“Huh?”

  “I said there are going to be strippers, right?”

  “What?” Leo dragged his eyes away from where he had been obsessively staring at Ivan while the blond talked to his friends from across the cafeteria for the last few minutes.

  He didn't know what he had exactly been looking for when he had first looked, and now he had to keep looking away and reminding himself that it was unusual to stare in that direction for a fraction too long.

  He had been thinking about the events of that day in the woods with Ivan ever since it had happened two days ago. He had also been shaken at the sight of a corpse, but Ivan's reaction was something else entirely, like it was more personal to him.

  Maybe he knew the guy?

  He wished that he and Ivan were closer so he could just ask him without it being weird, but that was his own fault, and he would have to live with the consequences.

  “What are you even talking about?” Leo finally asked. He turned towards Theo, then surveyed the rest of the group, who seemed to be engaged in their own conversations.

  “Your birthday.” Theo nodded and waved a hand like that would somehow explain how he had ended up at strippers. “Strippers there? Yes?… No?… Considering it?”

  Leo gave him a look. “If you're okay with my grandma's death being on your conscience from the heart attack she'll definitely have.” He shrugged. “Then why not?”

  Zoning out the rest of their conversation, he grabbed his phone and opened it underneath the cafeteria table, angling his body to shield his phone away from Parker, who had been periodically glancing down at his phone when he thought that Leo wasn't looking. He opened his chat with the blond and typed the words ‘Hey, are you okay?’.

  He thought about it for a few seconds, then deleted the entire sentence, replacing it with a simple ‘Hey’.

  He was then struck by the sudden thought that it might be unusual if he randomly typed ‘hey’ out of the blue when the last time they had texted had been purely transactional.

  Maybe if he explained himself? ‘Hey, just checking if you're okay after yesterday?’

  He deleted the message.

  ‘What's up?’ Too gross.

  He glanced back at Ivan's table, where the blond was currently engaged in a conversation, occasionally pausing to read a book he had propped up on the table.

  Me: Are you seriously reading here? Of all places?

  He sent the message, waiting to see what Ivan would do.

  Ivan did nothing for a few seconds, then—without breaking the conversation he was having—he discreetly grabbed his phone from the table and briefly glanced down at the message, keeping the phone cradled in his lap.

  He glanced up at Leo with an examining look before glancing back down at his phone.

  Ivan Piotrowski: What are you doing?

  11:30

  Me: Pooping.

  11:30

  Ivan Piotrowski: What do you want?

  11:30

  Leo thought on it for a second. He could attempt to craft an elaborate plan to get the answer, but he had no brainpower to try, and even if he did, Ivan would probably see through his bullshit and completely stop answering him. No point in beating around the bush anyway, right?

  Me: What was that in the woods? You seemed freaked.

  11:32

  Ivan Piotrowski: Is this what you meant when you said I could talk to you? An interrogation?

  11:32

  Me: ur avoiding the question.

  11:32

  Ivan Piotrowski: So are you.

  11:32

  “Who are you texting? A girl?” Leo heard April say, glancing over his shoulder

  Leo let out an amused huff, switching off his phone and sliding it back into his pocket before glancing up at her.

  “Maybe.” Leo answered, letting out an inconspicuous breath when he realised that she had just missed the contact name on his phone. “Why, jealous?”

  “Of you?” Her face scrunched in disgust. “Please.”

  Leo winked at her, and she rolled her eyes with a playful, knowing smile.

  — — —

  “And then what happened…?” Rohan was practically bouncing on the edge of his seat, which was an unusual sight.

  They were in biology and had been talking about a meeting that the leaders in their pack had held, which Cal had claimed he ‘happened to overhear’ while he was ‘definitely not eavesdropping, because that would be really wrong’.

  Cal bumped his shoulder. “You would have known if you came with me like I told you to.”

  “I had to go to school.” He said with an exaggerated sigh. “You did too, in case you forgot.”

  “Why didn't you just skip? It was only like… three lessons.” Cal asked, looking up at him in confusion.

  “In my dreams. My dad takes school super seriously. One time, I skipped the last 2 lessons, and he took my phone away for a week.” He replied, looking shaken at the very memory.

  Cal snickered at this. “Oh yeah, I remember that. And you had to call us with that landline in your kitchen.”

  Ivan smiled at the memory. “And then your mom unplugged that too.” He added, causing Cal to let out a chortle.

  “Ha. Ha,” Rohan replied sarcastically, waving another piece of chocolate in front of Cal before popping it into his mouth. “And just for that, you don't get any.”

  Cal scrunched his nose and backed away slightly, moving the other boy's hand away from his face. “I don't want a piece of your nasty pocket chocolate. It’s probably all warm and expired anyways,” he replied.

  Rohan shrugged at this like it made perfect sense. “Exactly.” He replied with a smirk, looking innocently at them.

