Austin stood anxiously outside the maths classroom. He had excused himself from his previous class just to be there to meet Samuel as soon as he got out. The door swung open, and students started to noisily pile out. He searched the crowd for Samuel, but he wasn’t there. He knew Samuel was in school today, he had seen him in homeroom, a large bruise across his forehead. So where was he?
Not even a minute passed before the door opened again and out stepped the wrong Sam.
“Oh, you’re holding him to this,” Samantha said rolling her eyes.
“A deal’s a deal,” Austin smiled, bouncing on his toes. “Um, where is he?”
Samantha groaned as her eyes rolled so far back, she probably was able to see her brain. “He and Mr. Boxable are doing their daily math riddle. It’s super boring. Usually, I wait in there with him, but my brother takes me off campus for lunch on Wednesdays, so I’m out of here.” Austin started to reach for the door handle, before Samantha stopped him, “Stop. Don’t go in. He enjoys this time, and it would be a shame if you ruined it. Oh, and if you do anything to hurt him-” Samantha motioned a finger across her neck with her eyes squinted, just as another teacher left her room, “Ms. Holden I assume you’re not doing or saying anything you’ll regret.” Samantha smiled, before turning sharply, flipping her long hair in Austin’s face, and swiftly leaving the building.
Austin also smiled at the teacher assuring her nothing was wrong. If he wanted to get on the good side of Samuel better not get his only friend in trouble. He peeked into the classroom. Samantha knew Samuel better than anyone here, so he begrudgingly listened to her advice and stayed in the hallway, but she never said he couldn’t see what was happening from his spot.
Inside the classroom, Mr. Boxable was at the board scribbling some math stuff down. God, Austin hated math, and he hated the alphabet for deciding to make his class harder. He couldn’t figure out what the nonsense on the board was, so he kept scanning the room, only to find Samuel sitting on a desk, legs crossed, lost in thought. Austin smiled. He couldn’t hear what they were discussing, but he didn’t mind, as he doubted he would even understand it.
Mr. Boxable turned to Samuel and said something. Austin then wished he could read lips as Samuel’s shoulders dropped, as he placed his head in his hands. Austin's face contorted into a frown. What had Mr. Boxable said that made Samuel upset? It didn’t matter, Austin would make him apologize.
He was about to barge into the room, when Samuel jumped from the desk, grabbing the pen from Mr. Boxable, and started scribbling something on the board, his face full of glee. He then dropped the pen and raised his arms in celebration. He turned to Mr. Boxable, who was equally as joyful, and they high fived. Austin was dumbfounded. Samuel didn’t seem like someone who would give out high-fives. Neither did Mr. Boxable. The teacher pulled out his phone and showed the screen to Samuel.
“Shit!” Samuel yelled loud enough that Austin was able to hear. Austin looked over to Mr. Boxable, one of the strictest teachers in the school, waiting for him to scold Samuel for his foul mouth. But once again Austin was left dumbfounded as the man doubled over with laughter. This surely wasn’t the same Mr. Boxable who taught him. That man had scolded a kid yesterday for sneezing too loudly.
Samuel waved to his teacher and started to walk to the door. Austin quickly ducked to the lockers, so he wouldn’t be caught watching. The handle swiveled and Samuel stepped out still smiling. He turned to see Austin, his face dropping immediately, “We’re really doing this huh?” He didn’t wait for an answer before grabbing his lunch from his locker. Austin followed like a lost puppy, bouncing the entire way.
The two walked to the first floor and passed the cafeteria, much to Austin’s surprise. He opened his mouth to comment, before remembering Samuel’s request for the lunch to be on his terms. Now that the Mayor thought about it, he had never once seen Samuel even enter the cafeteria. But it didn’t matter where they ate, he was just happy to have been given the chance to befriend Samuel.
“We’re here.” Samuel held his lanyard, flipping back the student ID exposing the key underneath. He unlocked the boiler room and stepped inside beckoning the puzzled Austin with a nod of his head.
“The boiler room?” Austin stood in the darkroom grasping his lunch while Samuel flicked on the lights and then pointed to a table in the corner.
Austin took a seat across from the boy, still very confused. “It’s quiet here, I like that. Is that a problem?” Samuel seemed to be searching for anything that would add to his distaste of the Mayor, who quickly shook his head. Samuel’s eyes hovered over Austin’s lunch, “You brought your own lunch?”
Austin looked at his bag, then back at Samuel, “Uh… Yeah. The food here is quite… well,”- he pretended to puke, getting a quiet giggle from Samuel- “And I have chefs at home, so it seemed like an obvious choice.”
Samuel rolled his eyes at the mention of the chefs. Austin reached into his bag, pulling out a sandwich. The smell hit Samuel’s nose almost immediately, causing him to jump from his chair holding back anger. It was X.
Austin gasped at Samuel’s sudden movement. He couldn’t smell what Samuel smelt due to his ordinary human nose. He watched as anger filled his eyes. “Wait. Do you not like X either?” Austin didn’t know how Samuel would know that he had X but it was the only thing that could possibly explain the boy’s reaction.
Samuel grimaced at the question. He liked Xs. He was an X. But did he like to eat Xs? No of course not. He hated the fact that Austin referred to them as if they were just a piece of meat. He clenched his fists, before slowly loosening them. It wasn’t Austin’s fault he thought of Xs like that. Samuel referred to chicken and beef in the same way. To Austin, Xs were on the same level as those, that’s why he was here, after all, to prove the difference. Wait. “Did you say either?”
