This choice: Get Caleb in on this too • Go Back...Chapter #14Suspiciously Trustworthy by: rugal b.   "Yeah, sure. Okay. I'll tell you." you say to him after a moment, "And I'll tell Caleb too.""
"After you tell Cal--what?" Carson asks and you can already note the disapproval in his voice. "I told you that you can't tell anyone about this, I even singled out Johansson, and you want to blab to him."
"And you have a problem with this?" you challenge him.
"You're goddamn right I have a problem with this, Prescott!" he exclaims holding your gaze, "James and I know about this place. There's probably a couple more, a lot of downtrodden outcast types like us at this school you know, but we don't really cross over or tell one another who has the room. Much less chance of it getting out and back to those assholes if everyone thinks they're the only ones that know."
"So then why can't--"
"Because Johansson could slip up. And Tilley would probably throw it out to Javits to try and save himself." Carson says before you can even finish your thought.
You cross your arms, "So then why tell me?" you ask.
"I'm starting to wonder that myself." he replies eyeing you, "Maybe it's because I wanted to show you that if there's anything funny going on it's normal funny business and not... fuck, I don't know."
"We really should bring Caleb in." you say, this time in a more insistent manner. "He's smarter than me, he'd be a huge help."
"Will I told you...!" Carson's hands ball up and you can see the irritation on his face. You don't waver however and you can see him ready to mouth a curse word. Instead he just makes a kicking motion and turns around shaking his head. "You're really not going to quit until I bring him in, are you?" he sighs, "Fine. He's in. But I swear to god if anything gets out I'll do like I said earlier with Black, whoever he is, and then I'll kick your ass for good measure."
* * * * *
You call up Caleb and thankfully he hasn't left school yet telling you that he had some things he needed to take care of. You tell him that you want to get together with him and Carson and after a bit of cajoling he agrees and the three of you head to the Burger Palace over on Walker St. to discuss things. You try to be as concise as possible while explaining about the book, the tennis court, the conversation in the bathroom, Javits and Cindy, and what you and Carson overheard. However you wind up doubling back and elaborating a few times worried that you're not being clear. Caleb is silent for moment before speaking.
"So okay, you're telling me that you think someone took that book and using magic is going around and replacing people at the school like Black and Javits?" he asks and then he chuckles a bit, "I mean Javits actually growing a spine around Cindy is weird but really?"
"I fucking told Prescott. And now this guy's going to go blabbing about to them to try and get in good." Carson says slouching and folding his arms.
"Look Caleb, Carson didn't believe me at first either but we know what we heard." You say pleadingly, "Weird shit is going down at the school. You have to believe us."
Caleb leans back and places his hand to his chin, "Look I'm not dismissing it out of hand, maybe because I've played my share of D&D so real magic would be kinda cool you know, but you have to know how crazy it sounds to anybody." He then smirks a bit, "Besides if they're replacing assholes like the basketball players they can't be all bad can they?"
"They might've replaced Kim though." you say, "Dane too. What've they every done to anyone?"
"Besides Kim giving me some nice dreams, nothing I guess." Caleb replies and takes a sip of his drink. "Look, Ioegger you don't have to worry about me blabbing since I'm not an idiot like Tilley. And maybe I don't completely believe you guys right now but I'll entertain the idea. Next time you go up there bring me if you want to convince me so much."
Carson grumbles but eventually relents and at Caleb's insistence the two of them shake hands. The three of you then quickly finish up your meals and leave. You drop Carson off at his place and then suddenly you're struck by an idea. "Hey, I don't know if it'll completely convince you but maybe it could help." you say as you drive back to your neighborhood.
"What's this now?" he asks, "Did I catch you mid thought or something?"
You shake your head, "No, I just remembered that I took some notes before I gave the book to Walberg to put in the capsule. I transcribed some of the latin and translated what I could." you tell him, "I should still have them back at my place."
"And what's that going to do?" Caleb asks folding his arms, "So we'll have some latin words, so what? We'll feel smarter when one of us starts up a game of Fallout or something?"
