Middle School AU >.>
Sept 4, 2011 19:11:02 GMT -5
Post by Cobalt Weaver on Sept 4, 2011 19:11:02 GMT -5
[ooc: My god. >.> Um. This is a thing I wrote. No editing, not even cleaned up. It's not even DONE. But this is some AU where a lot of the older characters (and mind, this was written several months ago, and I am disorganized, so if your character is mentioned, it is either because s/he didn't exist yet, or I couldn't fit her in). But um. Everyone is baout 12 or 13 in this 'verse. Aaand yeah. Sorry. Also this wasn't supposed to exist anywhere, so there isn't even the HTML. Okay I'm done]
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In Pilot Ridge, Vermont, there was an institute called Hammel. An institute designed for special children. Children who were different; children who had nowhere else to go; who needed somewhere to call home. In one universe, Hammel Institute opened its doors to scared children with extraordinary powers; in another, Hammel Institute is a home for troubled children. In another universe, it is a mental Institution; and in another, an orphanage. In some universes Hammel doesn’t even exist, and children have to find somewhere else to go. In this universe, there are no superhuman abilities and the word “metahuman” is a nonsense word.
However, in this universe, there is a Hammel Institute.
In this universe, it is a school founded by Martin Hammel, a wealthy philanthropist who wanted to see children from all backgrounds get an excellent education. Regardless of race, creed, color, background, or finances, if a child shows aptitude at something—be it art, drama, academia, sports—they will get the opportunity to go to school at Hammel Institute with either a greatly reduced tuition or for absolutely free. In every universe Hammel exists, it exists to help children. This universe is no exception.
-
It was the late morning hours and a boy who was little in every sense of the word walked down the halls of Hammel, the worn-down ends of his too-long pant legs swishing as he walked with his head down, his thin face scowling slightly. He stopped finally at a large oak door, his blue eyes looking up to read the placard by the door: Dr. Albert Giles- psychiatrist. He sighed heavily, then knocked loudly on the door, waiting for the call to enter.
When it was given, he pushed open the door, poking his head into the large office. “I’m here for my appointment, Dr. Giles,” He said, his voice coldly polite.
Dr. Giles was a graying man of 58, with a kind smile and a stern, take-no-nonsense stare. He had been at the Institute almost since its infancy, and was regarded by most as the grandfather of the school; someone who could be trusted and confided in. By most. Dr. Giles gave the thin-faced boy his kind smile and gestured to the seat opposite his desk.
“Yes, Cobalt, I know. Take a seat, won’t you?”
Cobalt hesitated a moment, giving Dr. Giles a suspicious look designed to succinctly communicate his displeasure at being called here, before walking in and quietly shutting the door. The boy sat in the indicated chair and stared at the older man, his blue eyes cold and distrusting. Dr. Giles sighed; a twelve-year-old shouldn’t be capable of a thousand yard stare. It was just a little depressing. He gestured to the open bowl of candy at the edge of his desk closest to the boy, “Well, go on then. I know you want some.”
Cobalt eyed the jar, then Dr. Giles before a bony hand whipped out of his jacket and snatched out a few pieces. “Thank you, sir.” The boy said dutifully, before putting the candies in his mouth. Candy seemed to calm Cobalt down, which was one of the reasons the older instructor kept candy at his desk. The boy was hard enough to talk to already without having him all wound up on top of it.
“So, shall we get started?” Dr. Giles asked pleasantly, folding his hands on his desk, “I assume you know why you’re here.” Cobalt was exceptionally bright, and Dr. Giles had already made the mistake of patronizing the boy once before.
Cobalt gave an exasperated face that looked comical on a tiny twelve-year-old. “I… alarmed Mrs. Raetherson yesterday.” He said the words with vague contempt, clearly quoting the statement, “She thinks I’m troubled.”
“Well,” Dr. Giles sighed, “You’ve been here a year already, and yet you still don’t seem very happy. I know your transition here was hard on you, but you have to understand how troubling it is to our staff to see a child not happy despite our best efforts.”
There was a silence on Cobalt’s end as the boy chewed on the inside of his lip. “That’s not it,” He said finally, looking up at Dr. Giles, “She thinks I’m gonna be a sociopath. I heard her talking with Professor Deri at lunch after class. I know what a sociopath is, you know. I looked it up. She thinks I’m gonna… blow up the school or something stupid like that.” Cobalt glanced down at the candy wrapper in his hand, his face expressionless.
Dr. Giles sighed inwardly. He had no idea where Cobalt would have heard this, but the boy had never lied to him before, and this was far from his first meeting with him. “Well, she shouldn’t have said that. And--”
“You can ask.” Cobalt looked up at him with a small, humorless grin on his face, “I know you want to. You wanna know if I would, if I could. Blow up the school, I mean.” He rolled his eyes, looking much older than twelve for a split moment, “Well, I wouldn’t. I don’t wanna hurt people. But I’m allowed to be unhappy.”
Dr. Giles nodded, “Well, I don’t deny that. But I wonder why you would want to.”
Cobalt shrugged, “I’m not always unhappy. Just most of the time.” He looked up at the instructor, his blue eyes dark, “Can I go now? I won’t freak out Mrs. Raetherson anymore. I’ll work on it.”
Dr. Giles sighed. He knew better than to push it with this boy. When he didn’t want to talk anymore, there was nothing on earth that could make him. “Of course, Cobalt. Have a good day.”
“You too sir.” Cobalt stood up readily, putting his hands in his pockets and walking out the door. The old instructor sighed then, rubbing his tired eyes.
“Well, Elaine and Joshua.” He sighed, an affectionately exasperated grin in place, “I leave him in your hands again. Good luck.”
-
When Cobalt shuffled down the steps into the courtyard, a smiling blonde girl sitting on a bench by a pond waved him down. He smiled genuinely for the first time that day and walked over to her, careful not to trip over his pant legs. He pushed his glasses up his nose and sat next to her.
“Hi Lainey.” He greeted her with shy affection, “Whatcha doin’ up so early? Thought you didn’t have class today til later.”
“I don’t.” She reached into her backpack and handed him a small paper bag that crinkled in her hand, “I heard from Josh that you had another meeting with Dr. Giles.” She gave him an exasperated look, “So I brought you a scone from the cafeteria. I knew you’d be cranky afterward. You’re always cranky.” She rolled her eyes as she nudged his shoulder with his affectionately. He grinned lopsidedly and took the bag from her.
“Thanks.” He mumbled, reaching in and taking a large bite out of the scone. Chocolate, delicious. “Hey Laine?” He asked, his mouth full of scone, “D’you think I’m crazy?”
Elaine rolled her eyes, “I don’t, but I don’t blame people for thinking you are. You act kinda crazy.”
“Just ‘cause I’m annoyed lots doesn’t mean I’m crazy.” Cobalt muttered scowling at his feet. Elaine put a motherly arm around his shoulders.
“Blue, that’s not what I mean.” She sighed, “I dunno, maybe if you smiled more and weren’t so negative and didn’t sit in the shadows so much, people would like you more.”
“I don’t care if people don’t like me.” Cobalt glared at her, “I only care if some people like me. And the people I care about already like me, so what’s the problem?”
Elaine sighed, “You asked, Blue. I’m just tellin’ ya the truth.” She smiled at him wistfully, shaking her head, “Maybe we just wanna see you happy once and a while.”
Cobalt chewed on his scone, “When’s Josh’s class out?”
Elaine checked her watch, “Like, now. I dunno where he is.”
As if on cue, a crowd of students burst out of the main building, a few groups trickling into the courtyard. Cobalt nudged Elaine with his elbow. “Hey, do that thing you do.” He looked at her pleadingly, “Please? It’s so cool.”
Elaine sighed, smiling a little, “Oh all right.” She scanned the crowd for a moment, before pointing to an older couple holding hands. “See them? She’s cheating on him. She can’t look him in the eyes and is holding his hand extra tight. She loves him, but she doesn’t love him enough. Her eyes don’t dilate when she sees him anymore, and her smile is tilted, therefore forced, because it’s engaging different muscles. And you see that boy over there? I think his name is James.” She pointed to a tall, gangly boy talking to another blond boy. He looked a little miffed. Elaine smiled, “He’s currently dating what’s-her-name, but it won’t work out.”
Cobalt was watching her raptly, “Why not?”
“Because he’s in love with that guy. I think his name is Chase. He hangs around Sean and all those other people you dislike for no reason.” She gave him a teasing grin, “But no, you can see that body language? Totally in love. And that guy over there?” She pointed to a rather posh-looking older boy, “He’s not from around here, because his shoes aren’t from a brand that’s sold here and his passport is sticking out of his coat pocket. He seems like a good person though. I can just tell.” Elaine laughed then, “And that guy is a hopeless space cadet with his backpack hanging open.” She pointed over to a bespectacled boy who was stumbling towards them with a distracted smile on his face.
Cobalt laughed, waving, “Yup. There’s Josh.”
“What about me?” Josh stumbled over his untied shoelace, spilling his backpack out onto the sidewalk. “Oh darnit.” He mumbled, sighing and bending over to pick up his papers. Cobalt and Elaine knelt down to help him.
“I was gonna say that your backpack is open,” Elaine giggled, “But you found that out good enough.”
“Yeah, well…” Josh sighed, “I was a little distracted…”
“Talking to Sean,” Elaine smiled, saying the older boy’s name in singsong. Josh blushed.
“Okay, so maybe I was, I don’t know why that’s a big deal. We’re friends. That’s what friends do.” Josh muttered defensively as he zipped up his backpack. Cobalt made a face.
“I don’t know why you like Sean so much anyways.” Cobalt sighed, slinging his own backpack over his shoulder, “He always acts like he knows everything.”
“That’s ‘cause he does!” Josh said with a tone of surprise, as though it were common knowledge, “Well… okay, maybe not everything, because that would be impossible, but he’s pretty smart, Cobalt. He’s probably smarter than you.”
“That’s ‘cause he’s older than me, dummy.” Cobalt snapped, pushing his glasses up his nose, “’Course he’s gonna be smarter than me. He’s been going to school longer than me. And I know plenty of stuff, doesn’t mean I go around trying to teach people who don’t wanna learn it.”
Josh looked confused, “Sean doesn’t do that. And besides, everyone else likes him, I don’t know why you don’t. He hasn’t done anything to you.”
Cobalt mumbled something incoherent, and Elaine sighed. “Anyways,” She said, changing the subject with finality, “Let’s go get breakfast. I think Mr. Cranky over here should eat more than a scone if he wants to have friends by the end of the day.”
Cobalt glared at her, but Josh interrupted whatever he was going to say. “I agree!” He announced to the world at large, “Let’s go get some breakfast!” He smiled at the both of them and the other two couldn’t help but grin back.
“Did anyone track down Riley?” Cobalt asked as they made their way to the cafeteria. Both his companions shook their heads.
“No, but he’s not exactly hard to miss.” Elaine giggled affectionately at the thought of the other boy.
“No,” Josh agreed, “He’s a giant!”
“Lucky…” Cobalt muttered, kicking a rock with his shoe. Elaine giggled again, slinging an arm around both her friends.
“Don’t worry, Coby.” She smiled at him, “I’m sure you’ll hit your growth spurt someday.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Cobalt muttered, “Don’t call me Coby.”
“There he is!” Josh pointed to a tall, lanky figure slouched over in a chair at the far end of the cafeteria. “Riley!” At the other boy’s call, Riley jumped, then looked over to catch their gaze. He returned their waves with a small one of his own and a shy smile. Elaine sighed; Riley was a gentle giant through and through. It was why she and her friends loved him so much. “I’ve already eaten, I’ll go sit with Riley, you guys go and get your food and we’ll save you seats.” Plans made, the trio separated and Elaine walked across the cafeteria to sit next to Riley.
“Oh hi, Elaine.” Riley said, grinning at the girl, “Are you just saying hi or are you guys gonna sit here with me…?” He trailed off, looking hopeful.
“Of course we’re gonna sit here with you.” Elaine smiled, “Don’t be silly. The boys are just getting their breakfasts. I already ate.”
