Her Black Prince Vorandil Aglamir by JT Tomas

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Chapter 4

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Chapter 4

"How in the heck did I get geography and geology in the same semester?" Kyron moaned. He was sitting on a stool at a broad science table, while Mr. Phil, his geology teacher, lectured on.

It had been a three days since he had received the ring. Kyron played with the golden ring on his finger, while the teacher spoke about similarities between salt rock and sand. Three days already passed since he received the ring. He stared it every day, waiting for something remotely magical to happen, but the ring showed no sign of arcane power. No bright cities, no golden acorns, nothing. He walked home every day saying commands to it, rubbing it like a lamp and had even tried looking for a golden acorn outside the classroom window where he saw the little creature, all to no avail.

"I might as well go pawn this thing." Kyron sighed one day, after he picked up his backpack from the boys bathroom. A boy from Marcus's gang stole his backpack while he was in geography class, then threw it into a urinal and peed on it.

Needless to say his bullying problems weren't nearly as absent as the origin of the ring, earlier that day, Devon and a few of the Crestside Cutthoats Members had caught him slipping around the corner from his Algebra class. They dragged him to the school courtyard, where most of the students ate when the weather wasn't crazy cold and tossed him into a nearby trash can filled with rotting food, before walking off campus, knives and black ski masks in hand, to go do their dirty work.

He ended up skipping fifth period class to wash the filth off of his clothes in the boy's bathroom.

"Oh my god." Kyron said, with a wrinkled nose while he scrubbed his hoodie in the bathroom sink. "It smells like ass and black & milds."

He still smelled a little funny and was damp from his shoes all the way to his hoodie, plus his lip was still swollen from getting beat up two days ago, it was hard for him to even chew food.

.

I gotta be building up a lot of good karma from all of this. he thought while listening to the teachers lecture. Today he talked about the type of soil that made California's foundation and the reason that the state would collapse into the water blah blah blah.

Kyron turned his head a little to look at Nicole. She happened to have this last period class with him as well and sat in a desk not far from him wearing a red Hollister sweater that complimented her hair perfectly, sneaking text messages under her desk while the teacher was talking.

If only I had a number and if only she knew it. he joked to himself.

"Alright class! right now we are going to pair into groups and discuss the first class project of the year, as you all are aware the project is a cumulative idea of any of the text we have discussed and studied for this semester". Mr. Phil said.

Kyron groaned. He hated doing group projects, he had a history of getting paired with nobody, which meant he had to do twice the workload by himself, he was a nerd but far from a smart one. "Please take ten minutes to find a partner, pair up and discuss what your group project will be on".

"Lord Jesus just let them be nice." He muttered. All the students got up from their desk and looked for partners, mostly for people they were already friends with or at least knew. Not one person even approached his table.

Kyron sighed and leaned back on his stool. It didn't help his self-esteem, knowing that almost everybody knew him but nobody wanted to partner with him. Every year of high school that passed before this one he always kept telling himself the next year will be better, but after three years, he was still alone, still always beaten and laughed at. He laid down every night wondering why he lived, wondering why he had been cursed with a life so plagued by loneliness. Kyron shook his head to the dark thoughts. It is what it is, worst case scenario no one will partner up with me and I can do it by myself with no interruptions, or no-

"Hey aren't you the kid in my first period class, the one who ran into the desk earlier this week?" A cheerful voice said from behind his back he turned around and his brown eyes met with Nicole's green. Kyron's heart sped up, going through beats faster than it did in his last gym class.

"Yeah that would be me. "He said sheepishly and rubbed the back of his neck.

"That was so funny; me and my friend thought it was the funniest thing we'd ever seen."

Kyron's ear perked, "really?'

"Yeah, I was dying laughing." She smiled." Have you found a partner for the project yet?"

"Uh no not yet how about you?"

She shook her head and gestured with her hand at the students walking around. "I don't know any of the people here, and I'm kind of nervous of getting put by myself with someone I don't know too well."

"Well I'm not gonna lie to you, I am really great at geology." Kyron said with mock authority.

"Oh are you?" she said a raised a eyebrow skeptically.

" Yep, I've only been lost on the way to school like six times, three of those by GPS so it doesn't count. "

Nicole gave a clear laugh that sounded like music to his ears.

I can't believe it! She's laughing! He thought to himself in glee. Maybe I shouldn't tell her that I really thought I saw something that day in class.

"What does that have to do with geology?" she said with her hands on her hips.

"Oh so you have some doubt of my ability?" he challenged.

"Oh no of course not I believe one hundred percent." she said. "I guess you have a lab partner now."

Kyron turned around on his stool and stuck out a hand. "Let's do it."

She grinned and shook his in return. "Lets, plus I have you in my first period geography class so I'll probably run into you first thing in the morning to compare notes and ideas."

