Disclaimer: I don't own the Tomorrow People. They belong to Tetra, ITV, Nickelodeon, Thames and anyone else that I've missed. No copyright infringement is intended and I haven't made any money off of this.
Summary: How exactly did Jade find out about the Tomorrow People? And why did Kevin leave after Culex?
Author's Notes: Happy Birthday TPFICT! Wow, you're seven. Here's to hoping that there's an 8, 9, 10 and beyond!
Summary: How exactly did Jade find out about the Tomorrow People? What exactly happened to Kevin between Culex and Monsoon?
Megabyte felt so uncomfortable and obligated, like being in an itchy suit and tie for a funeral. In a lot of ways this felt like a funeral. There was something lingering around Kevin's house that Megabyte didn't even want to begin to address. Besides, they he hadn't even begun to process the big things like having a mad scientist on the lose and the complete breakdown of communication between him and his dad.
"I'm bored." Megabyte threw the wiffle ball to the ceiling and caught it again. He kept throwing the wiffle ball, trying to combat the overwhelming stagnancy of Kevin's room, now filled with get well cards and half deflated balloons from the hospital.
Kevin laid back, staring at the ceiling.
"Well go do something with Adam." Kevin shrugged. "I have to stay in bed. I got bit by a mutant mosquito and now my parents love me, I can't help it."
He was about three major issues away from being able to deal with Kevin. Judging by the look on Kevin's face and the fact that he'd stopped trying to make conversation thirty minutes ago, Megabyte liked to think that Kevin understood and even wanted him to leave. Megabyte didn't like to be watched like a hawk when he was sick. Being sick was all about playing video games by yourself and getting to put off school for a little while and putting yourself back together somehow between levels eight and thirteen.
"You won't feel bad?" Megabyte asked, holding the wiffle ball.
"No, go on." Kevin lied. "Maybe you'll run into Jade." He made a whistling noise and Megabyte smiled. Kevin had a very good sense of timing. He knew just when to run away from a big awkward gap in the conversation and start laughing.
"And then I'll run away from Jade." Megabyte made a fake, funny frown. "I wish she wasn't so obsessed with me and all. I can understand how she could fall for me. I am devastatingly handsome, and have a raptor wit."
"Megabyte, I don't think that's what you mean." Kevin laughed, but it sounded like a courtesy to Megabyte. Still, it was nice to think that he could do his song and dance for Kevin and Kevin would at least attempt to be entertained by it. At least he'd appreciate the effort.
"But I wish she didn't like me so much. She might find out where I live, and then I'd have to move into Adam's tent…" Megabyte stopped right there. He always had to be careful not to talk too much about his new fascination with Adam around Kevin. He didn't want Kevin thinking that he was using Adam to replace him, because it was almost true that he was.
It wasn't that he didn't like Kevin anymore, it was just that Adam was so damn fascinating. He could cuss around Adam, he could tell dirty jokes, he could talk about girls and sex around Adam. Adam cool in a way that Megabyte just gravitated towards.
"I'll be sure to give her your address,” said Kevin. Megabyte kind of winced, because Kevin had tried very hard to be funny and Megabyte couldn't give a laugh. Usually he could force something out, but not right then. He needed to. He wanted to.
"Yeah, and then I'll have pint sized crazed killers gunning for me."
"What are you two going to do?"
Megabyte really wanted him to be talking about Jade. He would rather spend another hour being painfully prodded with questions about Jade than to have Kevin ask about Adam.
"Stay away from each other," he answered as if Kevin had been talking about Jade.
"Not you and Jade, you and Adam."
"I dunno, go to Toyko, try the sushi. I've never had sushi. Adam says it's good,” said Megabyte, wishing he hadn't said it at all. He could just see Kevin's mind processing that as: ‘Adam eats sushi, which is weird and sophisticated, so I like him better'
“You should try the kind wrapped in seaweed.”
"They wrap sushi in seaweed? Gross. And since when did you become an expert on the world?"
"I have to stay in the house until I'm thirty, so I read a lot and watch the BBC."
It was almost like an egg timer had gone off. Ding. Megabyte was at the end of his ability to deal with strangeness of being with Kevin. It was time to go.
“Yeah. I'm gonna go.”
That itchy suit and tie feeling was returning. Megabyte wanted to pull at his collar.
"Bring me back some sushi. I've always wanted to try it."
"What for? Your parents will make you cook it first."
