Author's Note: Well, here it is, the long-awaited Tobias chapter! Rejoice, rejoice! I hope this is as good as you guys all want it to be, and looky here! There's foreshadowing! Random thing - "Roberto Muldoon" is a nod to the book The World According to Garp, and the transvestite-quarterback Roberta Muldoon.
It really is a good book. Stop giving me those weird looks and read the story. =P
I'd also like to apologize for the lateness in getting this one ready. The truth that, I was scared to write it. My home life is a lot more like Tobias's than I like to admit, and so writing about all of it is kind of hard for me. Sorry.
This chapter is longer than the others, which I wouldn't apologize for, but this chapter sucks. =(
The chappies should be coming out quicker, though, because I no longer have soccer practice. Whoopee!
Oh, and Ax is up next and thanks to Puar Briefs for helping me get a last name for Tobias! **hugs**
Chronicle One
The first step to getting the things you want out of life is this: Decide what you want." - Ben Stein
Chapter Five
-Tobias-
My name is Tobias. Just Tobias, that's all you need to know.
That's all you're going to care to know, too.
I stepped over the broken bottles. I crept past my uncle, drunk and asleep, passed out on the couch.
I opened the door and went back into my room. The bus would come in fifteen minutes.
I broke open the package of cold Pop Tarts I'd snuck into the kitchen for. Its not like I'm not allowed to eat them, but my uncle doesn't like it when I do. Not that he ever notices I'm around, but I don't like getting his attention by making him angry. My uncle isn't very pretty when he's angry.
The Pop Tarts were raspberry flavored, I think. I didn't quite taste them. They'd been coated with a liberal amount of frosting in attractive red and pink shades. As I chewed on the cold pastry, I wondered how many kids would be going to school and jumping off the walls from all the sugar in that frosting. It was kind of disturbing to think about.
I'd never been one of those "jumping off the walls" kind of kids. I guess I just don't get hyper very much.
Then again, I never had all that much to get hyper about. I swallowed down the last piece of my Pop Tart and slung my backpack over my shoulder and went back to creeping into the living room so I wouldn't be late for the bus.
Sometimes I wonder why I even bother with going to school. My uncle wouldn't even notice, I bet. Or he'd just be telling me to get him a beer every five minutes. Because of him the people working at the 7/11 on our block think I'm some kind of alcoholic. You see, my uncle likes to send me for beer runs. He even gave me a fake ID for it.
Aside from the fact that it had my name as "Roberto Muldoon" and said I was twenty-three, it wasn't too bad.
It's the most money that I think my uncle has ever spent on me in my whole life. It cost him sixty bucks.
He bought the thing for me as a five-months-too late birthday present after he had to go a week sober because the people at the 7/11 refused to let him buy any more beer. He kept coming in there drunk as a pissant, yelling for something to drink. The managers and the workers had enough of it and I got an ID out of the deal.
The bus should've been pulling up any minute. God, did I ever want it to. School wasn't any better than here but at least it didn't smell like beer. At least there wasn't the fear of my uncle waking up.
Nope, school smelled of pot and there was the fear of those pricks that wanted to shove me in my locker.
I considered it something like a fair trade. As I was pondering this, the bus drove up and I walked out the door.
As soon I stepped out, our driver who is some sadistic college student started up the motor.
I started up my sprinting. The bus driver poked his head out the window and smirked at me, his eyes glinting.
"Avan, you'd better get those legs of yours to aviate right before I leave you at the curb!" He hollered.
If I had been running like some crazed animal, I would have rolled my eyes. Even though I was kind of surprised the bus driver had enough brains to come up with that, but I mean, come on. Was that necessary?
The bus was already moving and my legs were pumping so hard I was worried they were going to quit on me.
"Run for it, Bird Boy!" The bus driver shouted and I ran. I was panting and sweating but I was just about a few feet now from the door of the bus. Almost close enough and it couldn't be long before he had to stop to pick up another kid, could it? I almost reached a dead panic when the bus reached the curb and I swore it was going to turn.
But it stopped. I almost ran into the bus in shock. The bus driver was arguing with two kids standing up at the front of the bus. Real slow, I walked up to the bus and went inside. The driver and the two kids stared at me.
One of them smiled at me. I was freaked out because, you see, I knew that kid. His name was Andy.
Andy was one of many bullies whose goal in life was torture me. On instinct, I stepped back.
"Relax." Andy said, still smiling a calm smile. A smile meant to disarm me, I knew. "I won't touch you." He said.
"Yeah." Added the other kid, a friend of Andy's called Tap-Tap. Another bully who liked beating me up.
"We were trying to convince Mr. Stevenson here to stop for you. Weren't we, Mr. Stevenson?" Tap-Tap asked.
The bus driver, Mr. Stevenson, nodded. I blanched, wondering what the heck Andy and Tap-Tap had done.
"There's a seat right there." Tap-Tap said, pointing to the first seat. He was right. It was empty.
I plopped down in the seat, not quite sure of what the heck was going on. Tap-Tap and Andy were smiling again.
