Zeke dashed through the crowded corridor, eyeing the floor.

His fellow Winterford High School students were on either side. Most of them bigger than him, better-looking than him, brimming with confidence all over. Girls and boys alike talking and laughing beside the blue steel lockers seemed to be from an entirely different species from him. He couldn’t tell who, but just the thought of eyes scanning his wimpy frame and conspicuous patchwork jeans made his stomach turn. He sped up.

Finally, he reached the Algebra classroom door. It was open halfway. He pushed it all the way.

It was anarchy.

The teacher was fast asleep, slumped over on his desk while students scribbled and drew genitalia on his face and others happily did the same on the blackboard. As for the ruffians seated, some were in a full-blown paper plane war, launching their matte aircraft at each other. The winning conditions seemed quite ambiguous to Zeke as he watched. He continued to survey the room and found others focused on their handheld consoles and the rest making out with each other.

Zeke only took advancement placement classes and forgot how outlandish the normal classrooms were.

“Your boyfriend left a couple of minutes ago,” a delinquent circling a testicle on the board said.

Zeke scowled back at him. Knowing that’s as far as he could go without getting his ass kicked.

He heard a girl let out a loud groan. Zeke backed away from the classroom and looked for the direction where it came from. It sounded like the usual noise girls made whenever talking to Ugo.

He spotted them on his right, a couple of feet away from him, standing near a drinking fountain. The girl was beautiful and petite but kept her face contorted in a vexed manner. Ugo held her sour look and beamed back at her. Either oblivious to her disinterest or just powering through the awkwardness.

The girl walked away, and Ugo went after her. Zeke sighed and followed them, remaining discreet as he neared the two. He could hear their conversation.

“Skylar, you know I’ve never told you this, but... your name, in Spanish means, ‘My love’,” Ugo said to her.

Zeke held back the vomit rising in his throat.

“So, just saying your name in my native language would be calling you ‘My love’”. Ugo let it sink in. The girl looked back at him with a wooden expression.

“No, it’s not,” she replied.

Ugo paused for a while and then said, “How would you know? Are you from a Spanish-speaking country?”

“I take Spanish, y’know,”

Ugo’s face went blank. Zeke saw it as his cue and forced himself between the two.

“Mora, come on let’s go, it’s lunchtime.”

The girl fled like a rabbit let loose from its snare.

“Mano, what are you doing?” he shouted at Zeke.

“You were dying out there.”

“She was just about to warm up to me.”

“No, I wasn’t!” The girl shouted from afar.

Ugo stared forward and then squinted. “So, what do you want?” he asked without looking back at Zeke.

“Um, lunch?”

“Oh, right, I was on my way to the cafeteria anyway to have a lunch date until you came along and ruined it!”

“‘Lunch date’?”

“You heard me”

They walked down the corridor.

As they passed by the restroom doors, Zeke said, “Mora, that class of yours is scary. It’s so chaotic. I have a feeling that it’s not only because the bell rang.”

Ugo smiled. “It’s fun.”

Zeke read the look on Ugo’s face and frowned. “How can you have that smile on your face? Mora, you’re not even supposed to be there, you’re smarter than everybody there, smarter than the people in the honors classes, in the advanced placement classes, including me.”

“Look, you have fun in your stupid AP classes and I have fun in my lower-level classes. Let me be, Zeke.”

“You’re way too laid back.”

“And you’re way too uptight. The type of women you’ll attract with that attitude won’t be the best”.

“Everything always comes back to women with you, huh?”

“Well, everything starts with women, they’re the ones who make life happen and we all technically start off as women. The gene for nipples is found in the X chromosome, which we all have as we start off as females. If there is no Y chromosome in the fetus, then the embryo develops into a female, if there is a Y chromosome present in the embryo, testosterone restricts the full development of breasts and thus leading to being born as a dude.”

Zeke halted as his mouth fell open. Ugo stopped as well to look back at him with a smug look. He remained with the dumb look on his face for a couple of seconds before saying, “Oh, so you do note the facts I share with you from time to time.”

“As long as the word ‘breast’ is in the sentence, I’ll always be listening, Zeke.”

Oh right, that’s the reason.

“You really need to grow up already,” Zeke remarked. He shook his head, and they resumed walking. “Hey, have you seen AJ today?”

“I don’t think she came to school today.”

“But AJ never misses school…”

Given yesterday’s events, Zeke couldn’t blame her. He hoped she was okay and decided to not press on it.

“I guess I’ll just have to tell her when I see her later today. Mora, there’s something I need to talk to you guys about. I was hoping to do it with both of you here at once. Something… weird happened last night.”

“Mano, how many times do I have to tell you that nothing that happens to you during your early morning study sessions makes for an interesting story no matter how you put it?”

“This is serious. It’s about… Vee.”

“What about Vee?”

A small gathering arose in front of them, barricading the last corner leading to the cafeteria. They came to a stop and stared. People were running from every direction, pushing Zeke and Ugo out of the way and flocked to the increasing mass. They exchanged a look with each other and moved towards the tumultuous crowd.

