HELLO, MY FRIENDS! I've been a writing machine lately so I hope you all okay with it.
ANYWAY! Hope you all enjoy! Much love, mates!
"Jim Lake the Sweatshirtless. This day will go down in history." I shot Toby a glare as we walked down the hallway together toward our PE class. "What? You almost never go without your hoodie. You practically sleep in your varsity stuff. Including that hoodie. Then who is seen walking around in it after the breakdown she had in the hallway? Oh yeah." Toby gave me a smirk as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Your girlfriend."
"We're not dating, Tobes."
"Yet. Sweatshirt stealing is one of the many steps in successfully getting yourself a girlfriend, my dude. You skipped a few, but you can always backtrack later."
"I hate you."
"No, you don't."
"Are you sure about that, Tobes?"
"Well if you hated my ass, you wouldn't be talking to me, now would you?"
"I can stop talking right now."
"Then I'll just keep bringing up the fact Claire goddamn Nuñez is wearing something with, and I remind you, your last name on it." I hushed him as we entered the boys' locker room together. Slipping past the other guys to get to our respective lockers.
"All because she's wearing my sweatshirt means nothing, T."
"Um, did you never watch a high school romance film before? Varsity dudes giving anything of their sport-related clothing to a girl is basically like putting a giant big stamp on them saying taken by so and so." I rolled my eyes at him as I opened my locker and started changing into my PE uniform.
"You're talking like girls are some kind of object to possess, Tobes."
"Aw, come on! You know I don't mean it like that! It's just the Hollywood stereotypes, you know? As someone having the main role of Romeo, you should know this crap." I groaned as I banged my forehead against the side of my locker's open door.
"Fuck, I have rehearsal today."
"And how Juliet's looking and acting, she might not be there." I groaned again as I pulled my shirt off over my head. "Oh stop being a drama queen, Jimbo."
"Trust me, she's the only one there that makes me feel like I'm not a complete moron as I trip over my lines like a kindergartner who doesn't know how to tie his shoes."
"That bad, huh?"
"Dude, there's a reason Claire's tutoring me in math and Shakespeare."
"Noted." The familiar sound of annoying laughter and arrogant slaps to each other's back told us enough that our mutual despised bullies had entered the room. "God, do they ever stop laughing like some kind of jock extras from Grease, or is that just how they fucking laugh?" I shrugged at Toby as I finished up changing my clothes.
"Don't know, don't care. I just want out of here." I closed my locker with a simple click before turning to make my way toward the gym, but my path was stopped as Steve was standing before me. I let out an annoyed sigh as I looked up toward the slightly taller boy with a glare. "The hell do you want, Palchuk?"
"That's no way to greet your teammate, Lake."
"When have you ever treated me like one these past few years? Oh yeah, never. Now fuck off. I have enough on my plate." I tried my best to push past him, but the football player pushed me back as he succeeded in keeping me before him.
"Not so fast, Lake. Everyone saw what happened between you and Nuñez this morning-."
"If you're going to try to tell me to stay away from her then you can fuck right off, Steve. She's not something you can call dibs on or something."
"Seems you already did. Why else would an emotionally wrecked girl be wearing your hoodie?"
"How about the answer that I give a fuck? How about the fact that I'm her friend, huh? How about the fact that she's going through some shit right now and you don't need to be about of it." Steve glared at me as a simple growl came out of him.
"You think your some kind of Prince Charming, don't ya?"
"Really? Comparing her to Cinderella then? If anything she's Megara."
"Shut up, Lake."
"You act like I wanted to talk to you today, Asshole. You're the one that started this conversation." I crossed my arms over my chest as I continued. "But what are you then? Some kind of Gaston? I can see that. Especially since you're trying to tell me to stop talking to someone that you have no control over." I decided to push past him once more. This time I was a bit more forceful making it that he couldn't push me back as he did before. "Come on, Tobes." I turned my attention toward my best friend as I noticed he was finished changing now himself. "Let's get out of here before I lose my mind."
"This isn't over, Lake!" Steve called out toward me as Toby and I made our way toward the exit.
"Whatever you say, Jackass." I waved a simple goodbye to him over my shoulder as we exited the locker room.
"Dude, you really are testy today. What's crawled up your ass?" I looked around the hallway to make sure it was empty before answering him in a low whisper.
"Claire's little brother is missing and I think Strickler and the Janus Order have a hand in it."