Then both of them sat next to me on the old seat. Mr. Stevenson started up the bus again.
"You know, Tobias, I have a great idea." Andy said. Oh man, I thought. Now they'll beat me up.
I frowned, doubt dancing his eyes. "You do?" I asked. Andy nodded. "Yep." He said, grinning at me. It was odd.
"What's your great idea?" I asked, my voice tight and wary. Andy smiled a suspicious kind of smile.
"You ever heard of The Sharing?" Andy asked. Yes, I had. It was a Boys and Girls kind of organization. Lots of people had suggested it to me, but I'm a little pessimistic about those kinds of places.
Call me a cynic if you want but in my experience most people who try to be caring have their own motives.
I'm not saying there aren't good and kind people in this world who have a true desire to help their fellow man, but I haven't met many of them. My aunt just takes care of me for the free labor and my uncle uses me as a reason to pay fewer taxes. I guess it's time I explained my twisted family situation, isn't it? All right, but buckle your seatbelts.
No one knows what happened to my father. Maybe he's dead. Maybe he ran out on Mom and I. Heck, maybe he's an alien who had to go back to his home planet, nobody has any clue. There only trace of him is my aunt and uncle (yes, they're siblings, not ex-spouses) and I'd say that's enough to drive anyone to drugs or whatever.
The one thing we know is that my Mom wasn't able to take of me. I don't know why, or how, but she wasn't.
I hear she just lost it after she lost my dad. Maybe she's drugged up. Maybe she's dead.
"You should come with Tap-Tap and me to the next meeting." Andy said, grinning at me.
"Nah." I said. "Not my kind of thing, and I'm too busy anyway." I halfway lied to Andy, and watch his face drop.
Then it went away and Andy leaned over and gave me a noogie. "Aw, poor little Tobias, he's busy." Andy teased.
I laughed and Andy got off of me. "Maybe sometime." I said. "When I've got more time."
Andy was beaming up at me, looking like it was his birthday. "That'd be great, you know." He said.
Yeah, I thought. Maybe it would be. After all, if it turned around guys like Andy and Tap-Tap, what was the harm?
When I got to school, I met up with her.
Her meaning Rachel Berenson, one time Queen of the Prep Squad, and a gymnastic wizardess. She's blonde, tall, beautiful and maybe a little dangerous. She's different, though, from all those other modelesque popular girls.
The proof is that she stooped down to talk to me. Not like Rachel put in those words, but it's what she did.
I was very grateful for that.
Okay, I guess Rachel and I are kind of friends. We've had lockers right next to each other the whole year but we just noticed about two days ago. Rachel had said "Hi," to me, and her preppy friends got pretty pissed off at her.
We partnered up in Biology that same day, and we've not quite been hanging out since. I suspect it has something to with the fact that Rachel is desperate for me to play baby-sitter to her two little sisters. For the record, I'd be thrilled to do it whether I got paid or not. It'd mean a few hours away from the Beer Factory and plus, I'd get to hang out with Rachel. Well, kind of. We would still be watching her sisters, after all. Still, it'd be cool.
All right, I admit it. I like Rachel. But it's not like I'm ever going to tell her that, she's way out of my league.
"Hey, Tobias." Rachel said, flicking some of her long blonde hair out of her eyes as she opened her locker.
"Hi." I said, feeling nervous and full of jitters. Feeling, more or less, like usual when I was around Rachel.
Rachel pulled her books out of her locker and put them in her backpack. Then she smiled up at me.
"Mom says you can do it." Rachel said, a half smile still leaking in on her lips. I blinked. "Do what?"
Rachel shook her head and rolled her eyes. "Help me baby-sit Sarah and Jordan, of course." She said, smiling.
"Oh!" I said. "Oh, yeah, right. Sorry, I forgot." I mumbled and Rachel shrugged. "It's okay." She said, then waved.
"I've got to get to class." Rachel said, running off. "Talk to you in Biology. See you, Tobias!" She said, waving again.
"Yeah." I said to Rachel's running form. "See you."
Then I gathered up my books and shoved them in my backpack and went off like a prisoner to gym class.
I hate to sound like one of those typical nerdy guys but gym isn't quite my thing. It's not that I hate sports, I just hate the way that I'm secluded. Most of the kids in my class don't bother with me and those that do, well, I wish they didn't, you know? If it weren't for that I might like gym. As it stands though, gym isn't my kind of thing.
"All right, ladies and gents." Said Mr. Carl, our big and beefy gym teacher. He's the one I'm not too fond of.
Our other gym teacher, Mr. Trelbourne, is a nice guy. He's in his late twenties and he's not a follower of that "no pain no gain" religion that Mr. Carl subscribes to. Mr. Trelbourne had gotten the flu, though; over the six weeks and that meant we were going to be stuck with Mr. Carl coaching us. Are there words that can express my joy?
"We are going to do a bit of running today." Mr. Carl said, a sick sort of smile twisting up his face and tone.
