Things Are Going Well

“So yeah! The Seal is, or, was, used for all sorts of stuff, alchemy, magic, people made into amulets and talismans, heck people even put it on cups!” Cassie continued to explain once their third-period study hall had begun.

“Huh, so what was that about Jinn, again?” Simon tried to keep up with his scribbling with how fast she would talk about it.

The petite brunette smiled and held up her finger after having to remember what she said, “Oh! That Solomon supposedly used it to command them! Like you’re supposed to script it with commands for what you want to seal inside it! It was also said to be used to communicate with animals, but I tried making one for my cat, and she just got all fussy!”

He got cut off as the young cheerleader ran in front of him, beginning to mime pawing and cat actions in front of him, then clasped her hands behind her back and giggled, “You know, you’re really nice!”

“Oh. Um, thanks,” he responded, still somewhat off guard by the girl’s happy behavior.

“I always told Sam that, I said, ‘Your brother seems nice!’ so I was happy to hear Jessica told the others to leave you alone this morning! But you haven’t complained once letting me talk at you. The others would’ve tried to shut me up a while ago!”

Simon paused as he raised an eyebrow, “Jess did that?”

“Mhm!” Cassie nodded as she looked back at him and then smiled, “You like her, don’t you?”

He couldn’t stop himself from tripping over this time, falling onto his legs, and questioning why he had to make his backpack weigh so much. He grunted as he got himself up.

“How could you tell?” he winced.

The girl spun around the empty hallway as the others remained in their classrooms. Cassie hopped on one foot, “Because you always stare at her when she’s in a room. She always gets mad at you for doing that, but you can’t stop. So why is that?”

Damn. This pixie was perceptive.

“Jess and I… used to be friends,” he admitted reluctantly.

“What? No way!” Cassie again stopped him from walking any further, in disbelief of the statement, “She’s never said anything about it to us before. Did you do something to make her hate you?”

“No. Not really,” Simon sighed and brushed past the happy-go-lucky cheerleader, now trying to get away from the topic physically.

She ran ahead of him again, “Waitwaitwaitwait, wait. I don’t understand. Why does she treat you like that? I mean, the sarcasm, the disdain. Is there something painful there for her? Is she trying to reject you?”

“Jess, why does Cass have to be so nosy?”

He didn’t get a response back, so she was probably busy. He sighed, feeling tenser, “Look, Cass, I’m not allowed to get all into it right now, so….”

“Wait. Jess stayed at your house on Saturday, right?”

He almost tripped again, his face squinting and eyes shut as he sighed frustrated. He opened his right eye hesitantly, finding the bubbly cheerleader’s face leaning up and blinking curiously at him. She was analyzing him.

“You must’ve reminded her somehow, and she must be trying to make it right then. So that’s what’s going on, right?”

He tensed up again, “I-I don’t really want to share about it.”

Cassie clapped her hands together and gasped, “That is it. Isn’t it? You must’ve wished for it, and it came true!”

What the hell?

Simon’s head scrambled as he became further flustered and wanting to get away from her. Why did she have to be so agile and fast?

“Wh-What are you talking about? That doesn’t make sense!”

Cassie stopped again and let out a laugh to show she was only thinking about their conversation, “I’m only making a joke! You asked about Jinn, Simon! Y’know? Genies grant wishes, remember?”

Shit. That was close. The young man with auburn hair let out a deep sigh of relief as his shoulders slumped over. He then laughed nervously.

"Oh. Right! My bad..."

Cassie had no idea her cheer captain and friend was an actual genie. He wanted to make sure to get the conversation away from that as quickly as possible. She balanced herself on one of the railings of the smaller stairwell down the halls towards the north wing and cafeteria.

“Hey, Cass. Can I ask you something, then?”

The brunette perked her head around toward him. Then, she walked up to him as he remained on the second to last step of the small stairwell above her.

“Like what?”

He looked up for a moment, wondering if he should go ahead with this or not, but it might be something to bring up with Jess later. He tilted his head curiously as he asked,

“Well we're on the topic. I'm curious. What would you wish for?”

The young woman stopped looking at him and thought to herself, her finger poking her chin as she looked up in thought.

“Well, I mean there’s the usual stuff everyone wants right? But if there was one that stood out…”

She put her finger up in front of her, “I’ll tell you, but it stays our little secret, 'kay? It’s sorta embarrassing, but I feel like I can tell you after you told me one of yours, so it’s fair, right?”

He nodded.

