DungeonFall – [A Dungeon Creation / Cultivation Story]

For the most part, everyone left him alone during classes, same as they always did. It was during lunch that a group of boys approached him at the same time as Angie and Lindsay.

“Are you Nathan Holmes?” The big bruiser in front asked while Nate was getting his food.

“Nope, that’s the kid at the head of the line,” He told them, thinking fast. For being such a high-end school, this place had a lot of bullies in it. Though in a twisted way, that sort of made sense. They were all people with too much money and not enough sense.

The idiot stopped with his hand outstretched as Nate continued gathering up his lunch for the day. The one line had been enough to short-circuit the big guy’s brains.

“No, that isn’t. You are Nathan Holmes!” He finally roared.

“If you had already decided who he was, then why even ask?” Angie asked, joining Nate in line.

He flashed her a tight, thin smile, and nodded to Lindsay, who was right behind her. “Hello, to you both.”

“What does he want?” Lindsay pointed her thumb at the fellow they had interrupted.

“No idea. He just came up asking if I was Nathan Holmes. I said I wasn’t, and then you two appeared to save the day.” His shoulders slumped. “If I had to guess though, it either has to do with that guy from last week or Jace.”

Both girls turned to look at the big, menacing teen as he stepped closer to them. “Does he even go here? I don’t recognize him.” Angie murmured, nudging Nate along at a faster pace.

“Yeah, he does,” Lindsay said with a sigh. “He just transferred in today. He was in one of my classes this morning.”

They had been ignoring the rest of the boys standing behind him the entire time.

“So, I’m guessing that means he’s with Jace, then.” Nate guessed as he finally reached the front of the line.

The lady there scanned what he had taken and let him pass. The lunches at school were free, but they liked to keep track of what was being eaten and by who. They hadn’t gotten to the point where they were tailoring meals for the kids, but they were constantly tinkering with the overall caloric values of the meals.

As they had neared the front of the line, the group of boys fell back so as to not create a scene. They may not have been afraid of the other students knowing they were after him, but apparently, that didn’t extend to the adults.

“Aren’t you going to eat?” He asked, seeing their empty hands. “I’ll wait if you want to eat together.”

“Sure, go find us a table, and try to stay out of trouble. Alright?” Angie said agreeably.

“It’s not up to me whether or not I stay out of trouble. It’s others who seem intent on approaching me and causing the problems.”

The two girls glanced around the cafeteria and nodded. “I’ll just get my usual,” Lindsay told Angelica, stepping away from her and taking up position beside Nate.

“You got it. I’ll find you both in just a bit.”

“Uh, are you sure that’s fine? I mean, you just ditched her for me.” Lindsay pushed him along, ignoring his question for the moment.

She only spoke once they were seated. “It’s fine. She’s my friend, but she’s also her own person and can handle herself.”

“That’s not what I meant… It’s just, the two of you always seem to be together. Seeing you separate to escort me to a table just felt weird, I guess.”

Lindsay glared at him from the corner of her eye. “I’m not sure if you’re trying to ask if there is something more going on between her and me or simply being overly concerned and curious?”

He choked on the forkful of food he had just put in his mouth, his teeth just barely missing the metal tines. “Thanks for the image, I guess, but no, I was just being curious. I’ll try not to do that in the future.”

Nate was just trying to be nice and get to better know one of the girls who was going out of her way to help him.

She growled and ran a hand through her hair. “Sorry, and no, there has never been anything like that between us. When I was younger, I thought maybe I liked her that way, but it was just a phase and I never said anything to her, though I’m sure she knew. It’s a bit of a sensitive subject for me as a result.”

“Why tell me then? I really wasn’t trying to dig at old wounds and cause problems.”

“No, like I said, it was just a phase.” She waved his concerns away and looked out over the cafeteria. “It’s more just lingering embarrassment about how I acted back then. We can’t choose who we like, but we can choose how we act, or something like that. As for why I told you…” She looked him in the eye and winked. “Let’s just say that I have a feeling you are going to become part of our group from now on.”

“Thanks for trusting me enough to tell me your past, but I don’t see why I would become part of your group. You and Angie will become tired of me soon enough.” This was something his memories of his past life couldn’t help him with. Truthfully, those memories were next to useless outside of a school environment. They made classes easy enough to pass, but the rest of the world had already diverged too much from what he had known.

“Just trust me on this one.”

Angelica slid two trays onto the table a moment later with a huff. “Urgh, what is with everyone today and trying to get on my nerves?”

“Have another run-in with someone fun while in line?” Lindsay asked, scooting her tray into its proper position.

“Just Chad bothering me again. Instead of bothering Nate, this time he came for me directly. He is so annoying!” The rest of the lunch period devolved into an odd mix of gossip and news that was eye-opening for Nate.

After lunch, they trekked into their first combined class for the day.

