Chapter 10
By: MysticFantasy
.
.
(A/N: Made a slight change. Bobby already graduated from high school. Sorry if there is any confusion.)
.
.
"Bobby?"
"What's up Jack?" Bobby asked seeing the young child standing in the doorway to his room clad in his blue flannel pajama's. "You alright?"
"I don't wanna be alone." Jack muttered quietly.
"Come over here. You can bunk with me tonight." Bobby offered. He smiled watching Jack walk over and climb onto the bed.
"You ok?" Bobby asked.
Jack nodded slowly.
"Hey, we're gonna get him. He's not gonna get away with this." Bobby vowed. "I'll knock him out myself if I have to."
Jack weakly smiled hearing how protective Bobby was of him. He loved knowing that he has a brother like Bobby watching out for him. He's never had that before and he didn't want anything to take it away from him.
"You a light sleeper?" Bobby asked changing the subject and yanking his socks off his feet.
"What's that?" Jack asked in return.
"It means that you wake up real easy."
"I guess sometimes. Why?"
"Just wait. You'll see." Bobby replied with a smirk. "Come on. Bed time."
Jack crawled under the blanket as Bobby turned off the light and got into the bed himself. He kept his eyes open for a few minutes and wasn't sure if Bobby had already fallen asleep when a question came to mind.
"Bobby?"
"Yeah?" came the sleepy reply.
"What am I waiting for?"
Bobby chuckled sleepily.
"You'll see Jackie." he whispered. "You'll see."
.
l~*~*~*~*~*l~*~*~*~*~*l~*~*~*~*~*l
l~*~*~*~*~*l~*~*~*~*~*l~*~*~*~*~*l
.
Jack walked downstairs the next morning and saw his mother in the kitchen. He quietly walked over and stood in the doorway.
"Good morning Jackie." Evelyn greeted spotting her youngest son watching her. "Did Bobby's snoring keep you awake?"
Jack shook his head. He'd slept like a rock last night. Possibly because he felt protected around Bobby. Normally, he'd had a life scaring nightmare but when he had woken up this morning he hadn't been able to call dreaming at all.
"Well I guess you're the first to be able to sleep through his snoring." Evelyn lightly chuckled.
Jack lightly smiled hearing something funny about his new big brother. He hadn't thought Bobby could do anything funny or silly. He didn't seem like that kind of person but now he was hearing something funny and wondered if there was more about Bobby he didn't know about.
"Here Jackie. Have some breakfast." Evelyn said placing a plate on the table.
Jack hoisted himself onto the chair and saw scrambled eggs with a few strips of bacon on the plate before him. He grabbed his fork and started to eat his breakfast as his mother grabbed some for herself and sat next to him.
They ate in silence for a few minutes before Jack felt Evelyn's eyes on him.
"Jackie, I talked to the principal and the cops about what happened to you." she said and Jack felt his hands start to shake just remembering what happened. "They want you to say what happened in court. Do you think you can?"
Jack took in a deep breath to steady himself and nodded.
"Are you sure honey?"
Jack nodded again.
"Alright. I'll let the officer know later on. If you get scared about any of it just let me know."
The ten year old nodded again.
"Good morning." Bobby greeted walking into the kitchen with a large stretch of his arms.
"Morning Bobby." Evelyn greeted.
"Hey Jackie." Bobby greeted ruffling Jack's already messy hair.
"Hi Bobby." Jack replied. "Is it true that you snore?"
"Yea. You didn't hear me last night?"
Jack shook his head.
"Was that what I had to wait for?" he asked innocently.
"I'm liking this kid more and more every day Ma." Bobby said with a grin.
"Well, at least we found one person who can sleep through something as loud as your snoring." Evelyn stated.
"Hey."
Jack chuckled at Bobby's expression. It seemed that even though his big brother knows that he snores he didn't believe it was as bad as their mother made it sound.
"So Jackie, what do you want to do later?" Bobby asked sitting down next to Jack with a plate holding the same breakfast Jack had only in a larger quantity.
