24 Chapter 24: The Reunion

"Hey Reggie over here!" 6 shouted from across the schoolyard.

"YOOOO! 6 what's up man!?" Reggie answered, walking across to where 6 was standing.

Reggie approached with a smug looking smile on his face, waving his hand. As he silently chuckled to himself he did all he could to keep himself from blabbering out "I missed you" As 6 came into view.

"My guy!" Reggie said, extending out his fist.

Letting out a small laugh, 6 reached his fist out meeting Reggie's for a fist bump.

"Has it really been a month already?" Reggie said surprised "I'm guessing you were training hard during those 4 weeks huh!? You look…. a little more…. I don't know...Lively!!" He said, placing his hand on 6's shoulders.

6's hair had grown out about an inch further since Reggie had last seen him. There was also a new warmth that seemed to emanate from him.

"Well, I guess you always look lively… But I mean, you look a little different too." 6s said.

Not much had changed for Reggie as far as appearance went, but there was a light in his eyes that displayed something had changed in him, internally.

"That look" 6 said. "You seem determined about something."

Reggie let out a sigh and quickly shifted his eyes away from 6's face.

"I'm determined," He said gripping his fist, "To never abandon my friends again… That's a promise 6." He said reflecting.

"HEY!" Yelled a voice from behind them "You guys started the party without me?!"

As they turned around to see who it was, they were captivated by the radiance of a pink haired girl giggling behind them.

"Bb bab BBBeee??" Reggie remarked.

Rather than the usual cluttered mess, B's hair was well groomed lavishly flashing her oink hair with black highlights. Her eyelashes were curled as well, revealing the vibrant softness of her pink eyes, watered with a wistful longing for her friends.

Her usual greasy skin and dark pores and had been cleaned up as well, letting her light caramel skin display its full beauty. It was almost too difficult to tell if she had simply washed her face, or if by some freezing of hell she had decided to put on makeup! A previously inconceivable notion she had called "only for girly girls" in the past

"What's going on here" Reggie scoffed "Why do you look like a girl today!?"

"Hmph" B said crossing her arms. "I always look like a girl I don't have a choice!" She said turning away in indignation.

"That's true but…" 6 said clearing his throat "I don't think we've ever seen you quite like this" 6 said admiring her/

As her face flushed red she turned farther away almost 180 degrees from the boys now.

"Today I just happened to wash my hair for the first time after a whole month of training! It's not like I was excited to see anyone after such a long time or anything!" she said crossing her arms.

Reggie and 6 looked at each other bewildered.

"Wait that doesn't explain your eyelashes!" 6 explained

Before the boys had time to react another voice came from behind them

"B! OMG I love your hair."

The jaws of the boys that were hanging from their mouths extended to the floor after their next encounter.

Lily had arrived, but instead of her normal plain librarian wear, she was wearing a beautiful yellow blouse. What's more is that she seemed to have either forgotten or was no longer wearing glasses!

"LILLLLLY!!!??" Reggie exclaimed trying his best not to explode in lust. Grabbing both sides of his head he desperately tried to prevent his mouth from falling any further into the floor. As he struggled to gather himself together he took a deep breathe that seemed to keep his heart from continuing to racing like a motorboat and his eyes from bulging out of their sockets.

"Where..! Where are your glasses?" Reggie gasped.

Lily blushed "Oh I don't need them today… after all, I'm not going to be in the library today! I'll be joining you guys for the rally and the Exams!" she answered.

"Sooo... You don't you need glasses to take the exams….." 6 said.

"No silly," Lily said rolling her eyes. "Shifter's are rarely born with vision deficiencies…. Glasses are used for gathering information on their heads up display! Not for clarifying words! Use of gadgets like them are banned from the exams!"

"But the exams haven't started yet….. There not until later, and no one knows what the written portion will be like…. Wouldn't the HUD be useful for the other part?" 6 questioned

"LOOK!" Lily said bursting out "I HAVE THEM IN MY PURSE OK? I JUST FORGOT TO PUT THEM ON JUST MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS!" She said turning her back.

