Young Writers Society

Today was something of a half-day with little work and shorter hours This gave Gabe and me enough time to decorate the whole room. Posters of the Wheel of Time and Neil Gaiman’s Sandman were taped to the walls and a crystal ball was placed on the rectangular oak table we brought in for the lounge we added in the back of the room. The bookshelves were even filled with books on the occult and sorcery Ms. Eiling had stashed in her office.

The two of us stood in front of our work and felt some sense of pride. However, only Gabe was smiling while I was just confused. “I get the book and the crystal ball, but what’s with the posters? Those seem more suitable for the book club than an occult club.”

“I thought it would help amplify the magic of our club. Besides, who doesn’t love fantasy fiction?”

“I don’t know. Hardcore realists and science fiction enthusiasts,” I guessed plainly. My tone sounding a bit deadpanned.

“True. Anyways, we have the rest of the day of exactly nothing to do since we can’t officially start club until tomorrow. So, you wanna go hang out at the courtyard? Maybe, get some training done to kill time before going home?” Gabrielle suggested with a halfhearted grin. She grabbed her dark green jacket and tossed it over her black crop top.

“I can’t. I’m still grounded from coming home late, again, and got a buttload of chores to do,” I grimaced. Gabe’s smile faded into utter disappointment.

“Oh. Well…maybe we could hang out at another time and we don’t have to train. There’s this wicked arcade with the coolest games at the mall. How about we go there once your uncle gets off your back?” I didn’t respond. I smiled and nodded, which she took as her answer.

We turned off the lights and sauntered out the door. We headed down the hallway and chatted most of the way through and somewhere in the conversation, I couldn’t help but remarked, “I can’t believe it took only three days to get our club’s approval.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As I said before, it was three days ago when Gabe and I were present before the Student Council. Ms. Eiling had already filed for the proper paperwork and we were brought over to Room 101 for analyzation as they towered over us like giants with authoritative postures while the room remained dark with a dim light overhead (that’s not really what it looked like. Just adding some dramatic details). Although we managed to convince Ms. Eiling to use her classroom, we weren’t officially a club until we got the Student Council’s approval. Standing in the center was Claire but she did not have her usual cheerful demeanor. Instead, she shot glares at us whenever she moved her head away from the documents. She clearly not happy with what the two of us were proposing. Sitting beside Claire while glancing over her shoulder was a young woman with raven hair and was dressed in red. I think her name was Mariah, or something like that. She was the only one in the room who was giving us a look of sympathy and not contempt. I wasn’t sure, but I could have sworn, from the way her lips wrinkled, she was about to smile with glee.

“Well, Mr. Saito and Ms. Rodriguez. I’ve been looking at your proposals and I must say that the council and would respectfully…decline your request,” said Clair. The coldness was evident in her voice.

Cupping her hands together, she rested her chin against her knuckles as she leaned forward. her brows rose as she started to explain her reasons.

“Avalon High is a public school in a predominantly Christian community. While freedom of religion and speech are practiced, we make sure that both our curricular and extracurricular activities are safe and tolerable for the student body and be able to protect them from something so controversial, which is why we have to render your request null and void.”

Gabrielle gritted her teeth as a cross-shaped vein formed on her head. I could have sworn the irises of Gabe's eyes had turned red but might have been an optical illusion. I, on the other hand, was stunned but not entirely flabbergasted. We both knew this was going to happen, but we went through with it anyway. However, that didn’t mean we wouldn’t be a little pissed, especially with such a ludicrous justification they were giving us.

They were just giving us some PC schpeel about protecting the student’s feelings and not cause any stigma on campus but even I could tell it was just a load of BS. Pinching the bridge of my eyes, my expression fell into a glare as I pointed out their fallacy. It was all just Claire’s way of keeping the status quo, or to be precise the status quo she and her inner circle had set up, the same while destroying anything that might sabotage it. “Seriously? That’s your reason? Isn’t there supposed to be like some sort of zero-tolerance policy that prohibits harassment and protect students like us from bullying, or something like that?”

“Yes. There is. The zero-tolerance policy forbids students from being bullied, but it also applies to clubs that might cause controversy and could insight hostility, which is what we of the Student Council are going over with you. A club about the occult would create more controversy among the students and could stir so much trouble that it would take so much time and paperwork to undo the mess that you two would create.” From the way her brows twitched, the very thought of such an ordeal would have been too much for Claire.

I was about to retort. Unfortunately, I couldn’t think of anything. All that came out were several “that is” and “umm” that made me just look like a buffoon. Gabe tried to correct me and tried to argue in my place, but she was just as stumped as I was. From the look in her eyes, I could see a glimmer of pride in Clair’s pupils as she believed she had won. I turned to the girl beside her and even she had the same look in her eyes, but there was also something…odd about her gaze that I couldn’t put my finger on. Something dark. Without anything else to back up our argument, Gabe and I were about to admit defeat.

