Average Joe and the Extraordinaires (23 page)

Chapter
38

The Wrap
Up

Melissa:
“DAHL!”

Melissa
ran up to Dahlila and jumped into her arms, almost knocking her over in the
process.  Dahlila looked like she hadn’t slept for a while, and was more
haggard looking than when Joe had last seen her.  She wore the same bloody
clothes that they had left her in.

Dahlila:
“I came as soon as I got your text message.  The police are on the way.  I had
to commandeer a car and sped past them to get here, so they shouldn’t be too
far behind.  We can leave him for them.”

They all trotted
quickly down the stairs towards the first floor.

Dahlila:
“One of us needs to explain what happened here to the police.”

They all
jumped at the sight of an old man in a light gray suit appearing at the bottom
of the stairs.

Borland:
“Don’t worry about that.  I’ve got it covered.  You two should leave.  Dahlila
and Melissa, you’re with me.”

Dahlila
walked up to the old man’s face and put her hands on her hips.

Dahlila:
“I haven’t seen you for a whole ten seconds yet and you’re already bossing me
around.  It’s been weeks since we’ve last seen each other, and that’s all you
can say to me?”

Joe saw
something he hadn’t expected to see.  Borland sighed and relented to Dahlila.

Borland:
“Okay, kid, you’re right.  I’m sorry.  I’m glad that you’re okay.  Now would it
have killed ya’ to pick up a phone and call to tell me you were okay?”

Dahlila:
“I couldn’t put you or us in danger like that.  I did what I had to do.  I did
what you’d have done in my place.”

Borland:
“Fair enough.  I didn’t raise a fool.”

He turned
to Joe and Liandra.

Borland:
“Now you two get out of here.  There’s a back door over there.”

Liandra:
“His car is still out front so we’ll just hurry and go that way before the
police come.”

Dahlila:
“Why do I have to stay?”

Borland:
“Cuz you’re a troublemaker, that’s why!  Stealing a car, jeez!  I should just
let them take you away in handcuffs.”

Dahlila:
“Sheesh!  Here we go again!  I only commandeered that freakin’ car to look for Melissa.”

Borland:
“Commandeered!?  You ain’t no freakin’ cop!”

Liandra
tugged at Joe’s arm.

Liandra:
“I think it’s time for us to go.”

Joe
nodded.

Joe:
“Well … I’ll see you all around.”

Somehow
those words saddened Joe.  Silence enveloped the group afterwards.  Melissa
walked up and hugged him around the waist.

Melissa:
“Thank you, Joe!”

She
reluctantly let go of him.  Dahlila then walked up and hugged him, reaching her
arms high around his back.  His heart leapt in his chest when she kissed him on
the cheek.

Dahlila:
“Thank you, Joe…”

Borland
shuffled forward in awkward haste and patted him on his shoulder.

Borland:
“Thanks … for everything kid.  You did good by us.  If you need anything, let
me know.”

Joe
nodded his head.  He was embarrassingly close to tears, and had wiped his face
to make sure they weren’t there, even though that made him look guiltier.

Borland:
“Now get out of here, both of you.”

Joe and
Liandra bolted away towards the double doors leading out of the kitchen.  Joe
looked back one more time at the strange group of people he had so recently
met.  Thousands of words raced through his mind describing each one of them. 
The one that stood out the most was “extraordinary.”

The two
made it out of the front door of the Fun Zone to a cool night breeze.  They saw
no one close, or any cops for that matter.  So they hopped into Joe’s car, with
Liandra taking the driver’s wheel, and drove off.

They
didn’t drive very far.  She parked only a block down the street from the Fun
Zone.  They had managed to leave just in time as the police were just arriving
to the scene.

Joe:
“Why’d you stop here?”

Liandra
stayed focused on the action at the Fun Zone.

Liandra:
“I just want to make sure those monsters get what’s coming to them.”

They
waited and watched the police go inside.  Joe nervously fumbled with his owl
medallion.

Joe:
“What’s so special about this necklace?  It looks pretty goofy to me.”

Joe could
hear Liandra chuckle.

Liandra:
“That goofy little pendant is the only thing keeping you alive when I’m not around.”

