The school field was bustling with students from all year groups; Bryce attended a rather prestigious school filled with various students from all over the country. He was lucky to be here considering he only just scraped by the entrance exam. However, going to a school full of kids that can get in on their talents alone meant he wasn't anywhere near the best at any one thing. If he chose football, basketball, running, the list goes on... he'd be alright to average at best, always shown up by someone who could really apply themselves to the activity.
Right now he was sat opposite one of his closest friends at one of the many tables in the outdoor eating area situated close to the lunchroom of the school. Many of his friends were on the table this lunch, to his right sat Penelope and across the table from left to right there was Johnny, Axel and Maya. All of them but Maya had been in the same class throughout their education, Maya had joined a year ago in sixth form but quickly settled in to the group. This was the only place Bryce could really excel, if chatting and socialising was a sport he'd win the trophy every time.
"So... Axel had just left to go have a piss or something right, so because I knew he was totally on edge from the film, I followed him like a spy," Bryce recalled, enthusiastically raising his hands into the shape of a pistol, "I was quiet as a mouse, and there's these boxes right outside the bathroom from Christmas decorations so I jump into the empty box and wait... and wait... and wait... like seriously I start wondering if Ax's okay in there?"
"It really wasn't that long..." remarks Axel to the table with a deadpan voice, being so close to Bryce meant he'd gotten a bit tired of the constant exaggeration.
The table chuckles and Bryce waves him off, continuing the story, "So anyway, he finally unlocks the door after washing his hands and I just spring out of the box like 4 feet in the air and pounce on him! He screams like a first year girl and I tell you if he hadn't been to the toilet just then he'd have fucking shat himself!" The story made the table break out into light-laughter from all but Axel who sighed.
He knew Bryce well enough to not recall the reality of the situation; it'd only lead to him getting all down in the dumps. So he smiled and raised his hands "aha yeah, you gave me a good scare buddy but maybe not quite that much."
Johnny prodded Axel with his elbow, "oooh, scared the witch was gonna getcha dude!"
"hey... leave him alone"
The quiet voice came from the small, blonde Maya, who obviously had a crush on Axel. It was something everyone in the group knew but nobody wanted to discuss. Everything went quiet for a moment until Penelope broke the silence. She was half-Spanish, got a scholarship from the volleyball department and enjoyed spending time with guys more than girls for the most part. Which was strange to Bryce considering she was the only lesbian he knew. She was taller than half the table at 5'11 and often teased Bryce about it whenever he joked about her accent or body.
"It's a good story Bryce, but I get the feeling you're exaggerating a few details... like always, remember last time when you said you'd climbed that roof a million times, then you could barely scramble halfway up when we put you to the test"
"Oh will you never forget about that, my legs were tired from overworking myself at the gym okay?" He replied sullenly, "and the wall was wetter than a dog outta a river"
Axel sighed and Penelope giggled, "It was barely even damp?"
"I'm just telling you what I felt." He said coldly, feeling a bit defeated.
For a while he retreated into himself, Penelope had taken over the conversation and turned it into another of her Volleyball stories, seriously if he didn't know her well you’d think it's all she knew about. It was then that Bryce got distracted; he suddenly felt icy cold on the tops of his shoulders... goosebumps raised all along his arms and legs. He looked up and around but couldn't spot anything strange.
"You okay dude?" Asked Johnny, spotting his friend looked more anxious than he'd ever seen him... "Something up?"
"Ugh..." He wanted to speak up, but felt something watching him... it was just like the feeling that comes over you following a really scary film, but the suddenness of it made it all the more unnerving. He put his head down and ignored Johnny, trying to escape the feeling, his friends were all speaking but he could barely hear their voices, what he could hear was a low cackling.
It rose in volume into it was all he could hear, all the noises of students talking, fighting and moving had gone, even the birdsong and the wind had disappeared. All he could hear was the clear, powerfully devious voice of Dolos speaking directly into his mind. "A good speaker makes a good liar, though you are already good at both... they say the punishment of a liar is that he is never believed, even when he speaks the truth. That shalt not be an issue for you."
Bryce clutched at his head, begging internally the voice leave him alone. Then he felt his tongue recoil in his mouth as if it'd been singed by a hot flame. He felt nauseous and faint... finally the sounds were returning but his mind was fading... and fading. Bryce suddenly fainted for the first time in his life, his body slumped over forwards on the table.
When he came to, everything seemed so bright. He felt a pain on his forehead and shook his arms... his body felt drained of blood. Axel was stood right in front of him, "He's waking up... dude can you hear me, what happened to you? Are you alright?"
It took a moment but Bryce's voice came back to him, his tongue felt numb and his eyes were heavy. "Ugh.. yeah, I- I'm fine".
A shiver quickly ran through Bryce's body, his eyes opened wider, the blood returned to his limbs and when he rubbed his forehead, he realised the pain was almost entirely gone. He was awake again, as awake as before... what had happened? "D-did I have a stroke or something?"
"No dude, I think you just fainted, have you had any water today?"
"A bit..."
Maya spoke up, she was small and timid enough that Bryce had missed her presence, "You already look a bit better, Penelope and Johnny went to grab help for you."
"R-right, don't worry... really I'm fine... I just thought I heard something weird..."
"Huh... what did yo-"
The door to the outdoor lunch area blasted open and Penelope’s strong thighs led the school nurse over to the table, cutting Maya off mid question. "Hey you're alright?! What the hell was that all about?" questioned Penelope as the nurse took out her stethoscope.
"I don't really know, but really I'm okay, you don't need to do this?"
"I don't need to young man, but it's my job to make sure what you say is true so give that arm here and let's check your blood pressure." replied the kind-hearted nurse as she tied an arm cuff just above his elbow and lay the stethoscope onto his heart. "Please be quiet now everyone." She asked and began counting to the rhythm.
"Hmm... he seems to be alright, maybe you got a fright from something, either way drink some more water and take it easy for the rest of the day." advised the nurse.
Bryce smiled as she was unfastening the arm cuff, "See guys, stronger than ever!"
"Oof" the nurse let out a surprised noise as the arm cuff suddenly sprung off her patients arm, Bryce felt strange, his arms and legs were tingling with a pleasurable and familiar pain... just like he'd usually get after a workout. He looked at his arm to see the veins were slightly pumped out, "What the..." his bicep was changing, and he quickly realised most of the muscles in his arm were getting a pump, the same was happening to his legs and even his abs felt tighter than normal. "What's happening?" he asked in a mild panic.
"Excuse me?" said the nurse.
"What do you mean dude?" asked Axel.
"My... muscles look bigger?"
"Yeah I guess they do a little bit... but you have been going to the gym more often lately?"
"Oh don't start flexing on us all again Bryce, now's not the time to flaunt your arms, we were worried about you." replied Penelope with a hint of spite, she knew it was true though... he looked bigger again, she didn't understand why he kept trying to get bigger, it looked strange to her on his smaller frame.
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