“...Nylah, why are you giving me bows?’

  “Well it's for Daisy, you know.”

  Marcus still had conflicted feelings for Nylah, especially since she’s only nice to Diesel rather than them. After the whole introduction yesterday where they surprisingly were left off on a good hook and their reputation no longer tainted, Nylah has been requesting (more demanding) to hang out with Diesel more. Marcus doesn’t really mind, but he feels like his whole life is balancing on a single thread while she’s around him. Even when they absently congregate during and after school he still has that feeling and urges himself to be the most polite he can ever be.

  Sure, his beniguity is there, not his patience though.

  Nylah would discreetly and minutely mention how stupid they are, calling them stupid for making Diesel vomit dismembered body parts up in a desolate area and not stop to think that someone living there would potentially see them, referring to her hobo uncle. He hates to say it, but she is correct about that, yeah his decision was rash and planned on the spot, but he hates how she always makes it the topic of discussion. Everything was already done and said, they shouldn’t continue simultaneously going off tangent everytime they talk. But at the same time, he gets where Nylah is coming from, and doesn’t try to make it a problem between them no matter how many times Soren beckons him to at least tell her so they don’t end up ruining their names’ anymore.

  Marcus ended up taking the bag full of colorful bows, varying from glittery to plain to ones with designs. He’ll admit, they would look pretty on Diesel, but how would he even apply it on her? She doesn’t even have hair, and she surely didn’t grow any since she's an infant turned anomaly.

  While Marcus was pondering over the bows, Nylah called his name in a hushed manner.

  “I need to talk to you and Soren after school. We’re heading to Giovanni’s.”

  “Huh?”

  Nylah left without any elaboration and made Marcus more anticipated. What did she want to talk about with Soren and him? Did the police catch on to them? Did they identify the bodies? Marcus was left trepidated afterwards.

  School ended on a good note to everyone. Summer was coming up and all they had to endure were exams coming up. Nylah waited near their school's prominent pizzeria, Giovanni, and at a distance she saw Marcus and Soren sprinting to her. Marcus was evidently more athletic than Soren seeing as he halted in front of them gasping for air, huffing and puffing. And to top it off he did his signature wheezing.

  Marcus tried his best to obscurely hide his smirk when Soren wheezed, but Nylah being as blunt as ever, and loquacious, called him gay for grinning at Soren out of breath; even delved deeper by not just calling him gay but by going into intricate detail of how he probably gets turned on by him wheezing and thinking of doing it with him.

  Soren grimaced at Nylah and her sexual fantasies, and Marcus flipped her off while cussing her out loudly. After a while of Marcus going off on her and Nylah laughing at him, Soren gestured for the both of them to grab a seat at one of the tables before there’s no more room for them, and so they hurriedly went inside. While they sat down at one of the tables near the window, Nylah slammed her palms on the table which made the two boys flinch and other people look towards them.

  The brevity of her words were very peculiar but also conflicting, so conflicting that the two boys felt precarious towards her statement.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Isn’t it obvious? I don’t think Diesel is an infant.”

  Soren averted his gaze frequently between the two waiting for a response and intently observing their reactions for any contemptuous that might ensue.

  “Elaborate.”

  Nylah cleared her throat by drinking water before defining herself furthermore, “I think there’s a little plot hole in your story of Daisy. Yeah it pretty much was a coincidence that you found her weeks after other people spotted her, but that doesn’t really justify the infant is Daisy, she could just be an anomaly.”

  “But news articles made me conclude that Diesel is the infant, the articles mention passerby’s sighting of a blob next to deceased bodies, wouldn’t that already render my reasoning probable?”

  “Yeah, but you don’t know how many bodies. Those sightings were recent, almost one month in, who knows if Daisy is just another infant. ALSO, how the hell does an infant turn into an anomaly? Isn’t that another plot hole too?”

  “Ok, maybe you’re right about bodies part, there might’ve been an interval in between when we got her and when other people saw her, but it’s a fact that she did throw up dismembered bodies. But what do you mean about your latter part?”

  Soren diverted his attention away from the conversation, he could already feel the deficiency of a civil and calm dispute; the heated atmosphere was suffocating him.

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  “Humans just don’t turn into monsters like that. Seeing Daisy, she definitely DOESN'T look like a human turned monster. That ‘thing’ is not Daisy or an infant, there is no correlation whatsoever.”

  “Plus, we don’t have any pictures of what the infant looked like before she went missing.”

  Nylah lowered her eyes, distracting herself with the condiments placed to the side of the table.

  Soren saw her expression, knowing what she must be feeling; of course he knows, topics like these are heavy on the hearts, especially when it deals with a human's life being snatched away.

  Maybe she doesn’t want to admit and come to terms that the poor baby is suffering. Maybe she doesn’t want to taint the poor child’s name. Maybe she just doesn’t want to accept it.

  “I think she’s right,” Soren finally butted in the dispute, “I’ve never heard anything about humans turning into an anomaly, and I don’t think it’s physically possible?” Soren mentioned while keeping a subdued tone.

  He was backed up behind a wall now, an indomitable one at that, but you’ll call him crazy if you saw him continue back.

  “Regardless, I’m going to find her parents.”

