Hey thanks for reading! Saturday escaped by me and I forgot to post chapter two! Things are a little slow going in this next chapter, but the action will be revving up here soon! Please read and review if possible!
Chapter Two: Grounded from Action
School continued with little excitement for Cason. He went from class to class and took his notes like a good little student. He turned in assignments and silently counted the minutes until the final bell would ring. When it did ring, Cason did not expect to be stopped by his math teacher out in the hall.
"Just wanted to give you a warning that I sent your mom an email about your poor attention in class." Cason paled as his teacher clapped him on the shoulder and headed back down the hall.
This meant that there would be hell to pay once Cason got home.
The bus ride home was too quick; the talking was loud and the bus driver practically sped through working school zones. When he opened the front door to his house, he hesitated, listening to see if his mom was home. He didn't doubt it, she had said she would be home earlier from work to prepare for a weekend conference. As the door closed, Cason's mom rounded the corner from the bedroom hallway and glared at him.
Cason's mom wasn't always a single mom. She had been married to Cason's father for years until he passed away from cancer. His father's passing had really troubled his mom (Cason had been too young to really feel the absence until now). She spent months in a depressive spiral before finding her stride in a career of human resource jobs. Now, standing before him, Cason could see the fire in her own green eyes and he immediately dropped his eyes to the floor. She was still dressed in her work clothes: a nice light blue blouse with a black pencil skirt and low heels. Her blonde hair was tied up in a loose bun secured by a pencil behind her right ear.
"Your math class," was all she said and Cason nodded. "And it's not only your math class." He looked up, surprised by this. He thought he had been doing well in all of his classes, except math, but it looked like that had been a fantasy.
"Did you check my grades?" He asked, not moving from in front of the door.
"After getting that email from your math teacher, yes." His mom folded her arms in front of her chest and leaned against the wall. "What's going on, Cas?" She asked, her voice growing soft.
Cason furrowed his brows and shrugged. How could he tell his mom that he didn't like moving away from California? Or that he didn't feel in place with the people around him at school. He had also spent most of his time not doing his homework (something he now realized), and watching action movies instead. How many times had he watched the whole Die Hard series since the move? Maybe ten? Too much for what his grades were showing anyways.
"Can't you tell me?" His mom pleaded and Cason looked at her.
"I don't know really." He muttered.
His mom gave out a dry laugh and shook her head. She looked back down the hall where she had come from and then back at him. Cason knew what look she was giving him, it was the unspoken look that asked: "Why are you so much like your father?"
"What's the punishment?" Cason asked, knowing that talking about the matter wasn't going to help any situation he was in. Talking about it would lead to arguing, which would lead to things that shouldn't have been spoken, and then tension filling the house before his mother left for her conference.
"You're grounded for the weekend and all of next week. You're going to study for that math test and at least get a C or better on it. You're going to make up all of your homework, no friends, and no TV or movies." The last statement gutted Cason; he actually flinched a little because his plans for the weekend had been to invite Rex and Lindsey over to watch all of the Die Hard films. Any thoughts of John McClane seemed to permanently vanish in his mind.
"But!" He stopped there, reminding himself that it was useless.
"Mr. and Mrs. Glenn are going to keep an eye on you while I'm gone this weekend. They know when you're supposed to leave for school, when you get back, and they're going to make sure you don't have people over." His mom added. "Believe me, they promised to call me if they see you doing anything suspicious."
Cason did believe her, the Glenn's had security cameras around their garage and were extremely nosey. They were a retired couple who lived in a neighborhood with young kids. At least once a week they called the police because some poor kid had accidentally slipped on their sidewalk or looked at their house threateningly. Having to be a watchdog over him probably really made their day.
For a moment, no one said anything. Silence filled between mother and son until finally Cason took his first step away from the front door. He was headed to his room, which was down the same hallway as his mothers. She blocked his way for a moment, but then stepped aside and pulled him into a tight hug. They stood there in the hug for a long time. Cason felt some stress melt away from him and his mother sighed. She broke the hug and cupped his face in her hands.
"I know this is hard." She said. "I know what you're going through, but I know that you can pull through all of this, okay?" She smiled softly at him.
