â:Terry âTessâ Farina:âș
ââŠAnd so thatâs what happened. I really thought about staying home, but I think Iâd just be bored.â Tess finally finished her explanation with a bit of a laugh, turning as they made their way through the gate to the school. Itâd taken the vast majority of the walk to go through it all, though even then; sheâd left out quite a number of details. Thankfully, her walking partner was more preoccupied with other thoughts.
âGee, youâre so calm about all that. I think I wouldâve fainted when they first called out to meâŠâ Amy, Tessâs closest friend since the move to Capetown, gave what looked to be an involuntary shudder. She was a shorter girl, pudgier, with blond hair and a rounded face. She wasnât exactly ugly or anything, but her weight, asthma and a multitude of other factors made her the social outcast that she was. Still, despite some low self-confidence she was genuine and honest, a real treat to be around, as she always wore her heart on her sleeve. âIâm really glad youâre okay Tess. I really donât know what Iâd do without you aroundâŠâ
âWell, I imagine youâd be upset, but you really got to give yourself more credit Amy. Youâre plenty capable on your own merit.â Tess reassured Amy as best she could, but got little more than a downward shake of the head. Gently, she gave her friend a pat on the back. âHey, I was the one who got into trouble, so Iâm the only one with the right to look that sad today, yeah?â Striding forward a few steps towards âtheirâ spot just inside the gate, the two were usually pretty punctual, so they had some time to kill before class. Waiting for them was another of Tessâ friends, Marcy. Unlike them, she was reasonably popular, but for whatever reason, tended to just keep her distance and preferred to hover in their company. An aloof girl, the only times she tended to chip in was for a sarcastic remark, but usually it was in good jest. There was one sole exception that she seemed to enjoy picking on however. Taking a seat on the bricks of the garden just under the perimeter tree, Tess reached into her bag to pull out one of the books sheâd picked up at work as a point of discussion, but was swiftly interrupted as the intrepid fourth to their group made his grand entrance.
A scrabbling from the bushes behind Terry was the first sign of his arrival. Or had he been there the whole time? It was hard to tell, since he had a habit of avoiding Marcy. Soon enough however, the young man leapt from the bushes of the garden, shaking off the leaves of foliage and giving the three a wide grin. ââBout time you all got here! Iâve been going mad with anticipation of revealing my latest and greatest plan!â Glen, as he was known, was pretty much a goofball. Eccentric was the polite way of putting it, but he always managed to make Tess smile with his antics and schemes. He lived in his own little world to some extent, but hey, at least that world was fun. With curly red hair, heâd certainly stand out, even without his extravagant personality.
âSo I take it the âLets Playâ career didnât take off as youâd hope..?â Tess asked optimistically, and was swiftly silenced by a finger pointed in her face. âHah! Everybody does gaming streams these days, if you want to be famous, youâve got to be ahead of the curve!â Glen declared with gusto, even as Tess shook her head and used her hand to push his finger aside. Undeterred, he continued. âWhat you need, is to be a thing-â
âReally Glen?â Marcy interrupted with a raised brow, but was then cut off herself by him continuing. âAs I was saying, you need to be a thing! Like, the violin girl, or or, the angry dude. So thatâs what Iâm going to do, with this!â Thrusting a hand out towards the three, Glen held a closed fist in front of them. Marcy was the first to give her opinion. âOh, I get it. Elephantiasis hand man. People do like a freak show, Glen.â
âMarcy, donât be rude. Heâs obviously building suspenseâŠâ Amy chided, while Glen gave some approving nods of her defence. Slowly, he flipped his hand and uncurled his fingers to revealâŠ
âA Harmonica?â Tess stated the obvious, ignoring Marcyâs snort as she turned away to cover her laughter. âThatâs uh, great Glen! Youâll be the harmonica guy then?â Amy asked, getting some vigorous nods in response. Finally composing herself, Marcy re-entered the conversation. âGlen, how many âHarmonica Peopleâ can you actually name?â
âNone, thatâs exactly why Iâll be the first! If there was already a âHarmonica Guyâ I couldnât be THE harmonica guy. Geez, think your questions through Mars Bar.â Glen pulled the harmonica up to his lips, making a series of three thweet sounds that steadily got lower in pitch, with the fourth one wavering a bit before he stopped to speak again. âIn case you couldnât tell, that was supposed to be the fail sound effect.â
âRight⊠If you canât even do that correctly, I hate to say that your prospects of becoming the âHarmonica Guy âare practically non-existant.â Making some air quotes and shaking her head, Marcy paused as she seemed to notice something behind the group, giving a short wave. âWell, good luck with that anyway. Iâve got to go.â Jogging past them, Marcy was soon enough out of sight as Tess and the others said their goodbyes. Realising the time themselves, they decided theyâd better get going to class; bundling up their bags and heading off.
Class was uneventful. For the most part, Tess was a focused and diligent student, but since her trigger it was becoming easier and easier to pay less attention, as well as becoming bored by the material. As such, lunch was a welcome reprieve and it gave her chance to better catch up with Glen, the two sharing the same free period on Monday. Though he was somewhat unpredictable in his interests, Amy clearly had mentioned Tessâ incident the night before, as the conversation quickly moved into the specifics of what had happened, and who sheâd seen.
âThe police said I was lucky he didnât harm me.â Tess said as she took another bite of her sandwich. Glen shook his head, pulling up the details on his phone and showing her one of the many hero and villain based wikis. âI wouldnât call it luck. The guy tends to go after villains. Probably thought you were just some cute girl and left you be. Honestly, I donât get why heâs classed as a villain though, heâs clearly more a hero type.â Leaning back in his seat, Glen waved his hand about. âHonestly, the real fans like me are way better informed then the police. They could learn a thing or two about our information gathering skills.
âIf you say so Glen. Though honestly, seeing how he dealt with those guys, I can understand why the Police arenât too fond of himâŠâ Tess trailed off, doing the best to force the image of their beaten bodies from her mind. Seeing the mild distress on Terryâs face, Glen decided to move the conversation along. âSo⊠It was uh⊠Pretty traumatic, huh? Real scary. Maybe evenâŠâ Leaning in again, Glen gave Terry a nudge in the side. ââŠTriggering? I mean, if you DID trigger youâd tell me, right?â
Terry gave a laugh, and forced her best fake genuine smile. âOf course Glen, but youâre not that lucky to have a superhero for a friend. I was scared, sure, but he saved me well before anything actually dangerous happened.â Adjusting her position in her seat, Terry sipped at her water as Glen mumbled some odd annoyances at how âunluckyâ Terry had been not to trigger. If only he knew the truth. Deciding that sheâd rather not dance around the subject and be forced to lie again, Terry took the smart option of moving the focus of the conversation back to Glen and his harmonica exploits, listening to his poor attempts to replicate famous film scores.