The next day, Jack went to school, all confident, and excited.
'Today, is the day, I will succeed in my attempt to win the Gibson girls friendship and trust.'
He whispered to himself as he watched them from behind a tree.
'Ello!, Ello, Ello, why are we hiding behind this big tree today, is it time for your big scene already?'
'Elizabeth, is it you, I could hardly you recognise you, you look a lot cleaner today, anything special happening?'
'Well, thank you Slender man, I just thought that I would doll myself up a little today.'
They both stared at each other for a few seconds, before exchanging complimentary smiles, then turned their attention back to the girls.
'Do you think that they will accept your apology?'
Elizabeth was now on her tippy toes, looking over Jack's shoulder, placing both her hand on his arms for support.
'You smell nice.'
'Thank you Mr Peterson, wait was that a compliment, is the world coming to an end?, I did not even have time to visit Pairs, or marry a very rich man, that owns a great big mansion, and treats me like a princess.'
'Oh please, could you stop being so melodramatic, I think a princess lives in a palace and not a mansion.'
'I learn from the best.'
For the first time in his life, he received a compliment (at least he thought it was) which caused him to blush. 'Jack, why is your face and ears turning red?'
'It is because your body weight is crushing me.'
Elizabeth immediately returned to her feet, took a few steps back, folded her arms in frustration and turned her attention to the sky.
'Humph!, I am not that heavy.'
'Are you angry now, look I was just joking, I am a funny, noodle boy remember?'
Elizabeth just ignored him, and turn her attention to her feet pretending to amazed by her shoes.
'Look here Ellie, I am going to over to the girls now and I am going to act my heart out and it would be nice to know that somewhere in the distance, from behind a tree is a friend who is supporting me.'
Elizabeth looked straight into his eyes, her eyes filled with excitement, like a dog who has not seen his Master in a long time.
'Really!, are we friends?',
'My God, girls are so gullable, emotional fools.' he thought to himself.
'Uhm, yes, of course we are.'
Elizabeth jumped up in the air with excitement.
'Now, watch me, act out the best scene of boy is sad and sorry but also wants to be your friend.'
'Amazing Jack!, that sounds like a phenomenal Masterpiece.'
'Indeed it is.'
He stood up straight, raised his hand to the sky in a glamorous way as if he was holding the holy grail.
'This one is for Gibby, your days are numbered.'
He fixed himself up, took his index finger, dabbed it on his tongue and applied it under his eyes, hoping that his eyes would fill up with tears before he reached the girls, he slowly walked over to the girls, Elizabeth applauding him, as if she was a mother of a son who is receiving an important award.
'Hello, girls.', he greeted them in a soft timid voice, none of the girls answered him or even noticed him, 'I hope that you are not still angry with me?, I have come here to apologise for my absolute barbaric behavior, the other day, I could hardly sleep a wink, knowing that I might have hurt the feelings of such beautiful souls, such as yourselves.'
He then fell to his knees, brought both his hands towards his chest in prey position, and bowed his head, but still there was no response from the girls, and this made him feel deeply insulted, this was the best acting he has ever done in his life and even William Shakespeare would have been blown away by his brilliant performance, that he would have personally come back from the dead to offer him an award for his absolutely extraordinary and phenomenal acting or so he thought.
Jack raised his head slowly to see if the girls where probably so amazed by his performance, that they were properly left breathless, with tears in their eyes but unfortunately for him that was not the case, it seemed like they were more interested in their lunch boxes then him, they probably did not even notice that he was there, feeling deeply insulted by their lack of interest, he took wanted to see what was so interesting about their lunch boxes, it was definitely not the food because they have not even opened it yet.
After what felt like hours of pointlessly staring at the lunch boxes and trying to figure out what was so fascinating about them, he decided that he was going to ask them.
So he slowly approached Susan, he gently placed his hand on her shoulder, not to ask about the lunch boxes , but if they had seen his brilliant performance, just as his hand landed on her shoulder, she jolted backward like a dog who has been kick around on the street.
