He waited for lunch to arrive, barely staying awake for his next class and giving up entirely for the one after. None of the teachers mentioned his absence at all, but he supposed he should have expected that, given how overcrowded each class was. They surely had more important things to worry about than the whereabouts of a single student.
When lunch arrived, he found himself seated at the table with everyone, receiving their questions and intrigued faces. After all that had happened to him, he had to remind himself of their names. Nathan, Janine, Gregory, and then of course Sheryl and Micah.
“...I got a job in private security,” Hector explained.
‘Really? I was guessing you’d go with metalworking.’
“Security?” said Sheryl. “You mean like a bodyguard?”
“Kinda, yeah...”
“I didn’t think people under eighteen could get work like that,” said Micah.
‘Oho. What now, genius?’
“It’s... an unusual arrangement, um... just... It’s difficult to explain.”
‘What a cop-out! Boooo!’
“What do you mean ‘unusual’?” Gregory asked.
‘Ha!’
Hector looked between everyone. “Um. Well, uh. This wealthy guy... he hired me. D-don’t ask me why. I don’t really know. But um. It’s pretty rewarding work. I mean, I enjoy it.”
‘Wow, Hector.’
“There’s just one problem,” Hector added. “My boss. He’s kind of a jackass.”
‘Oh, you dick.’
Micah’s brow rose. “Has your boss been making you miss school? That’s not legal, is it?”
“N-no, I’ve been choosing to miss school...”
“That’s no good!” said Sheryl. “You shouldn’t skip so much. What if you aren’t able to graduate?”
Hector frowned. “Ah, uh... I-I think that ship may’ve already sailed, actually...”
Her eyes bulged. “What?! You’re kidding!”
Hector flushed with shame and looked down at his food. It was some kind of meat-like blob covered in sauce, and the sight of it didn’t do much to make him feel better.
“Do you need a tutor?” Micah asked.
“Yeah, do you need a tutor?” Sheryl echoed.
“Um, I, ah...”
‘Uh-oh. Where is this going?’
A dark serial novel. Set in a modern fantasy world called Eleg. Mature language. Updates every night at midnight PST by ~400 words.
All the scheduled bonus posts are done now, folks. Hope you enjoyed. I will now return to you to your regularly scheduled programming.
ReplyDeleteAlso, please vote for TZK at topwebfiction here. Helps out a lot.
I hope his friends see him get killed and walk back into school the next week.
ReplyDeletethe explanation would be fun to read.
hehehe, I want to see this too.
DeleteWhen in doubt, lie your ass off. That's the real moral of my story here.
DeleteThe Problem? IT ACTUALLY WORKS.
DeleteWELL, YEAH. WHAT KIND OF MORAL WOULD IT BE IF IT DIDN'T WORK?
DeleteFrom my experience, it'd be like 90% of the other morals out there. But this is one to keep in mind in the event that one of us ever finds ourselves running for public office. And I could give racier examples, but I don't think you really want a controversy breaking out here :)
DeleteRD
"There's just one problem. My boss. He's kind of a jackass."
ReplyDelete- 'Oh, you dick.' -
That was a great little exchange there. All I'm going to say for now.
<3
DeleteIt's going into bonding sessions is where it's going. Or fainting sessions if Hector can't take it. Maybe shock therapy is in order - Sherryl just tacklehugs him and kisses him until conversation doesn't seem so scary anymore.
ReplyDeleteI like the way you think
ReplyDeleteMan, Hector really knows how to work that shovel to dig himself in deeper. Some great responses from Garovel too
ReplyDeleteMe too
ReplyDelete