She hopped up the stair and spoke in more of a hushed tone, “I always wondered what it would be like to be a Neko.”

Simon felt his face go flat as he had to register what she just said, “A what?”

“Y’know, like a cat girl/catwoman. I’ve always been more nimble than the others on the squad, and I’ve always wanted to be able to talk to my cat like I could any person. And Catwoman was always cool because she could perform acrobatics and be awesome at sneaking around. Like having all the senses and stuff, plus the reflexes, eyesight and those ears. I wondered what that would be like. So I would probably wish for that.”

“Huh,” he replied aloud.

The young woman looked at him with a raised eyebrow and puckered lips like she had tasted something sour, “What. You think it’s weird?”

Simon shook his head, “No. I just, I always think about the consequences. So if you did that, would it just be you, or would it affect everyone?”

“Hm, I don’t know! That’s fun to think about now that you mention it! I want to think it’d be like it was natural. Otherwise, people might not react well to it. Ooh, that might be fun. Maybe it’s like a recessive gene in one of my parents! Wow, you’d really have to think specifically about stuff…”

Cassie giggled and smiled brightly, “That’s a neat thing to think about, Simon! I never consider thinking like that!”

He scratched his head again from his nervousness, “It just kinda happens, I guess…”

The bell rang, signaling the next period. The young cheerleader was smiling at him as she waved goodbye, “Well, thanks for letting me talk your ear off. I’ll see you around!”

He smiled back, “Hey yeah, thanks again for the help, Cass.”

“Cassie’s fine! See ya!”

For a moment, he had to take a moment of relief, finally having the bubbly ball of sugar off his back. Some people had too much energy. For Simon, it felt like running a mile trying to keep up with her personality.

Phew, he thought to himself.

Now came the last class before lunch.

Math.

Simon disliked his current Math class for two reasons. The first is that the teacher didn’t seem as invested in this class as the other people in it.

The second wasted no time in brushing past his left side purposefully and turning around to face him. In reality, Brad Myers and Simon Harris were of similar heights and nearly possible builds in some respects. However, one of them geared up to become a Division-I Athlete, and the other became experienced as a practice dummy.

Something, mainly about him, had irked the Quarterback today. He was already smirking at him, pulling his shades up and trying to stare at him in the eye, knowing Simon hated eye contact most of the time.

“So, my girl, tells me that I need to lay off a bit on you, even says you helped her out of trouble this weekend. Is that true?”

He emphasized the words to make a point to him. He was trying to intimidate him into getting an answer he wanted or didn’t want.

Simon rolled his eyes away and looked up at the old classroom’s wooden supports and more significant ceiling.

“What about it?”

A large hand reached out and gripped down on his right shoulder, hard. Usually, that would have hurt him, but something felt different about it. Brad, however, made sure he was looking at him so that he would have the feeling of being uncomfortable.

“I’ve been nicer to you to be in your sister’s graces, but don’t push it, Harris. Your sister is one thing, but you caused Jessica a lot of grief in the past. So even if she’s turning over a new leaf with you, I think you and I know, I have to do what I can to protect what’s mine. So watch your step, and we can all get along just fine, no problem like she wants. Do we understand each other?”

If it had been after any other weekend, Simon might’ve felt a bit more concerned about what was going on.

He had little patience for dealing with a prick like this today. Especially one that spoke so callously about the people he cared about most. He knew Brad’s type growing up all his life. His mother had one just like him in the form of one of her former bosses.

His father decked him out cold in front of her entire office at the year’s Christmas Party.

Their parents had told both Sam and him about how fighting was wrong; they were both told how much trouble and scandal it had caused and the right way of handling something.

The siblings still smiled and enjoyed that story, even if their parents hadn’t.

Simon’s glared back at the so-called King of Eastlake for his comment. His face remaining frozen without a valid expression. Brad’s unmistakable false smile remained unfazed.

The teacher’s entry made the other young man back off before anything could become more of it. The rest of their class filing in and sitting down. The boring southern drawl from the students’ older man of a teacher starting class by reading from the instructor’s textbook and writing the equations down on the chalkboard.

The auburn-haired young man continued to ignore most of his classmates for the first portion, glancing over and scribbling down what he could.

Then, without any warning, something dropped onto his desk and stopped him from working, knocking the pen out of his hand and covering his things. He had to cover his headphones over his ears because the sound was so loud it threatened to overwhelm everyone. He looked up to see what it was.

Only the what turned into a who.

The who being Jessica…

…as she was screaming bloody **** out of pure terror.