“Um yeah. I don’t know why they keep sending me with this. I haven’t eaten X since I was like 6. I usually just give it to some of the others, and since it's more expensive, not many eat it regularly, so they are usually happy to take it. I mean I could just throw it out, I guess. But you know, the X died for this sandwich, so it just feels wrong.” Austin looked up to Samuel, his eyes gentle. Samuel’s anger had turned to wariness. He still didn’t retake his seat, but he seemed to be willing to talk.
“Why… Um… Why don’t you eat X? Do you just not like the flavor?” Samuel held back a gag at the thought.
“No. I- Ok this is gonna sound really pathetic, but I’ll tell you if you sit down.”
Samuel shook his head, “Not until you get that out of here.” He pointed to the sandwich. Austin picked it up and walked to the door, quickly glancing back at the strange acting boy, before leaving.
Austin returned about 3 minutes later to find Samuel sitting back in his seat, head face down on the table. “It’s gone. Are you ok? Are you allergic or something?”
Samuel didn’t look up but shook his head, “Can you just tell me why you don’t eat X please.”
“Um yeah of course,” Austin took his seat, watching Samuel with concern, “So when I was 6 my school went on a field trip to Lyrian Xs.” Austin didn’t remove his eyes from the boy who tensed up completely at the mention of the farm. “Well, my shoe came untied, and I didn’t know how to tie it myself, so I just stood there. Real smart huh? Well, I ended being pulled off the path into a bush of some sort. When I opened my eyes, I realized my kidnappers were 3 Xlings. And well a lot happened in the short 10 minutes I spent with them. A good bit I’m not sure is even real. Honestly, the whole day is kind of foggy, but I can clearly remember their faces. So, whenever I see X meat, my brain flashes back to my interaction with them, and I feel disgusted at the thought of eating it. I just feel like maybe there’s more to them or something. I dunno” Austin sighed, he waited for Samuel to laugh at him, just like others had in the past, but he was silent.
Samuel reran what Austin had just said repeatedly in his head. “How old are you now?”
Austin raised a brow at the seemingly off-topic question, “15.”
Samuel’s mind raced. If Austin was 6 when he met the Xlings, then it was 9 years ago. 9 years ago, he would have been 5. He was 5 when he, 3, and 10 had taken the little human boy. The little human boy with charcoal black hair and bright blue eyes. The little human boy who had separated from his group inexplicably, giving them the perfect opportunity to snatch him. The little human boy who apparently was Austin. Samuel’s eyes widened and his breath quickened. He was at a loss for words. His 5-year-old curiosity had made it so the next Mayor didn’t eat X.
Austin leaped from his seat and kneeled by Samuel, “Are you ok? You are breathing really fast. Just focus on slowing your breath. I didn’t mean to upset you.” Samuel turned his head to the Mayor boy, who he was seeing in a whole new light. His eyes overflowed with tears, but he smiled. Austin's look of concern subdued to a look of confusion.
Samuel took his hand still smiling, “Tell me more.”
Austin’s body froze at the feeling of his hand in Samuel’s. He wasn’t scared it was going to be crushed or anything. No. His heart started beating faster. He quickly shook off the strange feeling. “Okay. Um well, I think Xs have, like, their own language. I mean I guess all animals do. But it seemed more developed than like a dog barking or growling.” He was unsure why Samuel was crying, or why he had reacted like he had when he had pulled out the sandwich but at that point in time, he didn’t care. Samuel wanted to listen to him. That’s all he could've asked for.
“A language huh?” Samuel released Austin’s hand allowing for the boy to return to his chair. He placed his chin in his palm, waiting for him to continue.
“Yeah, I even learned a word! I think it means boy.”
“Hmm. What is the word?”
“Boy-yah” Samuel almost fell off his chair laughing at the pronunciation of the word. It wasn’t too off, but after 6 years of only hearing O from himself, it was a lot funnier than it should have been. Austin’s smile faded. “What?”
“You said it wrong,” Samuel spurted out, before realizing what he said and quickly raising his hands to his mouth.
“What?”
“Um… Never mind.”
“No. You said that I said boy-yah wrong.”
Samuel held back a snicker at the pronunciation again. He had to correct him, his brain was punching his skull for holding back, “Well that’s because it’s boia as in boy-ah. You’re putting too much emphasis on the ‘y’.”
Austin’s brows furrowed in further confusion, “Uh, how do you know?”
Samuel racked his brain for a believable excuse, “Well you know how I read a lot, I used to be really into zoology and also languages, so I picked some things up.” He smiled hoping to convince the Mayor. It seemed to work as the Mayor just shrugged.
The two then spent the next 10 minutes trying to get Austin to say it correctly, before both breaking down in laughter. Something was definitely strange about Samuel, but maybe that’s why Austin found himself so drawn to him. He decided to not question the events of the lunch. Not yet at least. Samuel was opening up to him and he didn’t want to do anything to hurt that.
Lunch came to end with a sad sigh from Austin at the thought of having to end his time with Samuel. He wanted to insist they do this again, but that might be pushing his luck, so he said nothing as he started for the door.
“Austin, wait,” Samuel called, causing him to turn back, “I don’t want this to become an everyday thing, but I wouldn’t mind if you popped in for lunch every once in a while.”
Austin smiled and nodded, before leaving the room. Once the door closed, he punched the air and quietly celebrated.
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