Chapter Forty-Three

"Hey man, mind if we join you?" I sigh a little at the sound of voices talking to me and look up. Two guys from the school's football team were standing in front of the lunch table I was at. I was sitting by myself, my lunch tray in front of me untouched. I was scrolling through a social media app on my phone, mostly just to give myself something to do. 

"Go for it." I say, just to be civil. Blending in also meant not making enemies, so I tried to not straight up be a dick whenever possible. I'd rather not be getting into fights every week. And who knows, maybe these guys were my new best friends for life. Chances are low, but let's find out. 

They sit across from me, setting their trays down and smiling. I bet they were going to ask if I played sports. Usually guys weren't so friendly if they were about to grill me about why their girlfriend had a crush on me.

"What's your name man?" The same guy asks. Clearly he's in charge in this duo. He's got well groomed brown hair, a sharp jawline, and a decent build. Could use some work on his legs. 

"..." I answer, setting my phone down. 

"Cool, well I'm Tyler, and this is Greg." He jabs his thumb towards the guy next to him, a blonde guy who needed a haircut. I give him a tight smile. "So hey, we couldn't help but notice, you seem like a pretty well built guy." I have to physically stop myself from rolling my eyes. What did I say? I was exactly on the money. "We've been trying to fill a couple spots on the football team for the upcoming season, wanted to see if you were interested in trying out." 

"Sorry man, I'm not really into sports." I say, shrugging and leaning back in my chair. Let the bargaining begin. 

"None? I mean look at you, there's no way you have shoulders like that because of good luck." 

I laugh a little, appreciating his honesty, at the very least. "I'm not into any sports this highschool offers." I clarify. 

He nods a little, still eyeing me, like he doesn't quite believe me. 

I sigh. Sometimes I meet guys like Tyler, stubborn ones that think I'm just being modest, and need a mentor to guide me into the spotlight of highschool glory. Those guys are the ones I bust out the sob story for, just to get it through their heads I'm not interested. 

"I'll be honest, I move around a lot anyways. I might not even be here by the end of winter." I shrug, and I can see the light dying out in his eyes a little. 

"Really? That must suck." He says, and I nod a little. Yes, poor me. 

My attention shifts as I notice my phone lighting up from where I'd set it on the table. Jazzy is calling me. Why? It's the middle of the school day. 

I tune out Tyler's voice, talking about how he'd had to move to a new town after middle school and how hard it was, and answer my phone. 

"What's wrong?" I ask once I answer, not even bothering to say hello. There was no way she was calling me to talk about a pretty flower she'd picked. She knew I was in school, just like she was. Something had to be wrong.

"..., I need you to come get me." I don't even say anything to Tyler and Greg, just grab my bag and stand up, walking with long strides through the cafeteria. I can hear the tears in her voice, and it sounds like she's in the bathroom. 

"I'm on my way. What happened?" She's quiet, just sniffling into the phone. I slam through a set of doors that lead out of the cafeteria and into the courtyard. There's a few students eating and talking out here, but I don't pay them any attention. "Tell me Jazzy." 

"I-I just… some nasty girl dumped her entire lunch tray on me. She s-said I was ugly and no one w-wanted me here." I sigh, gritting my teeth a little as I walk into the parking lot. I wasn't sure how strict this school was on students leaving, but there was no way it wasn't frowned upon. I was honestly a little surprised no one had stopped me yet. 

"I'll be there in ten minutes, okay? Are you in a bathroom?" 

"Yes." She sniffles. I unlock my car and get in, starting it up quickly. 

"Just stay in there. I'll text you when I'm there." 

"Okay." She says pathetically one last time before hanging up. I shake my head and pull out of the parking lot. 

Sometimes I worried about what Jazzy would do without me. 

"Zero. Are you dead?" I grunt and swat at the finger poking me in the cheek. "Wakey wakey, time to get the fuck up!" Suddenly someone I can only assume is York, is jumping on my stomach. 

I let out a groan and an "oomph" and finally sit up. "Do you fucking mind?" I growl, shoving him off and onto the floor. 

After Aster told me he needed to make Jazzy completely forget about me, I had asked for some time to just.. Chill, alone in his room. Him being him, agreed right away of course, and had left me to my thoughts. I had laid down in the bean bag chair, and I guess I had fallen asleep. 

I don't sleep too often these days, every once in a while. But when I did, I always had dreams like I'd just had, vivid, and more like memories than dreams really. I'll be honest, I don't love them. They're part of the reason I've only slept a handful of times since becoming a Reaper. 

"Yay! Not dead." I glare at York, who is grabbing my arm and trying to drag me up. "Come on, everyone is finally here. It's time to get this thing moving." 

"Finally." I mumble, giving in and letting him pull me up. I groan, and stretch my arms above my head. 

He holds the door open for me, clearly eager for me to get off my ass. I rub at my eyes and follow him out of Aster's room. 

Already I can hear multiple voices talking at the same time, the big stone chairs moving around.

York runs ahead like an excited little kid. I guess I was kind of excited too, only because this might be the only time I get to see all us Reapers together in one room. Minus one, but close enough. 

I wish it was under better circumstances, but death has taught me to appreciate the silver lining of bad situations. 

I got a very familiar sense of dread in my gut as I neared the end of the hallway. I felt like a teenager again, about to go into my first day of school. 

All these Reapers already knew each other, some of them for hundreds of years. 

I guess everything really does come full circle, because I was once again feeling like the new kid in class.