The Undercave [Incomplete]

Chapter 10 - Problems

Jake awoke from the same dream that he usually had. The echoing voices calling his name, more vivid this time than ever before. He had thought it was Cliff at first, but now he had concluded that it wasn't. He had to wait a while to collect his thoughts before he could get up. He showered, brushed his teeth, then donned his school uniform and rushed downstairs. As he walked into the kitchen, he heard his mother talking on the telephone. She was unaware of his presence at the time.
"No, I haven't told him yet," she spoke through the phone.
He heard the voice on the other side say, "Well, he's getting up to that age that you should probably tell him. It's important that teenagers know their exact history."
She sighed. "I know." Her pupils sank to the ground. "I'll make sure that he knows by... next month, I guess." After a confirmation from the voice, she rested the phone back on the dock, before turning round and gasping.
"Hi," Jake greeted awkwardly, lifting a hand up.
"How long were you in here for?" She interrogated, her eyes very serious.
He shrugged. "Only for about fifteen seconds." He then proceeded to make himself breakfast without caring about the phone call that he had just witnessed. The only thing on his mind at this moment was the voice in his dream. Why was it so familiar?

Sheri had walked to school with Lana and Cliff since she stayed the night, leaving Theo to walk by himself. When the three arrived, he was already waiting near the gates.
"Took your time, didn't you?" He snapped, crossing his arms and glaring at them.
Cliff looked down at the watch on his wrist and then back up at Theo. "We got here the same time as we usually do."
Theo narrowed his eyes at them. "Well, thanks for abandoning me!" He said in a sarcastically joyful tone. He then spun on his heels and walked away from them.
"What's up with him?" Cliff questioned, looking in his direction.
"He's a Scorpio. They're typically untrusting." Lana explained.
Sheri stared at him as he strutted away from them, then lowered her head. "No." Cliff and Lana turned their heads towards her. "He's been having some problems at home. I'm not surprised he feels like he's been left."
The twins glimpsed at each other. "What kind of problems?" Cliff asked.
"It's not my place to tell you. He trusted me not to tell anyone, and I don't want to break that. You know how much he means to me." She lifted her head to watch him as he walked into the building. "All I want is for him to be happy."
The bell rung suddenly, breaking the fragile silence that had started to linger. They headed off to their tutor rooms in a hurry.

Walking into room 211, Cliff immediately spotted Jake sitting next to his space. This was going to be awkward. The previous night, he left because he felt as if he was getting in the way, and now they were going to have to talk. Images from the moment they were alone popped into his mind, but he shook his head to fade them. He slowly approached the table near the front of the room and swung his bag off his shoulders and onto the floor.
"Hi Cliff," Jake said as he landed on the seat, causing him to tense up.
"Uh- Hi!" Cliff stuttered, attempting to keep himself composed but failing. Jake let out a chuckle under his breath.
"Look, um... Can we just forget about last night?" A polite smile stretched across his face. "I was tired, and I was just being stupid, and I don't want to make things awkward between us." He stretched out a hand as if making a deal.
Cliff exhaled. "Ok," he agreed, taking Jake's hand and shaking it firmly. They exchanged one more grin, before entering normal conversation. Cliff was so glad that he had taken it well.

Later, they had Miss Fennon. She was the oldest teacher in the school, but no one liked her. She would never help the students, and she would always be too harsh with her punishments (meaning warnings and detentions).
"Ok class, sit down and be quiet," she demanded after they had all sat down. She didn't have her glasses on, and she could hardly see anything without them. Cliff grunted under his breath, and she glared up at him. "Excuse me, Clifford?" Cliff looked up at her after hearing his name mentioned.
"I'm sorry?"
"Why did you make that sound?" She questioned strictly, placing her spectacles on her long wrinkled face.
"Uh- I- I um... I needed to clear my throat." He feigned a smile, trying to get out of the hole that he had dug himself into. As he shifted his eyes around the room, he noticed everyone staring at him. He wasn't surprised; this always happened when she was angry at someone. But he still hated being the centre of attention. That's why he dreaded it when he saw her name on his timetable the previous week.
She gazed at him through the top of her glasses, then started to read through the papers on her desk. Cliff was relieved. She'd only ever let go of something like that if she was in a reasonable mood.

After school, Cliff, Sheri and Lana made sure that they waited for Theo. He had been quite quiet for the whole day, but he had still hung out with them. When he arrived, they started walking to Rachael's house as they knew that Cliff and Jake would either be walking there already or planning to walk by themselves anyway.

Rachael picked up the CND as she had abbreviated it to and displayed it in her hands.
"So! I retrieved the quartz whilst you were all having your little 'bonding time', and I managed to install it into this." Lana stared at it in disbelief as the others tilted their heads.
"You did that in one night?"
"Yep! And now, since it will recognise the atoms of the quartz, it will be able to store other substances of tangerine quartz inside of it!"
"And that means?" Sheri asked.
"We'll be able to capture one of the Cuniculators and bring them back here!" They all stared at her like she was insane, but she carried on speaking. "I don't think we'll be able to do it on a weekday, but how about Saturday again?" After a few seconds of contemplating, they finally agreed. However, they were very sceptical about bringing one of them into a house: something that they probably wouldn't recognise if they had quite literally been living under a rock for their whole lives. But they still trusted her. She seemed to know a lot more about them than any of them did.