Minds in a Knot (Updating)

XII, Charm

        You know it's an apocalyptic day that awaits you if the prestigious joker of your squad wears a doleful look on his face. Izzy was a pessimistic optimist, and that doesn't sound sensible and also sensible simultaneously but something about it just doesn't sound right. Like intelligently stupid or beautifully ugly or heartbroken-ly overjoyed, or squarely roundish. Like instead of saying it's Grey, you say it's Black-White or vice versa. It's just impossibly possible, two contradicting definitive antonyms put together as a derived adjective or two independent antonyms that are just too damn strong of a word to be put together with it's other strong opposite. Or deadly safe or infinitely limited and the list goes on and on and on with the consistent broadening of the existing vocabulary. Izzy had that type of mindset. He thought of this Nathan-frowning occurrence to be both beneficial and also a burden. The pro was that more muscles on Nathan's face was working, so it could be considered as an exercise for Nathan, and the con was that Nathan was partially dead without his jokes. Two sides to everything. Sure, there are 6 sides to a cube and 4 sides to a pyramid, but whatever, Izzy would probably make that phrase sound superbly deep and noteworthy.

        Getting back to the Laugh-Inducer, he wasn't quite okay on that Tuesday. And it's ridiculously obvious because Nathan makes this distinct pout which you could possibly compare with a goldfish that has deformed lips (if those bulged pieces of meat bracketing their mouths are called lips) and see no difference.  It just didn't seem right to the others. There was no practice drill withheld for this rare occasion,  so they all were left in an aimless state of deciding what to do.

        The boys might have considered calling an expertise in exorcism to spank the devil or devils who were possessing Nathan out of his massive body but the girls considered (from what the boys heard from their whispers) to buy Nathan some -and emphasis on some- breakfast.

        But before they could hop onto a solid conclusion - whether or not they should buy him breakfast - Abby's real eyes realized real lies. Abby penetrated through this poorly planned prank by Nathan. And soon after, just after one karate-or-whatever-the-heck-it-was chop Abby had threatened him with, he pulled it off.

        "You got me!" Nathan raised his palms slightly to his chest in defeat, accompanied with a chuckle and proceeded to roll his eyes, while he looked to his side.

        Abby scoffed and bit her lip with a smirk and confidently said "I knew it."

        Everyone lost the pressuring tension and dropped their shoulders in relief. This relief quickly turned into a sudden urge to strangle Nathan until he's Purple and let him breathe and repeat. But they forgave him anyway. 

        At least, according to Fedora, they had a slightly shaken up Tuesday after a tiring Monday.

        At least.

        At least.

        At least.

        These two words are just a form of disguised, ineffective attempt to cheer someone up, made effective. At least you didn't die, At least you passed, At least you can't gain weight, At least the sun still shines. It doesn't increase the happiness level for someone; it just sustains it at a constant percentile. How did Izzy even contemplate about these things? However, that was another point from his book of theories.

        Nathan was leaning against his locker when the second bell rang, or rather; burst the ear drums of the students. When he pushed himself off it to offer a handshake to Flynn who passed by, he could've sworn he had just made a dent on the metallic locker.