The world stood frozen. Time had stopped. People of different ages, size, shape, and color stood in the hallways of their high school. All of them had paused like a movie, each in mid-motion as they made their way to different classrooms. Some students were leaving the building and had stopped in the doorway. Other students lingered in the cafeteria, also known as the commons, throwing their lunch trays away. All of the food from their trays slowly scattering into the black trash bags. A group of popular teens seemed ready to skip class and the administrators glared at each and every one of them.

Outside, where the sun shone, a bright white light grew above the center of the sidewalk. It was swelling like a bubble all the way to the rounded entrance of the school. It was such a large bubble that it could hold a classroom full of people inside; but because the light was so blinding, it couldn’t be looked at directly. Therefore, it was hard to discern exactly how many figures were walking towards the edge. After a minute of the glimmering and pulsing light, it slowly diminished into the world. Six people carefully stepped out of the dimming light - one girl and five boys. They all studied their surroundings, watching everything come back to life after being frozen for a short moment in time and returning to the day like nothing ever happened. The girl smiled as everything soon caught up to the current time.

“I always love watching time unfreeze and slowly kick back up to speed,” the girl commented as she started to walk towards the school. In her right hand was a pocket watch. Its color was faded and hard to discern. She casually exchanged watches with the guy next to her, then stuck the new watch into her pocket. Her brown hair, tied back in a ponytail with two long strands hanging free beside her round face, whipped with her head as she glanced back to the group of guys following her. Her crystal blue eyes looked at every single one of them, and her white teeth reflected the sunlight - a beautiful smile. 

“Wish it took longer,” one of the guys whined, his voice being loud and in a joking tone. He had fairly long dirty blond hair that was combed over to the right side of his head, a style he denied that made him look like an emo kid. His arms were very muscular. He wore a light gray tank top that faded down into a darker gray, which made his arms pop out more. His shorts displayed his strong calves as well.

“Yeah,” the girl replied in a dreamy tone; she longed to go back into the light again. She strolled up the steps and reached for the door, but retracted her hand as one of the other guys stepped before her. He grabbed the door handle right before she could even touch it with her fingers.

“Let me get that for you, Stephanie.” His voice was low, and the way he spoke to her was so gentle that girls would melt on the inside. His dark brown hair almost covered his eyes, and he styled it similarly to the blond boy’s hair. The smile he gave showed how handsome he was.  

“Thanks, Carson," Stephanie sighed and her eyes rolled. She knew that it was a polite gesture for Carson to open the door for her, but it made her feel slightly off in a way that was hard to explain. “I can get the door myself, you know.” She stopped and stood beside Carson, waiting for everyone else to step through the door first. Her eyes followed each one walking in, while Carson gripped the door and kept his eyes on Stephanie.  

“He’s trying to be a polite freshman,” the boy with the blond hair spoke again, laughing hysterically. 

“Ha, real funny Logan. At least Carson’s more polite than you. He doesn’t gawk at every hot girl that passes him,” the next one to walk through the door said. He had brown curly hair and light hazel eyes. He was taller than Logan and Carson, but not by much. His shoulders were broader and his arms were as muscular as Logan’s. 

“Nice one, Triston,” Carson said and laughed. 

“Really?” Logan wailed and blocked Triston, making him leap backwards.

“Keep moving," Triston gritted his teeth as he spoke; his irritation was getting to him. He lifted his hands and pushed Logan in through the next set of doors. Stephanie and Carson exchanged glances and rolled their eyes; none of this was new to either of them. 

“Keep moving, dude.” Stephanie looked at the next guy that walked past her. He was pretty short - same height as Stephanie - but he had broad shoulders like Triston. His brown hair was short and styled at the front with some gel to spike upwards. His eyes were a dark shade of beige. 

“Is there ever going to be a time when they become more mature? It’s been two years,” he asked Stephanie in a serious tone with a disappointed sigh at the end.

“It won’t happen, Kalub.” Stephanie and Kalub traded smiles with one another. “You would think those two years would make them mature,” she added. Kalub nodded his head and moved on.

“Ugh,” a silent but harsh groan entered Stephanie’s left ear. Behind Kalub was a tall and smaller-figured guy. Even though he had no muscle or broad shoulders, his height towered over everyone. He leaned down on Kalub. His blonde hair was short and curly; not as curly as Triston's hair, but it had some waves that closely mimicked curls. His eyes were a light green and his voice was monotonous and low. He looked over at Stephanie and gave her a smile with his tongue sticking out like an emoji. Then his head snapped forward. “Go Logan!” He shouted after waiting a second for all of them to move, but Logan still stayed in place. He argued with Triston, and stopped to look at the boy who yelled at him. 