Megabyte left, hoping that was a good, amusing parting line to give.
****
There was nobody in the Ship when Megabyte arrived, not even Adam. Not that Adam knew that they were supposed to go to Toyko and eat sushi, but he never did. That was part of Adam cool. Megabyte would suggest something crazy and Adam would go do it. They actually went skydiving (with Adam's money of course) for no good reason one weekend.
[Adam?] Megabyte called to Adam, sensing him far away from the island.
[Not now, Megabyte. I'm busy.] Adam's thoughts brushed his own, brusquely. Megabyte felt irritated for a second. It was the first time Adam had ever dismissed him. It never occurred to Megabyte before that Adam might not have time for him. Megabyte sat in the Ship for all of five seconds before deciding that he felt too guilty just sitting there, having nothing to do. If he wasn't doing something he ought to go back and see Kevin, awkward or not.
If he didn't, then that meant he told an outright lie to Kevin. That would mean he'd lied to get away from spending time with his best friend. But if he did something instead of eating sushi, if the plans changed, then that wasn't a lie at all.
[Ami?] Megabyte called out. He wasn't sure why he expected to get the same reaction from her that he got from Adam.
[What?] Ami asked. [If you want to do something, I can't Megabyte. I'm still at the hospital with my mum, and she isn't letting me do anything.]
[Mind if I drop in, then?]
Keeping Ami company while she was with her mum in the hospital was actually a little like penance. That's what he would do.
[Please do, I'm bored silly!]
Megabyte teleported right by the restroom of the hospital, and just as he had oriented himself, he saw a very familiar face peering out of the women's restroom. It took him another second to recognize the face under the messy blonde curls.
Jade.
Megabyte lolled his head back with an irritated groan. This had to be punishment for walking away from Kevin. He snorted determinedly and made a never-say-die Winston Churchill type of march into the women's bathroom.
Once inside he was met by the frightened and defensive glares of three nuns, two old ladies, and a nurse. The first old lady hit him hard with her purse, in the face, the corner of it hitting him in the eye. He curled up his arms around his head defensively. She kept hitting him in the shoulder, in the same spot, enough to bruise him. The second old lady took off her high heeled shoe and started to beat him with it. The nurse grabbed a can of mace from her purse and sprayed it in Megabyte's face. Megabyte came up coughing, spitting, clutching his face which burned like a raw wound treated with acid and salt. Megabyte screeched and managed to stumble out of the women's bathroom, and the first old lady was still beating him with her purse, and he hit the ground, curling up like an offended insect.
[Ami, help!]
"This is the women's washroom, boy! See the sign!" She waved a wrinkled fist at him and then went back inside. Megabyte just laid there, he couldn't bear to open his eyes. He felt Ami teleport next to him and she guided him to his feet, and to a place where there weren't any people. She got a bunch of paper towels and dampened them with cold water and then led him to the cafeteria. He sat there, in the deserted cafeteria of the hospital and held a wet paper towel to his face, trying to ride out the burn.
"What happened?" Ami asked. "You've got a black eye!"
"I went into the forbidden zone!" Megabyte replied, underneath the paper towel. "Now I know why women go in groups to the bathroom."
"And why is that?" Ami laughed.
"To practice their kung fu."
"Why were you in there to begin with Megabyte? They've got one for men, you know."
"I teleported here, and I teleported in front of the bathroom just as Jade was coming out of it, she saw me teleport, and ran back in."
"And you went in after her?"
"I didn't expect to find granny ninja and her sidekick Sister Sledgehammer in there!."
"Maybe she's still hanging around. We'd better explain to her." Ami said.
"No way."
"And what if she goes and tells?"
"She won't." Megabyte sighed. "She's got a gigantic crush on me. Are you sure there's nothing we can do about this? It really stings Ami."
"Just wait it out. When your face isn't in flames anymore, you can help me look for her."
****
Ami wandered around the hospital, asking if anyone had seen a little blonde girl. Nobody remembered seeing her at all. Ami was tired from running around doing things for her mum all day and she didn't feel like looking for Jade anyway. She wanted to call Adam and tell him to deal with it, but she's gotten the dismissal once today from him.Whatever he was doing, he didn't want to be interrupted. Ami took a turn towards the bathroom where she had found Megabyte. Jade was slowly emerging from it, awkwardly.
