by Katrina Cope
Robert nodded enthusiastically. “They’ll add a little bit more excitement to my food. You should try some,” he said to Jayden.
“Oh, what the heck. Why not? My hands are burning, why not my mouth and stomach too? Can you hold one out so that I can nibble it?”
“Sure!” Robert grabbed one and held out for Jayden to nibble.
Jayden bit the end off and started to chew. A little bit of a watery tear began to well up in the corner of his eye, and his nose started to run a little, but he didn’t mind the taste and enjoyed the spiciness.
“It is actually quite nice,” he said, surprised. “In fact, I quite like it. It will add some extra flavor to some meals,” he agreed. “But I won’t be able to eat a whole one like you, Robert.”
“I don’t know how you can eat one at all!” exclaimed Aaron, shaking his head in disbelief.
“Well, I’m not much use here, so I’m going to excuse myself to Ms. Helen, grab some more ice for my bucket, and go to the toilet,” Jayden said.
“Whatever you do, don’t touch yourself,” Aaron commented.
Jayden turned around and looked at him, puzzled. “What do you mean?” Before Aaron answered him, a look of understanding passed over Jayden’s face. “Ohhh! You mean down there?” He pointed down to his private parts. He could feel the heat hit his face.
Aaron nodded. “That’s the one.”
“Okay. This time, I will definitely take your advice. I’m not playing around with that one,” he said as he wandered off.
Jayden made his way directly to the boys’ bathroom. Little did his friends realize that he wanted to talk to Scarlet. He had one hand in the ice bucket and one holding it, with his insides screaming out over the fiery pain touching all senses in his hand. He stood in front of the bathroom door, contemplating putting the ice bucket down to be able to painfully scan his hand to enter the bathroom. To his relief, however, the door opened up for him as he was trying to work up the courage to touch a warm surface with a burning hand. He walked inside the bathroom, and the door closed behind him. All the cubicles were open, and no one was standing in the bathroom.
Realizing he was alone, he spoke out loud. “Thank you, Scarlet!”
Only a brief moment passed before the pale-skinned, red-haired hologram of Scarlet appeared in front of him. He jumped at first, as he was still not used to seeing her this way.
“No problem,” she said, pulling her shoulders back proudly. “Besides, I was curious to see what you’re doing with that bucket.”
“Yeah, as embarrassing as it is, I was going to ask for your advice.”
She gave him a curious look, covered with a smirk. “And?”
“I have chili burn, and I wanted to know if you could find the remedy. Pleeease,” he begged her.
Her smirk grew. “Oh, I know. I just wanted to hear you say it.” She giggled. “It just makes it so much funnier.”
“You can be so nasty sometimes, Scarlet.” He feigned hurt.
“Yeah, yeah. I know, keep your knickers on.” Her eyes glazed over for a second. “Toothpaste.”
Jayden gawked at her. “What?”
“Toothpaste,” she repeated.
“Ahhh! Yeah, that’s what I thought you said,” Jayden said, thinking she’d just blown her mainframe.
“So, toothpaste is your answer,” she repeated.
“Answer to what?”
“Your chili problem, dummy.”
“Toothpaste?”
“Yes. Rub it on your hands,” she said. “It won’t be instant, but it’ll help.”
“Oookaay,” he said hesitantly. “At least I’ve come to the right place.” He walked over to the basin, put his bucket down, dried his hands, reached for the toothpaste, and slathered it all over his hands. “You know, I can feel it starting to work. Thank you, Scarlet. If I could hug you, I would.”
“No problem. I’ll take a rain check on the hug,” she said with a hint of sadness.
“Hey, Scarlet.”
“Yeah?”
“Seeing we’re alone again, can you tell me what you meant before by saying all is not what it seems when it comes to computer entry and programming?” he asked.
Her image started to fade in and out. “Oh dear. Having problems. Gotta go.” And she disappeared.
