by Daniel Fife
Beyond embarrassed, Danny stalked over to his designated spot and sat down. He sighed as the teacher called out three more names, one of which, to Danny's sullen surprise, was Marie Topeland. However, Danny felt a little better when Mr. Ingram announced Chris's name next.
The students sat in rows of four, which placed Chris right next to Danny, and Marie to his upper right. Both boys gave each other a high-five as Chris walked over to where Mr. Ingram pointed.
"Alright, and now those of you who will be in group C," continued the teacher, after calling off the last three names of the students who would be in Danny's group.
Danny kept his attention focused on the new face. He was desperate to know her name; he figured he was relatively clever to wait until the teacher placed her in a group, calling her name out loud.
Mr. Ingram went down the list as Danny waited with a growing impatience. He listened painstakingly to name after name, and he grinned triumphantly when he heard the unfamiliar one.
"Sabrina Drake?"
Danny watched her with a focused stare as recognition flashed in her body’s posture; she raised her slender right arm in confirmation. "Here," she said in a soft tone.
To his upper right, Marie snorted. "The new girl looks ridiculous. Just look at her clothes. And her hair—I mean, come on."
Danny glared at her, intent on doing or saying something in Sabrina's defense.
As if sensing his anger from behind, Marie turned around. "Boo, can I help you?"
Danny bit his lip and turned his gaze back to Sabrina Drake as she walked to her designated place and descended with a practiced grace, folding her legs as she sat. She flicked the length of her long black ponytail behind her so that it rested in the small of her back just before turning and looking in Danny's direction. Whether she'd sensed his gaze or heard Marie's comments, Danny wasn't sure. In either case, her eyes stared into his.
He felt his heart skip a beat for the second time as his body temperature jumped ten degrees. He dropped his gaze with a quick jerk of the head and turned to Chris, who looked interested in a girl of his own.
In group A, in the first row, second back, sat Ann Nelson. She was athletic, labeled by most as a tomboy, which Danny surmised held Chris' attention. Her deep-red hair danced as she talked with another girl behind her.
"You talk to her yet?" Danny asked, trying to puzzle out his own emotions.
Chris shrugged. "Yeah, but I think I'm stuck in the category of 'just friends.'" He held up his hands and made little quotation marks with his fingers to emphasize his point. "What class do you have next?" he asked, changing the subject.
"Uh," Danny said, digging in his pockets and pulling out a half-sheet of white paper, "Science. What about you?"
"Shop class, Ann is in the same class."
"That should be fun."
"Yeah, we'll see."
The time passed slower than Danny would have liked. The first day of school was always the worst. It was the distinct and final end of the summer, a time of freedom and exploration. The start of school signaled the end of fun and the beginning of learning.
Fantasies and daydreams danced through Danny's head as Mr. Ingram explained the rules and outlined the activities of the year. Occasionally, Danny would hear something that caught his attention, but he spent most of the time staring at the new girl or lost in his own creative delusions.
At long last, the bell rang, an indistinct tone came through the school’s intercom system.
"Thank god," said Marie and, for once, Danny was inclined to agree with her.
"Which way you going, Danny?" Chris asked, standing up, stretching, looking in the opposite direction.
"I have to go to my locker and get my science book." Danny followed his friend's gaze and saw Ann in deep conversation with another girl. "I'll see you later, man."
Chris nodded, "Yeah, later, man." He waved and walked toward the group that held Ann's attention.
Danny searched the dispersing group and found what he sought. Sabrina Drake was about to walk out of the double doors on the left side of the gym. He needed to hurry if he was going to find out where her locker was.
Danny made quick time to his own locker, surprising himself as he remembered the combination without looking at the piece of paper in his pocket. Pulling out his backpack and stuffing the science book inside, he slammed his locker shut, spun the lock and darted off down the hall. He felt a rush of excitement as he dashed in, around, and between the busy students of the crowded hallway. Taking an immediate right down the smaller hall that led to the stairs, he weaved between two groups of bodies. He took the steps two at a time; he knew he had to hurry if he was going to catch her. By his calculations, she should be halfway down the upper hall. Luckily, this part of the school was much wider, giving him ample room to maneuver.
