Another week went by fast while Ronald was drowning in homework. He managed to talk a couple of times with Farrah, but usually they were both too busy to stay chatting for long. She would always smile at Ronald when she saw him, though, and that made Ronald happy.
What didn’t make Ronald happy was Lucas and his suspicious mind. The lad was observing Ronald every second and if Ronald let the curtains down even for a second, Lucas noticed it and asked what was wrong and what was he hiding.
Ronald’s dreams had changed. Instead of getting attacked again and again or transforming into a wolf he dreamt about a man with dark eyes, hair, bread and moustache, wearing a red shirt and a leather jacket… Ramsey Barlow had started to come in Ronald’s dreams. They were not exactly nightmares, they were more like warnings.
In those dreams Ramsey tried to speak to Ronald, warn him about something but Ronald wouldn’t listen, he would always start yelling at Ramsey or ran away before he could tell his warning.
In the real world Ronald hadn’t seen Ramsey anymore, not even a glimpse but every night when Ronald went to sleep Ramsey came into his dreams.
Ronald couldn’t help but wonder if the dreams were just that: dreams. Or was there more to it? He shook his head and refused to think about it. He wouldn’t go along with that supernatural madness. He refused to do that.
“What are you thinking about?” Lucas asked, mouth full of food because they were on a lunch break.
“Nothing”, Ronald said.
“Bullshit.”
“Farrah”, Ronald tried again.
“Bull. Shit.” Lucas swallowed his food. “I can’t believe you still refuse to tell me what is going on with you. What is so bad you have to keep it from your best friend?”
“It’s nothing”, Ronald muttered, not really believing it himself either.
“Stop lying to me”, Lucas said, clearly hurt. “You do know you can tell me everything, right? I won’t judge you or laugh at you– okay I might laugh but you know I don’t mean anything bad with it!”
“I know”, Ronald said laconically.
“If you tell me what’s up with you, I’ll tell what’s up with me”, Lucas said, clearly throwing a bait to Ronald and he took it.
“Wait, why, what’s up with you?” Ronald asked, now curious out of his mind.
“See, you have your head so far up your ass you don’t even notice that something’s up with your best friend!”
“What is up with you?” Ronald asked again.
“You tell me first.”
Ronald pondered it for a moment. Could he tell Lucas about Ramsey Barlow? On one hand he wanted to tell Lucas, have someone to back him up but on the other hand he really didn’t want to pull Lucas into that mess. But as he looked at his best friend’s face he made up his mind.
He had to talk to someone, otherwise he would go just as mad as Ramsey Barlow clearly was.
“Fine”, Ronald said quietly. “But you will not call the white coats on me, okay? I’m not the crazy person of this story.”
Lucas looked confused but he nodded anyway.
“Okay, so”, Ronald started, “I’m seeing this man.”
“You’re gay?” Lucas yelled.
“Shh, no! No, I’m not gay, I’m not seeing seeing him. I’m seeinghim”, Ronald said quickly. “Like everywhere.”
“So… are you telling me you are hallucinating or…?”
“Will you just shut up and listen to me?” Ronald snarled, getting frustrated. Lucas put a hand over his mouth and nodded at Ronald who continued, “Thank you. So as I was saying, I’m seeing him everywhere I go. His name is Ramsey Barlow and–“
“That’s an old fashioned name”, Lucas commented and Ronald gave him a look and Lucas put his hand back to cover his mouth.
“–and he’s been following me. Talking to me about crazy stuff.
“First I saw him on my way back to home, before our trip to the woods, I stepped on his toes. He didn’t talk anything to me and just walked away. Next time I saw him after our trip. He was standing by the school gates. Then he followed me home, stopped me in the middle of the street and… and started talking nonsense. He said stuff like how he is going to kill someone and he knew where to look for my bite mark.
“And then tried to talk to me, couple of times but I ran off every time. But he didn’t give up. He appeared behind my door when we gathered to do the group project for the first time. He was the one who knocked on the door.”
Ronald took a break and wondered how to tell the next part. It would sound unbelievable no matter how he tells it so might as well dive right in.
“He busted in”, Ronald said, “and snapped his fingers and you… you kind of just went limp and fainted? And when he snapped his fingers I swear to you, there came green sparks from his fingers!
“He started telling me batshit crazy stuff. He told me I’m going to turn into a freaking werewolf when the next full moon comes. He said that I should go with him when the time comes so he could control me, stop me from killing everyone and everything.
“And last time I saw him was a week ago. He was by the school’s gates, staring at me and Farrah and then within a blink of an eye he disappeared. I saw him swirl his finger in the air and just like that he was gone.
