"Earth to Jesse."
I heard my friend Lucy calling my name and it made me forget about my current thoughts which were occupied by yesterday's events.
I still couldn't help to wonder about what Andrew said last night. He wasn't confused or surprised when I told him what I overheard but he ordered me not to say anything to anyone. I was going to tell my uncle which is a police officer but Andrew told me that wouldn't be necessary and also he wasn't sure we could trust the police or something. Which is kind of weird. He's been acting like someone's planning to kill his dad but all we know for sure is that they just don't like him as a mayor.
I still can't tell anyone though. Great! Another secret I have to hide from my friends, as if I wasn't lying to them enough already.
It's not like I didn't want to tell Lucy and Felicity about yesterday but I couldn't. If I did Andrew would reveal my secret to the whole school and my life would be ruined. As much as I'd love to be honest with my friends I also have to think about consequences for my actions.
"We're almost there." Lucy said driving her car into the school's parking lot. She usually drove me to school since I didn't have a car or a license to drive one.
Felicity lived pretty close to school so she usually just walked. Not only that, ever since the accident that took away her father's life she's been avoiding traveling with cars as much as she can. But who can blame her.
"Oh, great." I mumbled.
"Huh? Did you say something?" Lucy asked me but I didn't want to get into it. I already felt pretty weird and I definitely didn't need her lectures.
"No, I was just a bit worried because of... homework." I lied. "I didn't get the chance to do it properly since I was in a hurry."
"Relax, I'm sure you did fine." She replied. "Who cares about the homework when you finally told us the big news. Which reminds me, you need to get a boyfriend!"
"What? No I don't." I almost gagged. The last thing I needed was Lucy invading in my intimate life which was nonexistent by the way.
"Of course you do. You're just a little scared. C'mon let me help you, besides I can't let my friend be alone for the rest of his life. You need to go out there and have some fun. I'm sure I can find you a hot guy in a sec. Don't you worry about a thing, let mama take care of the business."
Oh, hell to the no. I know exactly what she means by taking care of business. She'll just find me some weirdo and then I'll end up trying to escape from our date. That will be a disaster.
She would kill me if she knew I'm telling you this but to be honest she's not that great at picking good partners. For example her longest relationship lasted for a month. And the only reason it even lasted that long was because she wanted to enjoy spending her boyfriend's money.
If that doesn't tell you that she's the last person you'd go to ask for a dating advice then I don't know what does. I mean don't get me wrong I love Lucy but she's like a total fiasco when it comes to relationships.
"Um, no thanks. I'm good." I responded. "I just need to graduate high school in peace. Besides it's not like there're hot guys lined up to go on a date with me. And you also know how closed minded this town is. If they found out about my secret they'd literally burn me alive."
"I think you're being a little dramatic." Lucy replied but I rose my eyebrow in denial. "Okay, okay. I agree that sometimes people in here can be a little too traditional but you're still you. And I'm sure your parents would never let something like that to happen."
Well I guess you haven't met my parents then. They would be the ones who'd throw me into the fire first.
"Oh c'mon. It'll be fun, trust me. I'll register you on a dating app and hook you up with some daddies." Lucy continued but when she said the word daddies I literally wanted to be swallowed by the abyss so I wouldn't have to listen to her.
"There's no way in hell you're doing that. It's too risky. What if someone from school finds out? That would be a disaster."
"Ugh, you're such a buzzkill. Well at least let me show you some options later so we can discuss." She said but I shook my head in denial. "It's not like I'm forcing you to go on a date. I'll just show you some pictures. And I promise if you agree I won't bug you about it anymore."
"Well, I guess a picture wouldn't hurt." Lucy's mood immediately changed when she heard my response. She started giggling and clapping like a 5 year old. "But don't get your hopes up. This doesn't mean that I'll meet any of the guys you'll be showing me."
