Beep….Beep…..Beep

Jerome Dawkins woke up to the sound of his alarm clock. Keeping his eyes closed, he reached over and turned off his clock before he finally opened his eyes, sat up and stretched his arms.

A new day He thought to himself as he threw his bed covers of him and climbed of his bed. As soon as he got of his bed his bare foot hit something hard and metal.

"Ouch" he said aloud before bending down and picking up the item.

Of course, My Jet Blaster 3000. He thought to himself as he ran his hand a long his favourite water pistol. His brother kept on telling him he was 15 years old and that it was time he threw it away but Jerome knew he could never throw it away. Too many childhood memories.

He had a lot of clutter like that in his room. He looked at all the old toys, books and gadgets thrown around his room. He wasn't an untidy person, but he just had a lot of things that he wanted to keep to remind him of some of his better childhood memories.

Like this Jerome thought as he picked up a universal light switch that he had brought a couple of years ago to play pranks on people. He smiled as he remembered fond times with his brother before he put the light switch back were he had found it and walked out of his room and into the bathroom.

He came out again five minutes later looking a lot more refreshed and awake. He walked back onto his room and carefully avoided the Jet Blaster which he had idiotically put back down onto the floor and was to lazy to pick back up. He walked to his wardrobe and pulled out his school uniform which consisted of a pair of plain black trousers, a plain white shirt, a black and blue striped tie and a black blazer. He put on his uniform and studied himself in his mirror.

He was a black boy at average height. He had short hair, a rounded clear face, broad shoulders and a well toned chest. He checked that his uniform was on properly before he bounded out of the room and walked down the stairs and into the kitchen were he found his brother already sitting down reading a newspaper and breakfast was already laid out onto the table.

His brother's name was Joshua and he was six years older than Jerome. Their parents had died when Jerome was only one in a car crash. Jerome had always wondered what it would be like to meet his parents and it was hard for him to know him to know that he would never get that chance, but he knew it must have been harder for Joshua then him. Jerome couldn't remember his parents but Joshua could, he had to live with all those painful memories.

So Jerome and Joshua had grown up in an orphanage. It had been hard, but as soon as Joshua had been old enough and had enough money they both moved out and got a place of there own. They lived in a small council estate home in the English town of Abdington.

"So your finally up" Joshua said when he saw that Jerome had entered the kitchen.

"I'm up the same time as usual" Jerome said as he grabbed a slice of toast before sitting down opposite of Joshua.

"But I was up an hour ago"

"That's because your crazy" Joshua chuckled and Jerome eagerly began spreading his toast with butter. When Jerome was in the orphanage, he only ever had Joshua to look after him, to be protective of him. This meant that even now the two brothers were very close and they had both learnt to rely on each other.

"That new Youth club on Hampton Road is opening on Saturday" Joshua commented.

"Let me see" Jerome said gesturing toward the paper in Joshua's hand.

Evelyn Cole Opening Youth Club With A Bang

Evelyn Cole's promising youth club is too open on Saturday night when they are holding a Christmas Party. Mrs Cole says, "We aim to give the children a chance to participate in more extracurricular activities." Continues on page 24.

"Are you going to go?" Joshua asked after he saw Jerome put back down the newspaper and once again focus on his breakfast.

"Maybe" Jerome answered, "It sounds like fun"

"Yeah well you won't be having fun if your late for school" Joshua said pointing toward the clock showing that Jerome was going to be late.

"But I haven't finished eating yet"

"Well I don't want to have to open another letter saying you have a late detention" Joshua said sternly.

"Fine" Jerome said before picking up a final slice of toast and slinging his backpack on his shoulders. "I've got basketball tonight" he called out before he left. Jerome heard Joshua shout

"Okay" before he shut the door and let the cold wind him in his face. He shivered slightly before shoving the last of his toast into his mouth, stuffed his hands into his pockets and walked out the front gate of the house, only to turn into the next one. He walked up the pathway and knocked on the door. He waited for a few moments until the door opened and his best friend, and next door neighbour walked out.

