Another Genesis

>>I have more chapters to show, but please review!! I really want to know what people think about this so far! Thanks!

Chapter 4: Telephony

“You’ve got something on your face.”
“Where?”
“Right there.” Logan stared at the piece of chocolate on Caleb’s chin. The boys were sitting at Logan’s kitchen counter. Physics books and sports magazines were strewn along the counter top. A plate of homemade cookies, a glass of milk, and a mug of cherry soda with a bendy straw in it sat on top of a diagram of pulleys, weights, and inclined planes. The boys rifled through the magazines as they ate their after-school snack. Logan, appropriately, was looking through a skateboarding magazine as he pushed a skateboard along the smooth marble tiles under his left foot. Caleb fiddled with his cell phone on top of his physics notebook as he flipped the pages of an in-line skating magazine.
At the sound of Logan’s last instruction, Caleb looked up. “Are you kidding me?” he asked. “Did you even point? How am I supposed to know where ‘right there’ is?”
“Sorry. I guess it didn’t work.”
“Yeah, I guess not.” Caleb took a sip of his milk, stuck a straw in the glass, and made the milk bubble to the top before he stopped blowing.
“Damn it,” Logan said, banging his head down on the table. “I’m never going to get the hang of this stupid thing.”
“Just keep working at it, man. You heard what my sister said. Telepathy takes a lot of time and practice to master,” Caleb raised one eyebrow and frowned. “You know this; I don’t see why you’re so surprised.”
Logan lifted his head, shrugging. “I’m just surprised because I’ve been working at it for over a year, and my mind speech barely comes out as a whisper. And besides, your sister’s telekinetic, not telepathic. It’s probably a completely different situation.”
Caleb shot Logan a mischievous smile. “Oh, stop pouting. You ever think you’re just working too hard at it?”
“Easy for you to say! You just open your eyes and suddenly you can see a guy ten miles away in the pitch blackness of midnight, x-ray him to see what kind of underwear he’s got on, and then fry his corny ass for wearing tightie-whities!”
Caleb doubled over and clutched his stomach, laughing heartily. “Right man, that’s exactly how my powers work!” He began to massage his stomach. “Wow! I keep hanging out with you and I’ll be able to stop doing ab workouts at the gym!”
“Funny. Just keep on laughing at my misery,” Logan scowled.
Caleb looked as if he did want to continue laughing, but his cell phone had just started to ring. He stopped laughing, and with a quick glance and final chuckle in Logan’s direction, he reached for the cell phone that was singing and vibrating around on his notebook.
“Hello?” He asked into the phone. “Oh, hey Joc. What’s going on…You’re kidding! Already?…Well, what is it?…Have you checked it out yet?…Tonight? No way! That’s totally fantabular!…Yeah, 8pm sounds great. I’ll bring Logan…Ok, thanks, Joc…Yup, I’ll catch you later…Have a great day!”
“Dude, are you serious?”
“What? Were you able to read my mind and know what the conversation was about?” Caleb asked excitedly.
“No. I have no idea what the hell you were talking about.” Logan said. “I am talking about the fact that that conversation was way too cheery. Who taught you how to talk on the phone? Like, a preschool teacher?”
“Well, you know,” Caleb began with a frown, “I’m not really one to talk on the phone. It’s not exactly my thing, you know? My parents got me this cell for emergencies.” He thought for a second. “I guess Joc is my model for phone conversations.”
“So you imitate your sister when you talk on the phone? That’s hilarious. Were your voice a tad higher, I would have thought your power was to channel people. Or like, she was possessing you, or something.”
“HA HA.” Caleb said, rolling his eyes. After a pause, he ventured, “It’s not that bad, is it?”
“Dude, all I have to say is, don’t talk on the phone in front of anyone but your close friends,” Logan said with a smirk.
“Thanks, man,” Caleb said, again rolling his eyes. “I’ll remember your words of wisdom.”
“No problem. That’s just one of the many astounding services I have to offer.” Logan accidentally kicked the skateboard too hard and it rolled across the floor, stopping when it collided with the metal trashcan. “So,” he continued, sheepishly, “um, what did your sister have to say that was so jubilating, anyway?”
“Oh, right. She said that—wait a minute, ‘were my voice a tad higher’?” Caleb interrupted himself and stared at Logan. “Are you saying that I generally have a pretty high, feminine voice?”
