Eco Love

Representation

Jay awoke the next morning, groggy and sore from swimming. He leaned up in his bed and looked out the window. He saw students on campus moving around and mingling like every morning. They usually just scampered around and got breakfast and whatnot. As Jay rose to use the bathroom, he heard his phone ring on his dresser. The caller ID showed that It was Daishia calling. He knew how she would get if he didn't answer, so he quickly picked up. As he answered the phone, there was a cavalcade of noise in the backround. "Hello?" Jay uttered, still half sleep. "Hey man, where you at?" Daishia asked, sounding a bit worried. Jay walked into the bathroom and checked the mirror. "My dorm." He responded as he wiped away the wear and tear of the night. "Well come outside my nigga. We tryna get some breakfast and we didn't wanna leave you out." Daishia said, the worry in her voice melting away. It was always like her to be the Mother Goose when it came to her friends. Jay then turned on the shower. "Yeah. I'll meet u there. The IHOP across from campus right?" "Yeah. We let Alicia pick where we eat this time. See ya there". She then promptly hung up. Jay then climbed into the shower, allowing the near boiling water to wake him. As he bathed, he remembered the strange dream he had. The one with the red girl. He truly thought it was nothing at first, as he wasn't the kind to think anything about dreams. He Then felt a pang of random feeling in his heart. Something he had never felt before. It was something like sadness and joy at the same time. He quickly shook it away as he clumsily got out of his bathtub. The boy dried off as quick as he could, fearing that he would acquire that strange feeling again. He cleared his mind as he got dressed. He put what he usually did. A tshirt (a green one with stars on it this time), some pants (because god forbid someone see his bones), and a pair of sneakers. He grabbed his bookbag and then headed out, making sure to lock the door behind him. He looked out again at the bustling campus, visually creating a path that he would take through the crowd. It was a strange mental process that he went through every morning. Jay then began is trek through the crowd, avoiding any awkward interactions between students. He usually stayed away from human interaction if it wasn't anyone he knew. After a few bump in with some other people, Jay made it off campus. Now it was just a matter if getting across the street which was easy for someone normal. Jay on the other hand over thought every single one of his actions. He listened for if a car was coming, how long it would take to reach him, and a bunch of other meaningless things. The scholarly boy then performed these processes and then crossed. The IHOP was scarce for a Friday morning, so it was easy for him to find his friends. They had found a table outside and were already eating. "Come come my nigga!" Cortez shouted as Jay ran over. "Morning guys." Jay said as he set his bag down. Alicia revealed a foam container that held some pancakes, sausage, eggs and some donut looking thing. Jay picked it up and examined it. "What's this?" He asked as he tore it in half, watching as some cream oozed out. "Some wierd shit called a Malasada or whatever. It was something we thought you would like." Alicia said. Jay took a bite of it and froze. Xavier looked over at him. "You good bruh?" He asked witha bit of concern. Jay swallowed and then spoke. "This is the most delicious thing I had ever tasted. I need more." He said bluntly. Daisha chuckled abit. "Well I could-" she was cut off by Jay suddenly standing and entering the IHOP, most likely to retrieve more Malasada. "I guess you got it. Anyway yall, what are we gonna do about this project?" Daishia asked as the others began thinking. Alicia seemed abit puzzled. "I mean we just gotta look on the Northern Caves. Nothing really too interesting on there." "Pretty much. Just some bats and shit." Cortez said. Jay then emerged from the IHOP with 2 bags full of malasada. Cortez bursted with laughter. "Damn, hungry ass kid!" Jay nodded. "Damn right. This is my life now. These pastries." Jay then sat down. He then heard a voice from behind say, "You didn't have a life to begin with." He turned around to see a group of three oddly dressed people. One was a woman with her curly hair bound into 2 tight pigtails. Her glasses were held to her face as loose as possible. The second person was a man with dark and dirty hair spreaded all over his head. You could tell from his face that he was too laid back for his own good. And the last person was someone he hadn't seen since highshool. I heavy set boy who kept himself well looking, always dressed up well. This time though, he and the other two were all wearing something strange. Lab coats in broad daylight. On each of the coats was a purple symbol on the pocket. Under the symbol were the words EXPLORE, COLLECT, DISCOVER. Alicia was the absolute most suprised to see their old friend. The two had a bit of an intimate relationship before he had disappeared. "Treyvon, where in the fuck did you come from?" She said a bit too loud. The other lady sighed. "You have some boisterous friends #67." The other man chimed in. He spoke in a thick Jamaican accent. "Yeah 67! Your little girlfriend seemed worried about you." He said jokingly.
