Chapter 14. Here we go. I'd just like to let you guys know that this story is turning out to be quite a bit longer than I had initially anticipated. But whatevs. So long as you keep reading, I'll keep writing. It's a give and take relationship like that.

This chapters is short. But look there at the chapter title. See that? That's foreshadowing for the next chapter. Shits gonna go dooowwwwwn! :p

Disclaimer: Consider it disclaimed.

By the time they had reached Alex's house, Tom was tired and out of breath. Alex, who was more used to… achem "physical exertion", laughed and poked fun at his friend for it.

And that earned him a prompt swat upside the head.

Jack was home by the time they got there, out in the yard raking leaves.

"Jack, we're home!" Alex called, dropping his backpack in its usual spot, nestled against the wall. Tom flopped onto the couch and propped his feet up on the coffee table, turning on the television and making it clear that he had no intentions of leaving the house (or the couch, for that matter) any time soon.

"I'll be in in a minute, kiddo, lemme just finish this up out here!" Jack yelled in from the back of the house.

Alex stood between the living room and the kitchen, half-heartedly watching the channel that Tom had chosen. He reluctantly decided that he should probably go out and help Jack, so he zipped his jacket back up and stuffed his hands in its pockets. He rolled his shoulders and cracked his back, earning him a one-eyebrow-raised look from Tom. Alex stared back with a blank face until…

"…Can I help you?" Alex asked, after neither boy looked away.

"Your back sounds like popcorn."

"…What?"

"…I'm just hungry." Tom looked back at the television; laughing to himself as he remembered the last time the two tried to eat popcorn.

"Never. Again." Alex commented, obviously thinking the same thing. It had taken them quite some time to clean up all of that popcorn. And then a good deal of time more to get it out from the places it was ground into the carpet. "Well I'm going out in the yard to help Jack finish up the leaves. You can help yourself in the kitchen in you like."

Alex turned on his heel and plodded out to the back door. Tom looked to the kitchen, then down at the couch he was sitting on, then back into the kitchen.

If I just stare long enough, Tom considered … Maybe I can bring the food to me….

Upon hearing the muted 'snick' of the back door closing behind Alex, Tom settled for wiggling himself deeper into the couch, watching television until his friend came back.

Jack was standing in the grass which was slowly turning yellow in the increasingly cold weather. Her red hair was pulled up into a ponytail, but that was flying in every direction. Her blue jacket was fitted, but her jeans were oversized and baggy; perfect for yard-work.

"Oh, hey Alex!" Jack greeted cheerfully, as Alex stepped down off of the back stairs. She put the rake straight onto the ground and leaned casually against it with a genuine smile spreading itself across her face. "Whatcha doin out here?"

"Figured I'd help you out here." Alex said, picking up a large trash bag to put the leaves in. He continued walking toward Jack, shaking the bag out to open it up.

"Why?" Jack asked, shocked.

"Because it's polite!" Alex protested. He smiled and added "It would be rude to let a woman do all of this difficult yard work. I'm the man of the house."

"Right." Jack laughed, handing Alex the rake and taking the bag from him, "So what is it you want?"

"Want?" Alex looked offended. "Jack, I want nothing. I'm simply being chivalrous."

"Uh-huh." Jack said, unconvinced. "So I'll go in the house, get myself a drink, let you finish up raking, come back out and hold the bag while you shovel all the leaves into it. Sound good."

"Sounds perfect." Alex said, putting an evil twist on the word 'perfect'.

"Alright then. Here I go… walking toward the door. Leaving you to clean the yard. With you having asked for nothing. Your loss, my gain…. Half way there." She taunted.

"Fine!" Alex caved in, throwing the rake down.

"Uh-huh." Jack turned back around to face him, crossing her arms and leaning on one hip. She made no effort to hide her victory smirk. "So what do you want, kid?"

"A few people from the football team are going out to pizza and a movie tomorrow. Can I go?" Alex put on his best puppy-dog eyes… They were impressive, to say the least.

Jack was speechless for a moment. Of all the things she could think of that Alex might ask for, this was probably the one she would disregard. Alex hitting the social scene was not something she'd come to expect these years with him.
"…Oh!" Jack finally said eyebrows rising. "Um… Oh- okay," Jack managed to stammer out, "Just… Hold on, let's talk about this."

Alex shoved his hands into his jacket pockets, already having his argument prepared.

