Finding My Normal

Ch 50: Tales

"So are you ready?" Jay asks me as we finish up our group meeting before school starts.

"Yes, I think we're going to get an A." I tell him with a smile.

An awkward pause fills the courtyard. We finished our meeting early and school doesn't start for another thirty minutes and there's barely anyone here right now. I decide to make a little small talk.

"Are you going to Homecoming?" I ask him.

"Yeah, have to since I'm nominated." He doesn't elaborate anymore and I just start staring at him. Almost willing him to talk more. If I want to get more information I need him to talk. It doesn't help that I'm not used to making friends. I'm not really sure what friends talk about.

My willing the universe to make Jay talk works, but I didn't expect to hear his confession.

"I voted for you." He says casually.

I furrow my brows, "For Homecoming Queen?"

He nods his head as he stares at me with his dark eyes. I smile at him and laugh a little, "I thought you would have voted for your sister."

He just shrugs once again without elaborating or continuing the conversation. We continue to sit in silence and the thought that pops into my mind over and over is that night around the campfire when he told that story.

"Where did you hear that story?" I ask him, just putting it out there hoping I'll catch a Volto on the other end of my fishing line.

"What story?"

"The one you told at the campfire."

"Oh, I made it up."

I stare at him blankly. He made it up? I don't believe him. "You just made it up? Out of the blue like that? It was pretty elaborate."

He looks up from the papers he's fidgeting with. "Well, I kind of made it up."

"What does that mean?" I question him.

"It's kind of a mix of different stories. I mixed up a bunch stories from The Orphan's Tales. Prince Leander kills the witch's daughter then brings her back to life. She lives throughout the rest of the stories until she grows old. I added in some of my own ideas to make it scary. I think your friends thought I was some weirdo." He says with a chuckle.

The Orphan's Tales a fantasy series comprised of two novels. Each novel contains multiple stories, one of which being The Book of Steppe. The same story I was reading all those years ago.

And that's when I see it. His dark eyes, thick eyebrows, the shrugs, the silence. Exactly like the boy I remembered.

"You shaved your head." I shake my head at the comment I made. He's had a shaved head this entire time, he's not going to understand what I'm talking about. I underestimate him though because he obviously knows what I'm referring to when he responds with, "Yeah, in Junior High. Had to for football, thought it looked okay so I kept it." He continues to stare at me until a small smirk appears on his face, "You finally remembered."

I laugh a little, still apprehensive about what this all means. Does this confirm he's Volto? Protecting me then, protecting me now?

"Umm , yeah I did. I think it was the hair that was throwing me off from remembering earlier." My curiosity gets the best of me and I ask, "Why did you never talk to me again after that?"

"I didn't know you wanted to talk. You always seemed to keep to yourself. I made sure Rocky never touched you again though."

My heart thumps rapidly in my chest. Rocky? He was the bully that hurt me?