“Now I know this sounds crazy but I swear to you, I’m not lying or making this up or hallucinating! He is very much real and now he’s in my dreams every night and it’s driving me crazy!”
Ronald ended his story, took a deep breath and looked at Lucas who stared at him with his mouth hanging open and eyes widened.
“Please say something”, Ronald whispered.
“I believe you. I believe you’re not hallucinating or making this up or anything like that. Sure, it sounds unbelievable but it would explain my blackout back in your place. I always thought it was weird that I randomly forgot fifteen minutes of my life”, Lucas said and looked around him, making sure no one was listening. “But the stuff that he said, about you being a werewolf and everything… that gotta be a joke, right? Some weird coincidence or something, but definitely not real.”
“That’s what I thought!” Ronald said. “Or actually I have been avoiding thinking about this stuff, I have kind of pushed it aside because I had no idea how to handle it. But you’re right. It gotta be a joke. It needsto be a joke.”
“And what comes to this Ramsey Barlow… he is just a person who has something wrong with his head. If I were you I would just stay far away from him and perhaps call the police if he comes to your house again or something like that.”
“Jesus Christ, I’m happy I told you”, Ronald said. “I feel so much better and I knew you could be my voice of reason.”
“I can’t believe you’ve been keeping this to yourself for so long”, Lucas said. “Man, that’s crazy, I would have exploded.”
“Sorry that I didn’t tell you before”, Ronald said.
“It’s cool. I haven’t told you everything either.”
“Ah yes, speaking of that”, Ronald said. “What is up with you?”
Just like that they forgot to all about the weird stuff Ramsey Barlow had done, mainly because neither of them knew what to think about it and moved on to the next conversation.
Ronald expected it to be something like he got grounded, or that he failed some class or… or that he is going abroad again but he did not expect what Lucas eventually blurted out.
“Ihavemetsomeone”, he said so fast Ronald didn’t understand a word.
“You what?”
“I have met someone”, he repeated this time speaking slower and clearer.
“What?” Ronald yelled. “Where? When?”
“I just kind of… pumped into this person at the mall and we hit it off immediately. Or not immediately, I was a little um… shy at first.”
“When?” Ronald repeated, noticing that Lucas consciously left that part out.
“Like… a little over a month ago”, Lucas said.
Silence. Ronald tried to process the fact that Lucas had met some girl, talkedwith her and it all had happened over a month ago and Ronald had had no idea!
“And you didn’t tell me this before because…?” Ronald asked.
“You didn’t tell me about Ramsey either”, Lucas said quickly in his defence.
“True but I still didn’t wait a month.”
“Didn’t go far from that...”
“Lucas!”
“Sorry! I just didn’t want to jinx it so I didn’t want to tell you until I was sure of what we are...”
Ronald raised an eyebrow.
“And what are you?”
“A couple”, Lucas said. “I think.”
“Like an actual, adult-like couple? Kissing and stuff regularly?” Ronald asked, just to be sure.
“Yeah. Kind of. We still haven’t really talk about it.”
“Wow.” Ronald spread his arms. “I can’t believe it! I have never ever in my whole seventeen years of life seen you talk with or about any girl. I honestly thought you are asexual because you never showed any signs of interest towards literally anyone. I can’t imagine you kissing a girl.”
Lucas seemed to be very uncomfortable but Ronald didn’t notice it.
“Just hadn’t met anyone interesting until now, I suppose”, Lucas said.
“Wow, she must be one hell of a girl”, Ronald said.
Lucas pressed his lips together and just nodded. He looked like he had more to say but Farrah came to their table and Ronald forgot immediately that he was having a conversation with Lucas.
“Hi, Ronald”, Farrah said and nodded at Lucas. “Have you heard the news already?”
“What news?” Ronald asked looking confused.
“I’ll be your new math tutor!” Farrah said and smiled. “Mrs. McCarthy called me in her classroom earlier and asked me to be your tutor. I’m sure she will tell you today after the class.”
Ronald didn’t knew whether he should be happy or not. On one hand, he got to spend more time with Farrah. On the other hand, now Farrah will find out how completely and utterly stupid Ronald was when it came to numbers.
“Oh okay, cool”, Ronald said finally and tried to smile but it was more like a grimace.
“See you on Friday, that’s when we will start!” Farrah said, waved her hand and walked away. Ronald stared after her and then looked at Lucas, still trying to process what had happened.
“I have a tutor?”
“You have Farrah as your tutor”, Lucas said. “Try not to drool over your math book when you meet her on Friday.”
“Thanks a lot.”
“Just giving you legitimate advices”, Lucas said shrugging.
Ronald leaned his head on his hands and sighed.
“Did you notice that I didn’t blush even once during that conversation?” Ronald asked.
