I know what you're thinking. "Next chapter already? Does he have anything to do other than type up fanfiction?" At the moment, no. But don't complain: things are just starting to get really good! *rubs his hands together and lets out a maniacal cackle*
Disclaimer: I may be a guy, but I'm not James Patterson or Tim Kring.
Claimer: Jackson and Chloe are my characters. You lay a finger on them, and you're gonna have one hell of a rude awakening. *death glare*
Max POV
Idiots! Stupid stupid idiot boys! What the hell were they thinking! Second day at school, and they already set off a bomb! And it doesn't help that Jackson decided to go along with it!
Max, the Voice chimed in.
WHAT?! I was in no mood for talking to this stupid thing…
Max, you need to clear your mind. Lecturing your Flock and an evolved human for blowing up a couple of bombs isn't what should be at the top of your priority list right now.
Oh?! I shot back. Then what should be, oh omniscient one?!
The School is on the move again. They're likely to go after Jackson and Chloe so that they can get to you and your Flock. Remember, don't let anything happen to them. Even if they think Jackson is just a normal human, they'll still experiment on him and Chloe. That should probably be in the front of your mind.
And what do you expect me to do about it? I shot back.
Actually, Max, there's not much you can do at this point. It's a waiting game now. I sent a message to Jackson that if the School abducts him he is not to use his powers until the absolute last second.
Like he'll listen to you if his girlfriend is in danger… You know what, I'm through talking to you, Voice. Why don't you go bug somebody else for now?
I didn't get a response from the Voice. Good. I needed to give these idiot boys a lecture.
Jackson just had to bring Chloe along with him. Because of that, we all had to walk home from school that day. I told Nudge to go pick up Angel, because I wasn't letting Fang out of my sight for another second of this day. I was still debating whether or not to tell Chloe about the whole wings thing; probably not, unless absolutely necessary. If Jackson hadn't told her about his powers, then I didn't need to tell her about the wings. When I asked him, he responded that Chloe was still in the dark about that.
When we got back to the house the Flock was staying at, Nudge and Angel were already inside and chatting it up.
"Uh, I hate to be a bother," Chloe started, "but how did they get back so fast? The lower school is that way." Chloe pointed the complete opposite direction we had come from.
"That's a secret Chloe," I said.
"Oh, okay. Jackson already told me not to pry too much around all of you. I don't know why, but I'll trust you." Finally, a sensible person! Leave it to the girls to be like that.
Hey Max? Angel was talking to me with her thoughts. Oh yeah, in case I haven't said it yet, Angel can read minds.
Yeah sweetie?
I read Chloe's mind, and she doesn't know about the wings. Do we tell her?
No Angel, we're not going to tell her until Jackson spills his guts to her.
Oh, okay. With that Angel went back to chatting with Nudge about her day. I just hoped she wasn't using her mind control on the teachers…
Back to the matter at hand though: lecturing Iggy, Fang, and Jackson. I enlisted Chloe to help with the lecturing; she had told me about how her cousin had been expelled for making even a threat to bring a bomb to school, much less go through with the explosion.
I turned to face the three boys. Fang was leaned up against the wall, Jackson was playing with his cell-phone, and Iggy was talking to the Gasman from across the room.
"Zephyr, Ariel, Crystal, can you three leave please?" They didn't bother to question. The three of them went upstairs to their rooms. At least whoever was behind the Voice gave us a nice house. Once the three of them were safely upstairs and I heard doors close, I put my hands on my hips, and started lecturing the three of them.
"What the hell were you three thinking?! First, you blow up his locker, next you incinerate his backpack, and then you beat him up! I didn't think all of you were such idiots! I don't care what it was for, you can't go blowing stuff up! Don't you remember what happened last time you blew something up at a school? We were very nearly expelled!"
"It's not like we care about that anyway, Max," Iggy said.
"Yes we do! I can't believe you all are such idiots!"
"Yeah!" Chloe butted in. "My cousin was expelled for even threatening to blow up a bomb on campus, and you three are crazy enough to actually do it, and then beat John up afterwards? Although I must admit it was quite a show…"
"Chloe!" I was appalled.
"I'm sorry Max!" She was really apologetic all of a sudden. "It wasn't exactly the right thing to do, but I guess that if it was anybody who got it, John deserved it, especially considering the fact that he was strutting around campus all day yesterday saying how much you wanted him in your pants…"
"WHAT?!" He… he… he said what?!
"Max," Fang said. "We did that so that we could get you revenge."
