The New Kid
Chapter 4: Making a Deal and Mysterious Calls
Disclaimer: I don't own Golden Sun.
And I'm back with another chapter. Yeah, that last chapter was sad, but I wanted to get that whole part out of the way.
Isaac: Why? So you can hold all of the readers in suspense as I remember more of what supposedly happened?
Yeppers. That's pretty much it. I might even need to make this story angst, but I think chapter 3 is as sad as it gets. Now I can get more into the action. *evil grin*
Isaac: *sarcastic voice* Be afraid…be very afraid…
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Isaac arrived at school a few minutes before the first bell and made his way to his locker. For once, the locker wasn't slammed shut. The junior got his books for his first class, World History, and closed the door. I guess Alex is finally leaving me alone, thought Isaac. He turned towards his class, but his path was blocked. Speak of the devil.
Alex loomed over Isaac, a stern expression on his face. "What do you want now, Alex? A fight?"
Alex stood there, looking down at Isaac. Slowly, a smile crept across his face and he shook his head. "Nah. I may have a rep for being mean, but I don't need one as a bully. Besides, the girls don't seem to really go for it."
Isaac was confused. Only the day before, this guy had been nothing but trouble, but now he was worried about a reputation! "Well, if you don't want a fight, then what do you want?"
Alex stuck out his right hand. "I'll make a deal with ya. I won't bother you anymore, if you don't speak too badly of me."
Isaac looked from the hand to Alex's face. When he smiled that way, he didn't look like too bad of a person.
"Well? I can understand if you're still mad at me for earlier, but, seriously, that was yesterday."
Isaac looked back to the outstretched hand and nodded. "You're right. Then, I guess it's a deal." Isaac shook hands with Alex.
"Never thought I'd say this, but you're not too bad, for a new kid, that is," said Alex. "See ya 'round, Isaac." With that, he turned and walked down the hall.
"Forget speaking of the devil. I just made a deal with him!" said Isaac quietly to himself.
"You okay, Isaac?"
Isaac turned around to see Garet, Jenna, Mia, and Felix behind him. Garet and Felix looked like they were mad about something, and the girls looked almost worried.
"Everything's fine, Garet. Thanks, though," Isaac replied with a grin.
The looks on everyone's faces changed to looks of surprise.
"But, wasn't that Alex?" asked Mia.
"Yeah? I thought he was giving you trouble?" added Jenna.
"Not anymore." The looks were now of confusion. Isaac sighed before continuing. "Alex just made some sort of deal with me. He says he won't bother me if I don't speak too badly of him over what all happened earlier."
"I don't get it," Felix piped in. "From what I heard, Alex was more than ready to pummel you yesterday."
Isaac laughed. "Yeah, but he said he didn't need a rep as a bully. I don't really care what his reason's are, I'm just glad it's over."
**********
The day passed by without much excitement. That's if you don't count Garet telling a joke at lunch and Mia nearly choking on her milk when she started to laugh.
By the following Tuesday, Isaac had completely fallen into the usual school routine. He would walk to school in the mornings, despite the fact that Garet insisted on giving him a ride; he had his first class, World History, with Mia. He and Felix had Biology next. He had introduced Sheba and Ivan to his other four friends and they all ate lunch together. Then it was off to Algebra 3/Trigonometry with Garet, which was followed by his last class, English 3 with Jenna. In the afternoon, Garet always offered to give Isaac a ride home, and Isaac was always more than willing to accept after the long day.
After school that Thursday, Garet offered Isaac another ride home. Felix also joined them. He and Garet were partners in their English class, and they had a research project due Monday.
"See you tomorrow, Isaac," Felix said as Isaac got out of the car in front of his house.
"See ya. Thanks for the ride, Garet."
"Anytime," answered Garet as Felix moved to the front seat where Isaac had been.
Isaac walked along the asphalt path leading to his house, looking back as the truck drove away. Pulling out his house key, he unlocked the door and stepped inside before locking it again.
**********
"Try doing a search for 'The Scarlet Letter'. I forgot who the author was," said Garet, standing behind Felix who was currently on the computer and pulling up a search engine on the Internet.
"Why don't you just go get the book?" replied Felix.
"And do all that walking? I don't think so."
Felix sighed. "Fine. Fine. I'll get it then."
Garet watched as Felix walked off to where they had left their book bags by the front door. After leaving Isaac off, the two had gone on to Garet's house to work some more on the English project. When he was out of site, Garet grinned. "I can't believe he fell for it again," he mumbled to himself as he sat down in front of the computer and proceeded to check his email.
"Hmm…more joke's from Jenna. I wonder if she ever shows Felix any of this stuff. He could use a laugh."
Just then, the phone rang. Garet quickly closed out of the Internet window so Felix wouldn't see what he had been doing and made his way across the room.
"Hello?" he said, picking up the receiver.