"No you're in my first period geography class! Get it right. " He said with a grin.

She giggled. "Okay I'll remember that."

Mr. Phil stood up from his desk and clapped his hands to get everybody's attention, "Alright students! Ten minutes is up! You should all have partners and if you are one of the unlucky few who don't, then pair up like Nikes and just do it! "A few kids groaned at his lame attempt for humor.

Nicole sat on the empty stool next to his and like the rest of the students began bouncing off ideas for the project.

"A map of the world?" Kyron suggested.

Nicole frowned. "Come on."

"Why not?"

"That's too easy, I could just print a copy from the internet."

"Exactly!" Kyron laughed.

"How about a richter scale instrument? Like the machine they use to measure earthquakes."

Kyron knitted his eyebrows," You must have a budget for this project that I'm not aware of."

"No, but unlike you, I have a good imagination." She teased.

"Why don't we make a volcano?" Kyron suggested.

Nicol frowned, "Come on everybody does volcanoes, we have to do something original, like how about a presentation of different types of rocks from around the world?"

Kyron gave her a blank stare. "A rock collection huh?...but volcanoes aren't original."

She shoved him playfully. "Shut up!"

By the end of the class they had decided on making a recreation of the volcanic destruction of Pompei, Italy.

"It can be like a tall volcano surrounded by little houses and figurines of the people who died during the eruption." Kyron said.

"We can use paper Mache for the shell and probably borrow some paint from the arts clas." Nicole said while scribbling the details in a blue notebook,

"Yeah! I can bring the asbestos from my ceiling and a jar of creamy peanut butter to paint red so it looks like a real volcanic explosion. Yeah! There'll be rocks, lava and a gigantic explosion! It'll be awesome!" Kyron said, his excitement coming more from working with Nicole then the actual project.

Nicole shook her head while staring at Kyron with an amazed grin."Wow, you really love volcanoes huh?"

Kyron made a serious face and deepened his voice "No. of course not !" And then made a coy smile "I like Hollister even more." And ducked a swift punch from Nicole.

"Shut up!"

Thirty minutes earlier they had walked into class without a noun or verb passing between them, forty five minutes after that they walked out talking like old college buddies.

A few students stared curiously at them in the hallway, laughing and holding stomachs at each other's jokes. Kyron knew how crazy they looked side by side, him, with seven-years past out of date clothes and poor disposition. While Nicole, one of the most popular girls in school, stood a few inches taller than him and strutted like one of those models you see on a magazine. But he didn't care, as far as he was concerned this was the happiest moment of his life.

"It was the same with me; I didn't take enough electives last year so they are making me take geography and geology this year. It's a total waste." She said.

"I know." Kyron agreed." I would've preferred Spanish Class."

"Me too! You know my friend Maria? Who sits next to me in geography sometimes, she's taking two Spanish classes for college credit. She's getting A's in both."

Kyron stopped walking and frowned. "But doesn't she speak Spanish already?"

"Exactly!" Nicole laughed. They turned down the hallway leading to the school parking lot, in front of the, marched a line of coat-wrapped students, long scarfs and even one kid with knee high long socks. That's one thing I hate about Portela. Kyron thought. When it get cold it get cold!

"Sooo, what do you most of the time?" He asked. The chance to get to know Nicole had finally came, he'd be damned if he was gonna waste it talking about volcanos and school.

"I don't know, cheerlead, hangout, Netflix, nothing nobody else doesn't do."

"Yeah, Of course, every day I wake up, put on a skirt and pom poms too." Kyron said sarcastically and dodged another shove from Nicole and laughed.

"What about you?'

Kyron shrugged." Eat, sleep, walk to school, sneak episodes of American Horror Story when I can."

" Oh my god I love that show!" Nicole said.

"Really?"

"Yeah I watch it on Netflix all the time! What season are you on?"

They spent the next ten minutes talking about the show, then somehow the conversation went to Supernatural, which to his surprise she liked to.

"I almost cried on that one episode, where his mom appeared as a ghost and saved him from the poltergeist." Nicole reminisced.

" No! Remember the episode where they finally encounter the demon that killed her?"

Kyron was surprised at the ease he had talking with Nicole, he didn't feel nervous or anxious at all, and the entire time they talked she never stopped smiling.

This is going better than I thought.

"You know before we moved to Portela, I used to want to be an actress and play on TV shows like that." Nicole said once they got near the entrance. "My dream was to be on True blood!"

"You couldve chose better show than that."

"You could've chose a better favorite show then Cow and Chicken."

" Don't hate on my taste, I'm just saying if I wanted to be actress I would have chosen something more sensible more fun. Like Pirates of the Caribbean or Titanic."

Nicole stuck out her tongue." NO, I hate Titanic."
"Really? Everybody liked Titanic."

Nicole shook her head "I'm not like everybody."

