Date: 2-24-17
Chapter 32: Incomprehensible Talks
"There you are, Mason! We've been looking everywhere for you!" Lucas yells angrily at Mason as soon as he walks through the door.
"Sorry, I was on a walk." Mason says vaguely.
"Why would you leave when you know that Jerica's missing?" Lucas demands to know.
"Jerica's missing?" Mason asks, bewildered and now very concerned.
Lucas glances at Lena who's standing off uncomfortably. "I may not have told him..." Lena says.
Mason expects Lucas to yell at her too, but Lucas just sighs. Mason thinks that's highly unfair. "Let's just find Jerica, okay?"
"I'll try calling her." Mason offers.
"We already tried." Lucas says, but Mason's already dialing Jerica's cell number.
The phone rings once...
It rings for a second time...
Then Jerica answers her phone. For the first time today. Why wouldn't she answer Lena or Lucas? Right, because she's mad at them. Mason puts the phone on speakerphone quickly so they can all hear.
"HELLOOOO!?!" Jerica shouts through the loud noises in the background. Lucas flinches as he hears music and about a million different voices.
"Jerica!" Mason says happily, not bothering to raise his voice.
"WHAAAAAT!?!" Jerica shouts. There's laughing on the other line, then Jerica talks again.
"HOLD ON PLEEEAAASSEE!!!" Jerica practically screams into the phone. Lucas and Mason flinch. Lena stares at the phone in silence.
There's a lot of crackling noises, then the extra noise fades away until it's very faint. Lena can't hear it, but Lucas can. Mason's not paying attention to that.
Lucas tilts his head to see if that will help his hearing improve. Lucas hears footsteps, but they sound off, like someone is stumbling.
Mason notices the look in Lucas' face and gets concerned. "Jerica?" Mason says questioningly.
"YEEEESSSS! THIS IS SHE!!!" Jerica shouts as loud as she can into the phone. Mason drops the phone in alarm and puts his hands over his ears. Lucas manages to catch the phone in time, right before it can hit the floor.
"Why are you screaming?" Lucas asks in a scolding tone.
Jerica giggles breathlessly into the phone, causing Lena to frown. Lucas can tell there's something wrong, and Mason picks up on it too.
"Sorry. I forgot it's not loud out here." Jerica laughs again, but this time it's a weird and very unattractive snort.
Lena's eyes widen in shock, and Lucas hands the phone back to Mason. Lucas pulls Lena aside so Jerica won't hear through the phone. "What is it?" Lucas asks Lena.
"I know that laugh! She's drunk." Lena tells Lucas. He frowns at that.
"And when have you two gotten drunk together before?" Lucas has to ask that. Jerica and Lena aren't even allowed to drink.
"Um...that's not the point. We have to find her. She's outside a bar somewhere and we need to go help her." Lena says, trying to persuade Lucas.
Lucas goes back over and takes the phone from Mason. "Jerica, where are you?" Lucas says into the phone very seriously.
"Why should I tell YOOOUUU? You... You are too smart." Jerica pauses in her incoherent speech. "In conclusion, I am NOT at a club. Uh, uh. Nopedy nope nope!" Jerica laughs. "Now how would you even find out the way to my puzzle?"
Jerica does her awful snorting laugh thing again. Lucas wants to choke her for being so stupid. Getting drunk in the middle of the day as a 16 year old, really?
"Oh, I need to ask you for something." Jerica says suddenly. "What is it Jerica?" Lucas asks impatiently.
"Would you like, not tell Lucas and Mason what is happening? They should know that I'm having so much cool fun and..." Jerica pauses.
Lucas glares at the phone while Mason just looks shocked. Lena stands off away from them with a hand covering her mouth, trying not to laugh.
"Jerica, who am I?" Lucas questions her.
"ALEX!" Jerica shouts into the phone. A small laugh escapes Lena's mouth. "My lovey ducky." Jerica explains calmly. This makes Lena laugh more. Didn't Jerica check her caller ID? Of course not, she's drunk.
"Then who am I?" Mason asks.
"Alex's twin brother Xela. Don't you tricky boy play your sneaky trickies on meee." Jerica giggles breathlessly and stumbles into something. "Oof." Jerica says.
"Jerica?" Mason sounds concerned because Jerica hit something.
