Something Unexpected

Chapter Eight

Five decides to walk allthe way home instead of hailing a cab or blinking back. It gave himtime to think of where he would want to take Julia and wonder howmany more questions she had to ask him. He actually didn't mind allthe invasive questions she had already asked him.

By the time Five reachedthe front gates of the Academy, it was dark outside and almost everywindow in the Academy had light coming out. It gave Five a feelingthat his siblings were waiting for him to return. Five takes a deepbreath to steel himself and heads inside. Inside, he is greeted by asolemn Pogo, who gives him a nod.

"Welcome home, MasterFive." The chimpanzee says as Five closes the front door behindhim. Five immediately notices that in spite of Pogo's demeanor, thereis a humorous twinkle in the chimp's eyes. He then motions towardsthe living room. "I believe your brothers and sisters are waitingfor you."

"Is there any chancethat I can get out of it?" Five can't help but ask.

Pogo chuckles. "I'mafraid not, my boy."

Five sighs and glances upat the ceiling trying to think of the best way out of this.Unfortunately, he is unable to as a second later, Allison is walkinginto the entryway with a big smile on her face and a little concernin her eyes.

"Oh, thank God, you'refinally back!" She exclaims, quickly making her way to Five andwrapping one of her arms around his shoulders and guiding him intothe living room, where just as Five suspected, all of his siblingsare gathered around the living room with giddy anticipation on theirfaces.

Allison pushes Five ontothe couch next to Vanya. "So, tell us how did it go?"

"It went fine." Fiveanswers shortly, annoyed that he is being questioned, when all hereally wanted to do was lock himself away in his bedroom and think ofthe perfect place and thing to do on his first official date.

"What did you guys talkabout?" Vanya softly asks while grimacing in sympathy at Five'splight.

Five stares at all hissiblings' eager faces and knows he is doomed. He wouldn't be able toleave this room until he answered all of their burning questions.Accepting his fate, he answers Vanya's question. "We started offwith twenty questions actually."

"And what did you learnabout her?" Allison asks eagerly.

"That she has two oldersisters who are twins." Five tells her. He is tempted to tell herthat he and Julia have a date for Sunday, but Five realizes he wantsto keep it to himself for now. He didn't feel like going through whathe went through when it was just a coffee meeting.

"What else?" Allisoncan't help but ask as well. She wanted to know as much as she could.Her brother had been surprisingly open since they saved the world.She just hoped he didn't pull back and resort to secrets again.

Five suddenly felt closedoff. Like the air around him was thinning and the room was gettingsmaller. Why did Allison's questions suddenly seem too invasive yetwhen Julia asked him those harder and very personal questions, hehonestly answered them. Five pulls at his collar, suddenly needingfresh air and space. He quickly stands up and blinks away from theliving room and lands on the roof of the Academy.