Hicksburg High, 2001, Pt. 2

Chris walked toward the cafeteria. He was having much better luck in class today than he had last night at football practice. The vocab test in English had gone well (92%), and he and that Harry guy had finished the experimental part of the Chemistry lab. They had the same lunch, but they never really talked outside of Chemistry- or in Chemistry, for that matter.
Chris got his lunch and looked for a seat. He passed Harry on the way through the cafeteria. He was sitting by himself, nose in a book. Chris glanced at the cover as he walked past. He blinked. Was he reading…? Nah, of course not.
Chris turned to look at the cover again. It was.
“You read Bionicle?” he asked Harry.
Harry dropped the book, startled and a touch embarrassed. “Yes.”
“It was a pretty good story,” Chris said, sitting across the table from Harry. “I know it was for kids, but I still like it.”
Harry picked up his book again. It was the first of the Bionicle Chronicles series, Tale of the Toa. “I don’t have many of the sets, just the books,” he said. “All I have is two of Jaller as a McToran and a random Visorak. I did trade the mask of one Jaller for a light blue Pakari.”
“Takua?” Chris asked.
“Takua,” Harry replied.
“Takua the Chronicler?” someone butted in. He had hair so light it was almost white and contrasting black-rimmed glasses.
“Yes,” Chris said. “You’re a Bionicle fan?”
“I am,” he answered. “My name is Michael.”
“Michael…” Chris tried to place the name. “Aren’t you that guy on the academic team who got a perfect score on the math section?”
“Correct on the first try,” Michael nodded. “As for Bionicle, I have 90% of the comics. I find the story to be rather childish in presentation, but still a solid body of mythology.”
“Did someone say Bionicle?”
A Hispanic teen walked up to the table as Michael set down his lunch.
“I didn’t know anyone else still read that stuff,” he continued. “It was fun while it lasted, and it’s still fun now.”
Chris smiled. “Pull up a chair and join the fan club,” he said. “Who knew there were so many Bionicle fans in one high school?”
“I’d be surprised if there weren’t,” another student said. She wore a lavender jacket that contrasted with her long, dark hair. “I loved the story. I have a bunch of the sets, but I have more fun mixing them up and making other things out of them. Constraction is so flexible! Toa-building just scratches the surface.”
Another student took the sixth and final seat at the table. He was African-American, with cornrows and bright blue eyes. “You have Toa and you break them up?” he said, incredulously. “Seriously? I only break apart my duplicates.”
“You have duplicates?” Michael asked.
“Yeah,” he replied. “You’re looking at a Bionicle super fan with at least one of every Toa set ever made!”
The Hispanic guy grinned. “So all six of us are Bionicle fans, and I don’t even know your names. How about this: We go around, state your name, and tell the group your favorite well-known Matoran?”
“How are you defining well-known?” Harry asked.
The Hispanic thought for a moment. “Chronicler’s Company and-or future Inika?”
Chris nodded. “Fair enough. My name is Chris. I’d have to say Jaller. I mean, sure, he dies in the Mask of Light movie, but he’s willing to do whatever it takes as a Matoran. Even then, Takutanuma- Takumanuta… Ugh! I can never pronounce it!”
“Takutanuva?” Michael suggested.
“Yeah. He brought Jaller back to life.”
The African-American smiled. “Jaller was freaking awesome! Still, I’d have to say Hafu. It takes guts for a carver to stand up to a Bohrok. What’s not to like? I’m Bobby, by the way. My friends call me BJ.”
“I’m Amelia,” the girl in the lavender jacket said. “I, personally, like Halhi.”
“Because she has a crush on Jaller?” BJ suggested.
“Uh, no,” Amelia said flatly. “She and Macku won the kolhi tournament, and Halhi had no experience. That is quite the accomplishment.”
Harry introduced himself. “Nuparu is definitely my favorite. He only comes up once in the books, almost as a footnote, but he came up with the Boxor on short notice in the Bohrok wars. They were vital to saving Matoran.”
“Yeah, he came up with the Boxor,” the Hispanic said, “right after his heat stone laser drill broke the Pakari in Turaga Whenua’s hut.”
Harry blinked. “Where did you get that?”
“MNOG 1.5.”
“That’s fan work,” Amelia told him. “It isn’t canon.”