"Ami!" Jade said, rushing towards her. She grabbed Ami's arm, looking around to check that nobody was listening. She lowered her voice and put a hand to her chest to calm herself. "Thank god you're here! I was going to the washroom, and I saw, you won't believe me Ami, you'll think I'm crazy. Something's wrong with Megabyte!"
"No, he's just himself today." Ami replied, drolly. She wished Megabyte could have been there to hear that. The pun passed right by Jade. Ami pulled her arm away gently. "How did you get here? This is a long way from your house!"
"I took the bus." She admitted. "I was also going to see how Kevin was doing. I didn't know he'd gone home."
"Oh." Ami looked sympathetically at the younger girl. Despite the fact that Megabyte couldn't stand her, there was something genuine, honest, and likeable about the girl. She struck Ami as a straightforward, eager sort of person. She smiled at Jade. "And you were going to see Megabyte, too."
"Is it obvious?"
"Kind of," Ami said as nicely as she could. She'd didn't want to embarrass Jade. She remembered being eleven, having a first crush, and being somewhat obsessed and rather embarrassed all at the same time. She wouldn't have wanted anyone to shout that she was desperately in love with a character off of a soap opera back then.
[Hey, Ami!] Adam called. [You still at hospital with your mum?]
A split second later, Adam appeared next to Jade and Ami. Ami wanted to jump up and down and scream at Adam for it. This was her day to run around like crazy. First her mum now Jade. Jade let out a squeal. Ami's arm went around her and her hand covered Jade's mouth. A nurse peared down the hallway at them.
"Just stepped on her toe!" Ami waved at the nurse, and smiled a forced, charming smile that felt like flashing a hall pass to get out of trouble. The nurse gave them a strange look and continued on. Jade stood there frozen, backing away from Adam.
"Why didn't you tell me she was with you?" he asked, scooting them both into the women's restroom, which was now emptied.
"You didn't give me a chance!" Ami hissed back, angrily. He was absolutely not going to blame her for this. She had been in control of the situation until he'd popped in. In fact, that seemed to be the story of her life for the last few days. Everything seemed to go smoothly until Adam or Megabyte popped in.
"Ami Jackson, please come to the receptionist's desk. Ami Jackson to the receptionist's desk." A call went out over the intercom. Ami sighed both relieved and wary of what that might mean.
"Ami don't go!" Jade held onto Ami's sleeve. "Don't leave me!"
All of Ami's previous sympathy was very much gone. She was too tired to feel sorry for someone who was clinging to her arm like a scared kitten digging in its claws.
"It's alright, I'll explain everything." Adam dislodged Jade from Ami, calmly and cooly. "You go on, Ami."
Ami let out a hard breath. She felt kind of bad for being angry, now that Adam had been so nice. He didn't mean for things to go wrong, and he always managed to fix them, in the end.
"Ami!" Jade let out another squeal and tried to dash out the door after Ami, but Adam a firm hold of Jade's arm.
"It's okay. Let me explain everything." Adam said. Ami could hear him until the door closed.
****
Megabyte checked his watch. He tried to, but his eyes didn't want to stay open for long. He saw the long hand near the four, meaning that Ami had been gone from the cafeteria for over twenty minutes. He was wondering when she was going to come back, just as she appeared at the door.
"Did you find her?" Megabyte asked, taking the paper towel away from his face to see her.
"Yeah." Ami plunked herself down in the chair, and laid her head down on the table. Her voice was muffled by her arms, but Megabyte could understand just fine. "She was still in the women's restroom when I found her. I was going to make some excuse, and then Adam teleported right in front of her. We went back into the women's restroom."
"And he didn't get karate chopped?"
"There was nobody in there."
"Figures!" Megabyte huffed. "I go into to find Jade, I get granny ninjas, he goes in, nothing. That's so not fair." He wanted to add: "And he likes you. He comes when you call. He tells me to go away." Megabyte didn't say it though. He didn't want to let Ami know that he resented her in a small way. Just when he and Adam were beginning to be really good friends, Ami stepped in. It was obvious to Megabyte who Adam preferred. Just like it must have been obvious to Kevin who he preferred.
Megabyte didn't know if Ami and Adam had a thing going. He didn't even have the skills to tell if it was true or deal with it if it was. They were both older than he was and he honestly didn't want to deal with the possibility of a girl getting the way of a friendship. That was too far beyond him.
"What do you have against Jade?" Ami asked.
"She's so immature, and annoying. Always following me around and asking me questions."
