Genie

Act 1~ Chapter 4~ A Man in a Hoody

  The group made a collective ooh as they turned back to see Nate blushing furiously behind them. "Mike," Nate squeaked. He jammed his hands into his sweatshirt pocket, glancing around furiously.

  "Oh come on mate, we all know that you're in love with that Kamdon fellow, the next step is admitting it to yourself."

  Jones, Oliver, and Brandon, the Cormack triplets, all gathered around Nate, giving him these reassuring nudges and compliments. The triplets were all identical and at times, even though Jace had known them for three years now, he couldn't tell them apart. They don't mind it though, gladly wearing the same exact outfits to trick people every once and a while. They enjoyed trading classes or allowing one triplet to play hooky while the others covered for him. In a sense, Jace was slightly jealous of the closeness that they share, not in an overwhelming angry jealousy, but more of a longing for what they have. Sure, Jace has his foster brothers, and some of them he is fairly close with but not in the way that the triplets have.

  "I'd prefer to suffer in silence, if you don't mind," Nate retorted. He pointedly looked at Mike, clearly uncomfortable. So Mike, the good friend that he is, dropped the topic.

  "Oh look, it's Cynthia Parker ," Kayla muttered, giggling profusely as she staring at the other girl who seemed to be waiting for someone by the door. "She's probably going to confess to Jace." Kayla squinted more examining Cynthia. "Oh look, she even dressed up for it."

  Jace elbowed Kayla, giving her a look. "Oh come on, you don't have to be so patronizing. Plus, I really don't think she likes me like that." Jace shrugged, continuing down the hallway, the door and Cynthia gradually growing closer and closer. "She's just a nice person."

  "Nice person or not, she keeps glancing at you, so I'm assuming she wants to talk to you alone." Samson patted Jace on the shoulder. "We'll meet you outside."

  The entirety of his eight friends walked past him, headed outside before him. Jones, Oliver, and Brandon all turned around simultaneously and gave him a solid thumbs up.

  Jace squinted at them before continuing to walk, his hands in his pockets. He was skeptical of what his friends said but a part of him was waiting for Cynthia to call out his name and sure enough, she did.

  "Jace?" She waved at him shyly, coming off of her resting spot on the wall. "You've got a minute?"

  "Yeah, I'm done for the day." Jace stopped and faced her, casually watching her. She seemed nervous, fidgeting. She had a bright yellow paper in her hand and she pinched it tightly between her forefinger and her thumb. "What's up?"

  "I um," her eyes skirted from him to her shoes. "I'm in a band and we're going to play tonight, at 9." She paused, gathering her courage once again. "I was, um, wondering if you wanted to come."

  She presented the paper to him now, the flyer boasting of five bands playing in a park a fairly close to where Jace lived in Northwood. Jace gingerly took the paper, glancing over it before folding it and putting it his pocket.

  "Yeah, sounds like fun." He tapped his finger on the paper inside of his pocket, thinking for a moment. He was curious to see if Bentley had ever been to a concert and decided that this was a perfect opportunity to get her out of his room and into the British night life. "Would it be alright if I brought some friends?"

  Cynthia nodded eagerly, before glancing at her watch. "I've got to go, my next class is in a couple of minutes."

  "Alright, um, I guess I'll see you tonight." Jace bid his goodbye and headed out the door to find his friends eagerly waiting for him.