The teachers make sure to notice nothing and the parents being a bit too bookish themselves lashed out at me when I got a "notice of bad behavior" after attempting to stand up for myself against the whole gang. NERD!!!! Yeah, that's me…
Things were supposed to take a turn for the better after the 8th grade. To continue in high school one needed to pass the State Exams which I did while most of the rowdy crowd didn't and were sent to trade schools to learn painting, plumbing, lathe operation and whatnot while the future doctors, engineers, teachers, literary critics and such were on their way to college among their equals who aren't moved to violence upon hearing words like "ambidextrous" and "superfluous"
I was home enjoying … you guessed it – another book. I have most of the summer ahead of me, next school year promises to actually be good… Maybe I'll do some biking tomorrow… RRRRRING… Our landline phone was loud and a bit scratchy. A call came from my school. I was required to show up tomorrow at 8am for a surprise excursion to a destination unknown but it's mandatory and there will be ice-cream there. Strange – they've never organized any bus trips and ice-cream is unheard of but I was at the school on-time. Even stranger – everyone, all 54 of us, have showed up exactly at 8am to see the bus pulling in. The driver told us to load up and be quick about it – the principal is waiting at the destination. I set by the window closer to the front of the bus and a girl set next to me. I knew her well – she was the tallest in the grade and was very shy. She also passed the State Exams and was going to start the 9th grade next Fall. Diana was her name. I was noticing the glances she was sometimes sending my way over the last school-year and with all the knowledge I got from romantic books, figured she must be interested in me because I'm also tall. Considering that girls mature earlier than boys, she probably thinks we'd make a cute couple. I've always avoided her – the books seem to suggest that it's either love or studies and I'd rather get a good grade than a girlfriend. Just like that – teenage absolutes. There is "love" or "non-involvement" – there is no "flirt" or "romantic interest" or even "friendship".
The bus started and we rolled through the familiar streets. Noisy teens for some reason were quickly quieting down and some even settling in the amazingly comfortable seats for a nap. By the time we rolled to a tunnel through the huge mountain everyone on the bus was fast asleep. For some reason I just surveyed everyone as I felt Diana's head resting on my shoulder. A girl's head calmly leaning on me – that sensation isn't something you can read about. It's just way too… real. As I was looking at her peaceful face I suddenly realized … our city doesn't have any mountains around it. NONE. No mountains, no tunnels especially without any other traffic and no lights on the walls and the ceiling. WHERE ARE WE? Why did everyone fall asleep so quickly? Why is the Principal "waiting for us at the destination" with all the teachers and no one is riding with us? This is a surprise trip indeed and I don't like surprises.
Emerald Cross Part 3
I was looking around and then back at Diana noticing how gentle and defenseless she looks. These long eyelashes, the gently freckled nose, the tiny emerald stud-earrings… Suddenly her eyes opened wide and she rapidly breathed in. Her head went to the back of the chair while I instantaneously noticed a small emerald cross pendant in the opening of her blouse. "A set" I thought for a second remembering a book on History of Jewelry I read last year. Then she looked at me with a plea in her eyes and her lips slightly parted. It was clear to me she is asking for a kiss – after all that's what the romance novels talk about, don't they? A maiden looks longingly, sets her lips up and the knight seals them with his before going off on a journey. I clearly had the theoretical backing but sometimes wondered – what do you do about the nose? With two people bringing their faces together, won't their noses collide and the lips never touch? I looked into those eyes and decided to risk it – I'll do it even if someone will tell my parents and they will yell at me for this. I bent over and several things happened at once. First, I've learned the answer to the "nose" conundrum – turns out when the heads are slightly tilted – by I'd estimate about 15 degrees – the nose touches the cheek of another person and is not in the way. Second – that cheek is soft and smells nice. Third – her lips are soft and are slowly moving slightly catching and releasing mine causing sensations not described or maybe just hinted at in books.
