Secrets

Stolen At Late

Jasper sat at his desk, several months after he and Calvin had become friends, writing on college-ruled paper. The pen scratched over the surface of paper, stenciling out letters in his tight, prim handwriting. The paper was for his French class, the teacher of which had assigned an essay on the history of France in the language of the country. He had been writing out the final copy of the rough draft for about an hour now, ensuring that he was making no mistakes. The assignment had been assigned four days ago and was due in two weeks. Now, he had more time to study and do other homework, or to even have free time.

His cellphone began ringing with the tone of a familiar sound. It was the ringtone for Calvin, which was obviously picked by him. Nothing said 'Calvin is calling you' like The Real Slim Shady chorus bursting from the speakers of a cell phone. Jasper reached over from his chair and picked the phone up. He looked for half a second at the caller I.D., even though he knew who it was, before answering.

"Hey," he greeted.

"Hey," he heard Calvin's voice say on the other end. "What's up, squirt?"

"How many times do I have to tell you to not call me that? I'm not that short." He laughed, holding the phone between his shoulder and cheek as he continued to finish his assignment. "Anyway, I'm just finishing up my French paper. You?"

"Man, I finished that yesterday. You're getting slow, Jas."

"No, I had other things to do," he replied, skipping a line to write the last paragraph.

"Since you're finishing that up, want to hang out later today?"

"I can't, my little cousin's birthday is today and I can't miss it. Tomorrow, maybe?"

"Yeah, I can do tomorrow. Nothing during the day though, busy then. Can I come by at six?"

"Sure, sure," he answered. He was quiet for a moment, listening to his friend breathe on the other end. "Hey, I never did thank you for...you know, being my friend... Makes me think I'm not all that hopeless."

"Hey, don't sweat it, Jas," he laughed. "So six, yeah?"

"Six is fine with me," Jasper answered.

"Alright, see you tomorrow, squirt."

"Ugh, bye Calvin," he chuckled and hung up. He set the phone down and shook his head with a smile, finishing the last sentence of his paper. He read the ten-page-long report a few times, ensuring he made no mistakes, no trip-ups in his words, no misinformation.

He heard his mother call him down from his room, saying to get ready to leave for his cousin's birthday. He threw the pencil into the cup that held his others, and then sat up from his desk. "'Kay, Mom, I'll be down in a few minutes."

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The next day, Jasper called Calvin at around four o' clock in the evening. "Hey, Calvin, you still up for coming over today?"

"Yeah, yeah," he answered. "Would it be okay if I came over now? I finished earlier than I thought."

"That'd be fine. How long do you think you'll be around for?"

"Eh, a few hours at most. I was thinking ten? Enough time to hang out and study, hm?"

"Ten's fine with me." He stretched in his chair. "I heard your test was going to be hard."

"Nothing I can't handle, right? And I know yours is difficult."

"Heh, right. See you soon."

"See you," Calvin replied, hanging up the phone.