Jimmy Stickman

Chapter 10: The High School

Jimmy and Squirps finally made it to the South parking lot, which was more of a strip of asphalt than a real lot. There was nobody there because it was Saturday, so Squips did not need to worry about being seen by anybody other than Jimmy.

The thing that stuck out in the clue was the word "table". What did that mean? Considering how literal the last message was, Jimmy assumed that it was talking about a real table that people sit down and eat at. The only tables that Jimmy knew existed on the outside of the building were picnic tables in a small, secluded area that the cafeteria opened outside to. So Jimmy suggested that they search there.

"Follow me," Jimmy said, "there is an area of picnic tables this way. If there is anywhere that the message is written, it is there, at least given what the message stated." Jimmy led Squirps around the West side of the school and they came up to the table region.

"We need to figure out a more efficient way to find the next message... Or else we will never find the sword in time."

"No worries. It shouldn't be too difficult. All we need to do is stroke every part of each table until we feel an engraving."

"Alright, I will start over here and you get those few on that side." Squirps demanded to Jimmy. This was not nearly as boring of a task as searching through the boxes to find the computer, because there were only 5 tables.

Jimmy discovered the message on the black leg of one of the tables that he searched. It was vertical though, so he needed to read it by tilting his head heavily. "Squirps, I found it! This is what it says: 'Location step 3: The best mall, best store menu. Then pick up the money hiding in the secret wall compartment of a different color.'" Jimmy pondered that thought for a bit, until he figured out that there was a big mall in a surrounding city that he always goes to. "This is going to be a longer walk, Squirps... We have to go 20 miles from here... But I think I can figure out where we are to go specifically; it is my favorite mall to go to, and my dad used to work there."

Squirps replied by saying, "I can't help but wonder where the message will take us after this... The distances are getting longer and longer; I wonder where else will have a large-enough connection to your family..."

They then started walking in the Southern direction from the school to get to the next message. But their walk did not end for long before Tommy showed up; he was taking a walk and conveniently ran into Jimmy. Jimmy told Squirps to hide somewhere so that he was not spotted, and then proceeded to confront Tommy.

"Hey. What are you up to!?" Jimmy yelled at his friend, who was approximately 100 feet away.

"Oh, hey! I am fine. I am just enjoying my Saturday. How about you? Did everything go alright with Russell?" Tommy said after quickly twisting his head to face the direction where the voice was coming from.

"Yea. I talked to him for a few minutes, and everything seems to be OK. His leg is in a full cast though, but otherwise he is doing quite well. Our feud seems to be over now that he has solidified his respect towards me and I apologized. Man am I glad to be off of that bandwagon!" Jimmy explained. He was very excited that he was no longer being harassed by Russell, and he hoped that it remained this way for the rest of their schooling together.

"What about yourself? Do you feel any better?" Tommy asked.

Jimmy responded brashly, "Oh yea, about that... I don't really feel very sick anymore. I just feel like a new person, if that makes sense." He had to cover up the specifics of what he learned from Squirps, but it was difficult to say without being overly vague.

"Well it can always be a confidence thing; I bet that is what it is. You just apologized to Russell, and he established respect towards you; you feel good because it is something that has not happened before to you. You just became good friends with somebody who tried to beat you to a pulp exactly one day ago; THAT is an accomplishment. You really should feel good about yourself, because that is a milestone in your life."

"Well it is not necessarily directly related to my conversation with him, but that could have definitely contributed to it." Jimmy continued his monologue. "Really, I think fighting him is the main cause of it all, because I feel 'empowered'. I definitely feel like I accomplished multiple things today, with talking to him being only one of them." He paused for a minute, thinking about what he said. He hoped that his good friend wouldn't ask much more about it, because he did not want to go into too much detail. "I just experienced so many life-changing events in only a couple of hours, and it makes my life all the more interesting. Well I better get going. I have to go somewhere; I will talk to you later, alright?"

"Hey if you ever need anything you can just feel free to give me a call or come see me. I have nothing else to do and would be glad to help you, given the fact that you seem shaken up." Tommy said as he waved toward Jimmy with the latter waving back as he walked away.

"Thanks man! I will see you in a bit!" As he neared the bush where Squirps was sitting, he gave him the OK to get up. "Alright, let's go." Squirps got up and looked back at Tommy.

"I was listening and watching you guys the whole time. He looks like a nice guy. You guys friends?"

"My best friend that I have known since I was a small child; we have always had each others' backs during hard times." Jimmy explained to the alien. He explained his relationship with Tommy as almost brotherly.

"Oh, is that Tommy?"

"Yea."

"I have never seen friends that close before... You two have a super good relationship."

"I would give my life for him if he needs it." Jimmy explained before they began walking South toward the location of the next message.

This was suddenly halted as something important suddenly came to Jimmy's attention. "Hold up. I just remembered that you will not fit in at any public places with a lot of people walking around. Before we leave for the mall, I suggest we go back to my house for a couple of minutes and get you some clothes."

"Good deal!"

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After they got back to Jimmy's house, Jimmy went up to his room and looked around in his closet for some clothes that were small-enough to fit Squirps. He pulled out a pair of small basketball shorts and a grey t-shirt that he no longer wore and gave the two articles of clothing to his friend.

Squirps slipped them on without much hassle, and they fit almost perfectly. Unfortunately, Jimmy did not have a hat that would fit Squirps sufficiently, but the alien dealt with it.

"Whoa, thank you Jimmy. These fit perfectly!"

"Super happy that I so happened to have them in there."