I woke up the next day and got ready for school. The events of last night seemed like a distant dream, but I knew I’d have to face the music when I saw Mom downstairs. She was not happy when I told her about the attack, and was even less happy when I told her about Candleworks.

  I neglected to tell her about Joshua having some serious mojo with spellcasting and him knowing we weren’t a human family. I figured I’d save that bit of news tonight. I had dropped enough bombshells to last her for a week.

  I showered for a lot longer than usual so as to delay the inevitable discussion with Mom, but eventually I did get out of the shower though I took a really long time drying off my hair. Once I got dressed I took the slow walk downstairs and into the kitchen.

  Mom was sitting in the breakfast nook, reading the paper as she drank her coffee. “Israel,” she said warmly without looking up.

  That was… encouraging. She didn’t sound upset, which from experience I knew how she could hold onto that anger even after a night’s sleep. “Hey, Mom. Everything all right?”

  “I haven’t looked at the stock market yet, but so far, so good.” She looked up at me and smiled, which set off every warning bell in my head. Was she trying to catch me off guard? I dismissed that paranoid thought the second it popped into my head. It wasn’t her style. If she was pissed at me, she wouldn’t hide it.

  “That’s great,” I said. Maybe she took it better than I thought last night, and I decided right then and there to not bring up the subject. Not before she read the finance section of the paper, and not after. I was not going to take my good fortune for granted. Nope. Not ever.

  “You’re going to be late for school,” she said as she returned her attention to the paper. “Try to clean up the blender if you’re going to make your usual breakfast shake.”

  “Thanks Mom, but I think I’m just going to use my shaker bottle.”

  She made a face. “Really, Israel, would it hurt you to actually eat real food for breakfast?”

  “Sorry, Mom, you know how I hate sausage patties and toast.”

  I saw a flash of amusement on her lips. “There is such a thing as bacon, dear.”

  “Never heard of it,” I said as I grabbed a gallon of milk from the fridge. “Maybe I’ll try it one day.”

  “Maybe you should.”

  I said my goodbyes as I left the kitchen and entered my private garage, slumping against the door after I’d closed it. One crisis expertly avoided only because the old Israel Luck held out. Why did I even worry that Mount Saint Mom would erupt? She loved the fact I was patrolling. Hell, I was probably her favorite son. I could tell her I was dating the Devil himself and she’d probably just shrug.

  It wasn’t until I got in my jeep that I noticed my outfit. Huh. I put on the same tank top as yesterday. I didn’t really have time to trek back to my room to change so I just decided to go for it. I didn’t really care who might try and judge me for my fashion faux pas because I made wearing the same thing twice in a row look good. Or at least that’s what my ego made me believe, and it was very good at what it did.

  I made it to school in plenty of time. I glanced at the clock on my dash and noticed I got there five minutes before the first bell rang. Ha, just like yesterday, go me! I got out and sauntered into the school where I would have first period gym class with Joshua. I wondered what Coach Greenst would force his lowly subjects to endure. As for me, I wasn’t worried, but I had the advantage of being a supernatural critter. Even in human form, I had way more endurance and strength than my classmates.

  Everyone else was already dressed in white t-shirts and gray shorts and waiting on the basketball court except for Joshua. He always waited to get changed when everyone else was done. I found him in the locker room putting on his t-shirt.

  “Hey Izzy,” he said once he saw me.

  “Hey, how’re you holding up from our talk last night?” He seemed to take my transformation pretty well, but I just had to make sure he was okay with knowing my secret.

  “Our talk?” He looked at me as if I just asked him to reveal the mysteries of the universe. Okay, fair enough. He probably didn’t want to act like he knew what I meant just in case people not in the know might show up and learn what I really was. Dumb ol’ me didn’t consider that because a small part of me really didn’t care. That part of me is probably a fatalist and doesn’t deserve any attention.

  “Yeah, never mind. We really should get ready for gym class. My bad.” I hurried up and changed in record time and walked back out to the court before the coach showed up.

