Episode 25: Jen’s Everlasting Secret – Part 1
“This is Matt here. Let’s see, where to begin… Oh right! I started my Freshman year without knowing much. I didn’t care much about my appearance nor how others felt about me. After all, I just went through only middle school. I entered this high school and first saw Jen, my childhood friend, waiting for me near the large gym. We talked to each other, just each other. We were like best friends. We shared the same feelings as I hadn’t shared to with others, not even Stan or Kalpesh. However, ever since I suddenly had these fire powers, I been keeping this secret from Jen. She’s been trying to figure out what I really am hiding all these weeks that it made us more difficult to trust each other. Still, there is just something… something that even she is hiding from me.” Matt dropped his pencil, folded the self-written letter and hid it in a hole hidden in his folder where the ripped crease opened. Matt smiled at the folder as he placed it in his backpack.
~~~
“Yes.” Jen said while on the phone in her house. She nodded again, “Yes, I see.” She hung up and sighed to herself. “In five days, huh?”
Lisa was waiting in the living room, “Who is she talking to?”
Jen folded a sheet of paper and hid it under her books as she ran out to tell Lisa, “My mom’s gonna be home in a bit. She just went out to get some ingredients for dinner.”
“Oh? I see.” She watched as Jen headed for the showers. Jen had a frown on while walking. Lisa was concerned, so she quickly arrived in Jen’s room when Jen went into the bathroom to bathe. Lisa looked around Jen’s room, “She sure does love running yet her room is so girly. Hm…” She noticed a piece of paper sticking out of a stack of books. She pulled out the paper and she looked around, “Is this a schedule? She should really leave this in her backpack.” She pointed at the list, “Oh?” She noticed a highlighted portion, “Geometry P? I wonder why it is highlighted… oh well. It’s bad to barge into her stuff like this. I should put it back.” She kindly stepped out of Jen’s room.
~~~
Matt sat down feeling exhausted from a warm-up lap. He sat down alone, however. Shirley Cao noticed that he was sitting by himself so she came over to him to give comfort, “Hello!”
Matt sat up properly and said, “Huh? Uh, hey.”
“What is it now?” She gave him a nice smile.
“I don’t know… For two weeks now, Jen’s been frowning at sometimes I catch those moments. Is she just a moody person?”
“How should I know?” Shirley said without trying to be mean for once.
“You know her a lot, don’t you? You two are like best buds.”
“What? That’s crazy, Matt. I was never so close to Jen.” She looked up into the sky, “The truth is, it may seem like we are best buds, but I reserved that spot for you.”
“What do you mean?” Matt wondered.
Shirley giggled, “Well, I know you’ve been her best childhood friend all these years. I’m not just going to come into her life after a few weeks and start stealing her away from you. I won’t do that. I limit myself to talking to her.” She thought for awhile as she went on, “So truthfully, I only talk to her during lunch and it’s usually the times you’re there. Coincidentally, it looks like we’re best buds. We don’t know each other at all. Hehe.”
“Is that so? You reserved that spot so that I can stay her best friend?”
“Of course, Matt! Does it look like I’m a friend-stealer or what?”
Matt looked down at her short-shorts. Shirley placed her hands over her legs and blushed. Matt said, “You even have P.E. short-shorts.”
Shirley looked away, still blushing, “Tch, just because a girl wears short-shorts doesn’t mean they’re a bad girl. Jen wears short-shorts doesn’t she? Is she a bad girl?”
Matt thought about her incoming pervertedness growing, thanks to Danny. He chuckled then he became serious again, “Well, when Jen knows when to be serious. She’s a really sincere and kind person when you express your feelings to her. She’s a bit sensitive even if she doesn’t show it.”
“Doesn’t show it, you say? Speaking of which, she’s been frowning during lunch. What the heck is that about?”
“I’m not sure. We’ll see.” Matt claimed.
~~~
During lunch, Jen sat down with her tray of food. She gave a quick smile as she bit into her burger. Matt whispered to Shirley, “Same food everyday. I’d get tired of eating it by now.”
Shirley joked, “You’re already tired of that macaroni and cheese and you haven’t eaten it in a week.”