Riley brightened, “Okay! Is—is Josh with you?” He blushed brightly at his question, eyeing Elaine shyly.
Elaine beamed, “As a matter of fact, yes he is. He’s probably gonna end up paying for some portion of Cobalt’s meal, as a matter of fact. Cobalt never really has enough.” She sighed wryly before turning back to the other boy, “Don’t tell him I said that. It makes him uncomfortable.”
Riley nodded eagerly, “My lips are sealed.” He mimed zipping his lips, locking them and throwing away the key. Elaine giggled.
The other two returned shortly after, throwing their greetings to Riley. Riley smiled sheepishly, returning their hellos. He stared at Josh, his brown eyes nervous. “Uh… hey Josh?”
“Mmm?” Josh mumbled, mouth full of pancake. Cobalt rolled his eyes.
“Uh…” Riley was twisting a napkin in his hands, “S-so there’s a…uh. There’s a school dance happening at the end of the month and…”
Josh looked surprised, “Is there? Whoa, no way.” He looked thoughtful, “D’you think it’d be weird if I asked Sean if he was going? As a friend, you know.”
At his words, Riley wilted, disappointment written all over his features. Elaine sighed lightly, giving Riley a sympathetic look. Cobalt slapped his head in his hands and groaned loudly. “Josh, you are dumber than a box of rocks.” The other boy informed his friend. Josh looked affronted and confused. “What? What did I do this time?”
But any sort of explanation was lost when someone off to Elaine’s left said, “Hey, Elaine? Can I hang with you guys for a sec?”
All four turned to see a good-looking brown-haired boy a year or so older than them. Elaine smiled and blushed lightly, “S-sure Marcus. You can sit next to me, if you want.”
Marcus smiled broadly, “Awesome.” He slid into the seat next to her. Across from him, Cobalt sat, giving the boy a deadly glare. “Uhh…” Marcus looked nervously from Elaine, who was smiling at him bashfully, to Cobalt, who was promising death with his eyes. “Am I interrupting something here?”
“No!” Elaine kicked Cobalt in the shins under the table. Hard. “What—what did you wanna talk about?” She brushed a strand of blonde hair behind her ear nervously.
“Well.” Marcus ran a hand through his brown hair, looking a little sheepish, “The dance is at the end of the month and I was wondering if… y’know. You wanted to go. With me. I think it’d be pretty cool.” Elaine’s entire face brightened, and Cobalt sighed loudly, pinching the bridge of his nose in a gesture of exasperation he’d seen frequently from adults. It seemed apt to the situation. Marcus raised an eyebrow, “Uh… but not if I’m infringing on your territory, little man.”
“What?” Cobalt snapped, giving Marcus an incredulous look, “Elaine isn’t a piece of land, you--”
“What he means is,” Elaine interrupted, giving Cobalt another swift kick to the shins, “Is that Cobalt has absolutely no right to object to this.” She gave Cobalt a stern look, “We are not, nor have we ever, dated.” She turned to Marcus with a bright, excited smile on her face, “I would really like to go with you though.”
Marcus grinned, “Awesome. So we’ll hang out later then?” At Elaine’s breathless agreement, Marcus stood up, “Okay cool. See you guys later.” He gave Cobalt a little wave, “See ya, little buddy.”
Cobalt gritted his teeth and made to stand up. Riley grabbed his shoulder and pushed him down. “Don’t do it, Cobalt.” The taller boy said gently, “You’ll get detention again.”
“Oh for the love of…” Elaine threw her hands up in the air, “Will you just be happy for me, Cobalt?”
“No.” Cobalt said shortly, “Because for all your… ESP or whatever it is you have, you can’t see that this guy is just a total jerk.”
“He is not!” Elaine was growing pink with anger, “He was just being nice, he doesn’t know your stupid problem with being short!”
“That is not the point!” Cobalt was turning red also, “The point is, he doesn’t like you like you like him.”
“That doesn’t make any sense,” Elaine snapped coldly, “He asked me to the dance.”
“Of course he asked you to the dance.” Cobalt sighed exasperatedly, “Why wouldn’t he? You’re smart, you’re pretty, and you’re funny. He just wants to go with you because you’re pretty and everyone likes you. He doesn’t wanna date you or anything.”
“Oh, and how would you know that?” Elaine demanded, standing up. Her eyes were shining with tears, “You’ve never liked anyone in your entire life. Not really, anyways.” And with that, she stormed away, leaving the boys thunderstruck.
After a moment, Josh cleared his throat, “I’m… gonna go to class.” He looked helplessly at Cobalt, “Save you a seat?”
“Yeah, okay.” Cobalt said quietly, staring at his half-eaten breakfast. When Josh left, Riley sighed, giving Cobalt a sympathetic stare.
“You could just apologize, you know.” He said gently, “She just--”
“No.” Cobalt said shortly, “I’m not gonna apologize. Because I’m right. If she wants to be stupid and get her heart broken, then that’s her business.” He shrugged, getting out of his seat and picking up his tray. “See you later, Riley.” He mumbled, turning and walking away. Riley watched the smaller boy slouch away with a concerned look on his face. The thirteen-year-old sighed and slung his backpack over his shoulder. What a terrible Monday.
-
“…And now I’m gonna separate you out into your groups for your projects. Now remember, you get to do a project on your section of To Kill a Mockingbird and…” Cobalt didn’t pay much attention to the project in general; it was a fairly basic project: pick out main characters, find basic color symbolism, talk about what happened in your section and how it was important to the rest of the story. Easy. He didn’t need two other people to talk about it with him, but he hoped he would get paired up with Josh. He was feeling miserable after his fight with Elaine, and wanted someone to talk to.
“…Cobalt Weaver, Joshua Bernstein…”
Awesome.
“…Sean Neville…”
Less awesome.
He and Josh were both in an accelerated English class, so there was a mixing of ages, which unfortunately led to the presence of a one Sean Neville: second on Cobalt’s list of People He Disliked. The first was Marcus.
Josh was positively beaming as he bounced over to Cobalt’s seat. “This is gonna be great.” He smiled over his horn-rimmed glasses, “Maybe if you just worked with Sean, you can see how cool his is.”
“I don’t care how cool he is, Josh.” Cobalt growled, opening his book violently, “I don’t even care about this project. I could do it myself anyways. It’s not that hard.”
Josh looked disappointed and Cobalt felt worse. “Whatever,” Cobalt muttered, pulling the open book up to fill his vision, “Am I moving over there, or is he moving over here?”
“I’m fine with coming over here.” Sean’s voice hovered over Cobalt’s left shoulder. He sighed and looked up to see Sean smiling amiably, “I figured it was less moving for everyone else.”
Josh beamed, looking over at Cobalt hopefully. Figuring that losing all his friends before lunch would really suck, Cobalt lowered the book from his face. “Thanks. Maybe we should start on characters in our section.”
Sean frowned lightly, tilting his head down to examine Cobalt closer. “Are you okay, Cobalt? You look a little upset.”
“I hear tell that’s how I always look.” Cobalt muttered, shooting a glare at Sean. Sean looked willing to drop it, but Josh didn’t get the hint.
“He’s upset because he got into a fight with Elaine at breakfast today.” Josh informed the older boy. “Marcus asked Elaine to the dance, and she agreed, but Cobalt doesn’t like him, so they argued.” He looked over at Cobalt, who was glaring daggers at his friend. “What?” Josh looked surprised and confused, “I thought maybe you would want a second opinion!”
“Well, I don’t.” Cobalt snapped. Then he sighed, “Could we just get onto the project, please?”
-
At the end of class, Josh bid Cobalt farewell to go to his next class. Cobalt waved to his friend, then turned to walk down the halls, staring at his worn sneakers.
“Hey, Cobalt!”
At the sound of his name, Cobalt turned to see Sean walking quickly to catch up with him, long legs covering the distance easily without a trace of Riley’s stumbling awkwardness. Cobalt sighed.
“What do you want, Sean?” Cobalt’s voice was flat and his face expressionless.
“I just want to make sure you’re okay.” Sean shrugged, his face kind and understanding, “I don’t want to see a friend of Josh’s so upset, and everyone knows how close you and Elaine are. If you ever want some help or anything--”
“Well, I don’t, thanks.” Cobalt interrupted coldly, “It’s none of your business anyways.”
Sean nodded, the sympathy in his eyes made Cobalt want to punch him. “That’s true. Sorry, I didn’t mean to be nosy or anything. I’ll see you around, okay?”
“Sure.” Cobalt muttered as he slouched away. Truth be told, he could understand why Josh liked Sean so much; the older boy was mature, understanding, and gave off the air of “I know what you’ve been through, and it’ll be okay”. His presence would be rather comforting to someone like Josh.
Cobalt still wanted to punch him in the face.
-
Cobalt didn’t see Elaine at lunch, nor would she meet his eyes in the two classes they shared. Instead, she opted to sit with her other friends, leaving Cobalt to sit by himself by the pond at lunch and at the back of the class in History and Math looking miserable. By the time dinner rolled around, Cobalt wasn’t sure if he wanted to yell, hit something, or be sick. Josh and Riley were eyeing him with concern as he picked at his food.
“You know…” Riley said quietly, “She doesn’t want you to be right or wrong here. She just wants you to apologize for being kinda mean.”
Cobalt shrugged, staring at his macaroni and cheese, “I don’t care.”
Josh opened his mouth to say something, but Riley cut him off with a warning look and a shake of his head. “Okaay…” Josh sighed, “Well, we really should find people to go to the dance with. I mean, I’m probably just gonna go by myself or hang with Sean, but if you guys wanted to go with people, now’s the time to ask.”
Riley picked at his fish sticks. “There’s no one I wanna take,” He replied, shrugging lightly.
“I’m not going.” Cobalt muttered, taking a bite of his macaroni.
“Oh come on!” Josh exclaimed loudly, exasperation written on his face, “You guys at least have to go. I don’t wanna be all by myself.”
“Thought you were gonna hang out with Sean.” Cobalt mumbled darkly through a mouthful of macaroni. Somehow, the preteen was able to glare threateningly with a mouth full to bursting with noodles.
Josh shrugged, oblivious to Cobalt’s looks, “Well yeah, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want you guys to go too.”
Riley smiled at Josh, “I’m still going. It’s just… I’m probably gonna go by myself.”
“We should all just go by ourselves.” Cobalt decided, “What’s the big deal, anyways? We’re all just gonna hang out in one big group anyway. I don’t see why people wanna find someone to go with. It’s just stupid.”
“True.” Josh agreed dubiously, “I guess it’s just more fun going with someone.”
Any further discussion was cut off by an argument in the next table reaching its shouting point. A girl stood up and picked up her tray, eyes bright with unshed tears. “Oh, whatever, James Campbell!” She shouted, “I don’t know why I thought this would work anyways!” And she stormed off, leaving the boy to stare, red-faced, at the table and start cleaning up the food she’d spilled in her haste to leave.
“Well, this has been a fun day.” Josh muttered, shaking his head sympathetically. “I thought they’d be together for a long time.”
“They were together a long time.” Riley said, his brown eyes concerned.
“Well, yeah, but you know what I mean. Longer…” Josh waved his hand in the air.
Cobalt watched as the blond boy that Elaine had mentioned earlier that day joined James at his table. Chase, Cobalt remembered his name being. Chase helped James clean up the table, saying something to make the dark-haired boy crack a watery smile. Cobalt stared at his plate, then looked across the room at Elaine, who was laughing with some girlfriends.
“I’m a lousy friend.” He said finally. His two friends looked up at him in surprise.
“No you’re not!” Riley assured as Josh said, “Why would you say that?”
“Because I wasn’t yelling at Elaine to help her.” Cobalt replied, “I was just mad. I was mean to her.”
Riley smiled sympathetically, “Maybe a little. You gonna apologize?”
“Yeah.” Cobalt sighed, “I’ll wait til after she’s done eating.”
Cobalt waited outside the cafeteria until Elaine had finished. She waved good night to her other friends, then left the cafeteria, not noticing Cobalt standing in the shadows. Cobalt swallowed, the reached out to touch her shoulder. “Hey, Elaine? Can-can I talk to you for a second?”
