Something to Believe In

We stepped out of class together, just chatting about how life was at Liberty High School and with Katie commenting on how friendly everyone had been so far and how there was this nice guy who was telling some interesting comedy.

“Ah, you’ve met Matt.”

“Is he a friend of yours?”

“Yes,” I decided to forget to mention that he wanted to get into her pants.

“If he keeps practicing, he could be on stage one day.”

“Yeah.”

“He may even be funnier than Gabriel Iglesias,” Katie replied with a wink.

“He means well.”

“He takes lessons from one of the best, so I’ll give him props for that. Do me a favor?”

“Sure.”

“Let him down easy for me. Let him know I’m not interested in dating right now.”

“I’m sure he’ll understand.”

Katie laughed as we approached the stairwell. Her laughter was louder than any other voice. “Guys never understand. We want to think they do, but they never really hear what you’re saying. They’ll try to read your mind and freak out because they can’t comprehend it.”
I didn’t take that as a personal attack towards the male gender. She was right. Guys didn’t understand anything about girls but, in their defense, girls would send signals, but yeas of brain rot from TV and movies helped to muddle said signals. You do not want me to start on my opinion about “Fifty Shades of Grey.”

“Can I ask a few questions, Tyler?”

“Sure,” I replied with a nod.

“Let me know if I’m being too direct or bitchy.”

“You got it.”

“Where did you get all of the answers?”

“A little Half-blood Prince magic.”

“You have your brother or sister’s old book?”

“Sister’s. There are few doodles in it too.”

“Lucky.”

“Luck had nothing to do with it. I searched for this book right before class on the first day and it has helped me tremendously for the past two months.”

Katie nodded as we dodged past students.

“So, Tyler, or can I call you Tai, with an ‘AI’?”

I looked at her for a second and then turned my head straight ahead. Did she know? Is this why she said “we” earlier? That alone wasn’t scaring me, it was what she would do with the information.

“Which is it?”

“With the AI,” I mumbled.

“I can’t hear you.”

“The AI. T-A-I. How do you-?”

“Let’s just say today is your lucky day.”

I shook my head and grinned because if I didn’t, I would be running and screaming down the hallway.

“The five of you. This will be a lucky day for all of you.”

“How?”

“That is for me to know and for you, Matt, Tony, Chris, and Riley to find out.”

I searched for a video camera, but it was possible to hide those in anything so that would be a hopeless endeavor.

“I know what you’re thinking.” She said as she skipped a step.

“Oh?” I asked, trying to block my thoughts, but I only ended up increasingly thinking of everything, everywhere, and all at once.

“Let’s meet in the library at lunch, where you play your game. Check you later, Tai.”

Katie ran ahead and I took what little time there was left before second period to find Matt.

I located him, caught in the middle a hate triangle of Barry, Paul, and Wes, seniors who were on Liberty High School’s wrestling team. They battered Matt back and forth like a human pinball and their fists were the bumpers. I wanted to run in and help, but I kept my distance because if I tried, I’d become the bonus ball on the playfield.

“Gonna try out for the team, Matty boy?”

“Maybe I will,” Matt replied as Barry shoved him down.

“I’m looking forward to getting a letter for beating your ass. Let’s go guys. See you later, Matty.”

“Hulk on up for us,” Wes said as he flipped Matt off. They walked in my direction, so I turned and ducked into a classroom door until they passed. Then, I ran out to Matt who had gotten himself off the floor.

“I’m a junior. I’m a human being. One would think I deserve some respect or maybe some help,” Matt said, while looking at me. “You know, if we banded together, then they’d back down.

“I’m sure they would,” I replied with a pinch of sarcasm as I picked up Matt’s books. “I have a message for you.”

“What?”

“Her name is Katie.”

“And she wants me to ask her out?”

“We didn’t really talk about that. She did say she liked your comedy.”

“I knew it. Girls love humor.”

“We’re supposed to meet with her in the library at noon, near the switch.”

“How does she know about that?”

I shrugged my shoulders as we ran in the opposite direction of the Pinball Wizards.

“Wait, all five of us?”

“Yes.”

“You know what that means? A quintet. She wants us to do her in the library. I could swear I’ve seen a video like that online.”

“She said this is our lucky day…but I don’t think she meant it that way.”

“But maybe that is what’s going to happen. Then hell yeah, it’s a lucky day. It’s semi-private. We need someone be the lookout.”

“Again, I don’t think that’s what she means,” I replied with a shake of my head.

“I can dream, right?”

