I took ahold of Carlos’ hand and led him away. I didn’t look at him. I didn’t want the tears to show. I started blinking really fast to try to rid my eyes of the tears. It was working, but it made my vision blurry.
That was how I ended up in the hospital again.
“... and at school, my teacher said that my painting was really nice!” Carlos told me excitedly. “I’m gonna paint her!”
“I bet it’s gonna be the most amazing thing ever!’ I said.
“Thanks Darryl!” he beamed his famous beam.
I had only been here for a day. School was over in three days, so I wasn’t missing anything.
Besides, around this time the dances happened. Hopefully I’d be here long enough to miss the last dance of semester, but short enough to go to the awards ceremony.
Based on my encounter with Mrs. Kaminski, I was certain I was top of Honor Roll. In fact even without being told about skipping a grade, I’d still make it to Honor Roll. I mean, I do every year! As well as get gold in all academic affairs. Not meaning to show off, but I’m pretty smart! Even more so with my little soda boost! I smiled devilishly.
“Why are you smiling?” asked Carlos. “Did you like my joke?”
“I loved it!” I assured him. “I’ve never heard anything funnier in my entire life! Please tell it again!”
“Okay,” Carlos said, smiling. “Why did the one-handed man cross the road? To get to the second-hand shop!”
I burst out laughing. More out of my brotherly love for Carlos, than because of his funny joke.
“Did you really think it was that funny?”
“Sí!” I assured him.
“Thanks!” he said.
“Tell me another!” I ask him. “A knock-knock joke?”
“Um… Okay!” he scratched his head. “Knock-knock?”
“Who’s there?”
“Cow goes.”
“Cow goes who?”
“Coes don’t who, the MOO!” We burst out laughing, all giddy and excited.
Nurse Kate walks in. “Sorry guys, but please be quiet. People are trying to sleep.”
We whisper sorry, trying to control our laughter. When she leaves we burst out in silent laughter.
Hey, who can blame us? We’re kids! Add the nearness of summer to the mix, and we’ve got perfectly acceptable summer behavior.
I love summer!
Harrison
XXV
Okay, school sucks. Agreed? I just wanted to get that clear. I know most people are giddy with excitement, because of how close summer is, but all I can think about, is how we still have school. And while other people might love not do anything all day, I have issues with boredom.
During lessons, I can pay attention, because the teacher’s voice just invades any thoughts about sleep. So, instead of blissful sleep, I had to suffer through Mr. Murph yakking away about the, oh-so exciting, different ways to use a comma.
Even Carly and Darryl find her boring. And they’re like, up there! But I’m an average kid, so while I don’t hate tests, you won’t find me in the More Tests! line. Nope, not over here.
And in my opinion, how will knowing about photosynthesis or the life of a dead president, help me in my life? It’s crazy! Pure and simple insanity! Pure, and simple.
Anyway, back to my point; school sucks! You might say I’m over-exaggerating, but do you honestly like school? Do you just love waking up early, catching the bus and then having to race to your class with a five-pound bag? Do you? Do you really? No, I didn’t think so!
Urgh! All this talk about school is making me fell sick. Literally. My stomach was queasy!
I raced down the stairs, yelling a ‘See you later’ to mum. I ran to the tree house. I flew over the wall.
But instead of getting back on ground, I just stayed there, floating around.
You never get over the thrill of lying. Ever. I might’ve acted like it was nothing, but I’ve always wanted to fly. I loved the idea of just floating around, in the endless sky, no worries about anything, not a care in the world. Just empty sky.
I finally touched down on the roof of the tree house about ten minutes later. I melted and slid down the sides. I reformed when I got to the ground. Brushing dirt of me, I walked around the circumference of the area.
Just like flying, you can never get used to powers. I admired my work, yet I still had trouble believing whether or not I’m dreaming. Maybe it’s all fake and I’m snoring in Madame Belle’s classroom. Who knows? Who knows?
