Chapter 6
White Chatter
Jeremy sat on the bench of the shoe store and stared at his bandaged wound. The pain in his arm had subsided to a slight numb feeling. He still had trouble comprehending what had transpired earlier that day. There was Aelita sick from worrying about her dream, then the strange power surge in the school cafeteria that resulted in a piece of glass logged in his arm, and finally his parents calling him frantically after the school informed them of what happened. It was a very strange day indeed.
He looked at the blue turtle neck sweater that he had worn for ages. He had to change from his brown shirt because of the blood that had stained his sleeve. So he grabbed his old shirt and threw it on.
Jim took the old shirt and disposed of it, since there was the possibility of students with certain illnesses infecting other students with any traces of blood on their clothes.
He looked up at Aelita who was trying a pair of Nike tennis shoes on. She needed some new shoes since her old pink shoes were worn and torn. They had seen their fair share of abuse from all the many miles they had walked. These new shoes were white tennis shoes with a pink Nike logo on the sides. Jeremy realized that almost everything about Aelita was pink. Her hair, her clothes, her phone, everything. For all he knew, even her blood could be pink.
"Well what do you think?" Aelita asked as she walked over to him so that he could see.
Jeremy looked at the box and was astonished to see that they were 65.99 euros. He realized that if he said anything, it might offend Aelita. He didn't want her to feel like a burden, and he knew his parents wouldn't mind, as long as he paid them back.
"I think they look good on you."
"You don't think your parent's will mind the price?" Aelita asked.
"No, no, I'm sure they wont mind it." Jeremy said as he gave her a warm, geeky smile. "I spent more on that game for my PC, remember?"
Aelita smiled as she led Jeremy over to the checkout and plopped the box with her old shoes inside on the counter. As Jeremy paid for them, she felt a little nervous... like she was being watched by someone. She looked over her shoulder out towards the main hallway of the mall in time to see a grizzly looking old man turn around and walk towards a trash can. She stared at him as he walked off. Surely this man wasn't watching her. She was suddenly startled by Jeremy as he laid his hand on her shoulder
"Well. Now that we have your new shoes, what do you want to do now?" Jeremy asked as he walked out of the store with her. "Hey, you okay?"
Aelita lost the old man in the crowd as she suddenly realized Jeremy was talking to her. "Hmm? Oh, nothing. Just watching the crowds walk by."
"Well, Odd and the others are probably still buying CD's. Do you wanna just sit and wait for them?" Jeremy asked as he walked over towards a bench.
They sat down on the bench and watched as people walked to and from the various stores. Aelita kept the bag with her old shows next to her as she leaned back.
"So how's your arm? Does it still hurt?" Aelita asked as she gazed at the bandage.
"No its OK. It hurts every once and a while but its fine." Jeremy reassured her as he held his arm up.
"Thanks, by the way. I might have gotten a piece of glass jammed in me, or worse, if you hadn't thrown me under the table." Aelita said as she clutched the shoe box, containing her old shoes.
"That's OK. I don't know what I would do if anything happened to you."
Aelita sat back on the bench as she watched a tall, muscular man in a red shirt and ball cap throw a soda bottle away in the trash. He suddenly pulled out another soda and opened it. He drank it almost as fast as he opened it. Aelita was a little shocked at how fast he drank it. The man turned and stared at her for a few seconds. He raised one of his eyebrows and turned to walk out the door.
"So how did your parents act when they called you?" Aelita asked as she turned her attention back to Jeremy.
"Well, let's just say that the words 'I'm OK' aren't enough to calm my mom down, and that the words 'she's OK' don't work either." Jeremy said. "They wanna know if we're going home for the weekend. I told them I would ask you."
"Well it's not like we have to babysit the supercomputer anymore, and besides, I'm kinda in the mood for your mom's enchilada anyways." Aelita said as she slowly took hold of Jeremy's hand. Jeremy blushed a bright red as he realized that she was holding his hand. Aelita's face was light red. She turned to her left and tried to hide it from Jeremy.
"I'm not a burden to your parents... am I?" Aelita asked as she turned to face Jeremy, who was still turned to his right as he tried to calm down a little.
"WHAT? No, of course not." Jeremy said as he turned to face the pink haired girl sitting next to him.
"My parents like you. And ever since I told them you were a orphan, they've liked you more. I think they're trying to treat you more like a family member than a friend of mine." Jeremy said as the redness in his cheeks faded.
Aelita smiled as she rested her head back on the head rest of the bench. She stared up at the ceiling as she a sudden thought raced threw her head. Maybe they do. Maybe I do.
"Besides, you can't just leave me to eat my mothers cooking alone. Especially her meat loaf."