“Scarlet!” Jayden grumbled at her, annoyed with the lack of response. He wanted to exit the bathroom and so grabbed his ice bucket. Pain once again shot through his hands when they touched the container. He yelled at Scarlet, “It still hurts, you know.”
No response again.
He walked toward the door, and it opened automatically, letting him out. “Funny how you can respond to that,” he muttered angrily. He stormed toward the dining room, as it was time for lunch. He walked with an angry stride while holding his hands up and away from him. The toothpaste hadn’t dried yet, and he didn’t want to get it all over his clothes and everything else. He placed the container in the kitchen, ignored everyone’s questioning looks, and headed directly to the dining room. It was mostly empty, and they were starting to bring the food out, including a nice selection of freshly cooked hamburgers. He couldn’t resist them. Even with his sore hands, he jumped up and grabbed one before they disappeared, adding some fries on the side. He took a seat and waited for his friends to join him. While he waited, he used a fork to pick up the fries as painlessly as possible then devoured them one by one.
Robert was one of the first of his friends to join him at the table. “Hey, why don’t you put a couple of chilies on that burger to give it an extra kick?” He pulled out his small jar of chilies.
Jayden thought about it for only a moment then agreed. “Why not?” He reached into the jar with a spoon, opening his hamburger to sprinkle a few cut-up chilies inside. His hand slipped, and he ended up putting on a little more than he had first intended. He shrugged and thought he would pick them off if they turned out to be too strong. Aaron arrived in time to see him placing them on the burger and shook his head in disbelief.
Eva arrived not long after and looked at his hands. “I heard about your little chili dilemma.” She giggled at his expense. “You should’ve taken the advice.”
“Yeah, yeah. You’re all experts in hindsight,” he grumbled, not in the mood for another lecture.
“What on earth is that on your hands?” She squinted as she peered at them.
“Toothpaste.”
“What?” they all asked at once.
“That’s what I said, but it actually works to a point. Better than anything else I’ve tried so far.”
“Where on earth did you find that out?” Eva almost squealed in laughter.
“I searched up on Scarlet’s system for any information about relief from chili burns, and this was what came up,” he lied, having no idea why he was still protecting her secret. She kept shutting him out of the conversation when he really needed an answer.
“I’ll have to try that sometime. I’ve never thought about it,” Eva said, sounding amazed.
“I knew that was a good way,” Robert said, straightening his shoulders.
“Well, did you ever think of filling us in on the knowledge?” Eva said. “You’re always such an expert on these things after we’ve found out the hard way.”
“Maybe next time.” He shrugged.
Jayden picked up his burger cautiously in both hands and went to take a bite when it was suddenly whipped out of his hands. After the initial shock wore off, he had a quick look around to see where his precious burger had gone. He didn’t have to look far, as right next to him was Taylor with Jayden’s burger firmly held in his hands. His minions Ben, Declan, and Damian were standing not far away from him.
“I hear you injured yourself today, Jenkins,” Taylor said in mock sympathy while looking at Jayden’s hands. “So I’ll do you a favor today and take this off your hands so that you don’t injure them any more.” Before Jayden could respond, Taylor took the biggest bite he could from the burger, filling his cheeks with f
ood. He started chewing. “Happy to help!” he added with his mouth full of food.
It was only a short wait before his facial expression started to turn into confusion. His chewing slowed, and his face turned bright red. He looked at Jayden with tear-filled eyes. Seeing Jayden’s smirk, he started grabbing napkins off the table and spitting the contents of his mouth into the napkins.
“I can almost see steam come out of your ears,” Jayden joked with his friends at Taylor’s expense. “Here, have a drink of water. That will cool your mouth down.”
Taylor grabbed the glass of water from Jayden and sucked it down. By the time he’d placed his head back into normal position, Jayden could almost swear that he did literally see steam coming out of his ears. He couldn’t confirm it, though, because Taylor had taken off out of the room to stop the flow of snot coming out of his nose. His eyes appeared to be watering profusely, and he seemed to be crying for sure. His giggling minions left, following closely behind him.
