Chapter 7: Hey! Did I Just See What I Thought I Saw?
Being dragged to the principal's office by tough-looking, dark-suited Secret Service men in the morning was not exactly how Zeke wanted to start out his day. Charlie sat beside him, quivering and completely ready to crack at any second. Just yesterday, Charlie had dropped the bomb on the entire crew of the Minutemen (plus Kyo) that the final part of the time travel equation had been "borrowed" from 1960 NASA files.
Virgil had started to freak out at the possibility of being arrested. Zeke announced to everyone that if they were placed in the same cell, he snored like a chainsaw. Kyo had whacked Charlie in the head and demanded to know if the so-called boy genius even contemplated the possible consequences before downloading the file.
"I swear I had nothing to do with this," insisted Virgil as 2 Secret Service men carted him into the office, "But I can give you two names. They're-" He cut off his words abruptly as he was forced into a chair beside a scowling Zeke and an irritated Charlie. Way to throw them under the bus, Virgil!
"Rat," muttered Zeke to Virgil before turning to face the scientists standing before them. Virgil shrugged his shoulders and tried to look innocent. Hey, jail was the last place he wanted to spend his life. Luckily, Kyo hadn't been called in with them for questioning-that would have been disastrous.
The two scientists introduced themselves before filling in the boys about what they knew. Could they read minds or were they just really good at tracking information? Everything from the stolen time travel formula piece to the unusual wave motion activity at their town came out into the open. Charlie squirmed in his seat and almost looked ready to start spilling his guts. Behind the cold, icy stare of Zeke, he couldn't help but feel a little nervous too. What if he got thrown into jail and Kyo didn't want to see him again? Both of the panicking Minutemen were startled out of their thoughts by Virgil loudly announcing that the interrogation was a violation of their rights.
"…That's right," Virgil stated firmly as he crossed his arms, "It's stated in the government laws. Look it up for yourself. I learned that in Government and I got a B- to prove it." The scientists blinked at Virgil and the Secret Service men confirmed Virgil's statement. Meaning that they were free to go.
"Whew! That was close!" gasped Charlie as they stumbled out into the halls, "From now on, we've got to be more careful with our missions."
"Nice going back there Virg," Zeke complimented Virgil as he caught up to him. Virgil shrugged his shoulders and said it was nothing. "Can I ask for your advice?" Zeke suddenly became serious and rather quiet.
Virgil froze and turned to face Zeke. He completely tuned out Charlie saying that he was going to go eat his lunch. Did Virgil just hear what he thought he just heard? Zeke Thompson wanted his advice?! "Uh sure," Virgil quickly replied, "What do you need advice on?"
"A girl," Zeke mumbled. Virgil watched as Zeke's face reddened and his eyes suddenly became glued to the ground. It was too clear, all too clear for him to see.
"It's Kyo isn't it?" guessed Virgil as he watched Zeke's face flush even darker, "I can tell."
Was he really that obvious? Zeke touched a hand to his hot cheek and confessed that Virgil was right. "She's, she's completely unexpected. Most of the time I can easily pick up on what a girl is trying to convey to me. But not her, she's a complete surprise and mystery," Zeke softly announced, "I keep wanting to reach out to her and she manages to back away and allow me to chase her."
Virgil smiled as he heard Zeke's confession. "I think she's probably in the Art room right now," Virgil told him as he gave Zeke a slight nudge toward the room, "Just talk to her."
As he approached the door to the Art room, he breathed deeply and tried to keep himself calm. He watched Kyo work intensely on a multi-paneled strip with a fine tipped black pen in her hand. As he watched her his hands gripped around the doorknob and twisted it to open. No one else but Kyo was in the Art room at the time which was strange since the room was always crowded. The squeaking of his boot on the linoleum floor brought Kyo out of her focused trance and she looked up straight into his eyes.
"How long were you standing at the door for?" she asked him as he took the seat next to her. Zeke flushed at her question and stammered that he didn't know that he was that obvious. Kyo shrugged and commented that it was just a question. She turned back to her work and Zeke suddenly noticed that Kyo wasn't tensing up around him. She didn't even try to move her seat away from him. Normally she would have preferred to sit across from Zeke being that she didn't like people being too close to her. But not a sound uttered from her lips. Nothing.
"Do you want me to move?" he asked suddenly out of the blue. Kyo shook her head no and said it was fine.
"I'm really into what I'm doing today so I don't feel like trying to argue with you," she lazily commented, "So you got lucky." Okay so maybe she wasn't going to come out and say that she was getting used to him but her actions were good enough for him. She settled back into a rhythm of outlining her work and casually commented, "I didn't see you or Virgil or Charlie this morning. Were you guys ditching for some reason?"
Zeke shook his head no and slumped down in his seat. "The Secret Service and some scientists pulled us in to interrogate us about the time travel missions-well they didn't know it was for time travel but yeah. Virgil got us out that one in one piece."
"That Charlie," groaned Kyo, "I told him that he should next time think before he leaps. And he never listens. Man some fantastic boy genius he is!"
"Yeah, yeah," Zeke's voice trailed off a bit as he watched her work. But the funny thing was, these characters looked familiar. That one was Chester and for sure that was Virgil due to the messy mop of blonde hair in his eyes. Charlie, Jeanette, and finally Zeke spotted a tall figure that Kyo was outlining at the moment. Dark, messy hair, wild eyes- wait a second…
"Is, is that me?" Zeke asked as he pointed out the figure to Kyo. Chills ran down his spine at the amazing cartoon version of him. Kyo looked up and him and nodded faintly. He blinked at the sketch then summoned up the words to express how he felt. "That's amazing. Does Virg or Charlie know about this yet?"
"No not yet," sighed Kyo as she put her pen down, "It was an idea I just got today. Since you guys starting saving the geeks like Chester and Eugene, I guess you can say that the Minutemen are becoming the new Justice League. The heroes of the geeks, defending geek honor!" He smiled a little at that comment and his heart leapt. A hero, she saw him as a hero. Just the thought of that sounded sweet. Maybe this day wasn't so bad after all.
"You definitely should show this to Virg and Charlie soon," Zeke told her, "They'll like it a lot. And I think this might cheer them up after our interrogation this morning."
Kyo turned to face Zeke and returned his smile. "Yeah, I think I will Biker Kid."