'Ouch!, what are you doing?'
He could clearly see the fear for man in her eyes and this caused his blood to boil for he knew, who was the cause of it but chose not to address it once again.
'I have been trying to apologise to you for a while now.'
'Oh, Jack Peterson it is you, I did not notice you there, how long have you been standing there?'
His heart sank, his entire performance was for nothing.
'Well, yes, I thought that I would come to apologise to Julia, since you said that, you would kill me if I did not.'
'Sister, you said that?', Asked Julia in an startled voice, which instantaneously invoked the feeling of irritation on him.
'Of course not, Mr Petersen here is known over exaggerating in our class and for also being a self-absorbed, melodramatic snob.'
'Snob!, I beg your pardon, here I am pouring my heart out with an sincere apology and you!',
'See, what I mean.'
Julia nodded her head in agreement.
'Fine, think what you want, do you accept my apology or not?'
He stared at them both with a savage look in his eyes.
'That depends, do we want to accept his apology, Julia?'
'We should, the poor gentlemen properly has no friends.' both the girls started to giggle.
'I do have friends, actually a friend and her name is Elizabeth.'
'Who is Elizabeth?', they both asked simultaneously.
'In any case, I think Julia and I accept your apology.'
'Thank you girls very much, I will come tomorrow, to have lunch with you two special young ladies.'
'No!' Both girls cried out but it was too late, because he was already running to Elizabeth, to tell her how the practically begged him to come have lunch with them tomorrow.
When he had returned to the place where he had left Elizabeth, he discovered that she was not there, and this made him feel sad and a little angry, which was a strange thing for him, because he never cared for anyone's validation for as long as he could remember, but for some odd reason, he really needed Elizabeth's.
'Some friend, she turned out to be, no wonder, no one likes her or bothers to remember her name, wait until I get to class, I am going to give her a piece of my mind.', he muttered to himself, as he made his way to class.
When he had arrived at the class, he saw Elizabeth, sitting at her desk reading through her work, as if she had missed nothing at all, he stormed over towards her desk ready to unleash the wrath of hell, upon his enemy.
'Elizabeth, where did you go, did you even see my acting?'
Elizabeth immediately raised her hands in the air to surrender.
'Wait Jack, why are you so angry, I did see your acting and it was pretty spectacular, I could not believe my eyes but then I really needed to go to the bathroom and while I was in the bathroom, I did not feel like walking back there and the class was closer anyway, so I decided to come straight to class, I was pretty sure that you were done with your performance, when you started to stare at their lunch boxes.'
'Yes, I was quite spectacular, was I not, you should have seen their faces, they were practically, begging me for an encore and even offered me their lunch, as a payment for the blessing that I have bestowed upon them. Oh, those poor souls, my heart goes out to them, they probably have never seen such brilliance in their lives.'
At that moment Susan walked entered the class room.
'Just look at her Elizabeth, she cannot get enough of me.'
'Uhm, Jack, I think that you are seeing things.'
'Come on, Ellie, why do you have to kill my positivity like this, I am going to, my desk, a star can only stand for so long.'
He walked over to his desk, sat down, then turned around to face Susan.
'So, are we still on for tomorrow?'
'I said, no, did you not hear me?'
'No, I heard nothing?'
'We literally cried it out, even a teacher from a nearby classroom came out to see if anything suspicious was going on.'
'My dear Susan, when people tell me "no", I hear "yes".
'Then if someone tells you "yes ", then you will hear "no"?'
'Maybe'
'Then, yes, Jack, you may have lunch with us tomorrow.'
'Splendid, I knew you could not resist, my talent.'
Susan gave him a blank stare, which was a confirmation that her mind was clearly blown and that she have given up on all hope of convincing him otherwise, 'You know what Jack, do whatever you like, I really do not care anymore.'
