A/N: Sorry this took a while, but seriously, I have nothing else to say other than the fact I was busy as hell.

#SchoolSucks

Chapter 15: Dinner at Le Expensive

Marco awoke to a knocking sound, consistent as a woodpecker on a bark tree.

The beat of the knocking on his door went at a constant rhythm, then stopped, only for the knocking to continue at a different rhythm. He rubbed his eyes.

"I'm coming, I'm coming," he shouted at the door, getting up and unlocking his phone. It was ten minutes before the phone alarm was set to go off. Great. Hopefully his visitor would an hour and ten minutes for him.

Marco opened the door and breathed deeply.

Do these people have to come by at this hour, Marco thought to himself, thinking of the many salesmen who passed his door in the last couple of days.

He swung over the door and opened it to Jackie Lynn Thomas, who was looking rather glum, stroking her blonde hair. Marco's reaction immediately changed from a hostile to a more somber one. He immediately took back his previous thought and cleared up his for Jackie.

"Um," he murmured, not knowing what to say or do, "Hey, er, Jackie! Come in!"

Jackie followed Marco closely, not murmuring a word to him as Marco ushered her to the couch. As Jackie sat, still silent and clearly worried about something, Marco went over the fridge to accommodate his new guest.

"So, Jackie," Marco said, pointing right at her with a smile, putting his confident bravado on himself, "Need any refreshments?"

"Nah," Jackie said, her suavity and coolness somehow suppressed, Marco had sensed.

"Alright," Marco said, clapping his hands together and looking right at her from the kitchen. Jackie was staring at the television, somehow avoiding her friend's brown eyes. "Well, I gotta go out for a special workplace dinner in several hours, so if you have something to tell me, make it quick."

Jackie sat in silence, staring into a deep abyss in time. She then nodded her head down, bursting into tears as her hands covered her eyes.

"I-I got kicked out," she replied as tears streamed down from her face. Marco was stunned as he stroked his friend's back.

"K-kicked out," he stammered, "What do you mean?"

"My dad," Jackie blubbered, "He k-k-kicked me out, and told me to stop being lazy, and get a job, I-I-I, I dunno,"

Marco ignored everything around him and focused on the wailing Jackie. He never really had experience with any sort of emotional support, so he felt awkward as he stroked Jackie's back. The man questioned himself as to whether or not that he should've moved his hand from her back or stay on it. To him, this first experience was awkward. He had never seen Jackie cry before, of all the times they had crossed in the years.

Although Marco was often awkward at times, he still remembered something that his mother had told him a long time ago.

'Marco, no matter if the person's your friend or another girl, never make them cry, and never talk when they cry unless they're talking to you. The best thing that you can do is to stay quiet, pretend to agree with whatever they say, and let them talk."

And so he did. Marco sat like a stone on the couch, not moving except for his non-static hand that was caressing her back as he talked as she propped her head on his shoulder. Jackie's tears had died down suddenly, but her face was still significantly wet. As she sniffled the rest of her emotions from her system.

"Marco," Jackie sniffled, finally speaking to her friend, acknowledging they were in the same room for once, "I'm a liar. I'm a- oh, I'm just a big, fat liar. I told you things to make myself look-sniff- better... I'm just one lying, cheating, son of a.."

Before the last word came out, she coughed a little bit as Marco gave her a few pats on her back, allowing her to exhale deeply and take her own breath back. She continued her rambling right after.

"I mean, you know how I told you a few days ago that I was taking an Civil Engineering course in Echo Creek College?" she reminisced, looking directly at Marco. He nodded.

"That was the first time I lied to you," she cried, looking sincere in her actions. "I was taking the course when, y'know, the work started all piling up. Pretty soon it became too much and I dropped out. And every time we met, I keep telling you the same story, 'I'm taking the course', and 'everything's fine', but it's really not fine. Now it's come down to this-"

A few sniffs and gagging came from the blonde girl, only for the Hispanic to continue trying to be the strong Roman pillar for her to lean on.

