I looked at him, raising an eyebrow. “You okay, Jeff?”
“Well, my friend, I did it … I never thought I’d be so nervous!” he chuckled.
“Did what?” I asked, gesturing for him to continue his words.
“She said yes,” he said, with a wide smile.
“You asked Jennifer out for a date?”
“This Friday night,” Jeffrey replied.
“That’s great, buddy,” I told him, throwing a friendly fist to his massive shoulder.
I placed my books at the top shelf and locked back my locker door. We both strolled toward the cafeteria.
Among the busy lunchtime atmosphere, we soon sat down with our trays of meatloaf.
“So, you just asked her now?” I said, taking my first bite.
“Yeah. She was alone at her locker when I went over. She threw me a bright smile, and told me that she was going to eat out for lunch with her other girlfriends.”
“Yeah, Sam told me this morning she was going to eat out for lunch,” I stated.
“So, how did it go with your job interview? Did you get the job?” Jeffrey asked.
“It seemed like it went well. I don’t know about the job yet. He said he’ll call me.” I was feeling foolishly bad for lying at my best friend. Also, feeling worse for lying at my own family – doing it for a good cause.
“I spoke with my uncle yesterday afternoon,” Jeffrey said. “I’ll be starting my part-time job next week.”
“That’s great. We need a little money now we have our girls,” I laughed.
“Oh, yeah! I forgot to tell you,” Jeffrey broke out.
“What?”
“My uncle has old laptops stored in his stockroom. Actually, they’re not really outdated. He’s selling them for a really cheap price for liquidating some of his older inventory. And he could make a good friendly price, if you're interested.”
“That sounds cool!” I exclaimed. “It’s always handy to have a spare computer.”
“I’ve already checked them out. It’s good quality.”
“I’m interested.”
“All right, we'll pass by and check it out,” Jeffrey said.
CHAPTER 23
“I really think they make a nice couple, don’t you think?” Samantha said, lifting her gaze from her books. She lay with her belly on her bed, swinging her bare feet in the air.
I sat next to her bed on the chair from her desk. After school, Samantha invited me to her house, spending quality time, while doing our homework together.
“Yeah, I think so too,” I replied, smiling back at her.
I watched her write a few lines of mathematical equations into her spiral notebook, while glancing into her math book, at times.
Putting my nose into my own books, I couldn’t help from glancing at Samantha several times. She was just beautiful, watching her study and swinging her feet in the air, noticing her cute pink pedicure.
“Hey, hey, hey!” she said, pointing her pencil toward me while smiling. “Nose in your books young man! Time to study.” She then winked.
“Yes, ma’am!” I said, writing the last lines of equations into my notebook and finally closing all of my books. “All done!”
“You are?” She looked at me with wide eyes.
“Yup.”
“Damn! I’m only halfway through. I wish I was as good as you with math.”
“I’ll give you a hand,” I offered.
“I’m kind of hungry,” she said. “You wanna take a little break and have a sandwich?”
“All right.”
We descended the stairs as the phone started ringing. Samantha quickened her pace toward the kitchen and took the call from the kitchen counter.
“Yes?” she answered.
The faint voice of a woman was heard from the other end of the telephone line.
“Yes … sure no problem,” Samantha added. “All right, I’ll be there for six-thirty … Bye.” She then hung up the phone.
“Everything all right?” I asked, watching her smile even though rolling her eyes. Her stunning way of being incredibly expressive with her eyes.
“I’m going to babysit, tonight,” she replied.
“Oh! That’s not something bad is it?” I said.
“No, of course not. In fact I’m lucky to be able to do it often,” she affirmed. “Having lots of references, it gives me good money for the moment before I get myself a real job.”
“Absolutely.”
“How about you? How was your job interview?” she asked, opening the fridge, taking out packages of cold cuts, lettuce and mayo.
“The interview went good, the manager told me that he’ll probably call me,” I heard myself lying again.
She then slid up the bread box door, revealing a fresh and thick crusty bread. “Don’t worry about it,” she said, opening her arms. “Come here!”
I turned around the counter toward Samantha as we both fell into each other’s arms.
“You’re a smart guy,” she breathed. “I’m sure you’ll get the job. And if not this one, you’ll get another one.”
“I’m not worried about that,” I assured.
“I love you, Derek,” she whispered.
“I love you too, Samantha,” I told her.
CHAPTER 24
After eating the amazingly delicious sandwich made by my girlfriend, I let her go prepare herself for her babysitting night. I directed my steps toward home, where Jeffrey soon picked me up for his uncle’s electronic store.