He gave her a creepy smile, turned around, to stare outside the window, slowly drifting away into his world of sickening imagination.
The rest of the day went by so quickly that He did not even hear the school bell ring.
'Jack!, come on, it is time to go home.' Elizabeth said.
'Really, it is after school already?' he looked around the class room and noticed that most of the students has already left.
'Mr Petersen, are you waiting for a special invite to go home?'
'No, no, Mrs Taylor, I am on my way out right now, Elizabeth, could you please come with me, I want you to meet somebody.'
'Already Jack!, you want me to meet your parents, I mean we just became friends the other day.' She placed her hands on her mouth, as if she was embarrassed of what she just said.
'I do not understand what you are talking about and why is your cheeks turning red?'
In that an instance, all the blood drained from Elizabeth face as she became slightly annoyed,
'You know what Jack Petersen, you are a hopeless romantic.'
'Oh please, I do not believe in that stupid emotion called love, it is utter nonsense.'
'No! it is not, love is beautiful!'
This reaction from Elizabeth stunned Jack, because for the first in his life, someone had raised their voice at him and this too his parents has never done to him.
'Calm down Elizabeth, Yes , love is beautiful but it can also lead to a human being's demise, I think that if two people truly love each other, they must be able to remind one another that they are just human beings and not object to be possessed, or to become overly attached to or even in some extreme cases to be worshiped, for it is these kinds of behavior that leads to hate, loss of sanity or even their own deaths, for the heart was not created to be filled by another human being, but for it to love its creator and all his creations, from this realization, I believe that one gains the understanding that everyone and everything matters and also the ability to treat another who has inflicted great harm on us with love and compassion.'
'Amazing, that was so deep, so which book did you steal it from?'
Jack did not respond to what he thought was an utterly ridiculous question, first gave her a look of great disgust, then replied.
'From, my dog, Sir Charles, now let's go, we have a long way to go, and I do not know if he will be there if we reach.'
He slanged his bag on to his back and marched out of the class room like a man on a mission.
They left the classroom all hyped up by the prospect of a new adventure that lies ahead, one by the just the thought of spending time with her new friend and the other by the thought of his proving his adversary wrong by showing up with Elizabeth, the look on of dismay and disbelieve and that he was wrong and Jack right, was going to be most satisfying, soon Elizabeth started to get weary because it seem like her new found friend was leading deeper into the forest and the smile on his face was no making the situation any better.
'Jack, you do realise that I am a girl, whom you suspiciously leading into a deep dark part of the forest, and if anything happens to me you would be suspect number one?'
'Yes, maybe that is what I am doing, leading you into a slow and painful death.' he then turn towards her and grinned.
Elizabeth stopped dead in her tracks, then suddenly broke out into a hysterical laughter.
'Why are you laughing?'
'It is just the thought of me being killed by someone like you.'
'Well, thanks for the vote of confidence.'
'I am sorry, it is just that, we both know that I will beat you up so badly, that even the devil will reject you from hell.'
The smile on his face immediately disappeared and whatever little respect and integrity he had vanished.
'We have arrived, but it seems as if he is not here yet.'
Out of nowhere a voice echoed through the forest.
'Or am I, Jackie boy?'
'He is doing the voice thing again, C.J could undoubtedly be a Master of illusion'
'Uhmm, Jack, is that not him standing behind that small dead tree, over there?' she raised her hand and pointed to her left.
'I take my praise back and yes that is him but I do not think that the tree is dead though.'
'It has no leaves and it looks dried out.'
'Do not be scared I am not a ghost.'
'How long is he going to keep this up, because I can clearly see him, does he not realise that he is too big to hide behind it and that there is not camouflage at all?', Elizabeth put her hands on her hips and stared at Jack for a while waiting for him to give some sort of logical responds.
'I really do not know what is wrong with this man but he is rich though.'
'Yet again Jack, your answers never seem to disappoint.'
