John Terran: I like it this way. It irritates everyone.
Caleb: Nice.
Caleb: I was talking with Jade, and we may do better to lasso Jonesy with doing the cemetery thing with the douche duo.
John Terran: Why?
Caleb: She knows Brett, or did, and she thinks he'd never let it go, be bent on big-time payback, baby.
John Terran: How does she know Brett? Besides, ya know Jonesy. He's got this thing buzzing around in his head like a hornet with a bull's eye.
Caleb: Yeah, I was afraid you'd say that. She and Brett were actually friends a couple of years ago. I guess his dick-headed-ness is a more recent development.
John Terran: Huh... really?
Caleb: Yeah, I guess his dad makes her dad look normal.
John Terran: No,
Caleb: Yeah, no
Caleb: Well, I guess, we'll just have to ratchet Jonesy down as much as possible just in case he gets outta control.
John Terran: Okay. Good luck with that.
Caleb: Yeah. Hey, where is Jonesy? I haven't heard from him.
John Terran: He got his
Caleb: How do you know?
John Terran: Because I pulsed him and his mom answered.
Caleb: Ouch. Well that blows goats
John Terran:
Caleb: Okay, see ya tomorrow.
John Terran: K, see ya.
Before I could even hibernate my pulse, Mom hollered up the stairs, “Caleb! Bed!”
“K!” I yelled back.
I tore off my clothes, making a tight ball and went for the three point shot into the hamper. I flopped on my bed and grabbed my book. I liked to read before I fell asleep—not the chump stuff the school assigned but cool authors, like Stephen King.
CHAPTER 12
I lifted my face off the pillow, which contained the Lake Erie of drool. Gross! I did an abbreviated push-up and hopped out of bed, swaying a little as the blood rushed to my head.
I glanced at the alarm and smacked it just before it blared. I couldn't believe I had gotten up before the alarm. I leaned over the laundry hamper and looked in at last night's clothes. I grunted. Jade would certainly notice if I wore the same thing two days in a row. Girl fashion radar.
Dejected, I stalked out of the room, wearing nothing but boxers. I thudded down the stairs. Mom was leaning against the counter and holding a steaming cup of java.
“Hey now, you look a little rough.” She smiled.
That was rich coming from her, Miss Queen-o'-Beauty in the mornings. I threw her a sullen look and made my unsteady way to the laundry room.
Mom followed.
“Caleb, don't go back there and start foraging for clean clothes. If you'd actually wash some, this would not be an issue.”
I ignored that and plowed forward. There, in a dim little corner, were all the mismatched clothes. I rifled through the pile and pulled out a vintage AC/DC T-shirt littered with holes along the bottom—a theme with my shirts—and yanked it over my head.
Mom put out her hand. “Maybe a shower would liven you up.”
I scowled, then a vision of Jade popped into my head. She always smelled like a vanilla bean, and I smelled like I woke up in a pool of drool. I grabbed some mismatched socks and the last pair of boxer briefs then took off for the bathroom.
I took an extra-long time in the shower and even cleaned my feet. Feeling super spiffy and primed, I stood in front of the mirror. The glass was fogged, so I swiped it with my arm. I searched carefully for signs of my impending manhood. Seeing nothing—I think I had, like, three armpit hairs—I left the sauna of a bathroom.
After getting dressed, I went down to the kitchen.
I sat down in front of a fried egg sandwich. “Huh, what gives?” I asked Mom.
“I thought you could use a little pick-me-up.”
For today she was absolved of her sins.
Dad strolled in. “Hey, pal. You showered!”
I scowled. A national event.
Parents.
Dad winked at me. “Caleb, I was thinking that we try some experimentation in a controlled atmosphere, one in which there isn't a charged, emotional dynamic. The cemetery would be good for that.”
Mom put her hands on hips, which were encased in pajamas, her favorite outfit. “I want to be included, too.”
“I read most of the papers that John gave me,” I said. “The main scientist, Daniels something...”
