Chapter 10: Part 10
The next morning I wake up at the sound of my alarm. Wait, I wake up? Jack didn't start seeing anything last night?
I get out of bed and walk to his room door, I knock and he tells me to come in and I stand by the door. That's weird he's awake before me, "Jack, you didn't see anything last night?" He's sitting at his desk, "No, I did." What? "You didn't start screaming and wake me up, are you sure you saw something?" "Yes Jai, I'm sure, I went to sleep and focused on the not going crazy part, so I didn't." I nod my head, "Okay, so what did you see?" "Later today I'll explain it to all of you, Peter and Ned are coming over again right?" "Yeah," I say. "Okay, so later I'll tell all of you so I don't have to repeat myself." "Alright, get ready so we can go."
Today is Wednesday so we get out of school early due to teacher meetings. I get myself ready and head downstairs for breakfast. I fix myself a bowl of cereal and have an apple, while I wait for Jack I eat. Soon enough Jack comes down the stairs and I hand him the four waffles I put in the toaster and we rush out of the door.
***
At school, we part ways and head to class. In biology, MJ and I start a conversation on the topic of Peter.
"How long have you known Peter?" she asks. "I've known him since I was in kindergarten so about 11 years." I say while nodding, "Damn, that's a long time, I didn't know that." I shrug, "Yeah, it is."
"How come you guys never really talk then?" I look up from my textbook to her, "We do talk." She shakes her head, "I never see you two talk, like ever, except in our meetings." I sigh, "We do talk, last weekend we both went into the city and spent a few hours there, it was actually really fun." I think about how that day ended and feel a little sad, "also we are partners in Spanish, along with Ned."
I have been done with my work and I'm just taking up time now by drawing random shapes in my notebook. "You both went into the city?" says MJ, "Yeah," I reply. "All by yourselves? Just you two?" I nod in confirmation. "Sounds like a date to me." This completely catches me off guard and I accidentally break my pencil, I look at her, "No, no, no, NO, there was no date nor will there ever be a date, Peter and I are just friends and I don't want anything more." MJ rolls her eyes at me and smiles, "Alright, whatever you say."
***
After English class, there's no lunch because today is only a half day, as Wednesday's always are. I make my way to Spanish class and take my seat, Peter is not here yet. Class starts and about five minutes after in walks Peter.
"Sorry I'm late Mr.S, I forgot my stuff in my gym locker." Mr. S waves it off, and Peter takes his seat. Mr.S starts his teaching, and I'm listening till Peter starts talking to me, "Did anything happen with Jack last night?" He whispers. I turn slightly to face him, "Yeah, but he wouldn't tell me, he wants us all to be there when he does." I straighten myself in my seat and turn my attention back to Mr.S.
"What do you think he saw?" Peter whispers again, "I don't know, I just hope it will help us out." "What if it's something big?" "Peter I think this whole situation is something big, now be quiet before you get us both in trouble."
Peter stays quiet for the remainder of the shortened class period, all we learned today was the usual vocabulary reviews, and Mr.S got off topic and started talking about his family. The whole class learned that his wife has a birthmark on her forearm that looks like a rabbit.
In the school parking lot, I wait with Peter at my car for Ned and my brother to come out. "Jai I know I said this already but, what if what Jack tells us is something way over our heads?" I look at him and cross my arms, "You may or may not be right, and if that is true, then we are going to have to rise to the occasion."
Seconds later and I spot Jack and Ned walking towards us. Peter and I get in the car, then Ned and Jack join us. "Okay Jack, we're all here now so what did you see in your dream?"
Jack is in the passenger seat, as usual, he clicks on his seatbelt and begins to speak, "Alright everyone, yesterday was a strange day as you know, at night when I went to sleep," He stops talking. "Are you alright?" I ask him, "Can we actually go home first? I'll tell you all then, I have something to show you all." I nod and drive out of the parking lot.
***
Back at home, we all follow Jack up to his room and when we enter he closes the door. "Okay, I wanted to wait because I drew something that correlates to what I saw." "Well first tell us what you saw," I say. Jack sits down in his desk chair, Ned, Peter, and I all take seats on the floor and Jack begins to talk, "In my dream, I kept seeing the same thing, Jai dying and then everyone else dying, but the thing that's different is I saw this," he grabs a paper from his desk and holds it up to us, "a segment that I remember is this moment, where Jai is laying on the ground pinned down by this big metal glove thing."
"So a glove is going to kill me?" I say. "It's more than just a glove, I don't know what it is but this thing holds some real power." "What else happened when you started seeing?" asks Peter. "This glove kept popping up everywhere, in the same spot when whoever is wearing it kills Jaina, then everyone else dies when the glove wearer makes a fist, they just drop like flies."
"Well, we have to find that glove then right?" says Ned. "And how do you propose we do that? We don't have any clue where to start." I look around at everyone's faces searching for an answer, "I do," says Peter, "Well I don't know where to start but I know someone who can potentially help."