"Yay! You're totally gonna love it. Trust me, soon you'll be begging me to hook up with all of them." Her eyes were wide open while she was saying those words as if she was a Disney villain with some evil plans in her mind that she couldn't wait to fulfill. "Oh while we're on the subject. Are you a top or a bottom? I'm just asking so I can find you a better match."
"Um, what?" I almost gagged. "I don't even know what that means and I'm pretty sure I don't want to."
"What I'm asking is if you prefer to be the one who puts the thing in the thing or the other way around." I slightly slapped her shoulder so she would stop asking me this weird questions but she didn't look like she was about to back out. "Trust me the sooner you know the better. Imagine how embarrassing it would be if you're with the guy and it comes to seal the deal but you don't know what to do. I'm just saving you from humiliation. Believe me you'll thank me later."
"Seal the deal? What does that even mean?"
"You know, to lick the envelope and then close it." She replied as if that would make anything clear. If anything it made me even more confused.
"Okay, now I seriously have no clue what you're talking about. What envelope? Did you forget to check your mail or something?" I asked with a straight face but she burst out laughing when she heard what I said.
"You're really bad at this, Jesse. What I meant was that when it comes to have sex and you don't know what to do it'll be awkward as hell so I'm just trying to help you be prepared."
"Um..." I blushed unable to say anything. "I don't want to talk about that right now, or ever." I sighed and opened the door of Lucy's car to get out. "Are you coming or not? We'll be late for school."
"Yeah, one second. Let me grab my bag." She replied and reached out for her bag which was sitting on the back seat of her car.
The school entrance was crowded, as usual so we had to push some people around to get into the building and by we I mean Lucy.
Once we got inside I noticed my cousin Dylan. He recognized me too and waved so I started walking towards him.
"Hey, Dylan. How're Uncle Jerry and Aunt Lydia doing?" I said when we were in talking distance with him.
"Hi, Jes. They're great. Hey listen, I think I left my leather jacket when I was at your house last week. Have you seen it anywhere?" He asked.
"Ugh, why are we wasting time talking to this loser again?" Lucy interrupted when she got bored of our conversation.
"Lucy! He's my cousin. Be nice to him." I replied and squished my eyebrows so she could notice how rude she was being.
"Whatever, I'm bored. Come on, let's find Felicity. She's been texting me nonstop and I'm getting kind of annoyed." Lucy rolled her eyes and started walking.
"Sorry, Dylan. I gotta go. See you around. Oh and I haven't seen your jacket but I'll look for it today and if I find it I'll text you."
"Okay, see you."
I followed Lucy afterwards and by followed I mean she literally dragged me. Soon we saw Felicity who was waving at us and we started walking towards her. I hugged her when we got closer to greet her. When we parted I noticed there was something different about her but I couldn't quite put my finger on it.
"Did you get a haircut?" I asked her.
"Yeah, do you guys like it?" She signed with her hands. "My mom wouldn't stop complaining about how long it was so I just figured I'd cut it."
"Oh, I love it!" Lucy said. "You look like that character form The Incredibles."
"You mean Elastigirl?" I asked.
"No, the other one. Short lady with glasses. She's like a designer or something." she replied.
"Edna Mode? Are you kidding, she looks nothing like her." I said and then turned to Felicity. "Don't listen to her, you look amazing."
"That's fine." She replied. "Enough about me, let's talk about who your future boyfriend will be."
"Felicity! Stop being so explicit. We're in school. What if someone sees us?" I whispered.
"Relax, it's not like anyone knows sign language here." She signed with a sneaky smile on her face and turned to Lucy to ask her something. "Did he like the dating app?"
"But still. I don't want to talk about it in school, it's just weird." I said picking some books from my locker. "Wait, how do you know about the dating app? Lucy, did you drag her into this too?"
"What? Don't look at me. It was her idea to show you some options." Lucy replied with a conflicted expression.
"You nasty little freak." I faced Felicity with my eyes wide open. "Why don't you two mind your own business and stay out of mine."