Elaine jumped, then turned around. When she saw who was talking, her expression grew cold. “Oh. Sure, I guess.”
Cobalt swallowed again, looking down at his shoes. “I…I’m sorry. For being so mean. I…shouldn’ta said what I did.” He looked up at her pleadingly, at a loss for what else to say. Elaine sighed, looking out to her right, thoughtful.
“You really hurt my feelings, Cobalt.” She sounded choked up, “No one wants to hear that the person they like a whole lot wouldn’t ever date them. I mean, why wouldn’t Marcus wanna date me? You think there are prettier girls out there he could date?” She glared at him, her eyes bright.
“No.” Cobalt said honestly, twisting his fingers. This was worse than he thought; he’d made Elaine cry and he felt like the worst person in the world. “I think you’re the nicest, prettiest girl in the world. It’s just… Marcus has done this before. He isn’t big on staying with one girl for too long.”
“And what if you’re wrong?” Elaine challenged, “And he likes me like I like him?”
Cobalt shrugged, “Then you guys can get married and have smiley, blonde babies together for all I care. I just better be invited to the wedding.” He looked at her hopefully, praying for a smile or something to show he was forgiven.
Thankfully, Elaine smiled, rolling her eyes. “You’d be my man of honor, or whatever they’d call it. As long as you were nice.”
“I’d be nice.” Cobalt assured her, “I’d be a really bad brother if I wasn’t nice at his sister’s wedding.” He smiled uncertainly at her, waiting for her response.
“Yeah, and this sister isn’t afraid of punching her brother’s lights out.” Elaine made a fist and waved it at him, grinning. She dropped it and pulled the boy into a hug. “You’re so dumb, Coby.”
“Yeah, well.” Cobalt returned the hug, “You’re smelly. Or something.”
“Yeah? Well, you have cooties.” Elaine wrinkled her nose, laughing loudly. Cobalt grinned broadly, feeling like a weight had been lifted from his chest. They walked back to the dorms arm-in-arm.
-
Riley was relieved to see Elaine and Cobalt back to being friends the next morning at breakfast. Not only because it meant their group could continue on as normal but also…well…Cobalt was a lot nicer when he wasn’t fighting with Elaine.
So breakfast was nicer, and the class that he shared with Elaine was far more fun now that she wasn’t mad at Cobalt. She was far better at hiding her feelings than Cobalt was, but it was still pretty obvious when she was upset. And it made Riley sad too; he really liked his friends, and it always made him upset when his friends were in any way unhappy. He was a natural healer; he’d always known when someone was hurt, where, and how. His affinity for biology and medicine was what brought him to Hammel in the first place. People told him he should be a doctor. He wasn’t sure if that was what he wanted to do when he grew up, but he figured it would be pretty cool. He hoped he was smart enough.
He was sitting crosslegged on the grass, bent over his biology notes (advanced cellular biology. Riley was a prodigy child in the sciences, after all), when a shadow fell over him and his notebook. He looked up, a shy smile already on his face, expecting to see Josh or Cobalt since they also had a free period at this time. The smile fell from his face when he saw that it wasn’t either one of his friends. Gabriel Underwood, an older boy with a handsome face and a cruel smile, stood over him. He was surrounded by his friends: twins named Reese and Lala—students from Brazil who didn’t like anyone but Gabe, a smirking girl in a short dress named Fifi, a boy a year younger than him named Jesse and a quietly unpleasant boy named Paulo. Riley swallowed hard.
“Uh. Hi.” He squinted up at Gabe, his eyes a little blinded by the sun, “Did. Did you guys want anything?” Riley’s eyes scanned the area, looking for allies. There was Sean and a group of his friends standing a little ways off, but they didn’t seem to notice the boy and his impending predicament.
Gabe smirked at him. “I was going to ask you to move. You’re in our spot.” The fourteen year old stared at him coolly, “We’re having a meeting today. You’re in our meeting spot.”
Riley sighed and prepared to move. Then he stopped. Cobalt had told him once that he let people push him around too much, that if he ever wanted to be respected, then he should stand up for himself. It seemed to work for Cobalt okay. So Riley took a deep breath, stared down at Gabe and said:
“No.”
There was a moment of silent surprise as everyone blinked and looked from Riley to Gabe. Gabriel raised his eyebrows in surprise before his expression darkened and he took a step closer to the taller boy. “I don’t like it when people tell me no,” He informed Riley, his voice dangerous and quiet. “So why don’t you do as I say… and get lost.”
Riley swallowed hard, “No. You have everywhere else to sit. I—I don’t have to do what you say.”
Gabe looked momentarily livid, then his face smoothed out. “If that’s your decision.” He shrugged, glancing at Reese and Lala, who looked threatening. “It’s just not a very good one.”
“Oh, I dunno. Seems like a pretty good idea to me.”
Riley turned around to see an older boy standing behind him, arms crossed across his chest with a smirk on his face. Riley recognized him as Stephen, a boy who was friends with Sean. He glanced over at Riley and gave him a little wink. Riley blushed.
“I mean,” Stephen continued sauntering down to the group, casually standing between Riley and Gabe, “Why should he listen to you? You’re just some… short dude with a giant posse. Big deal.” Gabe’s expression darkened, and his friends looked livid. Riley looked over at Stephen with wide eyes. No one besides his friends had ever stood up for him before.
And speaking of friends. Riley scanned the field to see that Cobalt was walking out of his classroom. He hadn’t seen them yet. Riley stared at his friend’s small form, praying that he notice. He didn’t look up, but someone else took notice of the rising tension of the group. Sean, who was probably looking for Stephen, happened to glance over to see them. With a frown, Sean walked over, slinging his backpack over his shoulder. At the same moment, Cobalt finally caught Riley’s eye and started jogging over, concern on his angular face.
“Hello Gabe.” Sean greeted coolly, eyeing the other boy with suspicion. “What’s going on?”
Gabe looked from Stephen to Riley to Sean, then narrowed his eyes. “Nothing much,” He said lightly, a small smile on his face, “Just talking to Stephen and… I’m sorry, what was your name again?” He smirked, finally noticing Cobalt approaching them, a scowl directed at Gabriel. “Anyways, I should go.” He glanced at Riley, “Your little…friend gets on my nerves. See ya around.” And with a final cool glance at Riley, he sauntered away.
Riley let loose a sigh of relief as Cobalt caught up to them. “What happened? Are you okay?” He asked, looking from person to person.
“Riley here told Gabe and his band of losers to go to hell.” Stephen said, grinning broadly at Riley, who blushed to the tips of his ears. Cobalt’s eyebrows shot up in surprise.
“Whoa. Really?” He looked at Riley, impressed and a little concerned. Riley smiled shyly and rubbed the back of his neck.
“No, not—not really.” He smiled up at Stephen, “I was probably going to get beat up if it weren’t for Stephen.”
Stephen looked a little proud of himself, but grinned amiably at Riley. “Naah. You coulda taken ‘em. I woulda just been backup.”
Riley blushed darker and shuffled his feet. Sean and Cobalt both grinned. “Well, thanks, Stephen.” Cobalt said, nodding at the older boy with a small, reserved smile on his face, “Good to know he’s got backup.”
Stephen grinned back, hooking his thumbs into the belt loops of his jeans. “No problem.” He glanced over at Sean, then back at Riley, “So. I have to go to class soon. I’ll see you around?” He was talking to Riley; Cobalt looked between the two with a quiet grin. Riley flushed and stared at his feet. “Y-yeah. Okay.”
“Awesome!” Stephen punched Riley on the arm. “See ya later!” Then, he and Sean walked away. Sean waved briefly to Cobalt and Riley. Cobalt didn’t respond; Riley was too flustered to do anything but flap a long arm vaguely.
When the two boys were gone, Riley noticed Cobalt looking up at him with a weird grin on his face. “What?” Riley asked, his face still hot.
Cobalt snickered, “Nothing. Let’s go get some lunch.”
-
At lunch, and with some prompting from Cobalt, Riley regaled the rest of the group with the story of what had happened. Elaine beamed at him.
“That was really nice of Stephen, to do something like that.” She said, taking a bite of her sandwich. She looked momentarily troubled, “I don’t like Gabe and his band of creeps. ‘Specially Paulo. He freaks me out more than the twins.” She shivered, staring at her plate. Paulo had only ever talked with Elaine once, but whatever he said to her upset her so much that she spent the rest of the day crying in the bathroom. Riley remembered that day. That had been the first time Cobalt had ever been in a fistfight. To this day, Elaine still wouldn’t tell them what he said.
Riley watched Cobalt scoot closer to Elaine until their shoulders were touching. It must be nice, he mused, to have someone protect you like Cobalt protected Elaine. Even if it probably got annoying sometimes. He smiled slightly and thought of Stephen. Stephen had protected him, and had smiled at him. Everybody liked Stephen, who was funny and popular and liked breaking rules a little more than Riley thought was strictly necessary, but still. The smile on Riley’s lips grew the more he thought of the older boy. He looked up to see Elaine grinning at him knowingly. He smiled back bashfully. Elaine always seemed to know everything.
“Hey, where’s Josh?” Riley asked, just noticing the absence of the other boy. Elaine shrugged and Cobalt rolled his eyes at his sandwich.
“Probably talking to Sean.” He muttered, making a silly voice at Sean’s name. Elaine elbowed him hard in the side. “Ow!” He rubbed his side, wincing, “Hey, it’s not my fault Josh is all googly-eyed over Sean and won’t do anything about it! No accounting for taste anyways…” He trailed off, ducking away from Elaine’s attacking elbow with a grin on his face, “Okay! Okay! I give! Don’t kill me.”
“Oh, there he is.” Elaine pointed to the lunch line. “And you were right, Cobalt. He is talking to Sean.”
Riley gave Cobalt a sympathetic look as Cobalt pouted into his food. The younger boy always had a harder time making friends than the rest of them, even Riley himself, and Riley suspected that his nastiness was more reflexive and defensive than naturally inherent. As far as Riley could tell, there was no discernable reason Cobalt should dislike Sean. But there was something about Sean that made Cobalt uncomfortable, and that made the smaller boy act… well, like a jerk. It got annoying sometimes, but Riley liked Cobalt, so it wasn’t too much of a problem.
“Hope he doesn’t invite Sean over…” Cobalt mumbled, looking irritated.
“Of course he will, why wouldn’t he?” Elaine sighed, looking aggravated, “And when he does, you’re gonna be nice, right?” She glared daggers at him, “You’re not gonna hurt his feelings are you?”
Cobalt sighed, poking at his sandwich. “…No…” He mumbled, his angular face sulky.
“That’s right.” Elaine said, smirking. She patted her friend on the back. “You’re a good friend, Coby.”
Cobalt flushed a little and the small smile that grew on his face made Riley smile in return. Secretly, Riley wasn’t all that sure that Cobalt wasn’t a little bit in love with Elaine, even though they both had assured him that wasn’t the case. Riley eyed Josh’s progression in line. The bespectacled boy had been the object of his attention for a while. He was cute, and he was smart and… not interested in Riley at all. He liked Riley, of that the taller boy was sure, but he didn’t like Riley. He liked Sean. And sometimes it was really tempting to join Cobalt in his dislike of the older boy. But that wouldn’t be very fair to Sean. He’d never been on the receiving end of Cobalt’s ire, but he imagined it must be annoying enough. Having another person disliking you for silly reasons would be terrible.
Riley looked a little surprised when Sean waved goodbye to Josh without following him to their table. Josh looked just as surprised and a little disappointed. Riley nodded his head in Josh’s direction. “Well, I guess Sean needed to go somewhere else.” His friends turned their heads to see Sean smile one last time at Josh before leaving the cafeteria.
Cobalt blinked, looking taken aback. “Oh.” He said awkwardly, “Okay then.” He was quiet as Josh took a seat next to Riley. Elaine looked over at Josh.
“Sean have somewhere else to be?” She asked, taking another bite of her sandwich.