“Shut up, Liam!” Logan yelled back and began to walk forward. Liam rolled his eyes and exhaled. He clearly felt the same as Kalub, Carson, and Stephanie about Logan, but he knew Logan was only kidding in the end. Carson and Stephanie seemed pleased as the whole group finally shuffled through the doors with enough time to get to class. At least that is what they thought. Both of their eyes suddenly widened as the school bell rang five times. 

“Crap!” Stephanie panicked and pulled out her phone. She turned the small pink slider phone on, seeing the time up in the right hand corner. The phone fit in the palm of her hand, and the pressure based touch screen was scratched up. It was a well-used device. “It’s one-fifteen, class just started!” She shoved her phone into her pocket and continued to stare mindlessly at Carson.

“Go,” Carson said and swiped his hand multiple times towards the door. Stephanie shook the small brain fart she had and marched through the door. She power-walked in the halls, passing people beside her who didn’t care about being late. She stepped through the large gray doors that separated the classes from the commons. Stephanie took multiple turns around the library that sat in the center of the building. The halls were built around it and classrooms were placed on the outside. Stephanie skidded to a stop in the middle of the hallway and turned left into a classroom hidden within all the blue lockers. All eyes were on her as she stood by the wooden door.  

“Stephanie,” the teacher said as she walked in, disappointment obvious in her voice. “This is the first time you’ve been late.” She paraded to the computer at the front of the classroom and typed on the keyboard. “Alright," the teacher announced as she straightened her back. “New seats today.” 

The whole class moaned as they stood up, each one of them grabbing their bags and binders from the desk they were currently sitting at. Each and every person moved to the back of the room and waited for their teacher to start calling out names and point to the desk she assigned them to. Stephanie joined in and leaned back on the wall. When her bare back touched the wall without padding, Stephanie realized that she had left her backpack in her locker upstairs.

Dang it, Stephanie thought and peered at the door. She was tempted to run upstairs to grab it, but she was already in trouble with her teacher. Then a grin crept onto her face as Carson peeked his head in the doorway. His left arm stretched out with Stephanie’s gray backpack. Stephanie trotted over and grabbed it. “Thanks Carson,” she whispered. 

“See you after class,” Carson said back and backed away from the door. Then, Stephanie turned her attention back to her teacher.

“Why do we have to get new seats, Mrs. Myars?” one student asked and dropped their shoulders. Stephanie could tell that this person was going to whine like that the entire year. 

“Because,” the teacher started and pointed to the first seat in the first row, “I say so, Jacob.” The kid moseyed over to the desk she had indicated him to sit at and dropped down.

Stephanie leaned her head back against the wall and zoned out, waiting for the teacher to give her a new seat. Mrs. Myars still called out names and pointed to a certain desk where they were assigned to sit, not getting any closer to Stephanie’s name. It was as if she was off the roster for the class, until she jumped to the teacher raising her voice. Her voice blared Stephanie's name and pointed to a seat near the back of the classroom at the left. It was a desk close to the windows with a view into the parking lot. Stephanie slowly walked to her seat and sat down. Her gray bag dropped to her right and laid against her leg. She glanced over and saw Jackson, someone she barely knew, sitting next to her. The two looked at each other in dead silence. 

“Seriously? I have to sit next to you?” Jackson snorted and gave Stephanie a dirty look, then turned his head to face the front. Stephanie rolled her eyes. They acted like they had history, but really it was Jackson’s personality that shaped their relationship. Back in middle school, Jackson was known for being called to the principal’s office on a frequent basis, and it continued into high school. The whole class always had something to say about him. Stephanie did her best to stray away from him, until now.

“I’m not happy with it either!” she lightly exclaimed and looked to the front of the class, turning her body away from him. Stephanie was upset that she let Jackson get to her again and opened her notebook after digging it out from her messy backpack. Her eyes closed as she tried to calm herself. Don’t let him get under your skin. It’s not going to be forever, and it’s not like we’ll be best friends, Stephanie assured herself.

As the class finished getting their new seats and had settled down, Stephanie’s hand gently moved the pencil she held across the blue lined paper. In the right corner, where it was blank, she had drawn a crow. Her hand still worked on the small round object the crow was carrying, clearly an outline of a pocket watch. Stephanie looked up and watched Mrs. Myars stand in silence, staring at the class and waiting for them to shut up. Her voice then cracked the silence like thunder, starting the lesson. 

“Today we’re going to be starting a unit about Romeo and Juliet written by Shakespeare,” she paused and listened to everyone make side comments to one another. “Yeah, yeah, yeah - you all hate Shakespeare because you don’t understand it. Now that you’re older, you should be able to.” Mrs. Myars walked over to the computer and pulled up a slideshow and displayed it on the projector. “Right now we are going to take some short notes on Shakespeare, the time period, and have some pre-read questions before we begin to read Romeo and Juliet.” She pounded her keyboard aggressively and changed slides. Stephanie began to write down the red-lettered words on the screen while the teacher narrated her slides.