“Hey, don’t push it.” Matt started to chuckle. Matt noticed Jen and her sad face again. He tried to think of what to say as he said out loud, “AH, YESSENIA THERE YOU ARE.”
Yessenia jumped from surprise as she yelled at him, “What the hell is your problem, Matt? I can hear you.”
Matt scooted his chair away, “Eugh, wrong person to mess with… Actually, how was your day?”
Yessenia raised her right eyebrow, “Er, it’s been good.”
Matt ignored her statement, “Oh it’d been crap hm? Tell me about your story. Tell me EVERYTHING about why it’s crap. Come on, I’ll understand completely.”
Yessenia gave Matt a carton of milk, “Then here, open this for me.” She gave him a ketchup bag, “Open this too. I can’t do it myself.~”
Matt thought in his mind, “(Jerk… don’t go overboard.)”
Jen suddenly spoke, “Hey…”
Matt quickly paid attention to her, “(Hey she actually talked.) Um, what is it?”
Jen asked, “How would you feel… if your family member died?”
Matt gasped, “(What?! Someone in her family died?! No wonder her parents didn’t show up the last time I was there when Danny tried to act like a burglar!) I-I’d feel very, very sad!”
Jen continued, “How about if a friend died?”
Matt stopped, “(Er… what the heck. A friend died too, then?) I’d still be sad. They’re the only kind of people that would understand me.”
Jen went on, “How about if a friend moved away, far away?”
Matt said slowly, “I… don’t know…”
Jen said again, “How about not far away?”
Danny suddenly appeared next to Matt, screaming, “I got it!!” Matt and Shirley got startled. Danny said, “Jen is moving away, but is still going to communicate with you, so it’s not considered far. But, she’s going to die as your friend, and die as her family’s family member.”
Shirley slapped Danny, “Oh you shut up!”
Jen focused on Danny, yelling angrily, “I’m serious, Danny!!”
It was the first time Matt saw her so frustrated before. “Jen, are you okay?”
Jen suddenly stopped getting angry once she turned to Matt, “Huh? Oh, yes of course. I just had to ask. You didn’t answer my last question.”
Matt thought about it as he said, “Moving somewhere not far away? If I can still talk to them through something, then I’ll be glad. But if they’re the kind of friend I can depend on most, then it would be hard to let go.”
Yessenia nodded, “That’s right. People start to have lower expectations if they are spoiled.”
Matt clenched his teeth, “What did you say?”
Yessenia said in a witty tone, “Of course, if you knew someone who died, you’d miss them and it wouldn’t matter if someone moved away. You’d get used to people going away from your life. If you never experienced seeing someone’s death and then you know someone who moved away, you’d be as sad as the person who saw someone die. That’s how things go.”
Matt mentioned his past, “Oh! That’s right. Four years ago when I was in fifth grade, I cried so much when my sister was just moving away. I couldn’t stop crying. I missed her a lot.”
Jen looked at Matt with a worried expression, “You did?”
“Yup. It’d be sad if I never see her again.”
~~~
After sixth period, Matt walked Jen home, “You seemed sad today. I knew it was the right day to walk you home. I got until 3:20 for my bus stop anyway.”
Jen blushed, “Wha? Why are you walking me home today?”
“Like I said, you seemed pretty sad today. I’m not expecting you to tell me, so the least I could do is help you without having to figure out.” At Jen’s front door, Matt waved, “Well, I hope you feel better with what you have to go through. I’ll be walking to my bus stop now. See ya!”
Matt turned around to start walking but Jen’s voice was heard. “Wait.”
Matt turned again, “Eh?”
Jen said slowly, “You really are hiding something, aren’t you?”
Matt opened his eyes wide in surprise, “Wh-What are you talking about? Heh heh, there’s nothing, really.”
Jen looked away, “So you really are lying to me. Never mind, Matt.” She started opening her front door.
Matt stopped her, “W-Wait, what are you saying? I’m… really not hiding anything.” Jen closed the door and Matt clenched his fists, thinking, “Crap! Does she know about my fire powers?! Ergh, no, no, no!”