  As if on cue, the first bell rang, followed closely thereafter by the second. Coach Greenst came out of his office and approached us. “Alright, men,” he said. “It’s time for everyone’s favorite event, dodgeball!”

  Dodgeball again? We did that yesterday, but sometimes Coach did enjoy tormenting the weaker, less agile kids in the group by making us do the same game twice in a row. So we got divided up into two teams. One team surrounded the other in a circle. Yup, this was going to be the classic ‘circle dodgeball’ played in so many elementary schools. I looked it up on Wikipedia. If Coach Greenst ever got us to play real dodgeball I think I would die of shock.

  Needless to say, I was in the circle but I didn’t mind. I was the last one standing yesterday and I didn’t plan on breaking my winning streak today. When Coach blew the whistle, the game was on. The red dodgeball of doom was a blur as the stronger kids in gym class tagged the smaller, weaker ones, but if they tried to tag me, that blur was slow as molasses and I sidestepped every time. There was one time I did have to high jump out of a telling throw, but it was mainly to show off. Don’t worry, it was still within the realm of human possibility. I wasn’t that careless, but it still impressed people, including Coach Greenst.

  Joshua had a pretty good showing of himself, just like yesterday. He managed to stay in the game until it was him, me and some other kid whose name I can never remember. Unfortunately, Joshua got tagged out, followed by the kid, which left me the winner.

  Huh. Just like yesterday. History repeats itself.

  “All right, hit the showers!” Coach Greenst said, then pointed at me. “Izzy, my office. Now.”

  He was going to try to recruit me to play football again, I could just feel it with every fiber of my body. As I followed him to his office I caught myself wondering what he’d try to offer in order to sway me to the jock side of school. It couldn’t be money because he knew I was a rich kid. A scholarship? I could have a job in the family business which would pay me more money than most would dream of.

  So when he offered me a seat I took it. I was interested in what he was going to try. Yesterday there was a speech about how my physical prowess could get them all the way to the state finals, which worked about as well as one might expect.

  “We could use you for the basketball team,” he said.

  Wait, that was new. “Basketball? Not football?”

  “As much as it pains me to admit, it’s too late for that. Basketball season is starting eventually and I think with a little practice you’d be a natural. He gestured at me. “You’re almost six and a half feet tall. Granted, you’re heavy for your height…”

  “Muscle weighs more than fat,” I said as if explaining this fact to a newbie.

  “I can pull a few strings and get you to pass a drug test, you know.”

  I raised an eyebrow. “You think I wouldn’t pass a drug test?”

  “Come on, Izzy,” Coach said as he spread his hands out. “There is no way you’re that big naturally. You’re only seventeen and with bigger biceps than some bodybuilders I know.”

  “Teenage gains, Coach. My testosterone is reaching its peak.” Not to mention my supernatural side causing me to grow like a literal beast, but I wasn’t going to tell him that particular detail.

  Coach shook his head, chuckling. “All right, you just keep on denying it, but I can still make sure you pass a drug test.”

  “Thanks Coach, but I’m not interested. I’m sure your team will do fine without me.”

  “Why are you denying us your God given athletic abilities, Izzy?”

  Because I knew my abilities weren’t given to me by God. It was a lineage he wouldn’t ever believe. “I’m just not interested in sports, that’s all.”

  “I think you just like the attention.”

  I shrugged. “Not really, Coach. I’d rather it stop because I’m never going to join any sports team.”

  “But why, son?”

  I grinned. “Because I’d make it too easy for any team I’m on to win, and where’s the fun in having no competition?”

  Coach actually laughed at that. “You’re something else, kid.”

  I’ll say this for Coach. Sometimes he’s a good sport when I tell him no. Today was one of those days. “Thanks, Coach. Can I go now before I’m late for my next class?”

  “I’ll write you a note explaining why you’re late if you need it. Thanks for at least listening to my offer.”

