It didn’t make any sense. The process should have been grounded with no conductor between the two of us. My phone started to ring, though, and I couldn’t think about it anymore. I would write it down in the journal and remember to ask the doctor about it during the interview next week. Of course, it was probably just in my head. With the luck I’d had lately, I was probably stuck with the placebo.
“Hey, Grandma,” I said quickly as I answered the phone. “Is everything okay? I thought that you were working today.”
“Well, I left work a little early to see if you wanted to grab some dinner. I never thought that you might not be here. Is everything okay with you?”
“Yeah,” I said, quickly taking in my surroundings and deciding how long it would take me to get back. “I was just tutoring someone, but I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
“Great,” she said.
I could tell that there was something else going on with her. She never called me. Her general belief was that phones were pointless. Anything important could wait until you saw someone face to face. It was an instinct, like when the pastor of my mother’s church had shown up at my doorstep. I knew he wasn’t there looking for my mom. He already knew that she was dead.
“Grandma,” I said carefully, “What’s going on?”
She let out a heavy sigh. “I don’t want you to be worried, okay? Everything is going to be fine. Your grandfather was taken to the hospital this afternoon. They think that he had a mild heart attack.”
My heart started to race and my fingers tingled again. I quickly clenched my fists to try to get the blood flowing again. It was the only thing that it could be. Maybe whatever they injected me with was some sort of blood thinner for clotting patients. Either way, I had to stay focused.
“What happened?” I said as I jogged through the streets.
“Well, we don’t have a whole lot of details right now. I just got back from seeing him. He seems fine, but they want to keep him overnight for observation. I really don’t want you to worry, okay? Just get back here and we will go out and have dinner.”
“No,” I said as I choked back the tears. “If Grandpa is in the hospital, then I want to go see him. If that’s okay with you.”
“Its fine with me, but Benji, don’t worry too much about him right now. This isn’t like your parents, okay? He’s going to be fine.”
“Yeah, you keep saying that, but you know what? My mother said the same thing when she and my dad left. So, if it’s all the same to you, I’d like to go and see him.”
“Okay, Benji, whatever you want.”
Chapter 5
The hospital was packed with people. Unlike the small clinic back home, I knew that I wouldn’t recognize anyone as my grandmother spoke to the receptionist. I did my best to keep my cool, the tingling in my hands still coming and going on occasion. My grandmother finally made her way back to me, and I took a deep breath, bracing myself for what was coming. He was a fighter and he was strong, but my hope and faith in people had been lost long ago.
“Hey,” I said softly to my grandma. “How is he doing?”
She took a ragged breath. “The nurse said that we can go and see him but we need to keep him calm. They have him on a few different medications to regulate his heart now.”
“Okay,” I said, my throat dry. “Ready?”
She took my hand and pulled me along. I didn’t let go, knowing that she needed me to be strong for her. I took a deep breath as we went into his hospital room. His eyes flew open the second the door creaked, and he looked over at us, squinting against the dim light.
“I don’t want any of your damn painkillers, woman, now leave me alone!” he said.
“Carl!” My grandmother said quickly.
At once, he looked sheepish and smiled at her. “Sorry, Mave, I thought you were that nurse again,” he grumbled. “This place is worse than a drug den as much as they want to push those pills on you.”
“Carl, you just had a heart attack. Taking a painkiller won’t make you a druggie.”
It was easy to see that my grandfather was fine. He was his usual cheerful self as the nurse came in and checked his vitals. I could tell right away that he’d been giving her a hard time, but I couldn’t say that I was surprised. My grandma tried to tell me that he was fine before but I wouldn’t believe her. Now that I’d seen it with my own eyes, I was a little more at ease.
“How are you feeling, Grandpa?” I asked him.
He smiled at me. “Like a fool. I knew those burgers were going to catch up with me sooner or later. Luckily, old Billy had one last year and jumped into action.”
“Pfft,” my grandma huffed. “Billy probably couldn’t jump if there was a hundred-dollar bill dangling in front of him.”
The two of them started to bicker in the loving way that I was growing accustomed to, and I leaned back in the chair. The tingling sensation in my hands had finally stopped, and I started to scroll through my phone. It wasn’t lost on me that Hen’s party was quickly approaching. She’d been posting an array of pictures all afternoon of the decorations, her friends and her shopping, and more alcohol than a small country could need. Still, I wasn’t sure if I was going to go.
The few guys that I’d bonded with in science class all seemed to think it was a bad idea. None of them were going, but they also didn’t know Hen. Not that I knew her well, but she’d accepted the friend request, which had to mean something. This was supposed to be a fresh start for me. In Oregon, I had let bullies like Buzz tell me what I could and couldn’t do, but a surge of courage suddenly shot through me in a split second and I made a decision.
“Hey,” I said to my grandparents. At once, they both stopped and looked at me. “If everything is okay here, I was thinking about going out for a little bit.”
“Oh?” My grandma said, her eyebrows raised. “Anything in particular?”
I shifted uneasily in my seat, the tingling in my fingers returning for a second. “Well, there’s a girl in my class and she’s having a party. I thought I would stop by.”