“Now, since this is a democratic system, we shall put it in a full vote,” said Claire. She twirled a strand of hair with an indifferent gaze. “All in favor of approving their club dedicated to such heathen practices?”

Five hands rose around the room. I was relieved that there were some open-minded people around us, but I doubt that would be good enough.

“Now, all oppose of the idea?”

Five arms also shot up in the air, including Mariah’s.

“We have a tie? Well, I guess that means motion fails to pass, which also means your request has been rendered null and void.”

I guess my feeling of doubt was accurate. Gabe wanted to call them out as much as I wanted to but stopped her after placing a hand on her shoulder and shaking her head slowly. Her nostrils huffed while she crossed her arms.

There was no use in fighting the Student Council. They had the upper-hand against us and we were ill prepared for a proper argument to justify our case. I was even desperate for a miracle to happen to us, and I didn’t care if it came from God or some other deity.

I watched Claire grabbing her stamp on her desk and was about to deny our application. Suddenly, before she could press it down on the front of the paper, the door flew open and someone I didn’t recognize slowly sauntered into the room. He was a short man who stood probably 5ft in height. He had short curly brown hair with a matching mustache and a pale skin complexion. He was dressed in a long-sleeved white shirt with a green sweater-vest over it, a pair of gray slacks with a brown belt around the waist, and a pair of thick framed glasses that covered his green eyes. the way I looked at this guy, he kind of reminded me of a grumpy hobbit. However, that wasn’t possible on the count that they were fictitious and that he didn’t have the furry feet. Then again, he did wear big black shoes and smelled of pine. So, I wasn’t going to completely rule out the possibility.

“Can someone please tell what is going on? I heard from my secretary that there was a Student Council meeting taken place without my supervision,” he said begrudgingly. His brows furrowed as the whiskers of his mustache twitched.

Every member of the Student Council trembled and began whispering among one another, hearing the tone of uneasiness under their voices. Claire dropped her stamp and stood up from her seat in a panic. Beads of sweat falling from her forehead as her eyes grew wide in befuddlement. “P-Principal Simmons! Y-yes, you might be wondering why we’re holding a meeting without your supervision and there is a reasonable explanation for it!” When she spoke, the tone of her voice immediately shifted from cold and serious to fearful and timidity.

I was aware that while the Student Council does make much of the decisions for the student body, along with the power of the PTA, the principal’s words usually outweigh the votes and it is usually his power that oversees the activities of the former. However, I never realized that his mere presence could cause such intimidation, especially from such as small man.

“Y-you see, since we couldn’t find you in your office or in the teacher’s lounge, we’ all thought that we could carry out the club interview without you! Then, once we were finished, we would give our approval over to you and see what you thought about our decision!”

That did not make the situation any lighter. The principal glared daggers at Claire and did not appear amused with her choice of actions. Taking off his glasses, the short man rubbed his eyes as he sighed in annoyance. He retorted, “We’ve been over this. You know fully well that I was in the campus garden in the south side of the school, which is where I usually go in my free time, and if you couldn’t find me, then you could have brought in one of the teachers to act as the tie-breaker. Claire. You have a habit of taking the authority of the school into your own hand and basing solely on your own personal feelings without taking advise from an outsider. While I do admire your dedication to the school, I have to state that you or the other members of the council are in no position to make such an autonomous judgement without supervision.”

Walking over to her desk, the principal snatched the paper right from under Claire without hesitation and skimmed it over word-by-word, which was how it seemed in my perspective. Then he turned and face me and Gabrielle. He asked, “Are you the two who are causing such a stir?”

From the way his eyes were half-opened, it was hard to tell whether his tone was happy or angry, and if it was wise to answer it. However, out of impulse, Gabrielle walked up to him and opened her mouth.

“…Yes!” she trailed.

A nervous tone was present in Gabrielle’s voice while her face was just as scared as Claire’s. He didn’t say anything else. The principal merely stared at us for about a minute or 2. To be honest, even I was a little scared by his gaze. I guess his mere presence appears to have such an effect, even if he didn’t look the part.

Finally, he spoke up. “Well, I just looked over your application and I just have to say that what you want seems a bit exotic and promising.” A smile formed on his face as the corners of his mouth stretched almost to his earlobes, which looked to be a bit painful while a little creepy. It must have taken him years to accomplish something like that. “I have always been a fan of the supernatural and the fantasy-oriented myself ever since I was a kid, and the idea of a club dedicated in the study of such a subject seems like a perfect way to bring some…flavor to this very conservative school.”

“Really? Does that mean we get the approval?” I questioned.

“That depends. What is the voting count?”

“About 5 to 5, sir. 5 who are in favor of it and 5 who oppose of it.”