“Romeo and Juliet is stupid,” Jackson mumbled reluctantly as he wrote down the notes. Stephanie focused on his handwriting, seeing how neat his penmanship was for a freshman guy. From what Stephanie noticed in all her male classmates was they didn’t have good handwriting. Jackson stood out from the others already, besides his nasty attitude. Stephanie then studied his hands and noted the way he held his pencil. Jackson set his pencil down and saw her staring. “Why are you being a creep and watching me write?” Stephanie turned away, slightly embarrassed that he called her out like that. It was good that he whispered it though. 

Once the slideshow was over, the teacher passed out a worksheet for everyone to fill out. The class started to get loud as everyone talked to each other while filling out the post-questions that took up both sides of the paper. Some students worked silently on the worksheet to get it done to then talk afterwards, while others didn’t even answer the first question and talked instead. Stephanie inspected her paper while holding the rest of the copies in her hand, given the teacher left it up to the students to pass the papers out row by row. After being nudged by Jackson, she then passed the last two copies to the people behind her and handed one to Jackson. She began reflecting on the questions but overheard Jackson talking to a student behind him. She turned her head and faced them, interested in what the two were talking about.

“Yeah, I think I may know who that is,” Jackson said, staring at the door past Stephanie. Her gaze followed Jackson’s and she twisted her body around. Stephanie locked eyes with someone standing at the door. Her heart dropped in annoyance. At a loss for words, Stephanie simply gazed in silence. The slender figure, broad shoulders, thick arms, slim neck, and a creepily smooth face that seemed familiar to her but never seen in the school building, began motioning for her to come out. Stephanie closed her eyes. 

I am not going to deal with this, Stephanie commented and opened her eyes. She glanced over to Jackson, who eyed her carefully. 

“Is he calling you out?” Jackson asked Stephanie. She acted confused and shrugged her shoulders dramatically. Jackson bought it, not caring if she did or didn’t know the man was. Stephanie did know who he was. She knew exactly who the guy was at the door.

“Great,” Stephanie whispered to herself. She stood up and dragged her feet to the door. The man tried to open it for her, but the door was locked from the outside. All classroom doors took this precaution the school created for their students’ safety. Stephanie pushed the door open and then slid a small magnet attached to the frame in the doorway to keep it open, that way she could get back inside and not be locked out. The heavy door closed behind her as quietly as she could make it and glared at the man. Stephanie detected it was Logan’s dad, who she referred to as LD. “What do you want?” She hissed at him. Her tone changed drastically and so did her face; it became hard and serious. “Why are you even here?”

“Doing my job,” LD said friskily. 

“Which is stalking me everywhere I go and pathetically trying to ruin my life?” Stephanie rolled her eyes.  

“Shut up,” LD snapped back. 

“That’s not a way to treat a student.” 

“I thought I would let you know that I am substituting at this school, so I suggest you treat me the way you would any teacher here.”

“And I suggest you treat me like you would any other student, politely. Unless you don’t know what that word means.” All Stephanie got was a blank stare from LD that soon made his blood boil. She smirked, happy to get a rise out of him even though it might not have been the smartest thing. She acted like this all the time with him, and he reacted the same way each time. It was how their relationship worked, even though it was a bad and unhealthy one.

“It took me a while to figure out what school you went to, and once I figured it out I signed up to substitute a teacher who’s out for the semester. It’s great because I’m closer to the job I truly love.” LD crossed his arms on his chest and smirked at Stephanie. She snorted in disgust at his comment, which made him drop his arms down and continue on. "Though, it’s not a permanent job, which is okay. It’ll do for now.” LD straightened up proudly. He towered over her with a taller stature than Liam had in her little friend group. His dark, soulless eyes peered down at Stephanie.

“You’re sick,” Stephanie spat and crossed her arms. She could feel the sour taste in her mouth, a reaction to him finding her school and following her. His stalking was at a new level. Her heart ached as she acted rude, but she had to. For Stephanie to show LD that she felt horrible would be the wrong thing and he’d have the upper hand. 

“I know.” LD cracked a grin, showing his white teeth with a hint of yellow. A shiver ran down Stephanie’s back as the color reminded her of a smoker’s mouth, and then it hit her that his breath smelled like it too. The bitterness of smoke mixed with bad breath made her want to gag. Stephanie looked past LD and noticed Carson walking towards them. She was taken aback by this but felt a flood of relief that he was here to help.