"Like," she continued rambling, "I had nowhere to go. You were the only person I could-*sniff*-think of. I mean, my dad's a big fat jerk and everything, but even then t-there's that feeling that you screwed up. I did it. I screw everything up, heck, I'm even gonna make you late for whatever dinner you have."

"Now, now," Marco assured her, "Don't say that. Dinner's in an hour. In fact, I'm inviting you to come to dinner with me, just to relax for a while. We'll think about what to do afterwards."

"Y-you sure the guys at work won't mind," Jackie asked, stroking her hand.

"Nah, pretty sure they could arrange something,"

"A-alright, I'll go,"

Right then and there, the blonde girl wrapped the boy in a strong hug and gave him a small peck on the cheek, which Marco was taken aback by. Jackie's face was red and puffy from tears, and she was still sniffling, but seemed to feel better than before.

"I don't know what I could do without a friend like you," she said softly, her face pressed against the bigger man's shoulders. "I should be returning the favours."

Marco smiled, but still kept silent as Jackie kept close to Marco. The two stayed on the couch for the remainder of the time.

The short road trip was uneventful, with Jackie reminiscing her own day's events, and trying to calm down from what had happened. Marco's car was revving through the many residential streets in the late evening, as the sun was setting.

"Marco," Jackie asked, looking right out of the road.

"Yeah," Marco replied, his eyes still peeled on the road.

Jackie's eyes had lit up when Marco made a right turn onto a dimly lit suburban street, seeing a green street sign read WESSON COURT in bold white letters.

"Where are we going," Jackie asked as Marco's car zoomed past several residential areas of Echo Creek. "You're not taking me back home, are you?"

Marco had totally forgotten to tell Jackie about Connor.

"Wha- Oh, no, no, no, Jackie," Marco stammered, flinging his free hand up, "Of course I wouldn't do that. I need to pick up, uh, a friend who also lives on this street! Yeah!"

Although Marco wasn't totally convinced that Jackie believed him, he was still accepting of the girl's quiet response that came right after the answer. Still keeping his eyes on the dim road, while the inner workings of his mind was fitting together a puzzle piece, analyzing the current situation. Marco thinking about a creative spark to wittily respond to the young woman, but wasn't sure if the quote would be in the right time or context.

The rest of the car ride stayed relatively hushed, the car revving through the housing area, eventually parking right in the gravel-laden driveway of house number thirty-two.

Marco texted each key on his smartphone like clockwork and set it down, waiting patiently for his fellow co-worker to get ready. Occasionally, Marco would look at Jackie, who was curled up in a small ball in the seat next to him, whimpering slightly in pain. Jackie's lips were sealed completely, as did Marco's.

"Why is life so difficult?" Jackie wailed with her hand on her head. Marco didn't know what to even say. He knew that silence was the best response in this situation, but yet again felt horrible for giving her the silent treatment. Yet again, the Hispanic deduced that rules were meant to be shattered into little fragments, anyways. He opened his mouth.

"I know, Jackie," Marco replied, stroking her hair lightly. "I know. But we're gonna find a way to get around this, right?"

Marco almost had the urge to slap his mouth shut because he wasn't certain about the legitimacy of the promise he had just made. Luckily the safe answer from his friend washed away his regret.

"I guess, Marco." Jackie replied. Just about then, Marco turned in surprise after hearing a knock on his car door. It was Connor Martin, standing in a typical black tux and red tie. Marco admitted it looked rather good on him.

To accommodate his friend, Marco changed his sadistic look into a grin and greeted him. "Yo, Connor."

"What's going on, Marco," Connor said quietly, scuffing his hair to make sure it was neat. He looked past Marco and saw the blonde girl curled up on the passenger seat. He hesitated for a second, caught off guard by the other person next to the driver. "Um..."

"Oh," Marco screeched, looking at the person next to him. He gestured "Connor, this is Jackie Lynn Thomas, Jackie, this is Connor Martin."

"Well, erm," Connor said, looking at the person in the passenger's seat. "Pleasure to meet you too."

"You too," Jackie muttered quietly, still shaken from the events of before. Marco saddled out of his car and pushed his driver's seat forward. He made a lead-in gesture to his friend.

