The Dragon's Scale (COMPLETE, EDITING)

1.2 || Invasive Dreams

The boy's locker room was pretty large.  It had eight locker stations, which meant four alcoves on each side of the room with a small pathway between them.  Josh's locker station was the second one, and it wasn't until he arrived at the fourth that he found the source of the noise.  

"I said I was sorry." The one to speak was a lanky guy with a mess of brown curls who sat on a bench. He rubbed his shoulder, and his wide eyes flickered over at Josh's arrival.

"What's going on?" Josh demanded.

The other boy turned to face Josh. He was the one who had spoken before. Josh would recognize his voice anywhere. Darren Gifford, star running back of Wellington High School. He was tall and well-built, with sandy blond hair and green eyes. From most movies Josh saw, he should be the most popular kid in school.

Granted, he was pretty popular, but he would have been moreso if not for the same attitude that caused the sneer that twisted his lips now.

"Nothing to worry about, Davidson," he said.

Josh glanced at his classmate—Kurt or something like that—and searched for anything wrong besides the shoulder. Darren, on the other hand, sported a bruise on his jaw, but it was faded, so it was probably from football practice.

"Yeah, it was my fault," Kurt said. "I was trying to tie my shoe and fell into Darren."

Kurt's expression and tone were natural, meaning he was either a great actor or was telling the truth. Josh willed the tension from his shoulders to go away, but anytime he was near Darren, it wouldn't.

"See? Nothing to worry about, so stop freaking out." Darren grinned, but his stare shot a silent warning. "Be sure to do better on the field, McKinley," he said to Kurt. "Don't want to make things harder for whichever team you get."

With one final glare in Josh's direction, Darren walked away.

Josh watched him go, finally relaxing when he disappeared out the changing room door. He turned back to Kurt. "Hey, you sure everything is okay?"

Kurt had returned to tying his shoe, but he paused to raise a brow at Josh. "Yeah. I told you what happened. I mean, sure, Darren didn't seem happy I fell into him, but I did almost make him drop his phone. I wouldn't be too pleased if a klutz almost broke my stuff either. What's got you so wound up?"

"Nothing, just..." Josh waved his hand, as if it could force the subject away. "Anyway, I'll see you in the gym."

Without another word, he spun on his heel and left. He had every reason to worry when an angry Darren was involved. Not that he could blame Kurt for not knowing that. After all, unlike Josh, Kurt didn't know about Darren's outbursts that led to ruthlessly shoving around smaller guys.

Well, the outbursts that used to cause that, back before Josh stepped in. It would seem the bully jock hadn't broken the deal he'd made with Josh. Just because his daydreams stopped playing by their old rules didn't mean everything else did too.

Josh was among the last of the boys to enter the gym, but only half the girls were there. He found his spot near Tom.

"You sure took a long time," Tom said, peering suspiciously. "Didn't zone out, did you?"

"If you ask me that one more time, I am going to tell Mom that I want salmon for dinner tonight."

Tom scrunched up his face. "Okay, okay. No need to threaten me. So... What did you tell your mom to have?"

Tom could be really pushy at times, but one thing Josh always appreciated was how easily he could be made to jump subjects. During their muttered conversations when they did stretches, they kept the subject on their weekend plans.