"Yeah, I know." Cason smiled too, pecked a kiss on her cheek, and headed down to his bedroom.
"You're busted, aren't you?" John McClane said as he sat on Cason's bed. This wasn't the first time that Cason imagined the great action hero talking to him in his world.
"I'm just not getting the hang of this place." Cason muttered as he sat at his desk. He looked at his backpack, but did nothing about it.
"It's not about getting the hang of anything, kid." McClane said. Cason looked up at him and furrowed his brow. "It's about getting things done." The detective slammed his left hand into his open right hand.
Cason looked confused. He turned away from McClane and squinted at his desk, trying to make sense of what he had said. It's about getting things done.
"So, what you're saying is, if I just get my work done, getting the hang of things around here will come easier?" He asked.
"Exactly."
By the next morning, Cason's mind felt fried. He had spent the entire night in his room, completing homework he thought he had turned in. Miraculously, all the missing homework had been crumpled in his backpack. He even got his homework for Monday done (the schools in Utah were set in block schedules of A day and B day). In all, he was numb, and the work he had done was placed in folders in his backpack ready for turn in. But, as his mother lovingly told him before he left, he was still grounded for the weekend and the rest of next week.
"You need to learn that you cannot get that far behind." She lectured, helping him get his backpack on and patting his shoulder.
Cason nodded, slightly defeated because he had thought he could have gotten the weekend free with the work he had done. He headed for the front door, noting the luggage by it; his mother was headed out shortly after him.
"Remember," His mom called out as he opened he door. "the number for the hotel is on fridge, and if there is any emergence call my cell first!"
"Okay!" Cason called back and left the house. Outside it was dark with tinges of the sun coming up behind the Wasatch mountains. Across the street, Cason could see the glint of the Glenn's security cameras. Quite mischievously, Cason lifted his hand in a good morning wave and set off towards the bus stop.
When Cason got to school he was almost immediately tackled by Rex, who looked far too chipper for a Friday morning. Cason regained his footing as Rex seemed to jump around him like an excited puppy.
"What is up with you?" Cason asked, rolling his shoulders. Lindsey, who had been standing away from the happy Rex, joined the two. In her hand she was holding a battered looking USB drive.
"We found you something stellar!" Rex said, clapping his hands together rapidly.
"We went to a little flea market sort of thing yesterday." Lindsey explained. "There was a guy selling used Rokus and Fire Sticks."
"The guy looked right at me and handed me this one, he said that a friend of mine would appreciate it!" Rex grabbed the USB from Lindsey's hand and held it in front of Cason's eyes.
Cason blinked rapidly and pushed his friend's hand down so he could actually look at the thing. It was a really battered USB drive with a faded R on both sides of it. The part that was plugged into the TV or computer was bright red. There were scratches and other things on the base, but in all it looked like it was in pretty good shape.
Roku and Fire Stick were streaming devices that could plug into Smart TVs and computers. They gave the user capabilities to watch streaming sites like Hulu, Amazon, and Netflix. Some of the USB sticks came with preloaded movies or shows. There had even been people who had movies that were still in theaters loaded on their streaming sticks. Cason wondered what was so special about this streaming stick, and why the person selling it had told Rex that a friend would like it.
"What's special about it?" He asked.
"Well," Rex looked a little devious and paused dramatically for his answer. "We plugged it into our TV when we got home-,"
"And saw that there were only five movies loaded onto it. No streaming sites or anything else. Just the movies." Lindsey said, tired of her cousin's flare for the dramatic.
"What movies?"
"All of the current Die Hard movies!" Rex shouted, frightening a group of cheerleaders next to them. "Sorry."
"All of the Die Hard movies?" Cason asked in wonder. He already had all of the movies, but he kept up the interest to make his friends happy.
"But there's a trick!" Rex chirped. "There's another movie on the stick though!"
"Yeah, it's called 'Untitled Die Hard Movie'." Lindsey said.
An untitled Die Hard movie? Cason could not believe it. He was almost a Die Hard expert. He kept tabs on all things Die Hard and had been involved with message boards about the plots of the movies. There had been no words about another Die Hard film for the foreseeable future. If anything, there might have been talk about a reboot of the whole franchise, which was blasphemous to say the least. Now his interest was peaked and Cason looked at the streaming stick with more curiosity.
