Vince twirled his pen around in his hand while he sat in the back of the class, last period was always the worst. As a senior he had the pick of his classes, but it didn't make the anticipation any less. His brown eyes glanced up at the clock on the wall and sighed to himself as the teacher continued on about some basic economic principles. It was all useful information but all he could think about was getting on the bus, getting home and getting over to his friend, Jason's house for the weekend. After what seemed like an eternity, the class ended and Vince grabbed his drawstring Nike bag off the floor and slung it over his shoulder. He followed his fellow classmates out into the hall and leisurely made his way past the various underclassmen who still had another class left to attend for the day. He came to a rest and leaned against a set of lockers and watched the girl pack up for the day. Vince smirked and quickly and poked her in the side. She jumped and let out an amusing squeak.
"Ay! Damnit Vince!" she laughed, turning to smack him on his chest. "I hate when you do that!" she tried to hide her smile.
Vince just shook his head and looked at the girl as he ran his hand through his close crop dark brown hair. She had her black hair pulled back into a ponytail and was dressed in a similar light blue short-sleeve button down shirt. Her grey skirt was just a hair above her knee-high socks, which if one of the TA's wanted to make trouble, she could have gotten detention for. Her necklace had a small Columbian flag pendant on it in honor of her heritage. Andrea had been his friend on and off since they were freshman, though it was only the last year that they really bonded. As much as Vince hated to admit, they were close, and as Andrea like to remind him, he was like her brother. "Well hurry up then," he teased and leaned against the locker next to hers as she packed up for the day. Andrea gave him a sidelong glance and rolled her eyes.
"Oh, thank your grandma for the turkey sandwich, it was really good today."
"Yeah, I won't tell her," he laughed "You ready?"
Andrea shook her head. "Go get your books so we can go," she grumbled with a slight Spanish accent as her locker slammed shut. Vince shook his head and turned on his heel with Andrea walking up alongside. The two strolled through the empty hall and came to his locker, which was opened without even entering the combo. He started to put his books away when Andrea took one of the pictures off of the door. Vince opened his mouth to protest but Andrea just smiled sweetly at him. "I've been meaning to ask, why do you keep a picture of you as a kid in your locker? That's Jason, right? Who's the girl?"
The picture was taken during the summer of '99 at a summer camp. Trees and a green walled street hockey rink were in the background, as well as a few other campers. The focus was Vince sitting on a large forest green box, wearing a grey t-shirt with black sleeves that just covered his elbows. Emblazed on the chest was the word Dragon Athletic club on it over a Chinese style dragon. His index fingers made an X against his light blue jean shorts as he smirked with a beige visor with an American flag on it. Next to him, Jason sat, holding a green backpack. He looked uncomfortable in his grey American flag t-shirt and his glasses were very 1999. On the other side of Vince stood a girl. Her strawberry blonde hair was half up, some tied around her head like a braided band. She leaned against Vince, smiling broadly in her white shirt with a floral pattern tank top sewn onto it. Her hands rested against her shorts, which were much shorter than either Vince's or Jason's.
"Yeah, it's Jason, and that's Sienna," Vince explained and put the photo back on his locker door. "It was just at Robin Hood, that summer camp I told you about. We were all friends." Before Andrea could try and take it again, he closed the door and gave her a look warning her to drop it.
"Sienna huh? Never heard of her before." Andrea asked.
"Yeah, well we lost touch, been meaning to get a hold of her again but she doesn't use the same AIM name. And no, she wasn't a girlfriend." He added to cut her off before she could imply something.
"Hey, do you mind waiting up? I've got to go see Bubbles about the French homework, he's got my half of the project," she explained, changing the topic. "It won't be long; why don't you go find Wesley or Maryann?"
"Monkey," Vince corrected, referring to Maryann. "Her name is monkey,"
"Aw Vince, you're so mean to her. You know she loves you!" Andrea teased and poked Vince in the side. "Besides, she doesn't look that much like a monkey," she laughed and pat his shoulder before turning and walking down the hall.
Vince let out a sigh and looked up as he shook his head. Nothing was ever simple with Andrea but he was a good friend and as much as he didn't want to wait, he knew he would. Frustrated, he walked down the hall looking for something to do or someone to talk to. Just before he reached one of the three stairwells in the school, he spotted his friend Wesley and walked over to her. Vince looked down at the girl, her dark pin straight hair hung, framing her face as she packed up her bag for the day. He felt like he towered over her smaller frame and he made it known once he rested his arm on top of her head. Like most students she wore a white dress shirt with a grey skirt.
"Hi Vince," she replied with a small smile. She looked up at him with her almond style eyes and shook her head. "What are you doing?"
"Waiting on Andrea" he replied and moved his arm off her head. "Did you start the assignment for Sheehan's class?" he asked.
"Yeah, it's done. I'm guessing you didn't yet?" she asked smirking.