"Oh shit." Toby gave me a set of wide eyes as we continued our way toward the gym. "No wonder you got upset when Steve was trying to say you're taking advantage of her. Poor Claire."
"No one can know though. She said she wasn't even supposed to talk about it just yet so this stays between us, alright?"
"You act like I can't keep a secret, Jimbo." I rolled my eyes at him jokingly as I slipped my hands into my blue and white PE sweats.
"Honestly, I think these most recent ones are the ones you kept the most, Domzalski."
"HEY! I kept more than these recent ones!" I gave him a knowing look as we entered the gym. "Okay, maybe these are the only ones I kept, but hey! Give a dude some credit where it's due!" I reached out knocked my best friend on the shoulder as we made our way toward the bleachers.
"You know you're like my brother, Tobes. No matter what hell you give me, I still love ya."
"Back at ya, Jim." He knocked my shoulder in reply as I looked up toward the bleachers. I saw that sitting there in her PE uniform was Claire. But one thing was clashing against her normal uniform and all those around her. That being she was still wearing the hoodie I gave her earlier in the day. Without a second thought, I jogged up the steps to where she was sitting to give her a soft smile.
"Hey." Claire turned her head toward me and gave me a gentle smile in return as toyed with the sleeves of the hoodie so they weren't covering her hands.
"Hey." She slipped her hands into the pocket of the sweatshirt as she scooted over to her right a little so I could take the spot beside her. "I hope you don't mind me still wearing this."
"Wear it as long as you like. I got a promise to keep, remember?" A soft laugh came from her as she shot me a smirk.
"How are you holding up so far? Are these next twenty or so hours going to be hell for you?" I flashed her a lopsided grin as I leaned back to place my hands behind me and the bleacher seats behind us.
"I'm doing pretty good so far. How about you?"
"I don't know. I'm growing kind of attached to it. The grey would clash with my normal outfit though." I picked up on the teasing tone to her voice as I decided instead to give her a more serious answer.
"I got a black one if that's more your style." She raised an eyebrow at my reply as I just gave a simple shrug. "You said you're getting attached to it. It's my game hoodie though. Has my number on it and stuff. Hope that's not an issue."
"You would seriously let me borrow another one?"
"You can keep the black if you like it, honestly." I brought myself back up into a sitting position as I rolled my shoulders. "It's a little tight in the arms, now that I think about it." I saw her bite her lower lip a little as I noticed the slightest tint of pink to the Latina's cheeks.
Aw fuck. I didn't go too far with that, right? Toby did say this stuff is like, a relationship step. We're not even technically friends and I'm offering for her to keep my old game sweatshirt.
I'm skipped a lot of steps here, huh?
"Bring it tomorrow then." I pulled myself out of my thoughts as Claire spoke. "Then when you're time runs out on your 24 hours, we can switch. You get your sweatshirt back and I get to fuel my new addition." I blushed slightly at the last word she said. A smirk taking over my face as I decided to tease her back like she was earlier to me.
"Addiction, huh?"
"Yep. Don't tempt me with any more of them. I might just take them forever."
"Honestly?" My smirk faded into a small smile as my blush probably darkened just the slightest. "I might be okay with that."
"Really, huh?"
"Yup." Claire gave a small laugh at my response as she placed a hand on top of mine that was sitting on the bleacher beside her.
"Then I guess it's a deal, Lake."
"I guess it is."
"Hey, did you ever ask Toby where he found my brother's toy?"
"Oh, he said it was right at the forest line where that old beaten trail ends right before you reach the canal. Does that help at all?"
"Kind of." We shared simple smiles for a moment as she squeezed my hand under hers. "Thanks, Jim."
"Anytime, Claire." At this point, Coach Lawerence blew his whistle to gain our attention. But even as our gym teacher started to drone, the warm feeling of Claire's hand was still on top of mine. Neither of us deciding to remove either of our hands until we were supposed to separate to our respective sides of the gym or our daily activities.
But even then, it was obvious neither of us really wanted to.
"Told her how I found it at the forest trail?"
"Yup."
"Did she seem to take it?"
"From what I can tell." Toby let out a sigh of relief as we made our way toward play rehearsal together.
"Thank, God, honestly. I don't need the police knocking at my door asking me what I've been doing these last couple of days. Would be weird to explain if they start watching me why I leave in the middle of the night."
"Even if they did, I would be your alibi."
"Like a true brother. Lying to keep me out of possible prison. You're the best, Jimmy Jam."
"Ya ya, now don't ever call me that again."
