NOVEL SIMPLE Chapter 23
Em. I have to get to her. To court her. Those were my dominating thoughts, but another part of me was screaming to run away, screaming that something was wrong with me with my mind with my body with everything and I need to get awayawayaway. No, no, nononono. Too many thoughts, too many things too many instincts screaming to do opposite things. Too much everything. I stumbled my way back up the fence and into the school, miraculously avoiding the overseer and stumbled my way back into my room.
"What happened to you?" a...bemused? Worried? Scared? Summer asked from her bunk, for the first time alone and clothed. A miracle, I would've thought had I been in the mood.
"Nothing," I said, trying to keep my voice stable. Calm. Anything else would...I don't know. Do something to her. Why did I care? Why did it matter? Because you need to follow the unspoken rules, something in my mind whispered. But why? I don't know.
I tried to take off my clothes to go to bed, and paused when I realized I wasn't actually wearing anything. You should feel shamed and embarrassed, a voice told me. Why, though?
"You should take a shower," Summer said, scrunching up her nose on disgust. It was all bravado though. I could smell her apprehension. For a second, I'd actually thought it was my inner voice speaking to me.
I left, forgetting to say the customary 'bye', barely remembering to bring my towel with me. On my way out Summer threw a shampoo bottle and conditioner at me, along with a bar of soap. All scentless. Why was she being so oddly attentive today? Did she want something? Humans always wanted something when they were being nice. They even had a saying for it, 'I scratch your back, and you scratch mine' or something along the lines of that.
I shakily walked up a flight of stairs, because...I was trying to avoid Em at all costs. This was new. This...fear of something. A fear I knew I couldn't remove violently. I didn't like it.
I hurriedly showered, ignoring everything about me. Even the disgusting feeling of being wet was ignored by me, and even more worrying, I barely noticed the overwhelming scents of the lotions, soap, shampoo, and stuff. I then dried off in a daze, and climbed down a flight of stairs and walked back into my room. I suddenly remembered that my Power had been witnessed by humans already. And humans liked to gossip.
"I know your power," Summer said, as if reading my mind. I jolted back into reality, and tried to frown. Summer just gave me a weird look, so I guess I failed that. I suddenly just felt so drained. Since the knew, I decided to just shift into a big furred one and laid down on my bed.
"That explains the random fur on your bed at least. At first I thought some squirrels or a stray cat had gotten in," Summer chattered. Ah, small talk. I recognized that.
"What do you want?" I said. From what I'd studied, small talk led to nothing substantial, and wasted time. Right now, what I wanted more than anything was to sleep.
"Just a small favour," Summer said. "Then I'd be out of you literal hide."
"What's it," I slurred, my mind slowly growing foggy.
"I just want you to...hide and protect something for me, just for three days," Summer mumbled, then slowly took out a newspaper wrapped package from under her bed. Slightly more awake now, I asked, "Why?" I was decently sure that judging from the way that Summer was acting like a suspicious person from the TV I'd watched in that hospital room so long ago, she was suspicious and hiding some large, dark, secret.
"C'mon, Storm. You're like, the best person to hide something with," Summer begged. Uninterested, I shut my eyes and was half asleep when she said, "In return I'll help out with Em."
That got my attention. I felt my ears perk up, and learned something called self hate. Summer probably noticed it, because I heard her let out those quick high-pitched breaths of air. A laugh. That would be my first time hearing a laugh directed at me.
"It's like, so obvious. Dude, everyone at the school probably knows by now. You stick to her like some fucking stalker," Summer...laughed.
"I am a stalker," I said. "How else would you hunt."
"There's like, so much to unpack from just that sentence alone. I can't believe it took me this long to talk to you, 'cuz you're actually something underneath that mane of hair. But whatever. I'll help you woo her. Trust me, I'm like, a rizzler," Summer said, jutting out her insubstantial chest. "Just look at my bodycount." At this point, all that sour scent of fear had vanished, and it was replaced instead with this... hm, sort of spicy smell? But mild.
"Bodycount? Rizzler?" I repeated, confused. At this point most of my tiredness had vanished, replaced by a growing sense of...curiosity. Something I hadn't truly felt in a long time. "I have heard news reports of a criminal's bodycount, but what does that have to do with Em?"
"Hahahaha, dude you've got so much lingo to catch up on. Okay, but we're actually sidetracked now. If you protect and hide my package for three days, I'll give you tips on how to court Em," Summer said. Court? So this was what she meant by 'woo'. Did I... want to court her? Half of me was screaming 'yes', while the other half was screaming 'no'. I gave in to one part of myself.
"Fine," I said.