“Drinking?” she asked pointedly.
“I don’t know if the other kids are going to be drinking, but I sure as heck wont. I’ve tried it before,” I told her honestly. “And I didn’t like it one bit. It just makes you stupid.”
“You could take a page from his book,” she muttered to my grandpa.
“Now, don’t start on that again. A few drinks didn’t cause this and you know it.”
They went back to bickering and I cleared my throat loudly. “So?”
She smiled. “Go have fun, honey, but be safe. Let me know if you end up needing a ride.”
“Thanks, Grandma. I won’t be out too late,” I promised her.
Before either of them could change their minds, I quickly kissed my grandmother’s forehead and squeezed my grandpa’s hand. I practically ran out of the hospital. They were never my favorite place to begin with, but now it was overpowering as I took a breath of the air on the street. It stunk, as it always had, but at least the smell of sterilized metal and sickness was gone. I jogged the few short blocks back to the apartment and quickly looked through the sparse wardrobe that I’d brought with me.
It took me an hour to settle on wearing the same thing that I already had on. There was no point in changing since everything I had looked the same anyway. It would have to do. I unplugged my phone from the charger and mentally jotted down her address as I made my way back out to the road and hailed a cab. The driver didn’t say a word to me, thankfully, during the short ten-minute trip. I gave him my last few dollars as a tip and got out a block from the party.
Hen lived in a modest neighborhood, nothing to write home about but not crappy either. The cars were lined up on either side of the road. As the sun set in the sky, I heard the music as I rounded the corner and saw my fellow classmates shuffling into the sun-faded blue house. My heart was racing as I followed a group of girls up the walkway and took a deep breath. This was a fresh start. Hen wou
ldn’t mind my being there, I promised myself.
Before I could muster the courage to walk inside, I turned around as a familiar voice boomed from the road. It was Buzz. He hadn’t noticed me yet, thankfully. I saw two of them get out of the car, and for a second, I wondered if I was seeing doubles. I rubbed my eyes and stepped aside as two guys shoved past me. Buzz was yelling at the taller guy who was with him. They had to be related, if not identical twins, but Buzz had considerably more muscles than the newcomer. I stepped behind a tree, not hiding but not wanting to be noticed by him right away either.
“I don’t know why you’re even here. You don’t go to school with me anymore. No one wants you here, Andy.”
“Shut up, Buzz,” said the lanky boy. “I go to the same school as you. I just don’t have to go every day, okay?”
“Yeah, because you’re a huge tool. Just stay out of my way. I don’t want your geek stench lingering around me.”
“Right,” Andy said, “Because that’s a real thing, you idiot.”
Buzz shoved his brother after looking back to make sure their ride had pulled away. The kid stumbled away from him and fell into a nearby bush as Buzz stormed past me. I quickly jogged over to where the kid had fallen and offered him my hand. Now that I was closer, I could see a few subtle differences. He was definitely thinner than Buzz, and he wore a pair of thin glasses. As he got back onto his feet and wiped the dirt off himself, he looked up at me.
“Thanks,” he muttered. “That guy can be a real prick.”
“Friend of yours?” I asked sarcastically.
He chuckled. “If he were a friend, I could get rid of him. Unfortunately, that asshole is my younger brother.”
“Wow, sorry to hear that,” I said.
“Yeah, me too. Don’t worry, I’m nothing like him. He really is a pecker. I don’t like to tell people that we’re related.”
“I don’t blame you,” I said as I held out my hand. “Name’s Benji. I just moved here.”
“Andy. Everyone calls me The Genius, though,” he said confidently.
“Well,” I muttered. “Modesty is overrated.”
“Hey,” he said with a shrug. “Just telling the truth. I graduated two years before the rest of my class. I should be in eleventh grade right now, but instead, I’m already done.”
“Are you in college?”
He shook his head. “I didn’t want to go yet. God knows I get enough shit for being this young and graduated. The last thing I need is a bunch of college kids giving me even more trouble. Naw, I’m taking a few years off.”
“How old are you?” I asked him.
“Just turned seventeen,” he said. “So what’s your story? Move to the big city to join the lacrosse team?”
“Hell, no,” I said quickly. “My parents died so I had to move in with my grandparents. I’m like you, man, just doing my time till I can get away from here.”
“This doesn’t seem like your type of party,” said Andy.
“You don’t really blend in either. So how old is Buzz then?”
“Eighteen and a half. Dumbass got held back in tenth grade.”
“Wow,” I said with a grin. “No surprise there. I guess I see why Hen likes him then. At least he can buy her cigarettes if she wanted.”
“I doubt it. The dumbass doesn’t even drive yet. Instead he just has our driver take him anywhere. I would give anything to be done with my parents’ place.” His eyes grew wide. “Oh.”
“It’s okay. I don’t want everyone to walk on eggshells around me. Just because my parents aren’t around anymore doesn’t mean everyone’s are suddenly the gold standard. I take it yours are less than helpful?”
“They’re gone most of the time, which is nice. They leave me alone but still won’t foot the bill for college until I’m old enough. It’s a pain, but I get where they’re coming from. Plus, it gives me more time to tinker with my toys.”