They found two girls at the ambit of the commotion. Seniors, clothed fashionably with expensive brands that Zeke could never remember the names of. Aside from their clothes, Zeke could tell they were part of the popular cliques because he felt nervous just by looking at them.

“You’re a bitch!” the blonde one screamed at the brunette.

“What did you call me?” The brunette replied, waggling her fingers, ready to slap the makeup off her face.

Zeke and Ugo alongside the crowd remained rapt at the spectacle as the girls yelled curses at each other and disturbingly descriptive insults about their family members. Despite being focused on the rabble, the words weren’t doing a good job of hinting what they were fighting about. “Oh no,” Zeke said. “I hope it doesn’t get physical. Who’re those two again?”

Ugo pointed at the brunette first and then the blonde as he blurted, “Blair and Rachel!” he put his arm over Zeke and explained, “A quick summary on the whole situation, one liked a post of someone they shouldn’t have and things quickly escalated from there bringing us to what you see now.”

“You’ve been following this?”

“And waiting for the fight to break out ever since.” Ugo emitted a dorky giggle as he withdrew his arm. “This. This is why I come to school every day.”

“This is the reason for your consecutive perfect attendance awards?” Zeke shouted.

Ugo ignored Zeke and pulled his smartphone out with haste. He held it up and filmed.

“Wait, didn’t you give your phone to—?”

“Did you really think that I’d give my main phone to an angel? Come on.”

Zeke remembered Ugo buying himself a second cell phone as a backup for his special files whenever the first’s memory capacity was full. Zeke looked around and saw others with their phones held up, filming the scene as the girls’ dispute intensified. The lack of compassion from his current generation worried him. He suggested, “We’ve gotta do something—”

“Don’t you dare, Zeke!” Ugo refuted.

“What?”

“I swear to God, if you do, I will never speak to you again,” he said.

A tall student approached them from behind. “No. Hezekiah is correct.”

They jumped and let out a yip. Ugo’s phone went up into the air, and the towering boy caught it in his hand. He extended the phone forward while grinning down at them.

“Here you go,” he said in his weak, hoarse voice.

His chestnut brown hair was styled with a messy bowl cut. His eyes darted to Zeke in an instant, and he waved at him. The silver cross dangling from his rosary bead bracelet swung from side to side. Isaac Noble was his name.

Ugo snatched the phone and resumed filming. “Just stay quiet, Zach. The only sounds I wanna hear are the screams of the stars of our video.” He snorted and then giggled creepily.

“I’ll try my best,” Isaac replied with a smile. Unwavered by Ugo’s lasciviousness.

“Hey, Isaac.”

“Yes, Hezekiah?”

Zeke held back his urge to scream. “Didn’t I ask you to stop calling me ‘Hezekiah’? Just ‘Zeke’ is fine.”

“But that’s the name from which your name derived from,” he said. “Hezekiah, King of Judah. Who was the most righteous king! Sharing a name with a man like that is nothing to be ashamed of.”

“And the loop begins again…” Zeke muttered under his breath.

Isaac put on a stern look and focused on the girls like a German Shepherd on high alert. “Hezekiah. We must stop this before it gets out of hand. Nothing good can come from a senseless fight—”

The brunette smacked the blonde across the face. The corridor became silent.

Ugo’s face lit up like a lightbulb and he screamed, “Ohhhhhhh snap! Yes, now things are starting for real. Quick, Rachel, rip her shirt off for payback!”

The blonde looked in his direction and growled, “Who are you?”

“That’s not important right now! Even though I literally asked you out two weeks ago, whatever, I’m not going to dwell on it.”

Isaac rested his hand on top of Zeke’s head. “Oh no, looks like we took too long to engage, Hezekiah.” Zeke looked up at Isaac, puzzled by the pious beanstalk. “But do not fret just yet, I have an idea to resolve this,” Issac added.

Isaac stepped forward and slithered through the slit of the crowd and right into the center of the conflict.

“What? Zach, what’re you doing? Zach!” Ugo barked. “Get back here! Don’t ruin things when they just started, goddammit!”

The fuming girls fixated on Isaac. “Blair, Rachel, I beg of you…” he pushed up the sleeves of his black button-up. He usually wore formal shirts with dark colors, leaving them unbuttoned like a free-spirited priest and always with the same gold ichthus shaped cufflinks. He looked at the girls like he was about to give them the most eye-opening sermon of their lives.

Zeke watched him. An oddball would be a simplification to describe him.

Isaac grew up in a household of ardent devotees with parents deeply involved in Winterberry’s church community. All his siblings were notable members as well, but Isaac was the star of the family. A wonderkid who started preaching in front of devoted audiences ever since he was eight-years-old. He traveled on the road with his family to spread the good word nationwide.

Isaac was the closest thing Winterberry had for a high-profile celebrity. His family put the city on the map. He appeared on national TV on multiple occasions preaching and allegedly performed miracles of many kinds offscreen.

