♣

"I have one movie night with my grandparents and I miss an extraterrestrial phenomenon?"

"You spend every night watching movies with your grandparents."

"Not every night. Plus, you're ignoring my point. I always miss the interesting stuff."

"It wasn't that interesting, Abigail," Theodore reasoned. "It was a power outage."

"And a fucking explosion!" Daniel cut in, his abrupt inclusion into the conversation causing his long black hair to bounce in front of his face.

The group of sophomores–plus one freshman–sat three on each side at the end of their long rectangular lunch table that solely occupied them, besides a few kids they've never spoken to on the opposite side. Abigail Freedman had her lunch that her grandmother had packed in front of her, though she had yet to indulge in any of it. She hadn't been one to spend time with the group outside of school a lot, especially since she was new to the school that year, and of course she loved being with her family, but she couldn't help but wonder what it must have felt like to experience what they had.

"Next time, if there's an explosion in the sky, you're telling me and I will teleport there."

"It wasn't an explosion," Sawyer corrected. "Something just disappeared. Nothing fell from the sky."

Daniel pointed with his index finger, simultaneously chewing the end of the cheese stick he just bit off. "If a star exploded, we wouldn't see it from here."

Sawyer opened his mouth to interject, but he couldn't disagree with fact.

"I still think you're overreacting," said Sophie, grabbing a Gatorade red bottle from the side of her backpack. "It was weird, sure, but life isn't a comic book." The group took a figurative step back. She twisted the top of her bottle. "I'm not trying to be harsh, you know I love you all, it's just... hold on." She let go of the cap shaking her hand. She reached it out toward Sawyer. "Can you open this, Armstrong?"

"My last name does not have any real world correlation to my talents. I have the arm strength of a fruit fly," Sawyer replied.

"Oh, come on, you can open this!"

"I wasn't exaggerating." Sophie pushed it towards him again, and Sawyer held up his hand in protest. Theodore rolled their eyes and took the bottle out of her hands.

"Focus, Fi," they said as they popped the bottle open.

"Sorry. Point is, unless I see an alien in our next class, I think it was just a trick of the light or something."

Daniel set down the cheese stick they were currently working on. "A trick of the light?"

"Danny, don't," Quinn intervened, but he didn't look their way. He was on his feet now.

"A trick of the light is when you see a shadow in your room while you're trying to sleep. A trick of the light is when you see reflections bending across the ocean. Geez, Soph, you were the one that saw it!"

"Danny, calm down." Theodore stood up and took Daniel's shoulder to steady him. Luckily, it seemed to do the trick, because Daniel sat down, though he didn't appear to be done with his thought yet.

Sophie's whites of her eyes showed all around her iris. She cleared her throat. "Let's just drop it."

"I still don't get it," said Sawyer. "The news said they didn't know what caused the power outage."

"You watch the news?" Quinn asked. "Last time I tried, I fell asleep."

"It's not that bad when you're looking for something. Anyways, usually the cause for a mass power outage is pretty clear."

"Did they say how long it stretched?" Abigail inquired.

Sawyer furrowed his brows. "I think they said all over town. Though that's pretty broad."

Theodore looked from the aisle back to the group, then back again. "We can figure that out." They put their hands to their mouth in a cup formation. "Ossie!" They called towards the lunchroom aisle.

A boy broke out of the mass walking down the aisle by turning his head towards the table. He used forearm crutches to walk over to the table, and as he did, the muted red lunch-box he swung over his shoulder bounced all over the place. The tints fit quite well with the toned-down color aesthetic of his clothing–in fact, everything about him fit with the style. His shirt was nearly the same shade of red, and his open button up on top of it appeared like something one might find in their dad's high school clothing stash. The browns and olive greens brought out his mixed-colored eyes, something that Sawyer was surprised he could tell from how far away the boy was.

"Yo, Theo, what is up?" The boy greeted cheerfully, tapping elbows with Theodore when he reached their side. Placing him next to Theodore, the tallest member of their group, Sawyer realized how tall he actually was, even while slouching over.

"Nothing much. Hey, did you lose power last night?"

The boy wrinkled his nose as if actually pondering the question. "Not sure. What time?"

"Around nine?"

"Oh, well, then, I wouldn't know. I was out cold by then."

"At nine?" Daniel jumped in.

The boy raised his eyebrows. "Yes, at nine. I like my sleep." He formed a wide bright smile that Sawyer instantly recognized as contagious. The boy scanned the table. "So, Theo, who are your friends?"

