Chapter 256 - 256. Awkward

The bell rang stopping all four of them in their tracks. "What? But there is so much still to see. I haven't shown you where all the spare parts are. Or where the prototypes are tested. Or the students that can help us with our gear." 

Laura was consumed by what she had yet to show her friends while Jane, Art, and Asher were actually a little glad. This class had been a rollercoaster of emotions for the time being and it was nice to end the day. 

"We will be here tomorrow. We can pick up with the gear changes and see if Louis, Sammy, and Jackson have any ideas for theirs." Asher was a little more level headed at the end of the class than Laura. However, he was hoping he wouldn't see the teacher upstairs again or he might lose himself again. 

"Tomorrow I will find the jetpack too." Art was still stuck on the jetpack. 

"You know that if your gear is as heavy as you were talking then there would be no jet pack that could ever let you fly." Jane was more than annoyed with Art's new jet pack obsession and tried to logic her way to getting him to stop with it. 

"I will just use my super powers to make my gear lighter, then I will be able to fly as much as I want." Art's argument still made sense. He could manipulate metal and make it go against gravity. 

"Wait, then why not just make shoes out of lead and use that to fly? Like, you could just have a thin layer of lead all over your body and use that to lift you up too." Laura was still not in the light of what Arts' real super power was but her argument still applied. If Art wanted this was the better way to fly than a jet pack. 

"I-well-ummm...The jet pack would be cooler so I am sticking with that." Art was too stubborn to just go with what they were saying. He refused to give in a ran ahead to walk alone for a bit. 

"And now Art is sulking. You guys realize that I am the one he's staying with right?" Asher teased the two girls as they left the school building. 

"Soooo It's your problem. Sounds good. Bye!" Laura was off in a flash before anyone could say anything else. Asher and Jane just stared in the direction she went wondering what the heck had caused her to rush away so fast. 

"I guess Laura saw that Louis was asking for tutoring help." Jane showed Asher the group chat on the phone and the first one that had replied was Laura to offer to help him.

"Oohh, Yeah, that would make sense. I wonder if they will actually study or just sit around being awkward. Or maybe Sammy will need to yell at them to get them on the same page." Asher was laughing while imagining these things. It was clear that Laura and Louis were weird around each other and all of the group had already pegged them for liking each other. 

"Hey, just let them do what they want. If everyone intrudes then they might not ever talk about their feelings." Jane was shaking her head at Asher. She had the feeling that he was being a little more childish than usual today. 

"I won't bother them it's just a little funny." He felt bad that he had annoyed Jane but he just brushed it off for now since he knew that no one was actually going to bother Louis and Laura and that they had the freedom to do what they wanted. 

"It's funny? And do you think it's funny between us?" Jane had turned completely away and was red faced. Asher had been totally caught off guard with her words. 

"Well, we already. I think. We…" Asher lost the ability to properly speak a full sentence without any control. Jane was waiting for what she thought he would say but was also frozen in place. 

"You guys really need to just lock yourselves in a room and talk this stuff out." Art had realized his friends were frozen in place and checked back up on them. He may have been a little unhappy but that didn't change how he cared about them. Yet, when he found them struggling with their own feelings he couldn't help but say something to snap them out of it. 

"Pshh, what do you even mean. We have to get home to study and train. Jane and I were just taking a break before we walked more." Asher was also turning red while he tried to shake the subject. 

"Yeah, we were taking a break. Let's go!" Jane started to walk a little ahead making Asher and Art rush forward. However, under his breath Art was already whispering something, "If you two finally said that you like each other things would be a lot less awkward." 

The trio easily made it to Asher's house parting ways with Jane who rushed home herself. "So do you think we will be able to get everything we want to be done before the tournaments? I think it will be a little much to have it all perfect." Art was thinking about all the changes they could make on top of their training. They would end up working themselves to exhaustion. 

"I am worried that it is too much to handle. We won't be able to keep up at this rate." Asher couldn't deny that it was a lot to handle. 

"We will need to work together. I am sure some of us will be ahead in certain places. I don't think I will focus too heavily on the martial arts side of things since I have my own style that is fairly ironed out. That means I can help with academics and getting gear all set. Jane is the same way but with academics. She is always ahead so I am sure that she will take some lead on other things."

Art and Asher both thought on these points and felt that there was a lot more wiggle room than expected. "I'm hommeeee!" Cara burst in the door with a yell making Asher and Art we had also just walked in jump. "Perfect, you two are right here. We are going to do some training in the back. I need to blow off some steam." 

Cara made an evil look that sent shivers through the pair's spines. They knew that they couldn't equal Cara at all. Even Asher with all his luck was constantly caught unaware when it came to Cara and her fighting styles. She had been training for much longer and was at a huge advantage. 

"Oh come on. We were just about to study our flash cards." Asher tried his best to get them out of Cara's targeting but he saw that Cara was prepared for such opposition. 

"Then we will work out and study. We can quiz each other. For everything you get wrong you add to your work out. Should be some good motivation." Asher felt that he had dug himself even deeper than where he had been before. 

"Then what do we get if we get it right? Does that mean you will make dessert for us?" Art came out of nowhere with a challenge surprising Asher but also throwing Cara off. 

"That's fine. But since you will lose you should be the one to make dessert tonight." Cara quickly recovered before she pushed the two towards the back yard. 

The door again opened a short time later, "Honey, I'm home." 

"Welcome back. It's been an interesting evening so far." Asher and Caras' mother had been listening in while she worked on dinner in the kitchen. 

"Are they still trying to skip a grade? I think they can do it but they need to rest a little." It wasn't surprising that Ashers' mother and father had caught on to this. 

"Yes, they are. And they are even planning out how to deal with the lack of time. It's very adult. Cara is even all excited about it. She just made a bet with Art to see who will make dessert tonight after dinner. Those two are so cute." Their mother couldn't help but giggle thinking about her daughter and Asher's best friend getting in to their bets. 

"Oh, if Arts' cooking it then it will be great. You think he would realize he is picking a losing battle." their father was a little disappointed to hear that their guest had yet to catch on to this. 

"I think he knows. He did offer to make her cake whenever she wants. But he keeps looking for ways to make dessert and show off. It's just adorable. I hope that he can figure out his family problems soon so he can focus on other things." The two parents proceeded to work on dinner together while talking about their children and house guest. The three had brightened their life beyond what they had expected and the couple couldn't wait to see what more would happen.