Chapter 11

"Are you feeling okay, Anthony?" Nora curiously asked. "You seem... different."

I was taken aback, although pleasantly so. "Different in a bad way?"

"No," she replied, showing some intrigue, "it's interesting."

That's when the fifth and final member of our group, Brandon, spoke up. "Anthony's just becoming a brother like us," he said, referencing the fact that the other three boys in our group were black whereas Nora and I were not.

"Oh, shut up," she replied, reaching behind Frank to playfully shove his arm.

"Next thing you know," Brandon went on, "boy's gonna be six-foot-two, two-twenty-five and ripped from head to toe." We all shared a laugh.

"I'll believe that when I see it," Frank remarked.

"Same," Nora added with a grin as she looked over at me. I couldn't help but get the sense that she was getting into me. That or she was just messing with me like she usually did.

Then, Josh looked down at his wristwatch. "Looks like lunch is over in a couple of minutes."

"Aw, damn," Brandon remarked as we all began to get up from the table.

"Well guys," Frank spoke up, "see you tomorrow if we don't meet up after school?"

Nora slung her little insulated lunch bag over her shoulder. "Yeah, I gotta get some serious studying done so I'll see you guys tomorrow."

"Cool," Brandon said before sarcastically adding, "Guess I'll just walk home alone again." The others snickered as Nora playfully shoved him again.

I figured it was time for me to take my leave. "See you guys," I said.

"Later, Anthony," Frank said as he and the others went one way and I went off on my own.

Though they were my tightest clique of friends at school, I'd only known Frank and Josh for a couple of years when I met them in middle school. Nora followed sometime after when she just sort of appeared as one of Frank's friends. As for Brandon, I only met him at the beginning of the school year after being introduced by Frank. They all seemed to know each other far more than I knew any of them, but I was fine with that.

After heading back to class and subsequently bothering Jennifer several times, I reflected for a moment on Nora. She was a pretty mysterious girl, but not very full of surprises. From what I knew, she had a boyfriend but I never pried enough to get the whole story since I didn't care.

Before I knew it, Biology was over and it was time to move on to my last class for the day: English. I remembered Jennifer saying she didn't want me to change for anything; I couldn't help but remember how intrigued Nora was by my new demeanor. Was it too far-fetched to think that I hadn't changed; that perhaps my 'new' demeanor was me all along?

I spent the rest of my day keeping myself interested in my English work instead of being bored to tears by it and just having a laid-back conversation with my classmates. Given the great mood I was in, I had to admit I was having more fun in that one day at school than I had the entire year.

People had begun to take notice of my new persona and were just starting to warm up to me more than ever before. I felt so on top of the world that nothing could knock me down.

I was almost disappointed when the final bell rang and school was done for the day. I slung my backpack over my shoulders and departed from English class, which was unfortunately on the second floor. It was going to take ages to get outside with the overwhelming rush of students psyched that school was over. I then smirked and hummed thoughtfully before blinking and causing time to freeze.

"V.I.P. coming through!" I remarked with a laugh as I dashed past everyone's immobile bodies and headed down the stairs.

Once I reached the first floor, I suddenly heard an odd whispering in my ear. I idly rubbed my ear for a moment to get rid of the weird noise, chalking it up to nothing. I then made it to the front of the herd, let myself out the door to the bus stop, and resumed time. The rest of the students all started pouring out of the doors behind me, no one the wiser as I was the first one onto my bus. I took my usual seat towards the back and settled in with a relaxed sigh.