Seth sat in Friday morning calculus, trying to stay awake. Math landed firmly under the category of ‘subjects he’d let Sal Kahn teach him later’. The strategy had worked so far. Andrew, however, sat next to him, already halfway done with what was supposed to be homework. For fitting so many stereotypes, Andrew sure loved his numbers. Seth glanced at the drawn-out equation Andrew was working on. He vaguely understood what was going on on the page.

Mr. Whitaker had a wonderful habit of what they called in theater ‘closing yourself off’. He gave his lectures to the whiteboard itself, and as a result, sometimes all you could hear was a baritone drone from the man’s over-sized lungs. Well, Seth assumed they were over-sized. He never seemed to pause to take a breath.

“I’ve got a date to homecoming,” he whispered.

Andrew held up one finger.

Seth twisted his lips to one side, staring at the problem Andrew was currently having a love affair with. Andrew wrote down an answer Seth wasn’t sure how he had arrived to and looked up. “Yeah?”

“Claire.”

“Oh, hell yeah, dude. She’s hot.”

Stereotyped, but he loved his numbers. “You invited her to the bonfire, right?”

“Yeah, I know you guys went through all that hazing together.” He chuckled.

Seth stared at the teacher. “I really can’t believe Mr. Whitaker isn’t saying anything about us talking.”

Andrew shrugged and started on the second to last problem.

“I’ve gotta talk to you later. Something happened last night.”

“I just assumed you got laid with how tired you looked.” Andrew made an obscene gesture with his pencil and a circle made by his thumb and forefinger.

“I wish.”

“More of the same shit?”

“Yeah.”

“We running again?”

“Today’s my long run, I don’t know if you want to.”

“Yikes. How about I just come over after? I’m not running thirteen miles after weightlifting and three hours of practice.”

“I’ll text you when I’m at my halfway mark.”

“Cool. Now let me do my damn math.” Andrew returned to his problem with an eagerness that resembled a child solving a puzzle on the children’s menu with a pack of crayons. In fact, Seth could remember seeing Andrew do exactly that when they were younger. He smiled and turned to watch the lecture while letting his mind drift, but the thoughts gathering in his head like a line of storm clouds hurried to draw the corners of his mouth downwards.

He thought of Emma’s last words to him. He didn’t know what he needed to figure out. Everything at this point seemed a mystery. What he was. Who was watching him. Why Hunter-33 was trying to cover up every little clue relating to him. He couldn’t even view his own medical records. Then again, he hadn’t tried calling Hunter-33. He made a mental note to and drummed his fingers on the table.

That was the line.

Mr. Whitaker whirled around, his puffy face red. “Mr. Blackwell, I’m sorry, am I boring you?”

Seth’s eyes bulged. “Uh, no.”

“Very well, I suppose you’ll be able to finish this equation, then?” Mr. Whitaker tapped his marker on the whiteboard.

Seth swallowed, offering a prayer to Sal Kahn in his time of need.

***

Seth placed his math book in his locker. Andrew was still cackling.

“Bro, you were awful,” he laughed. “That was so bad!”

Seth grabbed his chemistry book. Math he hated. Science he could do. “Shut up.”

Andrew shook his head. “That was hilarious. My god. Did you even read any of the book before coming back to school?”

“Like the first chapter.”

“That’s gonna be a yikes for me, dude.”

Seth shrugged and locked his locker. “I’ll be fine on the homework.”

“You need help or you just gonna go to go ole Kahn Academy like usual?”

“What do you think?”

Andrew shrugged. “Math is fun, dude.”

“You’re psychotic.”

“Never said I wasn’t.” He winked at Seth. “I gotta head to weightlifting. I’ll see you tonight.” They bumped fists and walked off in opposite directions. Seth’s phone buzzed in his pocket and he took it out. Emma.

So I guess we won’t be talking then.

Seth stopped, perplexed.

What do you mean?

You’ve got a date to homecoming. Figures, since we were just having fun.

Seth’s eyebrows raised. How do you know I have a date?

Doesn’t matter. You know, I was going to offer to be your date even though we have this little thing going on right now… But I guess not. You really learned a lot from Madeline. Goodbye, Seth.

Seth squeezed his Otterbox for a second, then jammed his phone into his pocket and kept walking towards chemistry class. That last jab still stung his skin. At least a friend was in chemistry to take his mind off things. He wove his way through the halls to the chemistry lab on the second floor. He always thought in the back of his head that maybe a place that worked with acid shouldn’t have a classroom below it. Seth ducked into the room and looked around. Jessica waved at him for a brief moment, smiling, then looked at the student next to her. “You’re moving now,” she said.

