Chapter 53

After I took my seat, I saw Eve and Lila walking in together. Both of them looked at me and gave me their own respective, pretty smiles. I grinned and focused back on my work, feeling pretty damn proud with myself. Not long after, Jennifer walked by and punched me square on the arm.

"Ow," I playfully whined as I turned to her and rubbed my arm. Funnily enough, her hitting me didn't hurt nearly as much as it usually did. Must have been my incredible, bulging muscles absorbing the impact.

"That was for being a dick earlier," she quietly explained herself as she took her seat behind me. "And for not fessing up when I ask you who you've been banging."

"Sorry," I replied with a grin, "but a true gentleman never kisses and tells."

"I guess they don't fuck and tell either," she muttered before turning her attention to her classwork. I jovially laughed just before we settled back into class.

Even though it was Friday, I was a little disappointed when I heard the bell to end class. It'd be another few days until I was graced by the shining faces of Eve, Lila and, yes, even Jennifer. After I slipped my backpack over my shoulders, I was greeted very briefly by Lila. She gave me one last, quick hug before smiling at me.

"See you on Monday," she said.

"See you then," I replied. She then caught up with Eve, who also flashed me a smile before the duet left together.

"Jesus," Jennifer muttered as she walked by me, "how many of them have you done?" I smirked and laughed quietly as I departed class just after her. Of course, considering that I was behind her, I had to get in a quick grab of her butt with both hands. That action granted me a swift heel to the shin. I yelped and grinned as I hobbled along. It was totally worth it.

By the time I made it to Spanish, I'd gotten over the pain and took my seat. A moment later, Sarah and Jordan both entered class together. Their lips were spread into huge grins as they looked at me. From that mere glance, I started preparing for some kind of trouble from them.

"Hey there, Anthony," Jordan greeted me.

"Ladies," I casually replied, watching them carefully. The two of them giggled at each other while they sat down behind me. They were planning another one of their pranks on me, that was for certain. By the time I heard the bell to start class, I almost felt relieved when I realized they hadn't yet tried anything.

A short time later, amongst the quiet of class, I felt an odd sensation in my head out of nowhere. It was a weird, itchy, buzzing feeling right along the back of my skull. I kept scratching the area to rid myself of it, but it kept on reasserting itself. I casually glanced back at Sarah to make sure she wasn't doing anything funny like zapping the back of my head with a taser or something.

I groaned softly when the sensation became more intense. It wasn't like it hurt, it became something I just couldn't ignore. I furred my eyebrow, getting the sense of a strange premonition. It was like a little voice in the back of my mind telling me that something was about to happen, but I didn't know what. Just a moment later, I felt a tapping on my right arm. I turned around to that side to see Sarah smile at me. She then pointed to the ground and I looked down to find she'd dropped her pen.

With my back turned away from the opposite aisle, I unquestioningly reached down for her pen. Just then, I blinked my eyes almost out of instinct, I'd unconsciously stopped time.

I sat up straight and curiously looked around, wondering why I had done that. Almost immediately, I spotted Jordan. She was sneakily reaching for the pen on my desk with another one set in her hand: a disturbingly girly, pink pen with flowers and cat faces all over it. I quickly realized what they were up to, and I didn't know whether or not to laugh or feel like a complete idiot for not seeing that coming. I had to give them points, though, they were clever in their plans to embarrass me.

With literally infinite time on my side to plan out my counter-attack, I hummed as I tapped it to my chin.

"Aha," I uttered. Setting up a purely cartoonish retribution, I calmly took the pen out of her hand and swapped it with my own. I set the pink pen on my desk and then snickered to myself. I reset my posture back to where I was just before stopping time, and then started it again.

The sounds of the pens switching, although so minute, were somehow blatantly obvious to me. I picked up Sarah's pen and handed it back to her with a smile. She smiled back at me.

"Thanks," she whispered.