"She's just like you." Ami gave him that leveling look said that she thought she was right and meant she probably was. He hated that look.
"I am nothing like Jade Weston," he replied, every word it's own resolute sentence. The comparison bothered him for reasons he didn't even want to know about. It would involve a lot more thinking that he could possible do.
"Yes you are. You're both obsessed with aliens and parapsychology. You both like strange rock music."
"Byron Lucifer is not strange."
"Maybe you should get to know her, or are you afraid you'll actually like her?"
"I'm not going to stay here and argue." Megabyte sighed, "I'm going home."
Another thing he was beginning to really hate about Ami, everything with her ended in an argument. She was always accusing him like that, accusing him of everything that was true about himself that he didn't want to own up to.
"Yeah, you can go argue with your mum and dad."
Megabyte had the sudden urge to just yell at her to shut-up. Of all the days for her to start picking at his home life, this was probably one of the worst. He was in no mood to have Ami's love-and-peace high moral judgment pointed at his family.
"My mom is in Scotland with Millie, there won't be anyone home to argue with me." He stood up, still holding the towel to his face. "So I can dive face down into a tub ice water without getting funny looks."
"Even if didn't have your head in ice water, you'd still get them."
"Hyuk hyuk." He gave a scrunched-faced eye roll and really meant it.
****
Jade wasn't talking at all. She was just rocking back and forth on her kitchen chair, her head on her knees, crying. She had been frightened completely. Adam had tried just telling her, but when he teleported her home, just to show her how harmless it really was, she fell apart. She hadn't said anything, she just started to cry.
After his day, he could relate to how lost and overwhelmed she must have felt. Her red face, streaked with frightened tears was exactly how he felt on the inside. All he wanted to do was make it okay for her. Perhaps if he could fix her, he could fix himself. At the least, if he could do something for her, he would get away from his problems.
Absently her hand brushed a plastic band on the table. She looked up, and it was Bonnie's collar. He noticed that she hadn't yet gotten the heart to put Bonnie's bowl away. The little blue plastic dish was still by the dog door, and there was still dog food in it. Adam could only feel an anguishing compassion for Jade. The poor girl had such a large-hearted, honest soul. The thought of how much she had loved her dog and how she must have missed Bonnie hurt him.
Adam knew that he couldn't just let her cry like that. It was too hard to watch her suffer and just hold her hand. He had to fix it.
"Jade, Jade, look at me." Adam got her attention by running a comforting hand down her arm. She looked up at him, her eyes streaked with red lightning and glassy with tears. "What's the one place in the world you've always wanted to go?"
Jade sniffled and squinted, trying to think of the answer. The wheels of her rational mind were starting grind into action again and along with that came a calm. She gave a few teary sighs that sounded like she might start up again, but she held it back. There was a certain bravery in it all, her not crying, trying to answer a question she probably didn't understand.
"What do you mean?" She sniffled, wiping her eyes on her arm.
"Where in the whole world have you always wanted to go?" Adam repeated, crouching down so that he could look up at her from a less frightening position.
"New York City." Jade said. There was a quivering, uncertain smile on her face as she thought of it. "It's got everything, you know."
Adam patted her knee.
"Alright, then it's a date. Go get yourself washed up and off we'll go."
Adam couldn't deny how much fun it was to see Jade experiencing everything with an innocent, gosh-wow glee. There was a fantastical quality to it all, the way she wanted to become intimate with every nook and cranny of everything she saw. She craved the new, bright, brilliant things in life. Only a city like New York could have satisfied her.
He saw in her that insatiable curiosity that had drawn her to Megabyte. She talked about Megabyte on and off during their tour. There was an innocent yet wanton lust in her as she did. She wanted Megabyte but was entirely unprepared for what to do if she ever got him.
Adam knew that game all too well, wanting but never being prepared for getting.
Jade possessed an energy that Adam did not. All that they did didn't tire her, it fueled her. There was an unrestrained hunger in how she approached being in New York, something resembling a whirlwind. Adam, however, was tired though. He'd been through New York several times and even though seeing it with Jade brought out another side to it that he hadn't ever seen, he didn't have the energy to keep up with her voracious tourism.
They sat down on a bench in Central Park, letting Adam take a break. In a way this was good exhaustion. He'd had to go home to day, but he was too tired to dwell on it. He had to worry about Jade too much to think of what had happened.
