Dynamite

Chapter Two: Questions

After fourth period, eighth grade had lunch. Usually, Emma went to the library and hung out with her friends Jess and Tony. Jess, like Emma, was an eighth grader. Unfortunately, they didn't have any classes together though. Tony wasn't in eighth grade, he actually was a sophomore, but he had study hall while they had lunch.

Emma sat at a table in the library with her lunch and started to eat a sandwich. That was when Tony and Jess came and sat down at that table.

Jess was a girl the same age as Emma, with shoulder-length, auburn-colored hair. She also had dark hazel eyes. Jess and Emma were best friends since elementary school, and they were inseparable.

Tony was 16 years old and had ear-length, light brown hair and light bluish-grey eyes. Emma and Jess didn't know Tony for very long, about a year, but they still were close friends.

"What's up Emma?" Tony asked. Emma shrugged. "Nothing much, eh?" Emma shook her head.

"Oh, have you met the new kid yet?" Jess asked. "His name is Nathan or something..."

"Oh yeah, I've met Nathan," Emma sighed, rolling her eyes.

"You already don't like him?" Jess questioned.

"It's not that I don't like him, but he's starting to get on my nerves," Emma sighed. "This morning, he was trying to get me to talk to him. He's making it this huge mission to get me talking. It's sweet and annoying at the same time. What also sucks is we have most of our classes together. In social studies, he kept on kicking my chair. Then in speech, he kept on interrupting class and cracking jokes. But he does have a good sense of humor. I don't know. He's annoying in a cool way."

"Huh," Jess sighed. "Interesting." There was a short silence until Jess' eyes widened when she remembered something. "Ok, get this. Cody asked me out today."

"You mean Cody 'the player' Rosado?" Tony clarified. Jess nodded. "I would say no. He's cheated on so many girls. It's almost like a reality show. 'Who's Heart Is Cody Breaking This Week?'" Emma chuckled.

"Don't worry, I rejected him," Jess sighed. "He may have 99 percent of the girls in eighth grade falling in love with him, but not me. Or you Emma, right?" Emma quickly nodded.

Emma didn't want Jess, Tony, or ANYBODY to know that she actually did have a crush on Cody "the player" Rosado. Of course, she didn't expect to date him because of his reputation and how invisible she was to all of the popular kids in eighth grade. Cody was one of the most popular guys in her grade, and she knew he didn't notice her at all.

"Hey, Tony, can Emma and I talk... alone?" Jess asked. Tony nodded and left the table to search for some novels. "Emma, have your parents mentioned anything about the... you-know-what's?"

"Just that they are really paranoid that some of them are still living somewhere," Emma answered. "Dad thinks that one of the Dublekas had a surviving offspring that they hid, while Mom thinks there's a whole other planet full of them. I don't know if either one of them are right."

"I'm not sure either," Jess agreed. "There are just so many questions about this. Like, how is it even possible for them to have offspring? How could there be another planet full of them? Did they duplicate themselves before the first planet got destroyed by the black hole, then transported the duplicates to another planet?"

"I think there are no more Dublekas," Emma answered. "I mean, Mom and Dad must be traumatized from fighting the Dublekas, even if it was years ago. Those Dublekas did torture and injure them a lot. I don't blame them for being so paranoid. I think we should forget about it."

"Yeah," Jess agreed. "I have a question though. When are we going to tell Tony? I mean, he's a really good friend and I think we can trust him." Emma nodded.

"I'll talk about it with Dad and Mom, you know, get their permission to let him in on the secret," Emma answered. Jess nodded. That was when Tony returned with new books, and conversations continued normally. Then someone walked into the library who caught Tony's attention.

"Who's that?" Tony asked, smiling ear-to-ear. Jess and Emma looked at the person and frowned.

"That's Nicole," Jess answered. "She's Hannah's best friend, and they're on the cheerleading team together. I'm surprised you don't know her."

"Well, she's pretty quiet," Tony sighed. "But now that you think about it, I notice her in the hallways a lot. We're in the same grade, but I don't think we have any classes together."

Nicole was 16 years old and was a sophomore. She had chest-length, light blonde hair and dark brown eyes. Like Hannah, she wore a lot of makeup and wore "revealing" clothing. She wasn't as crazy about it as Hannah though.

"Why did you ask who she was?" Emma questioned. "Do you have a crush on her?" Jess giggled, "Oh, Tony has a crush! Tony has a crush!"

"I do not!" Tony rejected, blushing a dark shade of red. "She... She just happened to walk in the library."

"Yeah, sure," Jess laughed. "That's what every guy says." Emma nodded along.

"Whatever," Tony sighed. He was super embarrassed about Jess and Emma joking about him supposedly crushing on Nicole. He thought, "Maybe I do have a crush on her, but so what?! It's not like we're going to date or anything." Then he looked at his watch. "Hey, I have to go to class in a few minutes. I'll see you later."

"Ok, bye Tony!" Emma and Jess called. Tony left the library. Jess blurted, "I think we can trust him with our Dubleka secret."

"Yeah," Emma sighed. "Let's just hope Mom and Dad agree. They can be pretty strict with things like that."

"But your parents are cool," Jess added. "Speaking of which, can I sleep over tonight again? Mom and Dad are in Canada for the next week doing business conventions and meetings."

"Sure, but I think Gavin and Adam are coming over too," Emma answered. Gavin was Ethan's best friend, while Adam was Rose and Jake's best friend and Jake's boss.

"That's fine, they're awesome," Jess laughed. "Well, lunch is almost over, so I should go. Bye Emma." Jess also left the library. Emma silently sat in the library before the bell rang through her ears, telling her that her favorite part of the school day was over.