Unworldly (Completed 2016 version)

Chapter 8

Usually, Mom drove me to school. Having left her still unconscious on the couch, and because walking alone to school might wind up with me being knabbed by the CIA, I had to use the neighborhood bus stop instead — and face a schoolbus.

I walked down my driveway to head to the bus stop to see that two houses down from my house was a black Mercedes SUV, the only car on the street. It was even in the exact same spot as the last spy car. Subtle.

I gulped to have to approach the car even though I knew they wouldn't do anything, and kept my chin up as I went. 

The only other person around was a jogger I'd never seen before, running on the other side of the street. He kept glancing my way, and appeared to be on the phone while he pretended to be on a casual jog. Obviously another spy. Subtle, I thought again with an internal eye-roll.

The moment I got too close to the SUV, it lit up and drove away with a brief tire screech, not yet wanting to find out what would happen if I got too close. The driver knew what I could do to semis, so what could I do to SUVs?

I looked back at the jogger-spy headed my way, stopping in my tracks and glaring him down. Go on, you too. Shoo.

The jogger slowed to meet my stare, tried to make his abrupt turn-around look casual, and picked up his pace as he fled to another black SUV that had pulled up to the corner of the block behind me.

My skin prickled just to know there were agents stalking me. They weren't even trying to hide. Then again, neither was I.

Feeling very self-conscious, I continued to the stop-sign at the end of the street and began waiting for the bus, but already waiting was a classmate and crash witness, Jacob.

I walked up a few feet to his side from behind him, sizing him up as he stared, deep in thought, at where the black car had disappeared. Not used to finding me at the bus stop, thanks to Mom usually driving me, it was a moment before he turned his head to even see who had arrived.

"You," he gasped the moment he realized it was me under that hat.

My eyes wandered around everywhere but him as I tried to act casual. "Morning."

He took a wary step back. "What are you doing here?" he huffed. 

I sighed. If I wanted to get through the school day, I needed to try to pretend that crash wasn't real. "Just...waiting for the bus. You?"

He shook his head in disbelief. "Taking the bus because you wrecked my car," he growled flatly.

"Umm... Yeah..." You were headed into the path of the semi, I saved your life. And your car isn't totaled, it just needs its gas tank reaffixed. "Wrong place, wrong time," I said awkwardly.

He scoffed. "Seriously? You make me and my car fly with some crazy mind sh*t, flip a semi with your bare hands, and that's all you have to f***ing say?" he snapped, cautiously walking backwards to a comfortable distance. Jacob had always been a sci-fi lover and straight-A student, but notably had also been one of the first students in the grade to start cursing.

"People can't flip semis," I replied vaguely. People can't. "You're confused."

"Cut the sh*t, Harker, I was there! I saw it with my own eyes, I was in it, and I've watched the video a hundred times over!" He paused, swallowing nervously, and breathed, "How was that possible?"

I took a deep breath, feeling like a total prick to say it, but; "Thanks, I was thinking of going for a Special Effects degree."

"That obviously wasn't special effects, dipsh*t. Unlike you, I actually am going to college for mechanical science, so I was up all night looking this sh*t up. If it were fake, I would have had to be in on it, there would have had to be scene prep and trial runs, there would have been cables and wiring and mirrors and all kinds of special tech."