Time for school

John slipped between the bus doors just before they shut, the driver looking unamused as he set the vehicle in motion without giving the student a chance to find a seat. He caught one of the bench seats before the sudden start could fully throw him off-balance and stumbled towards the first empty one he could find, which was about halfway down the aisle. Unfortunately, this seat put him right in front of his tormentors, but he tried to ignore that fact, hoping their conversation kept them from noticing him sitting down.

He sank low in his seat, ignoring the couple, and activated Camouflage, willing to trade his limited mana for safety and increasing his chances of passing that quest. He added a pinch of the dried tea mixture to his thermos of water, cradling it in his lap to steep. To pass the time, he looked over his damaged bag. It was time to admit that it was a bit past acceptable. With its seams ripping, zipper misaligned, and straps tearing, he decided to test how much his inventory could handle and started transferring his school supplies to his little pocket dimension. Luckily, despite the different subjects, all of his books stacked into a single pile, his notebooks took up another slot, while his pens were separated from his pencils into separate stacks. His lonely sketchpad took up a slot all its own.

’At least without lugging this thing around, I can book it if there’s trouble,’ he tried to convince himself that he could outrun the entire football team, but he knew better. ’I wonder how easy it will be to get the right book out…’ Curious about his new skills, John reached back into his torn backpack, planning to use it to hide that he was pulling a book out of thin air. He touched the stack of books, focusing on his biology class, and pulled out the book he’d need. However, his sketch pad was pulled out as well, dropping to the bottom of the bag as his hand was wrapped around the textbook. ’Okay, guess that’s another thing I need to be careful about in the future…’

Tucking both items back into his inventory, he tensed at the back of his seat rattling as if someone had hit it. He glanced up and lidded his thermos, hoping not to break his Camouflage, to see that Vanessa and Frank were getting up. In fact, all the other students were getting out of their seats. The bus had stopped without him realizing it. He sat stock still, waiting for the couple to exit the bus before he stood, leaving his backpack behind.

His mana was nearing empty, but he hoped he could get by without spamming Camouflage too much today. Unfortunately, as usual, Frank was standing by the school gates, just waiting to take John’s money or deliver his daily threat.

’Might as well get it over with,’ the young nerd steeled himself and made to walk through the gates, drink in hand.

“Oi, fuckface!” Frank called. John groaned inwardly, rolling his eyes at the idea that was probably the best the big oaf could come up with. “Don’t you still owe me a twenty?” The smirk on his face annoyed John even more than usual and he wanted nothing more in this moment than to punch him.

“Sorry, Frank,” John feigned innocence, glad he’d stowed most of his supplies in his inventory, “I don’t have my wallet today. I was running so late, I even forgot my backpack.” He held up his empty hand as proof, trying not to smile as Frank’s face grew more confused and irate.

The stupid jock puffed out his chest like an animal being threatened, and the gamer couldn’t help but laugh out at the ridiculous sight. “That’s it,” Frank snarled, knocking the thermos out of John’s hand, “I was gonna go easy on you, but now you can give me forty bucks and I’ll make sure you remember your bag tomorrow.” Dickinson cracked his knuckles menacingly to emphasize the imminent threat.

“Frank Dickinson Junior!” Moira Brighton, resident wet blanket, shouted the name as if it were some kind of battle cry. The two boys looked over at her, both a bit annoyed at the interruption. Her hands were on her hips, feet planted, cheeks flushed with anger, and her voice was stern and authoritarian, “Coach Conroy’s looking for you and I have better things to do than help him check your ‘vitamin’ levels.”

Frank’s face developed a whole new pallor and the jock scurried away, leaving John temporarily unbloodied. ’Heh, maybe I’ll make this quest after all…’ John’s hopes were high as he picked up his emptied thermos, until he realized the one person he was warned to avoid was staring at him.

“Uh, can I… help you?” he looked at her quizzically, but Moira just stood there, staring intensely at him. The hair on the back of his neck stood on end, as if her gaze held an unspoken threat or danger. John felt a growl building in his throat, and he showed his teeth in an awkward smile.

Moira’s eyes narrowed and her lips pursed. He waited for her to speak, but she silently took a step towards him, the growl rumbled up and he covered it by clearing his throat. Time around them slowed to a crawl. His every nerve was on edge, muscles tensed for the inevitable fight. Her stance shifted almost imperceptibly and his fists clenched...

The shrill sound of the bell cut through the tension, signaling class would start soon. The sound snapped them both back to their senses. Moira jumped, turning her back to him to look at the large building. Seeing his chance, John threw an Observe at her, using a portion of the last dregs of his mana.

Observe leveled up!
The use of Observe will now display health values and any status effects. Observe cost reduced to 0.

’She’s a fucking paladin? Shit…’ Her eyes snapped back to him, and John’s grin grew more threatening. In a second, the two teens were surrounded, abating the tense moment. For the first time, he was glad so many of the students weren’t morning people. He used the sudden swarm of bodies to slip past and hurry away from her. Frustrated at the loss of his tea, John threw the dented metal bottle into a trash bin by the door as he passed. He let himself be dragged through the halls of the school by the throng, like a leaf caught in the current of a river, taking the chaotic moment to think.

’Okay, so, avoid her at all costs,’ he snorted slightly, ’as if the warning from Kiana wasn’t enough…’ He pulled her Observe window back up, the wave of students washing him up to the second floor. ’I can only see bits of it… What would keep the rest hidden?’ He pondered the possibilities, but his reasoning came up short. ’Am I too low level?’ His brow furrowed. ’No. Dakota and Bly had higher levels, but I could read them just fine…’ He walked blindly, lost in thought and nudged along. ’Maybe she has some kind of protection from it?’ He paused in the hallway, the traffic flowing around him. ’Is that a thing? Paladin anti-magic or something?’ His blood pressure was rising, the thrumming of his blood filling his ears. ’How much does she know?’

John looked back over his shoulder, feeling a little caged in and claustrophobic. He separated from the horde, putting himself to the wall while the crowd died down so he could get to his class. His panic notably settled as the hallway cleared, and he continued on his way to today’s first class, business.

He despised this class. It was too easy and the teacher focused more on book-keeping and different ways to word a professional email than on anything that had a chance at holding John’s interest. He’d entered this class as a favor to his father. It was his way of repaying the absent man for the supposed ‘favor’ of sending him to Ashcroft. Mr. Oliveira, the business teacher, was an old acquaintance of his dad’s and frequently commented to John how much ‘Ben’ would be disappointed in his lack of effort. Ironic, considering John held the highest grade in the class. Just thinking his dad’s name made John’s blood boil. He huffed as he took his seat by the window just as the second bell started blaring, announcing the start of class.

Mr. Oliveira stood from his desk, turned to the electronic whiteboard, and started writing...

pg 14-68
2a-b, 5, 7a-b, 8a-c, 11, 14a-b, 17a-d

“This is your assignment. There are new books on your desks, if you haven’t noticed already,” he looked around the room as he spoke, watching his students acknowledge the books before them. “Turn in your old books to me and get started reading the first chapter. I expect this to be turned in by Thursday’s class,” he droned on, and John tuned him out.

Over time, the dullness of Mr. Oliveria’s voice nearly put John to sleep. Normally he would have welcomed it, especially with how exhausted he was, but today there was just too much on his mind. ’I forgot to pull out any of my stuff…’ John looked around cautiously as he reached into his pocket. Using his inventory, he was able to pull a pencil and a rolled up notebook into his concealed hand. ’Guess this will do for now.’ He mused to himself, noting down the pages and numbers of the questions. ’Just gotta stop by my locker for my books and make it through the day…’