"After you," Marco smirked, to which Connor crammed himself into the back of the car. "Apologies for the crammed room."

Marco folded back the seat, got in, and revved his car, rapidly pulling out of the driveway. The rest of the car ride was rather awkward with a moping young woman, an rather introverted, nerdy co-worker hogging the back seat, trying to clam up to make his way into a conversation.

The car pulled up to the large restaurant, a tan brick building with a yellow sign above, with red cursive letters reading Le Expensive on it. Marco was baffled to see a wave of people blockading the front door.

"Really," Marco cried, pulling into a vacant parking spot.

"Don't worry about it, Marco," Connor replied, "My dad booked reservations."

As the three of them got out of the car, Marco looked at Jackie, who was surprisingly still shaken by then. Light blue mascara had streamed down her face, and the marks still showed. All Marco did in the situation was pull her body in closer to his and wrap his arm around her shoulder. She smiled briefly as the three of them went in.

"Look over there," Connor said, gesturing towards a young woman with long lustrous brown hair, which was tied back into a small ponytail. She was wearing a dark green US army uniform and standing in position in front of the door. A few other men in green army suits were around them as well.

"Does your dad need the army for his little dinner," Marco whispered. "Sounds pretty extreme for a simple pick-up and go."

"What can you really say," Connor said, smirking. "You know how extreme he can get."

Once the three young adults managed to bump and shove their way through the seemingly endless crowd of people, Connor found the Explorer Corporation's secretary and both he and Marco showed the secretary a small Explorer workplace ID card. She led them past the chaotic main hall and into a private room.

Flushed out with a red carpet, the room was rather large. A brown stage platform overlooked the many white-sheeted tables and chairs. Marco saw several Explorer employees and their families sitting at respective tables, chatting away, creating an atmospheric buzz throughout the room. Many employees, identifiable by their Explorer Corporation ID Cards on everyone's chest pouch, were present, as well as a few journalists from papers that Marco recognized. The Los Angeles Times, The Echo Creek Daily, and many other news sources around the Echo Creek area. Throughout the chaos, the luminous person standing in the center of the room caught the trio's attention, the Explorer CEO himself, James Martin, wearing a Tuxedo with a rose pinned on his lapel.

"Ahoy, my heir has arrived with his cohorts," he said excitedly. "And I can see that he has brought a lovely beau with him as well."

James approached the group and looked right at the blonde Jackie Lynn Thomas, grabbing her by the arms tightly. Jackie winced and shook a little bit. Connor blushed immensely. Marco stared blankly at the young man, unable to process any external noises and speak for himself. James remained oblivious and kept speaking.

"I don't believe I've ever seen you before," James said, looking at Jackie, "Connor, have you been keeping secrets from me?"

Marco broke out of his trance and quickly interrupted, as Connor had his face down. "No, Mr. Martin. This is my childhood friend, Jackie Lynn Thomas. She just wanted a visit around the place."

James gave him a forced grin and gave him a joking, light punch in the arm. "Classic Marco, Obviously I was just joking! You think my little hatchling can woo a beautiful dove without his old folks knowing? Well, that does happen with birds, but you get the point..."

James started walking away to the black curtain behind the center stage, while calling out to them, "Pleasure to meet you Jackie, and I hope you all enjoy the show! Bye son."

As James disappeared behind the curtain, Connor kept his hand in front of his face, covering his beet red face.

"Sorry bout that, Jackie," the glasses-wearing man muttered, "My dad's kinda, erm..."

"Nah it's fine," Jackie shrugged, then turning her mouth right to Marco's ear, "He almost managed to cheer me up."

Marco quickly led Jackie and Connor to the only vacant table near the end of the room. They slumped down in their respective chairs as Connor started pouring glasses of water from a pitcher placed on the table. Marco took a small sip of water.

"Seriously," Marco replied calmly, "I don't see what Mr. Martin could've invented that would be so great."

"Maybe he's just congratulating us for the first phase of the military armour, or maybe he's bringing the Banagic Wand back into production," Connor shrugged. Marco pointed right at Connor, smirking.

"That," Marco replied, "That would be totally worth a fancy dinner."