"You can't tell anyone about this." Adam said to her, careful that his tone wasn't too harsh. He didn't want to dampen the joy that radiated from her like heat from the sun."There are a lot of people who would come after us."
"Like who?" Jade asked, clutching her brand new teddy bear that Adam had purchased for her at FAO Schwartz. It had cost him a small fortune, but it was worth it to see Jade smile. Besides, every trip needed a souvenir. Seeing her enjoy it gave Adam a warm feeling that he hadn't had in a while. For a moment he had done something right. At least someone was satisfied with him.
"There was a man named Colonel Masters who wanted to sell us." Adam shook his head, "And there are lot more where he came from. We need you to keep the secret, Jade, all of us."
"I promise I won't tell!" she replied fervently. "I wouldn't want anyone to hurt any of you. I won't say a word, not even to my mum!"
"Good. Now how about a ferry ride before we go home?"
Adam was thoroughly wiped out when he got back to the Ship. Megabyte was there, red faced, laying inside the round entrance. He had a black eye, and Adam was about to ask him about when he turned his head towards him.
"How'd it go with Jade?" Megabyte asked, opening one eye and then closing it again.
"Good. We had a fun time in New York." Adam leaned against a column.
"You took her to New York?" Megabyte opened his eye again, and cocked an eyebrow.
"After everything she's been through I figured she deserved. Besides she's always wanted to go there. I thought it'd be nice. She's a sweet girl."
"You two should start going out." Megabyte laughed.
"Not unless I changed my name to Megabyte Damon," he shot back smugly. Megabyte groaned. "I heard all about you, Megabyte. Apparently you're quite the heartbreaker."
"Why can't she have a crush on you? All women have a crush on you. Is she the one girl who's immune to the all powerful Adam Newman pheromones?"
"Apparently I'm too old and she likes redheads." Adam smiled wickedly. There was a certain gratitude he felt for this brotherly banter of theirs. Still, he couldn't help suspecting that something was wrong. It wasn't that Megabyte had a black eye and his eyes were nearly swollen shut, it was the mood. Megabyte's humor just seemed like a formality. Still, maybe he could jostle Megabyte out of it. After all, Megabyte wasn't moody by nature. "Try introducing her to Kevin."
"Oh no, I wouldn't wish her on my best friend!"
"How's Kevin doing?"
"His parents won't let him leave the house until he's fifty, and they're being generally over-protective and annoying, but I think after they have to spend time with him, they'll give up. At least I don't have to go back for another few days."
"Megabyte! I can't believe you don't care more than that about Kevin."
"I do!" Megabyte sat up. "But it's pointless to get upset about it. I mean, his parents suck, my parents suck. I felt bad about it once, and then I went home. So why bother getting excited over it? What am I going to do? Make his parents magically un-suck? It's really depressing being in that house, and he knows it. If it was me, he'd be doing the same thing. It's an unspoken rule."
"You really confuse me sometimes, Megabyte," said Adam, keeping just this side of joking.
"Yeah, well, for those of us who don't get to live in tents…" Megabyte said, not even finishing. Adam blinked at him and watched him teleport away. If he'd had more energy, if he just hadn't gotten back from New York, if he hadn't had to go home, he might have gone after Megabyte. He might have asked him what was wrong.
After all, this was Megabyte. He would get it over easily. He was resilient like that. Tomorrow he'd be back begging Adam to go to China or go bungee jumping or something along those lines. Adam was sure that if he'd wanted to, he could have found a reason to be worried. Only, he didn't want to find anything wrong and if he did there wouldn't be a thing he could do about it.
This was Megabyte after all.
****
*I can't believe you don't care more than that about Kevin.* Adam's words were following Megabyte. He hadn't seen Kevin in a few days, mostly because he wasn't in the mood to go be bored by sitting there beside Kevin and talking about every pointless thing until there was no more left, and Kevin's mom chased him away because Kevin needed rest and she felt the need to act like she really cared about Kevin in front of company.
He didn't want to see Adam or Ami, either. He didn't want to hear about Jade, or about anything. He felt too jealous to see them. He was angry and couldn't really say why. Ami's mom paid attention to her, and she didn't have a dad for Mrs. Jackson to scream at. Adam lived like some romantic savage in his tent, globetrotting when it pleased him, mysterious and free. Megabyte wanted to be that, mysterious and free. But he never understood Adam. Adam was just too perfect to be real. Adam knew everything, had been through everything, and could do everything. At first it had drawn Megabyte to Adam like a magnet. But lately, it just annoyed him.
