“Jack! Yo Jack! Hello! Earth to Jack!!” Jack turned to his best friend Andy, who was smirking at him. Jack raised his eyebrows, “What?” Andy shook his head, still smirking. “I was just wondering from where that stupid smile comes on your face whenever you look at Lisa Hayworth.” Jack smiled again and returned his gaze on a young girl who looked to be in her mid-teens. They were in a park, and she was sitting on a bench some distance away, reading a book. She had long brown hair, black eyes and very soft features with full lips. She was dressed in a pick T-shirt with flowers painted on it, and blue jeans. “She’s beautiful, isn’t she?” Jack asked Andy, staring at Lisa, with adoration etched clearly on his rather sharp featured face. Andy rolled his eyes. “So are more than half the girls of our school. But that doesn’t really matter right now. What matters is this. When are you going to ask her out?” Jack turned to Andy and suddenly stood up. “Right now.” He started walking casually, yet with direction, towards Lisa Hayworth.” Andy jumped up himself. “This I gotta see.” Saying thus, he promptly joined his friend. *** Lisa closed the book she was reading (a Danielle Steel novel), and looked up. Her gaze fell on two boys of her own class headed towards her. She knew one of them was Jack Harden. He was very popular in their school. Lisa quickly took in his appearance. He had medium-sized black hair which was styled beautifully with the help of gel. His face was adorned with sharp black eyes, a narrow nose and thin lips. He was dressed in a causal black shirt with a silver dragon on it, and tight black jeans. As he came towards her, his walk slow and assured, full of confidence, Lisa wondered what he wanted from her. His friend, whom Lisa found quite uninteresting, looked a little handsome in his own slightly bookish way. He had black hair which seemed to be combed very carelessly. He was wearing thin black spectacles and he was dressed in a blue shirt, and black pants. Jack walked confidently straight to her, and gave her his hand. Lisa took it. “Hi,” he said, flashing a little smile that would probably made most of her class-mates fall on their knees. “I am Jack Harden; we study in the same class.” Lisa nodded uninterestedly. “Yeah, I have noticed you. I am Lisa. What do you want?” Jack didn’t lose a beat. “I was just wondering if you would care to have an ice cream with me. It’s a pretty hot day. What do you say?” She looked into Jack’s eyes and saw nothing but sincerity there. “Sure.” she said, and stood up. Andy who had been standing behind Jack’s shoulder took a look at his watch and exclaimed, “Look at the time! Oh man, I gotta go, Jack. See ya later.” Jack nodded to him, hiding a small smile from Lisa Hayworth. “See ya later.” Andy left them, giving a thumb’s up to Jack when he saw Lisa Hayworth was looking somewhere else. They were sitting in an old ice cream parlor across the street. Both of them had chocolate sundaes in front of them. Jack took a spoon and ate a generous amount of cold cream, and started the conversation he had been planning for the past week. He still felt it was kind of stupid, though. “So… what’s your plan for the hol’s?” Lisa considered him with her spoon halfway to her mouth. She shrugged, “Not much… I plan to read a lot, of course. But I also plan to write more poems.” Jack raised his eye-brows in a show of respect. “You write poetry, do you?” “Yeah,” replied Lisa casually. “Love poems, tragic poems… the works.” Jack nodded somberly. He had never read any poems outside his school syllabus his whole life. ‘Now will be a good time to start.’ he thought determinedly. “I would love to read your poems.” Jack told her. He thought that would give him a good chance to know her, and of course, he would read boring essay history his whole life if it just gave him the opportunity to spend some time with her. Lisa smiled at him. Jack thought the smile was most beautiful thing he had ever seen in his life. “You have an interest in poems?” Jack could have lied. In fact, he did think about lying. Anything to impress the girl, he thought. But then he decided being truthful would win him more points in the long run. “Not before this conversation. But now I am already dying to read yours.” Lisa laughed. “Well… if you want to read them, I will send them to you. Just give me your email id. Happily, Jack gave her his email id, and even took hers. He felt warmth spread through him at such a simple exchange. But it was not so simple for Jack. Lisa giving him her email id seemed to him that she accepted him. Crap? Probably. But he didn’t care. Lisa ate the ice cream with gusto, and Jack just had the time of his life, by just looking at her. Lisa looked up from the ice cream after some moments, her eyes twinkling. “Your ice cream’s gonna melt.” she said teasingly. Jack smiled. “Doesn’t matter,” he said, looking into her beautiful black eyes, “I have already had the treat of my life.” Lisa laughed, a sound more wonderful to Jack than music. “You are a hopeless romantic, Jack.” She told him. Jack felt even warmer after hearing his first name from her mouth in such a friendly tone. “Only for you.” he replied, winking. Lisa laughed again, and shook her head. “My mom told me to be careful of boys like you.” she told him, and went back to her ice cream. Jack went back to staring at her when he thought she wasn’t looking. *** Jack was in high spirits when he entered his home after his first official date with Miss Lisa Hayworth. He went straight to his room upstairs and jumped on his bed. Thinking of Lisa, he closed his eyes. Sleep crept up to him silently and claimed him. Jack turned over on the bed and opened his eyes. He stretched his body and closed his eyes again, thinking some more sleep wouldn’t be a bad idea. But just as if he was drifting off, someone knocked on the door sharply. He turned to look at it sleepily