More than half the class groaned. I was amongst that group. The rest said nothing, but their faces revealed they, too, had no desire to go along with this exercise. "Come on, now, onto the field." Mr. Carl said and we followed.
The fields outside the school are pretty well kept, but that might have something to do with the way that our sports teams are very successful. Therefore, good teams, good fields, and we assume, a good school.
Didn't mean I was looking forward to running in those fields.
"All right, get on that white line there." Mr. Carl said, pointing to a strip of white paint across the field.
"When I blow my whistle I want you to bust your butt, okay?" He asked us. We all nodded back at him.
"Now, listen, we're running four laps. Grab some water if you need it." Mr. Carl instructed. I watched as he placed the small plastic whistle up to his lips and released a sharp, loud squeak from inside. I jumped fifty feet in the air.
Then I began to run. I've never been athlete material and I doubted I'd even be able to finish two laps.
One foot in front of the other, left, right, left, right creating a rhythm that seemed to pump throughout my whole body. With all my willpower I tried to concentrate on that rhythm so that I wouldn't feel the fatigue and weakness to come.
I ran as if my life depended on it. I looked up from my moving feet to see that I was halfway around the field.
I was shocked but decided to keep on running, running like there were aliens hot on my trail.
Flash!
"Split up!" Jake yelled. "They can't follow all of us!"
I ran faster than I'd ever run in my entire life. Me, Cassie and Marco had split off into different directions, out of panic or in an attempt to distract the Hork-Bajir, I'm not even certain anymore. I've been out of shape for as long as I can remember, and I can't remember a time I regretted it more. Rachel and Jake were running together.
I guess they figured since they were the fastest runners, the aliens should be chasing them.
Judging from the words spilling out of Rachel's mouth, I sure hoped that was the case.
The Hork-Bajir snapped out commands in a mix of their language and English. Even in my panic I was shocked.
It didn't stop me from running, though. It didn't stop my run for my life.
All I could do was a quick prayer for all of us to somehow, in some way, survive the hell that was unfolding.
My legs gave way.
I hit the fresh, clean green grass.
Then I passed out.
"Get off your ass, you lazy little shit!" I did as I was told and raised myself up in the middle of the dark room.
There were beer bottles everywhere. Some of them as big as houses, other about the size of ants.
So much beer. How did it get here? I heard the crack of a belt. "What the hell are you staring at?"
"Nothing." I said. It was strange, my voice sounded just like the voice of a little kid. How very odd all that was.
"Nothing?" The voice, the one with the belt, said. I could almost hear its sneer. "Oh, you're staring up at something, boy, I know that. Always got your head up in the clouds. How could you be seeing nothing?"
"I'm not seeing anything." I said, trying to make my voice more stable than I could even hope to be feeling.
The voice snorted at me. "Seeing nothing, Tobias?" It asked. Then one of the bottles, one of the big ones, broke.
A large foot had stepped on it. The beer spilled out, rich, musty and an odd orange color. Or maybe the beer was auburn, I couldn't tell. The room was too dark and it was too overpowering. The beer was flooding the room.
It seeped into my bed, flowed underneath my bare feet. "What don't you see, Tobias?" The voice asked.
God, the beer was up to my stomach! "What do you not see inside your twisting timeline?" The voice teased.
I blinked, and tried to search for the voice and the foot that had broken the giant bottle of beer. It was out of my range and far beyond my sight. It felt like a dark force coming for me. I was filled with adrenaline then, feeling more afraid than I could remember feeling in a very long time. "Looking for something?" The voice asked, taunting me.
"Who knows, maybe you'll find the beginning of your answers, Tobias." Then the voice laughed over and over.
I heard a belt cracking again, this time louder than a pure clap of thunder. It sent me jumping up in the air.
"Or maybe not." The voice said.
I stared in shock and mute horror at my uncle's face. It was distorted and ugly. There was something very wrong.
It could be the fact that his face was fifty times larger than usual, I think. Sounds like a good reason, doesn't it?
I was so small. Just a little tiny thing compared to him. A little thing compared to that cracking belt in his hands.
"Maybe there isn't one damn thing to find." My uncle said. His was almost soft, almost gentle if not for something else. If there wasn't that dangerous lilt, the one I'd come to fear, I might have been comforted by his words.
"What is there to find?" My uncle asked. "Little green men?" He laughed and shook his mighty head.
"Tobias." He said. "Stop dreaming." Then he rose the belt above his head and I went into something like shock.
I wanted to move. Every cell in my body was trying to move, but I stayed fix and frozen in place. Oh, god! The belt!
The belt was speeding towards me. Any second now it was going to crush me. Any second it would kill me.
I shielded myself with my hands as I waited for it. As I waited for the inevitable, final crack of the belt.
I didn't hear it and I know my uncle didn't hear it. It was there, though, hovering above our heads.
About regular-size, not giant size. Large enough for me to fit, I noticed. I stared up at it all in amazement.
The ship was shaped like egg, except for the long shaft sticking out of the end. That and the tail-thing.
A hand emerged from the ship. Blue, with way too many fingers.
I trusted that hand.