Joe:
“What!?”

Liandra:
“That owl represents the guardian’s eye.  It alerts me to the dangers of its
current 'wearer.’  It contacted me each and every time you were in danger, like
tonight.”

Joe:
“That’s why you were always the first to help me.”

Liandra:
“Not always, but it definitely helped tonight.”

Joe: “But
his spells—Patrias’ spells—wouldn’t work on me.  I was starting to think it was
the necklace saving me.”

Liandra:
“What Patrias was using to try to kill you was called a crafte.  You can think
of it like magic but it works a little differently.  The user has to focus
their energy and willpower into some sort of conduit, like a wand for
instance.  Wands are a strange choice, though, because they yield low power. 
With a great use of effort, emotion, and concentration, craftes like the ones
Patrias used are possible.  His own desire to kill you fueled all the harmful
craftes he tried to use on you.”

Joe:
“Oh…”

Liandra:
“What’s important to remember is that you were right.  The necklace did protect
you from Patrias’ craftes, with a little help from me that is. The necklace is
charmed.  A man I knew once put a charm on the necklace to protect me.  That
charm had since faded, so I reactivated it to protect you.  Mine’s nowhere near
as good as his, but it protected you from Patrias’ vicious craftes this whole
time.  Anything he tried to use to harm you was nullified.  I’m just lucky that
he’s a hack and didn’t know anything stronger than he did.”

Joe: “He
was trying to hurt me before today?

Liandra: “He
was trying to kill you the moment you stepped back into your school.  I was
getting warnings left and right every time you stepped foot in the building.  I
didn’t have an inkling that it could’ve been him until the day of the governor’s
speech when I saw you talking to him.  I began to doubt that, though, once the
shooting began. I thought the warnings might’ve come from the assassin.”

Joe was
speechless.  He was more oblivious than he thought.  He and Liandra looked on
as the cops emerged from the building with the bruised and bloody pair of
Patrias and Blonsky.  The men were both unceremoniously dumped into the back of
a squad car.  The cops chatted it up for a bit before they left the scene.

Liandra:
“And that, my friend, is a wrap!  Your life will be much safer with them behind
bars.”

Joe gave
a great sigh of relief.  He felt truly free for the first time in a long time.

Joe:
“Thank goodness and thank you, for everything.  I’m sorry I made this so much
more difficult for you.”

Liandra:
“Difficult?  I couldn’t have done this without you.  I should be the one
thanking you.  You are dull, unskilled, and unremarkable in just about every way,
but somehow you were a great help.  If nothing else, your actions show that you
have a great and wondrous heart.”

Joe
laughed and stared off at the moon.  She was honest when she said she didn’t
mince her words.  He took it all in and in the end felt good about what she had
said.

Joe: “My
parents taught me to help those in need.  That day at the stadium I saw that
you were in need and so I helped.  It’s that simple.”

She
smiled.

Liandra:
“I don’t think that’s the only reason.  Admit it, I saw you checking me out.”

He
blushed instantly.

Joe: “I
didn’t, I mean I did cuz—I mean you came out of nowhere … and … and…”

She
laughed.

Liandra:
“Don’t worry.  I’m not squeezing in on your girlfriend’s territory.  Now let’s
get you home.”

Chapter
39

Busy Day

Joe was
in a tremendous amount of pain.  His back and neck were sore from when Patrias
launched him into the wall.  His bruises had swelled.  He’d decided to go to
school anyway.  He didn’t want to miss a Patrias free day and he wasn’t
disappointed.

Joe’s
school day went by effortlessly.  Joe now wasn’t under the impression that
everything he did was wrong.  Without Patrias, the teachers that normally hated
him seemed to ignore him for the most part, though Mr. Serano gave Joe a
grimace that chilled his bones.  Just knowing that Patrias wasn’t in the
building was enough to rid Joe of most of his scholastic anxiety, though he
still worried about his grades.

Fleez and
Dozz stayed consistent with their harassment of him and his friends.  They
still wanted him to join Team Badd Azz, but he stayed as resolute as they
seemed to be.  At least now he had Mod watching his back.