“So, it really is a tie. Well, then…” he rose his right arm straight up into the air. He chuckled as he continued. “I guess my vote will put an end to this stalemate. I’m in favor of having this club established and I’m happy to see how this will all transpire in the future.”

A sense of victory enwrapped me. Gabrielle and I were happy that our application was finally approved. I turned around and faced Claire and Mariah, wanting to see the look on their faces. Claire stared blankly as I heard her muttered “Wait. What just happened?” with a flabbergasted expression. That made me feel a little sorry for her as she was only doing what she assumed was right and didn’t truly mean to cause us gripe. Mariah, on the other hand, was a different story. She was just staring but not in space. She was staring directly at me and while her face remained expressionless, I could almost sense a dark aura emanating from her gaze. The same kind you get when someone wants to kill you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Anyways, after that ordeal ended, everything was now in our court and we got our club thanks to Principal Simmons walking into the room at the right time. Talk about a Deus ex Machina, am I right? Back to the present time, Gabrielle and I were heading to the school’s exit when we walked pass the cafeteria. That was when I noticed that there was someone still hanging around at the tables and it wasn’t the cafeteria workers.

It was a student but there was something unusual about him. He was dressed all in black with a light jacket, skinny jeans, and dark martins. However, that wasn’t what was odd. What was odd was that his whole face was covered in bandages and I could make out a few tufts of hair protruding from the top. I could see his hand and it was also covered in bandages with three digits of his fingers sticking out from the gauze.

Then I felt Gabrielle grabbing me by the arm. She shushed me and pulled me away, telling me to, “Don’t look at him and keep your head down!”

I wanted to ask her why. However, she stood completely still like a statue. When I saw how distraught her expression was with terrified wide-eyes and pursed black lips, I decided to reserve it until we were far away. I still managed to get a quick glance and I could have sworn that the base of the guy’s paper cub was scorched in a pattern matching the palm of his hand, which made me curious and bewildered with my brows arched before I averted my gaze.

Once we were far away and marched out the door, I twirled around and faced Gabrielle with my brows arched. “What the hell, Gabe? Why’d you pull me away like that?”

“Genji. Don’t you know who that is?” she said softly. Her face growing seriously as her eyes wrinkled with a firm demeanor.

“Some guy cosplaying as a high-school mummy. I don’t know.”

Raising her eyes, Gabe looked like she wasn’t sure how to respond to my statement, but she brushed it off and gave me an explanation. “Oh yeah, that’s right. I almost forgot that you’re new to the school. Okay, listen. That guy in the cafeteria…he’s bad news and I mean real bad news.” Leaning against the bricked railing, she sighed while rubbing her eyes. I doubt she was aware that she was smudging her black eye shadow, but I didn’t tell her yet. “His name is Xavier Moretti and he is a total psycho. He goes aggro on anyone who pisses him off.”

“Really? What did he do?” I questioned.

Hearing me say that caused her body remained still with her hands shaking and clenching breezily at the air on her sides. Her head lowering to the floor as she stared at her black boots as her eyes grew wider and empty. When I saw how distraught Gabrielle was, I waved my hand and dismissed the whole thing, especially after seeing her black mascara smudged and running down her cheeks.

“You know what. Never mind. I’ll take your word for it.”

Gabrielle calmed down and smiled. She was back to her normal self as she wrapped an arm around me and brought me close.

“Thanks, Genji. That’s all I needed to hear.”

I returned her embrace while her chin nuzzled against my neck. We stood still without either one of us pushing the other away. Time slipping away with each second. However, the sensation of something soft squished against my chest and that was the wakeup call I needed. breaking away our embrace, Gabrielle and I faced each other. Our cheeks simultaneously turning red as we took a step back and twirled around, facing the opposite direction.

I coughed and remarked, “Well, that’s enough of that! Don’t you think?!”

“Definitely! Don’t want to stand here and loiter around too much!”

The atmosphere finally grew lighter around us and we could finally leave with a grin on our faces. However, we didn’t take another step. Gabrielle and I remained still for another minute or two. It wasn’t just out of embarrassment. I was mostly in deep thought as my thoughts recollected back to the scorched cup that Xavier had earlier as it ubiquitously plagued my thoughts. I was sure he was a magician and if I was correct, he would be the perfect new member. His raw power and possibly fiery attitude would be perfect to train, and he would be the perfect “muscle” in dealing with whatever bumped in the night. Unfortunately, I couldn’t tell Gabrielle about that now. The way she was jumpy and looked like she was about to have a mental breakdown told me that I needed the proper time or place to suggest the idea. If I told her right away, she would say I was insane and would have an anxiety attack in front of me. So, I just kept my mouth shut and continued our stroll down the street.

Shaking my head, I nudged at Gabrielle’s arm and winked. “Come on, Gabe. Let’s go home.”