Angie cursed and stopped in the doorway, blocking them from actually going into the room. Lindsay peeked over her friend’s shoulder and turned back to Nate with a shrug.

“I have no idea what’s going on.” She muttered.

“Jace!” They heard Angelica grind out angrily. “What are you doing here? This isn’t your school!”

“It is now my dear little fiancé,” A smarmy voice came from inside the room, sending unpleasant shivers crawling down all three of their spines.

“Don’t call me that!” She hissed, her fists clenching tightly. “You and I are nothing, and you know that! The deal our parents made is utterly dead and void, something that you thankfully made sure of. I feel I should thank you for that, even if doing so does hurt me.”

“Oh, my dear Angie, you and I aren’t done, not by a long shot.”

Lindsay pushed past her friend to glare at the boy currently sitting alone in the classroom. “What did you think would happen when you didn’t follow the agreement that had been made? Just because you suddenly decided that you want her now doesn’t mean anything!”

Nate held back a groan and pulled out his phone.

Angie placed a hand on her arm, holding her back. “She’s right. The agreement our parents made was legally binding. It’s your side, you specifically that decided you weren’t interested in adhering to what had been asked of you.”

“Legally binding?” He sneered and sent the desk he was sitting on crashing into the others near it. “Do you honestly think the law can do anything to my family? We are above the law! There is no binding agreement that we need to pay attention to! Which means you will be mine, whether you want to be or not.” He finished in a scary, calm voice.

Nate made sure his phone was still recording the conversation before choosing to step into the room as well. “Are you sure that your family is above the law here? I’ve heard that from a few different people lately, and it never seems to be true.”

His first impression of Jace was rather lackluster. The boy’s face was rather bland in appearance, but he had a good sense of overall style, and his body was in good shape. He was the type of teenager that Nate would have expected to see on a sports team if those still existed.

“Ah, you must be the worthless waste of space that set all of this in motion the other day. The poor and crippled Nathaniel Holmes.” Jace sneered at him, his gaze roving over the other boy.

“That would be me. But please tell me about how great and powerful your family is? I want to hear more about that.”

Jace narrowed his eyes before letting them flick to the clock on the wall. “I won’t make that mistake, popper. This conversation is for us alone, and don’t think this is over by a long shot!” He shoved past them and hurried from the room.

“What was that about?” Angie demanded, rounding on him.

Nate pulled out his phone and showed them the recording he had made of the conversation. “I’m not sure if it’s of any use, but I thought it would be a good idea to have.”

“It depends on if his family is friends with the mayor,” Lindsay muttered, still suitably impressed with Nate.

He snorted. “Right, like the mayor wouldn’t be friends with anyone who had money and power. Something that they had enough of to cause your mom to seek them out.”

Angie groaned and nodded. “You might want to send that recording to the both of us. He doesn’t know you have it, so he might still come after you.”

He sent the file to them both as the rest of the class began trickling in, marking an end to their conversation. The teacher came in last with a bundle of papers and began handing them out to everyone.

“Congratulations to everyone who had the misfortune of coming to class today. You get to participate in a pop quiz. I know how much you all love those.” He grinned evilly and listened to them groan. “Don’t worry, I made sure all the questions have been covered in class. As long as you have been listening even a little, this should be an easy test to pass.”

Nate yawned, already looking over the questions. He was right; they weren’t that hard. There were a few that would have given him problems if he hadn’t also taken the time to learn how this Earth differed from his old one. Regardless, he couldn’t see many of the kids in class struggling too much with the test.

The teacher graded their tests as they finished them, handing them back to each student within a few minutes.

Apparently, he overestimated some of them… specifically Lindsay, in this case. Whereas he had been sleeping through classes because of his injuries, she had been doing the same because she was a lazy bum. Okay, not really. Her personal trainer worked her hard every night after school, and it left her drained.

Classes were one of the best places for her to catch up on sleep without sacrificing her time with friends.

Angie swiped her friend’s test paper with a dead-fish-eyed stare. “Really, Lindsay? You said your parents were giving you some more time to study after school!”

“Yeah, I might have exaggerated how much extra time they were giving me to study.”

“And let me guess, you used most of it to get in some extra sleep?” Her friend nodded sheepishly.

Nate looked away, unable to contain his smirk. He felt for her. It sounded like her parents were absolutely working her to exhaustion. At the same time, since it wasn’t him, it was a little funny.

“Yeah, laugh it up little man, I’ve heard you’re looking for a trainer of your own.” Lindsay grinned at him nastily. “I might just have to invite you over for some training.”

“Uh, yeah, that sounds tempting.” He quickly lost his smile and backed away from her. “But, uh, my health, yeah, my health, it still sucks, no training for me.” He turned and ran for his next class.

“Yeah, you better run!” He heard her laughingly call out after him.