"Hey Jessie its 6:30am." I heard Shock call out but I buried my head in my pillow and went right back to sleep. It wasn't until he called out to me again when I finally lifted my head and glanced at my alarm. As I looked at the time it took me almost a minute until my eyes went wide and I leapt out of bed.
"Oh man its 8 am!" I yelled as I rushed for the bathroom, only to trip. Flying into the room Shock asked if I was okay as I lay on the floor, rubbing my back. "Owww that was stupid." I groaned as I climbed to my feet.
"Yeah that was a pretty dumb thing to do." Shock commented as I brushed my hair. "Why did you trip anyway?"
"Because I was rushing to get ready. And that's because you didn't wake me." I replied as I managed to get my hair in some sort of order.
"Actually I called you at 6:30am and you went back to sleep. Oh and you do have an alarm you know." Shock answered as I started brushing my teeth. When I tried to point out that he'd offered to wake me, I forgot that I still had a toothbrush in my mouth. "Pardon?" He said and I instead rolled my eyes at him. Once I was done I asked if he could change me back into Camo mode, only for him to point out that I was still in that mode.
"Oops. I guess I forgot to change last night." I replied, looking down at myself. "At least I don't have to worry about my clothes getting crumpled. Let's go." As I walked towards the door I grabbed my bag and Shock flew inside.
"Just remember that you promised not to do anything stupid." Shock said as I reached for the doorknob and I grinned.
"Define 'stupid'." I replied and he groaned. "I'm kidding. I'll be my nice, calm self today." As we left together I'm pretty sure he said 'nice, yes but calm?' and I giggled. By the time we arrived at school I saw Sydney and Kirby already standing by the lockers. When they saw me they waved me over.
"Hey. We didn't think you'd be here today after yesterday." Kirby said and Sydney frowned at him. "What?"
"Its fine. I wasn't really myself and I did kind of take it out on Butch. I probably should go and apologize to him." I answered, earning me a pretty shocked look from Kirby and Sydney.
"Okay there are two things I have to say. One; wow and two; really?" Sydney said and Kirby nodded.
"Look I talked with Berto and he suggested that I should…okay now what's up?" I said raising an eyebrow when Kirby laughed.
"I get it. If its Berto's idea then you'd go along with it." He answered and I rubbed my eyes.
"Wow you really must like him to apologize to Butch, of all people." Sydney said and I sighed.
"I'm not doing this because Berto said I should. It's the right thing to do." I replied and they both exchanged a look.
"Sure you are." Kirby said and I rolled my eyes. "Just a little heads up though; Butch isn't in a very good mood now so you might want to avoid him. Like for the next couple of hours. Or days, months, years." He added and I eventually nodded. Deciding to apologize to him later on, I walked with Sydney and Kirby to our home room.
"Hey you haven't seen Max, have you?" Sydney asked as we took our seats.
"I haven't seen him since yesterday. I wonder where he is." I said looking around. It wasn't until our teacher had shown up that I saw Max standing just outside the door. When he spotted me he gave me a sheepish look and I grinned. Leaning over I 'accidentally' knocked one of my books off the table and while everyone was distracted by the noise, Max quickly slipped in and sat. Retrieving my book I apologized for being so clumsy. You so owe me for that Max, I thought to myself. As soon as class had finished Max stood and walked over to me.
"Thanks for that Jessie." He said and I shrugged, putting my books away. "If I was late once more, I would've ended up getting detention."
"Sure no problem. Why were you late anyway?" I asked as I stood and Steel answered for him.
"He slept in." He told me and I grinned as Max blushed slightly.
"Actually I did too." I replied and he grinned back at me. "We'd better catch up with Sydney and Kirby. They were asking where you were." I told him as we walked into the hallway only to stop in our tracks when I saw Butch and his crew standing in front of Kirby. As I got closer I realized that Butch was preventing Kirby from getting to his locker. "Not this again." I muttered as I started for my friend, ignoring Shock's voice in my head. When I reached Butch I tapped him on the shoulder and he whirled around.
"You again?" He said as I stood there, my arms crossed against my chest. "What do you want now?"