'Sir C.J, you can come out now, she already saw you.'
He slowly emerged from behind the tree, and walked over to them.
'Hello, my name is Sir Cather J Kipper and you must be Elizabeth.' he took her hand and kissed the back of it.
'Yes, Sir it is very nice to meet you?.'
'Please, no need to be so formal, you can call me C.J if you like, so when did you two notice me over there.'
Elizabeth quickly raised her hand, as if she was answering a question in class.
'From the very moment you first spoke.'
'Well done, Elizabeth, you have great observation skills and you seem very smart, why are you socializing with someone like Jackie boy over here?'
'Honestly, I really do not know myself, I mean he maybe a little eccentric, self-absorbed, and not to mention a total drama queen but least he makes the effort to talk to me and not like everyone else who ignores me because of the way I look or sometimes smell, but what do they know about the hard times I am facing at home.'
'And Jack does?'
'Of course he does not but he considers me his friend.'
'That is right, I am your friend Ellie.'
'I think that is enough, let us put an end to this sentimental moment, please sit down and enjoy the view, God knows, standing the whole time is killing my feet.'
'Are those new shoes Sir C.J?'
'Yes, they are, thank you for noticing Elizabeth, you like?'
'Yes, fabulous.'
C.J then raised his leg up a little, then turn his foot side to side in admiration.
'If I wanted to look at shoes, I would have gone to the shoe shop.'
'Would you listen to Mr Obsession over here, by the way, why are you so obsessed with befriending the Gibson girls?'
'Wait, I never told you about them'
'I was wondering the same thing, do you fancy one of them?' Elizabeth asked
'My, my, is this not an interesting twist in the life of Jack Peterson, A love triangle perhaps?'
'No!, it is nothing like that, let us just say, that I know something about Mr Gibson, something horrible and that thing is hurting the people around him and all I want to do is to help them, I want to set them free from that hell whole but I cannot do anything but just watch from a distance like a coward.'
His eyes started to fill with tears, that is when he felt two arms rep themselves around him and tighten.
'Do not worry Jack, I am sure that you are trying your best to help these girls and beside you have already become friends with them, that sounds like one little victory to me, so cheer up.'
'Get yourself together boy, you are embarrassing yourself in front of your lady friend.'
He emerged from Elizabeth's arms, like a three year old toddler, wiping his tears with his sleeves and slurping up his snot.
'You do not understand, if I sit with them every recess, that means that we will not be able to talk as much.'
'Oh Jack.' placing her warm hands against his cheeks, 'We can always talk in the morning and after school we can meet here.'
'She is right Jack, if you turn into a disgusting cry baby now, who is going to help those girls out of the crisis they are facing and I hope that your version of helping them out is not something dirty.'
Jack looked straight in to C.J's eyes then bit his thumb.
'What!, you bite your thumb at me sir?'
'Yes!', Jack then jumped to his feet.
'Excuse me Sir C.J but what does that even mean?' Elizabeth asked
'I do not know, wait, how old do you thing I am?'
'You look like a crazy old geezer to me!', Shouted Jack
'Wait now Jack, let him answer the question.'
'I do not know which one of you is more insulting, firstly Elizabeth, I do not know what biting one's thumb means but I did see a William Shakespeare plays once, where a man bit his thumb at another and the other man found it deeply insulting, so I thought that I would also react in the same manner, And you Jack, have you no respect for your elders?'
'Ah, so you do accept that you are elderly?'
C.J stumped his foot, folded his arms and turned his back towards Jack.
'How about you Jack, do you know what it means?'
'No'
'Ha!, you know nothing.'
'I might not know what it means but at least I can remember which play it is from.'
'And what play may that be?'
'Yes, and what play may that be?', repeated C.J in an high tone voice.
'Romero and Juliet, you old goat!'
Elizabeth Gasped for air, 'Your taking this too far Jack!'
'Old goat! and that is not even the right play just look at you string bean!'
