by R. G. Thomas
“You got into a fight?” Crystal asked, looking between them. “Did someone get it on video?”
“No,” Andy said. “It was too dark. And Thaddeus was too tired because it was past his bedtime.”
“Shut up,” Thaddeus said and looked down at the lunch he really didn’t want now that he’d sat down. “You’re a jerk.”
“Past his bedtime?” Crystal asked. “What time was it?”
Andy grinned. “Nine o’clock.”
“You go to bed before nine?” Crystal asked Thaddeus with a smirk.
“No, I don’t,” Thaddeus said and leveled a glare at Andy. “You were really mean to Teofil.”
“Mean?” Andy slapped his hand on the table, startling both Thaddeus and Crystal and a group of girls sitting at the next table. “Wow, everyone’s so jumpy.”
“Maybe you’re just really loud and obnoxious,” Crystal said. “And, based on how you’re treating Thaddeus, kind of a dick.”
“Better than being homeschooled and pathetic, like Thaddeus’s neighbor Toenail.”
“Teofil,” Thaddeus said in a quiet voice. “His name’s Teofil.”
“That’s a cool name,” Crystal said.
“Yeah, it is,” Thaddeus said. The argument with Teofil weighed heavily on him. He’d said some really awful, hurtful things. But then Teofil had said some pretty horrible things as well.
You both were only saying the truth.
Crystal was talking about something, and Thaddeus forced the voice and thoughts of Teofil aside to listen to what she was saying.
“You guys had better show up at the Spirit dance on Friday.”
“That sounds lame,” Andy said with an elaborate eye roll.
“It’s about the only fun thing going on in this town on a Friday night,” Crystal said. “Trust me. I’ve lived here all my life.”
“You don’t like it here?” Thaddeus asked.
“Would you like to tell people you were born and raised in a town called Superstition?”
Thaddeus shrugged one shoulder. “I like it.”
“Yeah, but you go to bed at nine o’clock,” Crystal said.
The multiple tones signaling the end of the lunch hour sounded before Thaddeus could respond. Andy laughed and got up from the table. He dumped the contents of his tray into the trash can, then followed it with the tray itself.
“What an ass,” Crystal said.
Thaddeus said nothing as he got up and followed her. He hadn’t eaten a bite of food, but he wasn’t hungry at all. When he arrived at Mr. Elder’s world history class, Andy was not in his seat, and Thaddeus shrugged as Crystal frowned at him. Frankly Thaddeus was glad to be free of Andy and his mean comments.
“Mr. Harkin has opted not to grace us with his presence yet again, I see,” Mr. Elder said before marking the absence in the book with an angry stroke of his pen. “I’m sure he knows everything there is to know about world history.”
Thaddeus thought Mr. Elder was taking Andy’s chronic absences more personally than he should. But he guessed if he stood in front of groups of kids all day, trying to keep their attention away from their phones and teach them world history, he might take absences a little personally himself.
By the time the last bell of the day sounded, Thaddeus’s headache, which was more or less a constant these days, had faded somewhat. The high collar of his mock turtleneck, however, was rubbing against the top edges of the cyst, and all he wanted to do was get home and peel off the shirt to get some relief.
At his locker, he selected which textbooks to take home with him and hoped that Dixon or one of his jock buddies wouldn’t strut past. He was thinking he might change his route home and stop in at SuPERKstition to get a hot chocolate when he heard someone come up behind him. Thaddeus flinched away and turned on his heel, pressing his back against the neighboring locker as he faced the new arrival.
Mr. Elder stared at him in wide-eyed surprise. “Mr. Cane, are you all right?”
“What? Yeah. Sure, of course. You startled me, that’s all.”
“Scared you seems a more apt description,” Mr. Elder said. “I apologize for startling you but was wondering if you might have some time to talk in my classroom? I promise not to keep you too long. I’m sure you have video games or online chats awaiting you at home.”
“You’d be surprised,” Thaddeus said, then nodded. “Sure. I’ll come by your room in a minute. Let me get the rest of my books.”
