Why I Live Today: Chapter 3

We sat on a park bench. "Zack...?"
"Yeah, Lucky Dime?"
I sighed. "Well... don't think I'm crazy, love. But what would you think of going to a school for seven years with kids you didn't know, except for Dylas and Lexis, oh, and me?"
He laughed. "You're all I need, jewel."
"Seriously, Zachary!"
His eyebrows furrowed. "Seriously? And since when have you called me Zachary? Are you angry with me or something?"
"No, but seriously, Zack. What would you think of it?"
"I would live. But... why are you asking this?"
I showed him the paper. He thought about it, and said with a disappointed tone, "Thanks... but no thanks. I don't think... 7 years? Dove, that's a lot. A lot of a lot. Terrence, Jackie, Alek, Hayden... they're my friends, too."
I looked at him, slightly disappointed. "Oh. Can't they come?"
"Not by the looks of it, Diamond! My big friend is Alek, so only he would have to come to make it right."
"Then I'll GET HIM to come!" I ran off to Alek's house immediately. I knocked on the door three times, and Alek opened. He had golden-blond hair that was brushed backwards, sky-blue eyes, and ivory-pale skin. He was the big baseball star of our school, and made it to championship three years running, winning every time. He was- wearing a Yankee-style shirt, white and blue-striped with the NY logo, a Mariners ball cap, bo-sox pants, white and red-striped, and black cleats. He was holding a black metal baseball bat over his shoulder and had a Jeter-signed baseball in his hands.
"Rusty? Hi. I was just on my way to ball practice." He said loudly.
I gave a sigh of relief. "Aleksander Spencer Medaron! You need to come with me, right now."
"Shh! Don't call me Aleksander! People may be listening! I have ball in five, rusty." He normally called me rusty, because there was this one time when I tried to play ball, and failed miserably. Me and Zack hadn't been together yet, he liked me, so he called me 'rusty' not to hurt my feelings too much. He said it around a billion times, so Alek switched from Dimes to Rusty. I had been friends with Alek longer, for sure, and I still knew him better.
"It'll only take five minutes, c'mon, Alek!"
He sighed exasperatedly. "Fine!"
"Here, just sign this." He took a Yankee-style pen from his pocket and signed it, immediately falling to the floor. He sat back up in a daze. "Omigod. What the heck was that? Good god, I don't feel too great. I think I need'a sit down." I helped him back inside onto the couch. He drank a cup of water and looked a little less dazed. "*Ugh* I don't think I can go t' ball t'day." He started laughing.
"You're crazy." I said quietly.
"Nah, I'm fine. I signed the paper, just go back to Z's house." He picked up his Jeter ball and started polishing.
I looked at him oddly. "Alek...?"
"Mm?"
"You said you wouldn't..."
"Forget, don't forgive," laughed Alek. "See ya, Rusty. Say hi to Sheep for me."
You're wondering who Sheep is. Well, first Alek called Zack 'Lane' for his last name. Then 'Lane' turned into 'Lameo'. Lameo turned into 'Flameon', Flameon to 'Flareon', Flareon to 'Fire type', Fire type to Kentucky fried chicken, then K.F.C. to Porkchops, Porkchops to Lambchops, Lambchops to Lamb, Lamb to Sheep. Stupid, right? I rang Zack's door, and showed him the paper. He took a pen from his pocket and signed the paper, looking very, very nervous. There was a fresh and blinding flash of light. It cleared, and I didn't believe my eyes. There was an obsidian trapdoor on the floor, and Lexis, Dylas, and Alek were all standing around. Alek swung it open. There was a swirling, crackling with lightning, blue vortex.
"Um. Well, this is sort of... odd." Dylas said. "I'll go first!" He jumped in. Alek slid in, then Lexis. Zack grabbed my hand, gave me a long, lip-kiss, and pulled me down. We landed next to Dylas and Lexis. A massively cute guy (sorry Zack) sat in a chair, looking intently at us. He had chestnut hair like Zack's but there were clumps of bright, beautiful silver in it. He had sparkling silver eyes, fair, very pale skin, and a dashing smile. His hair was entirely flat, not a single strand out of place, and had one side of bangs that covered half of his left eye. He was wearing a silver sport coat, black jeans, and was barefoot. On the coat was a blue jewel rose....
