The Reduction

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

James

The overwhelming smell of peanut butter flooded James' nose as he unwrapped his sandwich from the saran wrap. It was lunchtime at the high school and James was sitting in the courtyard with his friends.

"Dude, all I'm saying, is that if they just invented like, little films to go over our eyes that could make them seem like a different color, we could definitely not have to Reduce people."

"Maybe they could also help you see, Josiah! I think the reason you don't have a girl is because of your bulky-ass glasses!"

"Shut up, Charlie! Your mom sure seemed to like them when I was doing her last night!" Josiah yelled back as he dunked his celery sticks into a small pool of ranch. This caused the whole picnic table to cackle as Charlie gave Josiah a death glare from across the table. Not breaking eye contact and taking a violent bite of his chips, Charlie made a mental note to beat Josiah's ass later.

"Careful Josiah, you know Charlie has a mommy kink!" Owen puffed as his twin brother, Sonny, fell off the bench in laughter. Everyone bursted into stomach laughs as they watched Sonny struggle to get back in his seat.

"I DO NOT!" Charlie lashed at Owen, turning to James. "You know I don't, right?" He asked, eager to prove his point. James just nodded and giggled in amusement.

"See? I told you! I don't, Owen!" Charlie pounded the table in frustration as the rest of the boys just laughed.

"The fact that you're getting so defensive about it just proves Owen's right," Sonny added as he let out a snort. This caused another erupt of laughter and moans from the table as Charlie pulled this hood of his hoodie over his face and tightened the strings so that only his nose was visible.

"At times like these, I wish you were all Reduced," Charlie muttered in his hood. The rest of the boys started to calm down and wipe tears from their eyes.

As they continued to eat, James pulled out a cigarette and lit it, earning a look from Josiah. James decided to ignore him. He knew that Josiah hated the smell and that he would complain about it, but frankly, James didn't care. He had too much stress about his first job to worry about Josiah's stupid pet peeves.

"I don't know why you bother forcing yourself to have lung cancer early." Josiah snarked as he chomped another piece of celery. Owen sighed in response. "Josiah stop nagging him, he's gonna do it regardless."

"Yeah, it's part of his bad-boy persona." Sonny winked at James giggling. The rest of the table kept eating as James scoffed and blew the smoke right in Sonny's face. He flinched as Sonny rapidly swung his arms around his face coughing like a maniac.

"Stop being a pussy, Sonny," Owen said as he punched him in the arm to get him to shut up.

Even though the guys were helping ease James' anxiety, he still felt very overwhelmed. His father's words hung over him as he remembered that he had to actually kill a person. A person sitting a couple of tables away from him. He glanced over to a table occupied by none other than Zara Asher. She was by herself and seemed to be finishing up some homework. 'Why does my father want you dead?' James wondered as he stared at her from afar. A hard punch to the back snapped James out of his thoughts.

"Take a picture, it will last longer, freak," Sonny said as James grimaced at the pain now in his back.

"Bro, was that really necessary?" James whined as he put out his cigarette.

"Uh, yes! James, you were totally staring at Zara just now. Like staring-staring."

"Oooooh, James has a crush!" Charlie shouted, causing Josiah to reach across the table and cover his mouth quickly. Pushing Josiah's hand away, he replied, "What? It's true! He's been eyeing her all lunch!"

Everyone stared at James now and he began to feel flustered. A wave of relief covered him as he realized that his friends didn't know his future plans. He decided to roll with it so it made his behavior less suspicious.

"That's right, you caught me. I think she's hot." James said rubbing the back of his neck and looking down at his half-eaten sandwich.

"Well duh, we didn't need Josiah's ugly ass glasses to see that one," Charlie exclaimed earning a glare from the targeted boy. James just laughed in response as he continued to eat his sandwich.

"I would actually be careful with her James," Owen said as he looked up from his salad. Puzzled, James furrowed his eyebrows at him. "Zara's just always getting in trouble. She likes to start arguments with teachers and students a lot. I even heard she just got detention for decking this sophomore right in the face."

"AWESOME! So she's a bad girl. Perfect for mister bad boy here." Sonny said in a teasing manner. Everyone at the table stared in her direction.

"Yeah, I heard she just has violent mood swings."

"I heard that she was getting Reduced." James instantly snapped to face Josiah. "Why would she get reduced?" he asked.

Josiah just shrugged and finished the rest of his celery. "I just heard that her eyes weren't even blue and that she has some kind of superpower or something- I know it sounds dumb! It was just a rumor!" Josiah said wiping the last of his ranch with his finger and licking it, earning a glare of disgust from Charlie.

'Hmm. There must be a reason why you're special. But what is it?' James wondered as he looked back over at Zara while the boys continued to bicker in the background. He decided to get to know her better. Maybe get some information on her by seeing the way she acted up close. He decided he was going to get into detention to make that happen.