We arrived at the store’s parking lot, as I glanced up at the bright illuminated sign: Tony’s Electros.
Entering the store, we immediately strolled our way toward the stock room, accompanied by his uncle Tony – a fifty-year-old man as thin as a rail, black hair, with a mustache that seemed to accentuate a severe temper. But he was a total different person from what he appeared, once you got to know him. He wore black trousers and a red T-shirt with the store’s logo, printed in white.
“Here they are,” Jeffrey said, pulling a laptop out of its box.
“They look brand new!” I called out.
“Actually, they are,” Tony said. “They’re in perfect condition. Powerfully built, very well made equipment. I have the demo in my office.”
“So, what’s the problem? Why wouldn’t people buy them?” Jeffrey asked.
“They came without a pre-installed operating system,” Tony explained. “The hard drives are completely empty, although being properly formatted. They were supposed to have a working system, but by the time I found out, it was already too late. I got stuck with those.”
“That’s not much of a problem, since there are so many open source, free operating systems available for direct download,” I said.
“For most people, Derek, it’s a hard-to-understand thing to do,” Jeffrey stated.
“Not everybody are real computer geeks like we are. Although many people think they are smart with computers just by social networking,” Tony teased.
“I’ll be taking a laptop,” Jeffrey told his uncle.
“Yeah, me too,” I said.
“For a very good price, how does forty bucks sound?”
“That’s perfect,” I agreed.
Jeffrey nodded.
CHAPTER 25
Arriving home, the time on my watch turned to seven-fifteen p.m. I stepped into the entrance with my backpack on one shoulder and the cardboard box containing my new laptop, tucked under my arm. I put everything down, taking off my jacket.
I smiled at my little brother, seeing him walk out of the living room and draw close to the entrance.
“Hey! What’s in the box?” he wondered.
“Laptop computer,” I said.
“You got yourself a new computer?” my dad uttered from the living room, lifting his gaze away from the TV.
“I got it, brand new, for forty dollars from Tony’s Electros, the store owned by Jeff’s uncle.”
Walking toward the living room, I unpacked t
he device on the large coffee table. I heaved the computer from the box and flipped it open.
My brother stood close admiring the new device as well.
“Looks pretty nice!” my father exclaimed. “But why so cheap?”
“Jeff’s uncle received them without a pre-installed operating system.”
“Ah! That’s why.” My father nodded. “The good thing is that you have the vast choice of installing whatever system you want.”
“Obviously,” I said.
“You think he has anymore of these?”
“He has a whole shelf full of them,” I replied.
“Can I get one too?” my brother asked.
“We could share it,” I told him. “It’s purposely to use as a spare computer.”
Thomas nodded and smiled in agreement.
“A spare computer?” my mom said, ambling around the couch with a cup of tea. “Don’t we have enough computers and machines in this house?” she added, sitting next to my dad.
“Well, I think my computer’s getting old,” my dad said.
My mom rolled her eyes, taking a long sip of tea.
“I’m gonna go program it,” I said, boxing up the device.
Climbing the stairs to my room, I entered, placing the box under my desk.
No time for this, right now.
I remained standing in my room, knowing what I had to do next … To take care of my secret job.
CHAPTER 26
Standing in the simulation hall, wearing my suit, my training continued with further instructions about transmitting myself to unknown places and time periods.
Thomas also wore his suit, standing a few meters away, explaining further knowledge about my increasing capability.
“At first, you began transmitting yourself, without your control, to places and time periods that were completely strange to you,” he said. “Now, you’re just beginning to transmit yourself to a few places.”
I frowned. “Just beginning?”
“You still have a lot to learn,” he stated. “You need to increase your speed.”
“But how can I transmit myself faster?”
“Practice … by practicing you’ll develop speed and get more used to it. Even transmitting yourself with your eyes open.” He sighed. “By getting used to it, you’ll suddenly come to envision the time line.”
“To know where I’m headed …” I guessed.
“That’s right,” Thomas said. “By achieving advance training, you’ll come to sense and see through your mind the time and place you are headed.”
“That would be awesome … it would make things easier,” I concluded.
“We have to work hard, Derek,” he urged. “The more training you get, the higher the chances for you to be able to protect yourself and get away in lightening speed.”
I nodded in agreement.
“We will train intensively, for you to master your capability as quick as possible. To get through this you’ll have to listen to everything I tell you. And I’m sorry to say this, but we don’t have much time.”