  “If I was her mom I would burn her. Why would I want to see my child suffer, you know?”

  Hearing that triggered Marcus to the core, the gaiety in Giovannis’ was completely disregarded by all three; being tainted with impenetrable despondency and lividness. Soren fidgeted with his fingers looking away from Marcus knowing he’ll say something to censure Nylah back, and knowing Nylah and her defending behavior, she’ll be susceptible to it. He can feel an imminent contention coming. He can feel them both staring each other down, challenging the other, challenging their patience to see who breaks first.

  “So you wouldn't want to revert a child back to save the parents some peace of mind, is what i'm hearing?”

  “Daisy. Can’t. Regress. Back.”

  “Soren.”

  Soren responded, “hm?”

  “Uh- i mean, i agree with you both. I don’t know what else to say…”

  The eyes of Nylah and Marcus were daunting him. Eyeing him down like a predator enclosing their prey in a corner. Sometimes he hated how he always followed the vibes of people, hating how indecisive he was.

  In the corner of his eyes Soren saw his and Marcus’s impertiant teacher’s assistant teacher, followed by a flock of girls engaging in a deep discussion with him. Their teacher’s assistant was involved in their debate class and was only inclusive to that class regarding trips and assignments for said class. As the teacher walked down a few more steps, he noticed Soren, and his two other friends. Soren of course met his gaze and smiled at him as he walked towards their table to follow up on what’s going on.

  Noticing their teacher, Marcus and Nylah put on a temporary facade until he goes away, greeting and being formal towards their nicest assistant teacher.

  The teacher wasn’t stupid enough to not feel the tension occurring, but he didn’t want to bring it up in case it stupefied any of them by accident. And so he wrapped his arm around Soren’s shoulders embracing him in a half hug.

  “How’ve you kids been doing?” He said leisurely, smiling.

  “Good”

  The teacher chuckled, lifting the mood from dismal to gaiety, gathering all three kids to comfortably smile, lightening their mood.

  “Hope you kids are studying, exams are coming up. I presume you don’t have much to take, correct?”

  “No sir, but that’s only for me. I don’t know about those two,” Nylah listlessly used her middle finger pointing at Marcus and Soren.

  “Ah, no sir. Me and Soren don’t have to take any. We’ve completed our exams.”

  “That’s good!”

  And then suddenly he had a revelation, “oh kids! Did you see the news?”

  All three kids looked at each other knowing what he was talking about, and telepathically unanimously nodded their heads.

  “Ahh, it’s a shame really. The police just opened up old cases from years and months ago, only to rule all of them unsolved.”

  “It’s a shame. Shame, shame, shame. They ultimately always blame it on the anomalies! And it’s not like we can fight it either since it’s an unspoken ultimatum between the citizens and officials.”

  It was true. Despite their objections towards the officials and their sovereignty over citizen protection, they can’t really fight them against it. No matter how much they protest against anomalies behind the murders or their loved ones, the police can’t get any clues, nor the detectives. So they just stay hating and fighting.

  And yet it wasn’t enough.

  “Wait, why did they close it back again?”

  “Probably cause they couldn’t find any leads for the murders.”

  Amid the now clustered pizza shop, the girls that tagged along with their teacher were gossiping and eyeing them. Nylah thought the other two noticed this, but it was only her alone. Being utterly confused on why the girls were looking at them, she checked visage and hair with her camera thinking something was wrong or off putting —but regardless they should’ve told her instead of congregating amongst themselves— but her complexion was completely fine as is; so what were they huddling up and about for? she looked over at Marcus, and she was candidly stunned to find him also figuring out what was wrong.

  The teacher caressed Soren’s shoulder that was basking in the sun, nudging him closer to his chest, but doing it all so discreetly as to not garner any more attention. He looked down at Soren who looked a little tentative and uncomfortable but still following along his little cheeky flirting.

  Unbeknownst to him, Nylah and Marcus already caught on to what he was doing, and as a teacher he can’t risk his job, he was already being inundated with work and being with his favorite student was his only coping mechanism. He removed himself off of Soren and excused himself from the table, going back to the group of girls who witnessed the whole thing. Frankly though, the girl's attention wasn’t the teacher, but jealousy of Soren being his favorite. Nylah didn’t know which was worse, the girls not noticing, or their very own kind and sagacious teacher was flirting with their young friend right before their eyes.

  Nylah wasted no time leaving Giovanni’s, beckoning Marcus and Soren to follow after her to go back their designated ways.

  Marcus asked Soren if he was ok, to which he replied back with a determined yes, but Marcus was adamant about his reply. Subsequently, he received a text from Nylah telling him not to speak about it yet until tomorrow. After all, she wanted more evidence.

  It leaves the two of them with their unwavering suspicions about their kind teacher; baffling them both because he never acted like this around Soren until just now, or so they would like to believe.

  “Huh?” Soren murmured as Nylah hugged him in the same place their teacher did, rubbing it attempting to make him comfortable.

  “What are you doing?”

  “What. Just giving you a hug, am I not allowed to do that now? Bitch.”

  “Aww :3 could've told me, I would’ve squeezed you so tight >w<“

  “Shut up.”

  “Ok :c”