It was 3pm when Luke visited her; she was just winding up her sandwich and clearing away the dishes. "Wait in my room. I'll be there in a second." She said, noticing the huge white rolled up paper and some colorful markers in his hand. "Luke, I never agreed to a coloring playdate. That was 10 years ago." He rolled his eyes. "It's for the plan." Luke loved drawing out maps. They went to loads of treasure hunting adventures. He was also a wonderful artist. Jackie made sure her grandmother needed nothing, and she went up to her room. Luke had already straightened out the chart paper.
"Ok, so tomorrow you'll get to know if they passed the test, which will leave us 2 weeks' room for the final interview. We will execute the plan in those two weeks." He wrote 2 weeks on a rectangular box he made on the top right corner of the paper. "Jackie, this has to go perfectly." Something made her uneasy about this. Somehow Luke was very in the plan, at times he will joke and then he would become serious. "Ya i know. I'm with you." She smiled at him, and he smiled back. They spent the next 2 hours drafting up the plan, and then Luke got a call from his mother asking him to babysit his niece, "sorry, gotta go, hide this." He pointed to the paper, which was filled with red, blue, green and yellow markers. Jackie nodded, "SIR YES SIR," and saluted him as he left the room.
She had an evening shift at the diner for Saturday. It was the only day of the week when the diner would be filled with people. Families, couples, friends. The diner would get short-staffed these days, so they hire part-timers who could fill in as servers. When Jackie entered, a boy, a little older than her, threw her the apron, "table 5, 8 and 10. Go." he said, dodging a server who was managing two trays in her hands. Jackie got to work. She took orders from Table 5 and 8 and then went past a family of four whose toddler was watching cartoons at full volume. "What can I get you?" Jackie asked, taking out her pad, ready to write.
"Bobby, can we leave? It's just so… disgusting." A girl Jackie's age made a face at the family in front of her. Jackie decided not to notice her comment and waited. She had blonde curls bouncing on her shoulders and nude makeup. Her dress was the only expensive thing in here. "Just eat Daisy, so we can leave this godforsaken place." Jackie froze. She knew that voice. She had talked to that voice. Even among screaming, yelling, crying and bad music, his voice was soft and cold. Jackie looked down and stared at Alaric, looking at his menu. He had a red beanie and a white sweatshirt.
"Double decker cheese burger, strawberry milkshake and fries." The bald guy who must be Bobby smiled at her. He handed her the menu, and she noticed the tattoo on his wrist. It was the tip of the arrow inside a circle. The emblem of house Eldridge. Holy shit, it's Alaric and his two gums. Jackie thought, how did she not recognize Daisy? Last time she saw her, Daisy had straight blonde hair reaching her waist. She had that innocent, naive, goody two shoes look. Now it looked like Miss Goody two shoes took a ride to Hollywood.
"JACKIE. JACKIE HELP," someone yelled her name from behind and Jackie turned around. She saw Aria struggling with the heavy trays. Jackie quickly ran to her and helped serve the food. She then went to the counter to hand over the order and went back to provide help if needed. "Jackie." She heard him again. This time, he was closer to her. She looked to her side and saw him with his hands in his pockets. "Do you need anything else?" she asked, trying not to hiccup. "Yes, I need to talk to you outside." He sounded serious. She looked at his company. They were busy on their phones. "I'm busy right now, after my shift." She went past him, but he grabbed her hand gently and linked his fingers to hers. Jackie froze, her eyes wide. A spark ran up her arm. What was he thinking? She thought.
He turned his head. "I'll be outside the convenience store." Jackie could only nod. He let go of her hand and she hastened away from him. Thankfully, her shift ended in 3 hours. It was 9pm when she got out of the diner, inhaling the fresh air. She remembered Alaric's word and debated if she should talk to Luke about it. "I'll tell him after meeting with Alaric," she said to herself. The walk to the convenience store was stressful. Various scenarios ran through her mind. Did he see her sneaking on him when he left Nova's place? Did he suspect she knew about the drugs?
When Jackie reached the convenience store, she saw Alaric petting a white alley cat. It was dangling from his chain with its paw while Alaric rubbed its head. He had a relaxed smile on his face. Jackie suddenly felt guilty about making up that plan. Alaric doesn't look so bad. Maybe we were just being paranoid. When he met her eyes, she subconsciously waved at him with a grin, and then regretted it when he turned his back to her. "What did you want to talk about?" she said, sitting down opposite him. The cat had diverted its attention to a leaf which fell on the ground. It leapt from the table and landed on its paws.
"I'm here for a deal." His hands were on the table and, on his wrist, she saw the tattoo of the house Vidarr. Two curved blades. "About what?" Jackie was taken aback. She wasn't expecting a deal. "You passed the entrance exam and are eligible for the final interview." He was looking down the whole time and then looked up to see her reaction. Jackie kept a neutral face. "And?" she said, folding her legs under the table. He smirked and continued, "if, which is a big if, you get into the academy. I don't want any word of me and my friends being here." he got up ready to leave. "So you took a peep at the test papers. That won't keep my mouth shut." Jackie got up, her arms folded. Alaric moved with inhuman speed, he grabbed her chin and pulled her towards him, her hand found his chest to stop crashing on him. He moved her chin upwards. She could smell the nicotine in his breath.
"Or, I'll set fire to your world."