"Stop running in the halls!"
Danny knew that voice didn't belong to a student. Strong arms gripped him, grinding his progress to a shuddering halt. Danny tuned around to find Ms. Samantha, the art teacher, with an iron grip on his backpack. Tied up in a ponytail, her long, blonde hair draped just past her neck, leaving her focused brown eyes to peer into Danny's frightened gaze. Her expression was firm, but carried an air of kindness.
"Walk, please," she said with a slight grin.
Danny nodded, "Sorry."
"That's alright, just don't be in such a hurry next time. You still have five minutes till class starts." She smiled and relinquished her grip, allowing Danny to disappear into the small stream of quick-moving students.
Danny trudged along in annoyance. He would have to find her locker some other time. He sighed and realized that he was close to science class at least. With the need to hurry over, he descended the stairs located in the middle of the long hallway and located the large, green double doors, the entrance to the science labs.
Taking out the small piece of white paper, he found the classroom and sat in a desk near the back.
The room, separated from the other classrooms by a series of thick boards on wheels, was in the shape of a crude triangle. Six science stations, each equipped with a faucet and sink, test tubes and stools lined the back of the room. Above each station were slanted windows with white blinds, shielding the room from the sun. The entire science area was one large octagon, with six classrooms constructed in the east and west corners, three on each side.
Danny could hear voices coming from the labs on the other side of the building, most likely sixth or seventh graders. He heard two familiar voices echo down the hall, nearing the room. Danny recognized the quick-tongued boy as none other than Alonso; the other, a rather loud, high-pitched voice, had to be Matt Mickler. The two youths strolled past the wheeled wall and entered the room.
Danny was happy to see the pair of familiar friendly faces.
Matt Mickler, somewhat overweight, kept his bulk concealed beneath oversized shirts that tended toward the darker shades of the color spectrum, featuring his favorite metal bands printed across the chest. His jet-black hair was just long enough to get in the way of his purple eyes, causing him to adjust a pair of black glasses with thick lenses and heavy frames. Due to his tendency to be a bit hyperactive at times, in combination with his nerdy appearance, Matt was often the target of bullying. His quick wit and sharp tongue never seemed to help matters. He usually found victory in conflicts of rhetoric, but disagreements of the physical nature tended not to end in his favor.
"Hey, Danny!" Matt yelled. "Wait till you see my new card. Did you bring your deck to class?"
Danny nodded and dug through his backpack, pulling out a small rectangular box.
Over the summer, Danny and his friends had gotten involved in Knights, a popular card game, where creatures of fantasy and knights of legend were used to defeat the opposing players. The players were divided into three factions: Light, Grey, and Dark. The game pitted the forces of good, neutral and evil against one another. Danny's box portrayed the emblem of Light, an intricate circle of glowing
white chain intertwined with links of black, engulfed in tendrils of darkness.
Matt pulled a small card box from his own backpack, with the symbol of Grey emblazoned upon it, a weave of grey chain linked in a circle. Matt had chosen the neutral faction for his deck, using technology and fanatical knights to win battles, while Light used righteous knights and holy dragons to defeat opponents.
"Look at this," Matt said. He pulled a deck of cards from the box, took the top card from the pile and held it up for both Danny and Alonso to see.
"That game is stupid," Alonso said, sighing, taking a seat in front of Danny.
Ignoring the boy in front of him, Danny leaned over to inspect his friend’s new card—a heavily-armored knight in brass-colored armor sitting upon a jet-black steed. The artwork, as with most of the cards in the game, looked quite detailed.
"Wow, that's going to be tough to beat," said Danny, taking the card and admiring it. Opening his own deck box, he pulled out a crisp, glossy card. The picture on the card boasted a monstrous silver-scaled dragon. Written in bold, black lettering on the upper left of the card was the name of the dragon, Tyramear. Handing the card to Matt, Danny said, "I got that about two days ago, had to trade some of my best cards to get it."