I held on to it, even though I felt the hand shudder with pain at my tight grip. Then we flew away, far, far away.
My eyes snapped open to see the nurse's office. I groaned and hit my hands from the bright light. It hurt.
A dream. I should have known it was a dream.
I blinked away the stinging in my eyes, though I wasn't sure if it was from the light or waking up from my dream.
Maybe I didn't want to know. I felt and I saw a soft, gentle hand push me back down onto the paper-thin bed.
"Nice to see you're awake, Mr. Avan, but I don't want you moving around." The voice said. It belonged to the nurse.
Nurses were nice to me on the whole and I liked them. Maybe it was the fact that I was the school's official bully magnet that made them be nice to me, and the fact that I was for anything my uncle was so much as antsy about, but there was at least some kind of alliance between me and school nurses. It made me feel safe.
"What happened?" I asked, my voice coming out sluggish.
"You," The nurse said, "Passed out during Mr. Carl's 'endurance run'." I noted a hint or two of contempt in her tone.
"I passed out? Really?" I asked. The nurse nodded, looking angry. "I told Mr. Carl it was too hot for this."
I laughed a little, trying to be courteous. "I take it you don't like Mr. Carl's methods very much." I said.
"You've got that right." The nurse said, now not even bothering to hide her dislike. "And after all of that."
"All of that?" I repeated, feeling very confused. "What are you talking about?" The nurse waved me off.
"It's nothing." She said as she wandered over to the sink and began filling a glass of mineral water.
"Except that you aren't my only Syncopal episode this week." The nurse said, frowning at me.
I'm sure my face must've told her what I was thinking. "Your only synco-what?" I asked, my brows furrowing.
"Syncopal episode." The nurse repeated. "It means fainting. Just two days ago, I had another one. A girl named Cassie Branch. Do you know her?" The nurse asked me. I shook my head, I'd never heard of her.
"Just wondering if there was some kind of connection." The nurse said with a shrug. "I guess not."
Then the nurse went back to me, the glass of mineral water gripped tight in her small hands. "Drink." She ordered.
I picked it up and put it to my lips, resolving not to spit out the nasty stuff as soon as it touched my tongue.
Taking in a deep, hard breath I swallowed most of it down in one gulp. The nurse smiled, looking satisfied.
She took the cup from my hands and placed it down on a nearby desk. "I don't like you up and about, but since you don't have a fever I can't excuse you from school, so it's all your call. If you want to call your parents there's a phone in the back of my office you can use. If not, I'm obligated to make you roam the halls." She said.
Call up my uncle and go back home to tell him I'd gotten sick? Nope, not even an option.
"I think I'm not going to play truant boy today." I said, giving the nurse a little bow as I got out of the stiff bed.
She laughed and shook her head. "All right but come back the moment you even feel bored!" She shouted.
I laughed back at her. "Will do." I promised, opening the door to the nurse's office and shutting it behind me.
I glanced at my watch then. It was 11:30, lunch was halfway over and I'd missed Biology!
I half-walked, half-sprinted down the halls to my cafeteria so I could try and reach Rachel.
On its best days, our school cafeteria resembles a zoo. On its worst days, it is the picture of chaos.
Today was not one of the cafeteria's best days. Kids were trying their hardest to get a bite to eat, everyone with a car was jetting off quick as they could while teachers traversed to nab food as well.
There were people doing homework, throwing food, making out and making up lies. They were screaming, crying, laughing, and fighting. Yep, it was chaos all right.
In it all I still couldn't see Rachel.
It was then that I heard my stomach growling and for the moment I ended my search for the sake of food.
I joined up with the usual line of people and found that the line was very thin. Maybe good things do come from almost skipping lunch. I ordered what looked like a cheeseburger and a small carton of milk. It was to my luck that, aside from the fake ID, my uncle had done one other nice thing for me. He'd made certain to sign me up to the free lunch program since he was too cheap to give me money for a buck-thirty-five lunch, never mind that he didn't have the money for it in the first place. The lunchlady took down my name and armed with a hot Styrofoam tray, I went back to searching for Rachel. It was starting to bother me, you know. I knew this was her lunch period, she'd told me so in Biology yesterday. So where was she?
Then I saw her. It was her hair I noticed first, long and golden, flowing behind her.
She was walking with a short black girl I didn't know.
The word left my lips before I even had a second to think about it. Before I even though about how stupid it sounded, how moronic I thing I was about to do. I had no warning whatsoever.
"Rachel!" I cried.
She turned around to look at me. "Tobias!" She said.
She started walking up to me, the short black girl following her. I almost stopped moving right then and there.
A beautiful, amazing girl paying genuine attention to me. Was this happening or was I dreaming again?
"Where the heck were you?" Rachel demanded, her face turning red with frustration.
I blinked and stepped back, surprised. "The nurse's office." I said.
"What were you doing in the nurse's office?" Rachel asked. Was she worried? Worried about me?
I opened my mouth to tell her but the short black girl beat me to it. "Why don't you sit with us?" She asked.
