Shimmer (boyxboy/alien)

Chapter 8: Run for your life

"Now I feel like an ass!"

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"Are you gonna eat those?" Alan gestures toward the stray fries on Joe's plate, in danger of getting cold. 

"What? Oh yeah you have them." Joe looks down at his plate before pushing it over a little for Alan to reach.

Alan takes a fry to his lips, biting half of it as he looks at Joe messing with the straw in his juice. "You're thinking too much these days." He comments, before popping the rest of the fry into his mouth. 

Joe pulls the straw from the carton and drops it on the table before looking up at Alan. "Al, can I ask you something?"

"Shoot!" Alan replies, not taking his eyes from his friend as he takes a sip of his milk. 

"Am I attractive?" 

Alan nearly chokes on his milk, but just about manages to recover. "What? Why are you asking me this?"

"It doesn't matter, just ignore me." Joe leans back in his seat, folding his arms. 

"No, what is this about Joe?" Alan asks again as he wipes the stray milk from his mouth. 

"Austin. He was really friendly with me yesterday. Me! Out of everyone who seems to want a piece of him, he was wanting to talk to me. Don't you find that strange?" 

"Why? Do you think he was flirting with you?" A small smirk spreads on Alan's face. "What exactly did he do?" 

"Well..." Joe looks up as if to recall. "He was asking about my next lesson and just being really nicey nicey. I don't know. Maybe I'm reading too much into it." 

"And what did you do?" Alan asks, leaning forward a little. 

"I told him to go away." Joe looks at Alan as if he needed some kind of reassurance that he did the right thing. 

"No you didn't!" Alan says laughing. 

"Well not those exact words, but I said wouldn't he rather talk to someone else." 

"Smooth! I'm sure he took that well." Alan shakes his head. "He might have just been trying to be friendly. Not everyone in this school is evil." 

"Now I feel like an ass!" Joe sighs heavily. 

Alan looks at Joe in wonder. "Hey, if he was flirting with you, would you have, you know, like, gone there?" 

"I don't know?" Joe instantly looks at his friend at the realisation that he may have just let a bit of his hidden curiosities slip. But is relieved to see a small smile spread on Alan's lips. 

"Cool!" He replies...'I think you should apologise though, when you see him again."

"Seriously! Should I?" Joe whines as he squirms in his seat. 

"Yeah you should...and get his number while you're at it!" He laughs with a wink.

"Get lost!" 

***

"Ok. You can do this." Michael looks up at the school gates. His hoodie shading his face slightly. Yesterday, Austin walked though those school gates with such confidence, but today, Michael is struggling to put one foot in front of the other. His objective was simple enough. To find Joe Turner, reassure him he is fine, that there is no such person called Vinnie and shed this shimmer forever. Easy...

Without trying to talk himself out of it any further, he takes a step forward though the school gates. He only manages to make it into the reasonably busy corridor when his worse fear is realised.

"Oh look who's returned. It's freak!" 

Michael hurries his steps. He vaguely knew that Joe would be in one of these rooms, he just needed to get past the gathering crowd who were now giving him their unwanted attention. 

"Where are you going?" One of the ring leaders steps away from the group a little. Michael glances up, just a brief glimpse and knew he had to go faster. 

He is now level with the guy, Michael's eyes are trained on the door handle in front of him. If he could just make it...

"Hey! Not so fast!" Michael suddenly feels the hood of his sweater being pulled from his head, a few strands of hair pull along with it. He is jerked back by his neck as he is forced to take a few steps back and face the perpetrator. "I said, where are you going freak?" 

Michael pulls at his collar. The grip of his hood from the bully was beginning to constrict his airway. His black painted nails dig into the fabric, desperately trying to keep the air supply going. 

"Please..." Michael manages to say under a breath. He could feel tears wanting to escape his eyes. His heart was beating so fast. Why did he do this to himself? This was such a bad idea! 

"Please...what?" The guy maintains his grip, seemingly enjoying every minute of pain being inflicted on the boy.

"P...please...let go!" Michael finally manages to squeeze out the sentence.

All the other guy can do is laugh at the request. As if he would let the freak go! He was having too much fun! "Nah I don't want to." He says as he pulls on Michael's hood a little tighter as he is now being dragged and pushed against the nearest set of lockers. 

Michael looks up at the guy towering over his smaller frame through his black locks. He dares to look into his eyes for any kind of remorse. Any kind of mercy. The project. The experiment. The reason the Morphkind were even on earth, still present in his mind as he tried desperately to read the guy's emotions, even in this moment. But all he sees in his peripheral vision is a fist balling and he instinctively closes his eyes, ready for the impact. 

But then he feels something else. Someome is reaching out, grabbing onto his left hand as Michael feels fingers wrap around his palm. He opens his eyes and in that split second, he turns his head and sees Joe by his side. His eyes staring at Michael with conviction as he speaks one solitary word...

"Run."