Here's chapter 4 for High School Woes and Foes.
High School; Woes and Foes
By: General Blaze
Chapter 4; Smile for the Camera!
Luigi never questioned the orders from the boss. After all, he was just a lowly henchman. Who was he to question the most powerful crime lord this side of the Midwest? Still, Luigi knew that every plan had it's flaws. An assassination could quickly turn into a gun fight. A hijack could end up with the car flipped upside down. And a bank robbery could turn into a standoff with the police oh so easily. However, this particular bank robbery that he and his three accomplices just pulled off went very smoothly. They managed to get the cash and escape with out it turning into a shootout with the cops. But never in a million years did they think that their robbery could be foiled by an alien.
And right now, one was chasing after them.
Luigi slammed down the gas pedal, making the old '59 El Camino blast down the street after a sharp turn. The alien though, had little trouble keeping up. The odd alien looked like someone had molded a scorpion, fly, and mantis together and mutated it. Its wing were making a rather annoying buzzing sound that seemed to be louder than the old El Camino's. One of Luigi's partners yelled, "Hold it steady!" and pulled out a small Uzi Sub-Machine Gun. However, before he could even aim it at the giant insect, the gun was knocked out of his hands by some sickly green goop fired by the alien. A few seconds later, a loud 'thump' was heard as the insect landed on the Camino's rooftop. Luigi looked out the driver's window to see that the thing was looking inside the driver's compartment, its four eyes staring down at him.
"All right!" it ordered. "The gig is up! Pull over and I might make this easy for you!"
"In your dreams, stink-breath!" Luigi yelled back, pulling out a small handgun out of his pocket. However, the insect's eyes quickly looked to what was in front of the car, grinned, and took off. "Look out!" one of Luigi's men screamed at him.
Before he could register what was happening though, the El Camino suddenly came to a halt with a loud 'crunch!' The old car had crashed into a phone pole, and it was now unable to go anywhere. The green insectoid alien landed next to the car, and shot out more of the green goop out of its four eyes, trapping the robbers underneath. "That ought to hold you lot up 'till the police arrive," it said before flying off again, its job done.
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Jack, Nicole, and Mr. Evans were in the classroom once again, watching a news report on the TV. "And in other news," the reporter stated to the camera, "A bank robbery pulled of by Hogan's Gang, a local crime organization, was foiled by not the police, but a giant bug. Witnesses state that a giant green bug managed to distract the robbers long enough fro them to crash, and then trap them in a green sludge like substance." At this a picture of the insect chasing the thieves popped up next to the reporter. Jack grinned at this. "Think I should have waved to the camera and smiled?" he jokingly asked the two people next to him. Nicole looked at him, an amused expression on her face. "Nah," she answered. "You should have flown backwards or something. That would have been impressive."
Before Jack could come up with a witty response, Mr. Evans shushed the pair and pointed to the TV. Both teenagers quickly stopped their conversation and listened to the television report. The reporter continued on, saying, "This event marks the third time that odd creatures have been spotted. The first one was a four-armed beast that rescued three children from a burning building last Friday. The second one was a plant creature that saved two men that fell out of their trolley while trying to clean the windows on a skyscraper jus yesterday. Authorities say they don't know who these things are, or when a new one will show up, but they appreciate the help. For Channel Seven News I'm Amanda Hugginkis, back to you Dave."
At this, Mr. Evans turned off the TV, but instead of a smile on his face, a worried expression was evident on it. He looked at Jack and said, "Jack, aren't you worried that your good deeds are getting the attention of whoever sent those robots after you?"
"Not really," Jack answered. "I mean, come on. What else am I supposed to do with this watch, see if I can actually get the time shown on here?"
"I know you want to do the right thing, Jack," Mr. Evans said, "But next time, try to be more inconspicuous, okay?"
Jack thought about this. It would be very difficult to avoid anyone seeing him. But then again, if he was in the thick of a battle, he wouldn't be able to prevent anyone from seeing him. "I'll see what I can do," He said.
Mr. Evans smiled. "I'll hold you to that," Mr. Evans replied. "Now then, I hope you two remembered that today's Picture Day…"
At this, Jack's smile came to an abrupt halt. "PICTURE DAY?!"
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Jack didn't really hate school. Yeah, Danny shoving him in his locker got old almost instantly; it put some spice in the normally boring school days. And now that he had a watch that could turn him into seventeen different aliens, it just got even better. But one thing Jack hated most of all about school, was Picture Day. So far, every Picture Day he has ever had usually ended up with a horrible photo. Last year had to be the worst, since he had two black eyes and a bloody nose thanks to Patrick. So, it was only natural that Jack was panicking about this particular one. His mother made him swear that if he didn't come home with a good photo, he would be grounded for the rest of the month.
Right now, Jack had retreated into one of the boy's bathroom, checking his appearance down to the last eyelash. He was determined to get a good photo this year, after all, eleventh times the charm, right?
However, when Jack was finally satisfied with his appearance, two familiar voices entered the bathroom. His eyes widened, "Oh, no! Not Patrick and Danny! Not now!" Fortunately, they seemed to be hanging out at the door, giving Jack enough time to slip inside one of the stalls. As Danny and Patrick's voices entered the bathroom, Jack began fiddling with the watch, trying to find an alien to help him out of this situation.
"Boy, that was funny," Patrick's voice echoed through the room. Danny's laugh followed it. "Yeah," Danny agreed. "Boy, that dork squealed like a little girl when you punched him. That ought to teach the fresh-meat to give the Gladiators more respect!" At this the sound of the two football players giving each other a high-five sounded throughout the room, followed by several more snickers and guffaws.
