Chapter One: Daydreaming in Class
Math was not Cason's specialty. And with this being a fact, it made it easier for Cason to be off task during a boring lecture on equations and their graphs. He didn't come to class intent on not paying attention, but he couldn't help but let his mind wander to things he actually enjoyed.
The police car was badly beaten up. Bullet holes and scratches were riddled around it and the windshield was greatly cracked. None of this bothered the heroic John McClane as he opened the door and swore. He got into the car, swearing more at helicopters and people in computers messing with him and the greater good. He put the car in gear and began speeding through the darkened tunnel. Around him crashed cars and hurt people watched in amazement as the police car, with its siren lights flashing with no sound, zoomed towards the lightened entrance.
John McClane himself did not look too good. He was scraped up and had a large gash on his head. His eyes were narrowed as the light became brighter. On the outside of the tunnel, a helicopter hovered, waiting for whatever was to come. Too bad these dumb terrorists didn't know they were dealing with John -Yippie-Ki-Yay- McClane!
The helicopter lowered itself and the cop car came zooming out, rammed up the toll entrance and, and into the air. All before this, John had rolled out of the car, coming to a skidding halt in the road. Above, the cop car soared right into helicopter, sending it to the ground as a fireball. Below, John McClane laughs maniacally and—
"Cason? Do you know the answer to number seven?" Cason jerked up from his day dream and flicked his green eyes to the board. It all looked like some alien language with Greek symbols thrown into it. Nervously, he ran a hand through his brown hair and took a deep breath.
"I-I think it is seven x minus thirty?" He smiled sheepishly and the rest of the students giggled.
"Cason, x isn't even part of the equation. You need to start paying attention or you'll not pass the test next week!" More giggles rounded the room as Cason gently put his head down on his desk.
Tenth grade was tough and Cason was not having an easy time adjusting to high school. It didn't make it easier that Cason had recently moved from sprawling California to a small town in Utah. Cason felt out of place in the more subdued Utah and missed the slightly outrageous atmosphere of California. Cason had no choice, as every child never has a choice when they move, when his mom got a new job in Utah. It was better paying and provided benefits that they really needed.
Cason mulled over his current situation in life as he headed out of class and towards lunch. He picked at the ends of his Nirvana t-shirt and dug his hands into his pants pockets. At this moment in time Cason didn't hate his life in Utah. He just found it drab and a little dull. He focused more on his love for video games and action movies. It had been his favorite action movie he had been day dreaming about in his math class.
"Cason!" Cason looked up from his spot in the pizza line and saw his friend Rex, waving ecstatically from a table in the center of the lunch room.
Cason smiled and waved back to Rex, giving him the notice that he had seen him. After getting his lunch, Cason made his way to where Rex was and sat down. Rex was also a sophomore and in two of Cason's classes. He was tall and planned on running track in the spring. He had light blue eyes and a mess of blond hair that badly needed a cutting.
"What's the homework in math?" Rex asked, digging into his own lunch of spaghetti and meatballs.
"I don't know, I didn't have a chance to copy it down. I had to get lectured about not paying attention." Cason sighed. He took a large bite of his cheese pizza as Rex chuckled at him.
"Again? What were you doing?" Rex asked.
Before Cason could answer, someone else joined their table: Lindsey. Lindsey was Rex's cousin. She was junior and acted like a mother figure to Rex, even though Rex hated it. She placed her lunch bag on the table and looked at Cason and then Rex.
"Well he wasn't taking notes or passing them." She said matter-of-factly to the both of them. Cason forgot that Lindsey was a student tutor in his math class. She helped to grade papers for the teacher or help students with their work. She never really helped Cason, but then again he never really asked. "My guess is that he was day dreaming."
"It was an epic replay of my favorite movie franchise." Cason said. He felt a blush creep onto his face.
"Oh! What franchise?" Rex asked excitedly.
"Die Hard. It has Bruce Willis in it. He plays a too-cool-for-school cop who fights terrorists and evil bad guys." Cason lightened quite a bit talking about the one thing he absolutely loved. "He has to take down terrorists who are out to get rich quick or take down the United States. There's Hans Gruber in the first one, Colonel William Stuart and his thugs in the second one, Simon Gruber -Hans's brother- in the third one, and Thomas Gabriel in the fourth one."
Lindsey and Rex stared at Cason with some mild confusion. He smiled, feeling the blush come back to his face. He hadn't known the two for long (he had only been at the school for three weeks) and felt a little embarrassed about telling them.
"Aren't those movies rated R?" Lindsey asked finally.
