!"

"These things aren't real, Kurt. They're all inside your head!"

"STOP. YOU'RE JUST MAKING IT WORSE."

"They're not real! Nobody's going to hurt you!"

"SHUT UP OR I TIP THE BOAT!"

Cindy paused. She took deep breaths and paced the beach, her eyes glued to the boat.

Kurt sniffed, wiping a tear.

"I'm going home.", Cindy spoke quietly, although she didn't move.

"Are you going to tell?"

Cindy hesitated, "No-"

"You're lying."

Cindy hung her head.

"You're lying and acting like you're my friend, then you say that the only person that actually cares about me isn't real.", Kurt clenched his jaw as he sat upright, relaxing a leg as he propped his arm on the other, "Just let it rest, Cindy. I'm fine. Charles and I'll just be out here, where nobody puts people in boxes."

"Kurt, I do care about you, which is why I have to make sure you get fixed somehow-"

Kurt rolled his head back, closed his eyes, and tipped over the boat.