'Alright enough, you two stop it now!'
'But his the one that started the name calling.' said C.J in a childlike voice.
'I do not care!, you both better apologise to each other now or else I will deal with you both myself.'
They both stared at Elizabeth, then started laughing.
'Can you believe this little girl Jack, she honestly believe that she can force us to apologise to each other.'
'I know right, just the mere thought of that is laughable, girls today am I right?'
Elizabeth just ignored them and pulled up her sleeves, then got up made her way to a nearest tree, and broke off a long piece of branch, cleaned off the leaves and pressed the point of it on the ground.
'Yes, this one will do, it has great flexibility and mobility.'
'Hey, what do you plan on doing with that Elizabeth?'
She looked at them and smiled, then swung it through the air.
'Do you two hear that sound, that means it is moving through the air at a high velocity, that equals more force and more force equals more sting.'
'What are you talking about, are we in science class now?' Jack look around to see if C.J was laughing but he only shook his head.
'Why does it have to be me, why do I always have to be surrounded by the criminally insane!' Sir C.J shouted into the sky
'Do not worry you two, I will show you in a few seconds.'
She started to approach Jack slowly, her smile growing wider with every step.
'Wait!',
WHACK!, the first shot landed right across his left arm, a hot stinging sensation spread like a wild fire across his arm it almost felt like he was being stung by a swarm of bees, Whack!, another followed right across his behind, Whack, a third landed behind his knee, causing him to fall to the ground curling himself into a fetal position, just as she was about to go in for the fourth strike he raised his hands and shouted.
'Fine!, fine!, I will apologise, just please stop, no more.'
'Get up then and apologise.'
Jack got up humbly and dusted himself off, took a few steps towards C.J and bowed and apologised.
'I am sorry C.J for calling you an old stinking geezer goat.' he could not help but smile a little after what he had said.
'You may raise, I do accept your apology, even though you were force to do so by a little girl how pathetic.'
'Sir C.J, do you not have something to say to Jack?' she turn to face him wearing the most innocent smile.
'What! you cannot force me, I am a fully grown man, I have been knighted by the queen herself!'
Elizabeth held the branch by her side as if it was a katana, the power has clearly gone to her head, she start to make her way over to C.J.
'Excuse me, I thought, I just heard you say that you I will not apologise.'
'Yes, I think that I heard that too!' Shouted Jack from behind, wearing the biggest smile
She raised her right hand and then slowly brought it down to meet the top end of the branch, then slowly drew it out, like a samurai would, gripped it with both hand a raised it above her head.'
'Wait, you using two hands, that is unfair, you used one by him!'
'Life is unfair, this is your last chance.' Elizabeth stepped her right foot forward, just as she was about to strike.
'Fine! you win, I was just pulling your leg there is no need for violence is there, I will apologise, since it takes a real man to apologise without being forced to do so, unlike some who claim to be, dare I say a gentleman but enough of that, I apologise to you string…, I am sorry my throat went dry there for a second, my deepest and sincerest apologies to you my dear friend Jack Petersen.'
'There we go, why do boys always have to complicate things like this.'
Just as Jack opened his mouth to say something, C.J shot him down with the look of death.
'Do not dare, unless you want some again.'
Jack closed his mouth and swallowed as if he was swallowing his actual reply.
'Alright boys, I have to go home now, you are not the only man-children I have to take care off, see you tomorrow and it was such a great pleasure meeting you Sir C.J, I hope you have a great evening.'
'Thank you very much Elizabeth, it was a great pleasure meeting you too.'
'Bye Elizabeth, see you tomorrow.'
They both watch Elizabeth, descend down the path until she completely vanished, 'Is she gone?'
'Looks like it, yes she is gone, now ,that she is gone it is safe to talk about her behind her back.'
'You are really a strange man.'
'No, I am not, I am articulated.'
'I do not think you know what that means.'
