As I Fell ✓

Chapter 10

Owen

"Fancy seeing you here, Everest." Target guy said as he gave me an award-winning smile.

I crossed my arms and looked at him, my expression neutral.

I didn't know what to feel after getting hit in the face by a bag, losing a bet to Marley, and seeing the guy from Target again.

"It's Owen, actually," I muttered.

Target guy's expression brightened up as he smiled again, his hands gripping the straps of his backpack, looking all jumpy.

"I'm Calix. Dude, I never even thought I'd bump into you that quick. Sorry 'bout the bag, though." He said as he rubbed his nape and looked bashful. I waved a hand and attempted to smile. Note, I said attempted.

"No worries. It's not like I got brain damage or something. It's just a bag." I said. I felt a finger tap my shoulder from behind and I turned to look at who it was.

"You sure you don't have brain damage, Owen? Talk again in British slang and maybe this– whoever this is, will think differently." Marley said as she joined in and took notice of Calix, whose eyes were now wide and whose face was pinker in shade.

Oh no. Don't tell me he's another one of those guys who Marley put under her spell.

"Calix Bennett, ma'am. And you are?" Calix introduced, as he bowed and extended a hand toward Marley.

Marley, being the sane one here, shot him a puzzled look. She had her arms crossed and she put up one leg over her other in a cross position. Calix, noticing that Marley didn't answer him, retracted his hand and looked embarrassed, rubbing again his nape, looking redder than ever.

Well, I wouldn't throw him out for finding Marley pretty. She was pretty after all but never was I attracted to her. I never liked girls anyway. Any girl.

"Is this guy mentally challenged or is he some douche that escaped from some other century?" Marley whispered over to me. Since our chairs were at the same height, I was noticeably taller than her sitting so she had to crane her neck a bit higher.

"I don't think so. He seems to have taken the impact his backpack gave me and has brain damage now." I replied, shaking my head disbelievingly.

"My fair maiden, may I ask for your name?" Calix, suddenly being the old-timey weirdo around here, asked Marley, who now had her eyebrows raised and her arms crossed over her green sweater which she matched with some ankle-high boots.

Marley had always had a thing for dressing up. She liked experimenting with her clothes which even got her featured in our school newspaper once. She never wears the same thing twice a week which made me suddenly feel conscious of the hoodie I always bring along. I wash it after three uses.

"Okay, now I'm even more convinced that this guy literally came from a time machine." She said, her eyebrows scrunching up at Calix, who I never thought could get any weirder. Still, he was good. It's just that weird old-fashioned way he spoke to girls that shot Marley and I off.

"I agree," I said, nodding to Marley.

She looked down at her wrist where an old vintage watch of her dad was strapped on and opened her mouth in a huge 'O'. She then looked over at me and at Calix too, smiling ever so slightly.

"Class starts in ten. See you later at Delta's, I guess. Fix the time machine too, would you? This disheveled knight of the round table needs to get back to Camelot." Marley said as she scrunched up her nose and started to push her chair away backward at first before spinning off to class.