  I take it back, Coach was a great sport today. “Thanks, Coach. Now I can take a shower so I don’t stink up the classroom.”

  Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

  “All that testosterone doesn’t smell nice, it’s true.” He then waved me away after writing a note as promised. “Now get out of here so I can cry goodbye to my future state wins.”

  “Sorry, Coach,” I said as I stood up.

  “No you’re not, kid, but you have to live your own life I guess.”

  I wish my Dad felt that way about me.

  I did a quick shower, not really bothering to get my hair wet, just enough to soap up underneath the armpits so I didn’t stink up my next class and managed to get dressed in record time. I even made it to my seat before the bell rang.

  Ah, second period. Algebra. I was failing that class, but Joshua still felt he could salvage my descent into failure and halt it at a good, solid D-minus. D-plus if I studied hard enough. I was going to settle for the former since patrolling left me with little time to earn the latter.

  “Hello, class,” Miss Jarnigan said as she entered the room.

  “Hello, Miss Jarnigan,” we all replied. Yes, including me. I liked this teacher. She had a great poker face and kept her cool. Almost supernaturally so, but I knew for a fact she was human. I couldn’t smell anything out of the ordinary from her scent, but she did have a tendency to use a little too much perfume.

  “How is everyone today? Fine? Well rested? I hope so because it’s time to put away your books and take a pop quiz.”

  I groaned inwardly. We just had a pop quiz yesterday and she’s springing another one on us? As she handed out the tests to everyone, I then noticed what she was wearing. It was a simple red blouse with black slacks. Exactly what she wore yesterday. Huh, I guess I wasn’t the only one who wore the same outfit two days in a row this week.

  As I looked at the test, I found it grabbed my attention more than any test should. While I don’t have the greatest memory, I recognized this was the exact test from yesterday. I gave a quick glance up at the teacher, and she gave me a warm smile.

  Was she giving us a do-over? I know I bombed the test, but maybe the others did too. Why she wasn’t telling us this fact, I don’t know, but I wasn’t about to say no to a second chance. I even took my time to show my work and double check my answers to make sure I got them right. Fortunately I knew how to solve these problems thanks to the fact she told us the answers and how to reach them after yesterday’s pop quiz.

  It took me the better part of twenty minutes, but I answered the last question and felt a feeling of satisfaction in my chest. I’d never had a teacher let us retake a pop quiz. Unorthodox teaching for the win!

  Sure enough, once everyone was done Miss Jarnigan went over the answers and while I messed up one or two of the problems, I didn’t do too bad. I wound up with a B-plus thanks to the retake.

  Once the bell rang, Miss Jarnigan called out to me. “Izzy, I’m very impressed at how well you did on the quiz.”

  “I had a good tutor and a great teacher.”

  Her lips thinned into something resembling a grin and a smirk. “I haven’t been feeling like a great teacher with your past test scores.”

  I felt sheepish at her remark. “It’s not you, Miss Jarnigan, it’s totally me. I’m not the smartest guy, but I’m going to try not to flunk this class.”

  “If you need any help, let me know.”

  I nodded. “Thanks. See you tomorrow.”

  Second period down, third period to go which was Home Ec. This week we had a substitute teacher, so the faculty gave us the option of going there or ditching it in favor of a bonus study hall in the library. One guess which option I was going to choose again?

  So once I entered the library I went to one of the racks and grabbed yesterday’s newspaper. I liked to keep up with local current events, but since it was too early to get today’s, I figured a nice little refresher would be in order. Sometimes what seemed like a missing person's case was something supernatural. It wasn’t always that but once in a while I struck gold. Sometimes I could even save the victim. Other times I had to avenge them.

  I really hated having to avenge someone. It meant I failed them. Maybe it wasn’t really true but in my mind I totally failed them and there wasn’t anyone who could convince me otherwise.