Carson’s brown hair swayed right to left as he stepped heavily; clearly he was angry like Stephanie, but it was more visible through his actions while Stephanie’s was through her voice. Stephanie watched Carson’s smooth and beautiful brown eyes lock on the back of LD’s head. His jaw was clenched, yet his hands were open and relaxed. LD looked closely at Stephanie and turned around after noticing that she was staring at something. Carson slowed down as he got closer. LD’s face flooded with anger and turned red as Carson stepped before him. 

“What are you doing here? I told you to watch the class!” LD raised his voice at Carson, who then stood next to Stephanie. Carson crossed his arms and laughed, clearly amused at LD.

“You really trusted me to watch the class for you? Nope. Never doing a favor for you,” Carson retorted. He shook his head as LD rolled his eyes. He then turned his attention to Stephanie. “By the way, this moron is now at this school. Following us like usual.” 

“Yep. I see that now,” Stephanie sighed as she spoke. “And he also had to explain that to me, for some reason…” her voice trailed off, puzzled at LD as to why he had to explain everything to her. It made most of his plans faulty because he gave away too much to the ones trying to stop him from ruining everything.

“You two are cute,” LD said. “It’d be a shame should I take her away from you,” he spoke directly at Carson. Stephanie tightened her hands into a fist. 

 “You should back off before - " Stephanie started to approach LD in anger, but Carson grabbed her arm and stopped her. She jerked back and realized that her anger was starting to take control. Stephanie’s eyes softened as she looked at Carson, who held her arm gently. She understood what his eyes were telling her. 

“Don't,” Carson mouthed to Stephanie in a different language. To anyone else they wouldn’t know what language it was because it was foreign to this world.

“Oh come on Carson, let her go. If she wants to attack me, then let her attack me.” LD waited for Stephanie to punch him. He leaned down to meet eye to eye with her. His right hand pointed to his chin. “Right here, come on,” he whispered, trying to persuade her to punch him right in the jaw bone. 

“Do you really think I’m that stupid? I know you want me to attack you so I can get expelled. That’s not going to happen, so you can just back off and go back to your dumb class,” Stephanie said. She stepped back and looked into the classroom, seeing Jackson staring at her intently. She could hear his thoughts, wondering what was going on outside. “I’m missing class right now,” Stephanie stated and opened the door. She walked in, not letting LD respond to her statement. The magnet fell to the ground and Carson followed her inside. LD cursed once the door shut on him and he stormed off to his classroom upstairs. 

Stephanie took a seat on her cold chair. She felt drained mentally and emotionally, but her physical state was perfectly fine. Carson came to her side and understood how she felt. His warm hand laid on Stephanie’s arm, which was cold, and he looked at her with concern. 

“Are you ok?” Carson sought and his hand rubbed her arm. He abruptly retracted his hand. Alice, Carson remembered and attempted to brush the feeling away. 

“Yeah. I’m fine,” Stephanie answered in a low voice. “Just a little mad and upset. Why didn’t you warn me? Especially if you have class with him now?”

“I couldn’t tell you, he was beside me every moment and my head was really pressured. So there was no way for me to contact you whatsoever. I’m sorry.” Carson took a brief pause to think. “Do you wanna practice today? If you’re not up to it, we don’t have to.” 

“No, no. It’s fine, we can still practice.” Stephanie picked up her pencil and started to write on her paper. “At your house, right?”

“Yeah. All of us at my house, like usual.” Carson noticed the teacher looking around the room. 

“We should really work on the other watch,” Stephanie mumbled and scribbled on her paper. She multitasked well, answering the question while chatting with Carson. “Once we get that world done and set up, then we should be able to do more training with our abilities,” Stephanie said. She finished question one out of fifteen. Stephanie noticed Mrs. Myars pacing around the room and a small flutter of panic filled her chest “You should leave.” She poked Carson on the shoulder. “So go.” 

“Yeah, you’re right. Ok, I’ll see you after class.” Carson promptly left the classroom with Mrs. Myars glaring at him. She knew he wasn’t a student in her class. Stephanie felt empty as Carson left.

Wish you could stay, Stephanie yearned as Mrs. Myars stopped and frowned at Stephanie’s paper. Stephanie continued to work, facing Jackson even though she didn’t like him that much. But she would much rather look at Jackson than to see Mrs. Myars expression. 

“What was that all about?” Jackson teased Stephanie. “Is that a boyfriend I see?” 

“We’re not dating. He’s a close friend, that’s it.”

“You sure about that?” Jackson chuckled as he answered the last question on the front page. 

“He has a girlfriend, so you wanna shut your mouth or am I going to do that for you?” 

