Chapter Twenty-Eight -- Day Owl, Night Owl
He didn't usually wake up in a good mood, mostly because he liked sleeping in and all lectures had the bad habit of requiring students to wake up in the morning when only early birds were supposed to be hard at work, catching that poor worm over and over. Sure, everyone else would tell him otherwise, that waking up in the morning was good, but Rusty really didn't think he'd be anything else but a night owl. Wasn't night owl kind of redundant? Was there such a thing as a day owl?
Apparently, if it existed, its name had to be Rusty Parker, because it was way early on a Monday, and he felt rested, amazing, and ready to take over the world. The world of Sunny Hill, of course.
He took his time getting ready for classes, making sure to look his best. While he was the most enthusiastic adept of the 'I-don't-care-what-I-wear' fashion style, today it wasn't one of those days.
When he walked downstairs, he looked almost preppy. Not entirely, because he would never live it down, but he wore the nice sweater Jonathan had gifted him the Christmas before and a pair of dress pants, the casual type, but still. Footwear was a concession. He felt good in sneakers, and while they were new, they still looked exactly like what they were.
Jonathan gave him a surprised look when he saw him coming down the stairs. Maddox was all over his fiancé, presumably helping him with the coffee, and the domesticity of the sight in front of him made Rusty grin ear to ear.
"Someone's really early," Jonathan commented.
"There's a world to conquer out there," Rusty declared like a general in front of his troops. "No time to waste."
"Are you leaving already?" Maddox questioned him. "There's still about an hour or so until classes start."
"It's too nice a day to spend even a moment indoors more than needed," Rusty offered, reciting each word as if he was performing on a stage.
Maddox threw a confused look at Jonathan. It appeared, however, that Hamilton was not that surprised with Rusty's good mood. So, he took Maddox by the shoulders and leaned over, surely to whisper something in his ear. Realization dawned on Maddox's face, and now they were both staring at him like they knew something he didn't.
"I'm just in the mood for a bit of practice," he said and walked out with a shrug. He didn't tell them what kind of practice. Parents or not, they weren't supposed to know everything-everything.
Once outside, he took one deep breath, enjoying the fresh air for a moment, and took in the sight of the campus stretching in front of him. That was his domain, and he was the king.
***
There were few students already up at that hour, but nonetheless, Rusty greeted everyone in his usual fashion. What he got in return were a few blank stares, a slight sign of recognition from a guy that was quickly smothered by one of his female friends who caught his arm and pulled it down, and a few odd and all-knowing looks.
Rusty shrugged. Morning people were obviously a weird bunch. He'd get used to them, presumably, since he felt too good not to get up in the morning from now on. He took the stairs to the Arts building two by two, checking that no one was staring in his direction. His peers' lack of interest in him was nice for a change, because it meant that he could go in and out of any place without having to fight a crowd.
Once he reached the room he was interested in, he took a moment. It had been a while since he had practiced in that manner. What he was vocalizing during his morning showers didn't truly count.
He turned the knob, but the door didn't open. What the hell? That place wasn't usually under lock and key. He looked around, feeling rightfully deflated. One of the janitors was cleaning the floors and he waved at the man. "Good morning, my good man. Do you happen to have a key?" he asked.
The man just shook his head and returned to his task at hand. Rusty let out a long exhalation. All right, so his plans for this morning had just been thwarted. Someone must have thought that the music room had important treasures to hide, and thus, the locked door.
Rusty took the stairs down, two by two, but something was off, and the spring in his step was waning. And to think he had even skipped breakfast to get here fast, just to try his voice a little. No dice, it seemed.
***
It wasn't until late in the afternoon that Rusty began to understand that something fishy was going on. Leaving aside that he felt a bit too hot in his nice sweater and that the energy boost from earlier seemed to have evaporated into thin air, he had begun to have a slightly ominous feeling. Certain crowds no longer seemed to hold him in the usual high esteem. Sure thing, his buddies were as chummy as ever, and the people who knew him beyond hello talked to him, but the overall sentiment was that something was changing.
At first, he had brushed it off, too caught up in what should be called experiencing the college life to the fullest, even by paying attention to lectures. But, just like the locked door to the music room, there was an oppressive atmosphere hanging over the beautiful late fall day, and he couldn't put his finger on it, nor shake it off.
