Beneath the surface (Tom Holland)

Part 3 All over the news

Jacob

After saving Tom, Mr. Daniels my band director and in charge of the trip, had insisted that I spend three days in the hotel for the following reasons. I should stay out of the public eye, he was not allowed to have the press take anymore photos of me, I should recover from having swam in very cold water, and it was what the principal of my school who had contacted Mr. Daniels as soon as he heard what had happened, had said to do. It was only grudgingly that I respected his decision. I was a little disappointed that I couldn't go sightseeing with the rest of my friends, but I used my time for catching up on the school work I was missing. Today I decided, I would do some science. Currently or at least when I left, we were doing a unit on physics. I wasn't the best at math, but I seemed to do better at math in science. I was just finishing up a problem where I had to calculate the kinetic and potential energy of a roller coaster, when someone knocked on my door. That was odd. Any of my friends would've had the key card to the room and Mr. Daniels would have announced himself after knocking. I put down my pen and standing up, walked over to the door.

I opened the door and out there in the hallway followed by photographers all smiling at me, stood Thomas Stanley Holland. My jaw dropped and I stood there in amazement. At the end of the corridor I caught sight of Mr. Daniels holding a stack of bills. He had a pleased expression on his face. Then Tom laughed, a sound that fill my heart with joy.

"Hey man," he said "can I come in?" By then I had gathered my wits enough to say

"Of course!" and usher him in. To see your idol, unconscious was one thing, but to meet, talk and interact with them, is a completely different thing. I was flustered, to say the least. Not to mention the fact that I had kissed him? While he was unconscious? Ya. I was really freaking out. Tom came in and closed the door behind us. "Umm" I said stupidly "would you like to sit down?" There were only the four beds in the room, but Tom nodded and sat down anyway, on Owen's bed. As I sat down on mine, he began to speak.

"First," Tom said looking straight at me "I want to thank you for saving my life. If it wasn't for you Jacob, I would be at the bottom of the river. I would like to give you something, for what you did."

"Tom, I don't want anything from you. I did what I did and my reward is that you survived." The edge of his mouth curled up.

"I've been told that you are a big fan. Marvel is giving me a week to recover and I think I'd be bored out of my mind just sitting and doing nothing. So I thought that you would like to come over to my place for the next few days. So I could get to know the person who is responsible for saving my life."

"What?" I blurted.

Tom was asking me to stay with him. It was a dream come true. But my answer was "I h-have homework" Jacob you stuttering idiot. I had just quoted Peter's line from Captain America: Civil War. Tom's eyes lit up as he grinned at me.

"You are a fan! I talked to Mr. Daniels, and he said you would be excused from the concert."

Tom stood up "Can you be ready by nine tomorrow and I'll pick you up? We will have the whole week."

"What should I bring?" I asked.

"Just clothes and stuff" Tom turned to leave but I stopped him

"Wait! Can I get your autograph?"

"Sure thing, got a pen?" Dammit, I cursed under my breath. The only thing I had in the hotel room was my science homework.

"Yeah," I said, handing him my pen and the worksheet filled with calculations "this is all I have." Tom wrinkled up his nose

"Science, I was never any good that." He signed my homework and passed it back, then held out his hand. I was slightly shocked but I took hold and shook. "Nice meeting you Jacob, see you tomorrow." I nodded

"See you the then." He left closing the door behind him. And through the the wood, I could hear the sound of camera shutters, and people talking.

********************************

I spent the next five minutes in the hotel room hyperventilating and stressing out. I had just met my favorite person on this planet, shook his hand, which by the way, was firm, soft and smooth at the same time, and had him invite me over to spend the whole week with him. I'm not entirely sure how I managed to not drop dead on the floor, but after what seemed like hours, I could walk from one end of the room, to the other without passing out.

Our hotel room was on the corner so it had a large balcony that looked out over Venice. I opened the balcony door and stepped out into the fresh air. It felt so much better to be able to breathe again and I sat down on one of the leisure chairs with relief. I sat there for awhile just enjoying the view, but my peace was interrupted by my phone going off. It was a text from Anna.

'Wow! U get all the luck!'

'What do u mean?' I texted back.

'Look on social media' was the reply. I went into Instagram and all over there were the pictures of Tom at my hotel room and me opening the door.

'Don't u wish u were confined 2 the premises now, don't u?' I texted

'humph' was all I got in return.

I had a quiet laugh to myself as I went back inside to pack. I didn't bring to much with me on the trip, but it had been enough fill a large suitcase, my backpack and a carry on bag, plus my band instrument. I guess I could have left the carry on at home because it was almost exclusively filled with books, but I had decided to bring them anyways. My bags were now all sitting empty under my bed along with those of my friends. Our hotel room had two closets, a four drawer dresser, and four beds in the main room and there was a nice sized bathroom connected as well. I pulled out my suitcase from under my bed, zipped it open, and then turned to face the closets. The next few hours of my day were spent grabbing clothes and putting them, as neatly as I could, which was a mess to say the least, into my suitcase. I ended up packing about two thirds of my overall clothing, and leaving the rest. I also, after much consideration, decided to bring my swimsuit on the grounds that it never hurt to be prepared. When I had finally finished packing, I lay down on my bed and closed my eyes.

I was awoken by the sound of the door opening. I pulled out my phone to check the time. 5:30 PM.

"Well, well, well" said Daniel "looks like you've done more than school work."

"How was he?" Asked Andrew. "He was just like I imagined he'd be" I replied.

"Did ya get his autograph?" Asked Owen.

"I did, as a matter of fact. But that's not all." I tilted my head toward my packed suitcase. They looked confused. I sighed "Tom invited me to spend the week with him."

"No way!" Exclaimed Owen and Daniel eyes widened. "There is no way on earth that a celebrity actor would invite a random person to stay with them, for a week!" Spluttered Owen. Daniel was still staring at me in disbelief, but Andrew who had remained quiet until now, muttered

"But Jacob isn't a random person, he saved Tom's life." Once they had all calmed down, my friends kept asking me to tell them what it was like when I got back, and I told them I'd do my best. We went down to dinner and then back up to bed, and as I fell asleep, I thought about what lay in store for tomorrow.