“What? Oh, no, of course not. I, uh, bad choice of words.”
Caleb looked at his friend with narrowed eyes. “Anyway,” he said emphatically, “Jocelyn said that this new place opened up on the strip. It’s like a coffee bar during the day, but then at night and on the weekends, a dance club opens on the upstairs level. It’s for 15- to 20- year-olds. How cool is that?
“Dude, that rocks!”
“I know. She said she’s going to bring some of her friends, and I told her we’d come check it out tonight.”
“Ooh, some of Jocelyn’s friends are going to be there? Like who? Will her friend Maile be there? She’s way hot, and I really want to get to know her.” He gave Caleb a bunch of obvious winks and nudges.
Caleb laughed and shook him off. “I don’t know, man! Did you hear me ask her? Besides, are girls all you can think about?”
Logan shot up from his seat at the counter, and pointed his finger at Caleb. “You should talk!” he cried. “I wasn’t going to say anything about it, but now is the perfect time!”
Caleb, looking confused and taken aback, asked, “What in the world are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about that girl Cameron you keep thinking about!”
There was a long pause before Caleb quietly asked, “What?” His eyes were wide and he wasn’t smiling anymore. “How do you know about her?” he asked uneasily.
“Are you kidding? I am telepathic. I may not have a great grasp on my powers yet, but I have realized that when someone has very consistent, intense thoughts, I can easily tap into them. And you, dude, have failed to mention your little obsession.”
“Hey man, no, no. It’s…it’s…it’s not an obsession.” Caleb was floundering. “It’s just, she’s one of the few girls I’ve met who have been really--”
Logan cut him off. “Really stunning, beautiful, magnificent, heavenly, blah blah, blah blah, blah blah! You’re a real sap dude! All that gushy crap! I could hardly believe it,” Logan shook his head.
Caleb blushed. “I can’t help it. She really was all of those things. And you know what’s even more incredible?” He paused. “Don’t kill me because I haven’t told you yet,” he hunched over and cringed, “but she’s telepathic as well.”
Silence, then, “What?”
Caleb unclenched a bit to say, “Yeah, we talked the other day, and she told me that she had powers, and then I told her that I had powers, and then we all had a great big discussion about powers!”
“You all? Who else was there?”
“Her friend Gage,” Caleb said, sitting up, now looking totally relaxed. “He gets visions about the future! Isn’t that awesome?”
“Sorry if I’m not immediately thrilled. I’m still processing all of this,” Logan said, one of his eyes twitching. He rubbed his eye. “You mean to tell me, that there are people besides you, your sister, and I, in our own school no less, who have similar caliber special abilities?”
“Yeah,” Caleb said shrugging. “I guess so.” He stood up. “But how are you not thrilled about this? This could possibly give us the answers as to why we’re all like this!”
“Yeah, I suppose so,” Logan said, sitting back on his stool. “That would be awesome, to finally find out. Have you asked them? Do they know anything about why they have powers?”
“No, I haven’t asked them yet. We had a lot of other things to discuss first. And I thought that I’d at least wait till Cam and I, went on like a date, or something, before we started talking about things that personal.”
“Well, then ask her out,” Logan said, sticking a whole cookie in his mouth.
“I would, but…”
“Dude, you’re crazy about her.”
“I know! And I can’t stop thinking about her!”
“Well dude! You need to just get up the courage and talk to her again. Ask her to hang out, or something, because if you don’t,” he shook his head slowly, and breathed heavily, “I will hardly be able to take much more of it.”
They looked at each other for a moment.
Logan continued. “Maybe that’s why I can’t work my powers that well yet,” he chuckled, “I may subconsciously not want to for fear that I’ll hear more of that corny crap from others!”
“Oh thanks! I’m sorry my thoughts are so painful for you!”
“Well, to tell you the truth, they are more amusing than painful. I rather like it. Now I think I know why my mom is so addicted to soap operas.”
Caleb groaned and put his head in his hand. “Is it really that bad?”
“No,” Logan said seriously. “It’s really not that bad. I just like to give you a hard time,” he smirked.
“Join the club,” Caleb said under his breath.