"Also," Jackson added, "I wanted a piece of him too. That guy's been the bane of me ever since elementary school; we've gone to the same school ever since fourth grade, and I only started standing up to him in the middle of seventh, so he still thinks he can boss me around. I just wanted to show him that he's not God's gift to the world, that's all."
"I may think he's a sexist pig for saying that, but that still doesn't mean you should have used explosives! I mean, you should have just let me beat him up!" I turned to Jackson. "And what, may I ask, was that little ball of lightning that incinerated John's backpack?"
"Just a little something Jackson and I cooked up," Iggy said innocently.
"Well whatever it was, I don't want to see any more of those, okay?"
"Too late!" Jackson butted in again. "I already have, like, five of them all set for next time we prank John." Next time? He was so going to get it later…
"Oops, look at the time," Jackson said. "Chloe, weren't we supposed to go to the mall around this time?"
"Umm…" Chloe looked a little confused, but Jackson winked at her with the eye that Fang couldn't see from his perspective. Bastard…
"Oh yeah!" Chloe snapped her fingers for effect. "Right, I need to go and get you a whole new wardrobe cause you always wear the same thing to school every day. Bye Max! Bye Nick! Bye Jeff! Thanks for letting us come over!" With that, Jackson and Chloe disappeared out the door, leaving Fang and Iggy to my mercy.
This was going to be fun…
Jackson POV
"Uh, Chloe?" We were in my dad's sports car again, on our way to Century City.
"Yeah?"
"Were you being serious about getting me a whole new wardrobe at the mall?" I started to shudder at the thought.
"Uh, yeah! You always wear the same thing to school everyday, you really need to change it up!"
"Well I'm sorry that I'm a guy Chloe, and that guys only get so many choices of clothes to wear while girls get hundreds of combinations!"
Chloe just laughed at this. "Don't worry, it won't cost too much."
"Um, what stores are we going to exactly?" She ran off a list of ten stores, all at Century City. Great…
I pulled into a spot, and after we got out I locked the car. In the first store we went into, Chloe picked out a dark blue polo shirt for me. I grudgingly obliged, but I bought myself a blue bandana to wear on my wrist also. I rolled up the sleeves of my button-down and tied the bandana around my left wrist.
"What are you trying to look like Jackson, a skater?"
"No, I just think it looks good… does it?" She gave a nod, and then grabbed my arm and started leading me to the next store.
We were about to walk into Hollister when I heard a familiar voice call my name.
"Jackson Davis." Oh crap… Please god, not here, not now, and not with Chloe present.
I turned around… and was staring straight at HRG. Next to him, there was a blond teenager… I could only guess that this was his daughter Claire that I'd overheard him talking about.
"What the hell do you want, Bennet. I don't have time for this."
"Relax, Jackson. I'm not here to take you in; in fact, I was told that if I ever saw you again that I was to present you with a job offer."
"Work for the Company? Thanks, but I'd rather die."
"No you wouldn't," Claire spoke up. "Dying is not fun, I should know."
Wasn't expecting that. I knew that Claire's power was spontaneous regeneration; that is, self-healing, but I didn't think that she'd be able to come back from death…
I didn't like where this conversation was going. I pushed Chloe behind me so that I could keep her safe.
"Whatever, Claire. I don't really care about whatever crazy shit has happened to you because of Daddy's job. I don't want anything to do with your stupid Company, but because I feel bad for all the shit you've gone through because of Bennet over there, I'll give him a lucky break. Go onto the web and search for "Fang's Blog." That's where you'll find your next assignment. Now go, and leave me alone."
"Wait a moment Jackson." HRG came up to me, pulled a card out of his pocket, and handed it to me. "In case you change your mind. And if Pinehearst comes to you with an offer, decline it immediately." I took the card and shoved it in my back pocket. Hopefully I'd forget to take it out and it would just be ripped to shreds in the wash.
"I don't think you'll be hearing from me again. Goodbye Bennet. And Claire… make sure that your dad here knows what he's getting himself into after he reads that blog. I don't want him rushing head-long into something he knows nothing about, because that would make him worthy of a Darwin award."
"Why, you…" Claire started, but I interrupted her.
"Well, been nice talking to you all, but I've still got, oh, nine stores to go to today. Goodbye Bennet, I hope I never have to see you again!" With that, I turned around, and with Chloe next to me, I walked away.
"What was that all about?" Chloe asked me after we were a safe distance away.
"You don't want to know Chloe. Trust me on this, but knowing about it gets people killed." She dropped the subject pretty quickly. I could tell she was troubled. I pulled her in tighter. "Don't worry. I won't let anything happen to you."
Little did I know at the time just how horribly wrong I was.