I then turned around and saw my own pen patiently awaiting my return. I calmly picked it up before resuming my work. It was only seconds later that I heard the utterance of confusion from Jordan.

"What happened?" Sarah whispered.

"I don’t know!" Jordan whispered back. "I think I messed up!"

My hearing was so intensely attuned once again. I was amazed to have heard their conversation as clearly as if they were whispering into my ear. I felt like an absolute spy.

Regardless, I couldn't help but smirk devilishly to myself as the two girls were left scratching their heads.

Class soon came to an end. I packed away my belongings and got to my feet with my backpack over my shoulders. While most of our classmates were busy filing out the door, I stood there and smirked happily at the two girls behind me. They looked up curiously at me as I waved 'goodbye' to them.

"Better luck next time, Jordan," I remarked. Their expressions turned to surprise before they looked at each other. I literally had the last laugh as I headed toward my next class. The duo were left even more confused than before.

I had a spring in my step as I weaved in and out of the crowding hallway. I made my way outside, taking in a deep breath of the fresh air, before entering my Driving class. After I had taken my seat, I felt a little bit of nervousness upon seeing my friends walking into class together. I couldn't get over the slight suspicion that Frank would blab about the time stop earlier. However, I knew I could trust Frank and, again, it would be a pretty hard sell to convince someone that I could just 'stop time.'

"There's the superhero!" Brandon said, bumping fists with me as he passed by to take his seat. I turned to Frank with a content, yet curious gaze. Frank shook his head and pressed a finger to his lips, letting me know he didn't tell anyone. He and Josh also took their seats as Brandon continued on.

"The man with the healing factor, the lightning moves and a kick that can knock down a tree! And he's not bad with the ladies." The lot of us chuckled, including Frank. It was nice to see him in a good mood again.

"So," Brandon went on as he rustled through his backpack. "How many asses have you kicked today? One hundred? Two hundred?"

"Yeah," Josh chimed in, "and have many ladies have you killed?" That remark got strange looks from all three of us. He stared back at us in confusion. "...What? I meant he's a 'lady-killer.' You know…good with the ladies?"

After a moment of pause, Brandon finally spoke up.

"I don't get it," he said.

I laughed in amusement while Josh was baffled by our misunderstanding. With a smile, I then faced forward in my seat once again to begin class.

By the time class was ending, we had all resumed chatting once again. The bell to end class rung out and the four of us got up, ready to close out the day in our final period. We made our way outside and prepared to go our separate ways.

"Try not to make too many girlfriends by the next time we see you," Josh joked as Brandon put a hand on my shoulder.

I laughed. "I'll try. See you guys on Monday."

"See ya, Anthony," Frank said as we all moved on toward our respective destinations. I went back inside once more, headed up the stairs, and into my English class.

Taking into consideration that it was both Friday and the final period, our teacher decided to give us a generous free period to do whatever we want. I was pretty psyched about it, yet so incredibly content the entire time. I ended up talking to a few people for a short time, but for the most part I kept to myself as usual. I just kept thinking about how well things were going for me and held on to the genuine hope that it would always continue to stay that way.

All of the girls I had befriended, and, yes, made it all the way with, were so great. There were others, still, that had consumed my fantasies for months. I could only hope that I would be as lucky with them as with the others. Would fate intervene on my behalf some more or would I have to make those fantasies come true on my own? One thing was for certain: I was very eager to find out.

The final bell flooded our ears. I was a pile of indifference toward it since, for probably the first time in my life, I didn't mind school at all. After all, I had so many friends, both new and established, to make it so much more enjoyable. At the same time, it was Friday. The weekend was approaching, which meant I could do whatever the hell I wanted.

I headed downstairs, deciding not giving myself my usual end-of-school head start to get out to the buses faster. I hopped onboard my bus and then took my usual seat–the entirety of it, of course–to myself.

Just as I had gotten settled in, I was greeted by a familiar face that sat down across from me.