“You should, however,” Logan continued, “ask her to come to this place tonight. What’s it called?” He walked to the fridge and brought out the bottle of cherry soda and the carton of milk.
“I think Jocelyn said it was called Zambular’s. Weird name, huh?” He took the milk carton from Logan and poured it into his glass.
“Yeah,” Logan agreed. “It’s probably named after the owner, or something.” He sloshed cherry coke onto the counter as he missed the rim of his mug. “Anyhow,” he said, as he grabbed a paper towel to wipe up his spill. “You should definitely ask this Cameron chick to come.”
“There’s no way. I couldn’t ask her.” Caleb raised his hands in protest. “I don’t even know her that well!”
“Well, dude! You could get to know her tonight! It would be the perfect reason for you to call and ask her to hang out. All your friends would be there, so it wouldn’t be too stressful. Don’t you think?”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” Caleb said, taking a bite of a cookie. “Fine, I’ll call her.” Caleb looked decisive.
Logan raised his eyebrows. “Do you even have her number?”
“No,” Caleb said slowly.
“Well, how the hell do you expect to call her then?!”
“Well, I just thought…”
“You thought you’d pretend you had her number, and tell me that you’d call her, but in actuality, you just wanted to get me off your case, and you really had no intention of putting yourself out there and calling her. Isn’t that right?”
“So you do have this telepathy thing under control!”
Logan laughed. “No, moron! I have this ‘human nature’ thing under control! Listen,” he said, lifting his backpack onto the counter. “I think I got the number of a girl the other day who is friends with her. She mentioned something about being glad that they were in the same AP Bio class--”
“She’s got AP Bio too?” Caleb whined. “I wonder why we’re not in the same class?”
“Well, she obviously has the other section of it,” Logan said knowingly. “The one that isn’t, you know, last period, like yours.”
“Damn different sections of AP Bio,” Caleb grumbled. “It’s not like there are that many juniors taking it, anyway. Why couldn’t they have just put us all in the same class,” he hissed under his breath.
Logan rolled his eyes. “I’m sure we can explore the intricate designation of your class schedule at another time.” He uncapped his pen. “Can we focus? If I call Jasper up, invite her, and ask her for Cameron’s number, will you call Cameron yourself and ask her out?”
“If you’ll do all that, sure! Of course, you do realize, if you ask a girl to come with you, she’ll think it’s a date, and you won’t be able to hit on any of my sister’s friends?”
Logan cringed. “You’re right. Hmm, well, I guess I’ll just have to sacrifice my player status for one night. You owe me.”
“Right,” Caleb laughed. “I know what a hardship this must be for you. Don’t worry, this is only the first night at this place. I am sure in the future, you’ll be able to mack it to multiple girls simultaneously, and still manage to keep the strings unattached.” He threw a few fake punches towards Logan’s midsection, while Logan put his arms up, pretending not to be able to block them.
Caleb suddenly stopped playing and sat down on his stool. He looked a little paler than he had been a moment ago. “Ok, well, call this girl so I can get this over with. I’m a wreck just thinking about it.”
“All right, all right, chill out. I’ve just gotta look through my little black book.” Logan took out a small, black address book from the side of his bag and started flipping through the pages.
Caleb laughed. “I can’t believe that you actually have a ‘little black book’. You, my friend, are so ridiculous.”
“Well how else do you expect me to keep track of all the hot ladies?”
Caleb was staring down at Logan’s book, at the many tiny notes, in various colors, stapled to each page of the address book. The notes were all folded so they fit neatly inside the bounds of each little page. “What are those?” he asked.
“What, these?” Logan asked, pointing at one of the tiny, folded notes. “They’re notes from girls with their numbers on them. Instead of just recopying the number, I staple the note, or napkin, or gum wrapper, or whatever it is the girls write their number on into the book. I like it better that way. It’s more personal. Helps me to easily identify their handwriting…and how and where I met them. You know, with so many girls, it’s hard to keep track--”
Caleb’s laughter interrupted Logan’s boastful words. “Unbelievable.”
Logan had already dialed the number. “Shh, it’s ringing.” Logan, still grinning, uncovered the receiver of the phone, and started talking. “Hello, may I please speak to Jasper? Thank you.” Logan smiled and winked at Caleb. “Hey Jas, how’s it going?…That’s great. Congratulations! You must be really excited.” Logan rolled his eyes.
