The Truth about Will

Chapter 9 - Everything alright?

Decided to update again today because I have no classes. Enjoy!

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"I finally know what the article I'm going to write is about." Jamie gladly stated to Will who was sitting on the passenger seat beside him.

Jamie had waited for ten minutes for his car to be on the road before he got on talking to his friend. It was better if no one from his school saw him talking to no one inside his car. Jamie, the younger of the two, gave a sideways glance at his friend. Will was looking out of the window. His eyes were in a daze and his face looked very grim. Jamie was even sure that Will hadn't heard a single word that he had said. Jamie turned his eyes back on the road and after a few minutes of waiting to see if his friend's expression will change and not getting the result he wanted, the young man finally slowed down to a stop on the side of a closed gas station to talk to him properly.

"Will, is everything alright?"

Instead of finally giving his full attention to Jamie, Will just simply gave him a very unconvincing nod. His eyes still focused on whatever it is that he was looking at outside of the car window.

"Come on. Tell me already." Jamie insisted, nudging the guy gently with his elbow. "What's wrong?"

This time, Will turned his head to actually look at his friend. He opened his mouth as if to say something but the only thing that came out was a sigh. To Jamie's irritation, he turned his eyes back to the window.

"Will, what the hell is going on with you?"

Another sigh came out of Will but then he spoke.

"Just please keep driving. I'll tell you when you get home."

Jamie realized that that was as close as he was going to get to knowing what was wrong with his friend until they do finally arrive at his house so Jamie started his car's ignition and continued the drive home. Will rarely acts like this and when he does, it means that something bad must have happened. Jamie unconsciously drove faster than he normally would.

When Jamie had already parked his car inside the garage, he noticed that Will had disappeared from his side which meant that he was probably already inside the young man's room. After getting his bag from inside the car, Jamie went inside his home. As Jamie opened the door, a wonderful smell greeted him accompanied by a soft melody.

'Mom is probably baking.' Jamie thought, delighted at the idea that his mom would do the baking herself instead of just solely depending on Amita, their chef/trusty maid. It was also nice hearing his mom's relaxed singing voice. To Jamie, it sounded more beautiful than when his mom would perform in front of a large audience. During times like those Jamie often felt that half of his mom's effort was due to the fact that she needed to impress the people watching her so to him, times like these, when she would sing all alone by herself without having to impress people is greater than all her other performances combined.

Jamie walked towards the kitchen where his thoughts were confirmed. Pamela had just finished pulling out a tray of cupcakes from the oven. She set it off on the counter just as she saw her son walk in into the room. She took off her cooking gloves and went over to Jamie to give him a hug which Pamela never fails to do after one of her boys gets home.

"What's up, honey?" Pamela asked her son when they were both seated at the kitchen counter. Jamie shrugged.

"Will is acting weird."

"Acting weird?"

Jamie nodded.

"What kind of weird are we talking about?"

"He wasn't acting like his cocky self when I got out of school today and he didn't want to say what was wrong when I asked."

"Hmm... Maybe it's his time of the month again."

Jamie stared at his mom until she finally let out laugh.

You see, Pamela was the only one who knew about Will's existence aside from Jamie and Will himself of course. At first, Jamie thought that his mother could see his friend too but then he realized that she was just playing along. It really took a while for Jamie to finally convince Pamela that somehow, his friend that only he could see, was real but at least he finally succeeded in doing so. He could definitely feel her questioning his sanity at times but most often than not, she acted as if she really did believe that William J. Rhodes actually exists. He was thankful for her belief but he still didn't want her telling other people about Will, not even his father. Pamela agreed. They both knew that everybody would deem Jamie insane if they did that.

"Just try talking to Will some more. I'm sure he'll give in eventually and tell you what he's dealing with."

"Yeah, I'll do that later." Jamie stated.

"Enough of this talk about Will and his moodiness. How was school today?" She asked him when she began to decorate the cupcakes with a little bit of peach colored frosting.

"It was fine, I guess." Jamie informed her, after looking back on the things that happened during those past nine hours. "I am now officially one of the temporary writers for The Zanchif Gazette."

"That's great!" Pamela exclaimed with a smile but then she pouted, a sign of her thinking. "But why just a temporary writer?"

"I was just asked to replace some guy who wouldn't be back to school in a while. He was assigned an important article so they immediately went looking for people who could replace him and Daniel suggested me to them."

"Your cousin Daniel?"

"Yep."

"Well, this is for you because you've been productive today."

Pamela handed over a cupcake to Jamie which the chuckling young man eagerly accepted.

"Thanks, mom." Jamie said to her while closely inspecting her mom's masterpiece.

"That'll be three dollars."

Pamela stretched out a hand towards her son while Jamie just raised an eyebrow at the said hand.

"Okay, I'm kidding." Pamela laughed, retreating her hand back. "You should've seen your face though. You looked so sassy."

"That's because I am." Jamie responded in monotone and then he stood up from his seat, turned his back to Pamela and then flipped his invisible long hair as he walked out of the door.

"Hawt damn." Pamela exclaimed. "I'm doing this mom thing right."