A/N: Last chapter...nobody's said anything about whether they want me to write a sequel or not so maybe I won't...oh well...
Thanks for the reviews, guys!
TwistedSister1962: All your questions should be answered in this chapter. If they aren't, then...I really don't know what to tell you. But thanks for reading and dropping a review, because I love reviews. There's nothing more exciting than getting a review for your story. I'm sure you know all about that, though. I'm not quite certain what you mean by being a contempory...wait...unless you mean contemporary of Victor Pearson in regards to age in which case...yeah, no...you're older than me. I'm just used to being a lot older than most of the people that review my stories.
Jenna's Rules: I was actually thinking I should give a betterexplanation as to why Josie could see Lucas, but I didn't because I figured the one I gave was good enough. Besides, the science club members were satisfied with it. The black hole does work in mysterious ways, after all. I'm glad you're happy with this story, and in regards to your new story, as soon as I'm finished posting this, I'm off to read and review it! I was pretty fond of that line "N-E-R-D 32 point geek, all Lucas all the time" too. I wish I knew how you could pick up that station...because you know what I'd be tuned into. I'm sorry this is the last chapter...I do have a sequel in mind, but I wonder if anyone would be interested...I probably won't have time to write it anyways.
Krysten: You don't normally review? Oh, I see, so you're one of those...j/k. I'm glad you found my story worthy enough to review...this is actually a little tame in the emotions department from me...I was trying to focus on making it a bit more in the atmosphere of the show, you know, lighthearted. I really hope you review again. It is, after all, the greatest gift you can give an author...especially one who's story you think is "incredible" (hint, hint). Thanks for reading, and the review.
AngelD88: You think I'm a talented writer? That's so sweet! Are you sure you're not just trying to flatter me into a sooner update? I hope everyone is happy with the ending, because I really enjoyed writing this story. I don't usually have so much fun when writing! Don't get me wrong, I love writing...but I'm usually more serious with it than this lighthearted.
Babygirlblake: I hope you're still up reading, so you can read this update. But if you're sleeping, probably have school in the morning, it's here for you when you wake up. I don't know if I get all your questions answered in this last chapter, but I hope you still like the ending.
Whew, lot of reviewers on that one! Here's your guy's update.
ENJOY!
Chapter 10:
Josie stared horrified at the spot where Lucas had sat, her hand hovering in empty air.
"No," she breathed, before crying out, "Lucas!"
She bolted to her feet, racing for the door, her heart pounding in her chest. She raced from the school not even bothering with a hat or jacket, rain immediately pounding against her flesh and seeping through her clothes. She wiped the water from her eyes, glowering across the school grounds until she spotted the science club gathered around something. They seemed to be talking. She felt fear grip her heart, racing over to them.
"Did it work?" she screamed, "Did it…" she stopped, coming to a halt and scanning them. They were all looking at her as she came upon them. Professor Z, Vaughn, Marshall, and Corrine. They were looking at her with downcast eyes and silent faces. "Did it work?" she demanded, but she already sensed the worse.
A thousand thoughts raced through her mind. Lucas was gone. They were too late. Marshall and Vaughn couldn't get the body. They were caught leaving Pearadyne, or Professor Z's equipment wasn't set up correctly, or…
"You tell me," a voice spoke up, and the others parted.
Josie couldn't pull her eyes off the boy sitting, just as soaked as her, on the wet grass staring up. He was without glasses, his hair matted to his head, his clothes sticking to his thin form. She felt her heart skip a beat and before she knew it, she leapt forward, throwing her arms about his neck, nearly bowling the both of them over from the force.
"Oof," he grunted from the impact. She scrambled back, releasing him as the other's broke into laughter and her cheeks flushed.
"I'm sorry," she told him quickly, unable to stop the grin on her face.
"Don't worry, Josie," Marshall assured her, "We all glommed him too."
"We?" Corrine teased, "No, Marshall, that was actually really just you."
"Uh…guys?" Lucas questioned, looking between Marshall and Vaughn, "Why does my head hurt…" he was gently running his fingers over his forehead, "And where did this bump come from?" Vaughn and Marshall looked nervously amongst one another and Professor Z cleared his throat as the others laughed again.