“Well, I was just calling to see if you were interested in going with me tonight to the opening of the new club on the strip. It’s supposed to be awesome…Oh no problem, I can pick you up….Yeah, so maybe like, 7:30?…Great, it’s a plan then…Oh wait, before you go, I was wondering if you would be able to help me out with something. You know your friend Cameron? Well, I have a, um,” Logan hesitated, beckoning to Caleb. Looking panicked and wide eyed, Caleb shrugged his shoulders and shook his head, indicating that he didn’t know what to tell Logan to say. Logan scowled at him before he continued to talk to the girl on the phone.
“I wanted to ask her what the pre-calc homework was.” He immediately slapped himself on the forehead.
“What?” Caleb whispered.
“Um, can you hold on a sec, Jasper? I’ve got a beep.” Logan placed his hand tightly over the mouthpiece of the phone. “I’ve just remembered that Jasper and I have pre-calc together,” he whispered to Caleb. “She’s not gonna need to give me Cameron’s number to get the homework, cause she can just give it to me herself! Crap!”
“No, no!” Caleb cried, jumping about a foot off his stool before he stood. His hands were waving frantically to his next words. “It’s ok!” he whispered excitedly. “Cause, I have pre-calc with Cameron! Just tell her that it’s me who has class with her and needs the homework. But, no, just tell her it’s ‘a friend’ of yours, don’t tell her it’s me!”
“Ok, ok!” Logan said, batting Caleb away. “Ice! Shush now.”
“Sorry, Jasper,” Logan said, into the phone. “What I meant to say before was that my friend is in the same pre-calc class as Cameron, you know, the one first period for all the Einsteins, and he needs to get the homework.”
A look of relief swept over Caleb’s face as he flashed Logan a double thumbs up sign. “Yeah!” He mouthed.
“Yeah, you would think so, huh?” Logan said into the phone. “Well, do you think you could please give me her number so he could call her and ask her? Who’s my friend?” Logan smirked at Caleb. Caleb frantically waved his arms. He shook his head and mouthed, “don’t tell her.”
“Oh, it’s my man Caleb,” Logan answered, a wide grin on his face. “He met her in class the day she arrived, and she left such an impression on him, that he can’t seem to remember anyone else in the class to call.” Logan had to say all of this while he darted away from Caleb’s attacking hands, which had been trying to grab the phone away.
Logan batted Caleb away with his free hand. “Thanks so much, Jasper. Caleb will be very grateful.” Caleb sat down on his stool, looking mortified and defeated.
Logan started to write a number down on one of the rubber ducky patterned napkins he snatched out from under the cookie plate. “Great. You’re a doll…Ok, so I’ll see you tonight….Bye bye now.” He closed the cell phone, and grinned. “See, piece of cake! And look what a nice addition you could have for you own ‘little black book’,” Logan held up the rubber ducky patterned napkin.
“You’re a jerk,” Caleb said.
“You love me!” Logan play punched Caleb on his shoulder. “Now go get her!”
“Right,” Caleb scoffed. “I have to go call the woman of my dreams. I don’t know how you do it. There is no way I can be as smooth as you.”
“Don’t worry about it so much! Just, take a deep breath before you start, think about what you’re going to say before you say it, and don’t speak too quickly.” He clapped a hand on Caleb’s shoulder. “Got it?”
“Yeah. I think--well, I hope so.” Caleb stood up. “Ok, I am going to go back to my place to do this.”
“What? Why?”
“I need to be in a comfort zone for something like this. The extreme comfort zone of my room,” Caleb added.
“Ok,” Logan said. “As long as you do it. If you show up tonight without her, it better be for a good reason.”
“Come on, I told you I’d call her if you got her number, didn’t I? No worries about that.” Caleb sighed heavily. “Ok, let me leave now, before I get sick thinking about it. I’ll see you later tonight. And don’t forget to tell other people to come, all right? I’m sure the more people who are there, the easier it will be for me to socialize around her like a normal human being.”
“Yeah, I’ll tell people. Good luck calling her.”
“Thanks, man, I’ll need it. Catch you later.”
“Yeah, later.” Logan walked around the island counter and headed towards the staircase. He turned back around just as Caleb was opening the back door. “By the way, you’ve still got something on your face.”