"Oh, duh. Everyone, this is Oscar. He's in my Chemistry class. Oscar, that is Daniel, and this is Abigail, Sophie, Quinn, and Sawyer."

Theodore pointed to each member as they said their names. When Oscar made eye contact with Sawyer, he held it for a moment. "Sawyer. Algebra 2 sixth period last year, right?"

Sawyer hesitated. He hadn't taken the time to remember every face from that class. He sat in the front, and hardly spoke to anyone that entire year. "Yeah, with Mrs. Hemmings."

Oscar nodded sharply. "Knew it! You never answered questions she asked. Even though you're stupid smart." Oscar released his right-handed forearm crutch off and leaned it against the table. He reached across and held out his hand. "Nice to meet you again, Sawyer."

Sawyer stared at his hand. He couldn't remember the last time he had shaken hands with a classmate as an introduction. He took it, feeling the sweat that was likely caused from holding the crutches all day against his skin. "Nice to meet you," he replied, trying to mask any questioning looks that he may let slip out.

Oscar's handshake was firm, which was to be expected if this was how he greeted every stranger that he met. He had a sort of gleam in his eyes when Sawyer responded, as if he wasn't used to somebody going along with this kind of introduction. He picked back his crutch and shuffled around to the other side of the table, shaking hands with everyone else that was seated. Abigail smiled warmly, as did Sophie, who also commented on the pattern of his button up. When he reached Quinn, he noticed the metal gleaming from under a rip in their jeans.

"Hey! Me too!" He exclaimed, grabbing his other crutch and moving them around emphasis.

Quinn giggled. "I cannot wait to take this thing off," they said with gleeful exasperation, pointing to their prosthetic leg. "Crutches are so much better."

"Until you get blisters on your fingertips. Then it's hell." Quinn agreed, and Oscar turned to Theodore. "Your friends are adorable."

"They're okay," Theodore responded. Daniel gaped and stepped on their toes. Theodore shoved his shoulder with their elbow. "Ow! See?"

Oscar laughed. "No, it's adorable. People would kill for friends like you."

"You are so nice!" Quinn complimented.

Oscar smiled even wider, face going a bit pink from the compliment. "You are so nice, Quinn." A voice from another table shouted out to Oscar, referring to him as Osman, and he turned to face them and waved. He turned back to the table. "I've gotta go, but I'll see you all later!"

He gave them all a smile, which grew when he made eye contact with Sawyer. He wasn't sure if he had winked at him or if Sawyer was imagining things, but he might as well have. The group said their goodbyes, and Oscar made his way away to the table that called to him.

"He's cute," Sophie said, taking a bite out of her spaghetti and vegan meatballs.

"Yep, and never going to happen, Fi," replied Theodore.

"Oh, I know. I saw the way he was looking at Strong Arms over there."

Sawyer coughed, nearly choking on his water. "What? No, no, he's just nice. Quinn said so. He's a nice guy."

"Right," said Abigail as she sipped her Capri-Sun.

"So, Theodore," Daniel started. "What was the point of that?"

Theodore nodded, their train of thought back on track. "Well, Ossie lives on the side of town. Barely even counts as in the school district. I thought if he lost power, then we could get a sense of the radius of this thing. Guess it didn't do much good, though."

"It was a good idea," Sawyer complimented. He turned to Daniel. "Are we still going to the shop after school today?"

"I was planning on it."

"Then we can ask Caleb and Kal when we get there. And if we still don't know what's going on, then we can figure it out there. As long as we don't lose power again at school, then we should be alright."

Sawyer's gaze directed upwards toward the ceiling light that was flickering, and even though it had been flickering ever since they got there for lunch, he could've sworn that it had gotten dimmer over the past five minutes.

♣

Last night, AJ King had stolen four sparklers from her brother's old stash and pranced around a pitch-black neighborhood with them until they miraculously burnt out, but somehow that still wasn't the most memorable part of their night.

"Want to go out sometime?"

AJ had never heard those words used towards her before, and maybe if they had they would've known that asking to go out one time did not automatically mean that the person wanted to put a label on the relationship.

They hadn't seen Cameron all day, so the question of what their relationship looked like at that moment was still unanswered. Friends who made out sometimes? Friends that almost did more than make out?

Friends that did do more than make out?

It wasn't like AJ was super committed to it anyways. They weren't in love. She never even realized her feelings before Cameron made the first move. But at the same time, what if?

Goddamn, her own brain was already starting to annoy her.

