And here's the ninth chapter of The Wave and we go back to a normal day of school for the Normos. The previous chapter might seem a little pointless, but it was necessary for the plot, especially Alan's part. And now, I will be answering to the reviews and then you can continue reading, 'kay?
4everMagic: Well, here it is and thanks for reviewing!
Enjoy this holiday chapter! Merry Christmas and a happy New Year!
-Writer207
When the sun rose on this sunny Wednesday morning, nobody suspected the terrifying events of last night. Most students got up and went to school as if nothing special had happened yesterday, except that one girl who might have lost her boyfriend, or the set of Christian parents who were told by their son he loved another guy. But whatever pain these people felt, it was nothing compared to what Kaz and Oliver went through yesterday. Because of one small suspicion, their friendship might be ruined for a long time; until their argument was solved.
This suspicion was clear to all who went to school with them, though they did not know about heroes existing. But they did see one of the Gordons hiding in the trash can; one of these people was Jordan. When she walked past the trash can, she noticed Kaz had sunk even deeper than usual by climbing in the trash can out of free will. She looked one more time to be sure it indeed was Kaz, but she wasn't wrong in the first place. Kaz Gordon indeed was in the trash can, looking at Oliver's locker and to Skylar who was standing next to Oliver's locker. He didn't even notice Jordan was standing next to him.
She loudly yelled his name and the trash can almost fell because of the sudden noise in his ear. When he looked up, he saw a confused and amused Jordan. "What are you doing in there?" she wanted to know, not hiding her amusement. Kaz shrugged, though Jordan did not see it, and he truthfully answered her question.
"I'm hiding from Oliver, of course." Jordan frowned.
"Why would you hide from him?" she wanted to know, "You've been best friends since you were three." Kaz turned his head to Jordan for the second time before looking back at Oliver's locker.
"Well, not today," was his vague reply, "And you remember what I told you yesterday, don't you? If Oliver is really trying to frame me, I want to stay as far away from him as possible. There might be a small chance I won't come back if he finds me. Plus, he's gonna be super mad when if he finds out I was keeping an eye on him ever since he walked into this building." Jordan looked at Oliver's locker, the thing Kaz has been staring at since he arrived in the school. She only saw Skylar standing there, talking to someone, but there wasn't anyone there to talk with.
"I only see Connie and no Oliver. Where is he?"
"He's in his locker. Where else could he be?" He said it with a matter-of-factly tone, as if it was completely normal Oliver was hiding in his small locker, when he normally is afraid of small spaces. Jordan sighed.
"Come on!" she began, "Why don't you just go to talk things out with him? I am sure you'll come to a solution you're both happy with and as much as I like to see you sitting in garbage out of free will, you need to fix this. You can't stay mad about just a guess." Kaz huffed.
"No, I can't because you can't understand the situation I'm in." That's all he wanted to say about it, and Jordan rolled her eyes, irritated. Boys; can't live with them, can't understand them. She stayed anyway, solely because she liked seeing him sit in garbage.
At the other side of the hallway, Skylar was standing next to Oliver. It might look like she was talking to Oliver's locker as if he was in there, but in fact he had found a scientific invisibility cloak (for stealth mission for the guards) and borrowed it for today, so he wouldn't have to be bothered by Kaz. There's no way he'd go in that locker. Skylar was asked to stay close to him as long as Kaz was around and even though Oliver didn't know where Kaz was, he was sure the boy would show up eventually. Skylar sighed.
"Oliver, why don't you take off that stupid cloak? It's really weird to be talking to someone who supposedly isn't there."
"No, I'm not taking this off," she heard Oliver say, who was standing almost too close to him, "If we're right and Kaz is really working for the Annihilator, I'd better stay hidden from him so he won't be able to annihilate me. Besides, can you see him? Because I can't – I might be invisible, but I can't see a thing." He asked, still slightly scared of his best friend, trying to figure out where Kaz could have gone wrong after all the times Oliver kept Kaz of the road leading to jail. Maybe it was in his blood, looking at the older brothers in jail because they joined the dark side, though not on a scale as big as he and Kaz dared to go.
"He's in the trash can," she said, "hiding from you." Skylar hoped he'd get Kaz was afraid, too, but deeper in her mind she was laughing of joy, though that joy wouldn't be noticeable.
"He's not hiding from me," Oliver said, and apparently he'd taken a few steps away from her. "He's waiting for the moment I take this off so he can destroy me. He won't destroy you now because of your powers." Skylar sighed and she stepped closer to Oliver, trying to corner him, trying to stand face to face with him. This was going way too far, even if it is just a stupid toy dagger.
"Okay, that's it!" she pulled the cloak off of Oliver, and they both looked around, but nobody has seen them. Skylar placed the cloak in her locker and then grabbed Oliver by his wrist, pulling him to the trash can with Kaz in it and Jordan. When she stood there, Jordan gladly helped Kaz out of the trash can by pushing it until it fell. Skylar grabbed him by his wrist, with still pieces of garbage present on his outfit. She held their wrists tight and when she warned them not to run, she let them go and indeed neither tried to run away from the other.
