Kartar: Return of the Guardians

Chapter Six: Fight or Flight

"That was the dumbest thing we've ever done," Sloan said after taking a very large sip of his frozen iced cap. "And through the years, the four of us have done a lot stupid things. Like when we locked ourselves in the janitor's closet at school and were stuck there for like sixteen hours."

"Hey, that was kind of fun." I said. "We talked about a lot of things that day. And night."

"Maybe for you," Evan said darkly. "My mom was so pissed."

I started laughing, remembering Evan being pulled towards his mom's minivan by his ear. His mom was kind of short, and Evan's kind of tall, so it looked pretty funny when she was dragging him away.

"Yeah, whatever, Evan!" Sloan said loudly. "Just interrupt me why don't you!"

"Jesus, sorry dude," Evan murmured. "What a drama queen," he whispered to me and I smirked.

"If any of you tell anyone that it was me in the video," Sloan went on, "I will knife you. I got a dagger for Christmas a couple years ago."

"Yeah, we know, we know," Nikeisha interrupted. "Your daddy came and got you a knife. Big whoop de doo."

"Everyone will know anyway, we have to present the thing," I said, ignoring the very seriously dark look in Sloan's face. 

He looked intently at a spot on the table, apparently thinking very hard, and then looked up at me, the light bulb above his head suddenly illuminated. "Okay, but then this was my idea. It was all my idea. And I'm the one who read the book. That way no one will make fun of it. They'll think it's cool." He nodded his head looking off at the distance and murmured. "Yeah... that'll work," he said under his breath.

Sloan was so mental. He pretended like he didn't care what people thought about him when in reality he cared way too much. It was a trait he shared with Nikeisha.

"I don't think anyone will care," Evan said hesitantly, and then plowed on once he saw neither Sloan nor Nikeisha was going to tell him to shut up. "Once we turn the lights off, everyone's going to fall asleep."

"Right," I said carelessly. "See Sloan, nothing to worry about."

He took a large sip. Sloan shook his head in disgust as he stood up and chucked his half finished drink in the garbage bin next to us. "Let's go," he said. He sounded mad.

Oh man, here we go.

Nikeisha and Evan followed suit, and I got up, still slightly confused. I followed them out the door and ran to catch up with Sloan who was talking to himself. "Stupid witchcraft," Sloan muttered.

The strange wind and rain had disappeared almost as quickly as it had come. I wasn't too surprised, the weather lately had been anything but normal.

"Books are stupid," he spat out. "This project was stupid."

"It wasn't witchcraft," I said. "It was nothing. And if you want to go by the book, it's just a phrase used to go into the next world by Guardians to protect their worlds. It's about people saving the world, not witches casting spells." I didn't understand why he was getting so worked up over it. It was over. What was he so mad about?

"And that's nothing?" Sloan demanded.

Evan and Nikeisha slowed in front of us and looked back uncertainly. Sloan and I always tended to get into really heated arguments and would sometimes have to have outside interference to calm us down.

"That's by far the weirdest book you've ever picked for a project. "'The Rise of Samran'? I read the summary you wrote, and this guy makes Hitler look like a loving family man. Dude, I'm worried, people tell me reading won't hurt me, but that book is way more dangerous than, like, a gun or something. It makes you think!" he looked at me with wild eyes. Crazy Sloan was making an appearance.