Kevin he could still stand. Kevin was real, and sometimes Kevin's life was worse than his. He could still relate to Kevin. Adam and Ami were older, and sometimes there was an undeniable edge of condescension in the way they dealt with him. What bothered him the most was that he felt like he was being dealt with. Dealt with. Like a problem or a small child or an animal. Kevin however, saw him eye to eye. Kevin was still real.
Megabyte's five minutes of being Adam's new best friend were over. It was time to go back and make it up to Kevin, to apologize for the mistake he'd made. He'd essentially just dumped Kevin to run with a cooler crowd, only to find that he'd only been a guest, not a part of that cool new Adam and Ami clique. Fine, let them run around doing whatever boy-girl, friends but not friends, weird thing they did. He still had Kevin.
He teleported into Kevin's room, expecting to find him lying in the bed, trying to find something decent on TV. Instead, there was no Kevin, just a made bed and a wiffle ball sitting in the middle of it. At first he thought, good, they've let Kevin get out of bed. Only, the house was quiet. There were no dishwashers running, no appliances whirring. There was only a faint breathy sound that he couldn't identify.
"Hey, Kev!" Megabyte called, making himself smile as he left the bedroom and went towards the kitchen. There was Kevin, sitting there, alone. A slap mark with nail scratches reddened the right side of his face. It was obvious he had been crying. "Kev?"
Kevin he jumped in his chair. Megabyte saw bruises peaking out from the bottom of his shirt, in the shape of a hand.
"Oh." He was relieved for a split-second, and then he frowned, "Megabyte."
"Don't get excited or anything." Megabyte pulled up a chair and sat next to him, giving off a few failed starts at laughter. He couldn't laugh his away around this, it was just too big. "Hey what's wrong?"
"Besides my whole life?" He looked at Megabyte with a voice that was half plea and two thirds resignation.
"What happened?" Megabyte still fiddled with the wiffle ball, but his face fell from its smile.
"My parents, they don't want me anymore." Kevin dropped his head. "They're making me go away."
"Where?"
"Glen College. It's in Scotland."
"They still want you, Kevin, they're just sending you to a better school. It'll be okay. No more bullies."
"No. It's not that. I know that they don't want me anymore. I don't think they ever really wanted me at all. I know why they're sending me. It's all my fault."
"What's your fault?"
"I told them. I had to, I really did. She just kept screaming at me, and I couldn't take it anymore. And my dad just sat there, looking at me. It was really the worst part of it, him just sitting there looking at me, like I wasn't his son anymore. Like I wasn't anyone anymore. I couldn't lie anymore, I didn't have anything left to make up. He wouldn't say anything, Megabyte. He just watched."
"That sounds horrible. Why did she get so angry?"
"I yelled back at her. I told her that we weren't freaks at all. I said she was being stupid. And she said that I was the devil. She said that I was a curse and that she wished I wasn't ever born. And Dad didn't say anything. He just kept staring at me. And then- then, I was on the floor. She didn't really hurt me. I didn't feel it. I was just watching my dad. He wasn't saying anything. I don't think he'll ever talk to me again, Megabyte. Maybe they're right, maybe I shouldn't have been born."
"No! You know that's not true, Kevin! Don't say that. You can go live with Ruth."
"My mum and Aunt Ruth got in a big row over the phone. My parents are at her house, bawling her out. They won't let me see her anymore. They think she's responsible for all this, that if I hadn't been at her house I wouldn't be a Tomorrow Person."
"Oh." Megabyte sat feeling paralyzed and useless. He knew where this was going to have to end, but a part of him needed to deny it. "Well, you can come live with me."
"No."
"Okay, go live in the tent, with Adam, it'll be great!"
"No, Megabyte, no." Kevin sighed. "I can't be a Tomorrow Person anymore." Just like that, he said it. Megabyte wasn't sure he'd heard right.
"What?"
"My parents hate me, and I can't see my aunt anymore, and I almost died."
"It was a fluke. Things like Culex happen once in a life time."
"Really? What about Colonel Masters and Lisa dying? Lisa really died Megabyte, she didn't just get knocked out. She was really dead!"
"But the Mothership brought her back."
"And what if next time it's bullets? Or laser guns? Or something that the Ship can't fix? What if I get my head chopped off?"
"That won't happen."