Jack shrugged.
"How about we help you improve your skating?" Bobby suggested and quickly got a positive reaction from Jack. He saw the bright smile directed toward him. "I'll take that as a yes. After Jerry and Angel wake their lazy butts up and head to school we'll take off to the rink."
"You're calling me lazy?" Jerry exclaimed walking into the kitchen.
"That's right little brother. Truth hurts doesn't it?"
"You're one to talk Bobby." Jerry replied grabbing a plate. "The only reason you get any exercise is because you're a hockey nutcase."
"That's the opposite of lazy. Right Ma?"
"I think you should behave Bobby and Jerry should finish his breakfast and finish getting ready for school." Evelyn answered.
"Killjoy." Bobby joked as he returned to finishing the last of his breakfast. "Come on Jackie. Let's go wake Angel up."
Jack nodded as he put his plate in the sink after Bobby and following his older brother back upstairs and into Angel's room where the third brother was still in bed.
"Angel." Bobby called as Jack stayed in the doorway to observe. "Wake up Angel. Gotta get ready for school."
"Shut up Bobby." Angel muttered sleepily.
Jack watched as Bobby walked over and yanked the blanket off Angel.
"Get up." Bobby ordered lightly. "Don't make me get the bucket."
Angel gave a defeated groan and sat up with a glare at his older brother.
"Hurry up. It's almost seven fifteen." Bobby stated tossing the blanket to the floor and heading over to Jack who was still in the doorway. "Come on Jackie. We should get ready too. It's gonna be just you and me today."
Jack nodded and went to change and freshen up. He dressed in warm clothes, brushed his teeth and combed his hair. He went back downstairs as Angel continued to get lectured by Bobby upstairs about getting ready for school.
"You know Ma, Bobby scares me some times." Jerry said drinking a glass of orange juice.
"Why?" Evelyn asked.
"He's up there lecturing Angel about getting up early for school but there were days when he'd show up for maybe a total of two or three hours worth of school." Jerry explained.
Evelyn chuckled at Jerry's explaination but had to agree.
Bobby was two different ways when it came to things like this. It would be fine for him to skip but it wouldn't be if his brother's did. If his brother's skipped or were late he'd let out a shower of older brother punishment to make sure they wouldn't do it again.
Angel made it downstairs a few minutes later but had to miss breakfast since it was time for him and Jerry to leave. Bobby appeared seconds after the two left dressed in his winter clothing.
"Ready Jackie?" Bobby asked grabbing a duffle bag from the hallway closet.
"Yeah."
"Alright. Grab your jacket and we'll take off." Bobby said.
"What time are you boys going to be back?" Evelyn asked as Jack put his jacket on.
"Maybe a little before or after lunch." Bobby answered. "I'll call you and let you know. Maybe I'll come back for you and we'll take the kid to Chuck-E-Cheese. Let him sock a giant mouse a few times."
"Just let me know." Evelyn laughed as the two walked outside.
"Bobby?"
"Yeah Jackie?"
"What's Chuck-E-Cheese?"
Bobby laughed as he opened the trunk and tossed the duffle bag inside.
"Tell you want Jackie, we'll go ahead and go there later so you can see what it is." Bobby answered. "You'll like it. It's a place just for kids."
Jack seemed to accept the answer as he crawled into the passenger seat and buckled himself in as Bobby started the engine.
.
l~*~*~*~*~*l~*~*~*~*~*l~*~*~*~*~*l
l~*~*~*~*~*l~*~*~*~*~*l~*~*~*~*~*l
.
"Ow."
"You alright Jack?" Bobby asked.
"It's hot." Jack answered.
"Gotta blow on the pizza to cool it down Jackie." Bobby chuckled.
Letting his slice of pizza cool down, Jack looked around the building they were in.
After two and half hours of skating lessons, Bobby announced it was time for lunch. They picked up Evelyn and went to Chuck-E-Cheese where the two had right away noticed the eager look on Jack's face when he saw the games, prizes and food.