The room fell silent as several militia, including the brown-haired woman from earlier, walked past the tables with everyone staring right at them. Everyone stared at the green-coated soldiers departed into the black curtain from behind the stage. The Explorer secretary from before emerged from the curtain and spoke at the podium placed in the center of the wooden stage.

"Good evening, and thank you for attending this important occasion," The black-haired, blue-eyed woman spoke. "First, I believe that we should acknowledge our beloved CEO and founder of the Explorer Corporation, who has now run the company in its tenth year of running. Explorer has covered many fields in the past years, including medical breakthroughs with medicine, household appliances... The possibilities are endless and for Explorer, they will stay like this for ten years running. As Explorers, we have the capability to discover everything possible within the capabilities of our Earth. Today, though, our CEO will talk about another realm that we have seemingly conquered."

Several cheers were held at the back and the secretary allowed these cheers to echo through the room. Once they had subsided. She began her introduction, "Ladies and Gentlemen, may I present you with the prestigious West Coast Tech alumni, as well as the CEO and Founder of the Explorer Corporation, James Alexander Martin!"

Cheers had overtaken the crowd fully as James stepped out from the black curtains, smiling politely at his employees and waving cheerfully. The secretary passed James the microphone swiftly before descending into the black curtain abyss. As James stepped up to a podium, he ruffled his long black hair and did a simple inhale followed by an exhale. Thus, he began.

"I think Isabella said it best herself," he said, acknowledging his secretary's introduction, "Explorer has come quite a long way in ten years. Ten long years. Wasn't it in-I think-only Year Two when we still figuring out how to make bananas become a frozen delicacy! I remember we still marketed it with all of those 'as seen on TV' logos plastered on the box. Everyone, and I mean, everyone, expected Explorer to burn away with all those other infomercial companies."

James paused and raised his arms slightly, "We sure managed to show the doubters, non-believers, and in simpler terms, haters, eh?"

A few people cheered at the back of the room with James's weak attempt at a motivational speech, but he remained undeterred by the reception he had received nonetheless. He even raised his hands, expecting an applause. When the man hadn't gotten it, James continued.

"Speaking of expectations," James said, backing away from the podium and walking his way around the thing. "I want every one of you in the audience today to think of something in your mind. Something that somebody, I don't know, your parents, your relatives, I don't know, somebody, who told you something does not exist and will cease to exist."

Marco rolled his eyes in the crowd. He had fought inter-dimensional monsters since he was fourteen years old, befriended a magical princess from another dimension, and even traveled to crazy dimensions that he had never heard of before. To him, this quote was obviously nothing but a stone-faced lie. He turned to Connor and Jackie, whose faces were still glued to James Martin in the spotlight, concentrating deeply on James's speech.

"When I was a young boy," James's voice boomed through his microphone. "My father, James Martin Senior, always told me that anything was possible; mere dreams and ambitions played like clockwork in one's head could turn into a reality, with hard work and determination of course. But one thing he did not believe could ever exist was sorcery. The times as a kid where I would pretend to be a knight in shining armour-with cardboard swords and armour-to rescue a princess from a fire-breathing dragon, my father always told me these things were magic and sorcery. It was all a load of bull. Eventually, I did what everyone else did and grew up. I accepted that these magical fantasies wouldn't come true. Anyone else can relate?"

Many cheered in response to James's rhetorical question. Marco, Jackie, and Connor stayed in their seats, still unimpressed, wanting to see where long, convoluted speech was going.

James was ruffling through his pocket now. "Well, today, I am going to create the suspension of disbelief, my friends." He pulled out his smartphone and showed it for the whole audience to see.

"These smartphones have been the center-point of the twenty-first century," James said, "Heck, growing up in the eighties, I still don't understand them. Nowadays you can't even live without one. We are so gosh-darn plugged into the mini virtual universe known as the Internet and I've noticed that it's become a drug over the years. Like, seriously."

