8: 01 am.
On the same day.
A loud beeping sound coming from what was a small decrepit-looking apartment.
But that was not because of the apartment in and of itself.
Well...
One may say that the apartment was part to blame...
But even so, was it for the many, many disorganized things lying about in it.
The general disorganization in and of itself.
Food packs lying around, here and there...
Unswept and uncleaned...
A few plates and cups unwashed...
And most of all, the very teenage boy now lying on the couch...
Sleeping upon it, arms stretched out wide...
As though seated upright on it...
With his arms splayed behind the sofa back.
That teenage boy, in fact and truly, was the boy by the name of Luke Parks.
And he, well...
... he lived alone.
The alarm clock sounded in his room as some sort of beacon.
It was, simply put, the kind of alarm that was loud enough that one could hear it quite some distance away...
And also, the infuriating type that most people would think to throw away simply for the very fact...
... that it was not just loud, but annoying.
The kind of irritating sound that would annoy just about anybody who lived in that room and therefore could hear it.
Yep.
That kind of annoying.
And even so, to its credit, it was loud enough that even a young man not in his room could hear it pretty well.
So much so, that it was from this very 8 am alarm that the teenage boy did finally awaken himself.
Albeit, not very happily.
Ah, Mondays...
Does somebody indeed love them.
Luke Parks was, simply put, exhausted from the previous night's escapades.
Well, maybe a better word would be drained...
Because he did not feel like getting up at all!
A thing that would be weird, even to himself, considering that he had more than enough strength to crush his room into nothing but bits and pieces.
But, even still, he knew...
Better than he wanted to, that he had to get to school...
However painful it would be for him.
However painful...
He groggily lifted himself from the couch, as his mind's miasma slowly cleared...
The alarm making it all the easier.
Each loud screech from it made his mind just a bit clearer.
And of it, he got up and stood up, away from his couch, before scratching his head and stretching, and then yawning.
This was his morning...
And to his own thoughts, it would be largely uneventful.
After all, what was he to do that he'd never done before?
His eyes turned back to his couch...
Before turning to the next thing before him...
The table before the couch.
It was a small table...
The kind small enough upon which to eat meals and also to rest one's feet.
That was just perfect, all things considered.
And on that table were leftovers...
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
Food scraps...
All from what Mrs. Julianne Hunter had made for or bought for them that night.
But also, from what his friends had given him out of the goodness of their hearts...
All for him...
That feeling did resonate with his heart for only a moment...
That odd remembrance...
Before he eventually did what any good teenage boy would do.
Turn the alarm off!
Yep.
He went directly to it.
His room was much less of a mess than his own living room.
A few clothes here and there, but otherwise quite orderly.
8:03 am.
On turning it off, he only had a few things left to do.
Well, a short list would be one name for it.
For starters, he needed a shower.
He immediately started for his towel before getting ready to take one.
This was part and parcel of every student's lifestyle.
The shower before going to school.
And Luke took a shower much like any normal human would.
Before coming out of the bathroom.
About school to Luke Parks...
To him, it was just a sort of duty, he would say.
He, in his towel, pulled himself out of what was a properly hot shower...
... before starting to dress up.
8:10 am.
It was only a matter of time before he was fully dressed...
And all ready to go, one would think.
After all, what else was there?
The boy by the name of Luke Parks lived a loner's life.
There wasn't really much to say or anyone to say anything to.
For starters, he grabbed his phone.
Now, he knew this...
That one of his friends had most likely left him a message of sorts.
But now...
Now was not exactly when he'd choose to read new messages.
He got to his living room and simply sighed.
A mess.
Or, as some teenage boys would call it, a mess beyond the suggested and accepted "mess threshold".
In other words, he would have to clean it up...
Otherwise, as this teenage boy had learned...
"That's how you get ants."
It would be a bother, but not a very big one.
After all, it was just a few packs of food.
And so, he started...
8:11 am.
Each pack of food, one after the other, into a massive garbage bag he had handy.
One after the other...
Lonely living taught him much.
For one thing, be prepared...
And after that, he simply placed them all into the corner...
He would absolutely throw them out later.
The next part of the program for this teenage boy was simple.
Eating breakfast.
8:15 am.
It wasn't as though he himself couldn't cook.