“Oh.” The Hispanic guy shifted in his seat. “Well, I’m Paulo, and I’d say Kongu all the way. He saves Lewa Nuva’s life at one point, and he takes Takua into the heart of the Nui-Rama nest. Is that awesome or what?”
“I won’t argue with that logic,” Michael said. “My name is Michael.  My personal favorite among the Matoran would be Kapura.”
“Kapura? You like the weird Ta-Matoran who talks nonsense?” BJ said. “Not even the creators of MNOG understood his lines.”
“At least he speaks, even if few others comprehend his insights.”
“And… do you know what he’s saying?” Paulo asked.
“He himself is not ‘traveling great distances’; he is ‘moving very slowly’. His mind is what travels so far. Vakama sends him out to practice because he knows little of what Kapura is saying. That, however, is Kapura’s fault. He is a poor communicator.”
“Makes sense… sort of,” Paulo admitted.
The six of them continued to discuss the Bionicle universe until the end of lunch. Chris was surprised to learn how many classes they shared. They all had English in the same class, except for Michael, who was in AP Lang & Comp. Michael was also in Chemistry with Chris and Harry, in Calculus with Amelia, and in Gym with BJ. Harry had gotten stuck in an art class BJ was taking, and Harry and Paulo had Algebra 3 together. Paulo and Chris also shared their US History class, right after lunch. When the lunch bell rang, the two of them headed to class together.
“Are you ready for the quiz?” Chris asked Paulo.
Paulo smiled. “Did Hewkii have a crush on Macku?”

The next day, they met at lunch again. It was strange- they had all only talked together once, yet Chris felt like the six of them were a circle of old friends.
“Hey, guys!” Chris said as he strolled up to the table. He noticed that the other five were inspecting several sets of glasses. “What are those?”
Amelia handed him a red pair. “I made these out of Bionicle parts. This is the kind of thing I’ve built at home. I would have brought my human-scale Kanohi Kaukau, but it wouldn’t have fit in my backpack.”
“You constructed a Kaukau out of constraction pieces?” BJ asked. “Now, that might be worth the parts!”
Paulo put on the white pair of glasses. “How do I look?”
“Nerdy,” Harry said. “But then, we’re all nerds, I suppose.”
“There are geek-type nerds, and then there are super-fan nerds,” Chris said. “Michael is a geek nerd. We’re super-fan nerds.”
Chris slipped the red glasses onto his face and looked up at Amelia.
She wasn’t there. In fact, none of the other five were there. They had all disappeared.
Chris’ jaw dropped. No one was at their table, but the others were still crowded.
With Matoran.
Chris yanked off the glasses, shocked. Everything returned to normal. The other tables were occupied by other teens eating lunch. The five people he had met yesterday were still there, although now, they were looking at him with concern.
“Chris?” BJ asked. “Are- are you okay?”
Chris didn’t speak for a moment. He dropped the glasses.
“Either I’m going crazy,” he started, “or something is seriously screwy with those glasses.”
“What is it?” Michael asked.
“Matoran,” Chris said, hardly believing his own words. “Everyone else was a Matoran, and you guys weren’t there at all.”
Harry took the red glasses off the table and tried them on. “I don’t see any Matoran,” he said, frowning at Chris. He took them off again. “Is this some lame joke, or are there drugs circulating the football team?”
“I might be crazy, but I’m not on drugs, and I’m not joking,” Chris insisted, still startled.
Amelia eyed Chris uneasily. She was wearing the third pair of glasses, which were green. “I made a Kaukau, not a Huna,” she said. “I doubt we could all just turn invisible for two seconds. Besides, Bionicle isn’t real.”
“Speaking of that,” BJ said, “I finally got the last of the Toa Mata’s masks in yesterday.” It was a poor effort to change the subject, but it was good enough for most of the group.
“Really? Which one was it?” Paulo asked.
“Pohatu’s Kaukau. Why did it have to be orange, of all colors?”
“It came out in 2001, remember,” Chris reminded him. “They didn’t have transparent brown plastic then.”
“I’d like to see the collection,” Harry said.
“How about we all meet at my house Saturday?” BJ said. “I don’t have a game this weekend. We can talk more Bionicle, and Amelia can always bring in that Kaukau.”
“I have the Mask of Light movie,” Paulo told them. “I can bring it in, if you want.”
“Why not?” BJ grinned.