~~~
On the next day, Matt saw her sitting alone during P.E. He wanted to talk to her but she seemed to be mad at him. Matt decided to sit next to her. He said, “Hey Jen, to tell you the truth… I am hiding something. And I’ll tell you. Is that okay?”
Jen was surprised. She suddenly spoke to him, “Really?! What is it?”
Matt closed his eyes for a moment to think this through. He decided, “Okay. I’ll show you. Since no one else is around us, I’ll show you what I can do.” He opened his palm and focused. However, nothing showed up.
Jen tilted her head, “What am I supposed to see?”
Matt was shaking his right hand, “Come on, work, work!”
Jen began to feel sad again, “You’re joking with me, aren’t you?”
Matt scratched his head, “B-But, Jen!”
Jen stood up, “I guess it really is okay for me to do this.”
Matt was confused, “What do you mean ‘this’?”
Jen got angry, “Never mind. Just forget it.”
When Jen walked away, Matt tried to smack his own hands against the wall, “It’s not working! Argh, what the heck!”
Jon appeared in front of him, “That’s because I disabled you.” He let go of his arms, “Now you’re able to use it. Heh.”
Matt got angry, “Why did you do that?! Now Jen’s never going to trust me ever again!”
Jon yelled at him, “Are you stupid?! If it weren’t for me, you would have exposed yourself. You cannot trust anyone.”
Matt stood up, “And why are YOU telling me that? Jen is very trustful anyway.”
“You’d be the first person to expose our powers and we’ll all end up being notorious towards society.”
Matt walked away from him, “I don’t even know why I’m talking to you.”
“What are you going to do, kill me? That’s not what a good guy would do, right?” He gave an evil smirk.
Matt shook his head, “I’ll try to disable your powers. There’s got to be a way. If we gained these powers, then we can reverse it and lose our powers.”
Jon laughed, “Bah hah hah, that’s easy for you to say! Just face it, kid, you’re worthless with fire powers. What good use can you do with it?”
Matt turned around and said to Jon, “I don’t need these powers to prove I’m a good person!”
Jon remembered when Matt decided not to finish Jon in Arkon’s Magic. He stopped talking, still watching Matt walking away. “That kid…”
~~~
It was lunch time, raining as well. Matt started to cough, “Darn it, I hate this feeling. It’s happening again.”
Shirley and Yessenia brought him into the hallway. Shirley complained, “Argh, seriously Matt. If only you could handle the cold rain. Why can’t you just protect yourself with a really hot coat or something?”
Matt replied, “The rain can still wash the heat away. The heat I give to my coat is like flames and if the water touches it, the flames worsen and so do I. I guess it’s some weird rule to my fire powers.”
Yessenia added, “As for my wind powers, I’m weak against fire but it’s not as bad if it were to be a hot day.”
“Then that must mean I’m weak against wind?” Shirley questioned.
Yessenia nodded, “Maybe. Ice is a bit difficult to figure out.” She looked out the window, “Hey what’s Jen doing? She just went into the guidance office.”
Matt tried to get up but he fell down on his knees again, “Ow… argh, it hurts.” He tried to get up once more, “I need to talk to her. I don’t want her to hate me for lying again…!” He tried to run.
Shirley was behind him, “W-Wait, Matt! Stop!”
Matt tried to reach for the guidance office’s door knob, “Jen…!” He fell to the floor again, “Argh, this is useless. Stupid… rain!” All the other students nearby were watching.
Yessenia whispered, “Snap out of it. You can talk to her another time!”
Matt said slowly, “The guidance office… can only mean one thing though…!”
Shirley was confused, “And what is that?”
Matt saw a wet paper in front of him, “She is thinking about… leaving…!” He clenched onto the paper as he decided to open it. “Why is Geometry highlighted?”
Shirley said, “She did plan to move up.”
Matt froze, “Then that means…!”
~~~
---- Next chapter preview:Matt: On the next chapter, we will conclude Jen's secret that she will finally open up to him with. This may be last Columbia reunion for Columbian students before they all split on their own little journey through high school! Next chapter, Jen's Everlasting Secret - Part 2!
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