'Of course I do, that means I have a one or more pivoted joints which allows bending or other types of movements, now stop changing the subject, I want to know where did you find a girl like that, I got enough beatings from my mother, I do not need anymore, I also thought that I was going to die there for a moment but I stuck through until the end.'
'What do you mean you stuck through until the end!, I was the one getting whipped.'
C.J giggled a little.
'Yes, let us laugh at my expense.', Jack folded his arms in frustration.
'I am sorry but you should have seen your face, it was as if someone gave you a sour lemon to suck on, you really know how to pick them.'
'Well, I did not have any choice, she was the only way I could get close enough to the Gibson girls to befriend them.'
'I suppose, I mean with her around, my days are not spent in an imaginary world like it use to be, I actually have someone to share things with, that also includes you, and she also kind of makes my life a little more exciting to.'
'I think you mean, that it is the first time in your life that you had a friend or even someone who supports your insane antics, your ridiculously elaborate, extremely implausible plans and schemes.'
Jack just shrugged his shoulders, and started examining the red line across his left arm, 'Do you think I can die from this, maybe like a mold infection or something?'
C.J just looked at him and smiled, 'No, Jack, you are a pretty lucky man to meet someone like her, someone who supports you despite your flaws, there are a very few of those in this world, and one should he honor and appreciate them as long as one can, because one day their right by your side the next they are gone forever.'
Jack could hear the sadness in his tone and had to think of something quickly.
'Could you imagine living with Elizabeth?'
'No way Sir, I feel sorry for her brothers, can you think of all the horrendous things they experience in their day to day life.'
'Yes, but I think that they are very lucky to have someone who is so caring and thoughtful.'
C.J placed his hand on his chest as if he was about to get a heart attack, 'Am I sensing a twist in the tale, Jack likes Elizabeth, The king has fallen for the servant!, and that to in just one day.'
'No ways!'
'Then why are you blushing, it is scientifically proven, that when one blushes it is either that one is embarrassed about something related to the truth or, well, I really do not care about the other, it was properly too boring for me to remember.'
'Thank you for that truly amazing science lesson, and I do not like Elizabeth in any romantic way, what so ever.' He said trying to cover his face with his collar.
'It is fine Jack, there is absolutely nothing to be embarrassed about, it is perfectly natural for a boy your age to be attracted to Elizabeth, not my type of girl honestly, but who am I to judge over what the heart wants but you must remember.'
His voice changed all of a sudden from a smooth, soft and calm voice into a husk, stern, voice demanding your attention, Jack looked his straight in the eyes, after locking eyes with him he continued.
'That the girl you like is someone's daughter, a bother's sister, a father's treasure and a family's a respect and honor, and not something you can play around with until they do not meet your needs anymore, and then you discard them like trash, so you must treat them with the utmost respect, you do not stare at them in a dirty manner, as if you are some kind of savage!, when you speak to a women or even a little girl, you speak with politeness and respect, you always let them have the way of right but only when it does not affect the truth or bring any injustice on anyone if that is the case then you must stick with the truth, you always ask if they need assistance and you remain at their service whenever they need you especially your mother, there something you never do, you must NEVER EVER!, raise your hand against them, I swear Jack Peterson, I will hunt you down and cut your hands of myself, and I will force you to eat them, do you understand!,'
Not knowing what to say Jack Just nodded.
'Good!, glad we could sort that out, speaking of mother, I think that yours is starting to worry, look the sun is setting.'
'You are telling me this now!, she is going to kill me for sure.'
'No, she will not because she is your mother, the strongest bond on earth, not even your wife can love you more than your mother.' He turned to look at Jack, the setting suns light illuminating the beauty of his face.
Jack slang his bag on his back, and just as he was about to disappear out of sight, he turned around and shouted, 'Are you going to be fine here all by yourself!'
C.J did not answer him, instead he just gave him a thumbs up, Jack nodded and continued on home.