Chapter 58: National Ice Cream Cone Day

It was Friday. Things at school were getting kind of hectic. I have had to step in and defend Lucas and Ethan a few times over the last couple of weeks. I felt really bad for them. They got bullied a lot. The jocks tried to bully me, but I put them in their place. My dad was not happy about that. I thought it would work for Ethan and Lucas, too. But if I wasn’t with them, the jocks cornered them and shoved them in their lockers, gave them wedgies, or stuffed their heads in the toilets. Dad said I could defend myself or others but only defend. I really wanted to put those jocks in their place again.

School was going the same as usual. I tried to keep my friends safe but it didn’t always work. During the break, I found Lucas and Ethan both in their lockers. I let them out. No one should have to put up with bullies. I knew it was a problem in human schools but I didn’t realize it was just as big a problem in pack schools. It made me wonder if it was a problem in other supernatural schools. If so, I would need to put an end to it. I will bring it up at the council meeting next weekend.

Oh, why did I feel so sick all of a sudden? My body has been a little weird over the last few weeks. Layla says it’s because I’m about to shift, but what if it is because I ate Khenzu’s heart. The moon goddesses said I would start to get powers over the next year, what if this is how they begin to manifest. I had to run for the bathroom. It wasn’t pretty. I threw up all over the stall. Afterwards I went to the janitor’s closet and grabbed some cleaning supplies. I cleaned up my mess and hoped it wouldn’t happen again. I did feel much better though. Maybe it was something I ate at breakfast.

Lucas and I went to algebra class after that. He looked concerned.

“Hey, man. Are you okay,” he asked.

“Yeah, it must have been something I ate.”

“Are you sure? You’ve been having all kinds of weirdness lately.” He stated.

“Yeah, man. I’m good.”

“Okay.”

We were studying the quadratic equation. I thought it was relatively simple. The equation, I thought, was easy. You just had to solve for x. Mrs Duds gave us the equation three x squared minus seven x plus three equals zero {3x²-7x+3=0}. To solve for x, I changed the equation to x equals seven plus or minus the square root of seven squared minus four times three times three all over two times three {x=(--7±√(7²-4x3x3))/(2x3)}. Then I simplified, seven plus or minus the square root of forty-nine minus thirty-six all divided by six {(7±√(49-36))/6}. I solved it and got my answer, seven plus or minus the square root of thirteen all divided by six {(7±√13)/6}. For the rest of the class we did more problems like that. I even went to the board to solve a few for the class.

The concern went the same way with Ethan in chemistry. He was a little more persistent and kept trying to check my temperature. It was getting to be very annoying. I could tell Ethan was the nurturing type, kind of like my dad. Anyway, we were learning the periodic table today. Mr. Bull kept singing the song. After the fifth time students started joining him. And yes, I was one of them. It was pretty catchy. And it of course got stuck in my head.

After class, we went to lunch. Today was national ice cream cone day, so lots of ice cream was being served. I think this is my favorite day of the year. Lucas’s, too, I bet. I got cherry vanilla triple nut ice cream in a waffle cone. It was delicious. When I finished it, I went and got my lunch. A cheeseburger and two slices of pizza, yum. For a brief moment, it felt like my body was on fire. It subsided quickly which was good because every so often Ethan was still trying to get my temperature.

We ate our lunch and goofed around for a bit. Then lunch was over and we went to our classes.

I was glad Lucas and Ethan weren’t in my English class. We were discussing poetry. I missed most of it because I was in the bathroom. I must have eaten something really bad or I’m really about to shift. I walked back to class to find everyone working. The assignment on the board said to write a poem about storms and life, so I sat down and wrote one real quick.

Life is a thundering storm

Crashing down with such scorn

Bolts of lightning light the sky

People are afraid to die

We all wait to find each other

But we fail to find one another

Lightning can give you strife

Jealousy can take your life

The day is coming for one and all

Soon the Earth will begin to fall

Life can’t sustain forever

Soon the storm will hover

Fire from the blood red sky

Begins to burn while we die

Life starts to turn

The fire starts to burn

Life, a thundering storm

Crashing down with scorn

I went to the bathroom again before going to the gym. Gym was horrible. During combat training I inadvertently started a fight. I didn’t mean to, but my body was overheating. I was in pain and having a hard time dealing with it.

They guy I didn’t know thought I hit him that hard on purpose. I tried to apologize but he wasn’t having it. I tried to explain that I didn’t mean to hit him, let alone that hard. That my arm had a mind of its own. But he wasn’t hearing it. Layla, Ethan and Lucas tried to help. When they touched me, they realized I was burning up. Layla let Mr. York know what was going on and he let them take me home early.

Once I was home, I felt better and my body temperature returned to normal. I went to my room and laid down. My dad checked in on me every once in a while but I didn’t notice that often. I slept until breakfast.