The New Boy
My name is Jake.
That’s my first name, obviously.
I can’t tell you my last name. it would be too dangerous. The controllers are everywhere.
everywhere. and if they knew my full name, they could find me, and my friends, and then… well…
Let’s just say I don’t want them to find me.
What they do to people who resist is too horrible to think about.
I wont even tell you where I live. You just have to trust me that it’s a real place, a real town. It might even be your town.
I’m writing all of this down so that more people will learn the truth. Maybe then, somehow the human race can survive until the Andalites can return to rescue us as they promised they would.
Maybe.
My life used to be pretty normal. Normal that is, until one Friday afternoon, starting at school.
I, at one point, wanted to think that meeting him was the reason everything started. That HE started the nightmare.
But he didn’t.
He was just as much a victim as any of us. if not more…
When I was called down to the office, I didn’t know what for. Maybe my dad was picking me up? Or my mom? I was planning to go to the mall with my best friend Marco later, so I hoped not.
I traveled through the whole school, having gone from my English class to the Assistant principal’s office, and opened the door.
“Hi, Mr. Chapman. What do you need?” I asked, not looking down.
{Jake was a young man with dark, brunette hair, wavy and completely untamed, but it looked pretty good on him. he was tall, quite so, and well built for his age, and had broad shoulders, looking two years older than most assumed.}
“Down here” a voice said. It sounded young, with a heavy accent and innocence, yet wisdom to it. Looking down, I was shocked.
A boy stood below me, much smaller than my own self, which stood at around 5’9”. The boy had hair longer than his own body, being held in his hoodie, and still spilling out a bit. The hair in color was a raven black, contrasting with the boy’s healthily pale skin.
But the eyes are what took me away.
A startling green, sparkling innocently and annoyed, was looking right into my own chocolate brown ones. For a moment, I couldn’t look away.
“Ah, Jake, lovely to join us. see, Harry here,” Mr. Chapman pointed to the ravenette, causing me to break my trance, “Is a new transfer at the school, and I was wondering, as kind and helpful as you are, that you would show him around?” asked Mr. Chapman.
Oh, that’s what he wanted me for.
“After all, Harry will be here in all of your classes. It would simply benefit both of you.” Said Chapman. I smiled. “Sure, Mr. Chapman! Hiya, Harry. I’m Jake.”
Harry stuck out a pale, small hand, shaking my considerably tanner, larger hand in a surprisingly strong grip.
“Harry. It is lovely to meet your acquaintance.” Said Harry, in a soft, yet strong voice. I could feel his own small hand in mine, heard his heavy, yet soft British accent. I felt my face heat up ever so slightly.
Hands clapped, startling not only me, but Harry, who flinched rather violently. I looked at him concerned, before turning to Chapman.
“Okay, now that introductions have been made, I’ll give you your paper, Harry. Which has your locker number, and classrooms. Jake, you will be leading him today and Monday, just to give him an idea of where the classrooms are. Okay?” asked Chapman. Me and harry both responded with a “yes sir.”
Walking out of the office, I turned to him. “So, Harry… how old are you?” I asked. Harry looked at me, side eyeing me as if I was a dunce.
“Yeah… that was a dumb question. Sorry! Just making small talk. So, where are you from?” I tried again. Harry gave the smallest of smiles, before responding.
“Surrey, about 30 minutes from London. You probably haven’t heard about it.” He responded.
I nodded. “You’re right, I haven’t. but I’ve heard of London. What’s it like there?” I asked. Harry seemed to think for a moment before speaking again.
“Wet. Very wet.”
Together, we reached my next class, French. I groaned, hating this class AND the teacher in it. “Fair warning, Harry, the teach will likely give us a hard time.” I whispered. Harry nodded.
Opening the door, we walked inside.
“Ah, Jake. Nice you can finally join us, eh?” the teacher, Mrs. Bonnet asked snarkily. I held back a retort. “Sorry, Mrs. Bonnet.” I started. “I was showing the new student around. He’s in our class.” I said, and moved so the teacher could see Harry.
“H-hi… I’m Harry.” He spoke.
“Ah, ze newest runt. Weell, zen, Jake you shall be moving to ze window seat in ze second row, and ‘arry,” Mrs. Bonnet seemed to spit his name out, “Weell be moving to your old seat. Get on zen, get a move on!”
Mrs. Bonnet said. I bit back a groan, knowing I was now in the seat with a draft, but didn’t mind now. Besides, it hardly affected me. Harry sat in the seat I used to occupy, in the first row, right in front of me.
“Now, ‘arry, introduce yourself!” said Mrs. Bonnet. I was waiting for the ball to drop, sure she would-
“In full French.”
There it was.
Harry sighed, standing up, and I wondered what he was going to do when he opened his mouth.
