The Nerd's Secret |Ongoing|

☫ Chapter 24 ☫

☫ Chapter 24 ☫

Do you ever feel like you've entered an alternate universe?

     And it's not necessarily a wrong feeling that you have. It's more of a weird one. Like there's something different but you can't quite point it out. Like when you walk out of a 7/11 with a large Slurpee in your hand that has all the flavors in it. Or when you go to a public bathroom, the strange boxed ones that leave you claustrophobic. And that time period after a movie where you're sort of in a limbo and feeling giddy. There's just something off during all these events. At least, I think so.

     See, that's how I felt the moment my eyes opened this morning. It could have had something to do with the fact that my window shades were wide open, something that was out of the ordinary. It might have had something to do with the way Jeff was looming over me, his hands on my shoulder, shaking me awake. Though I couldn't really see his facial expression, I did notice that there wasn't a frown. His eyebrows were knitted together and his forehead creased.

     He looked almost concerned.

     "Why aren't you waking up?" I heard him mutter, his voice at a low tremble. One that I could barely describe because if I did, I would have said he sounded scared. And Jeff hadn't uttered a word like that since mom was alive.

     "Wha-what?" I answered groggily, my hands subconsciously reaching towards his. His were shaking. I was too exhausted and confused to gather that. "I'm awake." I blinked at him, my eyesight turning clear and then shifting to blurry.

     His blue eyes pierced mine, an emotion frozen. I frowned at him. That's when his expression turned to his usual angry demeanor. He clenched his jaw, avoiding eye contact and seethed at me. "I've been knocking and--" he stopped and snuck a glance. I tried to make out his face. He harshly let go of me almost making me fall back to the bed. "Hurry up and get ready. I wanna get a coffee."

     Before I could reply the door slammed shut. The echo of it entered my ears, sounding louder than it should have. I stayed on my bed for a moment, attempting to figure out what just happened. Because that wasn't normal.

     I reached for my glasses, rubbing the bridge of my nose as I put them on. Instead of coming up with any concrete theories for what just occurred my thoughts went to last night.

     "I'll figure out who this friend is and where the drugs are coming from," Dark Wonder told me as his eyes darted over at the girl. "You figure out who is making them and how."

      My head began to hurt. There was a sharp pain. I glanced at the pile of papers and stacks of notebooks that were clumsily placed on the desk. Right. I sighed. Last night was the incident with that girl. I ended up brainstorming most of the night. I wrote down ways that I could get back to the internship. Just like the night before. Only this time was more urgent. I also wrote ideas on how the drugs could have been made. And then for some reason, during the late hours of the night, I fell down memory lane.

     "Jeremiah!" Grandma yelled, her voice booming.

     "I--" I started getting off my bed, but fell back. "Ugh," I groaned. I saw white for a moment, my vision at a loss and the pain in my head increasing. I rubbed my temples. "I'm coming!" I shouted back, my voice hoarse. It hurt to speak any louder

     I really should work on getting sleep.

     I quickly got dressed, grabbing the nearest shirt and jeans. It might have been the same clothes from yesterday but I couldn't care at the moment. Grandma was still calling for me and Jeff would be pissed if we missed the stop at the coffee shop.