"Go ahead, be different. That's why everybody hated Chris." Kyron laughed then looked at the ground. That's why everybody hates me.

The school lawn was flaked with snow thanks to early winter. The parking lot was full of parents parked along the sidewalk waiting to pick up their kids, in front of some of the other cars, lounged bearded men surrounded by groups of kids, fascinated by the stories they told. They were post graduates and flunkouts of Jesse Bethel, who hung out and sold drugs to kids while trying to pick up high school girls.

As Kyron walked side by side with Nicole he saw a couple of the kids huddled in a circle around two boys near the school flagpole. They were arguing about something and it looked it was about to come to blows. Kyron recognized the loudest boy in the argument; he was a Crestsider, a lanky Puerto-Rican boy with arm tattoos hidden by a blue sweater. The boy Hiked up his pants and walked around the circle of students clapping loud.

" Crestside on mines nigga! Crestside on mines! BRuh! We can do it right here I don't give a damn!" The boy roared.

The other boy Kyron didn't know but judging from the amount of red he and about twenty others surrounding him wore, he must've been in the Hillside Blood gang. They were from a neighborhood on the Southside of town where an old steam factory had exploded years ago. They were not as deadly CV Murder, but they were a hell of lot more gangster than Crestside.

Before the Crestside boy could get another word out, a Hillside blood hit him with a punch that caught him in the eye, another kicked him in the back and he fell to the ground. The gang of red hoodies and swinging chains mobbed around the fallen boy and stomped him mercilessly. Other students ran to the fight to get a good view.

Kyron shook his head at the scene, maybe he would have felt bad for the kid, if it wasn't for how many times the Crestside Cuthoats had jumped him in the past, throwing him in trash cans and beating him up at stoplights. As far he was concerned, the boy got what he deserved.

"You ever get tired of coming here and seeing people fight all the time?" Nicole said while staring at the scene with disapproval. "I can't understand people who just want to live there life fighting."

Yet, you dated a thug. Kyron thought but decided against saying it. She loved his humor up until this point, might as well not mess it up. "Sometimes, but where I'm from, it's pretty common to see worse than this." The Crestsider was pulled off the ground and slung against the pole, blood leaking from his mouth as the Hillside members worked him, beating his face in with punches from all directions.

Devon and the others must not be back from wherever they went after they attacked me earlier. Kyron noted. Not one person was coming to the Crestside boy's aid.

"Plus, I don't go that many places besides here and home, so I'm kind of used to it." He said.

"Really? Not even the theaters?'

"Naw, not since I was little, well littler." He laughed. A few seconds of a silence passed between them and Kyron decided to suck up his courage and try.

"What are you doing this weekend?" he blurted out, praying he didn't sound as nervous as he felt.

"I don't know, cheer practice and homework, maybe checkout a party but nothing in particular. Why?'

"I don't know, I was thinking maybe we could meet outside of school and hangout sometime?"

To his surprise Nicole said" Yeah that would be great!"

His heart almost fell out of its strings. 'Really?"

" Really, I might go to this party that Maria invited me too, but if not we can definitely meetup! Where do you live at?"

Kyron laughed." Trust me, you don't want to meet where I live at."

"Where at?"

"Westside, in CV projects." He said.

"Oh, you mean where Marcus lives?"

Kyron shifted uncomfortably. "Yeah where Marcus lives." He forgot that her ex-boyfriend was friends with the demon spawn of a boy; odds were Nicole was friends with him too.

As if reading his thoughts, Nicole quickly responded. "Me and Marcus aren't cool, even when I was dating Devon I avoided speaking to him."

"How come?"

Nicole shuddered like she just realized how cold it was outside "Because he gives me the creeps, he just gives off this vibe of being a-"

"A psychopath?" Kyron guessed.

"Yes."

Kyron nodded his head. Ask around the city he gives off more than the vibe.

"Here." Nicole reached in her pocket and pulled out a cherry red iPhone 6. "We should exchange numbers, you know, just in case you want to meet up some time."

"Yeahhhhh, that'd be great, except I don't have a phone." Kyron said.

"Really?!" She said incredulously," How do you live? Everybody has a phone!"

Kyron smiled embarrassingly. "Everybody except me."

Nicole looked down her screen and gasped. "OMG I missed like 12 text messages! " she pulled on a lock of hair sheepishly. "I guess I got too caught up talking to you. "

"It's okay it happens to me all the time." He lied, and then noticed she started frowning as she thumbed through the texts. "What's wrong?"

She shook her head and stuffed the phone back in her pocket "Nothing it's just some idiot, he won't stop texting me. " She said. Kyron had a feeling he knew which idiot that was.

At that moment a silver jaguar, pulled up in the parking lot and honked the horn.