He had no idea what Mr. Elder could possibly need to talk with him about now. Nervousness made his belly tremble as he stepped into the room and stood before the large wooden desk behind which Mr. Elder sat grading tests.
“What did you want to speak with me about?” Thaddeus asked. He shifted his weight from one foot to the other, and then back again.
Mr. Elder did not look up from his work. “Sit down, Mr. Cane.”
“I really do need to get home,” Thaddeus said, but sat in the front desk of the middle row.
When he finally set down his red marking pen, Mr. Elder clasped his hands on the desk and fixed Thaddeus with a steady look.
Thaddeus adjusted the high collar of his shirt, wincing when it dragged across the inflamed surface of the cyst.
“Am I in trouble?” Thaddeus asked.
“How are things at home, Mr. Cane?”
“Home?” Thaddeus shrugged. “They’re okay.”
“Your parents are doing well?”
Thaddeus thought about spending the day practicing magic with his mother over the weekend, saw once again the flames she conjured around her hands and shot through the air.
“Yeah, they’re okay.”
“What about friends? Everything okay in that department?”
Thaddeus shifted in the seat and looked out the window a moment, watching as kids walked away from the school and to their homes or meeting places. He wished he was one of those kids before he turned back to Mr. Elder. “What’s this about?”
Mr. Elder got up from behind his desk and rounded it. He sat in the desk to Thaddeus’s left and put his elbow on the desk as he supported his chin in his palm.
“I’ve been working with kids a long time. Many, many years. During that time, I’ve come to recognize certain signs of trouble. A student might have trouble focusing during class or lash out with inappropriate language or tone of voice. He may fall in with a bad kid without realizing it, and before he knows it, his whole academic record could be in ruins.”
“I’m not sure what you’re talking about.” Thaddeus sat back in the seat and crossed his arms. “I’ve been handing in my work on time, and I haven’t done anything disrespectful toward you or the rest of the class.” He recalled his outburst the first day of class and looked away as his cheeks grew warm. “Not lately.”
“No, but I sense that something troubles you,” Mr. Elder said. “Are you involved in a relationship that’s becoming more intense than you might be ready for?”
“Um, no,” Thaddeus said, shifting uncomfortably in his seat. “No. It’s not that kind of…. It’s good. And it’s not stressful.” He sighed as he heard the lie in his voice. “I mean, it’s not like that. There have been misunderstandings lately and disagreements and arguments.”
As Thaddeus spoke, Mr. Elder nodded along in understanding. When Thaddeus finished speaking, Mr. Elder leaned a little closer and smiled. “I knew something was up. My instincts are seldom incorrect.”
“It’s gotten really complicated lately,” Thaddeus said, surprised—and embarrassed—to realize he was on the verge of tears. “We used to be really good together. We shared every thought and idea, and when we planned things we did it together. But, now that I’m in school, things are a lot different. We’re a lot different. Or so it seems.”
“This person doesn’t go to this school?”
“No. Homeschooled.”
“I see.” Mr. Elder looked toward the door, then leaned a little closer to Thaddeus and lowered his voice. “I can’t help noticing you avoided the use of any iden
tifying pronouns.”
Thaddeus’s heart pounded. “Oh?”
“Could that have any significance to the problems between the two of you?” Mr. Elder gave an elaborate shrug. “Maybe the disapproval of either of your parents?”
The heat in his cheeks doubled, and Thaddeus looked down at his hands on the desktop. “No. There’s no disapproval from either of our parents. And, yes, he’s a boy. But my dad has no problem with it.”
“What about your mother?”
“Oh, yeah. She’s okay with him too.” Thaddeus still wasn’t used to mentioning his mother when talking about his home life, and he couldn’t very well explain that his mother had only recently moved in with them. It was getting better, but sometimes he slipped back into speaking only of his father, especially when he was nervous like he was talking about Teofil with Mr. Elder.