  Both he and Cal gave him twin looks of disgust and hurriedly pretended to be busy with extracting the DNA from their bananas when their biology teacher gave them a pointed look of disapproval.

  “By the way, you were right, you know.” Cal nodded in Ivan's direction, then took a sip from a purple, translucent water bottle he had already half drained. “About the stomach.”

  Rohan turned to him with a frown of confusion. “So was there a wound they missed?”

  Cal took another swig from the bottle, then leaned in closer, lowering his voice. “I heard at the meeting that there was no incision or puncture or anything, but a bunch of blood from the body’s internal organs is just… gone. They think it's like 0.8 gallons' worth.”

  And the human body only has between 1.2 and 1.5.

  “Gone like the blood that was soaked into the ground?”

  Cal shrugged. “I didn't hear any more. But it wasn't that much when they moved the body, so I don't think so. I think the witches took it.”

  Or a single wizard.

  Rohan leaned back into his chair. “I don't think you even know what 0.8 gallons of blood looks like.” He said, causing Cal to lower his eyes at him and mumble something Ivan couldn't hear.

  This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

  Then Rohan turned to Ivan. “And how did you even figure that out? That's pretty impressive.”

  “Magic 8 ball.”

  “Funny.” Cal deadpanned.

  Ivan felt a buzz in his pocket, and when he glanced at his phone, there was a message from Leo.

  He glanced up, and through the window, he could see Leo's figure pacing up and down the length of the classroom.

  Me: You look like an idiot. What are you doing?

  12:20

  Ignore: Meet in the storage room after this period

  13:20

  Me: ??

  13:20

  Ignore: You don't even have a lesson after this.

  13:20

  Me: Yeah, and i want to spend my time in peace and quiet.

  13:20

  The bell rang loudly throughout the classroom, and Ivan folded and put away the mess of books and papers sprawled out over his desk.

  “Alright, pack up. If you didn't finish, just check the PowerPoint!” Their teacher called above the noise of bustling students.

  Cal yawned from beside Ivan. “What's next, Trig? Will this day just fucking end already?”

  “Maybe if you…” Ivan heard Rohan say in response, but the rest was drowned out by the noisy hallway that was quickly filling with people. Rohan and Cal grabbed their backpacks, Cal following Rohan as he led them through the maze of desks and outside the classroom.

  When Cal noticed that Ivan had hesitated by the classroom door, he turned. “Hey, what's wrong? You're not coming?”

  “I have to get something from my locker. I'll meet you guys after school.” Ivan waited until they both disappeared behind a corner down the hallway, then turned to the classroom. He waited for the last girl in the classroom to leave the class, reaching into her pocket to discreetly grab her coin purse so that when she came back for it, their teacher—who would probably be back in a few seconds—would think she was the last one to leave the class if Cal ever asked.

  When the class was completely empty, he walked to where they had been sitting and picked up the bottle that Cal had left at the foot of his chair, opening the bottle and bringing it up to his nose. The smell was strong and undeniable. Vodka.

  Ivan had always known Cal's drinking could get bad sometimes, but never this bad and never at school. What was going on with him?

  Ivan took the bottle with him and threw the purse on the floor near the door, making a mental note to talk to Cal about the vodka, then walked in the direction of the storage closet. On the way there, he dumped the vodka into a nearby drinking fountain and threw the bottle into a large box of other lost items.

  It wasn't uncommon for teachers—or anyone who cared enough to put items in Lost and Found—to spill bottles out first to stop them from spilling. Hopefully if Cal's supply was limited, it would slow him down even for a few days.

  — — —

  When Ivan entered the storage closet, Leo was already standing on the side of the room, scrolling on his phone, except his thumb movements looked to repetitive for him to a

  “Why’d you wanna meet? You seem fine.”

  Ivan couldn't see anything outwardly wrong with the brunette, and if he was feeling sick, he was damn good at hiding it. And given that they had met up not long ago, he was probably feeling fine.

  “It's not about that.” Leo pointed to his upper arm. “How are your arms? Did the scratches heal?”

  “Yeah, of course.” He answered calmly. “Why do you ask?”

  “Just…. I don't know.” He shrugged. “Now will you tell me what was up with yesterday? Honestly."

  Honestly

  Honesty had never been something Ivan was good at. Not with his parents, not with Elder Augustine and especially not with Cal and Rohan. Milena might have been the closest he ever came to complete honesty, and even that was arguable at times.

  Nothing good would ever happen if he were honest.

  Lying had always been the greatest tool he had for enabling his survival, and he wasn't so sure it was worth it for this.

  And even if he tried honesty with Leo, he could never be completely honest about his powers. So what was even the point if he would always always have to leave out one quarter of the full truth?

  “I was just… making sure you were okay.”

  “I was just spooked, okay? I thought it — he looked like someone I saw in a dream once.”

  “But,” he continued, surprising himself. “I'm not sure anymore.”