“Byron, Byron Daniels,” Dad interjected.
“Yeah. He said that if there were another Parker, that the kid would be limited to what certain groups wanted.”
Mom sent Dad the oh shit look, and he gave a minute shake of his head.
“You know this Dr. Daniels?” I asked Dad.
“I know of him. He works in related fields.”
I looked at the clock and stood up, Mom gave me a hug.
“I haven't died, Mom,” I said, pulling away.
“I understand,” she said, “but sometimes moms just want to squeeze their boys.”
***
The school commons was a humongous room with circular tables. Lockers flanked the entire room and bled down into the halls leading to our classes. Eighth graders had the commons lockers, but the sixth and seventh graders had to deal with lockers in the crowded hallways. We all hung out in the commons and stalked each other's activities.
I had time before Morginstern's class and could hang with the Js before and, if I got really lucky, Jade.
I spotted Jonesy right away, but I didn't see John or Jade.
I walked over to where Jonesy stood.
“I heard you got nailed for skipping homework.”
“Yeah, I had to make up, like, ten CE's.”
My mouth hung open. “My parents would've executed me for that many missing current events.”
Jonesy looked down and shuffled his feet. “Yeah, no pulse for now.”
“No pulse?”
Incredible.
“Yeah, but my mom knows I am going to hang with you all day Sunday so I either didn't do that,” NOT an option for The Instigator to be absent, “or no pulse for a week.” Spreading his hands out, sacrifices must be made for the greater good.
I clapped him on the back. “Well, thanks for that.”
“No problem.”
Carson and Brett came over to us.
Carson said, “Hey, queers, how's it hangin'?”
Brett said, “Dumb question, Carson. That's all they know, how each other is hangin'.”
They laughed manically at our expense.
But Jonesy gave me that knowing smile. I was tired of them. I hoped Jonesy got them good. Jade appeared, making a wide berth around the chumps. She put her hand in mine and turned a contemptuous expression on Carson and Brett.
I was distracted. Jade did actually smell like a vanilla bean. Then Brett interrupted my sniffing.
“Not exciting enough for ya? Gotta use Jade as a cover?”
“A cover for what?” she asked.
“Their fagness, obviously,” Carson said.
Jade rolled her eyes.
Girls were uniquely talented in the rolling-eyes department.
“I'm not a cover for anything. By the way, dumb asses, haven't you figured out that you guys aren't important enough to worry about covering for?”
Brett moved forward until he was two inches from Jade's nose. She stepped back.
“Hey!” I yelled, shoving Jade behind me.
Brett got in my face, poking his finger in my chest. “Keep your slut in line there, pal, or I will.”
We stood eye to eye, that small growth spurt putting me right where I needed to be.
I grabbed his finger and twisted it. “She isn't a slut, mouth-breather.” I gave him a hard shove.
“What's going on here?” Morginstern said from behind me.
Brett and Carson gave him sullen expressions, which didn
't faze Morginstern one bit.
The teacher moved to stand between our two groups. “John told me you were having an issue out here and may be late to class. You know that I frown on the first-period slouch.”
Huh, clever John had been cookin' up a way to get us out of this little disaster. Nice.
“I wasn't trying to be late, honest. I got distracted by Carson and Brett's interesting dialogue.” I threw a glance their way, digging their identical expressions of confused dumbness.
Morginstern folded his arms across his chest and stared at us.
Pointing a finger at Jade then Carson and Brett, he ordered, “You go now to your respective classes.” He watched them walk away.
Jade looked back at me over her shoulder. I smiled at her.
Morginstern gave his attention to Jonesy and me. “I think I caught sight of a skunk, and I smelled a skunk, so there must be a skunk.”
I had heard that before from Gramps. It was time to purposely misunderstand the expression. In other words: The Dumb.
“What do you mean, Mr. Morginstern?”
Jonesy was busy giving me the wide-eyed, figure this out.
