Author’s note- Sorry for the late chapter release. A combination of the fact that this chapter actually got corrupted right as I was about to finish (I wasn’t even able to recover anything D;), and the fact that yet another huge scale conflict occurred caused me to lose motivation to write for a while. But, here I am, writing again. Lucky you.

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Bodyguards

The training went on for a while in the dreamspace, but I continued to be unable to best him. I got close, but it seemed like he could read my thoughts, always a step ahead. Although, I might of won this last time if my alarm clock didn’t start beeping really loudly.

“Smack”

The kick sent me flying onto the ground.

Me?- “Looks like our time in here has come to an end. Have a great day at school!”

The space shattered, and my eyes flipped open. Turning off my alarm clock, I decided to get ready.

After I had taken a shower, I got dressed, put on the pendant, and walked downstairs to get some cereal. But to my surprise, I found two unfamiliar people sitting at the table.

One was a man around 30 years of age with a muscular build. He had a moustache, clean-cut brown hair, and a vibrant smile; he was chatting with my grandfather at the time. The other was a woman of a muscular build as well, but she stood a little less tall than the man. She had black hair and glasses, and she also looked to be around 30 years of age. The woman was currently chatting with my mother at the time, and they seemed to be acquaintances.

Grandma- “Nathaniel, you were asleep at the time, but these people arrived last night.” Grandma spoke from the couch, “They’re here to protect you.”

I looked back at the people, and they stood up, smiling in greeting. The man put out his hand for a handshake.

The man- “Hello, my name’s Gabriel Stone. Just call me Gabe.”

I nodded my head and replied,

Me- “Nathaniel.”

Gabriel stepped back, and then the woman stepped forward. She put out her hand as well, and I shook it.

The woman- “The name’s Sparrow. Nice to meet you.”

Me- “Nathaniel. Nice to meet you too.”

After the greetings were over, I went over to the kitchen to prepare my breakfast, cereal. The awkwardness from our meeting hadn’t faded, so I decided to sit by the couch to eat. That didn’t seem to bother the bodyguards, but mom gave me a glare as if trying to say, ‘Come sit at the table and talk with them right now!”

I didn’t end up going to the table, but in my defense, they were already having a conversation. Why would I butt in just to make the situation more awkward?

After the last bite of my cereal, I placed the dish into the sink and rinsed it. Then, right as I was about to leave out the door, a voice came from the kitchen.

Mom- “Nathaniel, you aren’t walking to school. Gabriel and Sparrow will drive you from now on.”

Sigh. I figured that would be the case, but I wanted to walk anyway. Whatever.

Me- “So what time will I be able to leave?”

Gabe- “Right now.”

Gabriel and Sparrow walked forward to the door, while Sparrow was spinning car keys around her finger.

Sparrow- “The car’s outside.”

I opened the door and the first thing I saw was a red, newly painted Ferrari. The machine looked simply awesome, and I actually felt a change of heart. If I had to go out, I would go in style! No need for walking when you could ride in a Ferrari!

Walking over to the Ferrari, I said conversationally, trying to suppress my excitement.

Me- “What are you waiting for? Unlock the car!”

Sparrow snickered, while Gabriel kept a stoic, blank look on his face.

Gabe- “We won’t be riding in that car. It’s too eye catching, and it’s not gas efficient. We’re riding in the car to your left.”

What?

Looking over to my left, there was a completely black, ugly looking, mini van. It had only 2 windows, both were on the front. The back had a thick looking metal plated door that slid open, and all the glass on the thing was tinted black so nobody could look into the vehicle.

Me- “Isn’t this thing a bit… much?”

Gabriel looked at me with a straight face.

Gabe- “What? Look, even the windows on this thing can defend against grenades, sniper rounds, heck, even a tank has nothing on this baby!”

Sparrow added, trying to keep a straight face but not succeeding.

Sparrow- “Look, our priority is to keep you safe. So what if it’s a little unsightly?”

Me- “Well then,” I spoke darkly, “let’s just get this over with.”

Sparrow and I got in the back of the van, and Gabriel got in the front. The driver was someone I hadn’t met before, but he didn’t seem to have much of a reaction when we got in the car. He just started the engine and started driving without a word.

We got to school quickly, and slinging my car-torn backpack over my back, I walked out of the car. Thankfully the bodyguards didn’t follow me out, so I was free to go to class. But since I went by car instead of by foot, I had arrived at the school early. So, to combat my boredom, I decided to text Chloe.

Me- “Hey. How are you doing?”

About a minute passed before she responded,

Chloe- “Fine. But where are u? I didn’t see u walking.”

U? That’s cute.

Me- “I’m in the library, and I wasn’t walking because apparently, it’s not safe enough. I had to ride in an armored black van comparable to a tank.”

Chloe- “Really? A tank!? Cool! Well, I’ll be here a bit late, so don’t wait for me. Go ahead and go to class; I’ll see you at gym.”

Me- “Ok.”

I waited at the library for a bit longer seeing if she would send any more messages, but after a little bit, I decided to go to my class. There was nothing else to do at the library, anyways.

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When I got to my next class, I froze at the door. Why were they here?

The bodyguards were sitting in the back of the classroom, chatting with each other. They didn’t acknowledge me, so I was sure they had some excuse to be here, but… It just felt uncomfortable knowing they’d go wherever I’d go.

Unfortunately, there was nothing that I could do about them right now, so I sat down and pretended like they weren’t there. And just at that moment, the bell rang.