“Well, that’s good. I’m glad you have the support of your parents at home. But it’s good to keep in mind that right now you’re fifteen years old. Although things feel very important right now, and you’re sure that no one else has ever felt as strongly for someone as you feel for this boy, this will pass. Sometimes it’s better to admit that things are too different for you both to be happy and move on to save each of you from unnecessary pain.”
“You think I should break up with him?”
“Oh, I couldn’t give you any advice about that. I don’t know the young man. But I think you should give your relationship a very long and objective look. Do you mind me asking if this is your first serious relationship?”
Thaddeus nodded. “It is.”
“I thought as much.” Mr. Elder smiled. “I don’t want to scare you by saying it doesn’t get any easier, but I think you’ll learn at least a little bit from this relationship that you can carry on to the next one. It’s all a learning process.”
“We are very different from each other,” Thaddeus said, his voice so quiet it sounded like a whisper to him. “Our backgrounds. Our schooling.” He hadn’t really given it much thought before, but had he been foolish to think a human wizard and a gnome could be compatible? Although Teofil easily passed for human, Thaddeus had no idea if there were any physical differences he should know about. Were gnomes built the same way as humans? Did all of Teofil’s… equipment work the same as Thaddeus’s?
He’s never tried to do more than kiss you. He probably knows how incompatible the two of you are.
“I see I’ve given you a lot to consider,” Mr. Elder said. “I apologize if all I’ve done is add more troubles to your mind. I simply wanted to check in with you and make sure you weren’t starting down a path you might soon regret.”
“I appreciate your concern,” Thaddeus said. “And you didn’t add more troubles. I think I’ve added troubles quite well on my own.”
“Please know that my door is always open, should you feel the urge to talk some more.”
“Thanks,” Thaddeus said with a smile. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
“I’m afraid I’ve kept you too long and you’ve missed the bus,” Mr. Elder said. “Would you like me to give you a ride home?”
“Oh, no thanks,” Thaddeus replied and stood up. “I’d like to walk, actually. Give me some time to think.”
“Very well. I’ll see you tomorrow, Mr. Cane.”
Thaddeus lifted his hand in a quick wave and left the classroom. His thoughts were a jumble as he struck out for home. He didn’t much feel like stopping in at SuPERKstition anymore. All he wanted was to go home and lie on his bed and stare at the ceiling.
That’s all Teofil thinks you’re good at anyway.
As he walked, he considered his conversation with Mr. Elder. Was it time for him to admit that he and Teofil weren’t going to work out? Was that what Leopold’s spirit had been telling Teofil all this time? Was Teofil acting out as a way to make them both see they should split up? Mr. Elder had seemed to be able to read Thaddeus’s mind and help him make some sense of everything he had been feeling recently about things between him and Teofil. But when he thought about how it had made him feel these last several days not being close with Teofil, not talking or sharing with him, Thaddeus wondered if maybe that was the cause of his aggravation and frustration.
“Hey, Garbage Baby! Pick this up!”
Something struck the side of his head, startling him out of his deep thoughts. Raucous laughter trailed after a car as it sped off, and Thaddeus looked down at the wadded up white paper bag at his feet as he rubbed the spot it had struck him. Garbage Baby? What the hell kind of name was that? And why were they calling him that?
Superstition High had to be the absolute worst school he’d attended throughout all of the moves he and his father had made around the country. And that was saying something, because he’d attended some really crappy schools.
When he got home, his mother was working in the yard, raking into small piles the few leaves that had already fallen. She asked him how his day had been, and he told her it had been fine. After dropping his backpack inside, Thaddeus decided it might help his thinking to talk with Teofil again, try to explain about Andy and apologize for the argument they’d had the night before. Although he still felt Teofil should assume a little more than half of the blame for the misunderstanding.
Astrid was working on the room expansion with a group of her younger siblings when Thaddeus entered the yard. She waved and walked up to meet him halfway between the gate and the house.
“Hi there,” she said. “Teofil’s not here.”
“Oh?”