In fact, he had been in Timo's shop long enough to know exactly how to make a pizza.
At least somewhat.
However, to this teenage boy was a simple piece.
Beef burritos.
Bought from Mazee's Burrito's a few blocks away.
It was a nice place.
And also, it was a cheap place.
Their burritos were much cheaper than those of most other places, to say nothing of the fact that they were actually pretty tasty, all things considered.
One of the many mysteries of life.
How a cheaper thing can taste better than something more expensive...
These burritos, had he left in the refrigerator, and would now proceed to place inside his microwave to heat up.
This process took only a little while, and because of this little while, he could now take the time to do something he felt would be necessary.
That being...
Looking at his phone.
And of it, there were a lot of messages.
The boy by the name of Luke Parks was what one would call...
A high school enigma.
He was, by and by, the most handsome teenage boy in his own class...
And very likely, the most handsome boy in the whole school.
Therefore, many, and many teenage girls would have absolutely loved to have him ask them out.
However, that never happened.
To top it off, he was tall...
Very likely one of if not the tallest guy in their class.
To say nothing of the fact that he was also a football player.
One second only to Vince.
And speaking of Vince, he did actually send him a message.
One telling him to bring his A-game that day.
Whatever the heck that meant...
Amongst other things.
But that was besides the point.
Luke Parks...
Tall, handsome, gifted in sports...
Heck, he even had a peculiarly perfect muscular frame.
Some would even say that he was perhaps on drugs.
But no.
That simply wasn't the case.
Luke Parks simply looked that way.
Well, to be more precise, Luke Parks looked that way because of his powers.
It was because of them and, well...
Maybe not entirely because of them, that his body was so muscular.
A thing that he struggled to hide from his fellow jocks.
After all, he rarely ever went to the gym.
And of drugs, he never took any...
So every test on the subject failed.
Yes, he did actually go for a drug test.
Zero.
Nada.
Zilch.
Something pretty peculiar to the boy by the name of Luke Parks...
After all, he knew and knew by himself...
That there was a time he used to take "drugs."
In any case, Luke Parks decided to click on the first name on the list.
The one that concerned him the most.
Well, to be more precise, the one first on his list.
That being, the girl by the name of Tiffany Chang.
There were a lot of messages on his phone.
Some coming from cheerleaders...
Some from other jocks...
Others from shyer girls who still wanted to talk to him.
In reality, Luke Parks had almost everybody's phone number.
Him being a pizza delivery guy and being Luke Parks at the same time...
Well...
I'll let you connect the dots.
In any case, he would soon scroll down a bunch of names...
Some giving texts even as late as at 3 am.
Ah, teenagers...
Staying awake because they thing it's cool.
Classic!
In any case, his finger scrolled down a number of names...
One here, the other there...
Before finally and finally, he did actually find Tiffany Chang.
And of it, a little sigh of relief escaped him.
Nothing.
That was good.
Say what one would about life, or even about Luke Parks, but he absolutely did not want anything to happen to Tiffany Chang.
That much being said, he was glad to hear nothing...
... because he knew, nothing was usually the denotation of absolutely nothing to worry about.
That was good.
A sigh escaped his mouth.
A dangerous life these kids lived.
After all, Luke knew full and well that silence could also mean kidnapping, amongst other things...
8:16 am.
It was then that he would do what he knew best to do next.
Answer text messages...
Well, not immediately...
Because he did take the time to soon after check out all their numbers.
Yep, all of them.
All the numbers...
... of those who risked their lives alongside him.
Starting with Rose Wright.
She was a simple lass.
One gullible and innocent to the bone.
And of that, ...
... nothing to report.
Good.
That was good.
Being honest, he himself often worried about her the most, even though she was incredibly powerful.
That much he knew.
After all...
Next was Kenneth Stone.
Of all the members of the team, Luke had one thing to say about Ken, and that was this.
That he was resourceful...
Extremely resourceful...
So much so, that he, in spite of Kenneth's rather "interesting" personality, did respect that much about him.
In fact, should he be caught in a trap, he would imagine that Ken would be the first one to think of a way out.
And of his number?
Also nothing.
Good, very good.
And finally and finally, before he somehow managed to forget...
Their newest member...
Kinda...
Maximillian Hunter.