"Earth to AJ?" Mathias' voice said from the darkness. AJ blinked rapidly and spun her head to her friends sitting on top of the table. Mathias' blond hair was parted unnaturally on top of his forehead, his hand holding a cupcake with purple frosting. The table was full of cupcakes laid out on top of various napkins, some half-eaten while some were not even touched.

"How was your trip?" Bri teased, raising her water bottle to her lips.

"Shit, what did you put in these?" AJ asked, holding up her cupcake.

Bri shook her head. "Those aren't spiked. It's my birthday, I'm not going to class high."

"Speak for yourself. Also, half birthday. Not birthday." Mathias snickered. He took another bite of his cupcake. "Maybe if I pretend hard enough-"

"Placebos don't work if you know it's a placebo."

"Smart-ass," mumbled Mathias, though AJ could hardly make out what he said. With his low volume and thick accent, he could've claimed that he said something else and AJ would be entirely convinced. Mathias then shoved the rest of his cupcake into his mouth and coughed, snapping his fingers rapidly until he was able to swallow. "By the way, when were you gonna tell us about who you boned last night?"

AJ stared at him, throat feeling dry. "Excuse me?"

"You didn't answer your phone all night, and you didn't come up with an excuse when we asked about it. It's a reasonable assumption."

"You kissed someone?" Bri asked, wide mouthed.

Mathias laughed. "Not just kissed-"

"The sophomore kissed someone before me?"

"My sister's kissed someone before you at this school-"

"You are not helping."

"Anyways," Mathias steered. "Who was it?"

AJ shrugged and threw their hands up. "Nobody important. Trust me. Nobody important."

Bri glared at nobody in particular. "Do I have to beat someone up, because I will-"

"No, no, not like that. They're great. They didn't do anything wrong. I think I got the wrong message or some shit. But it's cool, really. Just means I'm back on the table."

As she said the words, she slid her hand under the table that contained the crushed remains of a double chocolate cupcake between her clenched fist.

♣

Sawyer could not wait to turn sixteen, but until then, he was forced to walk home from school every day. Usually it wasn't too bad, but when it was raining and Sawyer's vans started to fill up with mud and clumps of leaves, he really wished that he took Theo up on that ride offer. Not only that, but his class was the furthest possible room from the school exit, so he got even more time in the shower that was that afternoon.

At least he had Daniel's sweatshirt in his backpack that he forgot to return to him at school that day so he had something relatively dry when he hit the halfway point.

The plants that he stepped on increased when he hit the school's garden. It was far too wide for him to walk around, but it didn't make it any easier to walk home. He put his hands in his sweatshirt pocket, wincing every time he felt a twig break beneath his shoes.

Whose smart idea was it to put a garden in that spot, anyways? A building was right in front of it, covering any sun that could reach the plants unless it was at its highest point in the sky. No wonder all the plants were dead-

The next sound of impact caused Sawyer to not only wince, but stop dead in his tracks. He could feel the slimy exterior of the creature through his shoes and socks and the pile of mud that accumulated on the bottom of his soles, and for a moment, the rain seemed to have stopped.

He hated killing animals, even the nasty ones that lived in gardens. Every time he did, he felt a twinge of guilt in his soul as to what the animal could have done if he hadn't crushed it. Probably not much, it was a worm, but nobody would ever know.

Sawyer lifted his foot up, and even though he knew he shouldn't, he looked down at the carnage.

It wasn't a worm. It was a slug. A slug about the size of a compact pencil sharpener. It had been forced to its side, partly submerged by the pool of mud that had been forming.

He had never killed a slug before. It was definitely grosser than a worm, but that fact didn't make it any easier. Sawyer bent down, holding his knees for stability. From what he could tell, the slug was vomit green in color, except for its head which was strikingly red. Not a color he had seen from a slug before.

Something else he had never seen from a slug that had just gotten crushed was the absence of visible injury on the specimen, but there it was. Moving. Unharmed. Alive.

What. The living. Fuck.

Before Sawyer could process what he was doing, he opened his backpack and pulled out Daniel's hoodie. He covered his hands in the fabric, and praying not to let any of his skin touch the creature, he picked it up gently and once it was in his grasp, wrapped it up in a loose ball.

He may have never killed a slug before, but he knew damn well that no ordinary slug could survive a blow like that.

---

after chapter note-

just posted my first edit for this novel on tiktok! i'll link it in the comments. throughout the course of this book, i'll likely be making edits of multiple characters and plot points so if you're interested just follow my account to see em!

also, just a few more characters left to introduce, so stay tuned ;)

sincerely, nicholas