“Sure”, Lucas said. “You’re finally beginning to man up.”
Ronald threw his fork towards Lucas, missing his head by a few inches.
What didn’t make Ronald happy was Lucas and his suspicious mind. The lad was observing Ronald every second and if Ronald let the curtains down even for a second, Lucas noticed it and asked what was wrong and what was he hiding.
Ronald’s dreams had changed. Instead of getting attacked again and again or transforming into a wolf he dreamt about a man with dark eyes, hair, bread and moustache, wearing a red shirt and a leather jacket… Ramsey Barlow had started to come in Ronald’s dreams. They were not exactly nightmares, they were more like warnings.
In those dreams Ramsey tried to speak to Ronald, warn him about something but Ronald wouldn’t listen, he would always start yelling at Ramsey or ran away before he could tell his warning.
In the real world Ronald hadn’t seen Ramsey anymore, not even a glimpse but every night when Ronald went to sleep Ramsey came into his dreams.
Ronald couldn’t help but wonder if the dreams were just that: dreams. Or was there more to it? He shook his head and refused to think about it. He wouldn’t go along with that supernatural madness. He refused to do that.
“What are you thinking about?” Lucas asked, mouth full of food because they were on a lunch break.
“Nothing”, Ronald said.
“Bullshit.”
“Farrah”, Ronald tried again.
“Bull. Shit.” Lucas swallowed his food. “I can’t believe you still refuse to tell me what is going on with you. What is so bad you have to keep it from your best friend?”
“It’s nothing”, Ronald muttered, not really believing it himself either.
“Stop lying to me”, Lucas said, clearly hurt. “You do know you can tell me everything, right? I won’t judge you or laugh at you– okay I might laugh but you know I don’t mean anything bad with it!”
“I know”, Ronald said laconically.
“If you tell me what’s up with you, I’ll tell what’s up with me”, Lucas said, clearly throwing a bait to Ronald and he took it.
“Wait, why, what’s up with you?” Ronald asked, now curious out of his mind.
“See, you have your head so far up your ass you don’t even notice that something’s up with your best friend!”
“What is up with you?” Ronald asked again.
“You tell me first.”
Ronald pondered it for a moment. Could he tell Lucas about Ramsey Barlow? On one hand he wanted to tell Lucas, have someone to back him up but on the other hand he really didn’t want to pull Lucas into that mess. But as he looked at his best friend’s face he made up his mind.
He had to talk to someone, otherwise he would go just as mad as Ramsey Barlow clearly was.
“Fine”, Ronald said quietly. “But you will not call the white coats on me, okay? I’m not the crazy person of this story.”
Lucas looked confused but he nodded anyway.
“Okay, so”, Ronald started, “I’m seeing this man.”
“You’re gay?” Lucas yelled.
“Shh, no! No, I’m not gay, I’m not seeing seeing him. I’m seeinghim”, Ronald said quickly. “Like everywhere.”
“So… are you telling me you are hallucinating or…?”
“Will you just shut up and listen to me?” Ronald snarled, getting frustrated. Lucas put a hand over his mouth and nodded at Ronald who continued, “Thank you. So as I was saying, I’m seeing him everywhere I go. His name is Ramsey Barlow and–“
“That’s an old fashioned name”, Lucas commented and Ronald gave him a look and Lucas put his hand back to cover his mouth.
“–and he’s been following me. Talking to me about crazy stuff.
“First I saw him on my way back to home, before our trip to the woods, I stepped on his toes. He didn’t talk anything to me and just walked away. Next time I saw him after our trip. He was standing by the school gates. Then he followed me home, stopped me in the middle of the street and… and started talking nonsense. He said stuff like how he is going to kill someone and he knew where to look for my bite mark.
“And then tried to talk to me, couple of times but I ran off every time. But he didn’t give up. He appeared behind my door when we gathered to do the group project for the first time. He was the one who knocked on the door.”
Ronald took a break and wondered how to tell the next part. It would sound unbelievable no matter how he tells it so might as well dive right in.
“He busted in”, Ronald said, “and snapped his fingers and you… you kind of just went limp and fainted? And when he snapped his fingers I swear to you, there came green sparks from his fingers!
“He started telling me batshit crazy stuff. He told me I’m going to turn into a freaking werewolf when the next full moon comes. He said that I should go with him when the time comes so he could control me, stop me from killing everyone and everything.
“And last time I saw him was a week ago. He was by the school’s gates, staring at me and Farrah and then within a blink of an eye he disappeared. I saw him swirl his finger in the air and just like that he was gone.
“Now I know this sounds crazy but I swear to you, I’m not lying or making this up or hallucinating! He is very much real and now he’s in my dreams every night and it’s driving me crazy!”