"Why don't we all get inside before we catch pneumonia," he suggested, "We'll take some hot showers, get some warm clothes on and I suggest getting some sleep. I'm going to have a talk with Durst about Lucas…I suspect she knows he isn't dead and will undoubtedly have a great deal of questions about what happened and why he's suddenly back. I think it's best if I handle all of that. I'm eager to make sure everything's in fine working order with you, Lucas, but I think you're due for a well deserved rest. Just come by my office tomorrow morning."
There were no arguments as Corrine and Marshall helped Josie and Lucas to their feet and they rushed up the steps into Blake Holsey, slapping Lucas over the shoulder and chuckling together. They took long hot showers each, unabashedly using up all the hot water in the building before changing into clean clothes. It was a couple hours later when Josie stepped from her room without a certain destination in mind. She found Lucas sitting at the top of the stairs and slowly approached him, taking a seat. He glanced at her, smiling faintly, a new pair of glasses resting neatly on the bridge of his nose.
"It's a good thing you've always got spares," she commented, pointing at the frames. He nodded.
"You never know when you'll need a new pair here at Black Hole High," he joked.
"I thought it was because you had a tendency to get picked on by bullies," she replied, batting her lashes at him. He scowled at her.
"Ouch. That was uncalled for," he muttered.
"Sorry," she said, looking to her feet. They were silent. Lucas shifted, leaning back and staring up at the ceiling.
"I never realized how free we really are in this school," he stated and Josie gave him a strange look.
"Are you out of your mind?"
"Not anymore," he grinned at her. She rolled her eyes.
"I mean, are you insane? Here at school, we're more trapped than anything," she cried, "We have no freedom. We're stuck here, like little mice in a maze."
"I guess it's hard to see it from that perspective anymore after not being able to leave the science lab for four days," he told her with a heavy sigh, "You have no idea how frustrating it was."
"You mean…like how frustrating it is being short enough as it is, and then shrinking down to an even more abnormal size," Josie retorted.
"What about being a nerd everyday of your life and being every bullies personal punching bag only to one day have your DNA altered giving you the backbone to stick up to the bullies only for your friends to change you back just as your about to take on that bully?" Lucas shot back.
"We were just trying to save you from getting clobbered," Josie hissed, "But I get it…we both have had it bad lately."
"Lately?"
"Okay, our lives suck," Josie relented. They both laughed a bit at that, "At least, now you know that we really do like having you around…right?"
"Yeah," Lucas answered, leaning forward to look down the stairs disinterestedly, "At least, I know none of you want me dead. Which is always a good thing."
"Did nothing I said sink in with you?" Josie demanded.
"What are you talking about?" Lucas questioned, looking confusedly at her.
"What I said…about…" she frowned, "You don't remember."
"The last several hours before you guys got me back to normal, well…it's all kind of fuzzy," Lucas admitted, shrugging, "What did you say?" Josie cleared her throat.
"Nothing really important," she stammered, looking away a bit flustered. They fell silent again, Lucas deciding not to press the matter. Suddenly, Josie took his hand with her own. He's really there, she told herself, heart pounding in her chest, he's not gone, he's really there.
"Uh…Josie…" Lucas murmured, and she glanced at him staring down at their hands. There was a bit of color to his cheeks, and her own flushed. She snatched her hand away, folding it in her lap.
"Sorry," she mumbled, before bolting to her feet, "I'm…uh…going to turn in…you should do the same."
"Technically, I've been sleeping for the past four days. The last thing I want to do is sleep some more," Lucas replied, "I'm just going to sit here for awhile. You know, be thankful for life and everything you're supposed to do when you've had a near death experience."
"Alright," Josie smiled softly down at him, "I'll see you tomorrow?"
"Yeah, good night."
Josie disappeared down the hall and Lucas frowned, leaning back, mentally berating himself. The perfect chance to just talk to her, to just tell her how he feels, and he blew it.
"Shouldn't you be in bed?"
Lucas turned, a bit surprised to see the janitor polishing the banister. Now where did he come from? Lucas sighed, pulling himself to his feet.
"I'm going," he muttered, starting down the hall. He paused then, turning back to the janitor, "Um…hey…you give us advice sometimes, and I know it's not why you're here, but…it is kind of black hole related and…"
"Black hole?" the janitor mimicked, quirking his head. Lucas rolled his eyes.
"I know you know things about the future, about what's going to happen and what's happened and whatever's happening," he continued, "And I know that you're probably not interested in our personal lives because it's not really why you're here and everything but…I just need a little advice."
"On?"