Andrew Hudson was a mixed race boy. He was about the same height as Jerome, if not a little bit shorter. He had short brown, curly hair and a rounded shaped head. Ever since Jerome had moved to Abdington and next door to Andrew, they had both been best friends and pretty much inseparable.

"What took you so long?" Andrew asked, stepping out of the house and shutting the door behind him.

"What do you mean" Jerome replied, "I'm not late. I'm here the same time as every morning."

"Yeah well if I get a detention, I'm blaming you"

"You usually do anyway" Jerome muttered.

"That's because it's usually your fault" Andrew stated.

"That's not true"

"Yes it is" Andrew said, "Remember last week when you threw that rubber at the teacher during science and blamed me"

"But that was only because you blamed me for throwing food in the cafeteria" Jerome replied.

"That was because that was you"

"Yeah but you didn't have to tell everyone" said a highly amused Jerome and an equally amused Andrew laughed at that.

"Come on" Andrew said once he had finished laughing, "Let's get to school, I'm not getting another detention because of you.

000

Jerome and Andrew finally reached the road on which their school was on, and they was only just on time. Jerome heard giggling from across the road. He turned his head and saw three girls talking and laughing together. The first girl that Jerome saw he knew very well. It was the girl he had had a crush on ever since he had moved to Abdington and had constantly asked her out but she always rejected him.

The girl's name was Ava Jackson. She was tall, at least another two inches taller then Jerome, and she was mixed race. She had long curly brown hair which was currently put up into a bun and a slim, slender face. Her looks did attract Ava to Jerome, but there was something else that he liked about it. She was clever, really clever. In fact she was known throughout the school to be one of the cleverest girls in the school. One thing Jerome defiantly liked about her though he never knew why was her sarcastic personality. Every time Jerome asked her out, she would always be able to find a new inventive, insulting way to turn Jerome down. But, Jerome was a confident person so he never let any of her insults get to her. The whole school thought that Jerome only liked Ava because of her looks (including Ava) but there was something else about her, he didn't know what it was but it always kept Jerome hooked on.

The girl walking to the left of her was Katie Kilm. She was a short girl and had long brown hair. She was just as pretty as Ava but she wasn't Jerome's type. The girl on the other side of her was Riley Evans. Again she was mixed race and she was about the same height as Jerome. She had long brown hair to her shoulders and again she was pretty. It was common knowledge among the school that Riley used to fancy Jerome. Riley seemed to notice Jerome looking in their direction and offered him a smile. Jerome may not fancy Riley but he was a very polite person. Andrew seemed to notice where he was looking as well because he leaned over and began speaking to him in a more hushed tone.

"It's never going to happen mate" he said, following Jerome's gaze toward Ava.

"I don't know what your talking about" Jerome replied.

"Ava"

"What about her?"

"She's never going to go out with you" Jerome smirked at Andrew.

"Your never know" he replied.

"Always the optimist" Andrew muttered.

"You know you love me that way" Jerome said causing Andrew to laugh and punch him on the shoulder.

"Come on, I don't want to be late" Andrew said literally pushing him through the gates of St Andrews Secondary School.

000

"This is a high concentration of Nitric Acid and because of this highly dangerous. This can destroy articles of clothing…" It was at that point that Jerome officially stopped listening to the lecture in Mrs Beattie class. It was the lesson before lunch time and Jerome was absolutely starving. He put his head on the desk and closed his eyes while attempting to keep himself from falling asleep.

Jerome was in the middle of a pleasant dream were he was playing for his favourite basketball team, the Phoenix Suns and he had just scored the game winning shot until he was rudely awakened by a shouting voice.

"Jerome…Jerome… JEROME" The voice shouted.

Jerome jumped up from his desk to face the furious glare from Mrs Beattie and the sniggers from the rest of the class.

"Do you care to tell me why you was sleeping during my class" she shouted at him.

"I wasn't sleeping" Jerome said feebly.