“Oh my.” Jackson covered his mouth with both his hands and moved an inch away from her. “I’m so scared.” A smile crept onto his face, knowing that she couldn’t do anything that could hurt him. She was just a girl anyway.  

“Shut up,” Stephanie said dismissively as she started to write. 

“You want some help with your work?” Jackson asked and flipped his page. He noticed how much she was behind after going out into the hallway. He had some concern for Stephanie. 

“Does it look like I need help?” 

“It’ll go quicker,” Jackson stated and looked out of the corner of his eye. Stephanie hesitated for a moment, but she noticed that he was being serious and somewhat considerate. Her heart softened momentarily and she met eyes with his soft hazel eyes. They were nice like an amber crystal. 

“Fine,” Stephanie sighed. Jackson handed his paper to Stephanie, who glanced over the answers he wrote down and changed them into her own words but the same idea. 

“So, what was that mumble talk with him about the other world and abilities?” Stephanie halted her writing after Jackson finished his question. She felt her one eye twitch to the fact that he eavesdropped into their conversation, something that irritated her easily.

“We were talking about a videogame, something that we are working on together,” Stephanie lied so smoothly as if she’s said it before. 

“Oh,” Jackson said, believing the lie. “I didn’t think you modded video games, or created them.” Jackson shifted his attention to her smooth brown hair that flowed over her shoulder and onto the desk. His eyes moved to her choker, where a black feather was attached as the pendant.

Handmade necklace? Jackson thought as he continued to look at Stephanie. He wandered back to her face where he noticed something deep in her eyes. Her body language didn’t reveal it, but she seemed upset and, to a point, scared? Jackson could feel his icy heart melt, which never happens. He quickly cleared his throat, trying to stop the overwhelming feeling and grabbed his paper from Stephanie abruptly. 

“I wasn’t done.” Stephanie shot a glare at him; the moment of sadness in her eyes disappeared. 

“Just write this down…” Jackson began to read out loud what he had written, distracting himself from looking at her and feeling weird things. 

The school bell rang five times. Everyone was excited to leave the stuffy classroom they all sat in for an hour and a half. Stephanie stood up and gathered all her things. She pushed her binder and books into the bag roughly. She glanced over and watched Jackson talk to the friend that sat behind him, then turned his attention to the door. Carson walked into the classroom and behind him was Logan. They both stood by Stephanie as she zipped her bag up. Logan turned his head and looked at Jackson, who greeted him.

“Hey,” Logan said and held his hand out at Jackson. 

“Hey Logan, what’s up?” Jackson gave him a fistpump. Stephanie was in shock, seeing that Logan was friends with the jerk that sat next to her. 

“Just came from math. It was boring!” Logan exaggerated by bending his knees and leaning back. Once he stood up straight, he giggled and shook his head. He then gawked at Stephanie and gave her a flirty wink with his right eye. “Hey,” Logan spoke smoothly, but Stephanie did not buy it. 

“I still can’t believe you go here now.” Stephanie said with disbelief. “And you should have told me your dad was here!” Stephanie formed a fist in her right hand and threw it into Logan’s left arm. Logan whimpered as the pain rushed through his arm. 

“Sorry! I knew you didn’t have him in any class," Logan moaned and rubbed his arm.

“So! You still have to tell me!” Stephanie raised her voice. She stopped herself before riling up again. “Ugh.” It was clear that she was upset. Logan’s eyes turned down in disappointment with himself. 

“I’m sorry, Steph,” Logan apologized. He stepped forward, wrapped his arms around her, and squeezed her tightly. “I really am,” he whispered to Stephanie. She squirmed as his breath traveled into her ear. 

“It’s fine, Logan.” Stephanie tried to push Logan off as he tightened his hold.

“No, it’s not.” Logan finally let her go. He had a goofy smile on his face, one that he gave when trying to woo a girl over. Stephanie rolled her eyes, showing that she wasn’t going to give in to the same tricks he pulled all the time. “I should have texted you.” 

“No.” Stephanie became more serious. “If you did then your dad would have read it and we don’t want him knowing we’re friends. Plus, you probably shouldn’t even be seen with me because he will get suspicious.” Stephanie glanced at Jackson, who glared at her. “What?” She spat out, then bit her tongue.

“You know each other?” Jackson asked as his eyes darted between them. Jackson was both surprised and confused, but something else was starting to sit in his heart. He wasn’t sure what it was that was starting to grow, but the blood coursing through him felt hot. “And what are you guys even talking about?”

“It’s not your business,” Stephanie answered. “How do you know Logan?” Stephanie questioned Jackson, pointing at Logan with her thumb. Jackson shrugged his shoulders and shoved his hands into his pockets. The three were silent and Stephanie could tell that Logan was itching to say something. “Logan?” Stephanie spoke softly.