Though I'm not sure I'll need it… Alex thought to himself; after seeing how easily Jack approved.

"What do you want to talk about?" Alex asked, testing the waters.

"Well I just want to be clear on what's going on. I'm setting rules for you." Jack smiled, and the corner of Alex's lip twitched up in amusement as well. In all the years that Jack had been watching Alex, she had never once had to set any sort of rule for him. She was almost sure that Ian had established rules for him before she had arrived because Alex was so well behaved, but she had never actually heard them spoken of, so it was hard to be positive. And knowing Alex the way she did now, it was quite possible to believe that there were no guidelines or procedures that had ever been set in place for the boy. He never seemed to need them.

"So what do I have to do?" Alex said. He was just about as unfamiliar with rule-making a Jack was. He wasn't entirely sure what to expect from her…

Not that it matters all that much, Alex pondered, I suppose if I need to break one of these rules…Well… not a problem…

"Um… I guess we'll start with a curfew then." Jack contemplated, "Saaayy… Ten thirty?" She phrased it like a question.

"Eleven?" Alex pushed. Hey; if he was getting normal teenager rules; he was going to be bothersome about them like a normal teenager.

"Ten forty five; take it or leave it." Jack bargained.

"Done. What else?" Alex snapped quickly; following along with the auction styled quick haggling.

"Movies: PG 13, nothing past that. Nothing rated R, clear?"

"But Jack! I-"

"Nope! I know you've seen some whacked out stuff, but the rest of these boys haven't. PG 13, that's all."

"Fine. What next?"

"How are you getting there?"

"Probably the tube."

"Fine. But that's all. Don't get in the car with anyone I haven't approved of."

"Not even parents?"

"You know, at another time I might say yes, but what with all this 'wanting to kill you' panic, just… just take the tube. There are plenty of witnesses on the tube."

Alex sighed. He really doubted he'd have any trouble with his friends' mothers trying to kill him. Usually they just… baked him brownies or something.

"Alright. Only the tube," Alex promised, if only to pacify Jack. They only planned to take the tube anyway; no rides from parents. So might as well just agree to Jacks terms and move on.

"And lastly!" Jack proclaimed loudly, "I want you carrying a weapon."

Alex raised an eyebrow.

"Jack, you're the only guardian in Europe, possible in the entire world, who happily tells their fourteen year old boy to carry a weapon to the movies with his friends."

"Yes, and you're the only fourteen year old boy in Europe, possibly the whole world, who has to worry about being the target of an international terrorist organization. So it works out."

"…Touché." Alex admitted. "So that's all? I can go?"

"Yes, you can go. On one condition."

Alex narrowed his eyes. Jack may be sweet and loving and all that; but she was pretty damn conniving when she wanted to be.

"Name your price."

"You have to finish raking the leaves." Jack picked up the rake and handed it to Alex. "Rake 'em into a nice pile, put them in the bag, set them on the curb." She started to walk inside. "I expect it'll take about thirty minutes. Imunna go make myself a sandwich."

"Tom is inside by the way." Alex suddenly remembered at the mention of food.

Jack didn't hesitate, "Alright, so I'll make like, six sandwiches. One for me, one for you, a four for Tom…We should start charging him."

Alex shook his head, laughing, and got to work cleaning the yard.

The next day at school, everything went as smoothly as it had the past week. Alex had made it through the whole school day, bored but successful nonetheless. He had handed in all of the homework assignments that he and Tom had finished the day before; and received the grades from his last two exams. To his delight; he did very well.

Amazing concept, Alex thought to himself in mock surprise, if you're actually around to go to classes… you understand what's going on. And then… you do well on tests… Crazy…

So sitting in final hour chemistry class; Alex classified this day: success.

"Don't forget;" Mr. Brink called out to the class before the bell rand, "Your labs are all due Monday. I want no excuses; got that? You either have it or you don't. I don't want to hear anything about how your mom made you go to your grandmother's house, or how you lost it, or anything like that. Just hand it in." The kids had begun to pack their bags while he was speaking, and they now were scattered around the room; some waiting in their seats; some standing next to their friends so they could talk. Kyle approached Alex.

"So, will you be joining us tonight?" He asked, leaning his hand on the smooth black lab table.

"Yeah," Alex said happily, "Just let me know when and where."

Kyle smiled, "We'll probably meet by the pizza place on the corner of Stony Hills Bend at six. We can all eat there, and then catch the tube to the theater on Dusty Creek lane. You know, the one over by the edge of town?"