"I work best under pressure Wes, you know that. Besides, it's only a five-thousand-word short story. I'll bang that out over the weekend," he laughed "Ah wait, I'm going out to Manhasset tonight…crap well, I know what I'm doing on Sunday."
Wesley chuckled and closed her locker. She hefted her messenger bag over her shoulder and looked up at Vince. "Hey, did you hear, they still haven't found Chris or Amanda. It was on the news this morning, there's literally no trace of them, it's like they vanished."
Vince looked back at her puzzled before the names clicked. "Right, he was in our history class last year and just stopped coming. Weren't his parents found…well, sort of?" Vince asked and cringed as he remembered the reports. That whole incident happened back in March and was pretty gruesome. The house was torn up like some animal went through there, destroying everything. The cops had recovered the parts of the parents but Chris was never found. The rumor around school was he had something to do with their death and ran, and then kidnapped Amanda. But that didn't make any sense, and it was a horrible rumor.
"Yeah…" Wesley trailed off "Hey, I'm going to meet Maryann and Louis, you want to join?" she asked.
Vince wrinkled his nose and shook his head. "Nah, she'll just follow me around like lost puppy. I'll see you Monday Wes." Vince replied and rubbed the shorter girl's head, messing up her impossibly straight hair as he left.
Vince looked up at the clock in the hall and slipped his hand into his right pocket. His pulled out a blue and white device; it was oval and no bigger than a tennis ball. The device's face had a small circular screen with three oval buttons surrounding it with some strange lettering around the screen. He pressed a button hoping for a response, but like it had every day since…there was nothing except for the time. He carried it with him everywhere despite that. It was his bond to another time, it's what brought Jason, himself and Sienna together just like in that photo. He slipped the device back into his pocket and took out his flip phone to text Andrea and let her know he wasn't waiting much longer and to meet him over by the city bus stop and left the school.
He had only been waiting a few minutes when he spotted Andrea and the guy, she called Bubbles, crossing the street towards the bus stop. He was a little heavier than Vince, a few inches shorter and had two birth marks on his left cheek. The guy looked like he had a perm done and Vince just couldn't stand the guy.
"Hey Vince, what's up man?"
"Oh, hey Muhler, you joining us?" Vince asked nodding his head in a greeting.
"Vince, uhm, Alexander offered to drive me home. You don't mind, do you?" she asked as she bat her eyes at him.
"I'd offer you a ride too, but I only have two seats," Alexander added as he put his arm around Andrea.
Vince just shook his head and shrugged. This was new… He smiled and looked at them both "No, go, I've got my iPod, thanks for the heads up, I'll see you Monday," he waved as the city bus pulled up. He put his headphones on and climbed aboard, turning the music on as he took an empty seat next to a window. The bus pulled away from the stop and he gave one last look as Muhler kept his arm around Andrea and walked down the block. Vince rolled his eyes in annoyance, pulled his iPod from his bag and went through the music slowly scrolling through the various artists until he settled on Breaking Benjamin. As the song started, he cranked up the volume and closed his eyes, settling in for the twenty or so minute bus ride. He let out a deep long sigh. It was never him. He was always there for Andrea, he was her shoulder to cry on, her best friend…but never more than that. Now he had to watch her newest fling parade around the school like some king and he would be there to comfort her when they broke up. Then, this whole cycle would start all over again.
Vince leaned his head against the window as the bus drove past the Botanical Gardens and stared off into the park across the street. He had spent the majority of the trip just listening to music, trying his best to not focus on Andrea. Vince sat up, staring out the window. Across the street, in the middle of a park baseball field was a male with white hair and what looked like goat horns coming out the top of his head. He had a red scarf and a black vest that was way too small to cover his bare chest, there was armor on his fur covered legs and hooves for feet "What? Is that a Faun?" he asked as the bus sped past. Vince stood up and hit the stop button just before the bus could pass the upcoming stop. He snatched his bag off of the empty seat next to him and raced out the door as soon as the bus came to a stop. 'That wasn't a Digimon was it?' he thought as he weaved around the pedestrians in his way. He had to get there, he had to confirm what he just saw. Vince juked past a delivery boy, and hurdled over a fire hydrant to cover the distance sooner. He glanced up quickly at the traffic light in front of him and grunted. If it changed, he'd have to stop and wait the extra thirty seconds for it to change again. Vince didn't slow down and leapt off the curb and into the cross walk as the light above him changed to red. A car laid on the horn and Vince just held out his left hand, giving the driver the finger as he dashed back to the safety of the opposite sidewalk and slowed down as he entered the park. His brown eyes scanned the park slowly, looking for any signs of that Faun. That being stood out like a sore thumb, he couldn't have gone far…or blend in well. He pulled the device out of his pocket, his Digivice, and gripped it tight in his right hand. If it was a Digimon, it would have reacted, at least Vince was convinced it should have. But there was nothing aside from people going about their day. No one else reacted to what Vince saw, or thought he saw.