The old man stared at them from the top balcony. He took a sip of his coffee as he stared at the young couple that sat right underneath him. It was hard to believe that this was the cause of so many problems. Past, present, and future problems alike, all caused by the young girl that was smiling and laughing with what appeared to be her boyfriend. She looked so much like her mother. He stared and pondered how he would approach this. If his partner's calculations were correct--and they usually were--many of the elements that he and his late best friend worried about were now in motion. Would he just walk up and start talking to them, or wait until his partner tried to make contact?
He was a grizzled old man with a large bald spot on his forehead, and a faint mustache that sat on his upper lip. He wore a leisure suit with a few stains on the collar from past events, and a pair of well polished dress shoes.
He watched as the young boy pulled out a piece of receipt paper from the bag and stuffed it in his pocket. If the boy was in fact a boyfriend of sorts, then he would have to not only explain himself to the girl when the time came, but also to the young bespectacled blond who obviously cared enough to spend 70 euros on her and not expect her to pay him back.
The old man noticed another young blond boy running up towards them. He knew that this was one of their friends and also one of the girl's protectors. He slowly turned around and walked away just in time for Jeremy to look up at the vacant spot he once stood at.
The sun was starting to set as the gang slowly made their way back to the school. There was still evidence of the explosion that occurred earlier; the cafeteria had yellow tape around it, and the transformer that blew had been removed and replaced with a brand new one. Odd looked at the cafeteria as if it were the grave of a friend of his.
"So now where do we eat at?"
Jeremy looked at Odd with a little frustration on his face. "You just ate and you're worried about where you will eat tomorrow?"
"Hey a growing boy needs his nourishment."
"The group entered Odd and Ulrich's room, Kiwi Jumped off the bed and welcomed home his master with a waging tail and a jump into Odd's arms.
"KIWI!! HOWS MY HOT DIGGITY DOG!!" Odd said loudly as Kiwi licked his face.
Yumi and Ulrich sat on his bed as Jeremy sat in the chair at the desk. Odd and Aelita sat his bed as Yumi showed them her new CD's
"Sheesh. Kiwi is shedding again?" Aelita said as she stood up and brushed the hair off her side of the bed.
"Yeah I kinda noticed about a few weeks ago." Ulrich said as he handed everyone a soda from the mini fridge Odd kept behind the closet.
"There is one question I have always wondered: Why Kiwi? Thats the name of a fruit, and a bird is'nt it?" Jeremy asked as he opened his soda.
"Because I like the fruit. I would always eat it in elementary school. As for the bird, coincidence." Odd said as he rubbed Kiwi's belly. Kiwi wagged his tail and wiggled as Odd occasionally hit a sweet spot.
"So you named him after a piece of fruit? That's Odd for you. He will probably will name his kids spaghetti and meatballs." Ulrich Joked as everyone giggled.
"You mean I get to have Kids?! Wow thanks for the confidence." Odd said as he smiled widely. Kiwi jumped off Odd's lap and sat on the bed next to Aelita, as Odd sat next to Kiwi.
Yumi held up the Saliva CD she bought earlier and teased Ulrich with it.
"You bought the new Saliva CD?" Aelita asked as she took a drink of her soda.
"Yeah, but I need to burn Ulrich a copy." Yumi replied as she looked over to Ulrich and winked at him.
"Here, I can do that later." Jeremy suggested as he took a look at the songs on the back of the CD.
"By the way Ulrich, what were you so mad about earlier?" Odd asked as he laid back on the floor.
Ulrich began to speak as Yumi cut him off.
"He was mad because... ...His mom accidentally ran over his cat!!" She said as she tried to invent a cover story for earlier, so that Odd wouldn't get any ideas--only to realize that her attempt mislead the others sounded stupid.
The room just stopped as everyone stared at Yumi. Even Ulrich looked at her questionably. Slowly the group turned to Ulrich who continually starred at Yumi in wonder.
"You have a cat?" Odd asked as he sat up.
"Uh, yeah. Well, actually, I had a cat."
"What was his name?" Jeremy asked as opened up his music player on his computer.
"Uh... Jack. He was an orange tabby. I had him for six years."
"Ohh I'm so sorry about that." Aelita said as she got up to get a drink from her soda.
Ulrich tried to act as though everything was okay, but in his mind he was still worried about his mom and dad. Was his dad in jail for what happened? Was his mom okay? At least Yumi was helping out as much as she could, even if her attempt to cover the truth was a little far fetched.
Odd's cell phone suddenly went off in his pocket. Kiwi poked his head up as he rested next to Aelita and sniffed at the phone. Odd pulled out his phone and looked at the number..
"Hey that's weird."
"What is it? Another hopeful girlfriend?" Yumi asked
"No, but its a weird number though." Odd replied as he got up to show Jeremy.