"I wonder were that loser Alton went," Patrick then said. "I haven't wailed on the twerp in three weeks!" At this, Jack furiously began twisting at the watch, panic beginning to settle into his stomach. 'Come on!' Jack mentally screamed at the watch. 'Give me someone, anyone! Just get me out of here!' Finally, he slammed his hand on the watch. Pretty soon, ectoplasm began covering his body, and his eyes began to merge together. By the time it was over, Jack now looked like a classic ghost, a single, sky blue eye on his head. "What was that?" Patrick asked. "I don't know," Danny responded, "But we're about to find out!"
'Uh-Oh,' Jack thought. 'I better scram.' With that, Jack shifted the density of the ectoplasm's cells, and quickly turned invisible. As he flew through the wall, the door to the stall was slammed open; Patrick's fist rose in the air ready to punch the living daylights out of the unfortunate soul in the stall. Yet when the two knuckleheads found that no one was in there, they just stood there, stupefied.
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Jack, or Specter as he was known in this particular form, floated through the hallways of Robert H. High School, remaining completely invisible to the students. It was getting close to the time that the pictures would be taken, as everyone in the hall was getting all dressed up for it. 'I need to find Nicole now,' Specter thought. 'If I stay close to her, then I should get through the day without a chance of messing up my picture.'
As Specter flew through the halls, he suddenly came upon several members of the football team, and Harold was among the, just getting of his cell phone. "Listen up!" he barked. "Danny wants Little Boy Alton brought down before the photos are taken, so split up and search. If you find him, call us and pin him down. Danny wants to handle this personally."
As the football team split up, Specter quickly left the area, now desperately looking for Nicole. Finally, he found her, but stopped. Nicole has wearing black jeans and a red shirt, both of which complemented her figure immensely. She had tied her long black hair into a short ponytail, and was busy putting on makeup. Normally, she was very pretty. Now though, she was absolutely stunning. Specter quickly snapped out of his daze and floated over to her. "Nicole," he said.
Nicole turned around, looking for however was talking to her. "Nicole," Jack said, louder this time. Finally, Nicole asked, "Jack? Is that you?"
"Yup."
"Where are you?" she questioned. "I can't see you."
"I'm using the ghost alien. You know, Specter?"
"Oh."
"Listen, Nicole," Specter continued. "Danny and his goons are after me. You have to lie to them. Tell them I went home sick or something!"
"Oi!" A voice behind them yelled.
Nicole looked to see who yelled at them, and suddenly a look of fear spread across her face. "It's Danny and Patrick!" She hissed. "Quick, shut up and stay still!" Specter didn't question her orders.
Pretty soon, Danny and Patrick had reached Nicole, a look of smug confidence on their faces. "Hey, baby," Danny said, making his voice smooth and soothing, at least for other girls. "Have you seen that loser, Jack anywhere?"
"And while we're at it," Patrick continued, "How about a date, sweet thing?"
"No and NO!" Nicole answered. "I haven't seen Jack, and even if I did I wouldn't tell you knuckleheads! And as for the date, I'd only go out with you if you two were the last men on earth!"
Patrick suddenly grabbed Nicole's wrist, gripping it rather hard. Nicole let out a squeak of pain. However, before he could continue, Danny stopped him, saying, "Now, now. We don't want to harm this beautiful flower." He looked at Nicole, eyeing…certain body parts. "We'll see you later, beautiful." Danny walked of, Patrick glaring at Nicole one more time before following the quarterback.
Nicole could tell that Specter was seething, so she said, "Settle down, they didn't hurt me."
"Can a punch one of them, pretty please?" Specter's voice said. Just then, a beeping sound began to fill the room. "No! Not now!"
The watch wasn't going to be so kind on Specter though. In a red flash, Jack was back in his human body, and worst of all, Danny turned around to see what happened. For several seconds, Both Danny and Jack looked at each other, then…
"ALTON!"
"Run, Jack!" Nicole yelled. He didn't need to be ordered though, as he had already begun his escape from the angry quarterback and tight end, which were following the boy with hate filled eyes.
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'Why does this seem so familiar…?' Jack thought as he sprinted down the corridors. 'Oh, yeah. This same thing happened a few weeks ago. Lucky me!' Still though, he needed to stay at top speed, since more and more football players were joining the chase against Jack Mickey Alton. As he was about to round a corner, he remembered what happened last time he tried this, and summer salted as he turned the corner. His prediction was correct, as another Gladiator had tried to do the same thing that Harold did. Jack quickly got back on his feet, and yelled, "I'm not falling for the same thing twice, assholes!"
Still though, he need to lose the mob of football players behind him. Jack rounded another corner, and began looking for an empty classroom. Finally, he found one, opened the door, and dove into the room. After hiding behind a desk, he waited a few minutes before checking to see if the coast was clear. He peeked out the door, and sure enough, the hall was empty. Straightening his shirt, Jack walked down the hall to the gym, ready to smile for the camera for the first time.
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Jack was now safely in his bedroom, satisfaction filling his body. Sure, Danny and his gang, got to him and shoved him back in his locker, but that happened after he got his best pictures yet. Now he was off the hook with his parents, and he could now walk through the halls without getting teased about his photo. 'For this,' He thought to himself, 'I deserve a treat. To the kitchen!' So with that, Jack got off his bed to get a soda out of the fridge, ready to celebrate a job well done.
R&r