The Answer Lies in the Truth

Chapter 6

It was Friday again, and Rich was busy hanging up posters for his party. They were everywhere you could ever think to put them. The teachers were going frantic trying to take them down. Puns lined the halls of hell. 'Come to my party, and we'll burn the house down' All of the school was talking about The Valentine party only two weeks away. I guess they just wanted an excuse to go with some total stranger and make out. You couldn't go without a partner, so everyone who didn't have a significant other was going pretty crazy trying to get one. But I knew that once they went it would be a total free for all.

I made it to my economics class before lunch. Michael was there in the cafeteria humming to some weird song I'd never heard. His red hoodie was behind his chair and he was wearing a black shirt with some indie band on it. "Hey!" I said, he turned to me grabbed my face and put an earbud in my ear.

I paused for a while. "What is this?" I asked.

"Pearl Jam, indie rock! It's called Jeremy..." Michael laughed as the song cussed my name out as he said it.

"Dude, this is freaking sweet!" I said laughing along with the lyrics. By the time lunch was over we were crooning out the lyrics in sad country boy accents that were butchered to death with our Jersey accents. It was super fun. "I wish we could do this more often." I said unthinking.

"Yah, its Friday, so maybe you could come over? I fixed the router so it should be a long night." Michael suggested.

"Okay, but you should go home, I have theater rehearsal again today. Turns out that we are doing Shrek the Musical." I said turning red as Michael burst out laughing.

"Shrek the MuSiCaL?" He laughed. "Dude what are you going to be, the puppet?!?" He giggled. He paused when I didn't deny it, and laughed harder. "I'll stay just to see this. Who's Shrek?"

"Jake," After laughing so hard for two solid minuets tears were running down his face Michael calmed himself. "Well good luck with that, see you in rehearsal, break a leg." He said holding up a peace sign and heading over to his class.

I was starting to walk back then I remembered. Michael left his favorite red hoodie. I went back for it as the bell rang. Great, I'll have a missed day because of all the tardy marks I've gotten. I decided I'd give it back to him after school. As the day progressed the schools heating system fluctuated. Just to give you a good idea: the cafeteria was hot, the gym was hot and the extra curricular rooms were hot. The hallways were humid. Other than that it was cold enough in any room to build a snowman. Aren't schools just the best?

I was cold so I figured Michael wouldn't mind if I just slipped into his hoodie. I could tell why he liked it so much. It was nice and fuzzy inside. It smelled like Michael, (old spice soap and weed were the two most noticeable smells, but there was also a very distinct Michael smell that I could never place in one category) and I felt a lot calmer.

The hoodie itself was too big for me. It fit fine length wise, but the sleeves covered my hands. I don't know how Michael keeps the sleeves so perfect all the time.

In one of my classes I looked through his pockets, because I'm a nosy friend. It had a ticket from one concert we went to a while ago. A girls phone number scribbled on a piece of ripped out bio textbook. It looked like it hadn't been touched since it entered. I frowned. We would have to change that. He had a couple packs of gum. He had a metallic thing in there too. I flipped it over in my hands carefully.
It looked like a computer hard drive, but had wires sticking out of it.

I didn't look through his pockets anymore because the teacher thought I was chewing gum and took one of the packs of Michael's. I promised myself to him that I would buy him a new pack (even though he had, like, twelve) after school.

At rehearsal, true to his word Michael Mell sat in the audience. He looked sick and panicky. When I walked in he looked like a dead man. I walked over to him smiling. "You left your hoodie so..." I took it off and handed it to him. He folded it in his lap and nodded. He seemed nervous. "You okay man?" I asked checking his forehead.

"Yah, I had a stressful day after lunch. I thought someone stole my hoodie." He said and I rolled my eyes. Michael had forgotten his hoodie a lot of times over our friendship. Usually, almost all the time, I would retrieve it and give it back to him.

"Sorry, I should have texted you. It didn't cross my mind." I said lightly whacking my head with the palm of my hand.

He messed with the hoodie in his lap and smiled at me. "It's no big, I have it now, thanks Jeremy." He said, I just nodded. He did seem a little calmer than before.

After rehearsal, if anyone could call it that (Michael kept laughing whenever either Jake or I went on stage to sing) Michaels mom picked us up. We talked about the newest games coming out excitedly and as soon as we were at his house we rushed to the basement.

We played games until his mom brought down pizza, and then we ate for our lives and continued to try and play Mario Kart rainbow road while shoving entire pieces down our mouths. It didn't go well, but it was fun never the less.

Michael went to the bathroom after chugging an entire bottle of orange Fanta on a dare. It was late and I was starting to worry. Shouldn't I have gotten a message by now? It happened every other day this week. Just as I was stressing out the Squip turned on.

"You missed me I see," his voice rang in a mock voice of sweetness.

"Hurry up, I want to know the message." I demanded.

"Jeremy,
I missed you today. I was so scared you'd see me. I feel so close to you, yet so far away. I know this might not ever happen, but I want you to know that if it could I would do so much for you. I'd do anything for you. Everything about you is so wonderful.
Red"

"I think that's totally cliché." The Squip added.

"Shut up." I said and it powered off laughing maniacally.

That night Michael and I slept in his bed. It wasn't unusual for the two of us. It felt nice to have something constant in my life. Michael was always there, so I planned to tell him about what Red had said in the morning.

((Smut???? Not really but Ima warn u anyway))

Dark and hot and sticky surrounded me like objects. I could touch them. I could hear laughter, twisted and metallic. Steam rolled through my body, It felt like the air was kissing me. It felt nice, confusing, but nice. I moaned, it only made it more intense. The heat made me sticky and I felt full as the steam slid around me, into me, through me. The sensations it brought were heightened by the fact of the feeling that I wasn't alone. Breath was hot in my neck and traveled down my spine to compete with the steam. Everything was wet and hot and sticky.

It moaned behind me. I couldn't see it but I heard it. It grounded me enough to realize this wasn't real.

I woke up to a very unfortunate anatomy lesson.