Shards of Light

By Dark Pegasus

*Chapter Fifteen*

Author's Note: This chapter is going to be quite long due to the fact that it covers more than one day. It is also the last chapter in the first part of the series. Enjoy!

Wednesday, February 18

2:48 p.m.

I walked down the hall towards my locker. I was still trying to figure out who had gave me the Valentine's gift. Jessie hates me, so I know it couldn't of had been him. Wait a minute. What if...What if it was...a girl? I choked on this thought and felt like I was about to throw up, but I held my breath and the feeling subsided.

"Don't scare yourself like that." I told myself, stopping at my locker. "Don't think up some crazy story. Like anybody, girl or boy, would like you." I stopped myself when someone stopped at her locker to the left of mine. I was done at mine, so I shut my locker door and flung my book bag over my shoulder. "Note to self: Don't talk to yourself out loud." I said.

I had just opened up the doors that led to the bus parking lot when someone came up behind me and tapped me on the shoulder. I whirled around, surprised anybody wanted to talk to me. It was Keith. "When is your birthday?" he asked.

"Why do you want to know?"

"No reason."

"Then I won't tell you." I said, beginning to walk off again.

"I just like to keep up with important dates."

I stopped and turned to him. "Wait... My birthday...is important...to you?" I asked him, pointing to myself then him.

"So is almost everybody else's." he replied quickly.

"Is there are specific reason you want to know?"

"I might get you something."

"I'm listening."

"Tell me when your birthday is." he asked, as I began walking again.

"March 2nd." I said.

"What's your favorite kind of cake?" he asked.

"Chocolate." I told him.

"For the frosting or the-"

"Chocolate. Inside and out." I said.

"Okay. I'll keep that in mind." With that, he left.

Alright. Where was I? Oh yeah. I know Hunter had nothing to do with it. Jessie hasn't looked me in the eye since who knows when. What about Kenny? Could he have done it? I know I haven't paid much mind to him, but there is still a chance that he could've gave it to me. It's weird. I had nearly forgotten about him. He was always more interested in what the girls talked about at lunch. He hardly ever said anything to me.

Wait. Could Khleo have done it? No. That makes no sense. He doesn't know where my locker is. He doesn't even go to this school! He DOES know my name though, but I doubt he could've done it. It's a mystery that I can't solve. I have no clues to go on. I guess I'll just go home and sleep on it.

5:11 p.m.

"Then, he gets me so mad, I just scratch him." I said.

"Scratch? If I were you, I would've knocked the shit out of him." Zachary said. He had called me and asked what was going on, so I was filling him in on the most recent events.

"Don't underestimate me. Scratching somebody sure hurts a lot worse than punching somebody if you can get deep enough. I saw him just the other day and the side of his face still hasn't healed completely yet."

"Man. Just what did you do to him?"

"I didn't even mean to scratch him. I just swung at him and he turned his face and the first thing that hit him were my nails...which I do believe need clipping..."

"So...What else happened."

"Oh. Afterwards, everybody starts cheering for me and this kid does a dramatic reenactment of the whole thing. But that's not the creepiest part."

"Creepy?"

"Yeah... I've got myself a secret admirer now."

"Secret admirer?"

"Yes! Don't you believe me? Your lack of faith in me is quite atrocious."

"Do you know who it is?"

"Didn't I just say SECRET admirer. How am I supposed to know?"

"Do you have a clue of who it is?"

"Nope. The list of potential suspects is shot. It must be somebody who I don't know at all."

"Sounds like you're in quite a bind."

"You're telling me."

"Well...I gotta go. Talk to you later."

"Bye." I hung up. I went into the living room and sat amongst the pile of homework I had in the middle of the floor and looked up at the slowly spinning ceiling fan above me. "I'm starting to get worried about this whole thing. I thought it would be...enlightening...I guess that's the word I'm looking for. It's turning out to be far from it. Maybe I should wait a little longer before I start my investigation."

Tuesday, March 2

10: 24 a.m.

"Happy birthday." Evann said, handing me a small box.

"Thanks a lot." I said, trying to figure out what it was just by the size of it.

"Here." David said. Nate was absent today, so that must be why David is handing two boxes.

"Thank you." I told him, taking the three gifts and sitting down across from Hunter. "Well...?" I asked, giving him a glare.