"Girls," Lucas admitted sheepishly, "Or really, just one girl." The janitor looked at a loss for words, which was new for the odd little man, "What am I supposed to do? I know I should probably just give up, that I have no chance, but I can't get over it. I like Josie…but I know she likes Vaughn, and she's supposed to be with Vaughn, so…"
"Why's that?" the janitor interrupted and Lucas faltered, blinking blankly at the older man.
"What?"
The janitor resumed polishing the banister, "Why is she supposed to be with Vaughn?"
"Well, it is kind of obvious. They have this greater destiny together or whatever, it's their fate," Lucas argued.
"Hm…and why is it their fate? What makes you so sure their future is set?" the janitor mused, "It seems to me that we make our own fate, our own destinies," he stopped polishing to bore his bug-eyes into Lucas, "The only thing I guarantee you about the future is that you've got to take the chances that are given to you or else you'll end up with the future you don't want." He tucked the rag into his pocket and began down the stairs, calling over his shoulder, "You should go to bed, get your rest while you can." He was gone down the stairwell in moments and Lucas sighed, deciding it was best to do as the janitor said.
In the morning Lucas got an okay on his check-up with Professor Z, only to spend the next couple days holed up in his room helping Marshall unpack. He rarely left, Marshall bringing him up food every now and then, and he spent the time avoiding everyone, especially Josie. They excused it has him just getting resettled after everything that had happened, and together agreed to give him his space. Truthfully, he just had things to sort out, mostly having to do with Josie. It was the night before classes resumed that he was shuffling through his closet and came across a small blue package.
-00000-
"I called my parents," Marshall was saying, leaning against the staircase and chatting with Corrine, Josie, and Vaughn, "I told them that I'd mulled over things and decided it was better if I stuck it out at Blake Holsey, after all, all my friends were here. They understood. Didn't stop them from giving me a long lecture, but they understood."
"That's good," Josie said.
"You know what I'm confused about," Vaughn spoke up, "How come no one's surprised about Lucas coming back, and how come the Randalls aren't surprised to hear their dead son isn't dead?"
"You haven't figured that out?" Lucas startled them all, and they turned to watch him make his way down the stairs.
"Welcome back to the land of the living," Corrine greeted.
"Hey guys," Lucas replied.
"Figured what out?" Vaughn questioned.
"Well…Principle Durst never called my parents," Lucas explained, "I talked to my parents the morning after I was back in my body. They weren't surprised to hear from me, in fact, they were a little unhappy they hadn't heard from me in the past four days."
"Now that you mention it," Corrine put in, "Principle Durst never announced that Lucas was killed in the accident, she just said that he was gone. Everyone at school knew about the explosion and they knew that an ambulance left the school, but there was nothing confirmed. We all just assumed, because we were there, and we were too blinded by our own grief to realize all the conclusions everyone else was drawing and the holes in Durst's story..."
"My dad knew that Lucas was alive, so Durst must have known also," Vaughn realized, "He must have arranged to pick up Lucas's body in an ambulance. The paramedics must have been lab assistants for Pearadyne."
"Principle Durst did say that she hadn't told anyone about what had happened and that Victor was the only person she called," Lucas pointed out.
"She must have been holding out on the belief that Victor could fix whatever was wrong," Corrine suggested as they started down the hallway towards their first class, "But I'm still wondering, why was Victor so interested in an explosion in the science lab, anyways?"
"Well, I didn't think it was very important to begin with but now I'm not so sure…" Vaughn elucidated, "But my dad's been working on a new project with a different company. It's called the Oubliette project." The others paused in the hallway to give him their full attention, "I didn't get a good look, but I glanced one of the files yesterday. There was mention of transferring cerebral electric currents into oscillating electromagnetic fields. Whatever that means…"
"They're using radio waves to transmit brainwaves," Josie realized, "Do you know what that means?"
"Not really," Vaughn muttered, shrugging.
"He could send blueprints, information, experiment results within seconds without having to worry about it falling into the wrong hands or getting stolen or overheard," Josie explained, she shook her head.
"That must have been what that thing was, that Professor Z built," Marshall realized, "One of Pearadyne's latest experiments using Oubliette technology."
"They must have been attempting sending data via brainwave...the blueprints for that device Z made," Lucas jumped in, "But for some reason…like the storm! The storm caused interference in the waves transfer. It must have blown it off course, sending it to Z instead of…whoever they were trying to send it to!"
"That little box must have been a prototype of some sort but for what...?" Corrine went on, "This is bad you guys."
