Ethan Edwards & Noah Rogers ~ Family Affairs. By Carter P, Monacur

Chapter ~ 6# ~ Repeating

Noah ~ POV

I stood in the lunch line trying to keep my head down. The creeper forcing all clubs to shut down got everyone in a bad mood. Heck some of the jocks started fighting right beside the main entrance of the school this morning. I also heard a rumor that some people are skipping town too. I looked between the two main dishes for today; cold sandwich; or hot and ready pepperoni pizza. I reached for the pizza but got cut off by a hand reaching out and taking it first. I silently cursed as I went and reached for a sandwich. But I stopped when I felt something being set down on my tray. I looked down to find the same hand from before setting the pizza slice down.

Ethan was standing next to me with his tray of food all set. He gave me his signature smile as we went back to pick out the rest of our lunch for the day. I grab a pudding cup as I hear Ethan ask me something.

"Noah, you said you're good with computers right?" He asked in a hushed tone.

I looked at him a little puzzled before I gave a nod yes.

"Can you help me after school... I need you to look at something." He grabbed a bottle of water and we reached the register.

We paid for our meals and walked towards an empty corner. Whatever Ethan needed sounded serious.

"What's going on?" I was too curious not to ask.

As we sat down at the empty table I noticed now Ethan was all serious.

"I need you to check a computer for me." Is all he would say before he began eating his lunch.

We had kept talking but I could still tell something was off with him. The way he was acting was different from before; like yesterday when we were talking about anime he made little jokes here and there. He brought up some interesting takes on some of the anime I recommended. The rest of the school day went by normally though I could still feel this pressure. I honestly felt like I was in one of those anime where you have a sixth sense. And something I couldn't see was pressing down on my shoulders. I brushed it off. My last class was history; which I was terrible at but it wasn't too bad. Maybe I can ask Ethan for some tutoring while I'm helping him with his computer. Ms Rosia, our history teacher, mostly spent it lecturing about various historical figures that lead the women's rights movement. I didn't pay much attention as my mind was elsewhere. After the bell rang I went to find Ethan; I ended up finding him near the back of the school. He looked around as if trying to find someone before he began leading me somewhere.

As we walked I pulled out my phone; I remembered I'd been meaning to ask for Ethan's number. He seemed a little surprised by me asking but told me the number off the top of his head. I swear the memory of this guy was insane; considering he remembered all those fine details that one night it makes sense; but still surprising.

I noticed we were heading towards the computer lab; which was weird to me. I mean I thought it was still closed because of the Sheriff; but I guess they opened up. As we walked in I noticed the remains of the police tape on the door frame; it looked like it had been ripped off.

Ethan pointed me to a specific chair and computer. I sat down as he pushed the chair forward. I turned on the computer and logged in.

"So... what am I looking for?" I asked as I saw the home screen of the computer.

"Can you pull up recent history?" He looked over my shoulder at the computer.

"Which history are you talking about?" I asked as I went through the system.

"Anything from Sunday to today." I felt a chill run down my spine when he said that.

Wasn't that the night someone broke into this place? I pulled up the history from that night to today. I noticed whoever logged in that night, used the student login that was in a plaque by the front door. Looking through their activity I saw someone had been trying to look through school files; but since they didn't login as a teacher they couldn't find whatever they were looking for. They managed to pull up last year's school year book; I felt another chill run down my spine. I wanted to say something to Ethan but a small lump in my throat wouldn't let me. But I guess Ethan noticed how uncomfortable I was as he reached down and began typing on the keyboard.