"Yeah!" Rachel cried, nodding with intense enthusiasm. "Come sit with us!" Then she gave me puppy dog eyes.
So Rachel led the way with me and the black girl following behind her. It was odd. There was something familiar about that girl but I had no idea what in the world it was. Maybe it was nothing and I was just paranoid.
We stopped in the middle of the cafeteria and sat at a little table. It was just the three of us.
"Tobias, this is Cassie." Rachel said, pointing at the black girl. "Cassie, this is Tobias."
We reached over and shook each others hands.
"Hi," Cassie said. "Um, are you in any of my classes?" She asked, her eyes studying me.
I shrugged. "I don't think so." I said. Cassie frowned.
"You sure? Because I can't shake off the feeling that I know you from somewhere." Cassie said, smiling at me.
I nodded in agreement with her. I had that same feeling. "Me too." I said.
I glanced over at Rachel. She was being quiet and she looked odd. Bothered, maybe. Jealous? No way.
Scared, maybe. I had to be imagining that, though.
"That is so weird." Cassie said, now giving me a long, thoughtful look.
"I wonder if we knew each other in a past life or something?" Cassie asked with an odd, secretive smile.
I laughed. "You believe in that stuff?" I asked.
Cassie laughed with me. "No, but it's all I can think of." She said with a self-effacing shrug.
"Maybe you're both nuts." Rachel said, smiling. I grinned at her.
She's so beautiful when she smiles. I thought, then I looked at her. She was still smiling.
I saw her beauty and I thought of how nice she'd been to me. She was beautiful, yes, and more deserving than to settle for a mopey poor dork like me. I'm not the right guy for her. I thought to myself.
"Hey, is this a dork only party or can anyone join in?" I looked up at the source of sound. A short guy, kind of tanned, with dark hair and what I suspected was a permanent grin on his face. Next to him stood a big, tall guy. White with a serious face. I knew the big guy. His name was Jake Berenson, and he'd helped me from a couple of guys determined to give me a swirlie after school. You never would have guessed he was Rachel's cousin, though.
Rachel glared up at the short guy but there was amusement dancing in her eyes. "You know, Marco, if it's a dork-only party then of course you can join. You'll be the only dork here but I'm sure you're used to that."
The short guy grimaced. "And she puts another knife through my heart!" He exclaimed.
Both Rachel and Jake rolled their eyes. I guessed they were friends with this Marco guy.
"Pull up a chair." Rachel said, gesturing with her hand to the empty table next to us. Marco and Jake took some seats and made spots for themselves. Marco sat next to Rachel and Jake sat next to me.
"So, what brings you guys here?" Rachel asked, her eyes scanning both Marco and Jake for an answer.
"What brings us troublemakers here is this guy." Marco said, jerking his thumb at Jake.
It was then that I noticed that seemed to be a lot of anger boiling between the two of them. Why was that?
"Yeah, he's right." Jake said, his voice sounding sheepish. "I wanted to ask you guys something."
"What did you want to ask, Jake?" Cassie asked. Jake's eyes met with hers and I swear he almost blushed.
"I wanted to ask if, well, anything weird had happened to you guys this week." Jake said, looking nervous.
I stared at Jake as I thought of when I'd passed out on the field. Did he know about that somehow?
Rachel looked uncomfortable and Marco, I noticed, made sure not to even so much as look at Jake.
It was Cassie who spoke up. "Yeah, something weird happened to me." She said, her voice now quite soft.
Rachel's eyes had gone wide with shock as she stared at Cassie. Marco leered at her, looking suspicious.
Jake, however, just seemed eager to find out more. "What happened to you?" He whispered.
Cassie answered Jake in a soft whisper. "I had a...flashback, I guess you'd call it. You guys were all in it, too. Yeah, I know that sounds weird since I just met Tobias and Rachel and I have just known each for two days, but I'm sure of it. We were all in the construction site. You know the one by the mall? We were there. We were there when it landed. When he landed." Cassie said, her voice never rising above a tiny whisper.
It was so weird the feeling I got when she was talking. No matter how much I wanted to ignore her words, no matter how desperate I might've been, I couldn't. I wouldn't. Not after she had mentioned "him".
I had a feeling of a bond that ignored the rules of time and space. The feeling of a strong, unbreakable bond.
Like the bond between father and son, but that had to be my imagination working on overtime.
I knew it, though, deep in my heart. Cassie was right. At some point, in some time, we had all been in the construction site and that moment had changed all of our lives.
"She's right." Rachel said, her voice about to break. "I don't quite remember it, but I know it's true." Rachel said.
Then she took a deep breath as she continued. "The five of us knew each other, I know that. It's true."
"Six." We all turned to look at Marco, who was hunched over his chair. "There were six of us, not five."
I knew it in a heartbeat. Marco was telling the truth. I can't quite explain it but I remembered there was another.
Another that, I had a feeling was very important to me. "What are you talking about?" Rachel asked Marco.
"There were six of us, I'm sure of it." Marco said. "In," He took a deep breath. "In my flashback, there were six."