Physics Teacher- “Good morning class. Today, we have a couple guests who will be following the schedule of a random student because of a research project issued by the school board. Just be mature high school students and pretend they aren’t here.”

My physics teacher had an expression on like he had just found his cats were found dead. And the killer was his dog! I assumed this just meant that he wanted us to be on a best behavior, but he was acting like we had already sealed his grave! Were we really that bad?

Refraining to answer the question internally, I started to stare off into space while he was going on about how we were smart, compassionate, mature… Yeah, I think he went a little too heavy on the icing there. But he started teaching after a minute or two, and then the lesson started.

**********************

Julian- “How could you do this to me! I thought you were my friend!”

Right as I got into the locker room, Julian started yelling off things like this to me. Apparently, I had beaten up his dad at my dad’s dojo, The School of Martial Thought, and now his dad was training him harshly. Or in his words, beating him into shape, literally.

Julian- “He’s always saying stuff like ‘Nathaniel can do this,’ and ‘why do I have such an incompetent son!’ And then he beats me up! Look at me for god’s sake!”

He lifted up his shirt to reveal rows of bruises around his ribs. But I was unimpressed. I had my freaking arm ripped off in that world, and while it was illusionary, the pain I felt was real. A couple bruises? Pssh.

Me- “Ok… It’s just a couple of bruises, stop making such a big deal about it.”

His face blanched in shock before he yelled out angrily,

Julian- “I’ll fight you to death!”

He punched my stomach, and then reeled away out of pain. I smiled to myself, grinning. Leaving my ability on for my everyday life had it’s disadvantages, but the results didn’t disappoint. Now I was wondering how my body would fare against something stronger, like a knife.

Unfortunately, I was unable to test my conjecture at this point in time, as Julian had recovered. Thus, I decided to finish the conversation before letting him spout off any more nonsense. Flexing my muscles that had just begun to show through all the flab, I replied,

Me- “I work out.”

Julian- “Mother-!”

“Bee doo bee doo ~ Bee doo bee doo.”

Just then, the bell rang, signifying we had one minute left to get into the gym before she locked us out. And Julian and I still had to get dressed into our gym clothes.

Julian- “We’ll finish this another time!”

Julian was my friend, but he could be a real bother at times. Thankfully, he knew when to stop. Therefore, I was able to get my clothes on quickly, and when I got inside, I saw an amusing scene.

At the entrance, Chloe was holding an official-looking document and limping over to the gym teacher, who wasn’t very pleased to see her there.

Gym Teacher- “What do you want?”

With a smug smile on her face, Chloe responded,

Chloe- “I have a doctor’s note~!”

Gym Teacher- “Let me see.”

She grabbed the papers from Chloe’s hands and scrutinized them closely, as if searching for something that would make the papers invalid. But to her disappointment, there seemed to be nothing out of the ordinary. So she looked up from the papers and growled,

Gym Teacher- “… Alright.”

Chloe responded cheerily, seemingly unaware of the gym teacher’s dark tone,

Chloe- “So I’m exempt from gym today, right?”

Gym teacher- “Yes. Now get in line, or else I’ll mark you as absent.”

Chloe- “Yes Ma-am!”

She gave a military salute that I could only describe as incredibly sarcastic, and then she walked over into her place in line. The gym teacher took this chance to call role, and after this was done, we went outside. It seemed today, we were doing an outside sport. But what was it? Soccer? Flag football? Kickball?

Me- “Hey Chloe, what do you think we’re playing today?”

Chloe responded pragmatically,

Chloe- “Who knows? Either way, it has nothing to do with me.”

My eyebrow involuntarily twitched. Well, fine. If you don’t even want to have a conversation, then why should I even bother?

Me- “…”

Chloe continued to look at me as we were walking, seemingly expecting me to ask something else…

Chloe- “…”

Me- “…”

Chloe- “………”

WHAT DO YOU WANT WOMAN!!!

Me- “………”

Chloe looked displeased.

Chloe- “Nathaniel. Aren’t you going to ask me about the doctor’s note? I was with you for almost the whole day, wasn’t I?”

Where did she pull that out from? That’s like an entirely different subject; how was I supposed to know she wanted me to ask that? Whatever, I guess I’ll follow along.

Me- “You got the note from the doctors before meeting me at the dojo, right?”

Chloe seemed taken aback. She asked curiously,

Chloe- “Yeah, how’d you know? I don’t remember telling you.”

I grinned mischievously,

Me- “It was an educated guess. After all, there was no way you just showed up in the downtown area for no reason, it’s a 30-minute walk! Plus, they place dojos pretty close to hospitals in case of any incidents that might occur. Of course, you also could of gone after returning from my house, but if that were the case, I’d doubt you’d have a doctor’s note. After all, one of my abilities is speed regeneration. Which brings me to the question, why did you seem in such a hurry to leave yesterday?”

Chloe smiled mysteriously,

Chloe- “You’ll have to find out later. But anyways, have fun! It looks like you’re playing soccer today.”

I started muttering about how people shouldn’t slack off, but Chloe playfully pushed me away.

Chloe- “Now now, Nathaniel. I have a doctor’s note; I can’t be playing with my ankle like this! You wouldn’t force your poor, hurt, girlfriend into the playing field, right?”

She looked at me with puppy eyes that could of come straight out of an anime, and I could only begrudgingly turn away.

Me- “Alright. I’ll see you after the game, I guess?”

Chloe- “Mhm-hm!”

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Author’s note 2- Super depressed right now… Whatever, I hope you enjoyed the chapter.