Chapter Twenty-Seven: Private Property
Eight Years Earlier. 0705 Hours, September 23, 2544. Near Jameson High School, Emerald Pines. "The Meeting," Planet Mars. William Hawk's Memories
Finally, senior year, Willis thought with a smile. I'm going to take this new school by storm, be the star football player, pick up tons of girls…
"Hey, Will," the girl beside him said, smirking. "Everyone's going to laugh at your stupid new haircut."
"Shut up, Jamie," Willis shot back, pulling his hood up and crossing his arms. "Mom! Why'd you have to bring this car?"
"William, don't talk that way to your sister," his mother answered.
"She started it!"
"Did not!"
"Did, too!"
"Mom, Will's making faces at me!"
"William Peter! Do not make me stop this car! You are seventeen years old, now act like it!"
Jamie stuck her tongue out at her brother when she thought their mother wasn't looking. Willis was about to respond with a one-fingered salute when he was abruptly thrown forward in his seat.
"What the---!" he exclaimed.
"Out! All of you!" their mother said, turning around and giving her two oldest children an angry look.
"Mom---" Willis and Jamie began in unison.
"William, I already warned you," their mother said, looking at Willis. Then she turned to his sister and added, "And you, Jamie, are sixteen. You should both be ashamed of your behavior at your age." She let her two older children follow her gaze to the little boy sitting between them. "Matthew is barely six, and he's behaving much better than either of you!"
Matthew gave Jamie and Willis a smug smile and said nothing.
"You're not fooling anyone, Matt," Willis whispered in his brother's ear.
"What did you say, William?"
"Nothing, Mom."
"Good. Now, all three of you, out you go."
"It's freezing outside, Mom! And we've got blocks to go!" Jamie protested.
"Yeah, and I thought you were going to take Matthew to his new school," Willis put in.
"I have to get to work. His school is nearby and the directions are on your datapad. This will be a good chance for you three to learn to help each other instead of bicker all the time."
Jamie began unbuckling Matthew's seat belt, and opened up the car door. Cool fall air instantly flooded the vehicle, and Willis shivered.
"Can I just say how unfair this is?" he complained.
"Yes, you may. But you still have to get out."
Willis gave his mother an annoyed look, but started getting out of the car; his siblings were already waiting for him. He was about to shut the door when he heard his mother call his name.
"Yeah, Mom?" he said, sticking his head back in the car.
"Take care of them, William. And keep a subtle watch on your sister, will you?"
What Willis really wanted to do was roll his eyes, but he muttered a quick, "Ok, bye," instead. He shut the door and began walking with Jamie and Matthew.
They had gone a few blocks without speaking, heading towards Matthew's school, before Jamie broke the silence."See, Will? None of this would've happened if you hadn't totaled the other car over the summer," she said.
"Yeah, well, what's keeping you from getting a license?" Willis retorted.
"Um, maybe the fact that we no longer have that car."
Willis didn't reply. Instead, he looked down at Matthew and said, "Hey, Matt, where was my back-up today, kid?"
The little boy shrugged. "Sorry, Will, but it was the first time you two got in trouble instead of me." He grinned up at his older brother.
Willis and Jamie looked at each other and smiled. Matthew always said the funniest things, and he wasn't even completely aware of his wit yet.
Willis ruffled his younger brother's hair and said, "Oh, yeah?"
Matthew simply continued to grin.
"Uh-oh," Jamie said, giving her older brother a look.
"Yup," Willis replied, nodding sagely.
"Oh, no!" Matthew cried, picking up on what was happening.
"You know what we have to do to you now, little bro," Jamie said.
"Always gotta have our back, little buddy," Willis added.
"No, no, no, no, no!" Matthew cried. He tried to run, but Willis caught him in one long stride.
"I got 'im!" Willis shouted. "I'll hold him down!"
"Ok, Matt, here goes!"
"No!"
Jamie started tickling their little brother, and he giggled and kicked wildly.
"Get off! Come on, Jamie! Will, help me!" Matthew yelled between peals of high-pitched laughter.
By now, all three Hawk children were laughing. Trying to catch her older brother by surprise, Jamie let go of Matthew, who was giggling like crazy, and grabbed a handful of leaves on the ground. Willis saw the multicolored leaves coming at his face a second too late, and didn't have time to duck out of the way.
"Hey!" he cried.
"Come get me if you can!" his sister called out, starting to run up the street.
Willis shook the leaves off his jacket and looked at his little brother. "Ready to go catch her, Matt?"
"Yeah!" the boy exclaimed, grinning ear to ear.
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After dropping their younger brother off at the nearby elementary school, Jamie and Willis kept on walking towards Jameson High School. It was supposedly only a few blocks north of Matthew's school, but it seemed to be taking much longer to actually get there. Willis was beginning to wonder whether they'd gotten lost.
The Hawk family had moved to Emerald Pines from the other side of Mars in the early summer. A few months before, Willis's parents, both civilian engineers working with the UNSC, had received promotions. Of course, one of the perks had been a move to a new city with higher paychecks all around; Willis's parents had accepted the offer immediately. Sure, it was strange leaving your house, friends, and neighbors, but for the most part, the family found the prospect of living in a new place exciting.
Finally reaching the high school, Jamie and Willis parted ways after getting their respective schedules. Most of the day dragged by slowly, and Willis found himself yawning a lot. Maybe even a little too much, seeing as one of his AI teachers singled him out for not paying attention. Willis simply shrugged it off; it was only the first day, after all.