“Bonjour, je m'appelle Harry Potter-Black. c'est agréable de faire votre connaissance, et j'espère que nous pourrons être de bons amis.(Hello, my name is Harry Potter-Black. It is lovely to meet your acquaintance, and I hope we can be good friends)” Harry said, in fluent French. I understood it, thankfully, but half the class seemed lost. The teacher was surprised, probably not expecting something like that. Even the accent was on point. Harry then turned to her.
“Si vous espérez me ridiculiser, vous vous trompez gravement et vous ne devriez pas enseigner aux enfants. je ne serai pas ridiculisé par mes propres professeurs. (IF you hope to make a fool of me, you are severely mistaken and should not be teaching children. I will not be ridiculed by my own professors.)” Harry said, coldly this time, and half the class gasped. Im pretty sure I heard an ‘oh shit’ from Marco, who sat 3 rows away to the left.
Harry sat down now, and smiled sweetly, as if he hadn’t called out a teacher. Mrs. Bonnet, in question, looked at the boy, before starting her lesson.
I whispered towards him. “Wow, you speak French too?” I asked. He turned to me to whisper back.
“I learned fluent French, German, Spanish, Scottish, Greek, and Latin before I turned ten. It helps when you can surprise people with a different language.” He whispered back. Something about the accent he had paired with his whisper sent a shiver down my back, and we both faced the front, listening in on the lesson.
___
I was at the mall with Marco, my best friend.
We were playing video games and hanging out at the comic bookstore, as usual. Marco and I had run out of quarters for the games, right when he was ahead by a lot of points.
Mostly we’re equally good at games. I have saga at home, so I get lots of practice time in, but Marco has some amazing ability to analyze games, and figure out all the little tricks. So sometimes he beats me.
Or maybe I just wasn’t concentrating very well. I had kind of a bad day. Sure, meeting the new kid was nice, but… I tried out for the basketball team, and i… didn’t make the cut.
It was like no big deal really.
Except that Tom, he’s my big brother, he was this total legend on the JH basketball team, so everyone expected me to make the team easy. But I didn’t. Now, he’s the main scorer of the High School team, and I didn’t make ANY team.
Like I said. no big thing. But it was on my mind, just the same. Lately, Tom and I hadn’t been hanging out as much. Not like we used to, so I figured, if I got his old position on the team…
Well, anyway, we were out of money and getting ready to head home when we ran into Tobias.
And the black-haired boy, Harry, from earlier. I didn’t know he and Harry knew each other. Small world, I guess.
“Hey guys!” Tobias had said, catching our attention. Tobias was, I mean, I guess he still IS kind of a strange kid. He was somewhat at school, and he isn’t the toughest kid around, so he got picked on a lot. I actually met Tobias with his head in a toilet.
There were the two big guys holding him down while they flushed, sending his straggly blonde hair swirling in the bowl. I told the creeps to step off, and ever since then, Tobias figured I was his friend.
“what’s up?” Tobias asked, catching up with us. I shrugged. “not much, we’re heading home.”
Marco sighed. “Out of quarters.” He commented. “Certain people keep forgetting that the sleaze troll shows up right after you cross the nether fjord, so some people keep losing the game, and losing our quarter.” Marco said, jabbing his thumb at me so Tobias and Harry knew who he meant by ‘certain people.’
“So, like maybe me and Harry can walk home with you guys. Oh, right! Jake, Marco, meet my younger cousin, Harry!” said Tobias, pulling Harry toward him. I smiled, remembering the boy.
“Oh! You’re that kid who backtalked Mrs. Bonnet, aren’t you! That was awesome man!” Marco said, and held his fist out to fist bump. Harry, after flinching slightly, awkwardly did so.
Huh.
“You backtalked Bonnet, Harry? On your first day? Takes guts, twerp.” Tobias said, giving harry a noogie, much like Tom does with me.
Did with me.
Harry swatted his hand away, and moved to take the ponytail out of his hair. me and Marco watched as he did, and let his hair fully fall, hitting the ground around him.
Damn, his hair really was long.
“So, like, maybe we can walk with you? You’re on our way anyways.” asked Tobias. I shrugged. “Why not?”
After I said that, Tobias smiled. “Great! Harry did you hear that?” asked Tobias, looking at his cousin- that was still surprising, by the way.
“Yeah, I heard. Let me just… all done!” Harry said, tying off his hair again. It now, in a braid, just barely below his knees, like earlier. Tobias grabbed the hair, and rolled it up, putting it in his hood again like it was this morning.
We started heading for the exit when I spotted Rachel and Cassie.
Rachel is kind of pretty, I guess- I mean- okay, she’s very pretty. Although, since she is my cousin, I don’t think of her that way. She has mid-back length blonde hair and blue eyes and that clean, very wholesome look. She’s one of the people who knows exactly what to wear, and ends up looking like a part of the fashion magazines that girls buy. She’s also really graceful, because she takes gymnastics, even though she says she’s too tall to ever be really good at it.