"Your eyes were closed"

"I was listening"

"You were snoring"

"That was Andrew" Jerome said pointing at Andrew who was sitting next to him. Andrew promptly hit Jerome hard on the knee and the class began sniggering again.

"Well since my lecture is so boring that it put both of you to sleep" Andrew glared at Jerome, "Maybe it's best to separate you. Mr Dawkins there is only one seat left in the room, next to Miss Jackson"

The class again sniggered at who Jerome was forced to sit next to and Jerome thought he could feel the glare off Ava when he wasn't even looking at her. Jerome slowly got to his feet and walked to the back of the room were he found Ava glaring at him. Mrs Beattie and gone back to teaching and Jerome slid into the chair next to Ava. Jerome opened his mouth to speak to her but she put her finger to her lips and shook her head. Jerome quickly closed his mouth and tried to concentrate on what Mrs Beattie was saying.

"Well, now I've told you what to do" Mrs Beattie said, "You can all conduct the experiment for yourselves. Begin" she said. Jerome looked at the blackboard at the front of the room and saw paragraphs of comprehensive notes that Jerome couldn't understand without listening to the teacher.

"Do you even know what were supposed to be doing?" Jerome's head whipped around to find Ava looking at him. He shrugged.

"Do you know anything that Mrs Beattie said throughout the lesson?" she asked again.

"Yes" Jerome said, "She said that this is a high concentration of Nitric acid. It is very dangerous and can burn through many articles of clothing" Jerome finished.

"Is that all you know?"

"Yes" Ava rolled her eyes.

"Fine, just do exactly what I tell you" Ava demanded.

"Fine" Jerome agreed.

"Promise"

"Captain's honour" Jerome said sarcastically.

"Good, take the Nitric acid and carefully pour 8 milligrams into that beaker there" She said pointing toward an empty test tube. As promised, Jerome followed her instructions perfectly.

The lesson continued in that fashion, Ava giving instructions, Jerome following them. Neither started any sort of small talk, and for once in science, Jerome actually worked hard and too the best of his ability which to his surprise was quite high. He knew he was only doing it because it may impress Ava, even though in the middle of the lesson, Jerome knew it was hopeless. When the bell signalling the start of lunch finally arrived, Jerome got up and handed their final product of work to the front of the room while Ava cleaned up their desk. When he got back he saw Ava throw her backpack over her shoulders and made to walk out of the room. Jerome grabbed her wrist to stop her.

"Hey Ava wait" he said making her turn around and face him.

"What is it Jerome?" she asked.

"I don't know if you heard but the Youth Club that is opening on Hampton Road is having a Christmas party on Saturday. I thought that maybe you would like to go with me?" Jerome asked hopefully. Ava rolled her eyes. She walked back over to the desk and picked up a bottle of the acid they was using.

"Jerome" she said in a sweet voice, "This Nitric Acid can melt even the hardest stones. I would rather pour this in my eyes than go out with you" She attempted to leave again but Jerome once again put a hand on her wrist.

"Why not?"

"Because you just want to go out with me because you think I'm pretty" she said, Jerome tried to interrupt but he was quickly shushed, "I want to go out with someone who doesn't look at everything skin deep and treat everything in life as a joke." She said before she walked past Jerome and out of the door. Jerome sighed and turned round to see that quite a few people had seen this confrontation and was know looking at him openly.

"What" Jerome said loudly causing the crowd to quickly disperse. However, a girl that Jerome recognised as Sarah Murray walked up to Jerome and began whispering in his ear.

"That was really mean of Ava. If you ever want someone's shoulder to cry on, you know where I am" And with that, she walked off leaving a very confused Jerome in the room. It was then he noticed there was another person who stayed behind with him. It was Andrew.

"I told you she would never go out with you" Andrew said as the two began to walk out the classroom.

"Shut up Andrew"

"And I'm going to get you back for getting me in trouble" Andrew said, "Again"

000

"Okay guys good session. Everyone over here" Coach Jordan called and ten sweaty boys fresh from a basketball training session jogged over to there coach.

