WAR PLANET: The Phantom

Chapter 1.2

Ronan stared at his textbook pretending to read the small section on buoyancy, but his focus was entirely on the exchange student. Sonya had left with one of her friends to ask Mr. Sanders a truckload of review questions, leaving him to babysit Red. That in itself would have been fine, if he hadn't caught the creep staring at him over his odd book every time he looked away.

He flicked his gaze up again, catching Red as he quickly looked down, his vacantly friendly gaze pretending to skim the texts of his own book. The silence ensued, Ronan slowly turning back to his textbook, and slamming it shut with an audible snap as he felt Red's gaze upon him again. He smiled at Red's confusion, gently placing the textbook down and rising to his feet. "I have to go to the bathroom, I'll be right back."

A chair screeched as Ronan turned away, forcing him to stop and glance at the Russian exchange student closely tailing him.

"I'll be right back. Can you just watch my textbook?"

Red stopped in confusion, looking at the science textbook, then at his own book, secured under his arm like a skateboard. "Read."

"Pardon?"

Ronan watched him flip the book open, Red glancing at the textbook with a serious look. "Read, not watch."

It took Ronan a moment to click in, his irritation melting to disappointment.

"No... watch it as in make sure nobody steals it." He waited for even the smallest hint of realisation to flash across Red's face, sighing when his expression remained rigid. "Could you protect my textbook? I go to washroom." He mimed a watch, smiling at Red with overblown hospitality. "I come back soon."

Red looked at the textbook, grabbing it and tucking it under his arm with a nod.

Ronan couldn't suppress his dead disappointment as Red continued to follow him, pulling out his phone to text Sonya and distract himself from the creepy company. He was in the midst of detailing Red's affinity for staring at him when there was a tug on his shoulder, dragging him into the shadows of a set of lockers.

He immediately perked up in surprise, looking around like a startled meercat while firmly cradling his phone, his confusion falling on Red as he put his finger to his lips with a look befitting an army general. "What?"

Red widened his eyes at Ronan matter of fact tone, firmly pressing his finger to his lips as if the effort would emphasize his desires. He pulled Ronan behind him, peeking around the corner as he slid the goggles over his eyes with a stern glare.

Ronan sighed, glancing at the empty hallway and folding his phone into his arms. He'd been dragged into some stupid role play again. As he moved to walk away a strange individual strolled around the corner, stopping him in his tracks as he scoured their visible features through the ragged black cloak covering them. They were exceptionally tall, with a male build and a deathly pale complexion. The first thing that drew him was their hooked nose sticking out of their face like a beacon, then the sharp and almost malnourished cheeks that hid in the hood of the stranger's cloak, casting a shadow over its dark eyes that scanned the hall.

"Hey! I'll need some ID," a booming voice called, ripping Ronan's attention from the stranger to their burly principal as he stomped towards the trespasser. Ronan's ould never tell if the guy was permanently mad, or if his skin was in a natural state of lobster pink sunburn. Nonetheless, his presence was enough to frighten the stranger, who quickly stole away around the corner with the principal in hot pursuit.

Red quickly relaxed with the turn of events, swiping his goggles back up with a worried smile and nodding at Ronan.

Ronan didn't catch whatever signal the Russian exchange student was trying to give him, favouring a defensive frown as he drew back and tensed his shoulders up in caution. "What?"

Red continued to smile, his lips stretching out to cheesy proportions as he patted Ronan on the shoulder. "Stay."

"Excuse me?"

Red gave him a parenting nod as he gripped both his shoulders, turning away after the strange gesture with a casual wave.

Ronan took a moment as Red walked away, looking around awkwardly as his mind still tried to work out pretty much everything. He didn't like Red already, the guy had gone a little past oblivious, then had the nerve to pat him on the shoulder like a long lost friend while ordering him to "stay" like some dog, before up and walking away. He stopped, lifting his gaze from the cheap waxed floor it had fallen to. Red was gone.

A grip of panic stabbed his gut as he scoured his surroundings like a parent that just lost their kid in the mall, quickly sliding his phone in his pocket and speeding down the hall. He stopped to peek around the corner, his mind suddenly hitting a spike of reality as he wondered why he should care where Red went. A relaxed smile touched his lips, until he visualized the jacked up blonde... and his textbook fastened under his arm.

Ronan gave the closest wall a stupendous stare, slowly closing his mouth as he buffered up a solution and thought about where the absent minded role playing Russian could've wandered off to. He homed in on a cluster of girls eating lunch in the halls, exchanging in a brief and awkward conversation before they pointed him in the right direction, and beelining for the front of the school where he caught a glimpse of his golden locks escaping to the outdoors.

"And where do you think you're going Williams?" a voice boomed, stopping Ronan in his tracks as he stared at his principal like a frightened gazelle.

"Going outside to play tag with the exchange student," he blurted.

"Exchange student?" The principal furrowed his snow white eyebrows, trying to jog a memory through the cobwebs of administrative jumble clogging his brain. "We have those?"

