A Couple Steps Back

Chapter 6

Zeke had explained to them a small part of a plan, but for the rest, he had to come up with later.

It wasn't long before the bell rang. 

The students that were in the Cafeteria piled out, as the remainder of the ones within the club room had left. Although it was an interesting start, or middle, for John's day, it proceeded on per the usual manner. Class to class, sparing a visit to Seraphina, then finishing his classes 'til the end of the day; all that was left out of it was the daily beating.

He was at least glad those days were over.

When his last class ended, he met with Seraphina outside of his classroom once again. They exchanged in a short conversation before walking off with one another, continuing to chat while walking down the hallway.

As the two walked, John noticed some sky blue hair further from where they were. A face of disgust crossed over him.

"-hey, Sera? Let's take a detour today."

At that, John grabbed Sera's wrist, and as sudden as it was, she didn't question him. If he wanted to avoid someone or something, it was best to take his word for it and go.

The two of them left within the crowd, but it's not as if Zeke was waiting for them anyways. Rather, he was waiting for someone else as he stared past the obvious black haired kid. As much as he wanted to say something, he knew it was pointless at this point.

Peeking over the heads, he managed to spot who he was looking for; a boy with what appeared to be unsaturated pink hair had come out of the classroom.

"Julien!" Zeke called out to him.

With the hallway clearing out, he managed to bring himself to him. Julien leaned his head up to Zeke, tilting his head slightly.

". . .Zeke? You never try to come to me after class. Is something up?"

"Yeah, I need you and Mardin for something. It should be quick, as long as you don't slow me down."

 "Why would I- nevermind."

Without another word, Zeke turned from him, now heading in the opposite direction. Julien followed behind as instructed. They turned the corner down a set of stairs, then the one after that, before reaching the floor below them. Once on the floor, Zeke stopped for a moment to look around for the kid he had in mind.

The boy with mint-colored hair, Mardin, had left his class moments ago, and was walking down the hallway until they noticed Zeke.

He raised his hand to wave.

"Zeke! I got your message earlier, and I was just coming over to see you."

"Good. We should go ahead and get going, then."

Mardin got a message, but Julien didn't? He didn't think of it much, but something about that did bother him. Maybe since Zeke knew Mardin was on another floor, that he may be gone by the time he went for them? That'd be reasonable.

Seeing that the hallways were clearing up, Zeke waved his friends over. He searched for an empty room before opening the door to it; thankfully, the doors weren't locked yet. They followed him inside, and Mardin shut the door behind the three of them.

Finding a desk, Zeke hopped himself onto it, letting his arms rest over each other. Meanwhile, Julien and Mardin stood around him.

"So. . ." Zeke started. 

"We all know, by now, everything about John and his return, right? Well, what's got me going is not that he has the audacity to return, but return as some sort of 'transformed man'. And then to call me out in front of everyone using his new buddy, Arlo!"