Episode 15: The Trap to a Locked Friendship
“Finally, it’s Monday! I’ve never been so excited for this day in my life. After that cold, I’m just glad it’s all gone on a school day. Ahh…” Matt skipped his way to his first period class, towards the boy’s lockers.
Shirley stood in front of him with a concerned expression, “What the hell is wrong with you?” She began to walk around him, “Look at you. You and your prancing self, hmph!”
Matt stopped, “Eh… uh, what’s up with you?”
Joey stood next to Shirley, “Hehe, I kinda… went out to the movies without her on Saturday.”
Shirley pointed a finger at Joey, “And you forgot me?! How dare you?!”
Matt turned away, “(What the? Joey is acting as if he’s no longer aware of me anymore. Why?)”
Joey turned to Matt, “Well, anyway, watch out for Shirley. She’s hiding something that I don’t know.” His eyes became darker and he gave a smirk. Matt gasped from surprise. Shirley crossed her arms as she closed her eyes in anger. Joey began to laugh as he walked away.
Matt scratched his head, “What was that all about? Shirley, did you…?”
Shirley opened her eyes with confusion, “Hm? What?”
“You didn’t tell him about your powers, did you?”
“Of course not! What makes you think that?” Shirley said angrily.
Matt began to walk away, “Hehe, nothing! (What the hell? Joey is onto Shirley now? Oh well. I’m thinking too much. He probably meant something else.)”
~~~
First lunch began for Matt and he was one of the first to sit down on the table that his lunch group usually sits at. Jen waved goodbye to two girls as she sat down, “Hehe, what would I do without them girls? I would be a lonely person in this school.”
“Don’t you have Lisa?” Matt questioned.
Jen frowned, “Sadly, she doesn’t have my for her lunch period.” Matt did not want to answer back because he had noticed that Jen became depressed.
“Jen…? You’re alright, right?”
Jen suddenly spoke, “Hey Matt-… uh, hm.”
“What was that?”
“Never mind.” She turned away, “It’s nothing important.” She shook her head as she smiled, “I’m getting Geometry Accelerated. That’s something to be proud of right?”
Matt stood up in excitement, “Really?! Wow, that’s good! You know, I should have gotten Geometry and then move to Geometry Accelerated. But man, I listened to Stan at the beginning of the school year. I learned not to follow him anymore. But I guess it’s too late. I’m going to have to take Geometry in the Summer. But anyway, that’s great, Jen!” He stopped again, “Why aren’t you happy?”
Jen giggled, “I am happy!~ See?” Matt stared at her with concern. Jen went on, “Even if I move in that class, our friendship won’t change, right?”
Matt was surprised to hear this from her, “What are you talking about? If we both want to be friends, then of course we’ll stay friends. Eight years of friendship and nothing has screwed us over.”
Jen took a bite of her burger then said, “Actually, it’s been about three or four years. We only noticed each other for so long.”
Matt chuckled, “Hehe, you’re the only friend I can depend on in this lunch period! Without you, I’d be a total wreck during lunch. I’d have no one to talk to.” Jen blushed, then she began to stand up. “H-Hey, where are you going?”
Jen said before she ran, “I forgot to give my friend something!” She started running with a tear drop passing her face. Matt noticed it.
“What the… What just happened? Did I say something stupid?”
“HEY. What did you say about ‘only friend’?” Shirley appeared out of nowhere with an expression that showed suspicion towards Matt.
Matt jumped away, “Eheh! Nothing, nothing!” He decided to leave as well.
~~~
Moments later, Matt was wandering around school. Again, he spotted Shirley. Shirley stood up, “Oh, hey Matt. I need to tell you about Joey…”
Matt automatically became furious, “You told him didn’t you?!”
“N-No, I didn’t! Santi already reversed time on his memory of my powers. Even if he did know, then he forgot about it already. We don’t even have to worry if others find out about us. As long as we reverse their memory about our powers as soon as possible, it’s alright. But, that’s not what I wanted to talk to you about.”
“Then what is it?”
“I… found a way to ‘dispel the powers’ that we have.”
“WHAT?! How? Who? When? What happened?!”
