Rise of the Fallen 1 - My Soul to Keep

by Sean Hayden

  I groaned and opened the screen door leading into the laundry room. Mom kept it pretty clean, so I didn't have to worry about Jessie tripping over anything. We found Mom in the kitchen making sandwiches. I had a very bad feeling. I prayed to God, mom wouldn't bring up Claire. Please, please, please, please, God, no.

  "Mom, this is my um…friend, Jessie." I panicked. I froze. I choked. I felt about a foot tall, but I didn't know what else to call her. Our second date and I screwed it up in the first few moments. It had to be a new record.

  "Ex-girlfriend he means," Jessie said with a light chuckle. I felt about six inches shorter.

  "Oh, Connor didn't say he had a girlfriend. Or ex."

  I thought about fainting. Maybe that would get me out of it. Caelyn chose that moment to walk into the room.

  "Hi, Jessica," she said almost reverently. I did a double-take. Maybe pod-people had replaced my sister last night. Stranger things have happened. Way stranger.

  "You two know each other?" My voice cracked.

  "Caelyn?" Jessie must have recognized her voice. I'm glad she did, because I didn't.

  "Yes, it's me. What are you doing here?"

  "I came to see Connor."

  "Why?"

  "I was just asking myself that very same question," Jessie replied and turned to me. "Is there someplace we can talk?"

  My heart sank and I nodded. I realized she couldn't see me and I choked out a humble, "Sure." I gently touched her arm and she held out her hand. Instead of taking her upstairs I led her past my evilly smiling sister and out the back door to the patio. I wasn't looking forward to this particular conversation.

  As soon as we reached the wrought iron table, I slid one of the chairs out for her. She heard the scraping noise and reached behind her to guide herself into the chair. I sat down in the one next to her.

  "Jessie, I can–"

  "Do you like her? Connor, don't lie to me. Just tell me the truth…I mean she is a senior and all."

  I opened my mouth to say no, but something stopped me. She deserved the truth. "I think she's pretty. I won't lie, but there's something about her that scares the crap out of me. She's not someone I want to date." I watched Jessie's face as I started my conversation. She frowned when I called Clarisse pretty, but by the time I finished, she gave me a little smile.

  "Do you think I'm pretty?"

  "No. I don't think you're pretty." Her smile disappeared. I smiled and finished. "I think you are probably the most beautiful girl I've ever seen." Her smile not only came back but came back with a vengeance.

  "Do you think I'm someone you can see yourself dating? Even with my grotesque deformity?"

  As soon as my mouth opened, Clarisse's warning about humans came rushing back to me. If I were a brave person, I would have told her no. "Oh, hell yes. I think you're just my type," I said and smiled.

  She leaned forward and tilted her head. I thought she might be listening for something, but I saw her lips come together. Very slowly I leaned forward and…

  "Connor! Lunch is ready!" Caelyn slammed the door closed and giggled.

  Jessie started to pull back, startled. I carpe the diem and leaned forward quickly. Grabbing her shoulder I stopped her from sliding back more. I quickly found her lips with mine and kissed her. My first kiss might have been with Clarisse, but my first true kiss was with Jessie. They were as different as night and day. The kiss with Clarisse had been hot, I won't lie. It melted in my mouth like candy. The kiss with Jessie, however, was soft. It was her smile while we did it that made it all the more sweet.

  "Wow," she said as we pulled apart.

  I wanted to seem intelligent, so I kept my mouth shut.

  * * *

  I shoved my books in my locker and thought about Jessie. It didn't surprise me. I thought about her all night after she left. I think I smiled all the way to school, too. Clarisse had been very quiet. I chalked it up as her knowing and not approving.

  Homeroom started in five minutes. Jessie still hadn't shown up. My locker sat by the front entrance so I figured I'd wait. Four minutes passed before I saw her dad drop her off. She exited the car and nearly ran for the front door. I smiled and opened it for her before she got there.

  "Bout time you showed up," I said and smiled at her. Even behind her dark sunglasses I could tell she wasn't happy. "What's wrong?"

  "My dad. He's thinking about selling the house and moving back to Philly."