Jake nodded more to himself than to any of us. "When Marco told me that, I kind of remembered." He said.
"I have no idea who it could be but I do remember there were six of us." Jake added, looking at all of us.
"I remember, kind of." Cassie said. Rachel nodded. "I remember someone else." I agreed.
After that we were all kind of quiet. Cassie claimed she and Rachel had eaten already, Jake left to get a cheeseburger of his own and Marco ran off in search of a Twix bar. They both came back to sit with us.
I spent what remained of lunch watching Rachel and eating my cheeseburger. At some point she and Marco had gotten into an argument, but anyone with half a brain could tell they were flirting. I felt my heart sinking.
I'd known I wasn't the kind of guy Rachel liked, but it hurt to watch. I munched on my burger to distract myself.
To my surprise I ended up finishing the whole thing. I got up from my seat to go throw my lunch away.
Rachel touched my arm. I turned to look at her, surprised. She was smiling at me. "Seven-thirty." She said.
I guess she must've read the confusion on my face because she added. "That's when you need to be at my house."
"Oh, right." I laughed and went off to throw my tray away. By the time I was back she and Marco had started fighting/flirting again. So maybe I couldn't be more than a friend to Rachel, but I could be her friend.
Wouldn't that be enough?
The rest of school passed on like usual. Which meant it was a very miserable experience.
I waited for my bus ten minutes early this time, so as to not have to go running for my ride again.
My uncle wasn't even awake when I got home. I almost thought he was dead, considering that he'd forgotten to lock the door. I locked it back up when I got inside so he wouldn't get suspicious. I didn't need that.
I went back to my room and dumped my backpack on the floor. I must've been on the good side of some deity because I didn't have any homework. I could use a shower, though.
So I picked out a different outfit and got myself cleaned off. By the time I was dressed and tried to brush my hair, it was already five-thirty. I'd gotten home at about four o' clock. My uncle still hadn't so much as stirred.
I would've spent the time watching TV except for the fact that my uncle had chosen the couch to pass out on.
Maybe I should've moved him to his bed, I thought. I chose not to, though, since I didn't want to hear his accusations of my delinquent behavior if he realized he hadn't passed out in his bedroom.
Did I mention my uncle is willing to believe every worst thing possible about me? Well, he is.
My head was far too full of the events of this afternoon to have paid much attention to whatever was on the boob tube, anyway. I lay with my back on my bed as I thought of everything that had happened.
First I'd passed out after having a flashback to being chased by something like Salad Shooters with legs.
After that was the weirdest lunch period of my life. I still wasn't sure what made me so certain about what either Cassie or Marco had said, and I wasn't sure I wanted to know. I just had a feeling about both the people that they'd mentioned. Call it crazy if you will but then again I'm not that sure any of us at that table are sane.
It blew my mind when I got to thinking about it. It was almost as if there was a whole another life I'd lived but somehow, someway, for whatever reason I couldn't grasp, I couldn't remember any of it.
Except from that one tiny flashback. That was the one single clue I had in this world and it wasn't much of a clue.
Considering that this other life of mine consisted of walking Salad Shooters, maybe we'd all just repressed the memories somehow. Or maybe we were all one-hundred-percent off our rockers. Do the crazy know they're crazy? Of course, there was the possibility that things were much more complicated than I could imagine.
That thought frightened me. So I unzipped the front pocket of my backpack and rummaged through it for something. I pulled out a folded up piece of paper. It was Rachel's number and address.
No, I'm not some sick stalker. She'd given it to me before we left school.
I was going to have to leave at six-thirty if I even hoped to make it to her house on time. I kind of forgot to mention to Rachel that I didn't have a car. Well, to tell the truth, that I wouldn't be getting a ride in the car any day soon.
I glanced over at my alarm clock. It was close to six 'o clock. I rolled off my bed and went into the living room to see if my uncle had woken up. He hadn't. I almost considered sitting on him and seeing what was on, but I didn't.
To my surprise, he started moving. Maybe the old lump was going to wake up? He rolled over with a grunt.
I sighed. Screw this, I was just going to go over to Rachel's now. I went back to my room for a pen and nabbed a sticky note off the fridge. Then I stuck it to the TV screen and wrote my uncle a quick note.
Baby-sitting at a friend's house. Be back at about 10:30.
655-7722, 908 Third Avenue
Tobias
Then I put the pen and Rachel's address in my pocket and walked off. My uncle would be pissed but so what?
The walk to Rachel's went by quicker than I expected. It could've had something to do with the way I couldn't stop thinking about everything that happened at lunch, but maybe it was just a short walk.
When I got there I saw a middle-aged lady in a very nice suit waiting with her hands on her hips.
"You're Tobias, I take it?" She asked. I nodded; feeling very intimidated by this woman.
The woman shook my hand and smiled. "I'm Naomi, Rachel's mom." She said. "Any numbers you need should be on the fridge, Sarah's allergic to strawberries, the money for a pizza in on the counter and please just buy a cheap one from the grocery store. It's easier on my budget that way and Jordan and Sarah love them. Make sure Sarah is in bed by eight, Jordan by ten. Ask Rachel if you have any more questions." She didn't even stop for breath.