“R-Relax, Matt. I heard of it through phone call. Some guy called my cell phone and…”
Matt thought about it and then he asked, “Did Jon ask you? Maybe he’s dragging us into one of his pranks.”
“I’m sure it’s not him. The voice didn’t sound familiar at all. Oh- Hold on, I got a phone call.” Shirley picked it up and Matt became nervous. “Hello? Hm… yeah. Yeah…?” After a moment of silence, Shirley froze and she seemed frightened, “Huh?! No, no way! Stop it!”
“Shirley! What is it?!” Matt began to panic.
Shirley screamed, “Give him back!! What are you doing to him?! Hello? Hello?!” Shirley closed her cell phone, “What’s going on?!”
“Who was on the phone?!” Matt yelled.
Shirley answered, “It was the same strange voice again. This time, I heard Joey in the background calling for help and saying that the room smells bad and that it’s too dark. Then, I heard some beating sounds and then the voice hung up. Oh my gosh, Joey! Joey!! What’s happening to him?!”
Matt said softly, “Okay, let’s calm down. First, we have to think about where he is.”
“How? I wasn’t even told where he is.”
“You said Joey complained about the room smelling horrible while it’s dark. Where could that be?” Matt questioned.
Shirley pointed a finger, “Maybe, the kitchen behind the cafeteria? Usually, the heat coming from the food can give out a bad smell. Maybe-…”
Matt shook his head, “No, then he would complain about the heat.”
They thought more and Shirley slowly fell to the floor, “This is hopeless… Joey…” She began to cry.
Matt knelt down with her, “We’ll find him. Don’t worry!” They walked around the school, thinking about a place. Matt saw a janitor walking away from the large gym. “Hm? Where is he going?” He took a glimpse at the unimportant mop that the janitor was holding. Matt turned away, then he looked back again, “Wait a minute… Don’t tell me…!”
~~~
Matt and Shirley both followed the janitor into a dusty dark room near the football field. The janitor said in confusion, “Oh? I could have sworn I left the lights on. Hey kid, can you switch the light?” Matt pressed against the wall and he eventually found the light. As the lights went on, the three of them saw Joey injured with three small cuts on his face and a rope tying his hands to his back. The janitor panicked, “What the hell?! I’ll head for the health office immediately. Come, bring him over!” The janitor ran off and Shirley grabbed onto Joey.
Shirley was shaking. She said in a horrified tone, “Joey, hang in there! We’ll bring you to the health office!”
Matt stopped her, “No, stop!” Shirley took her hands off of Joey in surprise. Matt turned his head around the room, “That person is still here…” He began to search the room.
When Matt knelt down, he said to himself, “This black smear on my hand came from around the light switch. There’s no way that person could have gone away.” From behind, a shelf was falling over.
Shirley said quickly, “Oh no, Matt, look out!!” The shell fell on Matt’s back as fell to the ground.
He coughed and said in pain, “Ow! Argh…! What the heck was that?!”
A cold laughed appeared from behind a few barrels, “Ha ha ha! You’re a lot brighter than I thought. How did you figure out I was still here?”
Matt removed the shelf as he ran towards the person, “Jon!! It was you! The black smears were not on the doorknob, so I knew you’d be here!”
Jon rolled his eyes, “I could have done all this with the door open and ran.”
Matt smiled, “No, because then Joey wouldn’t have said it was dark. Aside from that, you gave Shirley all the phone calls, didn’t you?”
Shirley pointed at him, “So you know how to remove our powers?!”
“Of course it was. But honestly, I don’t know how. He he he! I wanted to test your ability. If you had asked where I was, I would play a little game. I needed Joey as a decoy, however. I made sure he was in pain so I used a little knife.” Jon said with a smirk of a smile.
Matt laughed, “Hah! Are you stupid? We can report you. We know YOU did it. And you’re here. That’s proof enough.”
Jon responded, “Are YOU stupid?” He showed his hands which had gloves covering them, “All the evidence is gone. Even if you three tell the administrators on me, they would find it strange and almost impossible to believe that I did such a thing. Even if they did believe it, what evidence do you guys have other than telling on me?”