I walked around before finally retreating back in the tree house. It started raining right after I had gotten myself a bowl of ice cream. I looked at my unsuitable meal and shrugged. Who cares?
I created a hovering fire in the seating area, and turned on the TV. I skipped past news and music, finally landed on a channel with Total Wipeout!
I settled back and started scooping ice cream in to my mouth. A lightning bolt arced outside. I ignored it and focused on the TV.
I had missed the first round, and was now halfway into the second round. The Sweeper!
I laughed as a guy tried to jump over the sweeper. He failed miserably, and was whacked into the water. He emerged moments later, swimming to the ladder for try number two.
I laughed as more famous people got whacked into the water. This was hilarious!
Another bolt of lightning came arcing down. This one, closer to the tree house than the others. But just then the tenth person made it across The Sweeper. I groaned. The person I was rooting for didn’t make it.
My phone rang. I picked it up with my eyes still glued to the screen.
“Hello?” I asked.
“Harrison?” asked mum’s voice.
“Yeah mum?”
“Come home, okay?” she told me. “This storm is terrible!”
“Okay, I’m on my way,” I told her.
“And you better not be in that tree house!” she warned.
“Uh… okay?” I said, avoiding giving her a straight answer.
“Harrison,” she said, in a low warning voice.
“Okay, okay,” I said. “I’m in the tree house!”
“How could you?” she asked. “It’s raining!”
“It wasn’t raining when I got here,” I pointed out.
“There were storm clouds everywhere!” she replied.
“That doesn’t mean it’s gonna rain!”
“Urgh!!!” she growled furiously, “Just hurry home.”
“Okay,” I replied, “Bye, love you.”
“Love you too.” she responded. “Now hurry!”
Sighing, I placed my bowl in the dishwasher, and flew out of the tree house. I wielded a shield of fire over my head. It worked wonders. All the water evaporated on touch.
I increased the heat of the flames. It had a blue tinge to it. I was so surprised by the colour, that I dropped the shield. I was soaking wet in a few seconds, but I didn’t care. This was a breakthrough!
I remade my fire shield, and made a fire sword. I increased the heat of the flames. So far, they were all red, orange and yellow, but a couple of them had a blue tinge. I ran home, suddenly remembering mum’s growl.
The guards opened the gate. I raced up the steps to the front door, and knocked hurriedly. Hopping from one foot to the other. My butler opened the door.
“Good day, Mr Har-” he began.
“S’up Tommy!” I interrupted. “Where’s my mother?”
“I believe your mother is currently in the dining hall. Would you like me to accompany you there?”
“No thanks, Tommy,” I replied. “I’ll get there fine on my own.”
“Very good sir.”
I fast-walked towards the dining room. Mum was seated eating a scone.
“Hey mum.” I said.
She nodded at me, her mouth to full of scone to talk. I smiled and took a seat at the long table.
“What’s for dinner?” I asked.
“Mmhmm.” she mumbled, incomprehensibly. She swallowed. “We
’re going out to Le Restaurant de la Brique Rouge!” It took my french translator a while to figure that out.
“The Red… Brick Restaurant?” I asked, uncertainly. Mum nodded yes. I smiled. “Is there any special occasion?”
“Some political meeting. Dad stuff.” Mum said. I nodded my understanding.
“So,” I said, “When do we leave?”
“In a couple of minutes.” said mum. “So go get ready.”
I took the elevator up to my room. Once there, I peeled off my wet jacket and socks. I hurriedly changed into a suitable attire of dark jeans, a white shirt and black Nikes.
I finally decided to leave my aviator sun glasses. This was business, not a teen magazine, I told myself, as I took the elevator to the ground floor. Mum was all dressed up, wearing a red, short-sleeved dress, that came up to her knees. Her hair was all curly and loopy. She was wearing black high heels, which made her a few inches taller. It also made me a few inches shorter.
“Let’s go.” Mumsaid.
“Okay.” I guessed this was an important person. Mum was just short of sweating. The chauffeur opened the door to the limo and we took a seat.