  Unfortunately I could only find the newspaper from the day before, and I had to fight back a growl of annoyance. Someone else must’ve had yesterday’s paper. Okay, fair enough. I was too slow to grab it. I decided to grab a book on urban myths and legends. I mean, a few of them are true. I even encountered a couple. Most were damn mean and dangerous, but one or two were decent.

  Just don’t ever piss off a chupacabra. They bite. They bite hard.

  I was so into reading the chapter about incubi that I was startled by the next bell. Whoops, lost track of time. I put the book on the cart dedicated to books taken off the shelves. The library didn’t like us putting books back on the shelves because they didn’t trust us to properly replace them. I guess they weren’t wrong, but still.

  I hurried over to fourth period study hall when I stopped in my tracks. Someone had just knocked Joshua’s books out of his hands right in front of me. Someone must not have heard what I did to a certain now-deceased quarterback yesterday, but it didn’t excuse them from the bullying.

  Someone was going to get a swirly and I was just the guy to deliver it. No postage needed. Just doing my job protecting my turf and my favorite human pal.

  I cracked my knuckles and approached the two. The bully raised his hand as if to grab Joshua but I grabbed it and then marched my way into the bathroom, pushing open the door and only vaguely aware of the bully’s struggles. I almost felt sorry for the dude. I had a grip of iron and no human was about to break it.

  “Let me go, Kevinson!” said the bully behind me, which did something I never would have expected. It froze me in my tracks and I whirled around to look at the source. It couldn’t be who I thought it was.

  Manny glared back at me, trying to break free of my grip. Manny, who had his face pulped in last night. Manny, who could not have survived that kind of treatment. Manny, who not only was not dead but was still trying to bully Joshua?

  Was I going batshit insane? What the hell was going on?

  “Let me go, asshole!” Manny finally jerked away from my grip while I just stood there, dumbfounded.

  “What the hell is going on?” I said, finally finding my voice. “How are you here?”

  Manny hesitated, his face screwing up in confusion. “What do you mean? You dragged me in here.”

  Was surviving his brains getting bashed into mush a side effect of being possessed by a rage demon? Did it regenerate him so he could survive that gruesome beating? If so, did that mean the demon was still free to roam and possess more innocent victims? Well, maybe not innocent since Manny was nowhere near innocent.

  I regained my composure, remembering what Manny was trying to do to Joshua. “You leave my friend alone, pipsqueak. I’m going to let you go with a warning.”

  “You think you’re so tough don’t you, Kevinson?”

  Manny obviously didn’t remember the events of last night. Which was a relief because it meant my secret was safe from him. I wouldn’t want to know what he would do if he knew. “Manny, buddy, I don’t need to think about it. I know I’m tough.” It was time to use diplomacy, Izzy style. I patted my stomach. “You get one shot. Go on, punch me in the gut as hard as you can, and don’t even try to hit me anywhere else, or I’ll get mad.”

  Even though I saw it coming, Manny did move pretty fast for a human. Still, he telegraphed his punch and might as well have been moving in slow motion thanks to my werelion reflexes. While not as great in human form, I still had time to tighten my stomach muscles to cushion the blow to the gut. I barely felt it and flashed him a grin. “My turn,” I said, and felt a thrill as his eyes widened when I raised my fist.

  “A-all right, you take your best shot at me,” he said.

  “Maybe I won’t,” I said, still idly wondering just what the hell was going on. Something about him was bothering me, aside from the usual bullying of my pal. Something I hadn’t quite caught on to yet. “I don’t think you could take my best shot, Manny.”

  I still socked him right in the gut, forcing him to stagger backwards as he clutched his stomach. He struggled to catch his breath, so I moved over to him and helped him stay upright. “Bend over,” I said. “Deep breaths. You’ll get your wind back.” While I still didn’t like this guy, I was glad I didn’t kill him. Killing doesn’t suit me, and I only do it if there’s no other choice.

  “One of these days I’m gonna kick the crap out of you.”