Matt looked around, “Doesn’t the school have surveillance? The fences outside said there will be some cameras everywhere, just so you know.”
Shirley whispered, “Hey, I don’t think they still have surveillance. This school is almost a century year old. I don’t think they’ll take down the signs even if it’s useless.”
Jon interrupted her, “What are you whispering for? There ARE surveillance cameras. In fact, I just took one down already in this room.”
“Then they could see you destroying the screen…” Matt rolled his eyes.
“Wrong. The room was dark.” Jon began taking slow steps backwards.
Shirley stood in front of Joey, “Why Jon? Why are you doing this to us?! We’re trying to get rid of these powers as much as you do. We’ll all live in peace. We can forgive what you’ve done to us. Why don’t you just stop and we can work together-...”
“NONSENSE!! Why the hell would I do that? And who said I wanted to get rid of these powers? It’s entertaining for me to plan all of this for you guys. It gives me a bit more fun in high school. Just face it, kiddos. I’ll be here through all of your four years of high school. All you need to do is play the game.”
Matt stomped his foot, “This is no game!! Do you know how dangerous these powers can be?! Have you gone crazy?!”
Jon shook his head in shame, “Who said I wasn’t crazy? Crazy is my definition. It’s what makes me unique. Poor Yessenia… she had to live through many years of knowing little ‘ol me. BEHEHEHE! And now it’s your turn, kids.” Matt and Shirley were silent, not knowing the words to make a comeback. Jon tilted his head, “Hm? So what is it going to be? Are you going to tell on me?”
Jon was walking behind a barrel as Matt was noticing that he had the chance to catch Jon. Matt put his hand behind his back, “Oh, I don’t need to.” Matt swiftly moved his hand towards the barrels but Jon had the idea all planned out. Jon kicked the barrels so that they would fall over and roll towards Matt. Matt took a step back, “H-Hey! Stop right there!” Jon quickly ran towards the door.
Shirley rose her hands upward, “I got you!” Nothing happened, “Wha?!” She remembered that Jon could disable their powers, “Oh, right…”
Matt clenched his fists, “DAMN IT! He got away again!!”
Shirley turned to Joey, “What are we going to do?! She felt his cheeks, “These scars…”
Shirley began to untie Joey as Joey said, “It’s alright. They’ll heal in a few days.”
Shirley shook his arms, “Are you insane? Look at those bloody scars. We’ve got to treat you fast! Come on, get up.”
Joey stood up and shook Shirley away from him, “No, I don’t want to go! You know I don’t like dealing with medical people. They would go crazy on you.”
Shirley gave a soft smile as Matt noticed. Shirley sighed, “Oh fine. Don’t come back to me if you’re dying. I’ll be the last person you will depend on, you hear?!” She turned around as she gave a soft giggle, relieved that Joey is perfectly fine aside from his cheek scars. She said quietly, “Hehe. Thank goodness…”
Joey began to laugh to himself about the situation as he said, “By the way… what the hell were you doing when Jon was leaving the room?”
Shirley shriveled up in embarrassment since in Joey’s point of view, Shirley’s failing use of powers looked ridiculous to him. Shirley turned red, “I-It was nothing! Don’t worry about it.”
Matt looked around the outside, eager to find Jon, “Geez… that guy. He’s playing with us a bit too far now.” He then thought about Shirley and Joey, “(They’re… like two good best friends. People say the opposite genders can’t be best friends because they always end up liking each other. But Shirley and Joey don’t. They’re just very good friends to each other. It’s like… me and Jen. No wonder Joey was so nice to me earlier. He just wanted to show that he was the same as me when dealing with Jen and Shirley…)”
~~~
---- Next chapter preview:Matt: On the next chapter-
ShirleyC: MOVE OVER!!
Matt: Bleh! What's up with you?
ShirleyC: This is MY chapter. Hehehe. Joey!~
Matt: Wha?
Joey: Yeah, Shirley?
Shirley: Teehee.
Matt: Fine, I'll stay out of it, geez. Next chapter, The Suspicious Piece of Ice Patch!
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