Alex let his smile falter for a moment; but recovered before anyone could possibly have noticed. He wasn't a spy for nothing. "Alright, sounds great," Alex lied.

"Alright, cool. So we'll see you there." Kyle shouldered his bag and the bell rang. "Later, Alex!" Kyle called back.

"Later." Alex replied. He began packing his own backpack; as he hadn't done so earlier. Tom slapped his hands down on Alex's notebook as he was about to pick it up from the table.

"Alex, good sir!" Tom proclaimed.

"…Yes?" Alex looks up at his friend.

"What was that look just before?" Tom asked.

Alex was silently impressed. He had forgotten just how observant Tom could be. And immediately after that thought; Alex was silently a strange combination of worry and anger. Alex unconsciously reached up and took a little lock of his blonde hair between his pointer finger and thumb. Sometimes; it wasn't such a good thing to notice so much. Especially with a death threat looming in the air.

"You're thinking about something," Tom pointed, "You only rub your hair between your fingers like that when you're worried."

"Stop noticing things, Tom." Alex said bluntly; taking his hand away from his hair as soon as Tom made it clear that he wasn't oblivious to the nervous habit. Alex pulled his notebook out from under Tom's hand. Tom gave him a blank stare. Alex continued, "It's going to get you into trouble. You become a target when you know too much."

"I thought we agreed that I was already a target," said Tom, "That's why I've got these erasers in my pocket."

"Right, and as such, you don't want to make yourself any more of a target." Alex rose from his chair and the two began out of the classroom and down the hall. "Or at least play dumb." Alex corrected. "It's good to know what's going on around you. It not good for others to know you know."

"Alex," Tom smirked back, "I've already mastered this technique. Do you think I'd have gotten away with half the things I've gotten away with in my life if I didn't know how to act dumb?"

"Touché, Tom. Touché." Alex smiled. His friend was right, and he knew it. Tom was the poster-child for mischief. Not only that; he was the poster child for creating chaos, and then putting on an innocent face. He was tactical.

"But anyway, what was that about?" Tom repeated the question.

"The theater we're going to is near the outside of town. I'm not really supposed to leave, you know? I'm supposed to stay in town. It's just cutting it kind of close is all." Alex pushed open the door to the outside; where sunlight beamed into his eyes. He squinted after spending an entire six hours in the florescent lights of school.

"So you think it's a bad idea to go?" Tom asked, sitting on the railing and sliding down all ten steps at once. He turned around once he reached the bottom to look at Alex, who was calmly plodding down one stair at a time.

"I don't know, to be honest. I mean, technically, I won't be leaving town. And I'll be with the whole football team. And since they're all students here, it might even be a good idea that I go. The threat wasn't made to me specifically. It was made to the entire school. So technically they're targets as well. And if they're all together, they're like one big pack. One big target. So like I said; maybe it's a good idea that I go. To protect them and all." Alex began to unlock his bike.

"Well," Tom said, already sitting on his bike, arms crossed and waiting. "It's your choice Alex. I, personally, am not qualified to make national security decisions. But if you want my opinion, I can't see the harm in going."

"I know. I'm just being careful, is all." Alex swung his leg over the bike seat and immediately began to peddle toward his house. "So!" He continued, looking back over his shoulder to talk to Tom, "Will you be coming to my house until later, or going home?"

"Might as well go to your house and get my homework done for the weekend. There's no way I'll get anything done at home with the yelling going on in my house."

"Sounds good," Alex commented, flipping his hair back from his eyes. "Let's get going then." He pushed harder on his peddles and sped down the road toward his house with Tom following behind.

Short, sweet, to the point. Originally, this and the chapter that will follow were one big chapter, but it wound up being way too much for one chapter. So. Next time, there will be:

KAPOW!

Awesomeness!

Or at least that's the plan. Wish me luck.

Oh, also, today someone informed me that in Britain, when someone says "Knock me up in the morning." It means like... You know, knock on the door and wake me up. I was shocked. Because here, if someone says "Knock me up" it means 'get me pregnant.'

Like "Oh! He got her knocked up!"

AKA: "Oh! He got her pregnant!"

So there you go. Interesting fact of the day.

So please review, say no to drugs and alcohol, and stay in school. That is all. THANK YOU AND I LOVE YOU ALL!