"Hi. I'm looking for a young man by the name of Isaac Wood. Would you happen to know where I might find him?" asked the woman at the other end of the line in a friendly voice.
"Sorry, ma'am, but I don't know anyone by that name," replied Garet.
"Oh, sorry to bother you then. Thank you." There was a click as she hung up.
A moment later, Felix re-entered the room carrying two copies of The Scarlet Letter. "The author's Nathaniel Hawthorne. Honestly, we could've just looked it up on the Internet. Garet, what's up?"
Garet was standing in front of the phone with his arms crossed and staring at it. "What's Isaac's last name?"
"Wood. Why?"
"Oh man! Someone just called looking for him and I said I didn't know him!"
Felix shook his head. "I thought you two were good friends. What's so hard about learning his last name?"
"How about the fact that I only met him a little over a week ago?!" cried Garet, looking ready to pull his hair out. He would never realize how lame of an excuse it was, seeing how Felix knew Isaac's full name even though he knew Isaac far less than Garet.
"Calm down already," said Felix sounding annoyed. "If it's driving you that crazy, then just call Isaac and let him know."
Garet paused to think. "Yeah. That's what I'll do." Garet turned back to the phone and reached for the receiver, but stopped. "Umm…do you know his number?"
Now, if this had been an anime, Felix would've done one of those anime-style falls you see all the time in shows like Pokémon or sometimes in Yu-Gi-Oh; but, seeing how I'm trying to keep this remotely realistic, Felix could only clap a hand over his face as though embarrassed and groan while Garet scratched the back of his head with a nervous laugh.
"Just tell him tomorrow," moaned Felix, shaking his head with his arms now crossed.
Garet shrugged it off and turned around to face the glass sliding doors leading to his mother's garden. "Yeah, you're right. I usually pass him in the halls first thing any…" Garet's voice trailed off.
Felix, who had already opened another Internet window, looked at Garet, who had stopped moving and was staring out of the glass ahead of him. "Hey! Earth to Garet!"
"He told me that…if anyone called…" Garet slowly began, not moving. He looked as though he was deep in thought, an improvement on his part in Felix's opinion.
"What's wrong now? It was probably just someone from his old school looking for him."
Garet shook his head, his eyes never straying from the new dogwood tree he was focusing on.
***FLASHBACK***
Isaac sighed again and a grave expression came over his young face. "He tried to help me. And for that…he's gone."
Garet glanced back at the lovely dogwood tree before him, considering Isaac's words. "Wow. Isaac, this…this is amazing." He looked the tree over for what seemed like the hundredth time, and it still surprised him. It was obvious that he was at a loss for words.
"Please don't tell anyone about this, Garet. Some people out there aren't as nice towards this power…or me. They only care about how much dumb money they can earn off it."
Garet managed to rip his eyes from the sight again and stand, turning to his friend, who looked away. "I won't tell. I promise." Isaac seemed to wince at that last word. Garet couldn't think of why, but he continued speaking. "What do you need me to do?"
Isaac glanced at him before looking away again and sighing once more. "No one from Tolbi should know that I'm here. The only thing I could possibly ask of you is that, if anyone should ask for me, you pretend that you don't know me and have never heard of me."
***END FLASHBACK***
"I have to tell him," said Garet aloud to himself.
"It was probably nothing," stated Felix. "You can tell him tomorrow. For now, though, we have an English project to do." He was starting to get annoyed again.
Garet shook his head again. "I have to tell him now." He turned and headed in the direction of the front door. "Come on, Felix," he called over his shoulder. "Unless you want to stay here and work."
Felix, now thoroughly confused, looked after his friend for a moment before getting up and hurriedly going after him.
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And there goes another chapter. Thanks for all the reviews so far. I'm still not sure what pairings to use, if any. Heck! I could just bring in Feizhi and pair Isaac with her instead! But then I'd have to think up some background for her. And for any Picard/Piers fans out there, don't worry; he's in here, eventually.
Isaac: Why don't we just drop the whole pairing thing?
Don't pretend you don't like Jenna, blondie. I've played the games. I saw how red Jenna got when Sheba teased her about you two. (it's one of my favorite parts)
Jenna: Hey! You didn't have to share that!
Sor-ry! If you like Isaac, fuss at Garet's mom. She's where I got the whole Garet/Jenna idea from.
Garet: What's this about my mom?
Well, you kinda have to go against the storyline in the first game to get it. Right after leaving Vale, I went back in to get supplies. Dora wouldn't let me in her house, but talking to your mom was quite interesting. Apparently, she's under the impression that Jenna would've made you a nice wife if she hadn't been kidnapped.
Garet: *bright red*
Anyways, I'm going with Isaac's idea and dropping the pairing thing. We'll all just have to see where it goes :-)
Ivan: Umm…next chapter should come soon. It'll be where another important part of Isaac's past will be revealed, and some more familiar characters from the game will make an entrance, even if it is only in the flashbacks.