Treyvon turned to him blushing. "Shut ya mouth Will!" The lady then butted in again. We have code numbers for a reason 67". All this strangeness made everyone's head spin. Their long lost friend had just suddenly out of the blue with two random strangers. Truly a sight to behold. "Ok, uh, what the the fuck going on with all this" Cortez said, seeming annoyed. He was most definetly glad to see an old friend but the situation was screwing over the overall feeling of enjoyment and relief. "Nothing Cortez. Just lemme handle this real quick" Treyvon then turned to his companions. "You both. Go do something with yourselves. I gotta talk to my squad so get the fuck on." The two seemed surprised at the sudden order, but they complied anyway. "Come on 90. Let's go get some pancakes man!" The man, apparently named Will said. "I guess we should leave #67 to his.... friends" the woman responded slowly. The two walked away with their lab coats blowing in the wind. Treyvon then sat down at the table, next to Alicia of course. "So what's up?" The boy asked as he took a look at all of his friends. "They had a different look to them. It hasn't been more than a year right?" He wondered. Daisha sighed. "What's up? Really? What's up with you disappearing for so long!?" Treyvon jumped back abit, feeling not only the heat from Daisha's words, but from the stares of the others as well. He let out a sigh. It really had been a while year since he had seen them all. It hurt his heart to know he left them in the dark for so long. "I.... I was in.... to be frank with you.... I had an opportunity that you couldn't even dream of...". Again, he got more puzzled looks. "What's that supposed to mean?" Xavier said, definetly seeming to hold back some of his rather brutish and unchecked frustration. "After we graduated from highschool I was offered a job..." Alicia, like all the others was still confused and pissed off. "What kind of job!? Could you, i don't know, fucking elaborate!?" Clearly seeing that Alicia was frustrated, he began to tell more about his situation. "Ok, listen. I'm not supposed to tell you this. At all. If any of what I tell you gets out, it's a wrap for me. So once I tell you, don't tell anybody shit." They all nodded. "Sure thing bruh. Just let us know what the fuck is going on." Cortez said, alot more hyper active as usual. Treyvon then proceeded to retrieve a paper from his pocket. It was old and faded. " So, after highschool ended I was offered a job at this company based in Oregon. Can't tell y'all the name. Classified. It was a organization bent on research. Right up my ally of course. So I accepted. What I didn't know was that I would have to move with the company. And I could no longer be around "normal citizens" as the boss said. And so, I went off grid. Could have a normal phone or a normal house or anything like that anymore. I had basically-" "Dissapeared." Jay finished for him. The info was indeed helpful, but not quite enough. "Ok so, why'd they make ya do that?" Cortez asked, absorbing the stream of information that he had been given. "They say it's for safety." Treyvon said, checking around for his companions. He couldn't let them figure out that he was letting civilians know things about the company. "Saftey? What could- " Alicia was cut off by Treyvon suddenly pressing his hand over her mouth as his two friends returned holding their breakfast. "Hey 67! Were back! We gotcha some food man!' The lady nodded. "It's best that we stay energized so we don't fall short on our task in the caves to the north." Hearing those words sparked a memory in Daisha's head. "Oh shit, we headed there today too." She said with a little regret. She had vowed to actually prepare for the trip buy it had completely slipped her mind. "Your headed to that area as well? What for?!" #90 commented with slight spite in her voice. "Oh is there a problem?" Daishia fired back, sensing the obvious disrespect. She wasn't one to be called a push over. "O-oh course not. I'm just...intrigued." #90 replied. She'd dare not cause confrontation with a civilian. It would just cause more trouble. Alicia then decided to interject. "Well if u really must know, (which you fucking don't) we have a science project to research for." He voice still sounding quite ruffled but most could tell her anger wad melting away. Treyvon and his mysterious comrades were quite surprised. "Is that so? Pray tell, what may your instructors name be?" #90 asked. Jay answered with suspicion. "Turner.... Lyla Turner." "Well I'll be damned!" Will exclaimed. The other two clearly felt the same way as their companion. Dumbfounded at their luck. "You see guys, Turner is our boss. She's kinda a branched unit of the company. She told us that we were supposed to take a look around those caves and be wary of her students. Turns out it was Y'all!" Treyvon explained. This arose some questions in Jay's mimd. He had heard some strange things about the northern caves in weekly science reports. Something odd enough for someone to want to look for it. What exactly was this company trying to do? Ad usual, everybody turned to him to see if he was ok. He looked very worried when deep in thought. "Im good guys. I was just....thinking. Mabey now is a nice time to head over to Ms.Turner's room." Jay said. Within agreement, everybody gathered their things. Jay made sure to hold tight to the Malasada he bought. "Why don't we all head over together? Turner requested to meet her around this time." #90 asked. "Good idea 90!" Will replied excitedly. Before they began walking, Treyvon made one more announcement. "Don't call me or Will here by our real names around Turner. I'm #67 and he's #42." After the agreements were made, the group headed off to the campus, of course getting some strange looks from other students and teachers.