Naomi then inhaled deep and shook my hand again. "I've got to get going, nice to meet you, Tobias."
Then Ms. Berenson got into her car and drove off. I looked up to see Rachel standing on the porch.
She shook her head. "That's my mom for you. World's Biggest Busybody." Then she smiled at me.
"Come in, you dork." She said. I followed her inside. The house was a heck of a lot nicer than mine was.
I mean, I'm not a materialistic guy, but it was way different from the "apartment" I shared with my uncle.
Two girls stepped out. One looked like she was about twelve years old and she reminded me a bit of Rachel.
The other one was a little girl who either five or six. She was tagging along with the other girl, who she just plain seemed to adore. I have to admit it was kind of cute. "This is Jordan and Sarah." Rachel said. "My sisters."
"You're Rachel's new boyfriend, right?" The older girl, Jordan, asked. "Nice to meet you."
"Jordan!" Rachel shouted, whirling around to his sister. "Tobias is not my boyfriend!"
I wasn't quite sure what to say. Should I just ignore Jordan or try to set her straight? Jordan rolled her eyes.
"Methinks the lady doth protest too much." Jordan commented. Rachel looked at her, an evil glint in her eyes.
"Jordan, you know I have Lance's phone number, don't you?" She asked. Jordan paled. "You wouldn't!" She cried.
Rachel smirked. "Would." She said. "Don't you dare!" Jordan shrieked as Rachel ran for a phone.
I stood there in the living room with Sarah as Rachel and Jordan ran through the house. I knelt down to face the five-year-old. She looked at me with blue eyes wide as saucers.
"Are your sisters always like this?" I asked her. Sarah nodded. "Okay, then." I said. "It's gonna be a long night."
"Why?" Asked Sarah. I frowned as I thought up an answer. "Because your sisters are silly." I said.
Then Sarah made that noise. You know, the one all little kids make when someone else misbehaves?
"Tobias said you're silly!" She shouted. Rachel and Jordan came crashing into the living room, Rachel having Jordan in some kind of headlock. "Who's silly?" She asked, looking up at me. "Um, you." I said.
Jordan snorted. "That's his way of saying he likes you." She said. Rachel tightened her headlock.
"Oh, shut up before I call Lance for you." Rachel said. Then she looked at me. "The girls are getting hungry, so I was thinking we should nab a pizza from the grocery store before it closes." She said. Jordan started laughing.
"We aren't hungry. You're the one who kept complaining about her stomach growling." Jordan said.
"Didn't I tell you to shut up?" Rachel mused.
"What about that pizza?" I asked. Sarah's eyes lit up. "Pizza?" She asked. "We're having pizza?"
Rachel let Jordan loose. "Yep, Sarah-Bo-Bara, we're having pizza." I cocked an eyebrow and Rachel glared at me.
"I can call my sister whatever I like." She whispered in my ear. Then out loud, she asked. "Could you get the money?"
So I grabbed the money off the counter and we went the four of us, to go buy ourselves a cheap pizza.
I can tell you that, in a small town, everything is pretty much closed before ten 'o clock rolls around.
California, New Jersey straddles that fine line between a small town and a medium-sized town.
Despite that people were still pouring out of the grocery store at eighty-thirty, when Jordan, Sarah, Rachel and I got there. More like Jordan, Rachel, and I to be honest. I was stuck carrying Sarah, who'd fallen asleep on the way.
The good news about the lack of people meant that we found our pizza pretty quick and didn't have a mile-long line to wait through. The bad news was that other people had noticed this advantage, like the lady in front of us.
Her blonde hair was tied up in a long ponytail and she was dressed in a pink sweater and jeans.
She had enough groceries to feed an entire army. The cashier chuckled. "I take it your new kid eats a lot?"
The blonde woman laughed. "He's like a bulldozer! I'm almost worried this isn't enough!" She said.
"I bet he's as big as a house." Jordan said. Rachel gave her a noogie. "That wasn't nice." She said.
Then Rachel winked at me. I agreed with her and Jordan, unless this lady's kid had a supernatural metabolism.
The cashier got through the lady's mountain of food quick enough. Then we bought our cheap pizza and left the grocery store. When we got back to Rachel's place, I tucked in Sarah (after finding out where her room was) while Rachel and Jordan put the pizza in the microwave. I came back and found Rachel in the living room sitting on the couch and flipping through the channels. I sat next to her.
"What're you doing?" I asked her. Rachel shrugged. "Trying to find a program Jordan can watch."
"There's Buffy." I said, pointing at the screen. Rachel frowned. "I don't think that's a good idea."
"I watched Buffy when I was twelve." I protested.
"Yeah, and Jordan likes it, but I don't think she should watch it before she goes to bed. Nightmares, you know?" Rachel asked. I couldn't help but smile a little. Rachel sounded like a worried mom.
"What're you smiling at?" Rachel asked, raising an eyebrow. "Nothing." I said.
