The Super Jerk Trilogy (Now 3-in-1)

4. The One That Got Away

{Cameron}

The new development unsettles me so much that when I get home from classes that day I immediately sit down to Google it. I find HECKL's homepage, a clean clinical-looking website with grass along the banner. They really play up the "bio" in the word "biotechnology", and I get the feeling they're trying to pass themselves off as one thing when they're really something else. I leave the website up on my computer as I text Ellis and then Kaelie to come over, stat.

   "Man, this is insane," Ellis says when they've arrived and are both scrunched around me as I scroll through it for them to see. "Never seen anything like it."

   "So, HECKL," Kaelie says. "Howard Eckles. H. Eckles. That's pretty clever, actually."

   "Looks like he never got to see what it's becoming," Ellis points out. "Look there."

   I scroll down, and see what he's been looking at – Eckles died suddenly of a massive heart attack in 2009, leaving behind a vast body of unfinished work.

   "He died?" Kaelie actually sounds a little disappointed. "I was hoping we'd get something from the source."

   "Yeah, looks like it." I type in Howard Eckles in the search bar and a bunch of results come up. A few of them are obituaries, but the one thing that sticks out to me is the photo that's first under the Images tab. It's Eckles and my dad, standing on a set of steps in front of a massive white building. Dad's holding a giant pair of scissors, and it appears to be some kind of ribbon-cutting ceremony.

   "How old is that?" Ellis asks, noticing that I've been staring at the photo for a long time.

   I click on it and read the caption. "2005. That's when HECKL first opened."

   "That's wild," Kaelie says, and I feel her hand, gripping my shoulder, ball into a fist.

   "I think we need to see this Wasp thing for ourselves," I say abruptly, and that makes both Ellis and Kaelie pull back.

   "Do you think that's really a good idea after what happened last time?" Kaelie crosses her arms, her brow furrowing.

   "Well, we're not going to do any good down here," I shoot back, and the way her jaw tightens tells me that wasn't the right thing to say.

   "I mean..." Ellis shrugs. "Cam's got a point. We could at least have a peek, see what it looks like."

   Kaelie sighs, exasperated, and tips her head back. "Only if Cam decides to behave. I am not babysitting Hurricane Boy again."

   "Sorry," I say. "There wasn't really anything left for me to do with him."

   "Except for being civil," Kaelie snaps. "Fighting over Sarah like she's a favorite toy. What are you guys, six?"

   "Hey." Surprisingly, Ellis is the one who stops her, stepping forward and clasping her shoulders. "Look. It'll be fine, okay? Since this isn't all about Sarah this time, we should be fine."

   That makes Kaelie back down, in a rare show of surrender. "Okay, okay, fine. Whatever."

   After he leaves, we find ourselves alone together in my house for the first time in over two years. She's unable to look at me, instead staring at a spot just to the left of my head.

   "You know, if Ellis has such a tranquilizing effect on you, maybe I should have what he's having."

   "Shut up, Cam," she says, but it doesn't have any bite. "We're just friends, that's all."

   "Sure, just friends." I shut my laptop and then stand up, making to get past her in the doorway. But our hands brush, and a spark of energy jumps between them. Kaelie gasps, her calm demeanor unsettled again.