"After hearing about those movies, we totally knew that the stick was meant for you!" Rex said, thrusting the stick into Cason's hands and grinned widely.
"Yeah, I agree." Lindsey said smiling softly.
"Wow, thanks!" Cason said, holding the stick like it was the Holy Grail. But then his excitement faltered. "But I'm grounded." He said sadly.
"Grounded?" Rex asked.
"My grades haven't been too great. And I had a ton of missing assignments to make up. My mom said that I couldn't watch any TV or movies, especially Die Hard." He explained the rest of what his grounding entailed and the plans he had made for them with an epic movie marathon for the weekend.
"Well, maybe we can figure something out so you can at least watch that Untitled one." Lindsey said cryptically. Before Cason could ask her what she had meant, the bell rang and the flurry of students began to scatter. Lindsey began to dash to her first class, pulling Rex along because if he got one more tardy in his class he was bound to have detention.
So Cason stood there, being jostled by hurrying students and holding the streaming stick. Whatever Lindsey had meant, he would have to wait to see what she would do. He tucked the strand USB into his pocket and headed straight to class. There would be no way that he would make it to his locker before his English class.
Cason would not see Rex and Lindsey again until second lunch. That was three classes of wondering what Lindsey had meant about finding out a way for Cason to watch the Untitled Die Hard film. He could practically feel the USB burning a hole in his pocket as he tried his hardest to pay attention in his English class. They were currently reading Othello by William Shakespeare and Mrs. Beck, the wizened old teacher, tottered around as students read aloud certain parts.
'Thank god I wasn't called on to read today.' Thought Cason as the bell for class to end rang. He didn't care for Othello and kind of liked Shakespeare, but with his mind spinning the way it was, he did not know if he could have given the reading its justice.
History was harder to pay attention in. His teacher in that class was an overly-presented graduate who dressed like a smooth hipster. He was also a little too familiar with PowerPoint. All the assignments for that class were notes and the projects were written reports about what had been given in lecture. It was lucky that there was a person in class who recorded the whole lecture from a Go Pro they stashed inside a bookcase in the back of the room. That student provided the video to everyone in class and was quick to get Cason on the bandwagon. That way, no one really took notes.
It was at this time that Cason let his mind wander as his teacher droned on about Europe in the Dark Ages.
This was it, this was the moment that John was going to go. This had all started with his daughter, Lucy. It was when he was tailing her after a date that he had gotten a call to collect Matthew Farrell, a hacker tangled in some sort of plot. From there it had all led to some psychopath named Thomas Gabriel started a fire sale in the US all to get money and show the people who had expelled him from society it could be done.
He, Gabriel, Matt, and Lucy were in an empty warehouse. Lucy, beaten up a little because she was stubborn like her father, had tears in her eyes. Matt, who had been shot in the leg, sat by a computer waiting for whatever was happening to happen next. McClane, oh he was in a bind. Injured severely with scratches and possible broken bones, he was being held up by Gabriel himself. He had gun squished into a previous gunshot wound. McClane was tired, but he knew he wasn't done.
Words were being said, but McClane didn't quite pay attention. Gabriel was going on about his plans and how he was going to be successful. McClane would die, Lucy would die, and so would Matt. Everything would be hunky-dory for him. Oh how that made John mad. Nothing was ever "hunky-dory" and who better to know than himself? He was a divorced man, his daughter kind of hated him, his son also hated him, and now he was going to die. Oh no. That was not going to happen.
He couldn't recall if he said anything, but he reached up, shot the gun through himself and into Gabriel, wretched away and then shot the man a few more times. Gabriel fell onto the police cruiser, wide eyed in shock, and then collapsed. There were more gunshots, and McClane turned to see Farrell with a gun in his own hand, shooting the man that had had a hold on Lucy. That man crumpled and Lucy stepped away as her father slumped to the ground. She rushed to him and he vaguely made her promise not to tell anyone he purposefully shot himself.
The bell rang and Cason jumped. Around him some students giggled, but his teacher didn't notice. He gathered his things and smiled slyly to himself. That was one of his favorite Die Hard endings.