"Maddie," he asked with half a mouth, while pretending to look over the people gathered there with his usual confidence, "I think there's a mutiny in the works or something."
They were attending their last class together, so at least he had someone to ask whether he was starting to imagine things or something.
"Hmm," Maddox offered in his most non-committal style, absorbed as he was by the contents of the textbook in front of him.
"I swear," Rusty commented, "ever since the Hamiltons allowed you to pursue their heir's hand, you've become even more of a nerd than you were before."
Maddox looked at him and blinked. "What's that?"
Rusty rolled his eyes. "Come on, Maddie, they don't even have a moat."
His bestie snickered and was about to return to his textbook diving when Rusty caught his arm hard.
Maddox sighed and closed the book. "What is it, boy? What is it?" he asked, grinning at him.
"Look around."
"I'm looking. What am I supposed to see?"
Rusty leaned over and whispered, "I think there's a coup in the works."
"A coup?"
"Yeah. They're after my crown, I'm telling you."
Maddox bit his bottom lip and then couldn't keep it in. "Rusty, for real. What's that supposed to mean? Ah, is it about the Implacable Team and their discourse on morality?"
"I guess," Rusty replied. "I mean, I thought that they would be as inefficient as a cat in the seafood aisle."
Maddox stared at him. "Something's wrong with that phrase."
"The cat is supposed to guard the fishy things," Rusty explained and waved impatiently. "The thing is, I'm afraid to say, but I think that S.H.I.T is starting to get to people."
Maddox appeared to be completely unimpressed by his revelations. "And? Do you care or something?"
Rusty gasped and placed a very offended hand on his chest. "Of course I care. I mean, what's a king without his subjects?"
Maddox shook his head. "I thought you were over that. And look at things this way. I still love you, man." To make a point, his bestie took him by the shoulders and looked at him, with a big grin on his face.
Great, his best bro was making fun of his predicament. "Yeah, yeah, like I believe you. You already put a ring on it, and that finger isn't mine. If I die an old maid, it's your fault."
"Get Matty to save you from spinsterhood then," Maddox said very matter-of-factly.
Rusty searched his brain for a good comeback and had nothing. The professor saved him by walking in, and his convo with Maddie got cut short. How was Matty supposed to save him? He would have to ask Maddox later provided that he didn't forget.
Was the Implacable Team really going to make things hard for him? Rusty stared out the window, tuning out the professor's monotone monologue. Maybe he wasn't a day owl after all; he was a night owl by definition, redundant or not.
***
Matty waited patiently for Rusty to come closer. The famous king of Sunny Hill was strolling through the quad, seemingly lost in thought. One of the things Matty wanted to find out -- and he needed superior abilities to do it -- was to discover just how affected Rusty would be if he were never to see the cat boy again.
Zoey had assured him over and over that her roommate had no idea she was hiding the costume in her closet, but he worried that his bestie might get entangled in the strangest way with the entire cat boy/girl drama thing. In most universes, A led to B, and B to C, and if Xpress or the Implacable Team caught whiff of what lay hidden inside Zoey's closet, it would be bad. Maybe he should think about moving it or even returning it. Could he ask for a refund? Given what kind of things had happened while he'd been dressed in that cat boy suit, the honest answer was probably 'no'. And another thing, he couldn't go down that road before learning if Rusty would be really affected by the sudden disappearance of Slicky Coolplums.
Now, he must have been the one lost in thought because Rusty bumped into him, and, for a moment, they stared at each other, both looking rightfully startled. That lasted no more than that, and the following second, Rusty threw an arm over Matty's shoulders, trying to see if he could hold him. Matty dug his heels in and smiled at his special friend. "How's the king of Sunny Hill today?"
"Smelling something rotten, and we're not talking about the state of Denmark. We're talking about the state of affairs here, at Sunny Hill."
Matty nodded thoughtfully and began walking side by side with Rusty, who didn't choose to let go of his shoulders. It was a very pleasant feeling, so he didn't make any remark. If anyone stared and jumped to the wrong conclusion, that was on them.
"So, you heard about the cat boy thing," he said, grateful for the opening he got to bring up the topic that most interested him at the moment.
"What?" Rusty asked. "What cat boy thing?"
"Xpress and the Implacable Team both are currently engaged, or so they say, in a race for unmasking the cat boy. You know, that guy who climbed on the scoreboard at your game that time."