Mod had
successfully counter-pranked them after they hosted a round of “What’s in the
wad?”—where they threw wads of mysterious substances at Mod and asked the
audience to participate in guessing what the substance was by feeling it,
smelling it, or for those braver souls—tasting it.

Mod got
his revenge after he strapped two buckets of warm melted cheese in the ceiling
tiles above Fleez’s locker.  Mod waited and watched as Fleez opened his locker,
which triggered a mechanism that Mod and his buddies from shop class had set
up.  The mechanism was hooked to string in the back of the locker that ran
upwards. When tugged back, the ceiling tiles above Fleez’s locker released the
two buckets of cheese. He was covered front to back.  Mod loudly proclaimed in
front of everyone that this was the correct way to make a grilled Fleez
sandwich.

The hall
erupted with laughter. Even Dozz joined in until Fleez gave him a bear hug and
made their shirts match.  Remarkably, no one was suspended throughout the whole
ordeal, though they were all reprimanded.

Everything
had gotten a lot better with Kate as of late.  She and Joe took a few days to
get closer, and spent most of their time together after school.  She had taken
it upon herself to nurse Joe’s injuries.  She made him food, massaged his neck
and back, and made him take hot Epson salt baths.  Joe thought he’d surprise
her in a few days with tickets for the fall ball which was quickly coming up. 
He knew she would be ecstatic when he presented them to her.

The word
around the school was that Patrias had either gotten into a car accident or had
been fired.  The teachers were mostly tightlipped about anything concerning him. 
The one’s that said anything just said he was sick and left it at that.  Joe
didn’t feel the need to tell anyone the truth.  He didn’t want any of them
asking how he knew what he knew.  He figured they’d all find out eventually
anyway.

That left
Joe with time to study and focus on his school work.  He attacked it with as
much ferocity as if he were still on Patrias’ Zero Tolerance list.

At the end
of the week, Joe stood outside in the blinding sun as it beamed down on the
school’s student parking lot, waiting for Mod.  He looked over and saw him
approaching the car with a rather somber look on his face.  His sister walked
by his side.  Mod walked over to the passenger side door, opened it and sat
down in the passenger’s seat, while Kate walked over to Joe’s side to give him
a light kiss on the lips.

Kate:
“Hey, baby-cakes, I missed you.”

Mod
scrunched up his face.

Mod:
“Gross!”

Kate:
“Nobody asked you, booger-face!”

Kate’s
voice took on a light English accent when she yelled, something she always
tried to suppress.  Joe couldn’t help but laugh.

Joe: “I
missed you more, sugar-lips.”

Mod
looked equal parts disgusted and disappointed.

Mod: “Not
you too.  You’re both going to make me hurl.”

Kate
ignored him this time.  She traced the brim of Joe’s collar playfully with the
tip of her finger.

Kate:
“What are you up to today, hun?”

Joe: “I
guess me and Mod’ll go visit a few friends of mine.”

Kate: “He
hasn’t told you?”

Joe:
“Told me what?”

Joe
looked at Mod, who was facing in the other direction.

Kate: “He
has a date.”

Joe:
“You’re kidding!  With who?”

Mod
turned around, looking annoyed.

Mod: “You
don’t have to sound so surprised about it.”

Joe: “I’m
just happy for you is all.  Who’s the lucky girl?

Kate:
“It’s Meribeth Hilday.  I set it up.  It’s just … after what those bullies did
to her she’s been so down in the dumps, and I’ve always known that she has a
crush on Mod.  She’s liked him since they were children, which this lug-head
never noticed.”

Joe
laughed.

Joe: “So
he’s the lug-head and I’m the lunk-head?  I don’t know which one’s worse.”

Kate:
“Lug-head’s worse.”

Mod: “I’m
not going.”

Kate:
“You will and you will like it.  You owe her for sitting back and doing nothing
while those mongrels hacked her reputation to pieces.”

Joe: “She
has a point, Mod.  Plus Meribeth is actually pretty cute.  I thought you’d be
able to see past everyone’s petty opinions of her.”

Mod: “I
can.  That’s why I’m taking her out to the movies.  I don’t care who sees us.”