I cock my head and look at him, "Who?" "Uh, no one really, just a friend, I'll talk to him," he avoids eye contact. Well is this a friend who we can trust?" I ask. "Yeah, I trust him, he's a good guy." I let out a breath and slap my hands on my knees, "I trust you Peter, so if you say that your mysterious friend is trustworthy, then okay."
I stand up, "We have to finish our project, and Peter didn't you need help with biology?" "Yeah, that's what I said, biology." "Okay so, Jack you just focus on... seeing things, and we will all focus on trying to decipher what you see alright?" Jack nods and then Peter, Ned and I go downstairs to the living-room.
***
We finish the project within the next two hours and then I begin to help Peter with his biology. This whole time I've been refraining from speaking about the elephant in the room but I can't any longer, "Peter, who is this friend you were talking about?" Ned and Peter glance at each other from opposite sides of the table, Peter shakes his head and speaks, "He's nobody really, just my friend that I met through a job I had, well that I have."
Ned and Peter continue to keep glancing at each other so I know that something is up, I bet I can get the truth from Ned. "So Ned, is there something I should know?" I say with a smile while tilting my head at him. His head snaps up to me and his eyes grow wide, "Uh, no, n- no I don't," He stutters out. "Yes, you do! I can tell that you're hiding something, the both of you!" I turn to Peter, "tell me what's going on." He sighs, "Jai I can't tell you." I throw my pencil down on the table, "and why is that? You obviously told Ned already." Peter clears his throat, "That's because Ned is a guy, and this is guy stuff."
Did he really just pull that card on me? "Guy stuff? Give me a break Peter, are you serious?" He shrugs, "Well... yeah, it's guy stuff and you just wouldn't understand, there's nothing for you to worry over."
I can't deal with their level of stupidity right now, so I get up and storm into the dining room and take a seat. They are acting like we are in middle school all over again, the whole existence of the male species makes my entire being fatigued.
A few minutes later and the two knuckleheads waltz in the room, and take seats at the table. Peter is the first to speak, "Are you mad at us?" I roll my eyes at him, "God you sound like an eight-year-old who just spilled something on the floor," I rub my eyes and lean back in my chair, "No, I am not mad at the two of you, I am irritated with the two of you." If I was mad they would surely know it, I tend to get quite heated... literally.
"Okay listen," says Peter, "I can't tell you who my friend is because it's a secret, he doesn't want people to know who he is." I scoff, "So is your friend Spiderman or something?" Peter's eyes widen at that and he looks down, "It is Spiderman?" I was completely joking when I said that, but Peter and Ned are acting weird. "No, it is not Spiderman, don't be silly, I don't even know Spiderman," he lets out a nervous chuckle, "My friend is a secret alright? I promise he is not involved with anything or anybody shady." I cross my arms, "He is not a secret because you told Ned, you just don't want to tell me." It's silent for a moment before Peter speaks again, "How about this," he scoots his chair closer to me, "If my friend can help us out, then I will tell you who he is." I think about this for a second, "Fine," I get up to head towards the stairs to go to Jack's room, "Come on then." I wait for them to get up and I turn to continue walking but I have a thought, "Oh, and the next time you lie how you want help with your biology homework, Peter, at least get some of the equations wrong." I then turn and saunter up to Jack's room.
Jack's room is basically a boardroom now since we are all always in here talking about things. We all take seats around the room and Jack has made some serious progress in his drawings.
"Hey guys, I've added some things to my drawing," Jack holds the paper out for us all to see. He has created a picture that is a glimpse inside of his own mind. The gray picture that we saw before has now been filled in with color. The glove in specific has changed the most, there are five little rocks that are on each of the knuckles, they are; red, purple, green, blue, and orange. The sixth rock is yellow and on the top of the glove. Besides the glove, the rest of the picture has been filled in with grey, white, black and red.
"What are those little rocks?" I ask, "I don't know, I just saw them more than I saw other things." I think for a second, what if Jack could have his sight while he was awake? If he could, we all could gain more information probably, and we could confirm that Jack has some type of power.
"Jack, have you tried seeing while you are awake?" He shakes his head, "No, I can't do that." I shift in my place on the floor off my legs, "Well you can't do it right now, but you could." He looks at me confused, "What are you talking about?" "Jack when you were about nine years old, mom and dad told you that you couldn't do a whole bunch of crazy stuff, in particular, fly," I am starting to talk fast at this point, "of course you were stubborn, you still are but you went out on the roof of the garage and jumped off and for a few seconds you were flying." "Yeah and I also broke my leg, I was in a cast for at least a month." I nod, "True but, the point is that you said you were going to do something and you did it, this can be just like that." he shakes his head,"Jai, I don't think this works like that at all." "Well, you don't know if you don't try, here," I get off the floor and shove Jack out of his desk chair and make him lay down on his bed, "close your eyes, take a deep breath, and think about what you want to happen." He does as I say, and we are all silent.