  "Why? You just got here…"

  "I know. Something about my step mother. He wouldn't go into details. We're supposed to talk about it some more tonight. I hope I can talk him out of it. I like it here."

  "I like you here, too." She smiled and slipped her arm through mine as we walked through the halls to class. We took our seats, stood for the pledge, and listened to announcements before heading to algebra.

  Class started exactly like it had every day since school began, with a sense of dread. I hated few things on earth the way I hated algebra. At least we'd moved on from polynomials. When my turn came to head to the chalkboard I realized I wasn't as afraid anymore. I could still see the numbers glowing on the board. I could still see the answer floating there in front of me. It became a matter of copying down what was in my head to the board. I turned and went to go sit down when I noticed everybody staring at me with their mouths wide open.

  "Is that right?" I looked to Mr. Johnson to see if I'd screwed up in anyway, but his mouth looked like he was going to try to shove a twelve inch meatball marinara sub into it at any second. He nodded and continued darting his eyes between me and the board behind me.

  "How did you do that?"

  "Do what?"

  "You were supposed to be solving for Y in the equation next to you. The problem you did was an example of solving for higher quadratic equations I pulled out of a book to show you all what truly advanced algebra would entail. How did you do that?"

  I turned and looked behind me. Sure enough, Right next to the string of numbers I'd written down sat the problem I was supposed to have solved. Oops.

  “I don't know, Mr. Johnson. I must have just gotten lucky." I slithered across the classroom and into my chair. Everybody followed my every movement. If I could have hid behind my algebra book, I would have.

  The room started to get hot. I started to sweat. I could feel my eyes start to burn and my breath came in ragged gasps. I was going to go into a full panic mode in about three seconds. I looked everywhere but up.

  "Mr. Sullivan, would you try to do another one?" I heard Mr. Johnson's voice, but I couldn't look at him. I just couldn't. "Mr. Sullivan?"

  I lifted my gaze from the carvings into the Formica covered desk in front of me and everyone gasped.

  "What's with his eyes?"

  "Oh, my god"

  "Ha! He smoked a fat doobie!"

  Everybody started standing and walking toward me. I knew instantly, my eyes were glowing red. I needed to get out of there, fast. I faked an uprising of stomach juices, covered my mouth, and ran. I didn't stop until I had my back against the bathroom stall door.

  I waited for a moment to make sure nobody followed me and then walked over to the sink. I looked at myself in the mirror and sure enough, my eyes looked like someone surgically implanted LED lights inside them. I splashed some water on my face and closed them, trying to calm myself. I really needed to learn yoga. Or meditation. Or something that would help me calm down quickly.

  The door flung open and I looked in the mirror. My usual baby blues were back and I turned to see Mr. Johnson entering the bathroom. "Connor? Are you alright?"

  "Yeah. I'm sorry, I just got really light headed and felt like I was going to yak."

  He walked over, grasped my shoulders, and looked me square in the eyes. "I could have sworn…" He shook his head and took a step back. "Why don't you go lie down in the nurse's office?"

  "Jessie–"

  "I'll make sure she gets to her next class. When you feel better, come back and see me. I want to talk to you about
your sudden…algebraic genius."

  I sighed. Maybe I needed to start dumbing down my abilities. "It must have been a fluke, sir. I've always sucked at algebra."

  "Maybe, we'll see. Go. Have the nurse call me. I want to make sure you get there okay."

  "Yes, Mr. Johnson. Sorry, sir."

  "Don't be sorry. Just get better."

  I nodded and left the bathroom. The hallways were eerily quiet. I could hear muffled teachers and students through the closed doors. My ears could pick out every heartbeat and conversation with ease if I concentrated. That's when I heard two sets of footsteps trying very hard to be silent, creeping up behind me.

  I spun and caught an arm that had been swinging for my head. I wasn't fast enough to stop the other person from sweeping my legs out from underneath me. I landed on my back with a vampire on my chest. Wearing a skirt. It was very hard to concentrate on her face.

  "Jenny? What are you doing?" I tried to pretend I didn't see her inch and a half long glistening fangs, ridged forehead, and black eyes.