“I moved near his house. So we are kinda buddies now," Logan blurted out, he could barely keep a secret inside him. Stephanie exchanged glances between the two, intrigued that Logan was friends with Jackson.  

“Wait, so how exactly do you know each other?” Jackson returned to Stephanie and Logan. “He moved from another state.” 

“It’s a long story,” they said at the same time. Jackson’s eyes widened. Stephanie turned without amusement and stared at Logan, who smiled at the fact they were in sync. She then picked up her backpack and threw it over her shoulder. 

Stephanie started to walk out of the classroom with Carson at her side, who silently observed everyone as usual. Logan followed behind like a puppy, and Jackson trailed along the three of them. He joined them up the stairs to the second floor. Once they got to the top, like the first floor, were surrounded by rows of blue lockers along the walls. In the mix were doors that led to science and math classrooms. Stephanie stopped at her locker and turned the knob precisely for her code to unlock the door. Once the three digit combo was entered correctly and Stephanie had tugged the old door open, she shoved her backpack in and then slammed it shut.  

“We have a lot to discuss,” Carson said to Logan, leaning against the other line of lockers. He crossed his arms as he noticed Jackson had followed them. His right eyebrow raised and his eyes peered at him vigilantly, wondering what he wanted. Jackson had showed no interest in Stephanie earlier. Clearly he wanted something now. 

“Ok. Where are we going?” Logan asked Carson, ignoring Jackson completely even though he acknowledged his unwanted presence. 

“Probably my house,” Carson replied. He turned his attention to Stephanie. “Right?” 

“Yeah. That’s what I said earlier,” Stephanie said quickly. She hurried back down the stairs at a pace where Carson and Logan had to jog to keep up with her. “Don’t you want to leave your backpack here?” Stephanie flashed a quick look at Logan and his bag he carried.

“Nah,” Logan said and shook his head. “It’s fine. There’s like nothing in here anyways.” He hit his backpack with his hand and showed the emptiness as it flattened. Jackson abruptly squeezed between Logan and Stephanie, shoving the two apart from each other and filled the space he created. He decided to glare at Logan.

“How many people do you know here?” Jackson pressed to get more answers.  

“A few,” Logan said simply. 

“Is it just these two?” 

“No. Why do you keep asking?” Logan returned Jackson’s glare with his own, but shifted gears as he studied Stephanie and Carson, who walked side by side. He noticed that they were in sync with another, like a couple would be. “Though, there is a lot of things you don’t know about those two,” Logan said, pointing at them with a half smirk on his face. This was Logan’s way of taking the attention and questioning off himself and throwing it onto others. It worked as Jackson changed his attention over to the ones who claimed they weren’t dating.

“Shut up, Logan!” Stephanie and Carson yelled at the same time.

“Awe, come on.” Logan batted his eyelashes at them and gave a cute smirk. “So, you two dating yet?”

“No! Now shut up before I punch you in the face!” Stephanie held up her fist to Logan. He flinched and hid behind Jackson’s side to get more distance from Stephanie. Jackson scrutinized Logan and Stephanie. He wondered why Logan would fear Stephanie; all she did was talk big with no act. 

“Oh, like you’re going to punch him,” Jackson replied mockingly as they came close to a set of doors. Stephanie looked at Logan as she walked closer to him. With a smile on her face, she extended her arm to Logan and hit him in the left arm. It wasn’t too hard, but she wasn’t afraid to prove her point to Jackson. 

“OW! What the heck!” Logan said. He grabbed his left arm and shot a painful glare at Stephanie, who simply laughed. “You already punched me on this arm earlier! You saw her!” He turned to Jackson. “You should've known she would punch me!” Logan’s eyes squinted. Jackson, who started to laugh hysterically, made Logan question their new-found friendship. Stephanie lifted her chin up in pride, proving to Jackson that she wasn’t just a simple girl. It made his heart flutter slightly. 

Carson scuffled to the right of the hallway. The library sat to his left side where there was a group of people inside gathered for some type of meeting. To the right was a small pop out section with a couple more classrooms, taking away from the perfect square layout for the first floor. A set of doors were built by this section and that’s where Stephanie and Carson exited after school. Carson pushed the glass door open and waited for the others to walk through. Stephanie passed him and gave him a smile. He always loved seeing her smile, it was so bright and sweet that his heart fluttered, only it was wrong for him to feel that way. Once they were all outside, Carson released the door and joined Stephanie again. 

“Aren't you going to leave?” Stephanie turned on her heels and walked backwards. She eyed Jackson. Across the two laned street she backed into was a park where most of the “druggies” would hang out and smoke together. The school board warned students not to go there because of those people, but no one cared and continued to visit the park during lunch time and after school. Stephanie, being one of the students who didn’t listen to the school board, began heading to the park.