"No, look. I have these notes okay? So we grab them and look them over and then, I don't know, maybe we do some Googling and see if it can give us a little more information on that book." You explain to him.
"You didn't do that already?" he asks.
You sigh, "I didn't think of it at the time. Actually I probably should've mentioned it to Carson too." you whine, "Ugh, whatever. I'll just bring them to school tomorrow and give them to him or we can look over them then or something."
You drive back to your place and head inside. However after getting inside you're overcome by the sudden need to take a shit. Now you remember why you try to avoid eating from that place; people don't call it Burger Dump for no reason. You tell Caleb to head up to your room while excusing yourself into the bathroom. While occupied you have a bit of time to reflect on, and think about, what's happened. Caleb doesn't completely believe you and it took a chance case of eavesdropping before Carson believed something was up. You can hardly believe it yourself and if one of them had came and told you the same things you'd probably think they were crazy as well.
Still, though, it's nice to know that you've got at least one ally in Carson and seemingly another in Caleb. Maybe you'll be able to figure out exactly what these people want and who they are... maybe you can stop them. At the very least having more people to watch each other's backs is definitely a good thing and who knows maybe Carson would be open to bringing in James and Jenny and maybe Yumi too once things blow over for her.
After finishing up you head into your room. "Sorry I took so long." you say as you close the door.
Caleb just shrugs as you step over to your desk to grab the notes. However when you go to actually get them you notice they're not there. That's strange, you were sure you put them right there with all of your other school notes and... You dig around the school notes but nothing. You check under and behind the desk but can't find a trace of them.
"You didn't see anything written in latin did you?" you ask Caleb. You receive a negative response and grumble as you go to checking every corner of the room. However the search proves fruitless. "Fuck, mom probably came in here to clean and thought they were trash. Just fucking great." you groan.
"Sorry." Caleb says, "But I mean I'll still help you guys out or whatever so don't worry."
With that you say you'll see each other at school tomorrow and after he leaves you throw yourself onto your bed in frustration.
* * * * *
The next morning, as you're getting ready to head out, you ask your mom if she threw anything away while cleaning yesterday.
"Well I'm sure I did Will, why?" she asks.
"You didn't toss some papers out that were in my room did you?" you ask.
Your mother shakes her head. "No, actually I never even got around to cleaning upstairs. Why, did you lose something dear?"
You get a probably very visible look of confusion on your face but shake your head. "Just having trouble finding something, that's all. I'll check when I get home." you tell her.
As you drive to school you can't help but be confused by what's happened. You had the notes right there on your desk, you're sure of it. Did you misplace them somewhere? No that can't be it as you laid them right there and you don't remember ever touching them. And even if you did you checked every inch of that room three times over and found nothing. Maybe Robert was in your room and grabbed them? No, no that makes no sense at all. What use would he have for notes about a magic book? Hell he couldn't read a lick of latin; it'd probably think "carpe diem" was a type of fish or something.
It bothers you as you head to class when you're suddenly greeted by Caleb as the two of you approach Walberg's.
"Will what's up?" he asks as he walks up next to you. "You ever find those notes?"
"No I..." you stop dead in your tracks.
No way. It's something you don't want to consider at all but... fuck it's the only thing that makes sense to you. Caleb. It was Caleb. Caleb took the notes and lied to you. He knew your mom and how you always complain about her throwing things out without checking when she cleans so he'd know you'd jump to that conclusion and then... shit! Is Caleb part of that little club you and Carson overheard? Maybe they know you're onto them, you saw them at the tennis courts after all, and as your buddy he's spying on you. Or maybe he has to undergo some kind of test to join. Or...
"Uh, Will? Hello? You there?"
Caleb's voice is more like an echo to you. Did Caleb take the notes? Is he with them? Your head's spinning, your best friend... You should confront him but... no. You're probably being paranoid. Better to just ignore it and let things play out. Sit back and observe, right?  indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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