Jordan walked in with a paper plate adorned with three slices of pizza. "Aw, isn't this cute?" She teased.
"Not half as cute as you shutting up." Rachel said. Jordan stuck her tongue out at Rachel and sat down between the two of us. I kind of wish she hadn't, but I didn't mention that. It wasn't like Rachel liked me in the first place.
"Oh, Rachel, stop! Buffy's on!" Jordan cried. Rachel opened her mouth to protest, but then she caved in.
"Fine." She said. "But don't tell Mom I let you watch it before you went to bed, okay?" Rachel asked.
"Okay." Jordan agreed.
It was an old rerun, one of the episode where Xander gets possessed by a hyena. Lucky for Rachel and I that Jordan fell asleep before it got gory. That episode still induces a few nightmares for me, and I'm fifteen.
Rachel put Jordan to bed and came back to the living room with me. "What'd I miss?" She asked.
"Nothing but Xander being an idiot when it comes to Willow." I said. Rachel shook her head.
"I'm glad they got with Tara and Anya." Rachel said. "That best-buds-being-lovers thing always ends bad."
I blinked and looked at Rachel. "What do you mean?" I asked her. She shrugged and didn't give me an answer.
"Is Marco an old friend of yours?" I asked, focusing my attention on the screen.
"No. I just met him yesterday." Rachel said. I felt my heart go sinking into my chest again. Great. Just great.
"Oh!" Rachel said. "That reminds me. Jake wanted me to ask you something." Rachel told me.
"Yeah, what?" I asked. "He wanted to know if you wanted to help us find the sixth kid-with-amnesia." Rachel said.
I blinked at her, surprised. "Why wouldn't I?" I asked.
Rachel laughed. "That's what I told him." Then she smiled at me, and I have to admit, it was a nice thing.
Even if she wasn't ever going to consider me as more than a friend, I didn't care. Not if she kept smiling.
"Hey, look at that." Rachel said, tapping my arm and pointing at the screen. "Xander's coming around!"
We watched TV until Rachel's mom came home at ten-thirty. I got five bucks for my baby-sitting work and Rachel's Mom drove me home. I think my uncle must've woken up because the note wasn't on the TV anymore, and it looked like he'd made himself a sandwich or something, but I'm not sure. He was asleep on the couch again when we got back. I didn't think much about it, though.
I preferred to think about Rachel's smile.
Simmer down, ladies and man-things. (Reviewer Response)
Lauren - Glad you liked the last chapter, and I'm sorry this one took so long! Why do people pick on Marco? I dunno, but I just think it's fun. Besides, it's easy to make fun of someone who'll make fun of themselves, I guess.
Doctor Strangelove - Yes, it's Marco! I know a lot of his chapter was a repeat, but I had to do that to set one of my subplots in motion. (You might wanna try re-reading those parts to see if you can guess what I'm talking about.) I'm glad someone liked the Rachel/Marco stuffs. I found her tearing his headphones off his head hilarious for some reason. Tobias is here, and his chapter sucks, but on the bright side, Ax is next! And no, there won't be slashy goodness. Yet. =P Oh, and this is the only time I'm going to reveal something: Marco's dad is NOT a Controller. He's just not depressed anymore, so that explains that. Oh! I think I might've found a fic you'd like. Try reading "Check Mate" by Chibi Bulma. I haven't read it, but judging from the summary, I think our search is over. Rejoice!
FreshAngelicBabe - I'm glad you like this and here's the Tobias chapter!
Rachel-Simona - Thanks for your compliments and I'll be damned if I stop writing after 11 chapters. If that happens, all you guys get to shoot me. And I updated! Don't hurt me!
stormwing Sorry about the swearing. But now that I think of it, if that bothered you, I'd recommend you stop reading after I finish the first part of this series because the next two parts will be rated R for a myriad of reasons. I am a Harry Potter fan and the "Ron" thing was 100% on purpose. I'm glad somebody caught that. As of this point, the Animorphs are high school sophomores and are 15-16 years of age. Hope you liked this new chapter!
Freak Apple - I'm not on Spring Break anymore. I miss it. **sniff** School buses are evil! So is school, except for that whole education part! Your bus driver sounds unsatisfied with his position in life. I wouldn't recommend telling him that, though. And yep, Tobias is here! **plays hero music**
HoneyB - Tobias is next and I hope you liked his chapter. If not, Ax's should be a lot better.
Puar Briefs - Er, yay. I did...something...**feels confused** YAY! COOKIES! **takes up the cookies** You know, now that I think about that, I should have Marco shout "Are you INSANE?!" sometime soon. Probably at Rachel. Glad you liked Cassie's name, I was trying to think of something nature-oriented when I thought of it. I have no idea where "Marco Jones" came from, though. Oh, and do you mind that I used Avan for Tobias's last name? I'm glad you liked the Marco-Berserker scene. Oh, and I would say Marco is a lot like Rachel when he's pissed. Kind of weird, isn't it? **blink** The Zarbon thing WAS random. What'd I do this time?