"Oh! That's my mom I have to go, we are going to get our nails done together. "

She spread out her arms to his utter surprise and gave him a hug, as soon as her body made contact with his he felt a warm sensation shoot through his body and he jumped. Nicole stepped back startled and laughed. " What was that? You've never had a hug before?"

"Oh yeah! Plenty of times when I was five years old I used to go to McDonalds a lot and Ronald mcdonald gave me hugs all the time."

She giggled and then met his eyes and stopped, she stared for a few seconds with a curious expression on her face like she was trying to figure something out.

Ohh man please doesn't tell me she just now realized I am ugly. He thought to himself.

Just then her mom honked again.

"You better hurry up so you can go hunt for rocks with your mom." He joked.

She shook her head and grinned " You are too much but I'll see you on Monday bye! " she said with a wave, walked to her mother's car , got in the passenger seat and rode away. Kyron looked at the jaguar speeding away with a gimpy smile

Well, I know what I'm jack off too tonight . he thought, before turning around to walk home.

When Kyron walked past the black tall gates of Charles Vil, the first thing he saw was Marcus. He pulled his hood over his head quickly and pressed against the wall of the nearest apartment . Marcus stood in front of a group of CV Murder members at a table near the courtyard of the apartments. There was a black AK -47 with an extended clip laying on top of the table with two bottles of liquor. Kyron ducked his head down and edged slowly alongside the wall, he couldn't hear Marcus good, but from his wild arm swings, and trigger finger gestures it looked like he was describing a shooting to the table of hooded boys staring up at him with expressions that bordered between fear and awe.

He didn't know if the story Marcus was describing to his friends was past or present, but he did know he didn't wanna be in the next chapter. Marcus was a real manifestation of the cold spirit of Charles Vil. Kyron had seen Marcus rob people, torture people and more than once shoot a man because he would not pay him the tax he charged for selling drugs on his turf. The thing that amazed Kyron the most about Marcus was how out of all the years he had lived in Charles Vil, he had never seen Marcus go to jail, never. It was impossible that the Portela police department didn't know about him, even without an eyewitness, countless stories floated through the city of him doing drivebys, murders and cutting off fingers of rival gang members that didn't respect him but soon learned better.

I just hope they hear about him before he turns that pistol on me. Kyron prayed.

Marcus gripped the air like there was a neck between his fingers and slung the invisible body to the sky. At that moment Kyron dashed for the side of the building in front of him that faced the street, luckily Marcus and his cronies didn't see him, too busy laughing at the criminal scene Marcus reenacted.

When Kyron got to his front door he heard his mom's voice, Rashad's and another voice coming from the inside. He groaned. Rashad finna throw another drinking party again. Then put his hand on the doorknob and paused.Wait a minute,

The voices he heard was his mother's voice, Rashad and another but this other, was different yet

Familiar somehow, like he had heard it before but only from a distance. Then all of the sudden Kyron felt a vibration in his back pocket, where he had put the ring earlier after trying to pray over it. He pulled the golden band out and saw to his shock it was glowing, bright too, just like... then it hit him.

No, it couldn't be.

With a trembling hand he took out his door key and hastily opened the door.

Everybody in the room stopped talking and looked up at him. There were three people in the room, Rashad was sprawled out one side of the couch with a Hennessy bottle in his hand, his mother Keisha was sitting next to him with her arms wrapped around his shoulders and on the other couch sat cross legged, a tall, very tall man with the most beautiful face he had ever seen on a human in his life. He wore a long black peabody coat with a wide brimmed travelers hat on top of his head. His jaw was strong and square yet at the same time soft and youthful looking. his skin snow-white yet radiant and flawess, his sea grey eyes bright and piercing .

"Ooh! Here he is now!" Said his mom, a slim woman with auburn and black micro braids, at thirty seven despite her age and smoking habits, her heart shaped face and pretty smile did well to hide the signs of stress under her eyes. She still wore her blue khakis and white work shirt from the clothing store she worked at.

"Yes he is." Said the mysterious man, a smile widened on his lips.

"Yeah, here the dick dumb idiot now, I personally don't why you came all the way to see his ass-" Rashad snorted,

"Uhhhhh babe!" Keisha interrupted (which shocked Kyron, because she never interrupted Rashad.) "Maybe we should use more respectful language in front of our guest."

Rashad snorted and took another swig of his beer.

"Well I guess I should introduce myself." The man said and stood up from the couch, his head barely missed the ceiling , he had to be at least 7 feet tall, his golden eyes gazed down on Kyron with a tenderness Kyron hadn't see since before his mother dated Rashad,

"Kyron, your name is?" He asked.

"Kyron swallowed . "Yes that's me."

"Nice to meet you Kyron, ." The man extended a long hand which to Kyron's shock had a golden ring, identical to the one he had in his pocket now.

"Kyron," His mom said. "This is your grandfather. "

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