He held my glare for a moment before he had to blink then he groaned in frustration and reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a hastily wrapped gift.

"You should have a party or something." Hunter suggested.

"On such short notice?" I asked him.

He didn't say anything, as if he had gotten my point.

"You're lucky. Your birthday is on Halloween."

"So. That gives me a reason to do whatever the hell I want." Hunter pointed out. I nodded. Evann and David had already returned to their seats.

"You do have a point." I said, turning back to him. "You can dress up however you want... You're lucky."

He just laid back in his seat and shrugged. "I'm not as lucky as you think. So. Are you going to open them?"

I shook my head. "I'd rather wait until I get home."

"Found out anything?"

"About what?" He gave me that piercing gaze. "Oh... About that? No. Nothing has popped up yet." I replied, laying my head in the palm of my left hand. Despite the fact that it was my birthday, I didn't feel a bit older. Turning 15 isn't that big of a deal. Turning 16 is, however.

"Well. Good luck."

"Thanks. I'm going to need it." I said.

2:45 p.m.

I had just finished getting all of my stuff together when the intercom beeped. "Mrs. Goodwin?"

"Yes." the teacher said.

"Do you have..."

Say it. Say it, I dare you. I said with my mind.

"...Radley Thomas?"

"I sure do."

"He needs to come to the office."

"He's on his way."

Grabbing the pass and my books, I walked out into the hallway, wondering why my admirer didn't give me anything face to face. I had acquired more presents than I had expected, so I had them all in a bag. This walk to the office didn't feel so odd. In a way.

I walked into the office and the secretary didn't even look up, she just pointed to the usual desk. I couldn't see what it was from afar, so I walked over to it. On the table was a huge chocolate cake. The words "Happy Birthday, Radley" stood out in their red icing letters. There were also several gifts with my name on them surrounding the covered cake and I wondered how I was going to carry all of it.

Just then, the office door swung open. I didn't pay any mind to it until someone tapped me on the shoulder. I turned around. "Oh. Keith. Can you help me carry this? Thanks for the cake." He smiled and carefully carried the cake in his arms while I gathered all of the gifts.

We were in the hallway, going towards my locker. "Do you know who gave me all of this stuff?" I asked.

"One of them is mine." he said.

"Thanks... It really does mean a lot to me."

"Your welcome."

We had reached my locker, and I put the load of things down to open it. "Radley?"

"Yeah."

"Are you gay?" The words shot me like a bullet, but out of instinct, I acted on the defensive.

"Oh, so just because my favorite color is purple, I'm automatically gay?"

"No. That's not what I said."

"It sure sounds like it." Sometimes I hate the fact that I have an obsession with purple, red and black. My favorite color used to be red like everybody else's, then I changed it when I was told that being different was a good thing. A quote from one of my cousins comes to my mind: 'I don't follow people, people follow me'.

"I didn't say that. Look...I just assumed-"

"Well, you assumed wrong."

"Okay...Okay...I'm sorry."

There was a silence as I finished putting everything in my book bag. I was emotionally frustrated. He might end up like Mike if he doesn't just shut up and leave me alone.

"But I know you are."

"Excuse me?" I asked. I could feel my fist clenching and I took a deep breath and tried counting. 10, 9, 8...

"When we accidentally...you know...kissed, you kissed back." 7, 6, 5...

"You started it." I nearly yelled. I thought back to how it seemed to have been all planned out. Maybe they knew I would be standing here and had thought up a plan. Maybe when Keith used his arm to block me in was Samantha's cue to open the door all the way so that it would hit Keith and give him an excuse to kiss me. The bastard. If he didn't have the cake in his hands right now, I'd slam it into his face. 4, 3, 2...

"Then it's settled." he said sharply.

All of a sudden, the puzzle fixed itself and the image was clear to me. "Are you...my secret admirer?" I asked. I continued to think back on that day. It was probably some sort of play. Samantha was supposed to act surprised when she saw Keith kissing me, then Keith was to act like he was mad at me, then convince me that he likes me so I can let my guard down and he can embarrass me in front of everybody. I wouldn't put anything past him right now. 1.