  The relief of finally telling someone other than his sister hit him so unexpectedly that a tight feeling grasped at his throat. While a heavy feeling was still present in his chest, occupying the space right beside it was also the light airiness of freedom, and it felt… peaceful.

  If three quarters was all he could do, then he would do it.

  “Why do you even care?”

  Leo sighed, throwing his arms up in the air in frustration. “I don't know. You're my… you know.”

  “Yeah… I get it.” Ivan finally answered, because he did get it. He understood way too much how different things were now.

  After deciding to let the matter go, Leo glanced at him with a jolt.

  “By the way,” he said. “We should probably change our contact names. April almost saw me texting you in the cafeteria.”

  “...Right.”

  Leo pulled out his phone, then glanced at the screen for a few seconds before glancing back up at Ivan. “What are you gonna change it to?” He asked, and Ivan could feel a smile begging to make its way onto his lips.

  “It's— Your name was never saved as… well, your name.”

  He grabbed his own phone and went to Leo's contact, facing the screen to the other boy.

  Leo squinted his eyes, craning his neck to look at the screen. He was unusually quiet for a few seconds, and then, “What the fuck.”

  Leo took the phone, walking to the other side of the room. “Why would—” He started but was cut off by his own surprised laughter.

  “Why would you save me as ‘ignore’?” He asked again, his laugh growing louder and more infectious by the second.

  Ivan wanted to tell him to quiet down — because someone was definitely going to hear him outside — but all he did was smile, because as much as he wanted to, he couldn't get himself to stop.

  “It's not that funny.”

  Leo slowly walked back to where Ivan was standing and held out the phone to him. His hand remained stagnant between them for a few seconds, keeping the phone just out of reach of Ivan, but not in a mocking way. He was just… still. Watching Ivan intently, his head tipped in curiosity with a winsome smile plastered on his face.

  Ivan realised he was also smiling widely, and his smile dropped quickly, snapping Leo out of his entrancement.

  Leo handed the phone back and wiped at his eyes with the other hand. “You must really hate me.”

  Not anymore I think. Ivan wanted to say, but he remained silent. Instead, he asked, “What did you even save me as?”

  Leo turned his own phone screen towards Ivan, and Ivan glanced back up at him with a raised eyebrow. “My name and surname?” Huh

  Leo shrugged playfully. “Did you want me to save you as ‘Do not answer’?"

  Ivan shrugged with a slight smile. “Better than my name and surname.”

  “Here.” Leo stuck his hand out towards Ivan, his palm faced up. “I have the perfect name.”

  Ivan handed him his phone, and Leo took it, walking as far away from Ivan as the small storage room would allow and huddling over the phone like he was bent over a cauldron concocting a magic potion.

  “What are you doing?”

  Leo said nothing for a few seconds as he was busy with goddess-knew-what on Ivan's phone, then he handed the phone back to Ivan, his lips twitching in the beginning stages of what was a badly disguised grin

  Ivan narrowed his eyes at him, then took the phone, glancing down at the contact name.

  ‘Loml ?’

  Love of my life.

  Ivan stared at him blankly. “I'm not using that.”

  “You will.”

  “Is this you attempting to carry out some weird dream you had?”

  “Think about it.” He said eagerly. “No one will ever guess it’s me, and people will actually think you get some.”

  “Fuck off.” Ivan said, and Leo winked and smiled at him, the smile wide enough for Ivan to see every one of his white teeth.

  Ivan’s phone buzzed, and he glanced down at the device with a disapproving shake of his head, gladly accepting the excuse to look away from Leo's smile.

  Rohan: Where are you? We're leaving soon. Cal wants to leave you if you take too long.

  14:01

  Rohan: We won't actually

  14:02

  Ivan waved goodbye to Leo and exited the storeroom, walking quickly down the hallways and towards the exit. A few seconds later, Leo sent him a text with a screenshot of his new contact name circled in red: Güero, which, he found out when he later translated it, meant 'fair-skinned'.

  Loml ?: Still think I'm predictable?

  14:02

  Ivan snorted at the contact name, feeling himself smile for the second time that day.

  The realisation soon hit him of the fact that today had been the first time in years he had smiled that much and that often

  It was unnerving.

  He definitely needed to change the contact name later.

  — — —

  After exiting the school building, Ivan approached the spot where Cal and Rohan were huddled, surrounding Rohan's car as they talked softly.

  “Hey. I think I saw your bottle at Lost and Found on the way here.” Ivan said as he approached them, making both of them look up.

  “Oh. Really?” Cal searched the sides of his backpack, then looked at Rohan's before glancing back at Ivan. “Did it still have water in it?”

  Ivan shook his head, and when he did, a split second of worry appeared on Cal's face before it was easily replaced with a casual smile.

  “It's fine. I'll get it tomorrow.

  “Okay. Let's go then.” Rohan said, ushering both of them into the car with superfluous urgency. “My mom said she made muffins.”