“Oh, look! The big toughie is really a big, crying softy,” Aaron said, and they all laughed in agreement.
Chapter Fourteen
Cute & Deadly
The next day, Jayden woke to his hands feeling much better. They were still covered with a thick, crusty layer of dried toothpaste. It had been the most unusual remedy he had ever heard of, but it had worked, so he wasn’t going to question it. When he pressed his fingers together or grabbed something, there was still some pain, but compared to the day before, he felt a huge relief. He made his way to the bathroom, realizing when he was at the door that he had too much toothpaste on his hand and it had to be scanned.
“Scarlet, open the door, please,” he muttered, still a little annoyed she wasn’t telling him everything.
The door slid open without delay, and he walked on through, making his way straight to the basin to wash off the toothpaste. He glanced around the bathroom, expecting Scarlet to ambush him like she usually did when he was in the bathroom alone. He was not disappointed. He had just finished washing his hands when he turned around to see her hologram.
“Morning, Jayden!” Her voice was cheerful.
“Scarlet.” He acknowledged her without emotion or enthusiasm.
“How’re your hands?” she asked, trying to be friendly. “Are they still hot?”
“They’re a bit better.” He understated, trying not to make out that she had helped him a lot.
She watched him vigorously drying his hands on the towel, and the corner of her mouth lifted in a knowing smile. “You’re still mad at me, I see.”
“Usually, friends don’t hold out important information from each other. But you’re holding crucial information, and you refuse to tell me, yet you claim to be my friend.” He turned his back to her.
“You’re one to speak. You’re holding information from your friends about me. So doesn’t that make you a hypocrite?” Her expression was smug.
Jayden’s mouth opened in disbelief as he spun to look at her. He was going to say something in return but stopped. He shook his head and turned to leave in disgust. When he reached the door, he stopped and said, “I was keeping your secret, Scarlet, because that’s what you asked me to do. I don’t want to keep it from my friends, and it would be easier if you told them or let me tell them, but I was keeping my word, as that’s what friends do.” He said the words in staccato. He moved closer to the door, ready to leave.
“Wait!” Scarlet said, sounding panicked. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have said that. You’re right. It’s just… I… want to tell you,” she stammered, “but I can’t.”
Jayden spun around to look at her. “What do you mean you can’t tell me?” He crossed his arms across his chest, remaining annoyed at her. “It’s more like you won’t tell me.”
She shook her head, her holographic face full of sadness. “No, Jayden, I do want to tell you.”
“Okay then, start speaking.” He stood in front of her with his legs firmly planted and arms remaining crossed across his chest. “I’m listening.”
Scarlet sighed in resignation. “Okay, here goes.” Her mouth continued to move, but nothing was coming out. Her hands were moving about as though she was describing things, and her mouth continuing to move as though she was telling a story. At the same time, her face held a deep sadness.
Jayden’s eyebrows creased together in confusion. “What are you doing, Scarlet? You’re supposed to be telling me, not playing charades.”
She shook her head at him, “It’s not me. It’s—” Her voice went silent again as her mouth moved. Knowing that nothing was sounding out loud, she stopped trying to speak, and her shoulders slumped forward with disappointment and frustration.
“Are you trying to tell me that someone has programmed you so that you cannot tell me?” he asked, not believing her silence.
She nodded. “I didn’t disappear on you before when you asked me. I was cut out before I could tell you, and then they reprogrammed me, so now I simply can’t tell you. It is so frustrating.”
“Okay.” He gave up his annoyance with her. “I understand now. We will have to find a way around it.”
She nodded in agreement. “And I will tell your friends shortly about me so that you don’t have to keep this secret from them anymore.”
“Thank you. That would be great. I have to go and get some breakfast before my next lesson.” He turned to leave. Before he reached the door, he turned back around. “Oh, and Scarlet…”
“Yes?”
