8.41 – Not this

4/4 into the school year

Traz’s POV

Not like this.

This was never meant to happen.

This was never the goal. Supernaturals weren’t supposed to get mixed up in this!

Why-? How-?

If I think about it, it all started to be doomed near the beginning of the year…

2/4 into the school year

I should’ve seen it coming, when I first saw him hanging around Xavier like they were already good friends.

Xavier was participating in a friendly street art contest that day, I just happened to be walking by then.

I was still amazed then at how much Xavier seemed to have changed. And thanks to my eye, I knew in general what had happened to him.

Yet with all that, he’d still come back to school with the same mission that he’d left with: Convince me to stop. And that pleased me.

So, I could admit that I was quite possibly jealous when I saw those two interact. Xavier jokingly spraying Olistan’s pants when he accidently stepped into the square.

They hadn’t even known each other for that long, and I, who’d been amusing myself with playing a sort of cat and mouse game with Xavier, was now feeling jealous. Wanting to just go back to hanging out casually, practicing with the band.

If that man hadn’t become such a close friend that it could’ve all been avoided.

Though at this point, I suppose it was already too late.

What really tipped the point happened earlier on.

1/4 into the school year

During the second month of school if I remember correctly, well…it was right after my troupe’s first lesson. A group of naturals had cornered a supernatural, wanting to know if they knew anything about us, the Talent Troupe. We were forced to intervene.

But apparently that had made a lot of people angry, both supernaturals and naturals. So much that they several gathered in the square to throw arguments back and forth.

Xavier had taken that opportunity to try and approach me again. He was trying to lecture me again which really amused me. Something about not even being able to justify the attack since the group of naturals hadn’t touched the supernatural, only scared him or something.

I tried to explain to him that sometimes you needed to fix the problem before it happened. Better safe than sorry. But I was rather abruptly interrupted by him.

While the arguments were starting to heat up and irrational suggestions and accusations were being made, he slammed a box on the ground and stepped on it.

Then, just to make sure everyone was listening, he pulled out a speakerphone.

He started off nicely, telling everyone to shut up. And then he began his speech. About how he was a werewolf himself, yet he wasn’t in any way on the Talent Troupe’s side. He made it clear to everyone that the students weren’t separated into two clear factions, there were all sorts of opinions. That just because your neighbour was a supernatural, it didn’t mean he’d punch you if you said something that might suggest you weren’t with supernaturals. And then, worst of all, he started to speak badly of the Talent Troupe. Saying we were just a group of supernaturals who were scared and blaming everything bad on naturals. We were just a small group of bullies.

He wasn’t okay with what we were doing, and he declared that he was going to do his best to make sure we were brought forwards and stopped. And that everyone here should do the same.

I hadn’t realized then, but that was most likely how Olistan got himself accepted in their little group and how he got mixed up in all this.

I was too busy finding that man ridiculous to notice Xavier’s reaction to the speech at the time.

Or maybe it would’ve still happened in a way, if Olistan hadn’t come in. Maybe I should’ve just listened to Xavier, the first time he came to speak to me.

0/4 into the school year

On the first day of school I’d gone to his dorm to say hi. It didn’t go exactly like I thought it would. I didn’t even get to react to his new look, or to what he had gone through. He grabbed my shoulders and forced me to sit down and then he’d dragged a chair from the dining room and placed in front of me, sitting down on it.

“We need to talk.” He’d said in a strong stable voice. He didn’t seem that easily convinced otherwise anymore.

It wasn’t obvious on his face, quite the contrary, but my eye could see he was barely getting any sleep at night. Yet he was moving and talking about with the type of determination that required energy. What was fueling him?

“Alright, let’s talk.”

“Stop using the Talent Troupe to make yourself look good in front of your dad.”

I’d chuckled. “It’s not why-”

But Xavier had cut me off. “Yes it is.”

My smile had faded at his insistence. “It didn’t go too well with your dad did it?” I said in an attempt to unbalance him, but he ignored my comment.

“If you don’t want to stop that’s fine, but until you do we’re going to interfere every time.”

“We? And every time? Xavier, I understand if you don’t want to help us, but if so you don’t need to involve yourself more than this. Just let things be.” I’d said, hoping my words would reach him.

But once again he’d ignored my words and gotten up.

“I’ve warned you, if you don’t stop we’ll be the ones stopping you.”

“Okay Xavier.” I replied unconvinced, but Xavier really did keep to his words.

So then…if I were being honest, and admitting that I’d committed a mistake somewhere down the road, it would without a doubt be this one. When my dad called me.

3/4 into the school year

“Dad? Did something go wrong?” My dad very rarely called me and when he did…he usually never had good news.

“Yes.”

“What is it?” I’d urged.

“I heard about your little adventures at the university…and all about them going wrong.” He’d said, purposefully pausing to stress me out.

“Ah that’s nothing dad! Minor setbacks, no real damage done.”

“When you called me…what is it over a year ago now? You’d told me you’d found someone special. Someone who was key to the fate of the entire world. And now, I hear rumors that you’re banging heads with him?”

“Dad really it’s okay. It’s just playing around. It’s a work in progress okay?” I’d tried to reason, suddenly eager to get off the phone.

“Do you know what I’m hearing? Excuses. Excuses for your failures. If you can’t recruit him, at least have the decency to win against him. How is he able to stop you every single time?”

“We’ve probably got a leak somewhere…” I’d muttered, regretting it the moment I’d said it.

“A leak!? You’re my son, you don’t get to be this unprofessional. You’re giving the Talent Troupe a bad name. Either you right yourself or you start calling yourselves something else. Might as well delete you from the group for a little while.”

“Dad no! Look, I’ve got a plan okay? This one’ll be good and it won’t leak. I’ll stop this bad streak okay?” I’d insisted, trying to hide my panic.

“Fine. Your last chance.” Click

But it did leak.

And now it’s come to this.

It was never meant to be this.

I should’ve listened to Xavier.

 

 

 

First off, short chapter yes, and the next two chapters will be about this short as well. It was unavoidable because of the style I’d decided to use.

Second off, Xavier got a whole new look! He’s been through a lot and it was the start of a new year so I figured he could go for a new look.

The actual reason for Xavier’s full on makeover, is that his original hair decided to be weird on me, so I decided I didn’t like it for Xav anymore and the whole outfit just sort of came with. And let’s be honest here, it’s about time the kid grew something of a beard