Why Me?

Chapter 16

This chapter is dedicated to noobok, because she wrote half of this story and I feel like she doesn't deserve enough credit!  She is writing a story on her account right at this moment, it's called "Don't Hold Back".  So make sure you check that out!  Anyways, onwards with this story...

Luke:

            “I’m home!” I called out to the empty house as I swung open the door.  Usually Miranda was home by the time I got home, but today she had to work a late shift.  I dropped my bags and headed for the kitchen to dig through the fridge for something to eat.  I decided on leftovers from last night.  As the lasagna heated up in the microwave, I thought back to our break time earlier.  What had that been about?  What was Jasper hiding?  And what could he mean by the government capturing him?  Then there was that creep in the hallway who Noor seemed really scared of.  

            Just when I felt like my head would explode, the microwave went off.  I took out the lasagna and dug in like I’d never seen food in my life.  After finishing up, I went to my backpack and pulled out my Social Studies homework.  We had to use the online textbook.  Looked like my computer was going to be frozen by the time Miranda got home.

            I went over to the computer.  When I opened it up, I went to my school’s homepage, but something there caught my eye.  “Seniors”.  I clicked on it to see the list of all of this year’s seniors, in which I was included.  I wasn’t looking for myself, though.  I scrolled down the list until I found his name: “Crawford, Jasper L.”  I clicked on it and it showed a picture of him from the previous year.  After a minute of deciding how creepy it was, I typed in his name on the Google search bar.

            Results came up for a lot of schools.  I clicked on the first one, and he was under “Previous Graduates”.  Huh?  That made no sense.  But sure enough, it was his picture.  It said he had graduated two years ago.  But then why was he still a senior?  And in a different school?  This school was on the other side of the country!  

            Well, he could have just moved and had to repeat 12th grade.  Twice.  Perfectly reasonable, right?

            I went back and clicked on the next school.  Three years ago.  Another graduate from another school.  I looked for last year.  He was a junior at the school I was going to.  Maybe the other Jasper L. Crawford’s were just look alikes.  It was possible.  I once read somewhere that there are seven other people in the world that look just like you.  But with the same name?  What a coincidence.  

            As I turned this new information over in my head, I heard keys turning in the door.  Miranda was home.  I quickly closed out of my Google search and went back to my school’s homepage.  I pretended to be reading something on the main page as I heard my “mom” come in.  

            “Hey honey, how was school?” she asked.

            “It was great. I made some friends.”  It wasn't exactly true, but she didn't need to know that. Miranda smiled.

            “That's great! Did you get a lot of homework?” she asked, as I turned back to the computer.

            “Yeah, the teachers give a lot of homework.” I said, eyeing my stack of books.

            “I’m sure you’ll be able to do it all,” Miranda said confidently. “I’m going downstairs to make dinner. Then I have a call to attend to, so try not to disturb me, okay?”

            “Sure thing,” I answered distractedly, already starting my homework.

            A few seconds later, the doorbell rang. Thinking Miranda probably had her hands full cooking, I ran down the stairs to answer it. Miranda had already opened the door though and was talking to the person outside.