The 7 Bad Habits of Slightly Troubled Monsters by Devin Harnois

Author:Devin Harnois [Harnois, Devin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: October Night Publishing
Published: 2018-07-29T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

They were in the middle of dinner when the knock came. Dad answered the door. “Mr. Johnson, good to see you again. Please come in.”

Aiden tried to push back the nervousness. Every one of these visits since the incident in the woods made him feel like he’d been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Aiden had always been a good kid, and he didn’t like being involved in something so bad. He hated hiding it, lying about it. But he had to for Dylan’s sake, and that part of it he didn’t regret.

“Hello, Aiden.”

“Hi, Mr. Johnson.”

“Would you like something to drink?” Dad offered.

“Water would be fine. Thank you.” Mr. Johnson took a seat at the table. “How are things going, Aiden?”

“Better.” That was the truth, although progress was slow. He’d had a talk with Ms. Yang about his grade, and they’d discussed what he thought was fair. Not participating in matches meant he couldn’t get an A, as that was a large part of class. Not a B either. Currently he was earning a C plus, and although such a low grade made him a little ill, he knew it wasn’t fair to expect more.

“That’s good. So the counseling is helping?”

Aiden nodded. “And I’m training with Tiago outside class.”

Mr. Johnson’s eyes widened a little. “Really?”

“Yeah. He dodges my spells. Not that I’m using anything too strong or dangerous. He can’t block like the kids in gym class. He’s just sort of a moving target.” Aiden got the image of a shooting game at a fair with little yellow ducks to knock down. Only he pictured jaguars interspersed with the ducks. He glanced down and held back a laugh.

“Interesting,” Mr. Johnson said, then thanked Aiden’s dad when he set a glass of water in front of him. “How is Tiago doing?”

“Good. He’s making a lot of progress with his reading. He’s struggling with class, but he told me he’s not failing any of them.” Aiden felt a glow of pride for how much he’d helped Tiago. The boy still got frustrated and embarrassed, but training at the pit seemed to help him see it as an exchange. And Aiden certainly didn’t mind the excuse to spend more time with him.

“I knew you’d be a good tutor. Is he giving you any trouble? You sound like you’re getting along.”

“We are.” Aiden wished they could get along even better… No, that was stupid. Tiago couldn’t be into boys. It was just a stupid, hopeless crush. “No trouble at all. He has this… aura of toughness, but he hasn’t gotten into any fights and he doesn’t pick on anybody.” Which was good, because Aiden couldn’t stand bullies. He wouldn’t be helping Tiago if the boy picked on the other kids. “He even gets along with Dylan.”

Aiden was a little surprised Dylan hadn’t asked Tiago over to play video games. Maybe he didn’t like Tiago that much, or maybe he was stuck on the idea that Aiden was his only friend. As much as it made Aiden feel special, he would rather Dylan had more friends.

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