Chapter 7: Uneasiness

Jack does his thing as usual, everyone else seems off however.

             It’s been a couple of days since the first meeting. Emily still does her daily routine and I got with her to school with Lilly. They’re obviously keeping what they do a secret from me, which is fine, I might do this routine the entire time without ever jumping in. Emily however keeps checking up on me, she looks at my direction once in a while with a worried expression on her face. I catch her a few times but quickly jolts away from me, looks like I did something again. Just what could it be this time?

They have their meeting everyday after school to either talk, train, or both. Emily trains when ether she can, sweating off many hours of work and with all of them at her side, she quickly improves her ability and skill, they even have a costume ready for her. They made the costume color to match their eye color. To me, it doesn’t stand out much, a simple silver jumpsuit with purple stripes around the suit, and a mask that covers her face to ‘hide their identity’ its plainly obvious who they are when they wear it.

          

           At the student council meeting, all the students gathered to plan their next event. Looking at all the members of the Hero Squadron; Emily, Lilly, Ashley, Nicole, and Rosco, all sitting in their seats, everything should be normal. I saw Ashely taking a glance at me as well. Nicole and Rosco both also looked in my direction, so is Lilly and Emily. I looked down at my pretend work, trying to mind my own business, something is off. All the members are now noticing me weirdly, like they all want a piece of me. The school bell ranged, I quickly put way everything and rushed to the door.

“Jack, can you come here for a second?” Frozen on my pace I was overwhelmed with nervousness, calming myself down, I put on my game face and turned around to see Rosco staring directly at me, gathering up all my courage, I stand near Rosco and answered, “Yes President?” He stared me down for a few seconds until he asked, “Are you doing anything after school?” I caught a glance of everyone still being in the room, they look like they’re ready for action, looking back at the leader of the squadron I said, “Yes, I got to go home and prepare dinner for my family.” Rosco raises an eyebrow, “Can’t your parents cook tonight,” He’s getting aggressive now, I must keep my cool. “My parents can’t cook at all, they last time they did, they burned the house down, I had to learn so they don’t do it again.” Rosco continues to stare, the room got an enormous pressure, this could be it. Rosco sighs and told me, “Alright you can go home, see you tomorrow.” The pressure was suddenly gone, my heart was lifted and a wave of relief hit me. “Alright, see you tomorrow then.”

           

              “Jack wait for us” I saw Emily and Lilly both bolting out of the room to join me. Something is going on and I’m in the middle of it. On the walk back home, both girls were having their usual conversation, I almost never joined in what they are talking about, we have been doing this for a while now, those two talking the entire time while I’ll listen, it’s weird for them to talk to me, so we are all used to this by now. “Hey Jack, do you mind if we join you for dinner tonight?” That came out of nowhere. Emily and Lilly both wait for an answer “Why do you want to eat at my place?”  Emily looks down, “I couldn’t help but overhearing how you cook for your family, I wanted to see what your cooking taste like.” Lilly shakes her head, agreeing with her.

           

         “I’m sorry I won’t have enough for all of you, we barely get by with the four of us as it is.” I have to keep these guys away from my ‘private life’, it’s easy to fake and keep people from knowing, the moment they find out, my entire mission is in jeopardy. Both of them are disappointed in my response. Lilly said, “Why are you so mean?”  The conversation and mood were dropped by the time we reach to Emily’s house.

I said my goodbyes to Emily and headed for a dark alleyway to hide and prepare for tonight. When I got here, I had a feeling, people were watching me, I can’t do anything here. I continued out to main square and blend myself in with the crowd. I need to lose whoever is after me, it’s clear by now that I got myself into something again. I pulled out my phone and went into my MC Locator app, the map displays on my screen and a dot appeared, Emily is near me, following me. I put away my phone and put on my hood. I have to escape her, at any cost.

I went inside a nearby mall and blended in. I went around the mall several times, trying to make sure I don’t cause a panic, someone hid behind a corner in the corner of me eye, they were wearing a silver jumpsuit. I turned to a fashion store, and tried to find the nearest door. I bumped into someone hitting the floor hard, geez that hurt. “I’m sorry I should watch where I go.” I was getting back up and dusting myself off. “Watch where you’re going Jack.” Immediate shocked took over me to see Ashley was the one I knocked over. Keeping my facade in my face, I turn towards Ashley. “Just be careful where you’re going next time Jack.” Her eyes glowed and she looked at me directly in the eye, Ashley walks to my side giving a victorious smile and told me, “Can you take me home and cook me dinner Jack?”