She crossed her arms and began chatting with B, as they both bathed in feministic agitation.

"Are you two idiots." said a voice above.

From the tree above them, Lance looked down from a branch he was sitting on.

He usually wore his trademark green track jacket over his uniform during school hours, but today he was wearing a neat dress shirt.

"Today is the last day of Classes…. We have class photos today that will be put on our school yearbook, some of us actually care about how we look in the photo."

"That's right!" B and Lily answered in unison.

Reggie and Tristan exchanged looks.

It still didn't explain the extremity of their looks. Since when had either of those two cared about pictures.

"So... where is he? The man of mystery?" Lance said asking the question that was on everyone's mind.

"Oh yeh?" B said giving Lance a disgruntled look. "Since when did you start caring about where he is?" She snapped

"Heh" Lance sighed coolly. "He happens to have a promise to me that's very important, its none of your concern really" He said answering B.

"Oh yeh? Well where he is none of your concern!" B yelled

"Hmph. you don't have any idea where he is do you? Otherwise you wouldn't be here. I got the group text Reggie sent out "Meet here under the tree" and since everyone seems to be spinning around in circles, no one has heard from him since he failed to reply to that text."

"Reggie this guys in the group chat!" B gasped giving him a look of betrayal.

"I mean the school isn't that big… He was just gonna walk over here if I didn't text him" Reggie said shrugging his shoulders.

"AGGRR what do you know!" B said flipping her hands in the air.

"I can't sense him and my senses have a far range, so unless his traveling by aircraft he probably isn't coming today, he probably just gave up during his training and quit." Lance said walking away.

"6?" Lily asked turning to him for support.

"I haven't had any luck picking him up either… "6 said drooping his head.

A silence washed over the group as the anxiety of Axel's absence began to sink in.

"Ha" Lance said grinning "Looks like I was right, what a surprise!" Lance said jumping down from the tree. He started walking towards the gates of the school.

"Just you wait he'll come!" 6 said sounding off. "And I'm sure when he sees you after a month of training hell finally be able to kick your miserable wind blowing ass!" 6 said jabbing his fingers at Lance.

"Yooooo 6 that was savage man!" Reggie said bursting out with laughter.

"Hahahha"" Lily laughed.

"HA! I didn't think you had it in ya." B said nodding her head.

"Hmph" Lance said walking away and gritting his teeth. "And I thought Axel was the dreamer" he said walking away.

The bell rang, signaling the beginning of schools morning procedures as the students started migrating inside.

"Alrighty class! Time to line up and get to your home rooms!" Mr. Bené yelled proudly.

The group hung their heads in confusion, unsure of what to do.

"I'm sure he got my text…. He's probably just running late." Reggie said reassuringly.

As the students sat down in homeroom Ms Bene began to take attendance.

"Axel?" she yelled into the classroom.

There was no reply.

"Hmmmm… So I guess the rumors are true, he really did drop out.

"No he didn't Hell be here!" 6 yelled defiantly

"It's the last day, the day of the Exams! Which can't be retaken mind you!" Ms. Bené said chewing on a new stick of bubble gum.

"Trust me hell be here!" 6 said. Crossing his arms and pressing his chin to his chest.

As 6 yelled the sound of footsteps echoed down the hall.

"See! That's probably him now!"

Opening the door was not Axel but two girls gossiping loudly among each other. They took their seats in the back of the class began to whisper to the others in the classroom.

Sitting back in his chair 6 slouched disappointed in Axel's absence.

"Hey! Did you see the new student?" One of the girls exclaimed to another student.

"What…. New student? It's the last day of school!"

"I know! "When we left, Mr. Bené was explaining to him he couldn't just walk into school without permission!"

"He was getting pretty mad!"

"Really!"

"Yeh the student looked like a total badass! He was accompanied by this older guy who was riding a hovercycle!

"WHAATTTT OMG that's so cool"

"Yeh he was really hot too!"

"He had these wicked tattoos and this hoodie that had its sleeves torn off! Honestly he looked pretty strong… Mr. Bené better be careful."