Defeated, Vince turned back and walked towards the bus stop. "And now I need to wait for another bus…crap," he groaned and looked up at the clear blue sky.
An hour later he was home and into his civilian clothes as he liked to call them, a pair of loose fit dark blue jeans and a black t-shirt an Iron Maiden style warplane on the front. Vince sat down at the family computer and pressed the power on the tower, tuning it on. He tapped the keys lightly as he heard the obnoxious shrill voice of Judge Judy berating some poor fool who actually went on her show. Vince muttered as the Gateway booted up to his desktop image of a howling white wolf. He shook his head as the woman cut one of the parties off once again as he opened up his AIM. It took a few moments before he signed in, he then scanned his buddy list and opened up a conversation with Jason, or as his AIM name was, JasonG711
"Hey, this is going to sound nuts, but have you seen anything weird?" Vince tapped his finger against the mouse, "I mean like…" he sent the message again without waiting for a response. "Digimon" he watched as Jason stopped typing. Vince scanned his buddy list to see if Andrea was on. She wasn't, she was probably still out with that dick Alexander.
"No…did you see something?" Jason wrote back.
"I'm not sure, looked like one of those Greek man goat things"
"o.O Well you're still coming over right? We can look into this when you're here. Bring your Digivice, oh, and a nice shirt, we're goin' to Morton's"
"Alright, I'll go pack, should be there in an hour, grams has to finish her show." Vince closed the window out and clicked on the start menu to shut the computer off. A sudden window opened on his screen, a new message.
"Vince?" it read. He didn't recognize the name, Lockestock88. He hesitated
"Yes… who's this?" he typed back
"It's Sienna. I don't have much time, sry I've been MIA for a while…" Vince stared at the screen reading the words repeatedly.
"Sup?" he wrote back and leaned in the chair.
"Not much, hey you got a cell phone, right? 717 432 1998 That's my number, something weird happened…"
"yeah I'm actually going to Jason's in a bit. I'll call you when I'm there?"
There was a long pause after Vince sent that message, he tapped his finger on the mouse anxiously and checked the little clock on the bottom right of his screen.
"yeah, call me soon k? g2g" and with that Sienna signed out. Vince sat there for a moment just re-reading the short conversation over again. If this had anything to do with that Digimon he saw earlier, he needed to get going.
The twenty-five-minute drive had been uneventful. He didn't expect anything differently, though he couldn't get that Digimon out of his head. His grandmother drove in silence, letting his mind wander the entire time. When the red sedan came to a stop inside the gated community that Jason lived in, she turned to him. "It was nice talking to you Vincent," she snapped as he stood to get out of the car.
"Sorry grams, I got a lot on my mind with school. You know I love you," he smiled and grabbed his bag out of the back. "See you Sunday."
"Love you too Vince. Behave yourself," she waved as he closed the door and drove away. Vincent held the bag over his right shoulder and jogged up to the door, ringing the bell. The door opened, revealing Jason's mom.
"Vincent, come in!" she exclaimed and pulled him into a hug.
"Thanks Mrs. Green." Vince returned the hug and stepped back. "It's great to see you"
"Jay, come say hello to Vincent!" his mother called, turning her head to the second-floor balcony, Jason's head peered around the corner.
"Hey Vince, come on up."
"Dinner is in thirty minutes boys, get ready," she reminded them and turned back into the living room. Vince waved and raced up the stairs taking them two at a time. Once he reached the top, he walked around the L shaped floor and over to Jason. Vince dropped his bag on the floor and closed the door.
"Sienna IM'd me." Vince pulled out his cell phone and looked at Jason. The other male blinked slowly and walked over to where Vince was, looking down at the phone.
"Today?" he asked as he walked over to his dresser and opened the top drawer. "I wonder if that has anything to do with that Digimon you saw," he asked holding a turquoise Digivice just like Vince's. Like earlier there was no response.
"Yeah, maybe. She uh, wanted me to call her so...thought it was best to call her when we were all together." Vince looked back as Jason opened his closet and pulled out a red Hawaiian shirt.
"Oh? Like now?" Jason asked, slipping his Digivice into his pocket. "We have to get ready though…"
Vince closed his eyes and sighed. Dinner with Jason's family was always prompt, usually business related so he had a point. It's not like the adults really had a clue what happened that summer six years ago, so they couldn't even try and explain about Digimon, or the parallel world they inhabited.
"How long could it possibly take you to get dressed? It's just a phone call." Vince rolled his eyes and hit send. He raised the phone to his ear and waited as it rang once, twice…and after a few seconds, Sienna's voice appeared on the other end asking to leave a message. "Uh Oh hey Sienna, it's Vince. You wanted me to call you when I was with Jason, well, here we are. Uhm gimme a call back ok? Uh…bye" he snapped the phone closed and let out a huff.
Jason grinned as he finished buttoning up the shirt. "Nervous?"
"Shut up," Vince replied. "I just figured she'd pick up," he replied and grabbed his own dress shirt.