The summer went by fast, and soon autumn took over the city. The colourful leaves falling on the streets meant the beginning of another study year for Tyson. After the incident with the therapist, nothing special had happened, apart from Zeno making Elinor meet all of Ty’s friends. Everyone got curious about which college she attended and where she lived. She always seemed so secretive about her address and phone number. Though one thing was clear to everybody. Whenever Ty appeared somewhere, Elinor was bound to follow him. Ty’s social circle decided amongst themselves that the two of them were going out and that they had a scandalous and unlawful relationship, which was Elinor being over 18 while Ty wasn’t. Tyson didn’t even try explaining himself anymore since his attempts only found deaf ears.

Whatever, thought Ty every time his male peers got excited over girls or relationships. He just did not find them interesting. He thought girls were a waste of time, maybe due to the fact that he had a female ghost companion to deal with every day. He liked the news about sports, though. He was usually the first who let his friends know about the most recent news or when a match started or when to apply for competitions. In terms of what he wanted to focus on as a profession or what to do with his future… well, he did not give two cents about that despite his parents` nagging. Why would he care? He had good grades, good looks, connections due to his family. Everything seemed relatively easy for him compared to handling a ghost. Until he met one of the biggest geeks at his school:

Gecko, as everyone nicknamed him, grew up to be a short kid. He was about sixteen years of age and five feet tall and as far as Ty remembered, they sometimes had classes together, mostly science classes. Gecko had natural blond hair, similar to Zeno’s, but his was curly and a lot brighter. He had a pale complexion and a ton of freckles. Boys, who had swimming classes with him claimed that his entire body was covered in freckles but nobody cared enough to investigate the rumours thoroughly. It was true for sure that he had a weak body constitution and matured a bit slower than the others. All this bothered him a lot because his differences were the main reason why he became a victim of so much bullying. There was a guy who really enjoyed pestering him and he would do it for virtually any reason.

Ty saw the two of them quarrelling one day about a laptop while he was walking down the corridor to get some lunch accompanied by Elinor who at that time remained invisible to others. She was peacefully floating next to him, watching people chatting. When she realised why her “possession” had stopped, she also froze in one place. Possession or property, that is how she usually liked addressing Ty. Her emerald green eyes now were following the events between the bully and the bullied. She and Ty both nodded in silence that things were getting out of hands.

“Gecko, I am almost at my limits, you don’t want to hurt yourself, do you? You know what happened the last time when you accidentally fell on me,” the bulkier boy grinned.

“Look, Jon, I am not going to play your games, as I’ve said: leave – me – alone. What’s so hard to understand about that?” the boy called Gecko straightened himself, eyeing the bully, whose name was apparently Jon. 

“C’mon, I just want your PC,” Jon got closer to Gecko.

“This is a laptop, not a PC, dumbass,” this remark of Gecko’s was the last straw. Jon smashed the short one so bad that he ended up sliding on the corridor floor until he reached Ty’s feet.

Tyson got so surprised by the person landing next to his feet that he was not sure if he should help the injured up or not. In one moment, his thoughts were about getting food and how to get rid of Elinor. Now all of a sudden, he had an injured person lying in front of him. He looked down at the short boy whose nickname was Gecko and whose laptop was lying all over the floor, the screen shattered into tiny pieces. Ty did not remember his real name, even though they had classes together. The main reason for that was because Ty was known as a popular guy and popular guys did not hang out with losers, such as Gecko. Gecko was often addressed as a loser by Ty’s friends. They believed that Gecko just “let” himself be bullied by Jon and by others, plus he was ugly.

Was Gecko really just letting himself be hurt like this? Ty asked himself, watching the injured crawling on the floor, trying to sit up.

Tyson was hesitating. Should he help? According to the sports association he belonged to, one is advised to help their fellow humans but also, a clever man knew when to avoid unnecessary fights. He realised that Gecko was trying to stand up for himself.

Maybe it would work out in the end, he thought. He just had to wait and see.