"Hey. My name's Arian. Arian Hawk. You guys remind me of myself, y'know. Standing in front of the headmaster... scared, confused, angry. Actually, I'm just three years older than you, Diamond. Or Lucky Dime? Rusty, would you prefer? You guys are all unique, amazing monsters. Not the bad kind. Actually, some of you may be bad. When I went here, we learned in school, learned to control our powers, fought against the headmaster for freedom. Killed him.... Now, you will learn for two days, then be dumped, not putting it lightly, into an arena. Last five standing? BAM, you win. A modified a hunger games. You know how the others disappear? Killing, dying, murder. Morbid, ain't it?"
"You're crazy."
"Far from it. You want crazy? Bring the old headmaster back to life. Angela, love! C'mere!"
"How old are you, anyway?" Alek asked carefully.
"Oh, nineteen."
"WHAT?! THAT'S A YEAR OLDER THAN ME!"
A girl with flowing green hair rushed into the room. She had ruby-colored eyes, a long scarlet dress, and green, very tall heels. Her hair was done into a tall bun, with a emerald tiara placed on. It was tied with red ribbon, and she had candy-cane style gloves, but a color switch, the white of the candy cane was a forest green.
"Why are you dressed for a ball, my princess?"
She laughed. Her laugh was cute and pure. "Oh, I was in the mood. Why! Students! Hello, my name is Angela Terraburn. You can call me anything you like." She held out her hand to shake, and I saw a bright silver ring with a blue diamond shaped like a rose.
"That ring," Zack asked. "It's beautiful."
"I'm engaged to Arian. Thanks. Anyway, you'd better start that learning. First, weapons. You, Aleksander...."
Alek nervously looked into her red eyes. "Yes?"
"You'd prefer a sword, wouldn't you? Maybe two?" She gave him two golden sheaths.
He pulled out two rapiers. "These.... they're amazing! I love them, perfect."
"I don't remember inviting you here," Arian said to Alek coldly. "Why are you here?"
"Nevermind that!" Angela laughed. "He's fine, darling."
"Why are you guys engaged so early, huh?" Dylas asked, gingerly.
"Oh. You want to get married here, you have to do it sixteen-seventeen, no older. You may not live that long."
"Makes sense," Alek said, eyes still on the sword. He blinked his dark brown eyes, as if it was a dream.
Angela looked a Dylas. "Young man, you'd love this. An everlasting toxic pistol." She gave him a gun. "Never runs out of bullets, that's one. Two: the bullets are filled with a very lethal poison. Three: the bullets are covered in burning ghost pepper juice. You'll love it."
"Sounds pretty awesome." Said Dylas quietly, examining the small handgun.
She turned to Lexis. "Hey, hun. This one is yours. Fills when empty."
It was a bouquet of purple flowers.
"Uh, pretty, but is it a weapon?", Lexis said, leaning over to take a sniff.
"Yes, very much so. If someone takes one whiff- including you, girl!" Lexis whipped her head away. "They'll be flat dead within an hour, usually less."
Angela stared into Zack's eyes. "For you. My own weapons, 'cause I chose you as my favorite." They were leather bracelets connected to sword blades. One was obsidian. There was something emitting purple light on the inside.
"That's death peer. If you actually manage to see what the light's from, you die before you can tell."
The other one was the color of earth, the texture of earth, and smelled like earth. Then it set fire.
"Jungle flare. Very rare. Sets fire when you want it to.  Let me do the transfer super-duper quickly. Angela Jamie Terraburn, myself, resigns and retires from this weapon and gives it to Zachary Grazzi Lane, this weapon is fully, lovingly his, until he retires, until death, within death, and after death. This oath is ever-binding." She sighed. "There we go. Now, put on those bracelets and say or think, 'UNREVEAL!'."
Zack closed his eyes. The sword/leather bracelets on his wrists suddenly looked different. THE SWORDS WERE GONE OH MY GODS! I cleared out of shock.
Mr. Hawk groaned. "I didn't really want to do this, Angela convinced me. You get my weapon. Don't test it out, only use it when the time comes." He gave me a bow. "It's made of tanzanite, very sacred." It looked like some kind of bluish crystal or gem, like sapphire. But if it was tanzanite, I guess it was tanzanite. I slung the bow over my shoulder. He gave me a quiver with sparkling tanzanite-point arrows. I opened the door behind me and walked through, followed by my friends.