Mum looked all around, nervously and kept tapping her fingers against her knee.
Must be some guy, if he can make the president’s wife nervous, I thought. Who would be able to do that? The queen of England? I didn’t know. A mass murderer? Maybe. But he has got to be intimidating.
I couldn’t of been more wrong.
Jake
XXVI
I got to miss two days of school because of my amnesia. Luckily, I would be back in time to get my Best Sports Player award. I have seven so far.
Also I missed Carly. I mean, yeah I see her all the time, but it’s weird. Seeing someone at school is different than seeing them in hospital. I knew the difference well. Too well.
My amnesia turned out not to be as serious as expected. In a day I remembered everything. Everything.
That included the creepy guy in black. Blond curls were planted on his evil head and the scary look in his eyes. I can’t believe I ever forgot that.
I was in the middle of shuddering, when Agatha and Carly came in with my dinner.
“Hey, Carly,” I said, as Agatha left the room. “What’s up?”
“Hey Jake.” she responded glumly.
“Is anything wrong?” I asked.
“What?’ she said, “Why’d you think that?”
“Oh, no reason,” I said. “You just seemed down.”
“No, nothing’s wrong.” she replied. “Besides, it’s a happy moment. You’re finally getting discharged from hospital!”
“Oh, yeah.”
“And report cards are out. That’s why I’m late. Your Mum gave me this.” She pulled out a white envelope labeled with his name and grade. Gulping, I took it.
I opened the envelope and looked at my grades.
Report Card for STUDENT: PATTERSON, Jake Christopher
MATH:
Teacher: Mr Wharton Grade: B+ Percent: 88 Position: 7th
ENGLISH:
Teacher: Ms Thompson Grade: B- Percent: 83 Position: 9th
HISTORY:
Teacher: Mr Lin Grade: B Percent: 85 Position: 8th
GEOGRAPHY:
Teacher: Ms Smith Grade: B+ Percent: 86 Position: 8th
PHYSICS:
Teacher: Mr Tibbs Grade: C Percent: 74 Position: 13th
BIOLOGY:
Teacher: Mr Shay Grade: C Percent: 76 Position: 12th
HEALTH:
Teacher: Mr. Zimmer Grade: D+ Percent: 69 Position: 20th
MODERN LANGUAGES SECTION FOR QUARTER 4:
DUTCH:
Teacher: Mr Van Houten Grade: C- Percent: 71 Position: 18th
PERFORMING ARTS:
DRAMA:
Teacher: Mr Russell Grade: A+ Position: 2nd
PHYSICAL EDUCATION:
Teacher: Mrs. Breedlove Grade: A+ Position: 1st
OVERALL ACADEMIC SCORE: 74%
OTHER SUBJECTS: 100%
GPA: 2.7 GRADE: C
Congratulations, Jake! You have been accepted into ninth grade! Enjoy!The Northview Academy eighth grade teacher community, would like to take a moment to praise Jake for his dramatic increase in academics. Keep on trying!
Yours sincerely:
SKamininski DougTurn
Middle School Principal: Superintendent:
Shari Kaminski Douglas Turner
Northview Academy
Filii hodie, et imperantes cras!
Children today, Leaders tomorrow!
I’ll admit it. I squealed like a happy pig.
“Whaddya get?” asked Carly. She looked happier ever since my squeal. I guess she was worrying about me all along. I felt a burst of emotion for her. Yet again.
“A two point seven!” I replied with equal excitement in my voice.
Carly screamed. She started clapping her hands superfast. Little sparks of electricity burst out her hands.
“Oh my gosh! I’m so happy for you!”
“Thanks, Carls,” I replied.
“No prob, Jake!” She smiled at me and squeezed me in a killer hug. I touched her lemon scented hair. It was silky and soft.
She pulled away, a huge smile still planted on her face. Her cheeks were rosy and her eyes shone with excitement, her eyes were beautiful.
“What time do you get discharged?” she asked.