Cassie is sort of the opposite. For one thing, she usually wears jeans and a plaid shirt, or something else real casual. She’s black, and wears her hair very short most of the time. She had it longer for a while, but then went back to short, which I like.
Cassie is quieter than Rachel. More peaceful. Like she always understands everything on some different, more mystical level.
I guess, if you spoke to me a few months ago, you could say I kind of… like cassie. That was, until I did some… research. I realized, over the course of my life, it wasn’t Girls I liked… but guys. I had only thought I was attracted to cassie because of her tomboy-ish nature, but… recently…
I hadn’t told the group yet. Feared what would happen if I did. Even Tom didn’t know, and I told him EVERYTHING.
“you guys going home?” I asked Rachel. “you shouldn’t go through the construction site by yourselves. I mean, being girls and all.”
That was a mistake. I should never have suggested to Rachel that she was weak, or helpless. Rachel may look like a little miss teen model or whatever, but she thinks she’s Storm from the X-men.
“are you going to come and protect us, you big strong man?” she mocked. “You think we’re helpless just because-“
“I’d appreciate it if they did walk with us” cassie interrupted. “I know you’re not afraid of anything, rach, but I guess I am.”
Rachel couldn’t say much about that. That’s the way cassie is. She always has the right words to stop an argument without any harsh feelings.
“Huh who’s the twerp?” Rachel asked, just now noticing Harry. Tobias smiled. “Oh- this Is Harry, my cousin! He’s from England, but came to stay with me and Uncle Noah!” Tobias said. I knew, from his rambles, that he had a large family. I’d even heard about Harry, once or twice, but I never thought this was the same kid.
Tobias had a large family, although some lived in Europe. His Aunt Lily and Uncle James lived there, his Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon- I hadn’t heard many positive things about them- lived there too. His Uncle Nick, who he stayed with currently, lived nearby, and his Aunt Shelby lived across the country, in New York.
His parents, however, he never mentioned.
“Aww, he’s so cute? How old is he? Eleven? 10?” asked Cassie, looking down at Harry. It wasn’t often she looked down at people, only being 5’3, but I still winced.
“I’m 13.” Harry muttered, much quieter than he was this morning. I guess he didn’t really like crowds.
“Oh! Sorry, I didn’t mean to insult you!” Cassie stammered. Harry laughed quietly. “It’s okay.”
So, there we were, the 5-6 now, of us Cassie, Rachel, Marco, Tobias, Me, and now our newest groupie, Harry.
6 normal mall rats heading home.
Sometimes I think about that one last moment when we were still just normal kids. It’s like it was a million years ago. Like some totally different group of kids. You know what I was afraid of right then? I was afraid of admitting to my brother I hadn’t made the basketball team. That was as scary as life got back then.
To get home from the mall, we could either go a long way around, which is safer, or we could cut through the abandoned construction sight and hope there weren’t any ax murderers hanging around there. My mom and dad have sworn to ground me until I’m twenty if they ever got word of me having cut through the site.
So anyway, we cross the road and headed into the abandoned site. It was a big area, surrounded on two sides by trees, with the highway separating it from the mall. There is a broad, open field between the site and the nearest houses. A very isolated place. Originally, it was supposed to be a new shopping center, but now it’s just all these half-finished buildings looking like a ghost town. There were huge piles of rusted steel beams, pyramids of giant concrete pipes, little mounds of dirt, deep pits that had filled with dirty water, and a creaking rusting construction crane that I had climbed once while Marco stayed below and told me I was being an idiot.
It was a totally deserted place, full of shadows and sounds that made the hair on the back of your neck stand up.
When Marco and I were there during the day we always found these weird cans and liquor bottles, and even some ashes of small campfires back in the nooks and crannies of the place, so we knew people came here at night.
All that was on my mind as we crept through the site.
“Careful, Harry. Look at the ground so you don’t slip on anything.” Tobias warned, Helping his cousin through the site. It was Harry’s first time ever coming here, and his hood was slipped on so he wouldn’t catch his hair on anything. Said hair was wrapped like a scarf around his neck.
It was Harry and Tobias who saw it first.
“Look” the two cousins said. Harry had happened to gaze upward, when something caught his eye, and Tobias, as always, was off in his own little world.
“what?” I asked distractedly. I was hardly paying attention, mainly because I was pretty sure I heard an ax murderer, or a chain saw killer creeping up behind us.
“Just… Look.” Tobias had said. His voice was strange, amazed sounding, but serious at the same time. So, I looked up. and there it was. A brilliant, bright blue-white light scooting across the sky, going fast, too fast for an airplane, before slowing down.
“What is it?” Harry asked.
Tobias shook his head. “I don’t know.”
I looked at Tobias, and he looked back at me. We both knew what we thought it was, but we didn’t want to say it out loud. Surely Marco and Rachel would have a good laugh. Harry’s eyes squinted below his round glasses before he gasped, and before I knew it, or could stop him, he said-
“Is that a flying saucer?!”