called out, “What?” The door opened and his mother poked her head in. “Dinner’s ready, Jack. Come downstairs.” She disappeared without waiting for his reply. Jack grumbled and sat up. The day’s activities flooded back into his memory and he smiled. It had been a good day. The first day of vacation, and a date with a girl he had been dreaming of lately. Thinking life couldn’t get any better; he washed up and headed downstairs for dinner. His father was already at the table, reading the day’s newspaper. He took a seat and greeted him. His father glanced at him from the side of the paper and nodded. “First day of vacation, huh? Don’t ignore your studies though.” He went back to his newspaper. Jack rolled his eyes and looked towards the kitchen. His mom appeared with a steaming dish. She placed it one the table, announcing that ‘today she had made Jack’s favorite dish’. Jack leaned forward, and saw that his favorite dish had indeed been prepared. It was pasta. He ate heartily. Cleaned up two plates and then got up from the table. He went to the kitchen and took a can of Coca Cola from the fridge. Opening the can, he took a nice big gulp. Feeling good, he headed back to his room. He intended to sit on the computer and surf the net, his favorite pastime. *** Two men wearing dark suites sat in a car outside big-shot lawyer Michael Hardin’s house. The A.C was blasting cold air in the comfortable and smooth Ford Mustang. The windows were tinted black, so that no one could see the interior of the car from outside. Both of the men took out their guns, snub-nosed .38’s. They checked the bullets and attached their silencers to the guns. Being noisy wouldn’t do, especially in this case. “Ready?” asked the one who sat behind the wheel. “Yes.” replied the other. “Let’s do it.” He pocketed the gun. His partner did the same. They got out of the car and into the night. *** They were big men. Both were tall, and had muscular bodies. They had been partners for a long time now. Their coordination was perfect. They actually considered the job they had to do tonight an insult to their professionalism. But a very powerful man who wanted everything done smoothly had hired them. They were going to get a lot of money for what they thought was a walk-in-the-park. And as they say - money talks, bullshit walks. *** Jack was on the computer when he heard the bell ring. He had just added Lisa’s email id and was currently chatting with her. He couldn’t be bothered to go downstairs and open the door. Besides, his mom or dad would answer the bell. It was probably one of dad’s clients anyway. Jack’s dad was a big lawyer, and he kept an office in his home as well as his firm. A client appearing for consultation at his home was not out of the ordinary. Jack continued chatting *** It would have all gone smoothly if the lawyer’s brat hadn’t barged into the study just as both of us had drawn our weapons and taken aim. The lawyer’s eyes went wide and he shouted “No!” just before I sent a bullet right between the eyes. His wife had barely started screaming before three bullets ripped through her heart and lungs. Mack always likes it messy. But it didn’t matter just then. What did matter was that the brat got a chance to run. While we took out his mother and father in less than two seconds, he scampered. I knew that if he got out of the house, it would mean serious trouble for us. But fortune was on our side just then. Because the main door was much further down the hall than the stairways. The brat did the smart thing, instead of running for the door and making himself an easy target, he ran up the stairs. It was a smart move, but it was also a dumb move. Now he was trapped with no way out. Jack ran as if the hounds of hell were after him. Though the men who were chasing him were certainly no hounds, they may as well have come from hell. Even before Jack knew it himself, his feet were taking him to the roof. He knew there was no chance of survival if he turned to his room. But the roof was a different matter. He knew how he could escape from there. Jack opened the roof door and got in. He heard the men running up the stairs. Jack quickly closed the door and locked it. He turned around and ran to the corner of the room. Jack had often spent time in the roof and he knew just the place where the big pipe was attached. He climbed up the support and clutched the pipe with his arms. As he started lowering himself, he heard the door knob clatter. There was a pause, and then the lock was blown away by a bullet. Jack didn’t see anything else. He started sliding downwards with his arms and legs. “Damn it!” cursed Mack’s partner Jeff, when he saw that the boy kept climbing the stairs after the first floor. He had forgotten all about a roof and a potential escape from there. He started running even harder, cursing under his breath, Mack running himself, just behind him. He reached the door on the second floor and tried opening it. It was locked. Jeff aimed his gun at the lock and blew it apart. He barged into the roof, Mack at his back. The roof was empty. “Fuck!” he cried. Quickly they started looking down all the sides of the support. It was pure luck for Jack, who had just reached the ground, jumping the last five meters, that Mack was the one who spotted him. He had dropped into a small alley. Only a few feet ahead was a turn which would take him to the main road, and thus, out of target for the assassins. Jeff was a perfect shooter. He rarely missed. But Mack didn’t have the same talent. He spotted the boy running away from him and shot three times. Two shots completely missed Jack. But the third one grazed his shoulder. Mack cried out in frustration. The game was up. They fled before the police could show up. Author's Note; If you liked it, and are interested in reading more, review and let me know. I will update as soon as I can. Comments are highly appreciated.