“Thanks for the toothpaste tip. It really did help.” He exited the door, leaving Scarlet’s hologram standing in the middle of the boys’ bathroom with a big smile on her face.
After a light breakfast, they made their way to the Tae Kwon Do room, ready for their fitness lesson of the day. Aaron had already done his warm-up, as he did every morning. The other three had only just crawled out of bed.
Entering the room, they noticed that Avando was not there.
“Looks like I’ll be taking the lesson today,” Aaron said. He left them and moved his way to the front of the room, ready to instruct. “Okay, everyone. Start lining up and move to your places. Let’s get started!” he said with excitement and authority mixed into one.
He was very young to be an instructor in a class of his peers. However, they had respect for his skill in the art of Tae Kwon Do and did not have trouble following his instruction there.
Robert had brought Shelly in with him to the class and had her stand at the side of the room to watch.
Once lined up, he started a drill of warm-ups with a series of punches and kicks. Jayden had moved a few paces up the line since he had arrived at the Sanctum. A couple of new students in their age group had come in the last year, and he had moved up a little faster than some others, thanks to spending some extra time training with Aaron, but he was still close to the back of the class. Robert was now only two people ahead of him. Shelly stood on the side, keeping a close eye on him, even copying his moves.
Jayden thought it was cute. Eva was in the second row.
Not far behind him, Jessica was lined up, her silky blond hair pulled away from her face into a ponytail, revealing her sky-blue eyes. She was continually doing a friendly little wave at Aaron, followed by a schoolgirl giggle when he looked at her and smiled. Aaron’s face was turning red over the attention, but he did his best to retain his serious instructor pose. Jayden shook his head in disbelief at the pathetic display. They weren’t going out, as such, but Aaron was smitten with her. Jayden wasn’t too sure how Jessica felt about Aaron, as she was overly friendly with all the boys. The more the boys seemed to like her, the more she seemed to give them doting attention. Jayden, on the other hand, saw Jessica as a sister. In return, that was the kind of response he received from her.
When they had finished practicing all the different kicks and punches, Aaron said, “Now, we are going to move on to sparring. Everyone is to pair up with the person next to them. We are going to spar half a class at a time,” he said, spli
tting the class into two so that there was enough room for the different groups to fight at the same time.
Jayden was up first with his partner. He was glad his sparring partner was James, who even after all these years had two left feet. He knew he would have a better chance with James than against other students that had been doing it as long as James.
James’s pale-brown hair was a little longer and was so fine in texture that it fell nicely around his face. Some of the hair at the front fell into his eyes, causing him to flick his head around like he had some sort of uncontrollable twitch. This annoyed Jayden, though after a while, he was able to ignore it and concentrate on his sparring, managing to get a few kicks in and hitting the targets on James’s padding.
He heard a loud bang off to the left, and Shelly yelled at someone. Glancing over, Jayden saw Robert on the floor holding his thigh. Standing not far from Robert was Damian with a giant smirk on his face.
“What are you doing to my Robbie?” Shelly yelled at Damian. Her brow was creased, and her blond curls bounced. “You spar properly and leave my Robbie alone.” Her hands were balled into fists by her side as her three-year-old voice boomed across the room.
Jayden couldn’t help but smile at the seriousness from such a small, cute figure.
Aaron immediately went over to see if Robert was all right. “Hey, man. Can you get up?”
Robert nodded while moving to get up, still rubbing the sore spot on his leg.
Damian’s smirk had not escaped Aaron’s attention. “This is not a full sparring exercise. It is for light contact only, for target practice.” He spoke to the whole classroom while mostly looking at Damian. “Okay, get back to it!”
The students continued. It wasn’t long before Jayden saw a large frame flying across the room. He looked toward the movement, and once again it was Robert gliding backward across the room. When he managed to stop himself, he clasped his stomach in pain.
Damian was smiling shamelessly at the outcome.
“Let me at him!” Shelly yelled, shaking her little fist at him aggressively. “I’ll show him, hurting my Robbie like that!”