"Two things. One; I want you to leave Kirby alone and frankly I'm very sure we've had this conversation before. And two; I wanted to speak to you about yesterday. I was having a really bad day and I wanted to apologize." This seemed to confuse Butch who didn't answer me for a minute, allowing Kirby to get what he needed from his locker and then join Max on the other side of the hallway.
"What? So you admit it?" Butch said and I smiled nodding, while inwardly I wanted to throw him into the lockers this time. With a laugh he grinned down at me. "Fine I accept that you were wrong." He said and walked away.
"I wonder if it's too late to send him flying." I muttered to Shock, not caring that a couple of people gave me odd looks for apparently talking to myself.
"Don't let him get to you. The guy's a moron." Max said as I rejoined him and Kirby. "I have to say that was pretty impressive."
"Yeah you could have kicked his butt a second time too. Why didn't you?" Kirby asked.
"I did kinda let my temper get the best of me. Though it is pretty tempting to wipe the floor with him." I replied and he laughed. "Hey where's Sydney?" I asked just as she walked up.
"Sorry about that. I needed to return a book I borrowed. So what did I miss?" Sydney asked and Kirby told her about the last few minutes. "So you apologized and stood up to him at the same time? Too bad I missed it."
"I was very tempted to send him flying again but I made a promise. Anyway should we head to our next class?" I replied just as I heard a beep coming from Shock. "Darn I have a phone call from home. I'll meet you guys in class." I told them and walked away before anyone could ask. Once I was outside and we were alone, Shock flew out of my bag and hovered in front of me.
"I wonder what it's about." I said as Shock answered the call. When Commander Forge's face appeared in front of me I greeted him. "Commander, what's up?"
"Nothing major, I just wanted to make sure that you weren't fighting with anyone." He said and I rolled my eyes at him.
"Does everyone know about that?" I asked and he laughed. "Look I apologized and believe me, that was tougher than any villain I've fought so far. So what's happening back at N-Tek?"
"If you're asking about Toxzon we haven't been able to find him yet. And if it's about Berto, he's resting in the Medical Bay. Kat checked in on him a few minutes ago and he's a lot better now." He told me and I smiled, relieved. "Well I'd better let you get back to class. Oh and before I forget could you come to N-Tek straight after school?" When I nodded, he told me to be careful and hung up before I had a chance to ask what he meant.
"I wonder why he said 'be careful'." Shock said and I shrugged. Flying back into my bag I hurried back inside. It was pretty uneventful for the rest of school and when the bell rang I quickly told Max that I had to get to N-Tek before I rushed away. Outside I found somewhere to change into J-Shock and took off for N-Tek in Flight mode. As we flew through the sky I wondered why Forge wanted just Shock and I to return and I asked Shock his opinion.
"I've wondered that myself. I hope we're not in trouble." He said and I shook my head slightly, keeping my eyes on the sky ahead.
"But we haven't done anything wrong." I replied and he had to agree with that. "So far anyway."
"Let's just get back and find out from the Commander." Shock said and we continued in silence for a few minutes. It wasn't until we were had just touched down in the Hangar that I saw Kat and Jefferson, who were climbing into their Jump Jets.
"What's going on?" I asked but they either didn't hear me or were in too big a rush to stop. "We'll that's annoying." I added as the Jets took off. Shrugging I hurried for Forge's office. The moment I got there I found it empty and that threw me. "Okay is someone messing with me?"
"This is pretty weird. I wonder where Commander Forge is." Shock said and I racked my brain until I remembered the Com Room. Telling Shock we hurried through N-Tek until we got there. Thankfully I was right, finding Commander Forge and, to my shock, Berto.
"Berto?" I said as I walked over to him and he looked up from the computer he was hunched over to give me a smile. "Aren't you supposed to be resting?"
"He's here because we need him to be." Forge told me and I crossed my arms against my chest, annoyed. "Don't give me that look." He added as I continued to frown at him.
"I know you're worried about me but I'm fine." Berto said and I sighed.
"Okay but if he gets worse, I'm blaming you." I said glancing over at Forge who ran a hand through his hair.