When school ended for the day, it was raining. Willis found Jamie and they waited together under the front building's roof, hoping their mother would show up to get them soon. The two siblings were chatting casually about their day when Jamie suddenly squinted and said, "Is that…? It is!"
Willis tried to follow his sister's gaze. "Huh?"
"That girl down there, standing in the rain with her umbrella? She's my friend from that track team I was on over the summer. She's a year older than me, though. I'd go down and say hi, but I don't want to get all wet."
"Maybe she needs a ride," Willis said, looking down at the girl. "What'd you say her name was?"
"Why don't you go find out?"
Willis gave his younger sister a look, but she just grinned.
Shaking his head, Willis walked out from underneath the roof and into the pouring rain. By the time he walked the several yards to where the girl was standing, he was soaking wet.
"Excuse me?" he said, wondering for the millionth time why he was doing this.
The girl turned around, and his brain felt like it had just shut down.
Struck by her long brown hair and sparkling green eyes, he thought her pretty at once. She may not have been the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen, but she certainly seemed the type to get a few second looks. She smiled pleasantly at him, and he could have sworn his heart stopped. "Hi. Do I know you?"
"Yes," Willis answered in a rush. "I mean, no, not really, but I think you know my sister."
The girl gave him a questioning look. "Oh, yeah? What's your sister's name?"
"Uh, Jamie. Jamie Hawk."
The girl's smile returned, and Willis had that same feeling of his heart arresting. "Jamie? Of course I know her!" The girl looked up to where his sister was standing and waved. Jamie waved back.
"She said she would've come down if it weren't raining," Willis explained.
"That's ok, I understand." The girl turned back to face him, and seemed to realize for the first time that he was all wet. "So why did you come down here?"
Willis's throat felt scratchy all of a sudden. "Um, I was actually wondering if you needed a ride." He smiled sheepishly. "'Course it'll be my mom's old car that doesn't even drive itself anymore, but it sure beats walkin'."
The girl laughed. "Sounds great. But unfortunately I've already got someone coming."
"Oh," Willis said, feeling stupid. "Right. Well, that's cool. Guess I'll just head back up top then." He turned to leave.
"You could wait with me, you know," he heard her say behind him.
Willis grinned to himself before turning back around. "Sure. So, uh, what's your name?"
"Natalie Cooper," the girl said, holding out her hand.
"Willis Hawk," Willis replied. He took her hand and shook it---and realized too late that he'd gotten her hand all wet. "Sorry…"
"Don't worry about it," the girl replied with a sweet smile. "So? Your sister tells me you guys are new here."
"Yeah, just moved from Togeesa, up in the mountains."
"Really? I don't think I've ever been there." She paused, then added, "My dad's…well, my dad was in the UNSC Navy. And my mom's a scientist. So we've moved around a lot."
"Yeah? I guess your dad's out of the Navy now, huh?" Willis asked, noting the fact that she'd used the past tense.
Her expression changed, and after a moment's hesitation, she began to reply, "Actually, he---"
"Hey, Natalie!" a voice came from behind them. Willis and Natalie turned to see another young man walking up. With his brown hair and brown eyes, the newcomer was strikingly handsome.
"Ethan!" Natalie exclaimed when she saw him. He walked up to her, completely ignoring Willis, and kissed her.
Willis's heart sank.
"Ready to go?" Ethan asked, putting his arms around her and kissing her again, this time on the cheek.
Natalie giggled and said, "Yeah."
Finally realizing a third person was standing beside them, Ethan looked at Willis. He lifted his head at the new kid and then glanced at Natalie. "Who's this?"
Was it just Willis's imagination, or did he hear a certain…tightness in Ethan's words?
"Oh, this is Willis Hawk. He's Jamie's brother. Remember her, my friend from track?"
"Yeah," Ethan seemed to grumble. Staring daggers at Willis while at the same time giving him a friendly smile, Ethan said, "Nice to meet you, Hawk. I'm Ethan Ackerson."
"It's nice to meet you, too," Willis replied out of courtesy.
Then he processed Ethan's last name.
"Wait, is your dad---?"
"Colonel James Ackerson? You got it. Well, Natalie and I have to get going now," Ethan said rapidly, still with that strange nice-hate expression on his face. He looked at Natalie and asked, "Right?"
Willis caught the look of slight discomfort on Natalie's face. "Right, Ethan." She smiled at Willis again, though this time it seemed forced. "I'll, um, see you later."
"Yeah, sure. Bye," Willis said, turning around and taking his leave. As he walked back to where his sister sat waiting under the roof, he thought about Ethan's odd behavior. Some hostility could have been deemed natural between a girl's boyfriend and an unknown guy, but Willis didn't like the way Natalie had acted once Ethan arrived. She had seemed more reserved and less willing to show an acknowledgement of Willis's presence, when before she had been friendly and talkative.
But, when Willis made it back to his sister, he decided it was only his imagination. What did he know about those two, anyway? There was a simple explanation somewhere, perhaps one Willis simply couldn't see.
"How did it go, Will?" Jamie asked him as he approached.
"Well, I'm dripping wet, she said no about the ride, and her boyfriend showed up," Willis answered, doing his best to feign dejection. Then he looked up and grinned. "Still, I think it was worth it just to meet her."