“Nope. I’m going to stay because you don’t like it and it’s fun to piss you off. Plus, I have nothing better to do.” Jackson shrugged his shoulders with the largest smirk on his face.

“No. You’re not hanging out with us,” Stephanie said as she came to a sudden stop. “How are we going to do this with him following us?” Stephanie murmured out of the left corner of her mouth at Carson.

“What exactly are we doing at Carson’s house?” Logan pestered like an oblivious child. 

“The ‘video game’ we’re working on,” Stephanie hissed lowly at Logan, using their code again. Stephanie was only a step away from standing in the road where a massive mess of traffic clotted the streets beside the school. When the road cleared, all the drivers instantaneously rushed out into the road and headed home, most of them turning onto the street Stephanie was about to cross. The drivers were obviously students because they never yielded for Stephanie and the others despite the sign claiming they had right of way. Stephanie growled under her breath and turned around, waiting for somebody to stop for them. Her hair on the back of her neck stood up as she could feel Logan thinking to himself. His mouth opened and his right pointer finger pointed to the sky, like he had the best idea.

“We could always have another member,” Logan said happily. 

“No,” Stephanie replied with a firm voice. Her head snapped back and she glared at him.

“He would be a great member!” Logan pointed at Jackson, who was so confused as to what they were talking about. “He’s tough and -” 

“No!” Stephanie interrupted Logan again. This time she spoke louder and with the firmest voice anyone of them had heard. “I don’t think it would work out. It’s my decision, and I say no.” 

“I agree with her,” Carson added on. “He isn’t the nicest person,” he spoke dryly and looked at Logan.

“Excuse me?” Jackson’s blood began to simmer. “I’m rude? Stephanie’s being rude by asking me when I’m going to leave, and you’re insulting me while I’m standing right here!” 

“You’re the one wanting to stay and piss me off because it’s fun. So who’s being the rude one here?” Stephanie paused and read the look in Jackson’s eyes. Stephanie whirled around and proceeded to cross the street once some of the cars came to a stop. Carson was right beside her and Logan stuck with Jackson. Stephanie met the sidewalk on the other side of the street and turned around to face Jackson. “You know what, we won’t do this today. I don’t want Jackson here. He isn’t going to go away.” Stephanie’s eyes gazed past Jackson and onto the figure walking their way. “Wait,” Stephanie said while observing the moving figure. The silhouette marching their way matched LD’s figure: tall, broad shoulders, and brown spiky hair. “No...”

“What?” Carson asked but noticed the expression written on her face. He knew exactly what that meant. Carson turned to face LD, and the way he was walking wasn’t good. It was a powerful stride, arms swaying high and low, and his fists were clenched. “Great, he’s coming our way.” Carson’s head wobbled loosely. Stephanie bit her lip. 

“Jackson, you need to go.” Stephanie’s voice was soaked in concern. LD stormed across the street. A car came to a screeching stop to avoid hitting LD, who didn’t care about the world around him, not even the vehicles that could kill him. Jackson followed their gaze and watched LD with everyone else. 

What’s the big deal? It’s just Logan’s dad, Jackson thought to himself. I mean, they did talk about him not approving of hanging out with each other… Maybe that’s what this is. He does look mad… Jackson lifted his chin up, knowing exactly what he wanted, which was to stay. He turned back and gave Stephanie a stern face. “Nope. I’m staying no matter what you say.” Jackson protested. LD closed in behind Logan and Jackson. In Stephanie’s fight or flight mode, she grabbed Jackson’s wrist and held it tight. She yanked him forward, causing him to stumble onto her.

“Jackson go!” Stephanie demanded as she locked her pleading eyes on him. 

“NO.” Jackson stood his ground. Stephanie decided to walk away from LD, still holding Jackson’s wrist. With all her strength, she dragged Jackson at her side. His eyebrows creased, noticing how hard Stephanie was holding his wrist. That hurts… He was amazed at how much pressure she created on his wrist. It felt ready to snap in half. This is way too much of an over exaggeration of a parent not approving their son to hang out with you, he added onto his own thoughts. Jackson’s curiosity increased.

After being dragged along the sidewalk, Jackson pulled Stephanie back. She turned her head with anger on her face while tripping over her feet. The fury suddenly dissolved once her eyes locked with LD’s. His hand was on Jackson’s shoulder. He was the one who tugged her backwards.

“Where you goin’?” LD asked, his smile directed at Jackson. LD studied his facial features: eye and hair color, the shape of his nose, jawline, and Jackson’s sharp eyebrows. He was taken aback that he didn’t know who this was and tilted his head to the right. "And you are?” LD bluntly spoke, looking at Jackson’s amber eyes. 