"Good training session, it's our last until after the Christmas holidays. Remember our season starts in January so I want you all to be practicing through the holidays. I don't want any of you getting rusty now" he said looking at each of the boys in turn until he reached Jerome who was at the end of the line.

"I wish you all a Happy Christmas and I'll see you all in January" Jordon said and eight members of team, including Jordon left the gym, leaving Jerome and Andrew alone holding a basketball.

"You want to play some one on one for awhile" Andrew offered holding the ball up, Jerome nodded. He needed a way to release some of the tension that had built up during the day.

"So why do you keep on asking out Ava, she keeps giving you the same answer?" Andrew asked.

"Man's got to have hope" Jerome replied.

"Yeah but you see how half the girls in the school look at you" Andrew said, "You could have pretty much anybody any girl you want. Why to you keep asking out Ava?"

"Because I like her" Jerome replied simply.

"Why?"

"I just do"

"Because of her looks?"

"No"

"Then what?" Andrew asked, Jerome sighed and ran a hand through his head.

"It's everything about her" he said, trying to figure out a way to explain it. He came to the conclusion that there wasn't one, "I can't explain it" Andrew let out a low whistle.

"Dude" Andrew said, "Your whipped"

"I know" Jerome replied, just then Andrew took a shot of the basketball. The ball bounced off the edge of the rim and out of the empty doors of the gym. Andrew and Jerome ran outside after it and they found the ball had fallen down a hole in the ground with the lid of.

Jerome recognised what it was, it lead to the basement of the school. It was were the mainframe for the school's computer systems were and he knew that no students were allowed to go down there.

"We are going to get in so much trouble once teachers see a basketball down there" Andrew stated.

"Don't worry, I'll go get it" Jerome offered, putting his foot on the first step of the ladder.

"You'll get in trouble if your caught down there" Andrew warned.

"Then I won't get caught" Jerome said, "Don't worry, I'll be fine" he said and began to climb the ladder.

Jerome dropped on the wooden floor with a large thud. He got back up to his feet and dusted off his clothes before shouting back to Andrew,

"I'm down now"

"Well hurry up so you can get back up here" Andrew called back. Jerome turned around and scanned the room around him. It was large and empty, apart from a massive computer on one side of the room and wires running along all the walls. He quickly spotted the ball on the other side of the room and quickly retrieved it.

When he reached the ball he saw something else that caught his eye.

On one side of the room there was no wall. Instead it was covered in a type of plastic cellophane. Jerome knew this was odd because teachers hardly ever came down here. Know thinking about it Jerome realised it was odd that the entrance to this room was even open.

"Andrew" he shouted out.

"Yeah" Andrew called back.

"I've got it" he said, "Catch" he finished before throwing the ball in the air. He saw Andrew catch it with ease.

"Come back up" Andrew called.

"I just want to check out something, I'll be up in a minute" Jerome shouted out.

"No" Andrew called back, "Come up now before you get caught"

"I'll be back in a minute" Jerome called, not even waiting to hear Andrew's answer. He looked back toward the plastic sheet before walking through it.

000

Jerome waded through the endless amounts of plastic, the surroundings growing darker the deeper Jerome went. He kept thinking that he should turn around and go back up to Andrew but curiosity got the better of him. He wanted to know what the plastic was hiding. After pushing through another piece of plastic, he found himself into a dark damp room.

It stinks Was all Jerome could think as he looked around. There was a light coming from the roof of the room, and an object lying on the floor. The light was directed onto the object, but nothing else. Slowly, Jerome walked to the centre of the room. When he got to the centre of the room, and saw only an oddly shaped piece of stone lying there.

On the stone was many different carvings, none of which Jerome could understand. But he ran his hand along it anyway, feeling the bumps of it. Something told Jerome that what he held in his hand was ancient, beautiful, important, deadly.

"GRRR"

Jerome span around trying to find where the sound came from, but he found nothing. Just shadows, too many shadows.

"GRRR"

Jerome heard the noise again, but this time he turned slowly, bracing himself for what he would find. Jerome's brown eyes met a pair of bright red ones.