“Hm? Oh. Yeah.” Josh nodded, pushing up his glasses, “He had to do some studying for a test next class. He went to the library.” He glanced over at Riley, “He said something about running into you and Gabe’s crew. Is everything okay?”
Riley flushed with pleasure at the concern in his friend’s voice. “Oh. Yeah, everything’s okay. Sean and Stephen helped me out.”
“Stephen helped.” Cobalt informed Josh curtly, munching on some chips, “Sean said like… two words.”
“Still.” Riley said, giving Cobalt a little grin, “Sean did help. You were there, you saw.”
Josh looked at Cobalt. “You were there too?”
Cobalt shrugged, “Only at the end of it. Stephen basically told them to go to hell. It was cool.” He pushed another handful of chips in his mouth. “I like Stephen.” He announced, his words garbled around half-chewed chips.
Elaine made a face, “I’m glad. Could you at least have waited until you were done chewing to make that announcement?” Cobalt responded by sticking out his tongue, bits of half-chewed chip on his tongue. Elaine smacked him hard on the arm as he laughed. “Ew!” She yelled, half-laughing, half-shrieking. “You are such a boy, you disgusting… creature!”
“…Wait, you like Stephen, but you don’t like Sean?” Josh looked confused, “But Sean helped Riley too!”
“Yeah, but Stephen was funnier about it.” Cobalt shrugged, rubbing his arm where Elaine had smacked him.
Josh sighed, throwing up his hands. “You don’t make any sense…” He muttered exasperatedly.
“I do so make sense.” Cobalt replied matter-of-factly, “You don’t make sense.”
“How do I not--”
“Anyways!” Elaine’s firm voice interrupted the boys’ squabbling. Riley snickered quietly. “You boys are so dumb, why--”
“Hey Elaine.”
Everyone turned to see Marcus smiling at Elaine. Elaine blushed a happy pink and ran a nervous hand through her blonde hair. “Hi Marcus.” Her voice was even different when she talked to Marcus, Riley realized; it was much more shy and quiet. Not at all the slightly bossy, confident, motherly tone she used on them. Riley supposed that was what love did to you: changed you around so that you were different with that one person. It sounded romantic, at least.
Marcus flashed the rest of the table a grin before setting his eyes back on Elaine. “D’you mind if I sit with you?”
“No!” Elaine said without hesitation. She blushed, “I—I mean. No, I don’t mind.” She glanced pleadingly at the other boys, lingering on Cobalt, “We don’t mind, right?”
Josh and Riley readily agreed, making their greetings to the older boy. Cobalt was quiet, and for a moment, Riley thought he was either going to leave or try and make Marcus leave. But the younger boy looked over at Elaine’s pleading expression and sighed. “I don’t mind if you sit with us, Marcus.” He said quietly, clearly trying to fix his expression to something more friendly. He turned his blue eyes to Riley, who grinned at him encouragingly. Elaine beamed at him.
“Awesome.” Marcus said, sliding in next to Elaine. “So how’s classes for you guys?”
“Oh, fine.” Josh responded, after a short awkward silence. “You?”
“Fine.” Marcus responded. And then more silence. All the occupants looked from one to the other, waiting for someone to break the silence. Riley fiddled with his chips wrapper while Josh tapped his fingers on the table and Cobalt glared at his tray. Elaine bit her lip, clearly looking for a way to re-start the conversation.
“So you guys looking forward to the dance at the end of the month?” Marcus asked finally.
“Oh, sure.” Josh said, nodding readily, “It should be lots of fun. D’you know where it’s gonna be?”
“Probably in the gymnasium.” Riley supplied quietly, glancing over to look at the other boy, “I think that’s where they held the one last year. Does anyone remember?”
“Yeah, I think you’re right.” Cobalt nodded, his voice subdued and careful. Riley figured he was trying really hard to not say anything mean. “I remember something like that.”
“Oh, did you go last year?” Marcus asked, raising his eyebrows at Cobalt.
Cobalt gave him an incredulous look. “…No. Why would I go last year?”
Marcus looked surprised. “You just said you remembered it being at the gym.”
“Doesn’t mean I went.” Cobalt shot back, his voice exasperated. Riley winced, pretty sure this wasn’t going to go well. “I just remembered it from reading a flyer about it in the school paper.”
“You remember where a dance was, that you didn’t even go to, by reading a flyer about it. A year ago.” Marcus stared at Cobalt like he thought the smaller boy was the weirdest thing he’d ever seen. Cobalt shifted in his seat, glaring defensively.
“Yeah. So?”
Marcus snorted, grinning in what Riley supposed was a friendly manner. “That’s pretty weird, bro. You have a photographic memory or something?”
“No.” Cobalt muttered, “Just like remembering stuff.”
“Did you come to Hammel for academics? Or… art or what?” Marcus asked, apropos of very little, as far as Riley could tell.
Cobalt stared at him icily, “You asking me? Or all of us?”
Marcus waved his hand dismissively, “Sure, all of you.”
Josh looked at the group. “I think…we’re all academics, right? Riley’s some kind of science genius. Cobalt, Elaine, and me just scored really high on that placement test they make all the kids take.” Josh looked at Cobalt, “He didn’t even wanna go.” Cobalt rolled his eyes at Josh, who looked exasperated, “What? It’s not like you make it a secret or something.”
“Why didn’t you wanna go?” Marcus asked, scrutinizing Cobalt, “What’s the problem with Hammel?”
“None of your business.” Cobalt snapped. Riley could tell he was at the end of his patience with Marcus. And that Marcus was apparently at the end of his patience with Cobalt.
“Hey, look.” Marcus scowled, “Don’t be such a dick. I don’t know what your problem is, but you better quit it.”
Cobalt looked up at him, eyes challenging. “Or what?”
Elaine leaned in between the scowling boys. “Okay, that’s enough here.” She sighed, rubbing her forehead. “Marcus, we can go sit outside, if you want.”
Marcus glared at Cobalt, who matched it with one of his own. Finally, Marcus stood up, “Yeah, sure. Let’s go, Elaine.” He grabbed up his tray and walked away. Elaine rolled her eyes, staring down at Cobalt hopelessly.
“Well…” She made a helpless gesture, “I appreciate that you tried, I guess.” And she turned to follow Marcus.
There was a silence, then Josh sighed: “Well, I guess that could have gone worse, right?”
His comment startled a laugh out of both Riley and Cobalt. The younger boy rested his chin in his hands and sighed. Riley felt for him; sometimes he forgot how hard it was for Cobalt to act nice. Especially to people he didn’t like. “Yeah.” Riley agreed quietly, “That coulda gone much worse. You coulda hit him.”
“Guess that’s true.” Cobalt sighed, “I woulda gotten suspended from going into town again. That woulda sucked.”
Riley nodded in agreement. Josh sighed, “I knew getting boyfriends was gonna mess up our group. Guess we’re gonna have to get used to Marcus bein’ around, huh?”
“Guess so.” Cobalt replied glumly.
-
It was Saturday. Finally. Cobalt sighed contentedly, tucking his knees under his chin, settling against the branch of a tree. All of his friends were away for the long weekend, taking the opportunity to visit families. Cobalt had made his excuses and prepared himself for a quiet weekend by perching himself up his favorite oak tree and settling in for the afternoon. Under his perch, he watched as a tiny blonde girl wandered over to sit against the tree trunk. Humming to herself, she pulled out a sketchpad and began to draw. Leaning over in his perch, Cobalt squinted down at her. She looked young, far younger than the usual student at Hammel, with blonde hair in two braids and a baby face. He was about to call down to her to introduce himself when Jesse, Fifi and Jahel sidled up to her.
She looked up warily before asking, “Can I help you guys?” Her voice was high and painfully young. Cobalt shifted his position on his branch into a crouch, ready to spring.
“Actually,” Fifi drawled, playing with the end of her short skirt, “We figured we’d help you…”
“Yeah, you looked a little out of place. Just for your information, the preschool’s down that way.” Jesse sneered, pointing over his shoulder.
The little girl stood up; she was shorter even than Cobalt. “I’m s’pposed to be here.” She informed them matter-of-factly, “I look young ‘cause I’m nine. So go away and mind your own business.” Fifi snorted and Jahel looked bored, but Jesse scowled.
“Hey, watch how you talk to me!” He lashed out and pushed the girl off her feet. Before Cobalt could react, the girl pushed herself up and delivered Jesse a swift kick to the shin. When he doubled over, she returned the favor by pushing him to the ground.
“Don’t push me around.” She warned them with a scowl on her baby face.
Jahel took a threatening step towards her, but Cobalt had seen enough. He dropped from the tree down in front of Jahel and punched him straight in the face. He didn’t see any point in wasting time with Jahel. The older boy was dangerous, Cobalt just knew it. The little blonde girl glanced over at Cobalt for a moment before turning back to Jesse, her small fists raised. Cobalt left his loose at his hides as he watched Jahel regain his footing. The older boy glared coldly at Cobalt, who returned it in kind.
“All right, down boys.” Fifi’s drawl cut through their concentration. “Leave the kids alone.” She slid between Jahel and Cobalt and gave the younger boy a sly, crooked smile. “They’re not worth the trouble. She reached over and stroked the side of Cobalt’s face with one slim finger. Cobalt jerked away, scowling. Fifi smirked, “Maybe in a year.” She turned to Jahel and Jesse, “C’mon, let’s get outta here.”
When they were gone, the little blonde turned to Cobalt, hands on her hips, “I didn’t need help, y’know. You shoulda just let me take ‘em.”
Cobalt looked down at her and a small grin grew across his face, “What? And let you have all the fun? Word of advice though: next time you go for Jesse, just get ‘im in the crotch.” Cobalt grinned wider as the little girl giggled.
She held out a hand with a smile, “I’m Leila Gold. Nice to meetcha.”
Cobalt smiled back, shaking her hand, “Cobalt Weaver. Good to meet you too.”
“I’m new here,” Leila explained, gathering up her stuff. “I just got here a few days ago.”
Cobalt nodded at Leila’s sketchpad, “For art?”
She shook her head proudly, “Academics. I took the test they make people take early and I got in. My parents were really proud and stuff.”
Cobalt’s eyebrows shot up, “Academics? And you’re nine?” He whistled, “That’s impressive.”
Leila grinned, turning a little pink, “Thanks. What’re you in for?”
“Academics as well,” Cobalt replied, “But I got in last year when I was eleven.”
Leila nodded, then glanced up at the tree. “What were you doin’ up there anyways? Spyin’ on people?”
Cobalt shrugged, putting his hands in his pockets, “Just sittin’. Most of my friends are home for the weekend.”
Leila eyed him, “But not you?”
Cobalt shrugged again, more uncomfortably this time, “No. Not me.”
Leila scrutinized him for a moment longer before shrugging. “Okay then. Hey… would you mind…showing me around?” She looked up at him a little shyly, “Hammel’s so big and I get lost already.”
Cobalt smiled at her, “Sure, no problem. Where are you dorming?”
Leila pointed, “The all-girls wing. D’you know where the science room… 203 is? That’s on Monday, and I can’t find it.” She looked a little frustrated. Cobalt nodded.
“Sure. And don’t worry about getting lost. Everyone does.” He walked down the pathway, Leila bouncing after him, “I couldn’t find half my classes the first day.”
“Yeah… still. Makes me feel stupid. An’ people are gonna treat me different ‘cause I’m little.” Leila muttered, looking exasperated at the ground.
Cobalt snorted, “Not after the first few days. ‘Sides, you can hang out with us, if you want. We won’t treat you different.”
Leila looked up at him in surprise, “Okay. That’d be pretty cool. You wouldn’t mind hanging out with a nine-year-old?”
Cobalt shrugged, “Nah. But I have to warn you that aside from my friend Elaine, we’re not all that… cool.”
Leila mirrored Cobalt’s shrug, “Whatever. As long as you guys won’t talk to me like I’m a little kid.” She glared at him challengingly. Cobalt smiled at her.
“Don’t worry. We’ll have your back.” He reassured her, nudging her shoulder gently, “That’s what we do.”