  "Give it up, Connor. We saw your eyes. You're as human as Beth and I. What are you? What did you wish for?" She drizzled spittle on my face as she snarled her questions.

  "What are you talking about? What do you mean you're not human?" I tried to act innocent. She didn't buy it.

  "If you're not human, you're food!" She bared her fangs and dove for my neck.

  I really, really, really didn't want to end up as a mid-class snack. I flung her off of me with all my strength. I probably shouldn't have done that. She almost went through the concrete block wall at the end of the hall. I spun on my knees and waited for teachers to come rushing out of the classroom. They didn't.

  Beth did take me down from behind though. How are the teachers not hearing this? Her fangs pierced the back of my neck. I frantically tried to get my arms underneath me to flip her away like I had done to Jenny. I slipped my right one first. Beth started moaning when my blood hit her tongue. I slipped my left underneath me, starting to get angry. She tightened her grip around my chest right as I pushed.

  I threw myself up into a standing position with Beth still on my back. Jenny regained her feet and headed for us like a freight train. I’d had enough. I could feel my power gathering just under the surface. I held my arms straight out to the side and let it go. Beth screamed as it exploded out. She landed behind me and Jenny toppled to the ground mid run and slid on the linoleum, skidding to a stop at my feet. The blade that hadn't been in my hand two seconds ago pointed at the back of her neck. My other blade pointed at Beth.

  "You will stop this, now!"

  The bathroom door opened and Mr. Johnson walked out. He turned in our direction and I concentrated with all my might that he couldn't see us. It must have worked because he walked right around us and back into his class. I started breathing again.

  "Can I get up?"

  I looked down at Jenny and pointed my sword away from her.

  She got to her knees and took one look at me and bowed back down to the ground. "We are so sorry, master. If we had known what you were we would never have attacked you! I swear it!"

  Master? Me? Huh?

  "Get back to class. Don't let it happen again," I said like I knew what the hell I was talking about. Jenny ran over to Beth, helped her up, and they scrambled back to class. I spun and caught sight of my wings. They knew. Ruh Roh, Raggy.

  "Are you nuts?"

  I turned and saw Clarisse standing in the corner. "How long have you been there?"

  "I came around the corner just in time to see you go all demon ass and almost vanquish two vampirettes. Very impressive. Now turn back before someone sees you. I told you to be careful."

  "Tell that to my eyes. They started glowing in algebra."

  Chapter 16

  The nurse finally released me just in time for lunch. As soon as I entered the cafeteria's double doors, stares, whispers, and silence filled the room. Ignoring everybody, I made my way to Jessie and Jeremy. They both had full trays sitting in front of them and I growled a little, knowing Jeremy had helped Jessie get her food. I made a mental note to punch him in the face after school. He had his back to me, and Jessie couldn’t see me.

  Beth and Jenny tried to wave me over to their table and I was half tempted to join them just to help heal my pride. Jealousy was a new experience for me.

  "I hope he's okay…" I heard Jessie say as I finally walked over to our familiar lunch spot.

  "I'm sure he is. Don't worry about–See, here he is," Jeremy said when he finally saw me. "You okay, dude?"

  "Yeah, I'm fine. I'll be right back. Gonna get some food. Sorry I had to leave you, Jessie. Johnson made me go to the nurse's office. She finally realized nothing was wrong with me and let me go eat."

  "That's okay. What happened?"

  "I'll tell you when I have something to eat." Leaning over, I planted a kiss on her temple. I half expected her to pull away or giggle, but she just smiled. With a quick glance at my best friend, I saw him frown a little. "Be right back."

  I headed over to the full lunch line. The kids ahead of me seemed a little uncomfortable standing next to me. I'm sure the tale of my sudden mathematical genius and allegedly glowing red eyes had travelled around the school six times in the few short hours I spent in Nurse Jane's office. Only one thing travelled faster than light. Gossip.

  I grabbed a tray, some Jell-o, a salad, two sub sandwiches, a bowl of pudding, two bowls of tater tots, a tuna sandwich, and three cokes. I slid my tray up to the check out and punched in my lunch number without even so much as a glance at Gladys. I made my way to our table and set the tray down.