Cason forgot that stigma rated R movies had in Utah. He knew about Mormons, but did not meet a lot of them until moving to Utah. Some Mormons he met were very much sticklers about the movies they saw; no rated R movies ever and talking about kissing and dating was mum. Then there were others who didn't care as long as certain things were not in movies. Cason's mom worked with a woman who took her kids to rated R movies as long as there wasn't any too explicit in them. Especially if they were historical dramas. He didn't know what Lindsey and Rex's opinions were on the matter and so treaded carefully for his next words. He didn't want to lose his only friends at the moment because of their religion.
"Well, the first three are, yes. Live Free or Die Hard is the fourth movie and it's the only one that is rated PG-13. The fifth one, which I haven't seen yet, was put back on the rated R style." He explained. He felt a little nerdy about knowing so much, but he supposed that everyone had something they were nerdy about.
To Cason, Bruce Willis was a real action hero, something rare in Hollywood currently. Everyone was obsessed with superheroes and funny romances or movies based on books, but no one could replace the real action heroes that spawned franchises. Arnold Swartzenager had been one, so had Sylvester Stallone, but Bruce Willis was better than those two. He aged gracefully and kept the action hero status and attitude. John McClane was the last action hero in his eyes.
"Oh, I think your dad watches those movies, Rex." Lindsey said and Rex nodded a little. "All explosions and gunfire." She added before tucking into her salad.
Cason felt relieved that his friends didn't care that he watched rated R movies. He let the matter dropped as Rex asked more about the movies and the character John McClane. He told them about the part of the movie he had been daydreaming about in his math class. It had been from the fourth, more recent, movie called Live Free or Die Hard. Rex thought it was cool that John had launched a police car into the air to take down a helicopter. Cason agreed, and stated that it had been his favorite part of the movie. Or at least one of them.
Lunch ended as Cason finished his rendition of John McClane's original catch phrase of Yippi-Ki-Yay, without the swear word at the end. After lunch, Cason had study hall in the school library. He headed straight to the library and found a table in the back. Rex had promised to text the math assignment to Cason while in math. While he waited for it, Cason put his head down on his math book and sighed. The table he picked was situated by a window looking out onto the street the school was based on. He watched cars speed by in each direction and slowly began to drift away in his mind once more.
Outside on the street a car came to a speeding halt. It was a large SUV with darkly tinted windows and no license plates. Cason sat up, watching with interest as three men came out of the SUV, carrying what looked like semi-automatic guns.
"What we got kid?" Cason jumped. Beside him was John McClane dressed in a basic security uniform with no labels on it.
"How long have you been here?" Cason asked and John shook his head.
"Doesn't matter, I'm here and we're going to take these guys down."
A thrill of excitement traveled through Cason as he returned his attention outside. The men were approaching the school. All of them were dressed in black, had short cut hair, and dark sunglasses. They looked menacing, but Cason wasn't worried. He straightened up and looked around. The library was empty and as if reading his mind, McClane said:
"It's after school. You fell asleep and the librarian didn't check. I was here, undercover."
"Makes sense," Cason muttered. "What do we do, Mr. McClane?"
"First, drop the mister," McClane said. "Second, we have to figure out why these men are coming to your school."
Cason had no idea, he had never seen the men before in his life. (Though they did bare resemblance to the henchmen in "Die Hard with a Vengeance." There was one man that was talk with long, lanky blond hair. His jaw was square and his eyes dark in color. Yeah, definitely one of the baddies from Vengeance, he thought. Cason and McClane watched as they neared the school, brandishing their weapons and headed towards the front office.
"I think they're here for you, kid." McClane remarked, standing up straight and pulling Cason to his feet.
"Me?" Cason asked, incredulously. "What did I do?" He gulped and McClane shrugged.
"Just had to get you moving kid."
"Har-dee-har." Cason replied sarcastically.
John McClane rolled his eyes and motioned for Cason to follow him out of the library. Somewhere, a door banged open and then shut. The two of them stopped at the door of the library and listened. Cason looked to McClane who turned to say something to him. Instead of words though, McClane began to make buzzing noises. Cason stared hard at him and tried to talk over the buzzing, but it only got louder. Then, someone shook him and -,
"Hey, Cason," Cason opened his eyes and looked up. Standing before him at his table was the librarian, Mr. Williams. "No phones in study hall." He pointed at the buzzing phone next to Cason's math book.
"Oh, I'm sorry Mr. Williams." Cason said, shoving the phone in his pocket. Once Mr. Williams was back at his desk, he pulled out his phone and looked at the text. Just in time, it was Rex with the math assignment. Putting his dream of joining John McClane away in his mind, Cason sighed and opened up his math book to start on the assignment.