Matt’s dreams usually turned into my nightmares. Like the time he convinced us all to boost PlayStation Vitas from a used video game store. I felt sick after I did that. I silently returned the Vita the next day. Then, there was another time where he thought that we should all go into the business of selling raffle tickets for a new car. The raffle was for a shiny electric sports car, and we made over five hundred dollars only to have the raffle pulled as the website hosting it realized the picture was for a remote-controlled McLaren toy.

The other guys would think of so many crazy ideas I had stopped counting, but I would be there to evaluate the situation and let them know everything negative that could happen. Such as Riley’s attempt to buy pot on a street corner in the middle of what looked like a gang war. Not to mention the police in riot gear parked on the next block. Tony, wanting to drag race against drivers from other schools. His car and ego were in no condition at the time to push around let alone win a race. Chris had an idea to raid a girl’s slumber party until I learned most of the girls were in junior high. I wasn’t trying to be a wet blanket; I just didn’t want us to have criminal records before turning sixteen.

This new dream could get him arrested, assuming Katie didn’t beat him to a pulp beforehand.

The five of us met in front of the library.

“Katie talked to you guys?” Chris asked with a shocked look on his face.

“Yep,” came Matt’s reply. “Well, she talked to Ty, and he told me.”

“Chris told me,” Riley added.

“She met up with me in shop class,” Tony said as we walked into the library. “By the way, she knows how to manage power tools.”

We weaved through the rows of bookcases to the back of the room and turned a corner.

Katie was already there, leaning on the wall.

“So, why are we here?” I asked.

“As I said, it’s your lucky day.”

“I’m not too comfortable with doing anything in the library.”

“I don’t think she means that, Chris. Don’t be a perv,” Matt replied.

I wanted to punch Matt so badly.

“My friends, and please consider me a friend. I’m here to help you. Each of you possess a wish that’s buried in your heart. Now, I know a few of you have a desire that, while meaningful to you, could be hurtful to others and yourselves, so please be careful.”

“Are you some sort of genie?” Tony asked.

“The correct pronunciation is Jinn, J-I-N-N, but yes.”

We stood motionless and without a thought in our heads; nothing rational at least. Then, one by one, the other guys started laughing and shaking their heads.

“Do you have a bottle? Riley asked.

“Seriously, Kate, we want to believe you, but-”

“Ah, and there is it is, the lingering doubt. Every second goes by and you’re thinking it’s a flat-out lie and that maybe I’m here from the Omegas.

Perhaps Barry sent me. Maybe I’m the feminine equivalent of Freddy Krueger here to make your worst nightmare a reality. It’s possible that one of you may be riding public transportation or hitching rides for the rest of your life. Only one of you truly believes me.”

The others looked at me as I nodded.

“Ty, she’s just saying that.”

“I don’t want to ride the bus all my life,” Tony whispered.

Matt, Riley and Chris stood unconvinced.

“Think of like this Matt,” I began, “if you don’t believe her, then when you think of something, nothing will happen.”

“What I don’t want to happen is that my mind wanders and conjures up a 112.5-foot marshmallow man.”

Katie leaned up against the wall and crossed her arms.

“Is that what you want, Matthew?”

“No, that’s not. Look, Katie, I’m sorry that I was trying to get to know you.”

“You wanted to do more.”

Matt stopped talking and looked at the ground.

“Just think about things, guys. No one’s going to explode or grow an extra head in the middle of gym, but you’ll think of what you really want, and it will happen.”

“Anything?” Riley asked as his face went into a blank stare and he only made that face when tacos were on the lunch menu.

“As long as it doesn’t hurt anyone else. I will not kill anyone, Riley.”

“It was worth a shot.”

“Why are doing this? I mean, what makes us special?” Matt asked as he crossed his arms to match Katie,

We stood back in a group as Katie took a step towards us and put her arms around Tony and my shoulders.

“Why not?”

She dropped her arms, walked past us and turned the corner.

“Okay, was that for real?” Chris asked.

“She did know things about us.”

“Everyone knows about all of what she said. Hell, you can be a new student here for fifteen minutes and be up to speed about the most embarrassing things about people at this school.”

“I would wish for everyone to forget…that,” Chris said.

“We need to wish for some cash. That’s what I’ll do.” Matt replied as he clapped his hands. “If someone gives me a hard time, I can hire a real bodyguard or pay for self-defense classes.”

“If you have a lot of money, you wouldn’t need to continue going to school,” Riley commented as we walked out of the corner.

“Yeah, you could build a new school.” Chris chimed in.

“You really believe her, Ty?” Matt asked me as we walked out of the corner.

“Yes.”

“What would you wish for?”

“I’m not sure. I just know I believe her.”

“And like Ty said, if nothing happens, then nothing happens.”

“Not like she’s asking us to perform some dare or give up a body part.”

The librarian’s “Shh” made us all shut up before we left the library.