"Fine. Now can we get back to the problem at hand?" He asked and when I didn't speak, he continued. "We've looked into the missile that Agent Claire created and we may have found something else about it.
"Back up a step. You've gone through files that we weren't allowed to view?" I interrupted and he turned to frown at me.
"Unlike you I have clearance. And from what I found out, Claire left blueprints to make it possible to build another missile." Forge answered and I blinked.
"If you can build another missile, why don't you?" I asked and he shook his head at me.
"The missile's too dangerous to build and besides, it needs to be charged with Turbo energy. A massive amount." Forge explained and I thought about this for a moment.
"Then N-Tek builds it and I can charge it." I offered.
"You can't. And before you say another word it's because the missile could overload and destroy whoever tried to charge it. That's what happened to your mother and I won't risk another life on a weapon that 'might' work." Commander Forge said and I glared at him.
"It's my life and I'll do whatever I want. If it can stop this 'Makino' then count me in." I replied and out the corner of my eye I saw Berto shake his head. "Why not?"
"Because you have no idea who Makino is and what he's capable of." Forge said and then he turned to leave, telling Berto to 'keep an eye on me'. Not sure what I should do I watched as he left me with Berto and Shock.
"I want to help stop an invasion and he won't let me." I grumbled and Berto sighed. Walking over to me he pulled me into a hug, taking me by surprise.
"He just wants to keep everyone safe." Berto said and I eventually hugged him back. "Besides this way you're not in danger."
"Yeah but I don't want to be safe all the time. He gives the orders and I have to go along with whatever he wants." I said. "Why can't I do what I want? If I can charge that missile and we launch it…"
"No way. I'm not losing you." Berto spoke as he hugged me tighter. After a few minutes he let go and I sighed.
"Alright then. Make me feel worse why don't you?" I replied and he gave a slight smile. "So what can I do?" A short time later we were sitting in the Medical Bay. "So how do you feel?"
"Better. I need to rest from time to time but I'm almost back to normal." Berto told me, sitting beside me on the couch.
"I'm sorry that I got mad before." I said and he patted me on the shoulder. "I shouldn't have."
"Hey if you hadn't gotten mad at Toxzon, well we wouldn't be having this conversation." He replied and when he saw the pain in my eyes he sighed. "I shouldn't have said that."
"You don't need to apologize for that. Normally getting angry doesn't help me." I answered, trying to stay upbeat. Of course I failed miserably and I know both Berto and Shock could see that. Leaning over Berto kissed the top of my head.
"Not getting off topic or anything but how did you go today?" He asked me and I told him that I managed not to kick Butch's rear today. "Heh I bet it was pretty tempting though."
"Very tempting but I did promise not to." I said and he smiled at me.
"I appreciate you keeping your promise. By the way I was wondering something." Berto said and I looked at him, curious.
"What's that?" I asked and he asked if I was free this coming weekend. "Yeah why do you ask?"
"It's a surprise. I'll meet you at your apartment at 9 am on the Saturday." He told me. When I tried to ask Berto where we were going, he shook his head. "Aww. Fine than I'll wait until Saturday." I replied, pouting a little and Berto laughed.
"Even when you look angry I can't help but think you're pretty cute." He told me and I blushed, secretly happy about being called cute. "Especially when you blush." He added as I moved over and rested my head on his shoulder.
"So are you sure you're okay?" I asked him and he glanced down at me for a moment. "Just asking."
"I appreciate it but I'm fine. Though I probably should take it easier. At least for the next few days." Berto said and I grinned.
"If anyone tries to make you work I'll yell at them." I suggested and he snorted, trying not to laugh. "Or maybe I could…"Before I come up with another idea he rested his head against mine. "On second thought maybe I'll just stay here." I added and Shock just rolled his eye at us. "What?"
"You do remember that you have a test in a few days." He said and I frowned at him. "Don't give me that look."
"But I wanna stay here." I complained, pouting again and I heard Berto chuckle. "You're no fun."
"You'd better go. Besides I'll still be here when you get back." Berto said as I stood. Before I left we kissed briefly and I walked out of N-Tek with a silly grin on my face.