“’Cause if you don’t, then nobody will, right?” She looked up at him far more knowingly than a nine-year-old should look. Cobalt let out a surprised laugh.
“Yeah. Exactly.”
Leila considered his words, then smiled up at him. “Kay. Then I’ll have your back too. And your friends’, when I meet them.”
Cobalt laughed again, smiling back, “Sounds like a plan.”
---------------------------------------------------
In Pilot Ridge, Vermont, there was an institute called Hammel. An institute designed for special children. Children who were different; children who had nowhere else to go; who needed somewhere to call home. In one universe, Hammel Institute opened its doors to scared children with extraordinary powers; in another, Hammel Institute is a home for troubled children. In another universe, it is a mental Institution; and in another, an orphanage. In some universes Hammel doesn’t even exist, and children have to find somewhere else to go. In this universe, there are no superhuman abilities and the word “metahuman” is a nonsense word.
However, in this universe, there is a Hammel Institute.
In this universe, it is a school founded by Martin Hammel, a wealthy philanthropist who wanted to see children from all backgrounds get an excellent education. Regardless of race, creed, color, background, or finances, if a child shows aptitude at something—be it art, drama, academia, sports—they will get the opportunity to go to school at Hammel Institute with either a greatly reduced tuition or for absolutely free. In every universe Hammel exists, it exists to help children. This universe is no exception.
-
It was the late morning hours and a boy who was little in every sense of the word walked down the halls of Hammel, the worn-down ends of his too-long pant legs swishing as he walked with his head down, his thin face scowling slightly. He stopped finally at a large oak door, his blue eyes looking up to read the placard by the door: Dr. Albert Giles- psychiatrist. He sighed heavily, then knocked loudly on the door, waiting for the call to enter.
When it was given, he pushed open the door, poking his head into the large office. “I’m here for my appointment, Dr. Giles,” He said, his voice coldly polite.
Dr. Giles was a graying man of 58, with a kind smile and a stern, take-no-nonsense stare. He had been at the Institute almost since its infancy, and was regarded by most as the grandfather of the school; someone who could be trusted and confided in. By most. Dr. Giles gave the thin-faced boy his kind smile and gestured to the seat opposite his desk.
“Yes, Cobalt, I know. Take a seat, won’t you?”
Cobalt hesitated a moment, giving Dr. Giles a suspicious look designed to succinctly communicate his displeasure at being called here, before walking in and quietly shutting the door. The boy sat in the indicated chair and stared at the older man, his blue eyes cold and distrusting. Dr. Giles sighed; a twelve-year-old shouldn’t be capable of a thousand yard stare. It was just a little depressing. He gestured to the open bowl of candy at the edge of his desk closest to the boy, “Well, go on then. I know you want some.”
Cobalt eyed the jar, then Dr. Giles before a bony hand whipped out of his jacket and snatched out a few pieces. “Thank you, sir.” The boy said dutifully, before putting the candies in his mouth. Candy seemed to calm Cobalt down, which was one of the reasons the older instructor kept candy at his desk. The boy was hard enough to talk to already without having him all wound up on top of it.
“So, shall we get started?” Dr. Giles asked pleasantly, folding his hands on his desk, “I assume you know why you’re here.” Cobalt was exceptionally bright, and Dr. Giles had already made the mistake of patronizing the boy once before.
Cobalt gave an exasperated face that looked comical on a tiny twelve-year-old. “I… alarmed Mrs. Raetherson yesterday.” He said the words with vague contempt, clearly quoting the statement, “She thinks I’m troubled.”
“Well,” Dr. Giles sighed, “You’ve been here a year already, and yet you still don’t seem very happy. I know your transition here was hard on you, but you have to understand how troubling it is to our staff to see a child not happy despite our best efforts.”
There was a silence on Cobalt’s end as the boy chewed on the inside of his lip. “That’s not it,” He said finally, looking up at Dr. Giles, “She thinks I’m gonna be a sociopath. I heard her talking with Professor Deri at lunch after class. I know what a sociopath is, you know. I looked it up. She thinks I’m gonna… blow up the school or something stupid like that.” Cobalt glanced down at the candy wrapper in his hand, his face expressionless.
Dr. Giles sighed inwardly. He had no idea where Cobalt would have heard this, but the boy had never lied to him before, and this was far from his first meeting with him. “Well, she shouldn’t have said that. And--”
“You can ask.” Cobalt looked up at him with a small, humorless grin on his face, “I know you want to. You wanna know if I would, if I could. Blow up the school, I mean.” He rolled his eyes, looking much older than twelve for a split moment, “Well, I wouldn’t. I don’t wanna hurt people. But I’m allowed to be unhappy.”
Dr. Giles nodded, “Well, I don’t deny that. But I wonder why you would want to.”
Cobalt shrugged, “I’m not always unhappy. Just most of the time.” He looked up at the instructor, his blue eyes dark, “Can I go now? I won’t freak out Mrs. Raetherson anymore. I’ll work on it.”
Dr. Giles sighed. He knew better than to push it with this boy. When he didn’t want to talk anymore, there was nothing on earth that could make him. “Of course, Cobalt. Have a good day.”
“You too sir.” Cobalt stood up readily, putting his hands in his pockets and walking out the door. The old instructor sighed then, rubbing his tired eyes.
“Well, Elaine and Joshua.” He sighed, an affectionately exasperated grin in place, “I leave him in your hands again. Good luck.”
-
When Cobalt shuffled down the steps into the courtyard, a smiling blonde girl sitting on a bench by a pond waved him down. He smiled genuinely for the first time that day and walked over to her, careful not to trip over his pant legs. He pushed his glasses up his nose and sat next to her.
“Hi Lainey.” He greeted her with shy affection, “Whatcha doin’ up so early? Thought you didn’t have class today til later.”
“I don’t.” She reached into her backpack and handed him a small paper bag that crinkled in her hand, “I heard from Josh that you had another meeting with Dr. Giles.” She gave him an exasperated look, “So I brought you a scone from the cafeteria. I knew you’d be cranky afterward. You’re always cranky.” She rolled her eyes as she nudged his shoulder with his affectionately. He grinned lopsidedly and took the bag from her.
“Thanks.” He mumbled, reaching in and taking a large bite out of the scone. Chocolate, delicious. “Hey Laine?” He asked, his mouth full of scone, “D’you think I’m crazy?”
Elaine rolled her eyes, “I don’t, but I don’t blame people for thinking you are. You act kinda crazy.”
“Just ‘cause I’m annoyed lots doesn’t mean I’m crazy.” Cobalt muttered scowling at his feet. Elaine put a motherly arm around his shoulders.
“Blue, that’s not what I mean.” She sighed, “I dunno, maybe if you smiled more and weren’t so negative and didn’t sit in the shadows so much, people would like you more.”
“I don’t care if people don’t like me.” Cobalt glared at her, “I only care if some people like me. And the people I care about already like me, so what’s the problem?”
Elaine sighed, “You asked, Blue. I’m just tellin’ ya the truth.” She smiled at him wistfully, shaking her head, “Maybe we just wanna see you happy once and a while.”
Cobalt chewed on his scone, “When’s Josh’s class out?”
Elaine checked her watch, “Like, now. I dunno where he is.”
As if on cue, a crowd of students burst out of the main building, a few groups trickling into the courtyard. Cobalt nudged Elaine with his elbow. “Hey, do that thing you do.” He looked at her pleadingly, “Please? It’s so cool.”
Elaine sighed, smiling a little, “Oh all right.” She scanned the crowd for a moment, before pointing to an older couple holding hands. “See them? She’s cheating on him. She can’t look him in the eyes and is holding his hand extra tight. She loves him, but she doesn’t love him enough. Her eyes don’t dilate when she sees him anymore, and her smile is tilted, therefore forced, because it’s engaging different muscles. And you see that boy over there? I think his name is James.” She pointed to a tall, gangly boy talking to another blond boy. He looked a little miffed. Elaine smiled, “He’s currently dating what’s-her-name, but it won’t work out.”
Cobalt was watching her raptly, “Why not?”
“Because he’s in love with that guy. I think his name is Chase. He hangs around Sean and all those other people you dislike for no reason.” She gave him a teasing grin, “But no, you can see that body language? Totally in love. And that guy over there?” She pointed to a rather posh-looking older boy, “He’s not from around here, because his shoes aren’t from a brand that’s sold here and his passport is sticking out of his coat pocket. He seems like a good person though. I can just tell.” Elaine laughed then, “And that guy is a hopeless space cadet with his backpack hanging open.” She pointed over to a bespectacled boy who was stumbling towards them with a distracted smile on his face.
Cobalt laughed, waving, “Yup. There’s Josh.”
“What about me?” Josh stumbled over his untied shoelace, spilling his backpack out onto the sidewalk. “Oh darnit.” He mumbled, sighing and bending over to pick up his papers. Cobalt and Elaine knelt down to help him.
“I was gonna say that your backpack is open,” Elaine giggled, “But you found that out good enough.”
“Yeah, well…” Josh sighed, “I was a little distracted…”
“Talking to Sean,” Elaine smiled, saying the older boy’s name in singsong. Josh blushed.
“Okay, so maybe I was, I don’t know why that’s a big deal. We’re friends. That’s what friends do.” Josh muttered defensively as he zipped up his backpack. Cobalt made a face.
“I don’t know why you like Sean so much anyways.” Cobalt sighed, slinging his own backpack over his shoulder, “He always acts like he knows everything.”
“That’s ‘cause he does!” Josh said with a tone of surprise, as though it were common knowledge, “Well… okay, maybe not everything, because that would be impossible, but he’s pretty smart, Cobalt. He’s probably smarter than you.”
“That’s ‘cause he’s older than me, dummy.” Cobalt snapped, pushing his glasses up his nose, “’Course he’s gonna be smarter than me. He’s been going to school longer than me. And I know plenty of stuff, doesn’t mean I go around trying to teach people who don’t wanna learn it.”
Josh looked confused, “Sean doesn’t do that. And besides, everyone else likes him, I don’t know why you don’t. He hasn’t done anything to you.”
Cobalt mumbled something incoherent, and Elaine sighed. “Anyways,” She said, changing the subject with finality, “Let’s go get breakfast. I think Mr. Cranky over here should eat more than a scone if he wants to have friends by the end of the day.”
Cobalt glared at her, but Josh interrupted whatever he was going to say. “I agree!” He announced to the world at large, “Let’s go get some breakfast!” He smiled at the both of them and the other two couldn’t help but grin back.
“Did anyone track down Riley?” Cobalt asked as they made their way to the cafeteria. Both his companions shook their heads.
“No, but he’s not exactly hard to miss.” Elaine giggled affectionately at the thought of the other boy.
“No,” Josh agreed, “He’s a giant!”
“Lucky…” Cobalt muttered, kicking a rock with his shoe. Elaine giggled again, slinging an arm around both her friends.
“Don’t worry, Coby.” She smiled at him, “I’m sure you’ll hit your growth spurt someday.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Cobalt muttered, “Don’t call me Coby.”
“There he is!” Josh pointed to a tall, lanky figure slouched over in a chair at the far end of the cafeteria. “Riley!” At the other boy’s call, Riley jumped, then looked over to catch their gaze. He returned their waves with a small one of his own and a shy smile. Elaine sighed; Riley was a gentle giant through and through. It was why she and her friends loved him so much. “I’ve already eaten, I’ll go sit with Riley, you guys go and get your food and we’ll save you seats.” Plans made, the trio separated and Elaine walked across the cafeteria to sit next to Riley.
“Oh hi, Elaine.” Riley said, grinning at the girl, “Are you just saying hi or are you guys gonna sit here with me…?” He trailed off, looking hopeful.
“Of course we’re gonna sit here with you.” Elaine smiled, “Don’t be silly. The boys are just getting their breakfasts. I already ate.”
Riley brightened, “Okay! Is—is Josh with you?” He blushed brightly at his question, eyeing Elaine shyly.
Elaine beamed, “As a matter of fact, yes he is. He’s probably gonna end up paying for some portion of Cobalt’s meal, as a matter of fact. Cobalt never really has enough.” She sighed wryly before turning back to the other boy, “Don’t tell him I said that. It makes him uncomfortable.”