"C'mon!" Felicity started with her puppy eyes. "You must at least have a crush on someone."
"Oh, I'm not telling you two anything." I got mad but I was also feeling a little grateful too. Of course, I would never tell them that but it meant a lot to me that my two friends were so cool with this whole situation. It was also nice to know that someone actually cared enough about my life to want to set me up with someone. I was so lucky to have friends like them.
I felt a little bad that I didn't tell them sooner and also because I was still keeping some other secrets from them. I assured myself that all this was just to protect them but I was still feeling like I was guilty.
"Oh, so there is someone you like." Felicity signed. "Tell us who it is."
The bell rang and it was the first time I actually wanted to get into the class so I closed my locker as fast as I could.
"Gotta go. I don't want to be late." I said and started walking towards my class.
English was my first subject so I wasn't that unhappy. At least my day would start nicely. Or so I thought.
When I got into the classroom I looked around to find a desk which would be empty and noticed one in the back so I sat there. Ms. Ziegler our English teacher was a little late so I started thinking about what I could do to investigate Kristen's and that hoodie person's plans and I sort of spaced out and put my head on my notebook just to rest for a little while. But because I didn't get enough sleep last night I closed my eyes. I tried to resist the urge but It was simply pointless so I just yawned and tried relaxing.
A little later I felt someone's hand touching my arm so I looked to my right and saw Andrew sitting next to me. I got confused because I didn't notice him being in the classroom at all when I came inside.
"What is it?" I asked and he pointed me towards the teacher's desk and I saw Ms. Ziegler staring at me. Then I looked around and everyone's eyes were on me. That made me feel like I was in that nightmare, you know the one where you go to school naked and everyone's looking and laughing at you. Yep that's the one.
Wait I didn't even know the teacher was here. When I looked at the clock at the top of the chalkboard and I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw that almost 40 minutes passed since the bell rang.
"Are you feeling alright, Jesse?" The teacher asked me. "You look pale, maybe you should go see the nurse."
Ms. Ziegler was being very nice to me even though I slept in the class. She was always very kind towards me. If it were any other student she'd send them to detention but because it was me she even asked me if I was feeling alright. Probably because I've never done anything like this before.
"I'm alright Ms. Ziegler." I answered. "I'm just a little stressed out that's all."
"If you say so." She replied and then turned her attention to the other members of the class. "Aright everyone, don't forget to do your homework for Wednesday."
Homework? I didn't even listen to anything. I don't even know what the homework is. I guess I'll just have to ask someone.
I left the classroom soon and started walking towards my locker when I felt someone grabbing me towards the other side of the hallway.
"What the hell." I panicked and tried to escape but then I saw a familiar face and my panic turned into anger. "Andrew? What are you doing? Why didn't you wake me up earlier in the classroom?"
"You looked like you could use a time off." He replied sarcastically. "You were drooling all over your notebook, it was adorable."
"What? No, it wasn't." I tried defending myself. "Why did you drag me here?"
"Meet me at the park tonight at 8. I found out something that could lead me to the criminals that are trying to destroy my father's reputation." He said.
"Oh, okay." I replied. "You could have just texted me that you didn't have to..."
Andrew put his hand on my mouth to interrupt me and started looking around. Then he put his finger on his lips telling me to be quiet.
"What was that for?" I asked when he finally released me from his hand.
"It was my ex, Violet. She's been stalking me ever since I dumped her. I really don't have time for her crap now." He replied.
At least you have a crazy ex who bothers to stalk you. Some of us haven't even kissed yet. Thankfully I didn't say that out loud.
After I was done feeling sorry for myself I remembered something and it gave me an idea.
"Wait, do you mean Violet Grey?" I asked and Andrew nodded. "Isn't she Kristen's daughter? Andrew this could be a huge deal. She will lead us to what we're looking for. You have to talk to her. She could be the key to our plan."