"Yes it will, it'll happen all the time. The bad things are never going to stop." He sullenly wiped his eyes. He tried to stay calm. "I can't be a Tomorrow Person. She'll always scream at me Megabyte. She'll never stop screaming at me!" Kevin sounded hysterical. The darting, hollow expression on his face made Megabyte think that something in him had snapped that couldn't ever be fixed again. " I don't want her to scream anymore. I can't take it. It's never going to end. It's always going to be like this." Kevin looked so foreign to Megabyte. "Goodbye, Megabyte."
It hit Megabyte straight in the chest, and sank into his stomach where it wrenched his insides like someone wringing out a wet cloth. It was like Kevin was dying, and in a way he was. He would never talk to him again, or play video games, or rant about parents, or shoot water guns at people on the bus. Kevin was gone forever, which was very much like death. And it might as well have been the same thing.
It was two weeks before Megabyte could face anyone. He hadn't talked to Adam and Ami. He hadn't gone to the Ship. He didn't know who to be angry at, Adam or Ami. In the end, he decided he was furious with them both. Kevin almost didn't get his tomorrow. Last he'd spoken to them at all, Adam and Ami were going to Toyko for sushi. Not that they asked him, not that they had ever asked Kevin if he wanted to go eat sushi. That burned the most, that no matter how he looked at it, it was Kevin getting the raw deal. Sometimes it was Ami's fault. Sometime's Adam's. Sometimes his own. But always it was Kevin's loss.
Megabyte tried to remember if it was Monday or Tuesday or Wednesday. He hadn't bothered to keep track of the days, either. It didn't matter. Just another day when Adam and Ami were laughing it up and Kevin was gone. Megabyte turned the corner and he was about three blocks from his house. He could have been riding a bus, but he couldn't bear to take the bus anymore. He walked the bitterly cold London streets, not thinking, just walking and hoping it would all turn out to be a horrible dream. He didn't even care if Hulk and Skull ran into him. If he they had, he would have laid down on the sidewalk and just let them beat him. Hit him, like Kevin's mother hit Kevin. He would just sit there in silence, like Kevin's dad had when Kevin's mom hit Kevin.
Millie was going into the semi-finals and that meant another three days in Scotland. His mom said that she had a great chance of making finals. His father was working on some high security conference, and that meant that he wasn't coming home tonight either. Megabyte really felt like he was the last person left on Earth.
He thought about asking Ruth where Kevin was, and going there, telling him that he had quit being a Tomorrow Person, too, and they could be friends again. If Kevin had wanted that, Megabyte would have done it. He would have talked his dad into sending him to Glen College and he would have thanked Kevin for still being his friend, for forgiving him.
Only, he wouldn't get the chance. He'd had his opportunity to stick by Kevin, to be a real friend, and he'd just teleported away. He didn't even think of his friend, sitting at the table, crying and desperate. All he thought of was getting away because it hurt him too much to see. How selfish was that?
He didn't want to be near anyone that might be nice to him, either. How could he be near them and not want to tell them about something he'd have told to Kevin? How could he be near them and not make a joke he'd have made to Kevin? That would be throwing Kevin away. It would be like saying Kevin could be replaced, that he meant nothing.
Megabyte walked into the door of his house and let his bookbag drop from his shoulders with a thud. He hated his whole house, even his own room. He couldn't stand to be there. He needed to be somewhere else. There was the island, and the Ship. The Ship he could stand, if Adam wasn't there.
When he arrived, Adam was in the Ship, reading. Megabyte didn't say anything, he just laid down inside of the large round door. He didn't have it in him to pretend to be nice to Adam. No more banter and trips to go skydiving. From now on, he was not Adam's friend.
"Where have you been Megabyte, I've been worried about you." Adam closed his book and turned around, still crosslegged. Megabyte didn't answer him. "Okay. Where's Kevin, how is he?"
Megabyte could have hated Adam for his entire life at that moment.
"Kevin isn't a Tomorrow Person." Megabyte turned his head away from Adam.
"What?" Adam's narrowed his eyes and cocked his head in that sensitive, concerned look that Megabyte couldn't stand. Now Adam cared about Kevin. He hadn't been all that concerned when he knew (he had to) that Megabyte was being a jerk and ignoring Kevin to hang out with Adam.
"Not anymore." Megabyte crossed his arms. "Hey, not that I blame the guy." He tried for a laugh, out of reflex more than anything. Only he realize how out of place and stupid it sounded.