"Yeah, want to know what's worse?" Vaughn interjected, "My dad is going to investigate what happened. He's been furious ever since that blackout and Lucas's disappearance and then reappearance at the school as though nothing happened. He's going to be keeping a close eye on you, Lucas, you're going to need to watch your back."
"Don't I always?" Lucas joked as his friends began towards the classroom. He grabbed a hold of Josie's elbow, "Wait up, I need to talk to you." She paused, turning to look curiously up at him as the others disappeared into their first room, "Uh…you didn't take your present." Josie furrowed her brow, confused for a moment, before realizing what he was talking about.
"Oh, yeah," she mumbled, "I didn't think I had the place to take it. It was, after all, your gift to me…so…I thought you'd want to be there when I got it." Lucas smiled somewhat.
"Thanks. You, kind of, thought right," he told her, producing the small package from his pocket, "I know that I kind of ruined the day…but uh…happy birthday, Josie." She took the box from his hand, peeking up at him before pulling off the envelope and slipping out the plainly decorated card. She opened it up and read aloud.
"Josie: A year has passed and left you with only more mysteries. I know that this will bring you no closer to solving them but I hope it will help you to take a closer look around. Lucas," she slipped the card back into the envelope and proceeded to open the box. Inside, neatly set on a layer of cotton, was a simplistically designed yet prettily decorated magnifying glass. It was nothing spectacular, obviously pieced together mostly by hand. Lucas had focused his attention at a spot on the floor, his cheeks bright red.
"I know it's really…" he started.
"Sweet," Josie interrupted. He raised an eyebrow at her.
"That wasn't the first word that came to mind," he muttered honestly.
"I can tell you put a lot of thought into it," she said quietly, closing the box back up and clutching it closely to her body. She met his eyes with an honest intensity reflecting in her own, "Thank you. I'll...um...cherish it always." Without thinking, Lucas bent forward, quickly brushing his lips against Josie's. She froze, startled as he straightened, his eyes lowered.
"Thank you, too…you know…for seeing me," he told her hastily, before awkwardly starting towards the classroom, shoving his hands in his pockets.
"Lucas," Josie murmured, catching a hold of him. He was shocked when she leaned forward on tip-toe, pressing her own lips to his this time. When they broke apart, they were both obviously flustered. Josie smiled and Lucas didn't look unhappy himself, "I guess you really don't know how much someone means to you until they're no longer there," she whispered. He placed his hand on her hip, drawing her forward and tentatively capturing her mouth once more.
In the classroom the teacher could vaguely be heard saying, "And where are Josie Trent and Lucas Randall."
"They were right behind us," Corrine's reply grew louder as she approached the door, swinging it open and coming to an abrupt halt, her jaw dropping open. Marshall and Vaughn came to her side as well. Marshall smirked and Vaughn's emotions were rather unreadable.
"Uh…guys?" Marshall cleared his throat a bit loudly and Lucas and Josie broke apart, their faces beet red, both finding a place to look at that wasn't their friends or each other, "That's really not how you get to class."
The teacher stepped up behind the three teens, saying, "You two are late," before disappearing once more and calling over her shoulder, "Take your seats."
Quickly the two bashful teens rushed from the corridor into the room, returning Marshall's comment with one's of their own.
When the door closed, the janitor stepped from the science lab down the hall, where he'd just finished cleaning the mess left over from the accident. Upon entering, one would find the room to be back in perfect order as though the explosion had never happened. The janitor disappeared into the basement, clutching in his hands the Oubliette.
"This could cause unforeseen problems," he murmured to himself as the basement door slamed shut behind him.
Outside, the storm had cleared but a new one was brewing in Blake Holsey's halls.
END A/N: Ah...that's the ending. If you didn't realize at the very beginning of this that I wasa Josie/Lucas shipper, I don't know what to tell you. If you did, what did you think? Well? Well! REVIEW! I just discovered this nifty new function that they added to the site. When the reviewers login, I can easily reply to their reviews and thank them each personally. It's so nifty cool, I really can't wait to test it out. So you guys have to REVIEW (logging in helps, but if you don't want to...there's not much I can do about that) and then I can test out this reply thing. I'm so excited. I'm just gonna sit around waiting for you peeps to REVIEW!
Please excuse any grammatical and typing errors. Once more, REVIEW!
And thanks for reading. I hope you had as much fun reading this as I had writing it.