Now he had gotten everyone's attention, but not everyone in the crowd seemed quite convinced. James kept talking excitedly, waving his arms. "That got me thinking though. The other thing that has involved besides technology and the Internet was definitely science. Everyday the scientists are always discovering new species of animals, new elements to add to the Periodic Table of Elements, and best of all, new ways to reinvent the world! With the gods of science by my side, I have created one of the greatest smartphone add-ons that the world has ever seen."

James rummaged through his pockets again and pulled out a small pink gem with what seemed to be a smartphone port attached to the end of it. He held it up for the whole audience to see, with a ton of oohs and aahs from the audience were amazed merely by the looks of the pink gem. Marco's eyes widened from his table as he looked at the shape of the pink gem. It looked awfully familiar, the gem looked heart shaped like one of those wand chargers from Quest Buy.

"I give you, my newest invention, the MagicX Phone Charger," James plucked the smartphone port of the pink gem into the back of his own smartphone and held it up with one arm. Marco and Connor looked at it in awe.

"Now, I know many of you will not believe me. Trust me, this is a lot to take in right away," James yelled, taking in the stunned reactions within the crowd. "But this is pure magic. Everything you wanted from your own childhood fantasies! Even better, it has many applications... Let me explain how this works:"

James began tapping the screen on his phone until a white screen projecter hovered from behind him and showed the audience exactly what was happening with his smartphone screen. There was an application on the phone that was named, MAGICX, with a blue logo with a wand on it.

"With the app and the MagicX Charger, you can literally produce live magic with your own smartphone," James said, "Now, I want to give you a sneak peek of some of the many magic spells that this thing can produce, something that won't harm anybody."

He whistled for his secretary, Isabella, who carried a small green turtle in a cage, which looked petrified from inside the cage. James approached the cage and opened a small bar hatch, letting the small petrified turtle crawl out onto the stage.

"Now, you will witness magic. Live magic," James replied. Marco rolled his eyes from a distance. "I will officially use my own smartphone to make this turtle catch fire!"

"Your dad's officially lost it," Marco whispered, giggling like a school-girl to Connor and Jackie, causing both of them to smile.

James took his smartphone and pointed it right at the turtle, pressing a button on the app that read VOICE COMMAND ACTIVATE.

"Minor Blazing Fire Blast!" he called out, pointing his phone right at the turtle. For a second, nothing happened, and a small jeer erupted from the back. Many were disappointed by where this 'magic trick' was leading.

The pink gem began to glow a bright vapid red colour. From the pink gem, a burst of light particles fired right at the turtle, leaving a small blast of smoke around the turtle. When the smoke died down, the turtle's shell was indeed, engulfed by flames, its dead corpse leaving the turtle plopped on the ground. James then rushed to get a fire extinguisher. He smeared white particles onto the turtle, killing the blaze as well as the poor animal scorched by the flames.

The audience gasped but were also amazed at the same time. A mixed wave of cheers and gasps emerged from the cloud of employees. Marco was stunned by what he was watching, his eyes wide with excitement.

"Wha," Marco said, looking right at his two comrades. "D-did that just happen?"

"Now, let's not end this on a somber note, shall we," James said, pointing the phone right at the turtle's corpse, "Animal Spirit Restore!"

The pink gem worked again, releasing a photon of light which hit the corpse. The turtle's burnt shell had been magically repaired, and it was now crawling in a fancy mint condition. James put the resurrected animal back in the cage as Isabella picked the cage up and diverged back behind the stage through the curtain. James shoved his phone along with the MagicX charger into his tuxedo pocket.

James turned his attention back to the stage and started speaking aloud. "Erm, more will be unveiled at the InnoTech convention in Los Angeles in two weeks. Trust me, you have seen nothing yet, my friends! Um. Nothing else to say really. Erm. Enjoy the feast."

A fair number of the employees, as well as journalists from the meeting, arose from their seats raising their hands, peppering the CEO with questions, but he declined all of them, leaning right into the black curtain behind the stage.

Marco was stuck to his seat, as though glue kept his bum tightly in place. He didn't even care what was being served for dinner. He felt his arms shake, and he lost all sight of his own surroundings.

"Well Connor, you were right about the wand part, but it sure wasn't anything banagic." shivered Marco.