“Toys?” I said in surprise. “You aren’t trying to build a bomb or anything, are you?”
Andy laughed. “Of course not! There’s no challenge in that. I built a replica one for my junior science fair. Nope, I’ve moved on to bigger and better things, ones that shouldn’t explode.”
“Shouldn’t?”
He shrugged. “In theory, they’re stable, but you know how it goes.”
“Um, sure,” I said carefully. “So, it looks like we’re the only unpopular kids here. Think maybe we should stick together? Power in numbers and all that?”
“I guess,” he muttered, looking past me and into the party. “Honestly, I didn’t plan on going in. my parents would never let the driver drop me off where I need to go, though, so I thought this was a good cover.”
The more I talked to Andy, the more I liked him. I had to admit, though, that he seemed a little dangerous in a ‘mad scientist’ sort of way. I wasn’t sure where he was going to go after he left the party or if I was going to go with him, but I knew that I at least wanted to go in for a second. I was trying to make friends, not alienate myself even more. He looked pretty unsure about going inside, though. I needed to sweeten the deal.
“If you’re going somewhere else after you leave here, what if I went with you? You come to the party with me, just for a few minutes, and then we take off.”
“Are you trying to barter with me?” he asked with a grin.
I shrugged. “Just trying to keep everyone safe. I don’t want you going off and buying plutonium on the black market by yourself. They might eat you alive.”
“I don’t need more plutonium,” he said with a confused look on his face.
I raised my eyebrows and took a step away from him. “Umm . . .”
He broke into laughter and clapped me on my shoulder. “I’m kidding, man! God, you’ve really gotta learn to lighten up!”
“Whew,” I said, letting out the breath I’d been holding in. “You had me worried there for a second.”
“Naw, I need some cocaine,” he said pointedly.
I started to laugh. “All right, all right. I get it, make fun of the new kid. So, what do you really need?”
He cocked his head. “I need cocaine.”
“You’re serious?” I asked as he nodded his head. “If you’re supposed to be so smart, then I would think you, of all people, would know just how dangerous drugs like that are for you. I mean come on, that shit will ruin your life!”
Andy rolled his eyes. “It’s not for me to use, Benji, old boy. I’m working on a water-soluble pathogen that would effectively eliminate all the ‘feel good’ components of narcotics. If I can get it right, then I can take it to the government. They can start putting it in everything, then drugs will become obsolete. Addicts wouldn’t be able to get high anymore and the drug industry would die.”
“Whoa!” I said in shock. “That is really impressive! Isn’t there something else that you can use though to test it out on? Something slightly less illegal?”
He shrugged. “Not really. Listen, man, I don’t need you to come with me. You’re the one who offered. The guy I get it from knows me though. I’m not too worried about where I’m going.”
“What does he think you do with it?” I asked. “I’m sure he isn’t giving it to you thinking you’re trying to put him out of business.”
He grinned. “He thinks I sell it to the other students at school. Drug dealers aren’t very smart, you know.”
I sighed. Even though he said it was safe, I still didn’t like the idea of my new friend going to buy drugs alone. It just didn’t feel right. Plus, I wanted a wingman inside with me. I hadn’t done very good so far at making nice with the jocks. Maybe a friendly face, even one they didn’t like such as Andy, would help to smooth things over.
“All right,” I said. “I’ll go with you if you go with me. Power in numbers, right?”
“Sure thing, but I should warn you. Buzz is just the tip of the iceberg with those guys. They’re all assholes. Unless you know how to play lacrosse, the chances of your making any fri
ends inside isn’t very good.”
“Well,” I said confidently, “It’s like your cure to addiction. I won’t know unless I try, right?”
“Right,” he said cheerfully. “Let’s get this show on the road then. I’ve got some drugs to buy.”
With a nervous laugh, I headed for the front door. Andy was one unique character. I could tell that we were going to be very good friends right away. I pushed open the door and the smell of cigarettes and pot hit me like a ton of bricks. I was sure about Andy, but suddenly, I wasn’t so sure about myself.
Chapter 6
It didn’t take long inside the party before Andy and I were sitting on a couch sipping something that the girl in the kitchen simply called, ‘the punch’. I wasn’t a fan, and I had no intention of drinking it after smelling the obviously copious amounts of cheap vodka in it. Andy didn’t seem to have any problems drinking it though. When he finished his glass, I gave him mine and took his empty one.
It wasn’t very late, but I could see Hen from the corner of my eye as she danced to the music. She was obviously drunk already. After a few more sips from the new glass, Andy started to talk to me in a hushed whisper when he saw my eyes locking onto Hen’s shaking and wiggling body.
“You’re barking up the wrong tree there, man,” he slurred.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said as I quickly looked away from Hen. “I’m just trying to enjoy myself.”
“I suggest you enjoy yourself by watching someone else then,” he said quietly. “Hen and Buzz have been together on and off for years. One week, they’re head over heels in love and the next, she’s sending him packing. It’s been the same way for as long as I can remember.”
The City Superhero (Book 1): Rise Of The Super Strike Page 4