“But I-”

“You’re not going to offer your seat to a shooting victim?”

The kid looked between her and Seth, then back to her. Seth could see the gears turning in his head, thinking about how high Jessica could probably escalate things to get what she wanted. The kid muttered something and moved to another table. Seth slid into the seat next to Jessica. “You really, really shouldn’t use that like that.”

“Please,” she said. “You know everyone knows and talks about it behind your back. Might as well talk about it in front of their faces.”

“That makes me feel better.”

She raised her eyebrow. “Do you need to feel better, Seth?”

“Jessica, I’ve known you since before we hit puberty, stop making me uncomfortable to get a laugh.”

She grinned. Jessica didn’t wear an overabundance of makeup, so Seth could make out she had some very dark circles under her eyes. “You alright? Look like it was a rough night.”

“Oh, it was. I got worn out.”

Seth looked out the window. “I fucking swear, Jess.”

“Seriously though, I was up really late. I’ll leave the reasons to your imagination.”

“Godammit, you already didn’t.”

“Oops.” She continued grinning.

“You’re the worst.”

“Not what-”

Seth clapped his hand over Jessica’s mouth. “Hush.” He gave her a look that said ‘are you good?’ before slowly removing his hand.

“Mm. Kinky.”

“Fucking hell.”

“Come on,” she said. She placed a hand on his arm. Not flirtatious, but the comfortable touch of a long-time friend. “I’m just trying to cheer you up.”

“Well, you certainly take my mind off things.”

“What things?”

Seth glanced at the clock in the front of the lab. Five minutes to class. Mrs. Browning was preparing her notes at her desk beneath it, staring with her intelligent blue eyes at her scribbled markings. “Well, you know how I am with girl trouble.”

“Oh, believe me, I do. Is it Emma?”

“Yeah… Some things happened, she was mad at me, then— I don’t know if you know Claire, but she asked me to homecoming and I said yes.”

“Oh, Jesus, Seth. You’re really dumb.” She flicked the side of his head with a French-tip nail. “Emma wanted you to be her boyfriend.”

“Yeah, well I don’t know if I wanted her to be my girlfriend. I’m just trying to not deal with any of that, not after Madeline and then… Everything that happened.”

Jessica shrugged. “Well, can’t change what you did, but…” She leaned closer and whispered. “I did just get some really good mushrooms for your birthday.”

Seth shot her a joking glare. “Oh, you shouldn’t have.”

“Oh, you know me.” She made an innocent face. “No, seriously, happy birthday, Seth. I’m gonna be really sad to see you off to college.”

“That’s a long ways away,” He said. His mind immediately went to the thought of going to Olivia’s over the summer. “Not until next fall. Basically a year.”

“No summer vacation plans?”

“Not yet.”

“We should make some. You, Andrew, and I.”

Seth nodded slowly. “Yeah. Let’s.”

The bell rang and class began. Seth’s phone buzzed in his pocket as Mrs. Browning stood up.

“Page seventy, lab three. You’ll get the lecture after, you should have been prepared for this… Ah, Jessica, please make sure Seth doesn’t burn a finger off since he’s been gone for a bit.”

Jessica nodded as she slid her safety goggles onto her face. Seth did the same, and then checked his phone under the table to avoid Mrs. Browning’s well-known hawkish eyesight. A number with a local area code had texted him what appeared to be a youtube link. His phone buzzed again, same number.

Invictus, watch it and let us know.

Damn it. Seth knew exactly who that number was now. He groaned and slid his phone back into his pocket. Good, Mrs. Browning hadn't caught that one.

“Who was that?” Asked Jessica.

“My favorite two brothers,” he said as she began to set up the lab.

“Oh…” Jessica measured out the chemicals. “They throw good parties. This will be their first since the shooting, though.”

“Of course, it is.” Seth watched as she began to mix the substances. “I’m not going.” He didn’t need to fuel the bloodlust. It still waited within him, looking for an opportunity to grow. Those fights would be that opportunity if he let it, and he couldn’t do that. Especially not while going through selection for his black tab. He’d get dropped from it the moment Coach John or Ms. Tull found out he was fighting illegally. With everything going wrong, he couldn’t afford to lose that.