Chapter 8

"Is that really Richard Beltran?" After hearing the snoring himself, Rabeem Roth realized this was the golden child of chaos Diaz had called the "English speaking Monkey". Hearing the boy snoring in class, after he had already walked in late, he guessed he understood where Diaz was coming from, even though it still wasn't a nice thing to say about a child.

The teenage girl next to him was a young, pierced-up, self-identified "Butterscotch witch" that, for whatever reason, Rahbeem could tell was the type that gossiped a lot and he could get the scoop on the Beltran kid.

Dorothy Smiles glanced at Vegas coyly. Then she wrinkled her nose at Roth. Her black hair was twisted and clipped up, leaving a slew of thin curls spilling over the top. Her shiny black lips contained no less than three piercings, and on her neck was a giant tattoo. Roth noticed in particular the colorful detail of the body art. It was of a black widow spider and looked real enough to freak him out a little.

"Yep, that's Kaye Beltran's nephew," she patted her hair flat a little as she bobbed her legs under the table. Then said the next line with a pinched nose aristocratic accent, "The heir to the Beltran Magical Empire, HUZZAH!" Her hand dramatically twirled in the air at her 'huzzah'.

Rahbeem Roth didn't know what a butterscotch witch was. Dorothy Smiles liked Butterscotch, she was actually sucking on a piece right now, and had offered Rahbeem some as soon as he sat down next to her. He wasn't used to these magical communities and didn't understand all the "magical identities" yet. So far in this school, he'd met self-identified wizards, witches, goblins, a fire mage, a couple of vampires, 2 demon hunters and a family of werewolves with New Jersey accents.

A butterscotch witch, though, was an ultra new title to him. He figured this must be some nonsense this young woman just made up, but by doing a quick search on the internet, it was a legitimate magical identity. They had a symbol and flag and everything.

Roth twisted his lips, making the black mustache on his upper lip bend. It's true, Roth didn't know much about the magical community, but he knew who Vegas was. You didn't have to be a witch to know him. Apart from his uncle being the world famous sorcerer Kaye Beltran, he himself was a world famous child actor and spent several seasons on the TV show "Teen Jesus" as Teen Jesus himself.

Professor Roth loved that show. TJ's catch phrase "Sin is whickity WHACK!" popped into his head every time he was about to do something he knew was wrong.

But now he was looking at teen Jesus himself bent over his desk in class, sound asleep. He couldn't believe the boy was such a "problem child" at a school practically built to honor his uncle.

"Man, what I'd do to that one!"

"You'd take her up to your dorm room and bore her to tears with stories about Morgana Dupree," Greg said with a laugh.

Skylar grimaced as Greg chuckled. They were still ogling the "biggin's" magazine right across Seth's back. Seth suddenly didn't feel so bad. The darkness started to take him under… he was fading.

"Sethy didn't seem too impressed with your picture of Miss January," Skylar whispered.

"That's because Seth is a gay twazzer." Greg muttered, flipping the page.

Greg chuckled, and Skylar suddenly fell silent. When Greg tuned in, he noticed the strange look on Sky's face as he looked at the magazine.

"Greeeeg...what is she doing?"

"What's who doing?" Greg asked, looking down at the glossy magazine. He found the same girl who a moment ago was naked, giving the young wizards an explicit anatomy lesson, was now fully dressed in what looked like a pink track suit.

Greg twerked his head to the side and stared at the magazine like a confused dog. Skylar was holding the magazine, looking at it strangely too. He could have sworn the woman was naked a moment ago. He flipped the page and in the next scene was a full-page spread of the pin up girl, still dressed in the bright pink track suit, except now she had a gray bandana on her head covered with a furry Kangol hat.

"Did you switch magazines on me?" Sky asked, looking at the woman standing there, chilling in a buffalo stance with a giant silver boom box at her feet.

"What the almighty fu--Where's the tits?!" Greg groaned, still hawking at the photo. Suddenly, a faint sound was heard by the three boys and they alone. It sounded like 80's breakdancing music.

The girl in the photo started moving, doing a smooth arm wave, moving in a circle as she started break dancing. Greg and Sky's jaws hit the floor.

Sky let loose a shocked laugh. "Greg?!"

"I'm not doing this!" Greg hissed, sneering down at the moving image in the magazine. He flipped the page, and as if mocking him, there were fully clothed playboy bunnies doing the snake, tutting, and doing all kinds of robotic break dancing moves. He flipped to the next page and saw a buxom brunette in jeans and a tank top doing the moon walk.

"The twazzers doing this!!" Greg growled.

"ShaMO!!" Seth whispered, doing his best Michael Jackson impersonation. This was answered by a swift twap on the skull by the rolled up magazine.

"Seth's a freakin' boner Nazi!"

Skylar laughs, trying to wrestle the magazine away from Greg.

"Let me see! That was cool!" Sky said.

"Screw that! I want to see titties, not track suits!" Greg said when the magazine abruptly flew from his hand.

Seth watched as the magazine landed on Vegas's head. This finally wakes Vegas, and he sits up, allowing the magazine to fall off his head and land open on his desk. He blinked his green eyes as he looked down at the thing with growing confusion. The model on the paper was moving, and she quickly did a handstand and launched herself into an airflare.

The way the magazine flew and managed to land perfectly on Vegas head… Such a thing wasn't likely to happen unless magic was used.

Seth looked at Skylar and saw innocence all over his face. Then he turned to Greg and found him looking angry.

Then he just happened to look forward to see if Diaz saw the magazine sail through the air like that. He saw Christopher Robyn with a smile on his face like the Cheshire cat, his magic wand lifted and sparks of magical energy spilling out of it.

"Effing Chris! That's my magazine! Whad he do that for?" Greg had seen the guilt on Chris' face just as Seth had.

"That's why..." Skylar whispered. And Seth watched with horror as Vegas plucked the magazine up, flipped through the pages, and started watching the break-dancing pin-up girls. He was intrigued by the strange dancing of the women. What kind of ancient tribal moves are these? Did they need an exorcist?

He was so enthralled by what he was seeing, and so captivated by the dope ass moves coming out of the flat glossy magazine spread, he did not notice the gigantic shadow growing behind him.

Professor Diaz grabbed Vegas by the back of his neck and twisted his head to the side as Vegas yelled in surprise.

"Mr. Beltran...Please join me in the front of the classroom. You can help me with a little demonstration. I'm sure it will help you better focus in my class."

Diaz' smile busted wide open, exposing his sharp canine teeth. All the sleep and bullshit vanished from Vegas' eyes at the sight of those deadly little daggers.

Then again, Diaz wouldn't dare hurt him in class, right? He'd sue that batty old, blood-sucking motherfucker.