"What happened? Is he alright?"
"Kevin's parents don't want him anymore. They're making him go away." Megabyte answered. "He told them."
"But why couldn't he live with Ruth?"
"Mrs. Wilson hates Ruth now." Megabyte was beginning to feel better, and didn't know why.
"So that's why he gave up being a Tomorrow Person." Adam said it with unmistakable disappointment. It set Megabyte on fire as if Adam had just lit a match and put it to him.
"Yeah, Adam. Because he wanted to be alive!" Megabyte stood up. "I'm so sorry if we can't all live up to your expectations. Some of us have lives, you know. You've got it so easy, Adam. You really do, and then you act as though we should all be just as perfect as you. 'So that's why he gave up being a Tomorrow Person'." Megabyte's Australian accent was mostly a charicature. He couldn't deny the fact that he liked knowing that it pissed Adam off. He saw the way Adam had his head turned down and away, as if avoiding harsh light. He saw the way Adam's jaw was clenched as he probably literally bit his tongue. It felt better to see that than anything had in days. "Yeah. Well, you didn't see him. You weren't there, Adam. He had scratches all over the side of his face."
"What happened?"
"His mom found out, that's what happened. He had to tell her about being a Tomorrow Person. He couldn't hide it from them."
"He told? This is bad. We've got to go talk to them, find out who they've told." Adam stood up.
"Don't you dare!" Megabyte said. "You go near him and I swear to god Adam I'll --"
“You'll what?” asked Adam. Adam's face was in a narrowe-eyed soft frown. It was Megabyte's turn to look down and away.
“Just leave him alone, Adam,” said Megabyte, letting out a breath. He could feel the strangling tightness in his throat and the way his mouth quivered. Now he felt angry and pathetic. He wiped the first few tears away, fiercely, with the back of his sleeve. He was not going to cry in front of Adam.
"It's okay. I'm fine. But don't you understand, we've got to find out how much they know."
"No!" Megabyte was a little frightened that he swung so fast from being calm to being angry again. "You're the one that doesn't understand. If you do that it'll just make Kevin's life worse. Just leave him alone. Okay?" Megabyte took a long breath. "You can't. You just can't."
"Why? Is there something wrong?"
"Yeah. There's a lot wrong, but there's going to be more wrong if you go over there. Just leave Kevin alone. Just let him go, okay."
"We can't do that."
"It was okay to just let Lisa go wasn't it? It's okay for you to let people go but it's not okay for me. Well, Kevin's my best friend and I'm telling you just to leave him alone. If you can let Lisa leave, you can let Kevin leave."
"So this is what this is about," sighed Adam. "Look, I'm sorry. I guess I wasn't thinking. But don't you think if I went to talk to them that maybe --"
"You're still just as young as me. They're grownups, Adam, and until you're like twenty-five they don't listen to you and they don't really care. And it won't do any good. Kevin's away from his parents, and that's the best thing that can happen."
"What did they do to Kevin?"
"I don't want to talk about it." Megabyte said. There was a certain satisfaction he felt, having that secret kept from Adam. There was undeniable comfort knowing that there was still something between Kevin and him that could never be between him and Adam.
"He'll be back one day, I think." Adam kept his distance from the younger boy, who wasn't that young anymore. Megabyte suddenly looked very old. "It must have hurt him a lot to do this. It must have hurt you a lot."
"Yeah." Megabyte just laid there. He wanted to tell Adam how little he really knew about what kind of hurt he and Kevin were both going through, but there was a limit to how much of Adam's sickening perfection Megabyte could stand to wade into.
"Could you ever do that, stop being a Tomorrow Person?"
"I don't know. I mean, if Kevin came to my house and begged me not to be a Tomorrow Person, I'd do it."
"You'd give it all up for Kevin?"
Megabyte felt another spark of anger. He couldn't help but feel that Adam was implying that Kevin wasn't worth it, but he was too tired to yell. He settled on a harsh whisper.
"Yeah, Adam, he's my best friend."
"Well, I'm your friend Megabyte and I don't want you to give up being a Tomorrow Person."
There was relieving silence between them, a chance for Megabyte to let the anger go, like opening a fist that had been clenched too tight. Sense started to fill up the gap that anger had left. Megabyte looked over and realized just who he'd been yelling at in the first place.
"Look, Adam, I'm sorry I yelled at you."
"It's okay. We're friends."
And Megabyte knew it was true.
END