About five minutes later Jack sits up with a groan, "Nope, I got nothing." I nod my head, "That's alright, this is the first time you tried, practice makes perfect." He gets off the bed, "Sure, whatever I'm hungry." I hear voices of agreement belonging to Peter and Ned, "Actually I am too, do you guys want to go get some food?" I gesture to everyone, "What kind of food?" Ask Peter, "Um... Pizza?" Everyone nods in agreement, "Alright, let's go."
Everyone files out of the room and gets their things ready to leave. Once we are outside and by the car, I speak up, "Hey Jack," he looks to me, "Do you want to drive today?" His face breaks out in a smile, Jack does not have his license but I've secretly been teaching him to drive for years. "Yeah, I do!" He saunters over to the driver's door and I hand him the keys and walk over to the passenger seat, we all get in.
"Do not wreck my car, I will kill you." he holds his hands up in defense and starts up the car. Jack is only 14 but he looks my age, sometimes even older. Jack is about 5 inches taller than me, I'm 5'6 and he is 5'11, he has the same jet black hair that I do, but our eyes are different, while mine are just brown, his are hazel like our fathers.
I really wasn't worried about Jack driving, I trust him completely, I just wanted to give him a hard time. A short drive later, and we are pulling into the parking lot of Giovanni's Bistro, we all file out of the car and into the restaurant.
We pick a booth at the back of the place and take our seats. I sit on the inside with Peter next to me and Ned and Jack sit on the other side.
"Which pizza should we get?" Peter asks I glance quickly down at the menu and reply, "two medium pizzas, one pepperoni, and one Hawaiian." Ned shakes his head, "No, not Hawaiian, it is not Hawaiian at all." Peter groans, "Here he goes again," He shoots a look at Ned, "He is very passionate about his opinion on this topic." Ned points a finger at Peter, "Pineapple on pizza shouldn't even be a thing! It never should have become a thing." he crosses his arms. "Okay calm down, no pineapple, we can get sausage instead." I hear no objections and wave the waiter over, tell him our order, and he saunters off behind the counter and into the kitchen.
***
As I finish up the last bite of my third pizza, all the boys are talking about some video game that Jack apparently has. I'm not interested in this conversation at all, they all basically forgot I'm here, I decided to pull out my phone and text MJ.
Me: "heyyy"
MJ: "hey, what's up?"
me: "nothing, i'm just at a pizza place"
Mj: "oh cool, are you there by yourself?"
me: "no"
Mj: Well who's all there?"
me: "Jack, Ned, and Peter"
Mj: "Peter? Again?" What does she mean again?
Me: "what are you talking about?"
Mj: "just that you two are hanging out an awful lot lately"
Me: "it's not just us two"
Mj: "next thing you know you'll be his girlfriend :)" I read the message and roll my eyes,
Me: "no, I will not be, i'm about to drive so i'll text you later"
I don't wait for her to reply before shoving my phone in my pocket. "We gotta play it!" shouts Peter. I tune back into the conversation, "Play what?" I ask. "Battle Beyond," replies Peter, he said it as if I'm supposed to know what that is. "The hell is that?" Peter sighs, "It's a video game where you have to kill stuff and collect stuff, and it is four player." These idiots better not ask me to play- "You have to play with us." Jack says as if he is reading my mind. "You know I hate those games, they scare me." I cross my arms. "Oh come on! We have a full team if you join, just play one game with us please?" I really hate how convincing my brother is, "Fine," I mutter.
The four of us all split the check which wasn't even expensive, and I prepare to drive us home.
***
"I SEE ONE! PETER, BEHIND THE BUILDING!" I yell. Okay, so it turns out that I'm actually really good at this game. "I got it, I got it," says Peter. We have been playing this game for almost two hours since we've gotten back, it's getting dark out. "Guys, you have basically been at my house all day, you realize that." Ned looks down at his watch, "holy crap, it's already 6:30." I pause the game, get up and stretch. Peter copies me, "We should get going then, I'll text May to get us, Ned." Peter walks into the kitchen, and the rest of us rest on the couch. "Jai, can you come here for a second?" I turn around and see Peter motioning for me to come into the kitchen, I get up and walk to where he is.
"What is it?" I lean on the counter. "I have a secret to tell you," I know he's just gonna lie again but I let him continue, "I got an internship at Stark Enterprise," I was not expecting that. "Really? That's so amazing Peter oh my god." Before I know it I'm hugging him, this is the first time we have hugged in years.
"I had a lot of fun today," he says quietly into my hair. "Yeah, me too." Our hug stops once Peter's phone rings. He answers it, says okay, then hangs up. "That was May, she's outside." I nod and we walk back into the living room, Peter and Ned get their things and head outside to May's car, before they pull off, Jack and I wave them goodbye.
***
Bedtime rolls around and I remember to tell Jack to focus on his seeing tonight. Back in my room, I can't help but think about how Peter said he had an internship at Stark Tower. He really brought me into the kitchen to just tell me that? That boy is hiding something, he's so... strange.
However, I like strange.
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