"Hey! Mary calls you it! Why can't I?!"
"Because Mary, Darci, and Claire call me that. Unless you want to use the nickname that Mary has dubbed her creation as the girl would probably hack your media accounts if she finds out you tried saying it without her permission."
"I like my Instagram hack-free, thank you."
"Then don't call me, Jimmy Jam."
"Or by how you're saying it, just don't call you Jimmy Jam in front of Mary." I rolled my eyes at him as we came to a stop before the gym doors.
"Okay, before I head in for rehearsal, do you remember the plan for your end of the stick?"
"Go down to Troll Market, ask Blinky how the changelings do their infant stealing stuff, see if I can find anything involving them with you know you, and then if I do, contact you immediately." I gave my best friend a large smile in response to his soldier-like response.
"Good job, Soldier."
"Thanks, Lieutenant Jimbo."
"Please, never say it like that again."
"Whatever you say, Lieutenant Dan."
"I'm pretty sure I have both my legs, Tobes."
"Are you sure? They're kinda skinny for them to be real."
"Fuck off." I laughed at the end of my statement so that he knew there wasn't any menace in what I stated as I slipped into the gym.
"Not on the list, Lieutenant Dan!" I shook my head at his response as I made my way toward the stage. Slipping into the back with a yawn before I came to a dead stop. Standing there, script in hand, was Claire.
"I thought with everything you're going through that you would go home right after school." I walked closer to her as she turned her head to smile toward me.
"I wanted to, honestly, but mom insisted that we act like everything's normal. Even then, it'll count against me if I showed up to school and not practice since I wasn't even supposed to talk about everything to anyone just yet." I dropped my school bag to the ground before placing my right hand over my heart.
"You're secret is safe with me." She giggled a little at my actions before replying to me in a soft voice.
"I know. Thank you, again. For everything. You didn't have to do any of this."
"I know." I smiled at her as I slipped my hands into my jogger pockets. "I wanted to. If anything else comes up though, I'm here if you need me. Anything at all, I'll be there. Promise." Her smile widened gently as she placed her script onto the table that was beside her.
"I'll make sure to remember that."
"Good cause I like to keep my promises, Nuñez. Hope you know that."
"I know that a little too well now, actually." Simple silence took over between us as we stood side by side together backstage. Even as more filed in for rehearsal and when Miss Janeth called for certain scenes to be rehearsed, we kept by each other's side there until we couldn't anymore.
But no matter what, after each scene, we came back to where we were. Standing together as we silently transferred strength to the other to continue going.
Her to keep up the facade that everything was okay.
Me to keep up the act that I didn't know more than I was letting on.
"Goblins? You're sure?" I gave Toby a confused look as he just gave a simple nod in return.
"Makes sense. Better yet, here." He showed me his phone as a small play button appeared over a snapshot of what looked like the museum. "Watch this." I pressed the play button and watched the screen as a flash of green carrying a small bundle within its hands run across the telephone lines and slipped into the museum.
"Was that-?"
"I think so." He took his phone back as Blinky walked up to both of us.
"I was unsure at first myself, but it makes sense. Especially after witnessing Tobias' evidence."
"You know you can just call me-, you know what? I don't care anymore."
"But what does that leave us plan-wise?"
"Well, Master Jim, I believe it is best to figure out which changeling is in charge of those little tyrants." I nodded my head before turning my attention back toward Toby.
"Got any plans then, T?"
"Honestly, I'm lost a little. We know that Strickler is basically the head of it all, but I doubt that he would control the little shits. He can barely deal with teenagers." I snickered a little at that as Blinky just gave us confused looks.
"Well," I let my laughter stifle itself as I glanced over toward the duffle bag we had left in Blinky's library from when we first went to check out the museum. "I guess we're just going to have to go on an adventure again."
"SPY TIME PART TWO?!" I nodded my head at my best friend's excitement/
"Spy time part two."
"I do not understand you two at times, but I will just nod along and agree at this point."
"Probably best, Blinky. Toby and I are enigmas. Even to our own kind."
"Enigma, huh? Didn't know you knew the definition for that one." I reached over the island and smacked Toby's shoulder with the back of my right hand.
"Shush. Now let's get ready, shall we? We got a Goblin Whisperer to find."
"HELL YEAH! Let's find ourselves a Slime Tamer!"
"Confused." I looked over toward Blinky who just patted AAARRRGGHH's right arm with one of his left hands.
"Don't worry, my friend. I don't think we're meant to understand them."