"0-001-0003. I don't know what that is." Jeremy handed the phone back to Odd as he stared at the others and finally answered it.
"Hello?" Odd asked.
Suddenly their was a loud humming noise coming from the speaker. Kiwi Jumped up and instinctively started Barking, he yipped loudly, eventually Yumi grabbed the dog and tried to calm him down. But the skinny dog continued to bark as if there was a cat in the room.
"KIWI!! SHUSH!" Odd firmly said as he tried to listen to the noise on the phone.
It sounded like a loud vacuum cleaner. Almost like a vacuum was running right next to the phone.
"What is it?" Ulrich asked as he notice the weird look on Odd's face.
"It's hard to describe. Here, let me put it on speaker phone" Odd said as he hit a button on his phone.
The noise filled the room as every one listened. There was a brief silence as the noise suddenly subsided and was replaced with a series of weird, faint chirps. Kiwi struggled to escape from Yumi's arms as he wiggled free. Kiwi ran and laid down in the closet drawer where Odd usually kept him. He stuck his head out and continued to bark. Odd motioned for kiwi to shut up but the dog wouldn't listen. Kiwi howled as if he was howling at the moon.
"Kiwi. For the last time cool it or no milk bones for you!!" Odd bellowed as the dog continued to howl.
"Okay, that is the weirdest noise I've ever heard in my life." Ulrich finally spoke as the noise started to fade a little.
"It sounds to me like a kind of bug noise. But that noise earlier sounded weirder." Odd said as he handed it to Jeremy.
Kiwi suddenly stopped barking as he buried his head under one of Odd's old shirts.
"It's probably just static. Maybe a telemarketer or something." Jeremy stood while holding the phone as suddenly the noise got louder and clearer. Instead of chirps, their was now a type of whirling noise in its place.
"No one move!!" Aelita shouted as every one just froze in place. Every one starred at Jeremy as he looked at the phone. "It sounds kinda like there's two different noises." Aelita noted as she slowly stood up.
The noises went back and forth. First a chirp, then a whirling noise, and then more chirps.
"What is it?" Ulrich said as he sat up.
"I'll tell you what it is. It's those nerds we ran into when we saw that movie last week. They sit there and get together and plan all these little pranks and stuff, because they can't get a girlfriend. So they mess with people's stuff, then they go and play their little Dungeons and Dragons like games, and brag about how or what they're gonna do next week. And what they're doing now is tearing up my cell phone. Those basement trolls.
Odd turned to look at Jeremy who was giving Odd a sarcastic look. "I'm a nerd."
"No Jeremy. You're a... 'Intelligent sophisticate'." Odd said.
"Well for a group of guys with no lives or girl friends, you should fit right in." Ulrich joked as Yumi walked over and took the cell phone.
The two sounds got louder and clearer than ever. They now sounded like electronic noises. The rest of the gang circled around Yumi as they listened to the sounds that were coming from the phone.
"Umm, can I let go now?" Yumi asked
"No, don't, you might lose it." Ulrich answered. "It sounds like it gets louder the higher you hold it."
"Wanna take it to the roof then?" Odd asked as he walked to the door.
"Yeah let's try it." Aelita answered as she led the group out, Yumi holding the phone, with Ulrich, Odd, and Jeremy close behind. Kiwi poked his head out from under the blankets as he stared at the gang walking out the door.
They walked up the stairs till they reached the door that led to the roof. The door was locked of course, but Jeremy had stored a skeleton key behind the fire extinguisher. The door opened to reveal the starry night sky. The last rays of the sun were still barely visible, but enough to give off some light.
The group walked to the center of the roof as the phone buzzed louder than it had before. The noises sounded clearer and sharper as they listened to the conversation.
Yumi panned the phone in the night sky as it got louder, then softer and finally louder again. She stopped at the position the sound appeared to be loudest at. The noise sounded like a pair of machines, grinding and whirling some kind of noise. It was something that no one had ever heard before.
The noises started to pick up until it finally disconnected in another loud buzz, followed by a dial tone.
"I think we lost it." Odd suggested as he took his phone back. "What was that?"
"I don't know. It sounded like a conversation. But then again it sounded like static." Jeremy said as he stared at the location were the phone was loudest. Yumi walked up to him as she stared in the same direction he was. They both knew what was in that direction.
"That was the creepiest sound I ever heard. Yet it sounded familiar" Aelita said as she looked at the cell phone in Odd's hand. "Try to call it back."
Odd dialed the number again and instead got nothing. The number that displayed earlier on his phone was gone, almost as if it never existed.
He finally put the cell phone away and looked at Jeremy and Yumi, who were staring in the direction the signal was strongest at.
"Hey what's over their anyway?" Odd asked
"The factory." Yumi said