Lance drifted into thought, trying his best to analyze the situation. He slowly stroked his chin with his left hand as the images of the two imposters came into his mind.

"An air bike…. Tattoos, and two guys… This… could be bad." "Their definitely from the badlands no doubt….Mr. Bené could get overpowered by two guys like that,

"Hey!" he said grabbing the attention of the two girls.

They blushed, content with the fact that they had made enough noise to catch his attention.

"This kid with the tattoos… what did he look like?"

As he spoke, he began to hear a set footsteps coming down the hall. From the sound of it…It was two people.

"Well" The girl said nervously "We couldn't really see what he looked like through the hoodie…"

The footsteps began to get louder slowly approaching the door.

"What about his attitude? Did he seem aggressive? Apprehensive? Give me something!" Lance persisted

As he spoke the footsteps stopped and the door opened.

"Heh, just don't cause any trouble ya hear!" Mr. Bené said opening the door

"Remember what I said, the best revenge is moving forward!" He said leading the hooded student into the room. And with that Mr. Bené turned and walked away

Standing awkwardly in front of the class the boy in the hoodie and tattered sleeves stood in resolute silence. Everyone including the teacher awkwardly awaited his next move, with Mr. Bené not bothering to give an introduction.

On his right arm was a tattoo of interlocked chains around heart shaped key links that appeared every now and then down the chain. Inside of the hearts was the word memories and at the end of the tattoo was the word future with what seemed to be gates of heaven at the end.

The boy was lean and muscular with the tattoo showing off his rugged biceps that pulsed as the blood flowing through his veins was visibly shown.

He stood with his side facing the class leaving no one but Ms Bené being able to see his face.

"Well who might you be lad?" She said leaning towards him adjusting her glasses.

"Do you know what this tattoo means?" The boy said, extending his arm forward.

Mrs. Bené looked at it carefully before shrugging her shoulders.

"That you like chains?" she said confused.

"Haha I guess you could say that," the boy responded.

"This tattoo states that it is the chain of memories that links our past to our future. In other words, as long as you have fond memories with someone they should remain within your heart forever."

"Fond… Memories?" she answered confused "I don't believe we've met before, what is your name again?" She asked.

The boy laughed placing his hand on the top of his hoodie.

"Well I suppose they weren't as fond as you'd liked" he said taking off his hood.

"But still, it's hard to believe you'd forget about me after only a month.

As his hood fell to his shoulders a wash of spiky blue hair emanated from his head.

"OMGGGG!!!" B yelled.

"Wait is that…" Lance said in disbelief.

"No, that can't be" Lily mumbled.

"OMG HEY EVERYONE ITS" REGI started.

"AXXEEEELLELELELLELELEL" 6 finished.

Before he could speak any further 6 ran up to him squeezing the living daylights out of him.

"DUUUUDEEE YOOOO YOU LOOK LIKE A BOSSS" Reggie remarked.

"YEHH AXX Sick Tattoos brooo!" B answered.

"Your hair is all grown up now!" Lily said, smiling and playing with his hair.

As they all circled and laughed around him Lance slowly approached him.

A wash of silence came over the group as they split allowing Lance to come face to face with Axel.

"Well, that was quite the entrance but have you gotten any stronger?" Lance asked trying to provoke Axel

"Oh? You don't sense the difference? I thought nothing got passed you? Axel rebutted

"YOOO this is lit!" Reggie yelled clapping his hands. "Axel can match Lance word for word now!?? OH IT'S ON NOW! EYO LILY GET THE POPCORN YO!!!

"Wait why do I have to get it!!!!? She answered

"Hmph, they do say seeing is believing… so how bout it Ax? You ready to put your training to the test?" Lance said assuming a battle stance.

"I thought you'd never Ask!" Axel taking a martial pose.

SMACK!

Ms Bené smacked each of their heads with the back of a book.

"The only one doing the testing here will be me! In your seats now BOYS!"

"Yes Ms Bené, they said returning to their seats`