The Lightning in the Bottle - Chapter 4

A school bus endowed with the name "17" rumbles down a stretch of quiet backroad. Within one of the houses, a twelve year old Jael Ballard wakes up in a rush. She hastily brushes her teeth and undresses from her sleepware. She swings open her closet and shoves outfits back and forth, looking for something presentable to wear. Jael flings clothes on her body and flies down the stairs. She opens the front door and turns back. "Bye Ma!" she yells to her mom. She whips forward only to see 17 roll past her stop. "Oh shart," she mutters. Jael sets off into a sprint.

---

Jake sits at the back of 17 and stares at the road behind the bus. He sees Jael explode out of her front door and try to catch up with 17. He inwardly chuckles to himself before getting the bus driver's attention. "Ms. Markel," he says," Jael's right behind us. She's trying to catch up."

17 squeals in protest as Ms. Markel presses on the brakes. Jael runs to the bus doors and up the small flight of stairs. As Jael walks up the stairs, she says, "Sorry," and continues to the back of the bus.

Jael plops on a seat next to Jake. Jake stares at Jael with a raised eyebrow and a slight smile. "First day of school and you're late," he says.

Jael pivots her head to turn to Jake. "I hate you," Jael says out of breath, her chest moving up and down. Jake just smiles at her disheveled appearance. He pulls up his book bag and sits it on his lap. He pulls out a hairbrush and hands it to Jael. "I love you," Jael says.

"I know."

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17 arrives at school and children file out of the bus into the book prison. Jael and Jake get breakfast in the school cafeteria. In companionable silence, they eat facing each other. Only the background noise of other kids fill the air.

In between bites of food, Jael asks, "You wanna come over after school today?"

"I dunno," Jake says with a shrug. "Hanging out with you is always iffy," he teases.

"Iffy how?" she retorts.

"I always seem to get into some sort of trouble when I'm with you."

"Maybe you just like taking the blame for the things I do. Maybe you can't help it." Jael takes a bite out an apple. She can taste the disgusting chemicals used to preserve the color and crispness. "Yuck," she says, "School food is gross." Jael throws the apple 15 feet (about 4.5 meters) into a trashcan. "Haha!" she exclaims.

"Nice shot," Jake says. "Ok, let's just says that I am willing-"

"Which you are."

"-to go to your liar. Do your parents even know?"

"Joseph isn't my dad. Mom won't care," Jael says. She pulls out the hairbrush that Jake handed her earlier. She starts combing through her long, brown hair.

Jake sighs loudly for two reasons. One, he is exasperated by Jael's indifference towards him and aloofness towards her parents. Two, damn, she looks like a goddess brushing her hair. "Well... I guess I could go."

Jael smiles with delight. "Think fast," Jael says. She feints throwing the hairbrush at Jake.

He closes his eyes and crosses his arms to block the hairbrush that never comes. Jael leans over the table and gives Jake a quick peck on the cheek. Jake opens his eyes with astonishment. Then his chest is hit by the hairbrush.

Jael gets up from the table. "See ya later," she says.

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Jake walks into his first period classroom and thinks about what just happened.

First period starts and the teacher does attendance. "Jakob Culling." she says "Is Jakob here?"

Jake is pulled out of his thoughts. "Here," he says.

So I posted this a day early. Felt good about writing this chapter. Was just about to lose interest in this story until a reader gave a useful review. Anyways, the next chapter will be posted here on the 28th.