"Guys, this is ridiculous," Skylar said to both, "You can't fight because of what happened yesterday and the day before."
"Connie's right," Jordan agreed with Skylar, "stop acting like five year olds!" Kaz crossed his arms.
"But he started it," Oliver said with a whiny tone, and Kaz sighed.
"Seriously? You are blaming me again? You know, I was hoping you'd come to senses last night." Neither of them used words which could imply heroes and a hospital for heroes exist because Jordan and even Gus were listening to their argument.
"I have to come to senses? Kaz, you're the one who needs to rethink this whole situation."
"Fight! Fight! Fight!" Gus joined the argument, but was soon pushed out of the way by Jordan.
"I do? You're the one randomly blaming me!" Kaz continued, and Oliver sighed.
"Not randomly; I've seen it, I have a witness and you have no alibi, so I'm telling the truth."
"Well, maybe you've heard the wrong truth. Or what if we're both telling the truth?"
"Kaz, that is very unlikely. What I'm trying to say is…"
"Cut it out!" Skylar interrupted them, and both fell silent. If Skylar needed to say something, they would listen, because they never knew if it would be useless or not, or maybe she would tell them she's help one of them with finding the mole and fighting him or her. But it was anything I just suggested. "My dad wants to meet you now."
She said it with such a serious tone the two boys did not resume their fight, but knew what to do. If Horace needed them, there must be an emergency at the Mighty Med and it also meant Horace wanted to see them both working together as a team. Skylar and Oliver had decided not to tell Horace, or he might fire them. Without saying anything else, the two Normo doctors left the school and took the shortest route to the hospital.
Gus and Jordan were still looking at them when they noticed Skylar still was here. They were looking at her, confused about how suddenly those boys stopped fighting to go to Connie's dad.
"What was that all about?" Gus wanted to know and Skylar shrugged.
"My father is a very important man and he's the one who offered them their jobs. He's probably asking for them now because he's too busy to say goodbye another time. He really liked those two. They will still work there; but my dad and I will move anyway."
Silently, Kaz and Oliver walked into the lobby of the Mighty Med, where their boss had been waiting for them to arrive. Horace looked very concerned and seemed relieved when the Normos had finally arrived. During their walk to the hospital, the two had kept their respective distance. They walked close enough to catch the other talking about plans (which didn't happen) yet far enough to make sure they wouldn't be captured. You couldn't be careful enough in these dark times.
"Guys! There you are!" Horace greeted them, "I lost Alan. I can't find him anywhere! Can you help me find him?"
"Ah, I give up." Was Kaz' immediate response, "he's probably at school anyway."
"No, he isn't, because we would've seen him." Oliver pointed out and Kaz shook his head, glaring at Oliver.
"Oh, as if you know when and where Alan is at this point," he sneered. If Horace hadn't interrupted them here, they would have continued fighting right on the spot and Horace would have noticed they were now not best friends anymore.
"Oh," Horace continued as if whatever he now had to say wasn't as important as Alan's disappearance, "and I need you guys to take a look at Surge. Nobody can explain what happened and since you know all about heroes, I thought you could figure it out." He told the boys in which room Surge was placed, and the two went there. They must be really desperate to ask the Normos about their precious knowledge to identify what could have happened to poor Surge. The two left for Surge immediately after they heard the news.
"What's wrong?" Oliver asked when he saw Kaz was frowning. It's not that he wanted to know why he was frowning, but he just was trying to figure out what he was worrying about – and maybe, just maybe he could catch a hint which may tell something about his relationship with the Annihilator.
"Nothing you already know," was Kaz' vague answer and Oliver stopped him.
"No, seriously, what's bothering you?" Kaz huffed.
"If you want to know so badly, you are," he sneered, "You're bothering me. You think you're great, don't you, unmasking the mole? No, you're not! Without me, you're nothing. No brains without the brawn. And, again, I am not the mole, I have no idea how the Dagger got in my backpack and I do not work for the Annihilator." Oliver just shook his head, rethinking every single word his 'friend' had said.
"You do realize you just admitted you work for the Annihilator?" Kaz' eyes widened.
"Wha… I did not! I just said that you think you're great because you think you unmasked the mole, I'm not implying I work for that guy! I don't even know where he lives." Oliver stared at him, "Okay, I do know where he lives, but so do you! That doesn't prove anything."
"You know what?" Oliver said, with an obviously fake smile on his face, "We're through. It's over." And Oliver walked to Surge's room, leaving an astonished Kaz behind.
"Did you just break up with me?" He said, only now realizing his unfortunate choice of words. But yeah, after being together (as just friends) since they were three, it did feel like Oliver broke up with him (again, they're just friends).
Kaz ran behind Oliver to Surge's room because how much the two hated it, they still had the task to examine him together.