He nodded. Oh great. Just great. I just so happened to turn a straight guy gay in a single nine second kiss. That's a real boost for my self-esteem. "I didn't want you to know. But it's better you found out sooner, rather than later." Somebody please tell me he's just joking. He probably is. He's probably got a tape recorder in his pocket so he can record the whole conversation and play it back to his friends. It happened to me once before, that doesn't mean it won't happen to me again. He's just acting right now. He's just acting like he's being nice to me, but tomorrow, he'll have some sort of evil scheme worked out.

"This is all just...a lot for me right now." I said, taking the cake from him. He followed me down the hall. He had that look in his eye and his expression didn't falter for a moment. He's good at this acting thing.

"Please... Will you..."

"What about Samantha?"

"I...She... It never worked out." I had convinced myself that maybe this was all a big joke. Maybe Samantha and the others were hiding around a corner or something. Maybe they were waiting until I spilled my guts then they'd jump out and turn on me. I looked over at Keith. He definitely looked like the type of person to do something like that.

"Oh, so am I just your trampoline, so to speak, just so that you can bounce back up after Samantha dumped you?"

"That's not it at all." he said, blocking my way. He looked me straight in the eye. They really must have practiced this a bit. He must have rehearsed every single line, action and even planned it out so that he would know exactly what to say no matter what I said or did. He should take Theatre Arts. He's got the look of an actor.

"One question. Why did you assume that... Is there some kind of neon sign floating above my head? I mean...Why...How can you just..."

"I just know. If you don't want to, I understand, but...I'm begging you. Don't tell anybody." I looked around, but there wasn't a single nook where the crew could've been hiding. I made sure that there was no one else in the hallway, I even gave Keith my death stare when I realized that I just might be wrong.

"Who am I going to tell?" I said.

He smiled. "It can be our little secret."

4:00 p.m.

I dumped the contents of the bag out onto the floor. Eleven. Eleven of them. I opened the one that was from Hunter. Inside was a book entitled "Organizational Psychology." It had obviously been used, but it still looked relatively new. This was certainly out of the ordinary, especially for Hunter.

I opened the one from David. "A brand new choker. I could use this." It was simple in its design and it also had a bat attached to it. Yep. A bat. How David knew that it was one of my favorite animals is beyond me.

The next one I opened was from Nate. It was a camouflage jacket. "What am I going to do with this?" I asked nobody in particular. Just then, there was a knock on the door, followed by the almost constant ringing of the doorbell. I jumped up and opened the door. "What brings you here?" I asked. It was Evann.

"I just wanted to help you eat that cake." he said, pushing past me when he saw the cake sitting on the kitchen counter.

"Excuse you."

"Oh. Hey. Can I come in? Thanks." he said without turning back.

I shut the door. He literally helped himself to a huge chunk of cake. I returned to the waiting gifts. I looked around and was amazed that I saw one from Jessie. I took it and opened it. Inside were two shirts. One said 'One by one, the penguins steal my sanity.' The other said 'Keep staring. I might do a trick.' There was also a note inside. It just said that he apologized for the way he treated me and hoped that the gift made up for it. Evann walked into the room, saw that I was busy and sat on the couch. The chunk of cake was sitting on the napkin. He grabbed a piece of it by his fingers. "You do know that I, as the birthday boy, am supposed to get the first bite?" He looked at the chunk between his fingers and then held it out to me. I shook my head. He shrugged and threw it into his mouth.

I opened up the gift from Keith. Inside was an array of different things. There was a box of chocolates; a charm bracelet armed with several dragons, birds, and a butterfly; a bag of multicolored beads and a chain. "Very interesting." I said. "Very interesting. What half of it is for, I don't know."

Evann, went back into the kitchen. "This is some damn good cake. You can tell it ain't the grocery store brand. This has homemade written all over it." He obviously hadn't heard me. Maybe Keith was being serious and this wasn't a joke. Maybe he really did like me.

Maybe.

Author's Notes: Well, thanks for reading 'Shards of Light'. Hope you enjoyed. If you found this story confusing, it gets even more complicated as the story goes on. Please review.

Claimer: I own the characters, the places and all that good stuff. If you want to use them, let me know. If you see a shirt that has any of the phrases mentioned throughout the story, I don't own the copyright to them.

(Want to know why the claimer/disclaimer is at the end? Watch a movie. You only see it at the end of the credits. You don't see it at the beginning of every scene. Just a little fruit of knowledge.)