Thank you so much everyone that read this! Thank you NoelAnderson, Super8-Lover, Corbeau Noir, Jonuda, SadieMayBlue2, and Ajs8 for the reviews for the first chapter!
There was a flash and Joe momentarily saw only white.
"How did you find the monster?"
"Do you think you were abducted?"
"How does it feel to be the one that saved your town?"
"Did the monster break your leg?"
"Where did those cuts come from?"
"What was your motivation to come back into town after it was evacuated?"
A group of journalists and broadcasters faced them in front of the hospital. They bombarded the kids with questions and drowned them in flashes from their cameras. They were frozen and had no idea of what to do next. Joe was the first to react.
"Guys! Come on, let's go!"
They all nodded and agreed, running with Joe to their bikes. Martin shouted that he would meet them at Charles house and went with his parents to their car. Joe led the rest away from the hospital. He looked behind him as he started to gain speed. He could see some people run after them, then lose speed and stop.
"What was that all about?" Cary shouted.
"I don't know!" Joe shouted back and looked at everyone else to see if they had answers. Preston looked out of breath and Charles was cussing and mumbling to himself. Alice was the one who answered.
"Do you think it was about last night?"
"Yeah, I guess, maybe." He really was confused, she could be right though. They pulled up to Charles driveway and jumped off their bikes, letting them crash to the ground.
"If that's true, about them wanting to know about last night," Charles looked around at everyone, "Then should we have stayed, and answered them?" They all thought about it and walked inside. All but Charles sat down on the couches in the living room and he paced around the room.
The room was silent for quite a while and then Preston broke it. "Maybe we were suppose to talk to them."
"Don't be stupid!" Cary gave him a look like he was an idiot. "Haven't you watched TV? They away attack the person with questions then blame them for something!"
Charles stopped pacing "But what if other people want to know what happened to our town! We would be the perfect people to talk to!"
Joe wanted to participate in this conversation but all he noticed was how close Alice was sitting next to him. He felt like if he moved even the tiniest bit that he would bump into her shoulder.
Quickly the topic changed from wanting nothing to do with reporters, to what it would be like to be on TV and all over the news. Then there was a knock on the door and Martin came in. He had difficulty getting through the door with his crutches, but managed to make it in safely. He made it to the living room and sat on the other side of Alice. Joe saw Martin notice how close they were sitting next to each other, and Alice apparently saw it too by gently scooting away from Joe. Why did she do that? It was the second time she moved herself away from him like that. Maybe he needed to talk to her about it.
The group spent the rest of their afternoon in Charles living room, first talking about what they would do with their reporter situation and what they agreed on was hide until it was physically impossible, probably not the smartest plan, but that was what they got. They talked about the film, summer, next school year, and enjoyed their time together for the rest of the afternoon, for the first time this summer. They knew that their problems weren't over, but it felt good for them to pretend that they were.
Sometime around eight they decided that it would be safe to go home. Joe walked outside first and picked up his bike. Alice was right behind him, and he really wanted to talk to her. He pulled his bike over to where she was picking her bike off the ground.
"Hey, um, Alice?"
"Yes?" She turned away from her bike and faced him. Her hair softly blew in the light breeze and she seemed to glow. Joe had to struggle to remember what he was going to say to her.
"I, well, I was wondering if you, um, wanted to do something tomorrow," Why in the world could he not speak clearly to her? "You know, without the guys."
He looked at her for her reaction and it was more than he expected. Her face lit up and she nodded.
"Yeah, I would love too."
He grinned. "Really?"
Alice laughed at him, "Yes." She stepped forward and started to get real close. He didn't realize that he had managed to step forward also. Joe could feel his heart start to speed up, but something stopped him from doing anything else. There was a loud crack behind him and he quickly moved away from her. Looking back at the others he saw that Cary had lit a firecracker under Martins cast.
"What is your problem? I'm hurt and your just trying to make things worse aren't you?" Martin was hysterical, he even gagged.
Cary just stood by him laughing with tears in his eyes. "Sorry man," he took a deep breath, "I just wanted to see if you would throw up."
"Wow, that was really mature Cary" Preston said to him, giving support to Martin who lost his balance.
"It was worth his reaction though!" He was still laughing.
Charles looked like he was ignoring the whole situation and walked over to where Joe was standing next to Alice.
"So tomorrow," He said with an official tone. "I was thinking that we could film the doctor scene since Martin wouldn't have to move very much" He was talking mostly to Joe, and then he turned toward Alice. "We don't need you for this scene, but if you want to come and watch you can, I guess."
She smiled and said that she would think about it. Joe noticed that she had a small blush on her cheeks. He wondered if that was because of earlier. He smiled hoping that it was.
Joe rode home after Cary stuck a pack of lit sparklers in Martins jacket hood and when they fell out he was unable to stomp them out with his one leg setting a small fire to his pant leg. Martin then threw up all over the driveway and Charles threatened to kill Cary because he was the one who would have to clean up the mess. Joe was actually embarrassed by his friends standing next to Alice, who was laughing, but looked grossed out; He wished that she would still like them, even after that.
His Dad's patrol car was missing from the driveway, and when he entered the house he was nowhere to be seen. Joe wanted his Dad to be home so that, maybe, they could talk. It didn't look like that was going to happen. He walked to the TV to waste some time, but when it didn't turn on he remembered that the power was out. He fell on the couch, planning to wait for him, but sleep quickly hit him.
Joe woke up when his father shook his shoulder. He looked exhausted.
"Hey." He said to Joe as he sat up from the couch. Joe yawned and rubbed his eye.
"I tried to stay up to talk to you, but guess I fell asleep, sorry." Joe said sincere and his dad hugged him. It felt odd, and Joe wanted to believe that this would become a normal thing for them.
"Don't be sorry, it's my fault for coming home at midnight. I just had a lot of things to do today."
"Dad it's fine, really." Joe looked at his Dad and he nodded at Joe, taking his response. Joe stared at the ground, and then remembered what he wanted to talk to his Dad about.
"Um, so I was leaving the hospital with Charles, Cary, Preston, Martin, and Alice and there were reporters outside, and they asked us a whole bunch of questions," His dad stiffened, Joe stopped talking for a second then continued. "We didn't know what to do, so we ran away and hid at Charles house." His Dad gave him a very serious look.
"I want you to stay away from them, ok?" Joe nodded. "I have been working to get them out of town all day, and from what I understand is that someone, from this town, let slip to a news broadcast about you and your friends. I'm trying to do my best to protect you." He stood up from the couch and looked down at Joe with a tired expression. "Why don't you go to bed, it's been a long day."
Joe got up from the couch, said goodnight to his Dad, and sleepily made his way to his bedroom. He kicked his shoes off and crawled into bed. His Dad's bedroom door could be heard being shut and Joe closed his eyes. Just when he was about to fall asleep there was a knock on his window.
I feel like these first two chapters are a little rough, but I kinda wrote them to introduce the characters. I promise it will get better! Much more Joe/Alice!
Now I have one question, I was planning on writing this mostly from Joe, but I was thinking about switching from Joe to Alice every other chapter but I can't decide! So give me your thoughts and review this chapter also!