Suddenly a jolt pain hit me through my whole body. I've felt electric shocks before, when I've attempted to repair domestic appliances. No matter how good the guide is, wrapping insulation tape over wires with frayed casings, is something you end up learning by experience. The pain subsided quickly, lingering in the eyes for a while. As I was still trying to open them, I heard Diana's voice: "Thank you… I got what I wanted… For a while now… My first kiss… from you… Thank you… Sorry…" I finally was able to open my eyes and saw her still sitting in the chair with her head hanging back into the aisle between the seats. Somehow I knew – she was gone. One arm was hanging into the aisle, another – still held onto a large purse on her knees. I could see her mouth still parted and her eyes now frozen, looking into something beyond the limits of the living.
Then I saw a text floating before me "Necromancer – Initialized. Level – 1" followed by some indicators which I didn't care about at that point. I looked back at her and saw several texts appearing – the emerald pendant now was marked "Energy store – level 10, filled – 0" the earring was an"Energy store – level 1, Filled – 0" the purse got a "Sub-dimensional storage – level 20, filled – 0" and the next label actually made me tear-up – it was floating over the poor girl's head reading "Corpse – Fresh". I reached out with my hand under her neck and carefully brought her over to the center of the seat, upright with hands on her knees. Then I closed her eyes and mouth and did what the books always have their characters do in cases like these – I've kissed her on the forehead. A text message appeared – "Necro Energy collected" and I heard "Do me a favor, before I go, can you get a handkerchief from my purse and wipe the lipstick smudge from my cheek?" I turned and saw a shadowy outline of Diane floating next to me with a label "Ghost – Fresh". "Yes, Sure… Of cause…" I was not sure about taking the purse as her hands were laying over it, so I've opened it up as little as I could trying to find the handkerchief but not succeeding. "It should be deeper and to your right," the Ghost have suggested. As I have realized that my attempts to cause the smallest disturbance aren't working out, I've removed the clasps, and opened the purse entirely. That moment her fingers touched the inside of the purse and the body disappeared. The text floating over the bag now read "Sub-dimensional storage – level 20, filled – 1". Diana smiled, "I wanted to be with you and now it seems I will – you can carry me around anywhere you go. Thanks for the kiss. Was it good?" I've smiled back – "The best of all the kisses I've ever had". She smiled again – "First time too?" – I nodded – "You know me well…" She moved like sighing – "I wish I could stay but I gotta go… We all do – see?" I looked around and saw ghosts floating all over the bus. Seems like everyone who was waiting for the bus just recently, was now labeled "Ghost – Fresh". A few seemed shocked suspended over their bodies, several chatted in small groups and a ghost of one of the class jerks was chasing a ghost of a girl around. Suddenly a Cloud appeared in the front of the bus and the ghosts started slowly moving toward it. I've turned toward Diana and she looked me in the eyes, smiled, turned around and rushed toward the Cloud cutting our goodbyes. I jumped up, stretched my hand toward her and screamed, "Don't go, Come back to me!" and surprisingly something caught her right before she touched the Cloud, brought back to me and then smashed right into me. "Oy! What happened?" I've heard her voice inside my head but I really didn't know what to answer. Instead I stretchedout both hands and commanded in the most sure voice I could muster, "All of you – Stop! Come to me!" and they did. One by one they were entering my body and settling inside it starting their conversations. Then a text floated before my eyes – "Not enough Ghost Hosting capacity on Level 1 – do you want to advance?" Who wouldn't, right? "Advancing to Level 2 requires 100 energy units, Level 3 – 300 units, Level 5 – 1000 units, Level 7 – 3000 units"
I had to act quickly – I guess Level 7 is the most capacity and I won't lose any of my classmates if I can help it. Why? Because that's what heroes do in the books! So the answer is simple – Level 7, here we go! The upgrade process kicked in at the same time as the souls were being pulled in and the same pain that I felt at the time of "initialization" came back. This time I was able to open my eyes and saw "energy indicator" in the red and very close to ZERO. Where