“Jackson, the kid down the street from your house,” Jackson retorted. He was surprised Logan’s dad had forgotten who he was, even after meeting once for a brief moment. LD chuckled, liking the boy’s attitude.

“I suggest that you shouldn’t use that tone with me.” LD lost his amusement and became more serious, talking with a low gravelly voice. He lowered down and glared into Jackson’s eyes. LD seemed to read him through his eyes, knowing what Jackson was like and hearing his exact thoughts. Jackson turned away as his head ached suddenly. LD shifted his attention to Stephanie and stepped forward. “Give it to me.” He flicked his right hand out while the left one still gripped onto Jackson’s shoulder. His eyes darted down to her right pocket. A chain dangled from her belt to the pocket.

“Give what to you? You have to be more specific with me.” 

“You know what I want.” LD grabbed Stephanie’s throat and pulled her closer to him. 

“Woah! What the hell are you doing!” Jackson exclaimed and LD shoved him back.

“It’s not with me,” Stephanie said and her mouth opened as she gasped for air. LD tightened his hold on her throat, causing Stephanie to choke slightly. Her hand reached up and wrapped around his wrist. She tightened her grip as an attempt to get him to let her go, but that caused LD to tighten his grip on her throat. 

“You sure you wanna say that?” LD switched his gaze between Stephanie’s eyes to the chain dangling from her pocket. Stephanie stared at LD’s face, no expression, fear, or thought crossed her. She then put her other hand over her pocket. Carson shuffled over by Jackson and pulled him away from LD. 

“You need to go,” Carson whispered into Jackson’s ear. They all watched LD and Stephanie; Jackson stood in shock, Carson held onto Jackson to keep him far away for his safety, and Logan stood on the sidelines in silence. His green eyes peered at the sidewalk in guilt. LD became more intense by the second, which made Carson lose his grip on Jackson.  

“Why?” Jackson pondered under his breath. He saw the look Carson had in his eyes - that this had happened before and it didn’t end well. Jackson swallowed spit that started to build up in his mouth from all the tension and strain. His attention then turned to Stephanie and LD, wondering what was going to happen and how he could help her. Yet, he stood frozen with a blank mind.

LD reached down and grabbed Stephanie’s wrist that was covering the pocket watch she had. He then released her neck and his fingers intertwined with the cold chain. He yanked it out of her pocket. Stephanie struggled as she tugged the other end of the watch. LD dropped the chain and snatched her wrist to pull it towards him. Stephanie leaned back, her wrist was in pain. She ignored crying for help and continued fighting for what seemed like a fight for her life. So, the pain was dismissed and she leaned back farther.  

“Let go!” Stephanie shouted as she tried to dig her heels into the grass. Her combat boots began to slip as she was being pulled towards LD, who smiled unnaturally wide like the Cheshire Cat. 

“Hey!” Carson shouted and elbowed Jackson out of his way. Both Logan and Carson leapt in and tried to grab Stephanie’s wrist out of LD’s hands. Jackson panicked and watched everyone struggle before his eyes. 

Stephanie smacked her other hand onto the watch, grasping it and holding it away from the mess. Carson wrapped his arms around LD’s slim, yet muscular, torso and pulled back. LD lunged forward, his hand still holding Stephanie’s wrist. Logan grabbed his dad’s free wrist and pulled back. LD was taken aback by his son fighting against him. 

Help her! Jackson’s mind commanded him. Jackson attempted to enter the small circle and ended up grabbing Logan’s shoulder. 

LD finally lunged forward one more time. He pushed Stephanie down onto the ground, landing on top of her. She hit the cement and tightened her hold on the watch. LD became heavier as Carson and Logan fell down onto him, and Jackson kneeled down beside the mess. LD pinned Stephanie’s wrist and pried her hand open. Then, he snatched the watch out of her sweaty palm. He cackled as he admired the small clock in his hands. 

“No!” Carson shouted and grabbed the chain. Logan seized his dad’s wrist and jerked it behind his shoulder. A small ‘click’ came from the watch, and the lid popped open. Everyone’s eyes opened wide, except Jackson’s, who didn’t know what the click meant. Logan stood up with his hands on his head and squeezed his eyes shut. Stephanie laid her head back on the ground, and closed her eyes in defeat. Carson grabbed LD and Logan, then shook his head in anger. 

“Crap,” Stephanie whispered as she looked at the back of the watch. LD’s hands held it carefully like it was a heart in his hand - one that he pulled from his victim’s rib cage in victory. From the center of the watch, a bright luminous light glowed and engulfed them all. When the light diminished, they were all suddenly gone, and time continued to move on.