CHAPTER 26: Arrested

Adam sat at his desk with a box of donuts and two hoagies. Well, half a hoagie and two hoagie wrappers. Last night he had emptied the fridge, and he was still ravenous this morning. A stop by a grocery store before school had bought him a sizable breakfast and he was wondering if it would be enough. He would probably need to slip out to buy more during lunch.

“There is my darling,” Andrea announced as she walked in the room. Seeing Adam chewing mid bite, she settled for a peck on the cheek, then turned the chair in the forward desk so she could sit with him. Alissa came in moments later, followed by another peck on his cheek, and a chair being turned towards his desk.

Brittney arrived next, amidst other students. Instead of a cheek kiss, she made a hissing noise and turned away from him before pulling a chair over. He wasn’t sure what that was about, but Andrea and Alissa both laughed at that, with Alissa even giving her a playful hug.

I’m sure not used to this level of touchiness, Adam thought. He offered everyone a donut, but they took one look at the way he was eating and swore he needed them all.

“This scene reminds me of a picture I was sent last night,” Andrea said to the other two while pulling out her phone. She showed them, keeping the phone angled away from Adam, and they all laughed, while looking between Adam and the picture. There was no need for him to see the picture to know what it was.

“Why did she send it to you and not me? I’m going to have a talk with that girl!” Alissa said.

They continued to chat, back and forth, including Brittney but ignoring Adam while he continued to eat. Once he had finished eating, he started looking around. Andrea immediately noticed.

“What’re you looking for? Your giiirlfriend?” she asked teasingly.

“Um, is she?” Adam asked back.

“Is she what?” Andrea seemed confused.

“Is she my girlfriend?”

Both Andrea and Alissa burst into laughter. Brittney just eyed them all closely.

“Of course she is. Why would you even ask that? Hasn’t she made it obvious?”

“Well, I had a conversation with my mom and, well, I’m a little, I mean, we didn’t really say, or it just didn’t come up,” Adam stammered it out with even Brittney joining in laughing at him.

“You’ve been the most fearless person I’ve ever met, and this is what trips you up, darling? It’s just too funny!” Adam felt a bit flushed at all the laughing. Then Andrea leaned in closer and whispered breathily into his ear, “and when we sneak into your room, you better consider us girlfriends too. We don’t want those boxes to go to waste.” A teasing wink, clearly meant to embarrass him, caused Adam to stiffen, and he gave up and put his head on his desk. He ignored the rest of their conversation until the homeroom bell rang.

Eventually Adam felt he should pay attention to class, so he sat up. Movement outside the classroom window caught his eye. He peered down from the third-floor window and noticed that there were three policemen standing around below the window using their radios. They were looking up at his floor. Adam’s stomach dropped and he became concerned, but there was no way they could have identified him the previous night.

The concern almost turned to panic until a pulse of heat raced through his body. The fear was burned into anger as he felt his emotions going a bit out of control.

“Hey!” Adam heard his teacher yell as police pushed their way into the room. Already on his feet, Adam stared at the five cops trying to fit in the already crowded classroom. The first one had handcuffs out, the next two had guns aimed at him. The last two were watching the surroundings, hands on holstered guns.

The heat surged and the river flowed through him. It would be so easy to end them, Adam thought. So easy to put down these threats. His mind and body were on fire from the pulsing heat. A roar started to build in his throat as the lead policeman approached him.

Before he opened his mouth, Adam noticed his classmates. They were all shocked and horrified except for three. He saw Andrea and Alissa getting ready to use [Mana Dart]. Turning his head slightly he also saw Brittney getting ready to charge.

Seeing the girls about to put themselves in unnecessary danger gave Adam enough presence of mind to reach to the coolness hid in his head. He pulled on it to soothe the rest of his mind and calm him down. The river continued to flow and the heat pulsed, but less intensely now. He wanted to be ready to spring into action if they shot him like last night, but he decided not to give them a reason to.

If Adam was as dangerous as they were acting, then it was insanity to arrest him in a tight room full of people. Everything about this situation seemed wrong. How had they even identified him? Could this be anything but a setup?

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“Don’t,” Adam said, intending it for the girls.

“Don’t what, scumbag?” The lead cop snapped, while the others targeted him. They all glared at him with open hate.

Adam just clamped his mouth shut and allowed the officer with handcuffs to get behind him. A hand was pressed against his back and pushed. Adam had seen enough police scenes to know that he was supposed to be roughly slammed into his desk, but the strength difference prevented him from even moving. The cop pushed a few more times before giving up and grabbing one of his arms. He had to allow both arms to be moved behind his back as the handcuffs were put on. The policeman might be a tough man, used to force, but an unleveled person just felt like a toddler to his strength.

“Adam Clemens, you are under arrest! You have the right to…” the cop began reading him his rights with full venom, as if it was personal, but Adam just let his mind calm. The room was in shocked silence, all eyes on him. His teacher was scared and clearly didn’t know what to do.

The hallways were madness. Students were pushing out of other classrooms, crowding the windows to his classroom to watch as he was very publicly arrested. Murmurs and shouts echoed through the walls. Nick, Carlos, and Lamar had pushed their way through the crowds and were staring at him. A slight shake of his head towards them and they nodded, as the policeman tried to push him forward and then he was led out into the crowds.