"Wow!" Matt said, taking the card, looking it over. "We still have a few minutes before class. You want to play?"
Danny was about to say yes when a familiar face passed through the doorway and entered the make-shift room. "Um… no, I don't think we have time," said Danny, handing Matt's card back with a quick jerk of the hand. Retrieving his own cards, he put the deck box back in his pack.
Sabrina Drake crossed the row of desks and walked down the aisle next to Danny's, sitting next to him.
Danny's palms began to sweat, and the room seemed to jump twenty degrees.
"Hi, I'm Sabrina."
Danny's heart thumped with a heavy throb. He felt like he was about to pass out.
"Hi, I'm Matt," said the purple-eyed boy as he reached across Danny's desk with an outstretched hand. "Nice to meet you," he added with a smile.
After hesitating, with a look of puzzlement, she took Matt's hand and shook it, returning the smile. "You guys play Knights?" she asked, looking at the deck of cards in Matt's opposite hand.
"You know all about Knights!" Danny said, forgetting about his awkwardness.
Reaching into her small book bag, Sabrina pulled out a pale-colored deck box with the emblem of Light on the top.
"You play with the Light army?" Danny asked.
Nodding, Sabrina pulled out a handful of cards. "I like dragons and Light has the best-looking dragon cards."
Danny nodded, already knowing this simple fact. The truth was that he liked dragons as well.
"You want to play?" Matt asked.
Sabrina shrugged. "I don't think we have time."
Already, the room was filling up with a gathering of faces and a massing of voices.
Matt sighed, an obvious signal that he agreed, but he was also disappointed.
The final bell toned and an adult, Danny suspected she was their teacher, entered the room and held up her hand, ordering quiet.
"Alright, quiet down," she said. "My name is Mrs. Turner; I'll be teaching you biology this year." She was slender, with dark-red hair, with a voice that demanded attention.
However, that didn't stop Danny from focusing his attention on Sabrina as she slipped the white deck box back into her pack.
The hour passed more slowly than Danny could have imagined. He fluctuated between daydreams, the lecture and staring at Sabrina, who sat attentively next to him.
After what seemed like hours, the bell rang, signaling the end of the class. Looking over, Danny noticed that Sabrina had her science book open in front of her, as did anyone else who had been paying the least bit of attention. Looking down at his own empty desk, he realized that he needed to buy some time if he was going to walk with the new girl.
Bending over, Danny rifled through his backpack, attempting to give the appearance that he was searching for something. Looking over, he noticed that Sabrina was just about done packing.
"You coming, Danny?" Matt asked.
Looking up, Danny sighed.
Matt and Alonso were waiting by the exit. Matt's left foot thumped with impatience.
Standing up, Danny pulled his pack over his shoulder and looked over to find Sabrina smiling at him, still getting her things organized.
"Bye," she said in a musical tone, returning to the task of putting her book back in her bag.
"Bye," Danny said, he stalked off to where his friends waited.
Two more classes remained, history and English. Danny walked into his history classroom and sighed; he saw Steven Rooney sitting at the back.
At least the day is almost over, he thought, taking a seat toward the front. Danny wanted little to do with the troublemaker in the back of the room.
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Chapter 2 - Trigger of Power
anny awoke to the same sound most mornings, the high-pitched voice of his mother yelling his name.
Stretching, he yawned and went through the motions of the morning. He got dressed, ate breakfast, brushed his teeth, gave his mother a goodbye hug and went out to meet the bus.
The universe seemed right. Once again, Alonso plopped down next to him in the same seat that he always did, continuing to make meaningless small talk. Danny had come to learn that Alonso had a tendency to tell some outrageous fibs from time to time, yet they tended to be more amusing than anything else, so he felt content to let his friend babble.
A month had gone by; the sun rose just as it always did, casting a warm glow onto Danny's left cheek, Alonso continued to tell his tall tale.