Joe: “But
you just said—”

Kate:
“He’s just being difficult ‘cause this is his first date.  In a way it’s kind
of cute.  Too bad my brother voids the cuteness factor.  But since he’s
occupied, what will you do now?”

Joe:
“Well, maybe you can come with me then.  I could introduce you to all my new
friends.”

Kate
shook her head and smiled.

Kate: “No,
you go and have fun.  I still have a paper to work on.  Just call me when you
get back home.”

Joe:
“Okay.”

She
kissed him on the cheek and walked back towards the school.

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

After Joe
dropped Mod off he headed to the city, to an old apartment complex that he had
come to know well.  It had been several weeks since he had last seen Borland’s
apartment, and to him it looked like nothing had changed, outside or inside. 
The same security guard sat at the front desk and eyed him in the same
suspicious manner as he had long before.

Joe
stopped at the vending machine after he walked into the lobby and decided that
his luck was on the rise. He found a row of delicious Snickers candy bars.  He
put in his money, tapped in the code, and picked up his mouth-watering bounty. Only
this time he wasn’t hungry for it.  He decided to save it for Melissa.

This time
around, he intuitively noticed more people giving him quick glances as they
passed.  He not only noticed the overt stares, but the sly ones as well.  He
was confident there were many he didn’t notice, but he felt good at what he
did.

He took
the elevator up to the sixth floor and walked down the hall towards Borland’s
apartment.  He was greeted along the way by the old lady with the cold blue
eyes. 
Everything’s still the same
, he thought, until Melissa opened
Borland’s apartment door.  There were bright and vibrant pictures hung all over
the walls, all made with colorful construction paper.  There were pictures of
flowers, small suns that were gathered like marbles, and multicolored
butterflies each layered with different colors of construction paper. Dahlila
sat on the couch which was covered with a colorful cover depicting the sun and
clouds.  She lazily grinned and barely waved at Joe from her seat.

Melissa:
“Joe!  I missed you soooo much!”

He bent
down to hug the little girl, and with his free hand pulled a box of playing
cards from his shorts pocket.

Joe: “I
brought playing cards and board games with me.  This one’s new, it’s called
Flipz.  The others are in my backpack.”

The
little girl’s eyes widened.

Melissa:
“You’re going to stay?”

Joe
chuckled.

Joe: “Not
forever but, you know, for a few hours.”

Borland
yelled from the kitchen.

Borland:
“So are you gonna stand there like an idiot or what?  You’re letting all the
cool air out.”

Melissa:
“Come on, we can all play!”

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

Joe used
his weekend to just sit back and rest his body.  It worked extremely well. 
Once he was back in school, Fleez and Dozz thought it suitable to welcome him
back to school with a “welcome back stinkball,” their words, according to the
note in Joe's locker.  Nasty yellow sulfurous gas leaked from several of the
lockers around the halls, showering everyone in a blanket of stink and smoke. 
Several kids ran through the halls coughing and covering their mouths.

Mod: “No
wonder they didn’t show up yet.  Let’s get out of here.”

There was
chaos all around throughout the halls.  Amidst the chaos was something that
made Joe’s heart nearly leap out of his chest.  He stood still, transfixed by
what he saw.  Only now did he realize how dry his throat was.

Patrias:
“Don’t worry, kids, everything’s under control.”

He stared
straight at Joe with stony eyes.

Patrias:
“I’ll take care of all this in a snap.”

He smiled
and lifted his hand to the sky.  Today he wore more rings than Joe had ever
seen him wear.  There was one on each of his fingers.  Joe was relieved to see
that the man wasn’t carrying his wand at the moment, his killing instrument. 
No wand, no magic.

Click!

Patrias
snapped his fingers and water erupted from the overhead sprinklers.  The smoke
and the smell were washed away quickly, but so was the student body, who all
ran for the exits.  Joe was the only one standing with his eyes on the
principal.  He stood briefly paralyzed as he pieced together just what those
rings were for.

Patrias:
“Don’t run and don’t hide, my dear students!  This is a new day and there will
be some changes around here.  No need to fear.  I’ll make sure you’re all taken
care of.”

It was then
that Joe ran to his friends.