"Alex doesn't have a twin, Jerica." Lucas says impatiently.
"Then who am I?" Jerica asks seriously.
Lena bursts out laughing then, but not an unattractive snort like Jerica seems to have acquired. Lucas loves Lena's laugh, but he doesn't have time to admire it because Jerica is speaking again.
"If not a twin, then what is thee to mee?" Jerica asks with an odd tone of voice.
"I think she's trying to recite Shakespeare." Lena pipes up after she's done laughing.
"Jerica, where are you?" Lucas asks harshly, getting angrier by the second. Why did Jerica have to go and get herself in trouble.
"No one! Where!" Jerica says. "Wait, I see Johny boy. Better tell that old mate hey. Bye now!" Jerica ends the call.
"Johny boy?" Lucas repeats. "Does she mean-?"
"John." Lena finishes Lucas' sentence for him.
Lucas shoves Mason's cell into his hand. "We have to find John."
~*~
"Hey Jerica." John says as he walks outside of the teen club. John hears a click as she hangs up her phone. Jerica is wearing a short red dress with her regular blue glasses, which is odd because she usually doesn't wear red.
"Hey there Johny boy!" Jerica says with a lopsided grin. Jerica walks forward a step, but stumbles and loses her balance in the 6 inch black high heels she's wearing.
John shoots his hand forward but is too far away to catch her, so he lets his magic do it for him.
A shimmer goes through the air and grabs onto Jerica's arm to steady her. "Thanks. Yours is the best friend a girl could have ever." Jerica grins at John.
John is confused because she hasn't demanded he explain how he did that. Then realization dawns on John. Jerica is completely drunk.
John rushes over and wraps an arm around Jerica for support. "Here. Let's go sit down for a minute." Jerica lets John lead her down the alley.
John grabs a couple of clean crates from a stack by the wall. They must've come from the club. John leads Jerica over to the crates and they sit on top of them.
John feels kind of bad for what he's about to do, but he needs answers, and Jerica won't remember any of this tomorrow.
"Jerica, can you tell me what happened to Lucas and Mason when they got bit by the wolf?" The story around town is that it was a rabid dog, but John doesn't think that's right.
"Oh. Yessire. They'd needed to tell me." John decides he's going to take Jerica home right after he gets his answers.
"So what happened? Why are they different?" John asks patiently.
"Well they're not different yet!" Jerica says indignantly. John just waits until she continues. "They're so angry. But why?" Jerica stares off blankly, then suddenly erupts laughing.
"They're screwed up! Never the same." Jerica is making snorting noises, and John puts a hand on her arm to stop her.
"Why won't they be the same, Jerica?" John asks her intently.
"Cuz they met Sexy Guy, and Sexy Guy is helping them." Jerica nods enthusiastically.
"What's his name?" John questions, trying to get some answers.
"A- Add-" Jerica giggles and shrugs.
"His name?" John repeats.
"Oh! Monique! That's her name." Jerica announces victoriously.
John decides to give up on that. "What is wrong with Lucas and Mason?" John asks.
"Soooooo much!" Jerica snorts. "Of course, being supertastic doesn't help them really." Jerica slurs out.
"What did you just say?" John questions Jerica.
"I don't have any clues. Okay? I don't!" Jerica shouts angrily at John. He's very glad that the music from the club drowns out their voices.
"You said they're supertastic. Did you mean supernatural?" John says excitedly. He's finally getting somewhere with this.
"No! I did say supertastic because they can be good bros sometimes. You know?" Jerica calms down suddenly.
John realizes this is useless. Jerica isn't going to spill her secrets because she can't even remember them.
Jerica leans her head on John's shoulder just then. "I just want to say, you can't tell them I said that." Jerica says tiredly.
"What?" John said because she jerked him out of his thoughts.
"Don't you tell Lukie and Mace that I says they're werewolves, okay? This secret is that and it is secret. You and me keep it, okay?" Jerica mumbles fiercely at John.
John smiles as Jerica falls asleep. John has a strong suspicion that he will be the only one remembering this conversation.
John finally got the answers that he wanted. Lucas and Mason are werewolves. Everything makes sense now. The next step is to find out who the people across the street are. And maybe find that girl Monique that Jerica mentioned.