“Then I’m ready,” I said determinedly.
My training proceeded as I sought to get through with it.
I began transmitting myself back and forth to various parts of the X-Agency facility. Even from my own bedroom, then back to the simulation hall – slowly developing the ability of increasing my speed.
Then Thomas ran various simulation programs, starting once again with The Night Falling: the one of falling from the sky and descending into a vast city.
Then Another program of being chased through dark concrete hallways, of some kind of abandoned warehouse, by black ninjas, swiveling their massive swords at me.
Then there was another program, which was quite similar, except for being chased around by police officers within a huge skyscraper – the goal of transmitting myself away before getting caught.
As for another drill, Thomas threw a steel bottle to the other end of the simulation hall, for me to transmit to the precise spot and catch it. Well, actually, we sort of lost count of all the times it took before I got to catch the first one. Once again, I slowly began to get the hang of it. The exercise continued by using a glass bottle.
“Just relax and focus,” Thomas said.
He threw the glass bottle as I immediately disappeared from one point and reappeared to the right spot, with the bottle bouncing on the side of my palm and shattering to the floor.
“Damn it!” I breathed.
“Let’s do it again,” he said.
Once again the bottle thrown toward the other end of the hall, I quickly tried to envision where the bottle would land, then transmitting to the precise spot.
I caught the bottle with both hands.
CHAPTER 27
The following morning, we started the day with gym class. All the boys from our usual classes, teamed up for a quite competitive basketball game. The girls had their usual classes with another gym teacher, performing gymnastics.
Jeffrey and I played on the same team along with pretty talented players. But our adversary team also held strong guys: some of them were very tall – catching the ball, sure to mark a score.
We all worked our minds for the most outstanding game strategies, giving it all our might. With dripping sweat, none of us were close to show the slightest reluctance for giving up, or slowing down. Holding a good focus, I scored a point each time I caught the ball, either from a teammate or from the loss of an adversary.
Mr. Goodman blew his whistle: the piercing sound echoing through the whole gymnasium, also probably heard through some nearby corridors.
“Class dismissed! That was quite a game there, boys!” he shouted.
Mr. Goodman was an average height man, thinly shaped with thinning hair, also keeping a clean trimmed beard. He was the kind of teacher who had the perfect humorous personality to encourage anybody.
It was the end of the game where we were beaten by one point. While some boys crumbled down on a few benches, the rest of us panted, resting on the gymnasium’s floor.
In the following minute, we all strolled to the changing room. I took a quick shower, then quickly dried myself up, cooling down and energizing up for my next class.
I got to my locker and fiddled my combination. Grabbing the books for my second class of the day, English, I noticed Jeffrey walking by, carrying his bag to his shoulder.
Turning to him, he seemed upset, staring back at me disapprovingly.
“What’s up, buddy?” I demanded.
He quickly turned away, glancing at several corners. Then he turned back at me, leaning close. “Are you in some kind of trouble, or something?” he whispered.
“Trouble?” I frowned.
He nodded vigorously.
“Why would I be in trouble?” I asked.
“I don’t know, but there’s some guy walking the school’s main hallway, near the cafeteria, asking around for you.”
Old Thomas must be looking for me, I thought.
Peeking above Jeffrey’s shoulder, I held a careful eye, trying to spot Thomas … or perhaps someone else?
“I first thought that he might be a cop. But then I wasn’t so sure. He’s wearing a long dark-gray coat,” Jeffrey explained.
“Can you see him?”
Jeffrey shook his head. “Can you tell me what this is all about?”
“I have no damn idea,” I replied.
I let Jeffrey walk past me, ambling his way to class, while I decided to scuttle to the end of my locker row. I then made a turn, heading toward the entrance, planning to get to a secure location to transmit myself to the X-Agency facility.
But I abruptly came face with a man – long dark-gray coat, tall, black hair and blue eyes that seemed awfully unnatural.
“Well, Derek Trevor!” he exclaimed.
I gazed back monotonously, without replying.
“I’m Detective Shelby,” he pronounced without showing any proof. Then he laid out his hand.
&nbs
p; Somehow, I felt eager to impoliteness, not bothering myself with the handshake for the simple reason that something didn’t smell right about this sudden encounter. I obviously came with the assumption that he might have been one of the bad guys – perhaps from the so-called Elites. If it happened to be so, I wasn’t willing to escape so quickly, for the fear that he might get to my friends and family.
Time Leap: A Teen Superheroes Saga Page 6