No Honor Among Thieves

Chapter 11 - His heart begins to race, perhaps being nervous...

WEDNESDAY

Jason enters the room to be greeted by his classmates in the form of a stare. He's not sure if that's better than not being greeted at all.

He approaches Elle and Rodrick to speak to them about the annual medical check-up.

"Good morning," he greets.

Rodrick returns the greeting. "Good morning as well."

Elle, however, might be feeling cheerful. "Hey! How are you?"

Jason can't help but smile from being affected by Elle's dopamine levels. "I'm good, thanks."

He pauses to think. "What the hell was I gonna say?"

Rodrick helps him remember. "Something about today?"

"Yes! Thank you," Jason exclaims before continuing in a calmer tone. "I'm thinking about telling the class that we'll be having our annual medical check-up today."

"What if Jane disappears?" Elle asks.

"Or denies to have the check-up?" Rodrick states another possibility.

Jason answers, as if expecting these questions. "We're not allowed to deny the check-up; and if she disappears, she'll be putting herself in the crosshairs, so she'll definitely be there."

His heart begins to race, perhaps being nervous about the chances of Jane escaping the check-up. Looks like he's not so sure that Jane will be there at all.

"So what do you think? If I tell them, they'd have no more reasons to be surprised, eventually lessening the number of people with a fast heartbeat later."

Elle and Rodrick shares a look of agreement before Elle speaks up. "Well, I can see nothing bad with them knowing about it, right?"

Rodrick tilts his head on one side. "Yeah. Nothing bad."

Jason nods and then steps to the front of the class.

Henry at the back makes sure Jason gets noticed. "Hey, shut up! He's gonna say something!"

Then everyone looked at me. For once, they actually listened to Henry.

"Thanks, Henry," says Jason. "Some time this morning, before our first break, we'll be having our annual medical check-up."

None of them seem surprised. That's good. Right?

Jason continues. "Everyone knows what happens in a check-up, right? Your height, weight, heart, teeth, and maybe, your ears as well."

They remain silent, perhaps avoiding the mistake of making noise again.

"So get physically fit in a few hours, brush your teeth, remove your ear waxes, and don't run around the school because otherwise, your heart's gonna be all over the place."

Everyone lets out a short-lived chuckle.

He nods before stepping down.

Dylan greets Jason as he approaches them. "Hi. Seems like you guys already have a plan." The second part was directed to Jason, Elle, and Rodrick.

Rodrick lightly nods as he answers. "Yes, we do."

"Don't worry about it," Elle still carries the smile she had since she greeted me.

Dylan appears to have finally gathered enough courage to continue. "Look, guys, I'm sorry that I can't be of much help."

"Hey, it's alright. You've helped enough on the first day," Jason says, reassuring Dylan.

"Imagine if you hadn't called for that emergency meeting like I asked of you. We'd be nowhere right now."

Dylan nods half-heartedly. "Okay..."

Jason gives him a pat on the back. "Okay? So like Elle said, don't worry about it."

"Thank you," says Dylan before separating from the three.

Jason shifts his attention to his other two companion and says "Okay, now they have no reason to be nervous later... unless they're pregnant."

Elle lightly chuckles as Rodrick nods expressionless.

Before the first subject comes to an end, Jason helps himself to the bathroom and instead of returning to class, he sprints to the clinic. (Kids, don't do the same. That's not what an ideal student would do).

Upon reaching the clinic, he asks to the nurse who'd be handling the stethoscope, and after a few minutes of smooth talk, the nurse agreed in helping out.

Jason then runs out of the clinic to see his classmates descending the stairs, but they haven't seen him yet so he makes a beeline for the men's room.

Just as the first few of his classmates were entering the clinic, he emerges from the comfort room. "Whoa, I thought you went to the bathroom."

"I did. I just came from there," Jason said as he gestures to the bathroom behind him.

"There's bathroom from our floor. Why not there?" Henry pokes.

"The bathroom upstairs smells worse than the ones here." Smooth. Real smooth.

When everyone is done with their turn, Jason returns and begins to speak with the nurse.

"Good morning po."

"Hi. Um... about Jane. Her heart's a bit faster than most of your classmates, so I asked her if she's nervous and she said 'no'."

The sound of the chime hanging on the door rings out, but I do my best to stay focused on what the nurse is saying.

"Then I also asked her if she had to run from somewhere to get here and she also said 'no'..."

Long story short, Elle's theory is further enforced by the nurse's findings.

Then it happened– one of the things a student often looks forward to.