“No. He and Dulindir went off for a few days.”
“A few days?” An icy anger went through him. “He just up and left? With Dulindir?”
“Well, he didn’t just up and leave,” Astrid said with a frown. “He’d been planning on it for a couple of days. He had to get Mum and Dad’s permission to go.”
“Well, it was nice of him to tell me he was leaving,” Thaddeus said. “And with Dulindir no less.”
“What’s the matter with you?” Astrid asked. “Are you angry?”
“Why should I be angry?” Thaddeus snapped. “Because Teofil goes off for however many days without telling me?”
“He said I should tell you he was gone if you came over looking for him,” Astrid said, her voice quiet as if offering up something she knew he wasn’t going to like.
“That was big of him.” Thaddeus huffed out a breath and turned away, then looked back at her and said, “Why didn’t you go with them this time?”
Astrid rolled her eyes. “Mum said I’ve been gone too much already. She told me I could miss this trip.”
“Well, when Teofil comes home, you can tell him I hope his trip was worth it, and I’m sorry I missed out on it. Again.”
“O-okay.” Astrid sounded nervous and unsure of how to react to him.
“Or don’t tell him anything at all,” Thaddeus said. “Whatever you feel is best.”
He headed toward the gate, his strides long and his fists clenched.
“Bye,” Astrid called after him.
After closing the gate behind him, Thaddeus paced a short distance along the back fence. He didn’t want to go back to his house and have to deal with more questions from his mother or, even worse, his father. What he really wanted was to be alone for a while.
Peering around the corner of the fence, he saw his mother had moved to the front yard with the rake, and he scurried to the path into the woods. He stomped along the path, lashing out now and then with magic to rattle tree branches heavy with colored leaves or fling loose stones off into the undergrowth. The headache that had grown quiet since school now thumped like a marching band’s drum line. His collar shifted and scraped over the cyst, and he cursed at himself for neglecting to put on a different shirt. He had never felt this angry before, and it seemed a small part of him stood off to the side and observed his actions with increasing anxiety. But even as that smaller part tried to reason with the rest of him, the dark feelings buzzed within him like a swarm of
bees.
You deserve to be angry, the voice whispered. Teofil has no idea what you go through at school every day.
Up ahead he saw where the path opened onto the fairy circle clearing. That would be a good place to vent some of his frustrations. He envisioned himself taking the stones stacked in the center and using magic to fling them one by one off into the woods. Surely the fairies would have no trouble finding new stones to act as replacements.
He was moving at a steady pace, ready to step out of the trees and into the clearing, when he was stopped dead in his tracks. It was as if he’d run into an invisible wall, only one that didn’t cause him any injury. Instead it simply prevented him from moving forward.
“What the hell?”
He tried several times without success to get past the edge of the path and into the clearing. His anger intensified as he struggled, and finally he turned an about-face on the path and lashed out at the woods around him. A scream tore from his throat as he released his magic. Fallen leaves blew clear for several yards from where he stood. Branches snapped, and smaller trees toppled to the ground.
It didn’t last long. With his energy spent, Thaddeus dropped to his knees on the path, chin to his chest as he gasped for breath. The woods settled down once more, and eventually birds and squirrels returned to their foraging around him. A slick layer of sweat coated him, and the cyst pulsed in time with his headache. When his breathing slowed, Thaddeus looked at the devastation around him and shivered. The power he’d released unnerved him, especially since it had been born out of anger and not a more pure intention.
It was so much more powerful than any of the magic you’ve been practicing.
He staggered to his feet and set off at a run. By the time he reached his own backyard, Thaddeus felt a little bit better, but he was exhausted. All he wanted to do was get into bed and go to sleep, which was ridiculous since the sun had not even set yet.
His mother stood at the kitchen sink, and he knew he probably looked awful when her eyes went wide at the sight of him. “What happened? Are you hurt?”
Thaddeus shook his head and tried to give her a reassuring smile. “I’m okay. I was practicing magic out in the woods.”