Bringing Awkward Back In Style ||1||

"I'm not crazy. Oh, God, please tell me I'm not crazy," a boy no older than seventeen muttered as his eyes shut tightly under black strands of messy hair. Only the sound of silence filled his ears until a sudden creak urged him to snap his green eyes open.

With his breath visibly quickening by the second, the boy scanned the room where he stood and pressed his back firmly against a wall. A look of surprise dawned upon his features.

There was nothing out of the ordinary as he let the scenery in front of him sink in. Everything was normal and why wouldn't it be? This was just his room. The walls were cream colored, as they had been for years, and his bed, like his hair, clearly needed to be tended to. Even his drawers hung untidily open while multiple guitar picks laid across the keys of his lap top. Light flooded over the area through two windows from the east side, showing a variety of band tees and boxers thrown carelessly on top of dark auburn carpet.

"Oh, crap. Maybe I am going crazy," he joked and even managed a smile. Then came a whisper that made him jump.

"Oh, believe me, Ahren, you are going crazy."

The boy, Ahren, swallowed hard and turned towards the door frame.

"Cassius."

Just having that name cross his lips made Ahren seem uneasy."How did you-? No, wrong question," he shook his head, courage growing in his movements now that he stood face to face with the suspicious new kid in school with light brown hair and mischievous blue eyes. "You're the one who's been messing with my head. You're why I see things that aren't really there, aren't you?"

No response.

"Well, answer me!" Ahren growled, making Cassius grin in a way that was almost innocent.

"If you must know, the answer is yes," Cassius said, amusement ringing in his voice. He waited to see Ahren's reaction and a moment later, got it when Ahren decided to tackle him to the floor, hitting a desk and knocking books all over the place. Ahren had rage coursing through his actions and sweat glistened over his forehead.

"How?" Ahren demanded, jabbing Cassius in the jaw.

"Why?" Ahren's fist connected again. The only thing his enemy would do was smile wider.

"Don't you get it, Ahren? When you thought you saw that nosy 'girlfriend' of yours in a pool of her own blood; when you could've sworn there had been an accident at the school. Magic, Ahren. It was magic."

All of a sudden, Ahren groaned painfully and his face contorted. He rolled off of Cassius and wrapped an arm over his stomach. Cassius took this opportunity to pin Ahren down like Ahren had done to him.

He watched while Ahren took in air as if it were the hardest thing to do. He watched as Ahren's whole body seem to cover in sweat.

"Pain, the best way to use magic." Cassius chuckled more to himself than anything. He gave a slight shrug and shifted his attention to Ahren's second question.

"You want to know why I did all that to you?" Cassius said in a teasing tone that was obviously increasing in excitement. "Let me put this in terms even you can understand. We all have a certain amount of energy that magic can feed off of. You, you lucky bastard have more energy than I could've ever in my life thought possible. I can see it. I can smell it. Hell, I can freaking taste it!" He paused for affect.

Curiosity and anger plastered itself across Ahren's face.

Cassius couldn't resist but to lean right next to Ahren's ear with a smile of satisfaction. "And when you're dead, I'll feed off your energy and, well, you can imagine the rest."

Laughter escaped the power hungry Cassius. He looked down on Ahren and gave him a swift blow to the head.

"Yeah, I didn't like you punching me all that much either," he grinned.

"Why don't you just kill me? I mean, if you were going to do away with me, wouldn't you have done it by now?" Ahren taunted through pain.

"I like to see you squirm," Cassius responded without much pondering and as abruptly as he had appeared, he disappeared, leaving Ahren gasping for air.

Ahren's expression was more serious and confident than it had ever been. He turned to where the books had fallen and had to do a double take. The books weren't on the floor, but they were neatly laying on his desk.

"There is no way that was a stupid hallucination," he shouted to no one in particular. He started for the door.




Suzy McCline rolled her brown eyes at the movie screen, aggravated by how the actor playing Ahren had portrayed the character. Instead of waiting to see the rest of the scene, she stood up.

The first thing that caught her attention was a boy in a trucker hat standing to the back of the room, shadowed by the corner. Instant fury flamed through her.

"Who are you?" she asked. The boy jerked back lightly. Suzy watched the dim glow of the movie playing on his face and knew he'd been too fixated on the movie to notice her getting up.

"I could ask the same to you," he answered coolly. Suzy was only a little impressed at how quickly he'd regained his composure.

"Listen, this room is closed off for the day. Why don't you go and I won't report you."

"Report me, huh?" The boy's voice contained a light tone of amusement. "And what gives you the power to 'report' me. Maybe you're the one who needs to be reported."

Suzy tilted her head slightly to the side from confusion, a habit she'd had since she could first comprehend her surroundings. "Excuse me?"

"Let's see," he said. Suzy couldn't make out much of his face, but under the shadow of his hat, she found a small smile forming. "I happen to know that this movie you were watching isn't out in theaters. How is it that you're in a 'closed off room' watching a movie that isn't even out yet?"

"I, um, well-." Think. Think. Think, Suzy! she yelled to herself. "The thing is, I'm the director's daughter." Okay, stupid lie, Suzy.

In truth, she had all the right to be watching the movie considering that it was based on a novel she'd written. The boy standing there wouldn't know that, though, since the novel had been published under the name of anonymous for reasons she held personal.

"Jeeze," the boy looked taken aback. "No need to yell. Are you okay or is something bothering you?"

Had she been yelling? If she had, she didn't take notice. Her mind was too preoccupied on the fact that some guy kept asking her questions. Well, if he wanted to know what was wrong, then that's what he'd get.

"Let's see," she started, mocking the way he had said it to her. "The movie is nothing I had thought it would be. Did you see the way that actor played Ahren?"

"What's wrong with the way he was playing Ahren?" A hint of hurt reached Suzy's ears, but she ignored it.

"It's like the guy never even read the book! All that assurance and boldness he had was not at all Ahren-like."

"What? You want Ahren to be lame? Is that what you're saying?" His voice was rising.

"Well, it's called 'character development' not 'character changing personalities after five minutes.' The thing is, after a series of events, he will start gaining confidence," Suzy almost shouted. How dare he say Ahren was lame!? "If anyone's lame, it's that actor!"

Just then, she walked towards the door and opened it. Light from the hall washed over the two of them and for the first time, she had a good glimpse of the face under the hat. He had black hair sticking in front of his green eyes. The sight of him made her stop in her tracks.

Why does he look so familiar?

Her eyes gravitated back towards the movie. On screen Ahren had black hair and green eyes and though the boy standing in front of her had hair that was a bit longer than on screen Ahren, something in her head clicked.

The guy she'd been arguing with was the same guy on the screen.

At that second, Suzy McCline let out a breath with the words, "Oh, crap," trailing along.