While the pizza was being made, Bobby had taken the chance to show Jack how the games worked. Jack had taken a shine to most of them but had taken a while to get use to others.
Now he sat with his mother and older brother and ate their pizza.
"So how did he do in skating today?" Evelyn asked before taking a sip of her ice tea.
"He's a fast learner." Bobby answered with a smile. "Either that or I rock at teaching."
"Maybe he's a fast learner." Evelyn said with a grin.
"Way to bruise my ego Ma."
Jack chuckled before taking a bite of his pizza. He was enjoying this place but had yet to see the six foot tall mouse that Bobby claimed ran around the place greeting people and was starting to think that his big brother was just making up crazy stories.
Starting on his second slice of pizza, Jack heard music start to play and saw a curtain on a stage open. Standing there where the curtain opened was the famed creature Bobby had been talking about.
Bobby saw Jack's eyes go wide with stunned surprise when he saw the giant mouse standing on the stage.
"You thought I was making it up weren't you?" he asked and Jack nodded still frozen in mid bite of his pizza slice. "Now why the heck would I lie about a mouse that's six feet tall?"
.
l~*~*~*~*~*l~*~*~*~*~*l~*~*~*~*~*l
l~*~*~*~*~*l~*~*~*~*~*l~*~*~*~*~*l
.
Around one in the afternoon Jack was sitting in his room quietly going over the scales on his guitar. He'd eaten so much pizza that Bobby had questioned how he was still so thin.
The giant mouse had introduced himself to Jack but he was too stunned to say anything. Not like talking to a giant rodent was something Jack would normally do.
The prizes that Jack had won from the games were piled on the floor in front of his dresser. They included a giant yellow snake with red spots, a giant pair of sunglasses, a pack of glow sticks, two rubber bouncy balls and a small rotating color strobe light.
"Have fun today Jackie?" Bobby asked entering the room while eating a leftover slice of pizza that they brought back with them.
"Yeah." Jack answered with a smile. "It was fun. I liked the games."
"I liked the food." Bobby said before taking the last bite of his pizza and sat on the bed with Jack. "Jerry and Angel are gonna be jealous when they get home and find out where we went."
Jack chuckled at Bobby's statement. But then again he too would be upset if he'd been kept out of the loop of going to a place like they did today. But the two brother's wouldn't be back home for about two and a half hours so they still had time before any humor started.
"We still got time before those two get home." Bobby said. "Think you and me can fit something else in between now and the time they get back?"
"What else?" Jack asked.
"I have something in mind." Evelyn declared appearing in the doorway with a slip of paper in her hand. Jack saw Bobby make a face, indicating that he knew what it was.
"Aw Ma." he lightly groaned falling back onto the bed.
"What?" Jack asked confused.
"Just to go to the store and pick up a few things for dinner tonight." Evelyn answered.
"I hate getting groceries." Bobby whined.
"Well you'll have Jackie with you this time. Maybe you'll like it a little better." Evelyn suggested.
Bobby looked over at Jack.
"Alright. I'll give it a try." he said sitting up and taking the list his mother handed him. "Grab your jacket again kid."
.
l~*~*~*~*~*l~*~*~*~*~*l~*~*~*~*~*l
l~*~*~*~*~*l~*~*~*~*~*l~*~*~*~*~*l
.
"Wanna sit in the basket?"
Bobby laughed when he saw the insulted face Jack made.
"Alright, alright. I'm just kidding." he chuckled and started down to the aisle with Jack following at his side.
"How come you don't like coming here?" Jack asked.
"I don't hate it. It's just that I'm not good at figuring out which thing is the one mom is asking for." Bobby answered. "I'm no good at things related to cooking Jackie."
"Why?"
"Well, other than the fact that I never learned to cook myself, it just confuses me. All the different things you need to make one thing. I never understood any of it."
"Why?"
"Just never did."
"Why?"
Bobby smirked and raised an eyebrow to his little brother who was smiling innocently at his big brother.
"You're on your way Jackie."
"Way to what?"