Morginstern's eyes narrowed. “I think you know exactly what I mean. I have to go teach class now, but”—he stabbed a finger in my direction—“I know there is discord between you and Carson Hamilton and Brett Mason. I know.”
The laser eye fell on Jonesy. “And you... you're always around when these situations erupt.”
Jonesy made some vague effort to look innocent, but he almost always looked guilty.
“Come to class, boys, and no more loitering. I'll be watching.” Morginstern stalked off to the classroom.
When we went through the door, the last bell already rung, and every kids' eyes were on us. John made strangling motions around his neck. I gave him the slashing index finger across the neck gesture.
Jonesy and I sat at our table and Morginstern went to the front of the room. He explained to the class that he was unexpectedly delayed due to an incident out in the commons.
All eyes swiveled to us. Love that.
Jonesy caught my grumpiness like a cold and gave it to John. All three of us grumped together in silence, sanding our boxes.
John whispered, “Listen... I know it wasn't cool for Morginstern to break that up, but would it have gone to plan if you guys had let it fall apart before the cemetery?”
No, it would have so not been cool. It would have ruined the Aqua Net Payback.
Jonesy looked abashed. “I want to do this on Sunday.”
“I knew that. That's why I made an executive decision,” John said.
“A what?” Jonesy asked.
I explained, “He means that he decided, on his own, what was best for our group.”
“You guys have to learn idioms.”
Jonesy was utterly confused. I was gonna show off.
“It's not really an idiom, ya know.”
“Yeah, it is,” John shot back.
I shook my head. “No, an idiom is an expression that is not literal to its meaning.” Mom was a word-freakazoid and had drilled that stuff into me.
John's brow crimped. “Okay... so what you're saying is that I really am the executive of the group, and my decision was allowable.”
Uh-oh. I hadn't thought about the consequences of taking on John's Undeniable Logic.
“Well, Jonesy and I have not formally appointed you the executive, but the expression ‘executive decision’ is not opposite to its real meaning.”
I leaned back in my chair and crossed my arms.
A slow grin spread over John's face. “Pretty damn clever, Hart.”
We bumped fists and that sealed our coolness. We resumed the Dreaded Sanding.
***
Friday droned on without further incident. Jade and I hung with the Js while eating lunch. Jonesy got Carson on board and gave him the time to meet on Sunday. We whipped out our pulses and thought our reminder chimes.
Later in the afternoon, the speakers blared a message about the upcoming tests. Mrs. Calvert added, “Be sure to get a good night's sleep and a proper breakfast.”
We rolled our eyes.
I gave Jade a hug before she left for class. I watched her walk away. The Js watched me watch her.
Jonesy shook his head. “Man, you got it bad.”
John nodded. “Yeah, he does.”
I smirked.
“Oh, and you two are going to be any different when you like somebody? Pfft.” I dismissed them with a wave of my hand and headed to class.
They were right, though. Even Miss Rodriguez's hotness didn't entice me anymore. With Jade as my girlfriend, English was just another class. In band, I made the mistake of telling John how I felt.
He looked at me in horror when I explained the new dynamics.
“Miss Rodriguez is still completely hot. You having a girlfriend so doesn’t change that, dude.”
“Well, maybe she is still pretty hot, but Jade is plenty distracting. I bet all I'll pull out of that dumb class is a B.”
“Yeah, your parents will have a shit fit if you get a C.”
John laughed, but I didn't think it was that funny. Not all of us could just have a heartbeat in class and get an A. I mentioned that most obvious fact and he shrugged. That was John. He wasn't going to admit he was smart.
Mr. Cole came over and asked John to play a measure or two on the piano. John stared at the sheet music and began tapping the keys. The adults called John a natural.
The notes floated out of his instrument. He used all the dynamics, gaining volume and softening at the correct times.
When he approached the fifth measure, Cole stopped him with a raised hand.
“Okay. Today I want you to work with Alex. He needs some fine tuning.”
