Sweet Karma [boyxboy]

Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine (Julian)

It was snowing as we went to Seth's house.

It blanketed people's yards and fell against the windows in fat snowflakes that glittered in the sunlight that was peeking through the clouds above. It was freakin' cold too. The temperature had dropped a few degrees and I cuddled up to Adam in the back seat for warmth. Newell sat on his other side, staring out the window with a bored expression. He didn't say anything about Xed either, which made me wonder if Newell even cared for the guy.

Newell was acting pretty cold toward him back at the hospital. Xed had tried once again to communicate with Newell before he left, but Newell kept brushing him off or ignoring him. At one point, I even saw Xed's mouth move, but no sound came out. But he was mouthing Newell's name, only to be ignored.

Had Xed done something to piss Newell off? No point in asking, though. Newell was like Vladimir when it came to personal things. He'd brush it off with a joke or reply with something snarky that would piss everyone off, so I just let Newell silently brood by himself.

Meanwhile, I took comfort with Adam's arm around my shoulders, holding me close to his side, his breath coming out in clouds. According to our wonderfully foreign taxi driver, he didn't know how to turn on the heat and the rest of us didn't either because of how funky looking his dashboard was, so we gave up and sat in the silent, cold car. The only sounds came from the windshield wipers squeaking against the glass, throwing handfuls of snow off.

We finally pulled up to Seth's house and got out of the car, paying the taxi driver before we made our way to the porch. Before I could nod, Newell cleared his throat and we looked at him, frowning as he gave us pointed looks.

"Do not tell them I am a child. I'm an adult. I'm tired of pretending. However, do not go spouting off nonsense about vampires and mermen and shapeshifters. We'll keep our lunatic problems to ourselves." He informed. Adam and I shared looks, then nodded.

We weren't going to tell him that Seth and Kipp already knew. I had to get in there and let them now before they said something stupid in front of Newell to give away the fact that they knew.

I turned and knocked on the door, hesitating as I listened to the sound of music being turned down and footsteps thudding down the stairs. Moments later, the door opened and Seth greeted us, looking at me in relief.

"Dude, I didn't think you were gonna come after you fell over in school." He admitted, stepping aside to let us in. He gave Newell an odd look, but Newell ignored him to scan the house with an overly suspicious stare. I cleared my throat, gesturing to the living room.

"You can sit down in there, Newt. We're gonna grab some food from the kitchen." I answered. Newell snorted at the idea, but said nothing more as he nodded, going into the living room and sit on a sofa. Seth gave me an odd look and I nudged my head toward his kitchen. We went to the kitchen where Kipp was pouring a bag of M&Ms into a bowl of pretzels and puppy chow.

"You're alive!" Kipp exclaimed, dropping the bag on the floor, making Seth scowl. I smiled awkwardly, shifting from foot to foot.

"Ah, yup. It was just a seizure." I replied. Kipp didn't look reassured as he tilted his head to look at me uneasily.

"Just a seizure? Those can be pretty brutal. My mom had a few seizures before, uhm, well yeah. Are you sure you're okay?" He asked, looking seriously concerned now. I was also surprised to hear Kipp mention his mother. She'd died of breast cancer when Kipp was only thirteen, a year after we met. Kipp and his family were devastated. Kipp didn't talk for a few weeks, and even skipped almost a month of school before he came back. He pretended like it didn't happen, or at least, he tried. This was the first time I'd heard him mention anything about her, and now I felt bad for worrying him.