And the Stars up Above - Chapter 6

April 8th, 1986
Jason

As they walked down the hall towards Jason’s locker. All the sudden, Mike spun around and quickly walked behind a corner. He did this so fast that Jason didn’t even notice that he was gone, until he saw Billie Joe ahead of him and turned to were Mike had been a second before to see how he’d react. There was no Mike there to react. Jason scanned the hall quickly but did not see him anywhere. Jason turned his head to where Billie had been the second before, only to realise that he wasn’t were he’d been. He was now right in front of Jason.
“Hey Jas.” Jason hated that Billie called him Jas, it reminded him of Jassy-boy, but he had never gathered the courage to tell him.
“Have you seen Mike around?” Billie asked. His voice didn’t give anything away of what he really felt, but his eyes did. They shone more green than ever, full of sadness and something more that Jason couldn’t figure out, and they were all red and puffy, as if he hadn’t slept much that night.
“I - well… no. No, I haven’t.” Jason said, figuring that Mike probably didn’t want to speak to him seeing as he was avoiding him right now.
“Oh, okay. If you see him, can you please tell him that I want to talk to him?” Billie said and walked away.
“Okay, I’ll do that.” Jason said straight out to the air, Billie was long gone before Jason had got these words out. Before Jason could move a muscle Mike was back by his side again.
“What did he say?” Mike said, straight on as if Jason was on a trail and Mike was the layer.
“He just wondered where you were, he wanted to speak to you.” Mike snorted and continued walking in the same direction they had before Billie appeared and Mike disappeared. Jason was confused and did not move. Mike didn’t seem to notice that he was walking by himself. After a few seconds of thinking Jason rushed after him and started walking beside him again, only this time he was panting. Jason quickly decided to start exercising more often, but that was a promise he knew he wouldn’t be able to keep.
“How did you know he was there? I mean, all the sudden you were gone and then he was there but he was not there when you were gone at first, but you were all gone and I do not have bad eye sight, as far as I know, and you know…” Jason blurted out, speaking a bit to fast. A second later Jason realised how stupid he must have seemed. This just wasn’t his day. A tiny smile appeared on Mike’s lips but it disappeared all too fast.
“I just knew he was there.” He said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
“You mean you saw him?”
“No, I mean that I knew he was there.”
“You didn’t see him?”
“I didn’t see him” Mike repeated, as if he was talking to a child.
“But then how did you know he was there?” Jason just couldn’t get this into his head; there was no way that that had been a lucky guess.
“I just knew, okay? I can always tell when Billie is nearby, or when he comes into the room. I don’t know how or why, but that’s just how it is.” Mike shrugged. Jason stared. Mike shrugged again. Jason walked past his locker and didn’t realise that he had walked too far until he realised that Mike had stopped. Jason decided that this day had not happened and that he was lying in his bed right now, dreaming one of the weirdest dreams ever. Soon he would wake up, go to school alone and have lunch with Mike and Billie who would talk about their band while Jason didn’t say a word. Yes, that was how it was. Jason relaxed.