John went over to where Alex was sitting. They were both awkward turtle, yet... it worked. A few minutes later, that cop from the accident walked into the room. My heart began hammering in my throat.
John looked up from helping Alex, catching sight of Garcia and about crawled up his own corn cob.
I set my guitar down and stood.
Garcia went over to Cole. “Hey, Tony, I just wanted to borrow Caleb for a sec.”
Cole winked. “Sure thing, Officer Garcia.”
Garcia crooked a finger at me. I left my stuff where it was and followed him out the door and into the parking lot.
He asked, “So how are you, Caleb?”
“Since last week? Fine.”
“You remember that I said that I'd keep an eye on you?”
I nodded.
“Well, it's come to my attention that there are a couple of young men who are becoming a problem at the school.”
“There's no problem,” I said.
Garcia raised one eyebrow. “Really? Because I've heard different reports.”
Somebody had diarrhea of the mouth. “We're not great friends or anything, that's for sure.”
Garcia looked down at his notepad. “Doesn’t Jade LeClerc live fairly close to the Mason boy?”
I was liking the conversation less and less. Garcia was doing more than keeping an eye on me.
A beat of silence. “Yeah.”
“There's a situation that has been escalating in that neighborhood you need to be aware of.”
He waited. The noise of the bees droning lazily was loud between us as the sun warmed our faces.
He sighed. “Listen, Caleb, I'm here to help, not run your life.”
I left the silence alone.
He caved first. “Okay, I have a feeling about you, and I'm going out on a limb. I know the Mason kid is under tremendous pressure at home. Miss LeClerc escaped a similar background, but not the same can be said for Mr. Mason. I was hoping, when there's a huge potential trauma for kids realizing some form of paranormal ability, if you might restrain yourself from exacerbating this situation.”
He lost me. “Huh?”
Garcia sighed again. “Listen, don't wind Brett up ri
ght now. He's like a bomb waiting for detonation.”
“Gotcha.” The bomb reference worked, I understood. I got a visual of Brett blowing up, chunks of his body raining down. Too many pulse games. Yeah.
Garcia's shoulders relaxed and a lopsided smile appeared.
“Maybe you can mention this to the Js.”
His calling John and Jonesy the “Js” struck me as odd. I didn't like it.
I clamped down on my expression, but Sergeant Garcia's smile slipped.
“Yeah, okay,” I responded.
The bell shrilled, and a moment later, John lurched out the door. He and Garcia were about eyeball to eyeball, but Garcia was all-that-is-man—broad shoulders and bulging forearms.
John looked unfinished beside him.
Garcia excused himself and walked away.
***
Jade came up as his cop car was a white dot in the distance. She put her hand above her eyes like a shield. When his car disappeared she turned to me, giving me a look I was already beginning to love. The kind where she looked thoughts at me and I knew what she was thinking. No paranormal skills necessary. Awesome.
I pressed her against my chest in a tight hug. “Yeah, it's the same cop from the accident.” I answered her unspoken question.
Jade bent her head back, a small frown puckering her brow. “Garcia?”
I nodded.
John stared at where Garcia's car had been. “What did he want?”
“He wants us to lay off Brett.”
John looked at me, then at Jade, then back to me again.
“Really,” I confirmed.
“That's is not gonna fly!”
“Yeah.”
I looked down at Jade. “He mentioned you too.”
She looked surprised. “What? Why?”
“Garcia is keeping track of us. Somebody blabbed, and now he knows we're fighting. He knows about your dad, Brett's family, that you live in the same neighborhood...”
John said, “We need to get the twins off our backs, at least distract them.”
“I sure don't like Garcia being this interested in our lives,” Jade said.
John shrugged. “I guess there isn't much more we can do. The plan's set. Jonesy will never back down, and it would make things way worse if we didn't meet Brett and Carson. They'll think we're cowards.”
The Death Series, Books 1-3 (Dark Dystopian Paranormal Romance): Death Whispers, Death Speaks, and Death Inception Page 9