The bus door screeched open and Danny followed in the tradition of standing up behind his friend, even though he'd been sitting toward the back. It would still be a little while before the line started moving. After a few moments, he worked his way to the front of the bus, greeted by chilly air. Winter hinted its approach, but he found the cool breeze refreshing.
The school day progressed just like any other day. Danny participated in a heated game of baseball during gym class; he struggled to make interesting small talk with his lab partner, Sabrina, in science class and he ate lunch with Matt, Chris, and Alonso. At least, it seemed like a normal day.
"Hey, Firoth!" an obnoxious voice yelled out, loud, deep, and throaty.
Danny stopped in mid-step. He was almost to the bus. He sighed, he knew whose voice had beckoned him. Turning, his fears were confirmed as he spotted Steven Rooney and his goons walking straight toward him.
Clay Tanter stood to Steven's left, Clay was a, tall, slender boy with slick black hair, known for his ability on the football team as the school’s quarterback. Marie Topeland swayed menacingly on Stephen's right.
"Hold on, Firoth, I'm talking to you."
Danny looked around for anyone who could offer some assistance; he found only sympathy in the faces that regarded him. They weren't about to help him—his friend Chris was nowhere to be found. Alonso was probably already on the bus and Matt couldn't help, even if he was around and willing—he was no fighter.
Steven walked up and stopped a few feet from Danny's face. "You think it's funny, I failed that history test, Firoth?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
"I saw you laugh when Mrs. Swortsberger blurted out that I had the lowest grade in the class."
"Hey, Danny, what's going on?" a familiar voice asked from behind.
Danny turned to find Doug Garrett standing nearby. Doug was a newcomer to his circle of friends, as well as a Knights gamer. Doug dressed in the latest fashions, faded jeans, flip-flops, and light-colored polos—blue today. He often moved in the upper circles and kept himself distanced from those who would threaten him with bodily harm. No one ever seemed to be safe from Steven.
Looking on with a mixture of curiosity and fear, Doug stopped mid-step as he saw Steven Roo
ney looming just beyond him, where Danny stood.
"Get lost, fatty."
Doug was modestly plump—but Steven had the worst timing ever.
"Don't call him that!" Danny yelled, growing a backbone.
"What're you gonna do about it, Firoth?" Steven asked, inching forward so that his face was only a short distance from Danny's.
"I'm going to…"
"Shut up," interrupted Steven, stepping within striking distance, shoving Danny backwards.
Danny stumbled back and felt his body topple over. Instead of fighting the fall, he embraced it, rolling his body into a small ball. He planted both hands on the hard cement of the sidewalk; his back began to lift like a teeter-totter and he pushed himself upward. He landed flat on his feet with his fists balled up, poised for a fight.
"Oh, you wanna fight, Firoth?" Steven snickered.
Looking down at himself, Danny noticed his stance and his clenched fists. He hadn't done that on purpose, he really didn't want to fight. Looking around, he noticed that the confrontation was drawing a crowd. If he backed down now, he'd surely earn the label of coward. However, if he didn't, he knew he was going to get hurt. What do I do now?
Danny desperately wanted to run away, but he held his ground.
Steven stepped closer. "Oh, you're gonna get it now, Firoth," drawing back his right fist.
Time seemed to slow as Danny focused his mind, he clenched his fists tighter, causing his knuckles to turn white.
An outline of Steven's body broke free of his physical form. The silhouette was white, translucent, like a ghost leaving its body. It jumped forward with a closed fist, followed through and released a wicked right-handed punch that dissipated as it passed through Danny's stomach without the slightest hint of density.
Confused, without a clue about what had just transpired, Danny stood still as a stone, stunned. However, he had no time to figure it out—time seemed to refocus, Steven stepped forward, moved in the exact same motion that the image had predicted he would, and connected with a solid punch to Danny's abdomen. An overpowering sensation of pain forced the air from Danny's lungs as his legs buckled beneath him; he toppled to his knees.