Riley nodded eagerly, “My lips are sealed.” He mimed zipping his lips, locking them and throwing away the key. Elaine giggled.
The other two returned shortly after, throwing their greetings to Riley. Riley smiled sheepishly, returning their hellos. He stared at Josh, his brown eyes nervous. “Uh… hey Josh?”
“Mmm?” Josh mumbled, mouth full of pancake. Cobalt rolled his eyes.
“Uh…” Riley was twisting a napkin in his hands, “S-so there’s a…uh. There’s a school dance happening at the end of the month and…”
Josh looked surprised, “Is there? Whoa, no way.” He looked thoughtful, “D’you think it’d be weird if I asked Sean if he was going? As a friend, you know.”
At his words, Riley wilted, disappointment written all over his features. Elaine sighed lightly, giving Riley a sympathetic look. Cobalt slapped his head in his hands and groaned loudly. “Josh, you are dumber than a box of rocks.” The other boy informed his friend. Josh looked affronted and confused. “What? What did I do this time?”
But any sort of explanation was lost when someone off to Elaine’s left said, “Hey, Elaine? Can I hang with you guys for a sec?”
All four turned to see a good-looking brown-haired boy a year or so older than them. Elaine smiled and blushed lightly, “S-sure Marcus. You can sit next to me, if you want.”
Marcus smiled broadly, “Awesome.” He slid into the seat next to her. Across from him, Cobalt sat, giving the boy a deadly glare. “Uhh…” Marcus looked nervously from Elaine, who was smiling at him bashfully, to Cobalt, who was promising death with his eyes. “Am I interrupting something here?”
“No!” Elaine kicked Cobalt in the shins under the table. Hard. “What—what did you wanna talk about?” She brushed a strand of blonde hair behind her ear nervously.
“Well.” Marcus ran a hand through his brown hair, looking a little sheepish, “The dance is at the end of the month and I was wondering if… y’know. You wanted to go. With me. I think it’d be pretty cool.” Elaine’s entire face brightened, and Cobalt sighed loudly, pinching the bridge of his nose in a gesture of exasperation he’d seen frequently from adults. It seemed apt to the situation. Marcus raised an eyebrow, “Uh… but not if I’m infringing on your territory, little man.”
“What?” Cobalt snapped, giving Marcus an incredulous look, “Elaine isn’t a piece of land, you--”
“What he means is,” Elaine interrupted, giving Cobalt another swift kick to the shins, “Is that Cobalt has absolutely no right to object to this.” She gave Cobalt a stern look, “We are not, nor have we ever, dated.” She turned to Marcus with a bright, excited smile on her face, “I would really like to go with you though.”
Marcus grinned, “Awesome. So we’ll hang out later then?” At Elaine’s breathless agreement, Marcus stood up, “Okay cool. See you guys later.” He gave Cobalt a little wave, “See ya, little buddy.”
Cobalt gritted his teeth and made to stand up. Riley grabbed his shoulder and pushed him down. “Don’t do it, Cobalt.” The taller boy said gently, “You’ll get detention again.”
“Oh for the love of…” Elaine threw her hands up in the air, “Will you just be happy for me, Cobalt?”
“No.” Cobalt said shortly, “Because for all your… ESP or whatever it is you have, you can’t see that this guy is just a total jerk.”
“He is not!” Elaine was growing pink with anger, “He was just being nice, he doesn’t know your stupid problem with being short!”
“That is not the point!” Cobalt was turning red also, “The point is, he doesn’t like you like you like him.”
“That doesn’t make any sense,” Elaine snapped coldly, “He asked me to the dance.”
“Of course he asked you to the dance.” Cobalt sighed exasperatedly, “Why wouldn’t he? You’re smart, you’re pretty, and you’re funny. He just wants to go with you because you’re pretty and everyone likes you. He doesn’t wanna date you or anything.”
“Oh, and how would you know that?” Elaine demanded, standing up. Her eyes were shining with tears, “You’ve never liked anyone in your entire life. Not really, anyways.” And with that, she stormed away, leaving the boys thunderstruck.
After a moment, Josh cleared his throat, “I’m… gonna go to class.” He looked helplessly at Cobalt, “Save you a seat?”
“Yeah, okay.” Cobalt said quietly, staring at his half-eaten breakfast. When Josh left, Riley sighed, giving Cobalt a sympathetic stare.
“You could just apologize, you know.” He said gently, “She just--”
“No.” Cobalt said shortly, “I’m not gonna apologize. Because I’m right. If she wants to be stupid and get her heart broken, then that’s her business.” He shrugged, getting out of his seat and picking up his tray. “See you later, Riley.” He mumbled, turning and walking away. Riley watched the smaller boy slouch away with a concerned look on his face. The thirteen-year-old sighed and slung his backpack over his shoulder. What a terrible Monday.
-
“…And now I’m gonna separate you out into your groups for your projects. Now remember, you get to do a project on your section of To Kill a Mockingbird and…” Cobalt didn’t pay much attention to the project in general; it was a fairly basic project: pick out main characters, find basic color symbolism, talk about what happened in your section and how it was important to the rest of the story. Easy. He didn’t need two other people to talk about it with him, but he hoped he would get paired up with Josh. He was feeling miserable after his fight with Elaine, and wanted someone to talk to.
“…Cobalt Weaver, Joshua Bernstein…”
Awesome.
“…Sean Neville…”
Less awesome.
He and Josh were both in an accelerated English class, so there was a mixing of ages, which unfortunately led to the presence of a one Sean Neville: second on Cobalt’s list of People He Disliked. The first was Marcus.
Josh was positively beaming as he bounced over to Cobalt’s seat. “This is gonna be great.” He smiled over his horn-rimmed glasses, “Maybe if you just worked with Sean, you can see how cool his is.”
“I don’t care how cool he is, Josh.” Cobalt growled, opening his book violently, “I don’t even care about this project. I could do it myself anyways. It’s not that hard.”
Josh looked disappointed and Cobalt felt worse. “Whatever,” Cobalt muttered, pulling the open book up to fill his vision, “Am I moving over there, or is he moving over here?”
“I’m fine with coming over here.” Sean’s voice hovered over Cobalt’s left shoulder. He sighed and looked up to see Sean smiling amiably, “I figured it was less moving for everyone else.”
Josh beamed, looking over at Cobalt hopefully. Figuring that losing all his friends before lunch would really suck, Cobalt lowered the book from his face. “Thanks. Maybe we should start on characters in our section.”
Sean frowned lightly, tilting his head down to examine Cobalt closer. “Are you okay, Cobalt? You look a little upset.”
“I hear tell that’s how I always look.” Cobalt muttered, shooting a glare at Sean. Sean looked willing to drop it, but Josh didn’t get the hint.
“He’s upset because he got into a fight with Elaine at breakfast today.” Josh informed the older boy. “Marcus asked Elaine to the dance, and she agreed, but Cobalt doesn’t like him, so they argued.” He looked over at Cobalt, who was glaring daggers at his friend. “What?” Josh looked surprised and confused, “I thought maybe you would want a second opinion!”
“Well, I don’t.” Cobalt snapped. Then he sighed, “Could we just get onto the project, please?”
-
At the end of class, Josh bid Cobalt farewell to go to his next class. Cobalt waved to his friend, then turned to walk down the halls, staring at his worn sneakers.
“Hey, Cobalt!”
At the sound of his name, Cobalt turned to see Sean walking quickly to catch up with him, long legs covering the distance easily without a trace of Riley’s stumbling awkwardness. Cobalt sighed.
“What do you want, Sean?” Cobalt’s voice was flat and his face expressionless.
“I just want to make sure you’re okay.” Sean shrugged, his face kind and understanding, “I don’t want to see a friend of Josh’s so upset, and everyone knows how close you and Elaine are. If you ever want some help or anything--”
“Well, I don’t, thanks.” Cobalt interrupted coldly, “It’s none of your business anyways.”
Sean nodded, the sympathy in his eyes made Cobalt want to punch him. “That’s true. Sorry, I didn’t mean to be nosy or anything. I’ll see you around, okay?”
“Sure.” Cobalt muttered as he slouched away. Truth be told, he could understand why Josh liked Sean so much; the older boy was mature, understanding, and gave off the air of “I know what you’ve been through, and it’ll be okay”. His presence would be rather comforting to someone like Josh.
Cobalt still wanted to punch him in the face.
-
Cobalt didn’t see Elaine at lunch, nor would she meet his eyes in the two classes they shared. Instead, she opted to sit with her other friends, leaving Cobalt to sit by himself by the pond at lunch and at the back of the class in History and Math looking miserable. By the time dinner rolled around, Cobalt wasn’t sure if he wanted to yell, hit something, or be sick. Josh and Riley were eyeing him with concern as he picked at his food.
“You know…” Riley said quietly, “She doesn’t want you to be right or wrong here. She just wants you to apologize for being kinda mean.”
Cobalt shrugged, staring at his macaroni and cheese, “I don’t care.”
Josh opened his mouth to say something, but Riley cut him off with a warning look and a shake of his head. “Okaay…” Josh sighed, “Well, we really should find people to go to the dance with. I mean, I’m probably just gonna go by myself or hang with Sean, but if you guys wanted to go with people, now’s the time to ask.”
Riley picked at his fish sticks. “There’s no one I wanna take,” He replied, shrugging lightly.
“I’m not going.” Cobalt muttered, taking a bite of his macaroni.
“Oh come on!” Josh exclaimed loudly, exasperation written on his face, “You guys at least have to go. I don’t wanna be all by myself.”
“Thought you were gonna hang out with Sean.” Cobalt mumbled darkly through a mouthful of macaroni. Somehow, the preteen was able to glare threateningly with a mouth full to bursting with noodles.
Josh shrugged, oblivious to Cobalt’s looks, “Well yeah, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want you guys to go too.”
Riley smiled at Josh, “I’m still going. It’s just… I’m probably gonna go by myself.”
“We should all just go by ourselves.” Cobalt decided, “What’s the big deal, anyways? We’re all just gonna hang out in one big group anyway. I don’t see why people wanna find someone to go with. It’s just stupid.”
“True.” Josh agreed dubiously, “I guess it’s just more fun going with someone.”
Any further discussion was cut off by an argument in the next table reaching its shouting point. A girl stood up and picked up her tray, eyes bright with unshed tears. “Oh, whatever, James Campbell!” She shouted, “I don’t know why I thought this would work anyways!” And she stormed off, leaving the boy to stare, red-faced, at the table and start cleaning up the food she’d spilled in her haste to leave.
“Well, this has been a fun day.” Josh muttered, shaking his head sympathetically. “I thought they’d be together for a long time.”
“They were together a long time.” Riley said, his brown eyes concerned.
“Well, yeah, but you know what I mean. Longer…” Josh waved his hand in the air.
Cobalt watched as the blond boy that Elaine had mentioned earlier that day joined James at his table. Chase, Cobalt remembered his name being. Chase helped James clean up the table, saying something to make the dark-haired boy crack a watery smile. Cobalt stared at his plate, then looked across the room at Elaine, who was laughing with some girlfriends.
“I’m a lousy friend.” He said finally. His two friends looked up at him in surprise.
“No you’re not!” Riley assured as Josh said, “Why would you say that?”
“Because I wasn’t yelling at Elaine to help her.” Cobalt replied, “I was just mad. I was mean to her.”
Riley smiled sympathetically, “Maybe a little. You gonna apologize?”
“Yeah.” Cobalt sighed, “I’ll wait til after she’s done eating.”
Cobalt waited outside the cafeteria until Elaine had finished. She waved good night to her other friends, then left the cafeteria, not noticing Cobalt standing in the shadows. Cobalt swallowed, the reached out to touch her shoulder. “Hey, Elaine? Can-can I talk to you for a second?”
Elaine jumped, then turned around. When she saw who was talking, her expression grew cold. “Oh. Sure, I guess.”