The police called for space and tightly held their guns, as if the crowds were surging forward to take them. The one who had cuffed him kept holding the cuffs, trying to steer Adam along. He seemed to realize that was useless as Adam’s strength determined where he went and whether he was moved. The two policemen with guns drawn were now close and leveling them at his chest, towards his heart. Adam allowed them to lead him down the stairs and to their cars.

Open hostility was clearly coming from the cops, yet another oddity to the situation. Why were they acting like this was personal? Adam just went along with it, hoping this would not result in more of a mess. It was a struggle to keep the anger down. Whenever he looked at a near snarling cop, he could almost hear the word CONQUER shouting through his soul. Hopefully that would not need to happen.

***

“What happened?” Nick demanded of Andrea as the three boys had joined the girls in the classroom. The area was empty, with only a few stragglers milling in the hallway. The majority of students, and with them teachers, had rushed down the stairs to watch Adam being taken off.

“I don’t know. They just stormed in and arrest him. He looked ready to fight,” Andrea’s statement causing Carlos to gulp, “and we were getting ready to help, but then he said ‘don’t’ and calmed himself down. Well, calmed himself a little. He still looked ready to rip their heads off. Bets on whether he will?”

“So what do we do?” asked Lamar. They were all feeling uncertain. Then each of their phones made a noise as they all received the same text.

“Boss is being taken by cops. We need to go. Meet in parking lot.”

With no better idea, they followed Tom’s text and headed to the parking lot.

The courtyard was filled with nearly the whole school. A lot of pushing would have been necessary for the group under normal circumstances, but their strength was high enough that they were almost sending people flying. Space was quickly made for them as they headed towards the parking lot, groans coming from students that had not moved for them.

Once there they found Tom and Brandon, joined by Lucas, Randall, Elias, and Joseph. Andrea again explained what had happened in the classroom.

“What should we do?” she asked once finished.

“Grab our gear and get to the police station,” answered Lucas.

“We aren’t going to fight the police, are we?” asked Carlos.

“Wouldn’t be much of a fight,” said Randall smugly.

“No, we aren’t going to fight them,” said Tom, seemingly serious for once. “My dad’s a lawyer, and we need to be there in case they do something to the boss. Serve as witnesses. If anything goes wrong, I’ll call my dad for help. This stinks and we need to make it difficult for whatever railroading is happening.”

“Do you think an invader is involved in this?” asked Brandon.

“Most likely,” said Elias.

“Damnit!”

“Anyway, I don’t see camera boy or healer girl,” said Tom as he looked around.

Andrea glared at him for a second before responding. “Abbey will meet us there, and Ed is grabbing his cameras and laptop from his locker.”

“Where’s our gear?” asked Lucas. “I want to be prepared just in case.”

“In my car, lightly washed but not sharpened. It’s all in the bags,” answered Carlos.

Lucas nodded at him. “Make sure it’s easy to get to when we go in.”

They impatiently waited a few more minutes before four more people approached them.

“What is she doing here?” demanded Lucas. “Do you think the boss is going to be ok with that?”

“Um, she saw me heading here instead of to the crowds,” Ed said, his hands full of padded bags. Joseph went over and took some to make them easier to carry. “She wouldn’t let me through, and I couldn’t stop her while holding my equipment.”

“Excuse me! Don’t talk over my head. What is happening with my brother? People said he was arrested,” Emily interrupted.

Lucas stared at her while talking to the rest of the group. “What cars are there?”

“Mine, of course,” said Carlos, refusing to look at Emily.

“Brandy-boy and I brought mine today,” said Tom. No one else spoke up. Emily fumed while meeting Lucas’s stare.

“I have my pick-up too, so we should be able to fit everyone,” then Lucas finally spoke to Emily. “Who are the other two?”

“Friends of mine.”

“Do they need to come? Not much room.”

“Come where?” Emily glared.

“Police station. Gonna make sure Adam is safe.”

“Then the more the merrier. They are coming too if they want to,” Emily said.

Lucas released a big sigh. “Adam is not going to like you being there, and he’ll probably take it out on me.”

“Take what out on you?” Emily asked with confusion. “Adam’s a wuss. He barely cares about anything, and I doubt he can even hurt a person. Especially not you.”

Everyone from the group started laughing, except Lucas who looked embarrassed. Tom was gasping for breath as he said, “Don’t, ha, don’t tell her. Hah! It’ll be so funny!”

“Anyway,” Lucas said to get them back on track, “We need to get going. Alissa, can you please stick with Adam’s sister and friends to make sure they don’t cause any trouble?”

“Wow, I didn’t think you could say please,” said Alissa.

“No way am I being rude to one of Adam’s girls.”

“Oh? Is that what I am?” Alissa smiled grandly. “Good, good. Yes, I’ll babysit the tykes.”

“Why do I need watching? What is even going on with you guys?” Emily demanded.

Lucas turned away from Emily and began moving towards his truck. “Ok. Pick your ride and let’s move. We’d better get there before they piss off the boss too much.”