"Yeah?" Ronan replied, his voice cracking with uncertainty as he backed away towards the door. "The office asked Sonya to babysit him, remember?"

"Oh maybe... yeah," he said, but his face screamed otherwise as he folded his arms with a frown. "Could you ask them to come to the office?"

"Yeah, sure thing." Ronan gave him a courteous nod and rushed outside, looking around the broad walkway and catching Red's back as he nonchalantly walked across the road, in full view of the chattering students with a front row view to his clear ignorance of school rules.

Ronan sighed, taking on a commanding posture as he walked towards the oblivious student with a full, and simplified, exposition of the basic school rules in his head. However, when he drew closer he stopped, noticing the lightness to Red's step as he snuck away after peeking around a bush and darting off.

Ronan flinched as he held back the urge to chase him, the curiosity dragging his body down to a crouch as he stole a glance around the bush. Red's back was clear, hunched by his attempt at laying low while he remained fixated on the flapping black cloak of a figure ahead. Ronan gave the scene some time to unravel, waiting for Red to follow the figure across another road, straight for the small flat of land teeming with junk and hungry seagulls.

Why the junkyard? Ronan thought, almost tripping as he tried to sneak after the two figures. He didn't want to follow them, but the looming threat of Red ruining his textbook and landing him with a $120 replacement fine kept him going. Explaining something like that to his uncle would set him off for sure.

He gave the road a double take, sprinting across it with a hop to his step as he dived behind a large chunk of granite decorating the chain link perimeter of the junkyard. Red's attention was still drawn to the figure as it casually entered the junkyard, climbing over the poor excuse of a fence with ease, and dropping onto a clear patch of gravel. For a moment Ronan could have sworn he'd seen their attire hidden by the cloak, strangely furry pants that melded with their thick black boots, a dress unsuited for the beaming heat Iridis had been plunged into.

Red gave the figure a couple seconds to disappear from sight, before vaulting the fence himself. He landed with his palms outstretched and goggles pulled over his eyes, like a strange lioness ready to pounce on its unsuspecting prey.

As Ronan waited for them to leave his sights, he slowly got up, pulling out his phone to text Sonya. He was starting to clue in to the situation, or perhaps, the possibilities. This was probably some sort of drug deal, and he wanted Sonya to at least know the basics if he was to suddenly disappear.

She'd already texted him, just a few minutes prior, a simple question asking where he'd wandered off to. A simple question he was about to shatter with his answer.

I think Red's a drug dealer.

Wait... what?

Ronan stole a glance at the junkyard to make sure he hadn't been noticed, moving to pull himself over the fence with a heavy grunt. He walked out of the school with my textbook, and now he's following some creepy guy in a black cloak into the junkyard.

The dots only flashed for a split second as Ronan could vividly hear Sonya's voice while he skimmed the message. DON'T FOLLOW THEM. Come back to school, NOW.

I'm gonna take some pictures then hand them to the police. Don't worry, I won't catch their attention.

Ronan, sorry to shatter your dreams, but you're not a CIA agent. Don't make me come over there.

He drew back at her hostile tone, paying half attention to texting as he maneuvered around the piles of scrap metal and ripped up packs of garbage piling the area like a hoard of poisonous pinatas. The sour stench of fermented trash hit him with the lingering heat as he pulled his sleeve up to his nose with a gag, glancing at his phone again to text.

I'll text you immediately if something happens.

That's it, I'm coming over there.

Ronan sighed, shoving his phone in his pocket and walking around a decrepit school bus to catch a glimpse of Red. He immediately backed out of his field of view, gently sitting against its rusted scrap of a surface to listen for a hint of activity. The scraping footsteps had completely stopped, an almost chilling breeze softly whistling through the jagged holes in his coverage as he quickly darted his phone around the corner and snapped a picture.

He calmly pulled the picture into his view, flinching at the hairy brown face taking up most of the frame, as a soft meow pulled his gaze to a golden eyed cat. It meowed again, giving Ronan an accusing glare as he stuck his hand out to stroke it, all the while wondering how it got itself in a junkyard.

He didn't, in fact, know the gender of the cat, but its fluffy tail and black lined eyes gave it a feminine appeal as she stared at him with growing intrigue. Ronan chuckled at the cat as she sniffed his outstretched hand, running his fingers along her neck and grabbing her red collar to flash the long name carved into a strip of metal.

"Ragdoll?" His disappointed confusion only lasted a second as he felt a duty to give the cat as much of a welcoming smile as he could muster. "That's not very creative."

For a second Ronan thought the strange cat could understand him as she let out a low growl, her back arching as her eyes narrowed and fixed themselves upon a figure just above his head. He scooched away from her show of aggression, only tracing her gaze when her growls had risen to screeching yowls and she'd puffed up to twice her size.

The cloaked silhouette he saw perched upon the rugged bus was enough to send a deathly chill of terror through his body.