Cobalt swallowed again, looking down at his shoes. “I…I’m sorry. For being so mean. I…shouldn’ta said what I did.” He looked up at her pleadingly, at a loss for what else to say. Elaine sighed, looking out to her right, thoughtful.
“You really hurt my feelings, Cobalt.” She sounded choked up, “No one wants to hear that the person they like a whole lot wouldn’t ever date them. I mean, why wouldn’t Marcus wanna date me? You think there are prettier girls out there he could date?” She glared at him, her eyes bright.
“No.” Cobalt said honestly, twisting his fingers. This was worse than he thought; he’d made Elaine cry and he felt like the worst person in the world. “I think you’re the nicest, prettiest girl in the world. It’s just… Marcus has done this before. He isn’t big on staying with one girl for too long.”
“And what if you’re wrong?” Elaine challenged, “And he likes me like I like him?”
Cobalt shrugged, “Then you guys can get married and have smiley, blonde babies together for all I care. I just better be invited to the wedding.” He looked at her hopefully, praying for a smile or something to show he was forgiven.
Thankfully, Elaine smiled, rolling her eyes. “You’d be my man of honor, or whatever they’d call it. As long as you were nice.”
“I’d be nice.” Cobalt assured her, “I’d be a really bad brother if I wasn’t nice at his sister’s wedding.” He smiled uncertainly at her, waiting for her response.
“Yeah, and this sister isn’t afraid of punching her brother’s lights out.” Elaine made a fist and waved it at him, grinning. She dropped it and pulled the boy into a hug. “You’re so dumb, Coby.”
“Yeah, well.” Cobalt returned the hug, “You’re smelly. Or something.”
“Yeah? Well, you have cooties.” Elaine wrinkled her nose, laughing loudly. Cobalt grinned broadly, feeling like a weight had been lifted from his chest. They walked back to the dorms arm-in-arm.
-
Riley was relieved to see Elaine and Cobalt back to being friends the next morning at breakfast. Not only because it meant their group could continue on as normal but also…well…Cobalt was a lot nicer when he wasn’t fighting with Elaine.
So breakfast was nicer, and the class that he shared with Elaine was far more fun now that she wasn’t mad at Cobalt. She was far better at hiding her feelings than Cobalt was, but it was still pretty obvious when she was upset. And it made Riley sad too; he really liked his friends, and it always made him upset when his friends were in any way unhappy. He was a natural healer; he’d always known when someone was hurt, where, and how. His affinity for biology and medicine was what brought him to Hammel in the first place. People told him he should be a doctor. He wasn’t sure if that was what he wanted to do when he grew up, but he figured it would be pretty cool. He hoped he was smart enough.
He was sitting crosslegged on the grass, bent over his biology notes (advanced cellular biology. Riley was a prodigy child in the sciences, after all), when a shadow fell over him and his notebook. He looked up, a shy smile already on his face, expecting to see Josh or Cobalt since they also had a free period at this time. The smile fell from his face when he saw that it wasn’t either one of his friends. Gabriel Underwood, an older boy with a handsome face and a cruel smile, stood over him. He was surrounded by his friends: twins named Reese and Lala—students from Brazil who didn’t like anyone but Gabe, a smirking girl in a short dress named Fifi, a boy a year younger than him named Jesse and a quietly unpleasant boy named Paulo. Riley swallowed hard.
“Uh. Hi.” He squinted up at Gabe, his eyes a little blinded by the sun, “Did. Did you guys want anything?” Riley’s eyes scanned the area, looking for allies. There was Sean and a group of his friends standing a little ways off, but they didn’t seem to notice the boy and his impending predicament.
Gabe smirked at him. “I was going to ask you to move. You’re in our spot.” The fourteen year old stared at him coolly, “We’re having a meeting today. You’re in our meeting spot.”
Riley sighed and prepared to move. Then he stopped. Cobalt had told him once that he let people push him around too much, that if he ever wanted to be respected, then he should stand up for himself. It seemed to work for Cobalt okay. So Riley took a deep breath, stared down at Gabe and said:
“No.”
There was a moment of silent surprise as everyone blinked and looked from Riley to Gabe. Gabriel raised his eyebrows in surprise before his expression darkened and he took a step closer to the taller boy. “I don’t like it when people tell me no,” He informed Riley, his voice dangerous and quiet. “So why don’t you do as I say… and get lost.”
Riley swallowed hard, “No. You have everywhere else to sit. I—I don’t have to do what you say.”
Gabe looked momentarily livid, then his face smoothed out. “If that’s your decision.” He shrugged, glancing at Reese and Lala, who looked threatening. “It’s just not a very good one.”
“Oh, I dunno. Seems like a pretty good idea to me.”
Riley turned around to see an older boy standing behind him, arms crossed across his chest with a smirk on his face. Riley recognized him as Stephen, a boy who was friends with Sean. He glanced over at Riley and gave him a little wink. Riley blushed.
“I mean,” Stephen continued sauntering down to the group, casually standing between Riley and Gabe, “Why should he listen to you? You’re just some… short dude with a giant posse. Big deal.” Gabe’s expression darkened, and his friends looked livid. Riley looked over at Stephen with wide eyes. No one besides his friends had ever stood up for him before.
And speaking of friends. Riley scanned the field to see that Cobalt was walking out of his classroom. He hadn’t seen them yet. Riley stared at his friend’s small form, praying that he notice. He didn’t look up, but someone else took notice of the rising tension of the group. Sean, who was probably looking for Stephen, happened to glance over to see them. With a frown, Sean walked over, slinging his backpack over his shoulder. At the same moment, Cobalt finally caught Riley’s eye and started jogging over, concern on his angular face.
“Hello Gabe.” Sean greeted coolly, eyeing the other boy with suspicion. “What’s going on?”
Gabe looked from Stephen to Riley to Sean, then narrowed his eyes. “Nothing much,” He said lightly, a small smile on his face, “Just talking to Stephen and… I’m sorry, what was your name again?” He smirked, finally noticing Cobalt approaching them, a scowl directed at Gabriel. “Anyways, I should go.” He glanced at Riley, “Your little…friend gets on my nerves. See ya around.” And with a final cool glance at Riley, he sauntered away.
Riley let loose a sigh of relief as Cobalt caught up to them. “What happened? Are you okay?” He asked, looking from person to person.
“Riley here told Gabe and his band of losers to go to hell.” Stephen said, grinning broadly at Riley, who blushed to the tips of his ears. Cobalt’s eyebrows shot up in surprise.
“Whoa. Really?” He looked at Riley, impressed and a little concerned. Riley smiled shyly and rubbed the back of his neck.
“No, not—not really.” He smiled up at Stephen, “I was probably going to get beat up if it weren’t for Stephen.”
Stephen looked a little proud of himself, but grinned amiably at Riley. “Naah. You coulda taken ‘em. I woulda just been backup.”
Riley blushed darker and shuffled his feet. Sean and Cobalt both grinned. “Well, thanks, Stephen.” Cobalt said, nodding at the older boy with a small, reserved smile on his face, “Good to know he’s got backup.”
Stephen grinned back, hooking his thumbs into the belt loops of his jeans. “No problem.” He glanced over at Sean, then back at Riley, “So. I have to go to class soon. I’ll see you around?” He was talking to Riley; Cobalt looked between the two with a quiet grin. Riley flushed and stared at his feet. “Y-yeah. Okay.”
“Awesome!” Stephen punched Riley on the arm. “See ya later!” Then, he and Sean walked away. Sean waved briefly to Cobalt and Riley. Cobalt didn’t respond; Riley was too flustered to do anything but flap a long arm vaguely.
When the two boys were gone, Riley noticed Cobalt looking up at him with a weird grin on his face. “What?” Riley asked, his face still hot.
Cobalt snickered, “Nothing. Let’s go get some lunch.”
-
At lunch, and with some prompting from Cobalt, Riley regaled the rest of the group with the story of what had happened. Elaine beamed at him.
“That was really nice of Stephen, to do something like that.” She said, taking a bite of her sandwich. She looked momentarily troubled, “I don’t like Gabe and his band of creeps. ‘Specially Paulo. He freaks me out more than the twins.” She shivered, staring at her plate. Paulo had only ever talked with Elaine once, but whatever he said to her upset her so much that she spent the rest of the day crying in the bathroom. Riley remembered that day. That had been the first time Cobalt had ever been in a fistfight. To this day, Elaine still wouldn’t tell them what he said.
Riley watched Cobalt scoot closer to Elaine until their shoulders were touching. It must be nice, he mused, to have someone protect you like Cobalt protected Elaine. Even if it probably got annoying sometimes. He smiled slightly and thought of Stephen. Stephen had protected him, and had smiled at him. Everybody liked Stephen, who was funny and popular and liked breaking rules a little more than Riley thought was strictly necessary, but still. The smile on Riley’s lips grew the more he thought of the older boy. He looked up to see Elaine grinning at him knowingly. He smiled back bashfully. Elaine always seemed to know everything.
“Hey, where’s Josh?” Riley asked, just noticing the absence of the other boy. Elaine shrugged and Cobalt rolled his eyes at his sandwich.
“Probably talking to Sean.” He muttered, making a silly voice at Sean’s name. Elaine elbowed him hard in the side. “Ow!” He rubbed his side, wincing, “Hey, it’s not my fault Josh is all googly-eyed over Sean and won’t do anything about it! No accounting for taste anyways…” He trailed off, ducking away from Elaine’s attacking elbow with a grin on his face, “Okay! Okay! I give! Don’t kill me.”
“Oh, there he is.” Elaine pointed to the lunch line. “And you were right, Cobalt. He is talking to Sean.”
Riley gave Cobalt a sympathetic look as Cobalt pouted into his food. The younger boy always had a harder time making friends than the rest of them, even Riley himself, and Riley suspected that his nastiness was more reflexive and defensive than naturally inherent. As far as Riley could tell, there was no discernable reason Cobalt should dislike Sean. But there was something about Sean that made Cobalt uncomfortable, and that made the smaller boy act… well, like a jerk. It got annoying sometimes, but Riley liked Cobalt, so it wasn’t too much of a problem.
“Hope he doesn’t invite Sean over…” Cobalt mumbled, looking irritated.
“Of course he will, why wouldn’t he?” Elaine sighed, looking aggravated, “And when he does, you’re gonna be nice, right?” She glared daggers at him, “You’re not gonna hurt his feelings are you?”
Cobalt sighed, poking at his sandwich. “…No…” He mumbled, his angular face sulky.
“That’s right.” Elaine said, smirking. She patted her friend on the back. “You’re a good friend, Coby.”
Cobalt flushed a little and the small smile that grew on his face made Riley smile in return. Secretly, Riley wasn’t all that sure that Cobalt wasn’t a little bit in love with Elaine, even though they both had assured him that wasn’t the case. Riley eyed Josh’s progression in line. The bespectacled boy had been the object of his attention for a while. He was cute, and he was smart and… not interested in Riley at all. He liked Riley, of that the taller boy was sure, but he didn’t like Riley. He liked Sean. And sometimes it was really tempting to join Cobalt in his dislike of the older boy. But that wouldn’t be very fair to Sean. He’d never been on the receiving end of Cobalt’s ire, but he imagined it must be annoying enough. Having another person disliking you for silly reasons would be terrible.
Riley looked a little surprised when Sean waved goodbye to Josh without following him to their table. Josh looked just as surprised and a little disappointed. Riley nodded his head in Josh’s direction. “Well, I guess Sean needed to go somewhere else.” His friends turned their heads to see Sean smile one last time at Josh before leaving the cafeteria.
Cobalt blinked, looking taken aback. “Oh.” He said awkwardly, “Okay then.” He was quiet as Josh took a seat next to Riley. Elaine looked over at Josh.
“Sean have somewhere else to be?” She asked, taking another bite of her sandwich.
“Hm? Oh. Yeah.” Josh nodded, pushing up his glasses, “He had to do some studying for a test next class. He went to the library.” He glanced over at Riley, “He said something about running into you and Gabe’s crew. Is everything okay?”
Riley flushed with pleasure at the concern in his friend’s voice. “Oh. Yeah, everything’s okay. Sean and Stephen helped me out.”