Zeke recalled weekend mornings when his Mom would leave Christian channels blasting prayers, sermons, and songs at max volume well into the afternoon. Sometimes, they were in Spanish, sometimes they were in English. Bothersome all the same.

Isaac raised his hands. “I beg of you, don’t give into the intense, dangerous emotion you’re feeling right now, for it will cause you two to make irreparable actions which will be followed with massive consequences.” He turned to the blonde and said, “Rachel, I understand you are angry and you probably want to hit Blair back, but I have a proposal…”

Zeke stopped listening as he watched Isaac mitigate the fracas. His mind went back to those loud weekend mornings. The Christian channels were how he discovered Isaac’s fame in the religious community. His mom was a fan, and when she discovered Zeke went to the same elementary school as him, she urged him to spend as much time with him as possible. A lot of forced playdates…

Ugo, AJ, Violet, and Isaac were the ones who never gave him trouble about his irksome family affairs. Isaac was just as inviting as the others and had him over multiple times. As the years passed, he declined invitations more frequently.

His family was nice to him. They treated him like one of their own. Isaac treated Zeke like a brother, as he did with everybody else.

But to Zeke, he just always seemed a bit off.

By the time Zeke tuned back into the scene.

Issac said, “How about I suffer on her behalf?” He gripped his pinky, placed his thumb over the center of the main phalanges, and placed his forefinger under the pinky.

Regardless of Isaac’s oddities, surely he would find an acceptable way to resolve the conflict, Zeke thought to himself and watched hopefully as he could sense Ugo seething near him.

Isaac pushed into the center of the finger and bent it backward until it released a thunderous crack. It left an echo. It was so quick most people stared in disbelief that it actually just happened.

In the now soundless corridor, a disturbing aminus leaked from the once harmless presence. He raised his left hand higher, showcasing the bent finger like a trophy. Frozen in a hook shape. The crowd stared in horror with widened eyes. Zeke slipped through the assembly for a better look.

Isaac maintained his smile. Eyeing lazily his horribly crooked finger now with a blue tinge.

“Oh, my God!” the blonde screamed.

“No, don’t scream, it’s fine. So, since I’ve been hurt on her behalf there’s no more need for you to slap her back.” He gesticulated with the same hand that had a broken finger, puzzling spectators. It was painful to look at it as it jiggled slightly in reaction to the way he was waving his hand around. “So, can we move on to the phase of reconciliation? No, wait!” He stopped and analyzed his hand. “Blair slapped Rachel because of the matter at hand. I only suffered for revenge for that slap but nobody has suffered for the prime topic of this dispute.”

He grabbed the next finger and bent it to the side with more force; it boomed out a crack even more thunderous. Zeke flinched. It sounded like the thing snapped off.

His contorted ring finger was shaped like an upside down L.

“No, s-s-s-stop!” the brunette slurred, with a quaver in her voice.

The blonde squealed with urgency. “We’re taking you to the nurse’s office right now!”

Isaac stared back at them innocently. “Aren’t you two still mad at each other? I’ll inflict all of your frustration onto myself, for you,” he said. He wrapped his hand around his middle finger and twisted it with might and then bent it sideways.

Zeke heard some phones drop to the floor and ran to Isaac. “Isaac, stop!”

“Yeah, just stop!” the brunette added.

“We’re fine, okay? We need to get you to the nurse,” the blonde said and then grabbed Isaac’s arm.

“No need!” he exclaimed bubbly as he shrugged off her grip. He backed up and turned away from them and the horrified crowd facing the wall.

“Huh?” Zeke uttered as he moved up to Isaac.

Isaac spun back to them and revealed a healthy left hand. “Look, ta-da!”

Zeke brought himself to a halt and examined the hand as Isaac wiggled his rosy-pale fingers before him.

“It was just a trick!” Isaac exclaimed like a child. He looked over to the frightened girls now, hugging each other in fear. “An illusion,” he said, and then turned to the befuddled crowd. “Now, you shouldn’t go seeking magic, witchcraft and anything of the sort is sinful, but fun illusions like these are harmless!”

“H-h-how...?” Zeke muttered.

“I’m double jointed. Hypermobility, I can do all kinds of flexes with my fingers and limbs. The rest was just some quick practical creativity and acting on my part.”

“I saw discoloration on your finger,” Zeke said firmly.

Isaac produced a small bottle of blue ink.

He gave it a shake and said, “Like I said, ‘quick practical creativity’”.

Zeke shook his head. “It was more than that. I saw—”

“Hezekiah, people see what they want to see. You want to be a doctor, correct? You of all people can understand how the mind can play tricks on us,” Issac said. “You and your big brain are probably the only ones who noticed discoloration.” Issac plopped his hand onto Zeke’s head. “You’re going to be a wonderful doctor.” Isaac pulled him in with a quick hug and then walked away.

Ugo pushed his phone back into his pocket and groaned. “Leave it to the religious nut to ruin a quality girl fight. Unbelievable!”