I snapped out of my love daze. “Uh… Oh, at six.”
She glanced at her watch, yes, she has a watch! She was so smart! “Well it’s five thirty now, so…think they discharge half an hour early?”
“Even if they don’t, who can stop two members of The Super Four?” I asked.
She smiled dangerously. “You have never been more right!”
She pressed the intercom on my hospital table. It was used if patients wanted anything, or felt sick. “Agatha? Can Jake and I go get ice cream?”
“You know he gets discharged at six!” I heard her say.
“Yeah, but… we wanted to celebrate his report card.” she said. Her next words were whispered. “Alone.” I blushed.
“Tsk! This generation dates too early, if you ask me! They shoul-” She was cut of by Carly shouting a quick thank you and removing her finger from the intercom.
She looked at me. Her rosy cheeks had turned tomato red. I’m certain I was no less red-cheeked. “Um… Let’s go.” I said, after an awkward silence.
“Sure.” Carly sounded relieved. “Let’s go.”
I scooped the last of my ice cream in my mouth. Carly was still halfway. I looked greedily at her bowl.
“No Jake.” she said, without looking up from her bowl.
“Fine,” I said, reluctantly. I walked up to the cashier and ordered another rocky road. I drummed my fingers against the counter, while I waited. The waiter was a boy about my age. I was surprised. I thought you had to be, like, sixteen or eighteen to get a job. But what did I know? I accepted the rocky road. He looked me in the eyes as he handed it over. I stepped back. I dropped my bowl.
Only my fast reflexes saved it from crashing into pieces. His eyes. His eyes! The Shadowman! His amber eyes were webbed with black lines. Touches of green laced his eyeballs. All of a sudden, his eyes turned solid black, a bright green glow shone from them.
I gulped and stepped back. He smiled at me and I turned around and raced to my table with Carly.
“Jake?” she asked, “Are you alright?”
“I’m fine,” I said, “It’s just that the cashier guy had freaky eyes.”
“Oh,” Carly turned around. “He has normal eyes to me,”
“What?” I exclaimed. I turned around. Gone was amber boy. Now a guy of average height and built stood in his place. I checked his eyes. A plain brown. Nothing more. I shook my head in a desperate attempt to clear it. I looked again. Nope, still a normal man. Despite his crazy pink mohawk, he was like anyone else in the world.
I turned my head around and stared at Carly in disbelief.
How is that possible?
“What color were his eyes, Jake?” she asked, sympathetic.
“They… they were like Darryl’s eyes… except… they had these black lines in them. An-And the edges were… they were bright green! And then, all of a sudden, they flashed black and these bright green beams emitted from them. It was scary!”
Carly carefully placed her hand over mine. She smiled at me. “I believe you,”
“You do?”
“Yeah,”
“Thanks,” I smiled right back at her. She tossed her hair from her face.
“Let’s finish this ice cream,” she said.
“Okay.” I smiled at her. I pushed the bowl in the middle and we started eating it. We used two different spoons, but it was the most romantic thing I’d ever done.
We kept smiling like complete goofballs, until the ice cream was finished. I walked her home.
“Thanks Carly,” I said again, “For everything,”
“No problemo, Jake!” she replied, squeezing my hand. Yes! We were holding hands!
“You’re amazing!” I told her, “And you look beautiful,”
It was true. The setting sun made her hair look like golden fire and her eyes flashed from blue to green.
“I know,” she said. “And you don’t look to bad too.”
I smiled at her.
“Well,” she began. “This is my house, so see you tomorrow at the awards ceremony. Bye!” She leaned over and gave me a quick peck on the cheek.
I smiled at her in disbelief and wonder. She turned a rosy pink and left. I felt my own cheeks heating up, but I didn’t care. I could only focus on the bubble of emotion swelling up inside. “Yes!” I yelled, pumping my fist in the air and kicking out at an unknown assassin. I ran to my house, ready to tell Dad and Harrison the good news.
The Super 4 : Dark Death Page 12