Ronald ended his story, took a deep breath and looked at Lucas who stared at him with his mouth hanging open and eyes widened.
“Please say something”, Ronald whispered.
“I believe you. I believe you’re not hallucinating or making this up or anything like that. Sure, it sounds unbelievable but it would explain my blackout back in your place. I always thought it was weird that I randomly forgot fifteen minutes of my life”, Lucas said and looked around him, making sure no one was listening. “But the stuff that he said, about you being a werewolf and everything… that gotta be a joke, right? Some weird coincidence or something, but definitely not real.”
“That’s what I thought!” Ronald said. “Or actually I have been avoiding thinking about this stuff, I have kind of pushed it aside because I had no idea how to handle it. But you’re right. It gotta be a joke. It needsto be a joke.”
“And what comes to this Ramsey Barlow… he is just a person who has something wrong with his head. If I were you I would just stay far away from him and perhaps call the police if he comes to your house again or something like that.”
“Jesus Christ, I’m happy I told you”, Ronald said. “I feel so much better and I knew you could be my voice of reason.”
“I can’t believe you’ve been keeping this to yourself for so long”, Lucas said. “Man, that’s crazy, I would have exploded.”
“Sorry that I didn’t tell you before”, Ronald said.
“It’s cool. I haven’t told you everything either.”
“Ah yes, speaking of that”, Ronald said. “What is up with you?”
Just like that they forgot to all about the weird stuff Ramsey Barlow had done, mainly because neither of them knew what to think about it and moved on to the next conversation.
Ronald expected it to be something like he got grounded, or that he failed some class or… or that he is going abroad again but he did not expect what Lucas eventually blurted out.
“Ihavemetsomeone”, he said so fast Ronald didn’t understand a word.
“You what?”
“I have met someone”, he repeated this time speaking slower and clearer.
“What?” Ronald yelled. “Where? When?”
“I just kind of… pumped into this person at the mall and we hit it off immediately. Or not immediately, I was a little um… shy at first.”
“When?” Ronald repeated, noticing that Lucas consciously left that part out.
“Like… a little over a month ago”, Lucas said.
Silence. Ronald tried to process the fact that Lucas had met some girl, talkedwith her and it all had happened over a month ago and Ronald had had no idea!
“And you didn’t tell me this before because…?” Ronald asked.
“You didn’t tell me about Ramsey either”, Lucas said quickly in his defence.
“True but I still didn’t wait a month.”
“Didn’t go far from that...”
“Lucas!”
“Sorry! I just didn’t want to jinx it so I didn’t want to tell you until I was sure of what we are...”
Ronald raised an eyebrow.
“And what are you?”
“A couple”, Lucas said. “I think.”
“Like an actual, adult-like couple? Kissing and stuff regularly?” Ronald asked, just to be sure.
“Yeah. Kind of. We still haven’t really talk about it.”
“Wow.” Ronald spread his arms. “I can’t believe it! I have never ever in my whole seventeen years of life seen you talk with or about any girl. I honestly thought you are asexual because you never showed any signs of interest towards literally anyone. I can’t imagine you kissing a girl.”
Lucas seemed to be very uncomfortable but Ronald didn’t notice it.
“Just hadn’t met anyone interesting until now, I suppose”, Lucas said.
“Wow, she must be one hell of a girl”, Ronald said.
Lucas pressed his lips together and just nodded. He looked like he had more to say but Farrah came to their table and Ronald forgot immediately that he was having a conversation with Lucas.
“Hi, Ronald”, Farrah said and nodded at Lucas. “Have you heard the news already?”
“What news?” Ronald asked looking confused.
“I’ll be your new math tutor!” Farrah said and smiled. “Mrs. McCarthy called me in her classroom earlier and asked me to be your tutor. I’m sure she will tell you today after the class.”
Ronald didn’t knew whether he should be happy or not. On one hand, he got to spend more time with Farrah. On the other hand, now Farrah will find out how completely and utterly stupid Ronald was when it came to numbers.
“Oh okay, cool”, Ronald said finally and tried to smile but it was more like a grimace.
“See you on Friday, that’s when we will start!” Farrah said, waved her hand and walked away. Ronald stared after her and then looked at Lucas, still trying to process what had happened.
“I have a tutor?”
“You have Farrah as your tutor”, Lucas said. “Try not to drool over your math book when you meet her on Friday.”
“Thanks a lot.”
“Just giving you legitimate advices”, Lucas said shrugging.
Ronald leaned his head on his hands and sighed.
“Did you notice that I didn’t blush even once during that conversation?” Ronald asked.
“Sure”, Lucas said. “You’re finally beginning to man up.”
Ronald threw his fork towards Lucas, missing his head by a few inches.