  "Hungry much?" Jeremy's voice broke my attention from the mountain of food in front of me.

  I heard a voice behind me say, "See, I told you he smoked a big fat blunt. That's why his eyes were red!"

  I blushed and ate. Ate some more, and by the time I was finished, Jessie let out a little giggle at the small burp that escaped. I smiled at her and she sat there shaking her head.

  "You sure you're okay?" She sounded really concerned.

  "I'm fine. Just felt dizzy. I'm sure the food will help."

  "With as much as you ate, I should sure as hell hope so," Jeremy said in disbelief.

  "So what happened in algebra? Everybody's been asking me. I just told them I didn't see anything unusual," Jessie chimed in.

  "Did they laugh?"

  "No, I think they were embarrassed. Spill it, what happened? I know you solved super-equation number five. It's all Johnson could talk about after you left."

  "Honestly, I don't know. I've always sucked at math. It's almost like I knew what I was doing. Maybe I just got lucky…"

  "I hope some of it rubs off on me," Jeremy said. "I have a trig test next week that I'm going to flunk."

  "You wish. You're on your own. I don't think I can even spell trigonometry, let alone know that the word itself has historical origins from both the Greek language as well as Sanskrit. Both of which combined the words triangle and to measure. Did you know that trigonometric functions are used to describe cyclical phenomenon such as waves? It's really cool. I'd trade you for algebra any day…"

  I wanted to crawl into a small hole. A very small hole. And die. Jeremy looked at me like an alien had burst out of my chest. Or wings. Jessie just looked amused.

  "Okay, what did you do with the real Connor, you evil clone?"

  I laughed at Jeremy's joke and gave a heartfelt, "Just kidding!" We all shared a laugh, but Jeremy wouldn't stop staring. I was actually grateful when the lunch bell started ringing. I'd take Social Studies over scrutiny any day.

  * * *

  I stared at the line of jocks across the gym from the group of skinny, pimply, about as athletic as a one legged fat kid, group of kids surrounding me. They could smell our fear. It wasn't bad enough they always pitted the athletes against the mathletes, but what was triple unfair was they ended up with all of the balls anyway. It wasn't dodge ball so much as a firing squad
execution. PE ranked right up there with algebra.

  Every one of the jocksters smiled as Coach Cobb walked into the middle of the gymnasium, whistle in lips. He held out his hands toward both teams, looked everyone over once, and nodded. He finished crossing the floor, turned, and blew his whistle. The jocks let out primal screams of rage and hurled their bouncy red balls of death like precisely aimed missiles. The group around me screamed like little girls and scampered around in little circles as they got picked off one by one.

  Within a few seconds, half of our ranks were decimated. Kids littered the floor, broken and bleeding, as the balls bounced back toward the jocks.

  I saw the ball screaming toward my head out of the corner of my eye. Without even thinking about it, I turned and plucked it out of the air like it had been standing still. The six-foot-two, knuckle dragging Neanderthal who threw it stared at me. I could see the confusion on his face. He didn't understand how such a thing was possible. His teammates started laughing at his misfortune and all targeted me at once. Six balls flew straight at me. I had zero chance to catch them all. I did the next best thing. I dodged them without dropping the one I had. So that’s why they call it dodge ball!

  The balls hit the wall behind me and I turned, grabbing one with my free hand. They had all bounced, so no one was out, but at least I had some ammunition. I turned and launched one at a jock. It hit him right where I aimed, too. Being smaller than most people, my parents had always drilled into me one simple thing. If you get into a fight, go for the jewels and run. I didn't expect the lesson to find its way into my dodge ball technique, but it did. I swear I heard a tiny splat as it impacted him right below the waist. He dropped like a sack of dodge balls.

  Another ball flew straight at my head. I still held onto one ball and had no chance of catching a second at that speed. I held the ball I had in both hands and used it as a shield. When two rubber things impact at super speeds, the effect is quite interesting. The ball landed in the bleachers on the opposite side of the gym. I launched my last missile and took another one of the opposing team out with a direct hit to his chest. It was glorious.