The Apprentice's Apprentice

Part 5

"Your locker sucks," Zoe said from where she leaned against another of the black boxes before she yawned.

"No shit, Sherlock," Cora replied as she continued to yank at the stubborn door. The thing felt like it had been glued into place since yesterday. She was tempted to take an axe to it or at least a baseball bat; though with her luck it would probably just make it worse. Fighting with the damn thing every morning was already getting on her nerves.

"Here," her friend said as she pushed off from the other locker. "Yo! Warren!"

"You rang?" the unfamiliar male voice called.

Cora turned to look at the boy who walked towards them. A tall guy, his curly hair was cut so close to his skull it was more like fuzz. He grinned, his teeth bright above his thin frame. Studying him from the top of his head down to the bottom of his black high tops, Cora could say without an ounce of doubt, that she'd never seen this guy before in her life. She wondered what grade he was in and said nothing as Zoe spoke. "We can't get Cora's stupid locker open. Mind helping us out?"

He laughed. "No prob."

Cora stepped away from her locker but kept a close eye on Warren. She was sure she'd never seen him before. But Zoe seemed to know who he was, so he must have been a student at their school for a while. Zoe was good at meeting people but even she couldn't meet every new person in only the first couple of days. Not that it was important, but if he was a friend of Zoe's then she supposed she should do her best to get to know him. She turned her attention back to what he was doing.

Warren grabbed the handle of Cora's locker with both hands and gave a quick yank. Her locker strained but stayed firmly closed. "Man, you guys weren't kidding around. This thing's really jammed in there, isn't it?"

"It's been like that since she got it," Zoe said, shaking her head.

Warren nodded as he resettled his hands. This time he leaned back a bit as he reefed on the door. It popped open and Warren stumbled backwards, nearly falling until he caught himself. But not before he backed into Michael who glowered. "Watch where you're walking, Little!"

"Sorry, man," Warren called after his retreating back before he shrugged himself. He glared at the door for a moment before he turned to Cora. "You really should get one of the custodians to take a look at that. It's messed up."

Cora nodded slowly, frowning slightly. Even Michael knew who he was. That was weird. Michael was an ass by everyone's standards and he didn't pay any attention to anyone he didn't have to. Maybe Warren was popular in the lower grades or something? Or he was involved in something that Michael was in? It was kind of odd.

"Is there something on my face?" Warren asked after a few seconds of her silent staring.

"No!" Zoe said, moving up to stand beside Cora but not before she shot her a look. "Thanks for the help!"

"Yeah, thanks," Cora replied, still studying the stranger. She had the oddest feeling that she should know him but just didn't.

"You're welcome. I'll be seeing you," he said, smiling, before he turned and walked off.

Once the crowd had swallowed him, Zoe turned to stare at Cora, hands on her hips. "What the hell was that? He helped you out and you were staring at him like he was something from a horror movie."

"I know," Cora replied, rubbing her arm. "It's just I've never really talked to him before. You know it takes me a while to get used to people."

Zoe frowned and took a step closer. "What are you talking about? That was Warren." When Cora looked at her blankly, Zoe rolled her eyes. "Warren Little. You know, funny, smart, likes to make fun of stupid stuff school makes us do. That Warren. I mean, I know he cut his hair and he looks pretty different because of it, but it's still just Warren. He was in English with us last year, remember? He had that whole thing about how Romeo was basically a pedophile. You've got to remember that!"

Except she didn't. Cora could only stare at Zoe as she tried to remember having ever seen Warren before, let alone having been in the same class as him. As she reached the conclusion that she had no memories of him, she felt her stomach drop and her throat tighten. If Warren really was in her grade, if Zoe knew him and Michael knew him, then why didn't she? Cora shook her head but couldn't escape the thought that she was going crazy.