“Stephen helped.” Cobalt informed Josh curtly, munching on some chips, “Sean said like… two words.”
“Still.” Riley said, giving Cobalt a little grin, “Sean did help. You were there, you saw.”
Josh looked at Cobalt. “You were there too?”
Cobalt shrugged, “Only at the end of it. Stephen basically told them to go to hell. It was cool.” He pushed another handful of chips in his mouth. “I like Stephen.” He announced, his words garbled around half-chewed chips.
Elaine made a face, “I’m glad. Could you at least have waited until you were done chewing to make that announcement?” Cobalt responded by sticking out his tongue, bits of half-chewed chip on his tongue. Elaine smacked him hard on the arm as he laughed. “Ew!” She yelled, half-laughing, half-shrieking. “You are such a boy, you disgusting… creature!”
“…Wait, you like Stephen, but you don’t like Sean?” Josh looked confused, “But Sean helped Riley too!”
“Yeah, but Stephen was funnier about it.” Cobalt shrugged, rubbing his arm where Elaine had smacked him.
Josh sighed, throwing up his hands. “You don’t make any sense…” He muttered exasperatedly.
“I do so make sense.” Cobalt replied matter-of-factly, “You don’t make sense.”
“How do I not--”
“Anyways!” Elaine’s firm voice interrupted the boys’ squabbling. Riley snickered quietly. “You boys are so dumb, why--”
“Hey Elaine.”
Everyone turned to see Marcus smiling at Elaine. Elaine blushed a happy pink and ran a nervous hand through her blonde hair. “Hi Marcus.” Her voice was even different when she talked to Marcus, Riley realized; it was much more shy and quiet. Not at all the slightly bossy, confident, motherly tone she used on them. Riley supposed that was what love did to you: changed you around so that you were different with that one person. It sounded romantic, at least.
Marcus flashed the rest of the table a grin before setting his eyes back on Elaine. “D’you mind if I sit with you?”
“No!” Elaine said without hesitation. She blushed, “I—I mean. No, I don’t mind.” She glanced pleadingly at the other boys, lingering on Cobalt, “We don’t mind, right?”
Josh and Riley readily agreed, making their greetings to the older boy. Cobalt was quiet, and for a moment, Riley thought he was either going to leave or try and make Marcus leave. But the younger boy looked over at Elaine’s pleading expression and sighed. “I don’t mind if you sit with us, Marcus.” He said quietly, clearly trying to fix his expression to something more friendly. He turned his blue eyes to Riley, who grinned at him encouragingly. Elaine beamed at him.
“Awesome.” Marcus said, sliding in next to Elaine. “So how’s classes for you guys?”
“Oh, fine.” Josh responded, after a short awkward silence. “You?”
“Fine.” Marcus responded. And then more silence. All the occupants looked from one to the other, waiting for someone to break the silence. Riley fiddled with his chips wrapper while Josh tapped his fingers on the table and Cobalt glared at his tray. Elaine bit her lip, clearly looking for a way to re-start the conversation.
“So you guys looking forward to the dance at the end of the month?” Marcus asked finally.
“Oh, sure.” Josh said, nodding readily, “It should be lots of fun. D’you know where it’s gonna be?”
“Probably in the gymnasium.” Riley supplied quietly, glancing over to look at the other boy, “I think that’s where they held the one last year. Does anyone remember?”
“Yeah, I think you’re right.” Cobalt nodded, his voice subdued and careful. Riley figured he was trying really hard to not say anything mean. “I remember something like that.”
“Oh, did you go last year?” Marcus asked, raising his eyebrows at Cobalt.
Cobalt gave him an incredulous look. “…No. Why would I go last year?”
Marcus looked surprised. “You just said you remembered it being at the gym.”
“Doesn’t mean I went.” Cobalt shot back, his voice exasperated. Riley winced, pretty sure this wasn’t going to go well. “I just remembered it from reading a flyer about it in the school paper.”
“You remember where a dance was, that you didn’t even go to, by reading a flyer about it. A year ago.” Marcus stared at Cobalt like he thought the smaller boy was the weirdest thing he’d ever seen. Cobalt shifted in his seat, glaring defensively.
“Yeah. So?”
Marcus snorted, grinning in what Riley supposed was a friendly manner. “That’s pretty weird, bro. You have a photographic memory or something?”
“No.” Cobalt muttered, “Just like remembering stuff.”
“Did you come to Hammel for academics? Or… art or what?” Marcus asked, apropos of very little, as far as Riley could tell.
Cobalt stared at him icily, “You asking me? Or all of us?”
Marcus waved his hand dismissively, “Sure, all of you.”
Josh looked at the group. “I think…we’re all academics, right? Riley’s some kind of science genius. Cobalt, Elaine, and me just scored really high on that placement test they make all the kids take.” Josh looked at Cobalt, “He didn’t even wanna go.” Cobalt rolled his eyes at Josh, who looked exasperated, “What? It’s not like you make it a secret or something.”
“Why didn’t you wanna go?” Marcus asked, scrutinizing Cobalt, “What’s the problem with Hammel?”
“None of your business.” Cobalt snapped. Riley could tell he was at the end of his patience with Marcus. And that Marcus was apparently at the end of his patience with Cobalt.
“Hey, look.” Marcus scowled, “Don’t be such a dick. I don’t know what your problem is, but you better quit it.”
Cobalt looked up at him, eyes challenging. “Or what?”
Elaine leaned in between the scowling boys. “Okay, that’s enough here.” She sighed, rubbing her forehead. “Marcus, we can go sit outside, if you want.”
Marcus glared at Cobalt, who matched it with one of his own. Finally, Marcus stood up, “Yeah, sure. Let’s go, Elaine.” He grabbed up his tray and walked away. Elaine rolled her eyes, staring down at Cobalt hopelessly.
“Well…” She made a helpless gesture, “I appreciate that you tried, I guess.” And she turned to follow Marcus.
There was a silence, then Josh sighed: “Well, I guess that could have gone worse, right?”
His comment startled a laugh out of both Riley and Cobalt. The younger boy rested his chin in his hands and sighed. Riley felt for him; sometimes he forgot how hard it was for Cobalt to act nice. Especially to people he didn’t like. “Yeah.” Riley agreed quietly, “That coulda gone much worse. You coulda hit him.”
“Guess that’s true.” Cobalt sighed, “I woulda gotten suspended from going into town again. That woulda sucked.”
Riley nodded in agreement. Josh sighed, “I knew getting boyfriends was gonna mess up our group. Guess we’re gonna have to get used to Marcus bein’ around, huh?”
“Guess so.” Cobalt replied glumly.
-
It was Saturday. Finally. Cobalt sighed contentedly, tucking his knees under his chin, settling against the branch of a tree. All of his friends were away for the long weekend, taking the opportunity to visit families. Cobalt had made his excuses and prepared himself for a quiet weekend by perching himself up his favorite oak tree and settling in for the afternoon. Under his perch, he watched as a tiny blonde girl wandered over to sit against the tree trunk. Humming to herself, she pulled out a sketchpad and began to draw. Leaning over in his perch, Cobalt squinted down at her. She looked young, far younger than the usual student at Hammel, with blonde hair in two braids and a baby face. He was about to call down to her to introduce himself when Jesse, Fifi and Jahel sidled up to her.
She looked up warily before asking, “Can I help you guys?” Her voice was high and painfully young. Cobalt shifted his position on his branch into a crouch, ready to spring.
“Actually,” Fifi drawled, playing with the end of her short skirt, “We figured we’d help you…”
“Yeah, you looked a little out of place. Just for your information, the preschool’s down that way.” Jesse sneered, pointing over his shoulder.
The little girl stood up; she was shorter even than Cobalt. “I’m s’pposed to be here.” She informed them matter-of-factly, “I look young ‘cause I’m nine. So go away and mind your own business.” Fifi snorted and Jahel looked bored, but Jesse scowled.
“Hey, watch how you talk to me!” He lashed out and pushed the girl off her feet. Before Cobalt could react, the girl pushed herself up and delivered Jesse a swift kick to the shin. When he doubled over, she returned the favor by pushing him to the ground.
“Don’t push me around.” She warned them with a scowl on her baby face.
Jahel took a threatening step towards her, but Cobalt had seen enough. He dropped from the tree down in front of Jahel and punched him straight in the face. He didn’t see any point in wasting time with Jahel. The older boy was dangerous, Cobalt just knew it. The little blonde girl glanced over at Cobalt for a moment before turning back to Jesse, her small fists raised. Cobalt left his loose at his hides as he watched Jahel regain his footing. The older boy glared coldly at Cobalt, who returned it in kind.
“All right, down boys.” Fifi’s drawl cut through their concentration. “Leave the kids alone.” She slid between Jahel and Cobalt and gave the younger boy a sly, crooked smile. “They’re not worth the trouble. She reached over and stroked the side of Cobalt’s face with one slim finger. Cobalt jerked away, scowling. Fifi smirked, “Maybe in a year.” She turned to Jahel and Jesse, “C’mon, let’s get outta here.”
When they were gone, the little blonde turned to Cobalt, hands on her hips, “I didn’t need help, y’know. You shoulda just let me take ‘em.”
Cobalt looked down at her and a small grin grew across his face, “What? And let you have all the fun? Word of advice though: next time you go for Jesse, just get ‘im in the crotch.” Cobalt grinned wider as the little girl giggled.
She held out a hand with a smile, “I’m Leila Gold. Nice to meetcha.”
Cobalt smiled back, shaking her hand, “Cobalt Weaver. Good to meet you too.”
“I’m new here,” Leila explained, gathering up her stuff. “I just got here a few days ago.”
Cobalt nodded at Leila’s sketchpad, “For art?”
She shook her head proudly, “Academics. I took the test they make people take early and I got in. My parents were really proud and stuff.”
Cobalt’s eyebrows shot up, “Academics? And you’re nine?” He whistled, “That’s impressive.”
Leila grinned, turning a little pink, “Thanks. What’re you in for?”
“Academics as well,” Cobalt replied, “But I got in last year when I was eleven.”
Leila nodded, then glanced up at the tree. “What were you doin’ up there anyways? Spyin’ on people?”
Cobalt shrugged, putting his hands in his pockets, “Just sittin’. Most of my friends are home for the weekend.”
Leila eyed him, “But not you?”
Cobalt shrugged again, more uncomfortably this time, “No. Not me.”
Leila scrutinized him for a moment longer before shrugging. “Okay then. Hey… would you mind…showing me around?” She looked up at him a little shyly, “Hammel’s so big and I get lost already.”
Cobalt smiled at her, “Sure, no problem. Where are you dorming?”
Leila pointed, “The all-girls wing. D’you know where the science room… 203 is? That’s on Monday, and I can’t find it.” She looked a little frustrated. Cobalt nodded.
“Sure. And don’t worry about getting lost. Everyone does.” He walked down the pathway, Leila bouncing after him, “I couldn’t find half my classes the first day.”
“Yeah… still. Makes me feel stupid. An’ people are gonna treat me different ‘cause I’m little.” Leila muttered, looking exasperated at the ground.
Cobalt snorted, “Not after the first few days. ‘Sides, you can hang out with us, if you want. We won’t treat you different.”
Leila looked up at him in surprise, “Okay. That’d be pretty cool. You wouldn’t mind hanging out with a nine-year-old?”
Cobalt shrugged, “Nah. But I have to warn you that aside from my friend Elaine, we’re not all that… cool.”
Leila mirrored Cobalt’s shrug, “Whatever. As long as you guys won’t talk to me like I’m a little kid.” She glared at him challengingly. Cobalt smiled at her.
“Don’t worry. We’ll have your back.” He reassured her, nudging her shoulder gently, “That’s what we do.”
“’Cause if you don’t, then nobody will, right?” She looked up at him far more knowingly than a nine-year-old should look. Cobalt let out a surprised laugh.
“Yeah. Exactly.”
Leila considered his words, then smiled up at him. “Kay. Then I’ll have your back too. And your friends’, when I meet them.”
Cobalt laughed again, smiling back, “Sounds like a plan.”