  “Manny, you really need to choose your enemies more carefully,” I said. “I admire your bravery going up against me, but I will always kick your ass if you push me too far.”

  “Fuck you,” he said, though it came out as more of a wheeze than venomous.

  “Think this over,” I said. “If you keep on bullying Joshua, I’m going to join the football team and be the star quarterback.”

  His head snapped up to look at me in terror. “You wouldn’t dare!”

  I had no intention of doing that, but he didn’t need to know the truth. He just needed to not call my bluff. “I would. And you know I’d be leagues better than you. Imagine how bad I’d break all your records if I really tried.”

  He trembled for a second and I briefly thought he was going to take a swing at me. Then his shoulders slumped and he only stayed upright because of me holding on to him. “Okay, you win. Dammit, you win.”

  “Stop bullying Joshua, Manny. I don’t even know why you started it, but it ends today.”

  “Fine. Yeah. Okay.”

  “Are you good at standing on your own?” I said, easing my grip on him.

  “I’ll be fine.”

  I released him, and while he stumbled a bit, he managed to keep his footing eventually. He then left without another word. Problem solved! Like yesterday, I gave Manny two seconds to get the hell out of there and checked on my long mane of red hair, then left the bathroom as well. Again like yesterday, Manny was nowhere in sight.

  "You shouldn't have stepped in like that, Izzy," Joshua said, and the déjà vu from those words made me flinch. He was complaining about my rescue… just like yesterday.

  I looked at him for a moment. He didn’t seem weirded out over the fact that Manny was still with us. "He shouldn't be alive." I said, stating the obvious.

  Joshua flashed me a confused look before picking up his book bag by the shoulder strap. "What do you mean?"

  “Do you not remember our talk last night?” I asked in a hushed tone. I didn’t want to talk about this in the hallway, but Joshua’s weird attitude was getting to me.

  “We didn’t talk last night,” he said.

  Okay, I got the message. He was still playing dumb in case someone overheard us. It was the smart thing to do, I guess, and since he was smarter than me I decided to play along. “Gotcha. Okay.”

  “Besides,” he said, “I can defend myself."

  I was sure I was now looking at him in utter confusion. "Okay, how can you defend yourself?" Today there was zero sarcasm in my voice, because I was afraid of the answer I knew he was going to give.

  "I can avoid making eye contact with him and keep my head ducked down," he said, looking down at his black shoes. To anyone else it would've looked like a demonstration. To me it was a severe case of that ongoing déjà vu. Was he wearing the same outfit as yesterday?

  "I’ll still keep watching out for you," I said as I started to walk down the empty hall, studying my best friend once he caught up with me.

  "Why?" Joshua asked as he followed alongside me, looking up at me with a frown.

  I didn’t immediately answer because I was taking in the sight of his outfit: a long sleeved turtleneck, a black jacket, and black jeans that flared out at the hem, covering up his boots. In other words, the exact same outfit as yesterday.

  Come to think of it, wasn’t Manny wearing the same clothing he wore yesterday?

  “Why?” Joshua asked again, triggering another wave of déjà vu so hard it made me feel nauseous.

  “Because something weird is going on today,” I said.

  “Yeah, you’ve been acting… off today. Are you feeling alright?”

  “I’m not sure,” I said as we reached our destination: Fourth Period Study Hall. Instead of ignoring the stares of hormone-filled girls who would love nothing more than to convert me, I stared back at them. Then I swept my gaze at everyone in the room. I wasn’t sure, but I think everyone there was wearing the same clothes they wore yesterday.

  I wasn’t the smartest werelion, but I could start putting two and two together and coming up with the answer. Even if it wasn’t possible. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and for the first time today I checked the date.

  When I saw the date, a cold chill rushed down my spine.

  “Joshua, what day is today?” I asked, hoping my phone was somehow glitched.

  “Wednesday,” he said.

  Both my phone and Joshua gave me the same answer.

  Except Wednesday was yesterday.