The Program

Chapter Two

My dad got engaged to Mary days before I turned nine. And that was the first time I met her. I immediately hated her, that freakishly red hair curled up and her face covered in make up, being all showy with the ring as Marcus looked at it and her completely amazed. What did I want to do? Spit on it, and i'm not talking about the ring. But I never saw what my dad liked about her. And on the day of his wedding, it was worse. You see, Mary wanted me to be a bridesmaid and being one meant I had to go with her to every planning thing that she did, or so she said.

But the whole reason for even thinking about that memory now is because I was angry and sad and ready to scream at anyone who touched me the day of the wedding. And Martha, John's mom, being Mary's best friend, was the maid of honor and thought it was her job to comfort Mary's newly aquired step daughter who had run down the aisle when the lovely couple shared their kiss. I flipped out and for reasons I still have yet to put together, Martha fell. So, that was Mrs. Evans' first impression of me. Why she still wanted me to date her son after that, I would never know.

"Is there a reason why your hands are knotted together like that, Lexi?" John asked beside me. I looked at them and sure enough my nervous hands had found their comfort by tangling together. I separated them only for my strange habits to take over again and then I was biting my lip. There wasn't even a reason to be nervous.

I ignored his question and asked one of my own as we pulled into the driveway of his house. "Why do I have to talk to your parents anyway? You do realize that the last time I saw your mom was at the wedding years ago, right?"

"Yeah," He started to laugh. But it sounded strained, like it was funny to him but at the same time he had some anger filling his emotions. "I also remember seeing her fall on the cake because of you and get a whole bunch of those, um what were they called? Oh yeah, those edible pearl things that go on wedding cakes, that's what they were. Anyway, there were so many of them stuck in her hair that night and she complained the entire car ride home." 

Fine, I may have left out of my story that when she fell it was into the extravagant beauty that was the overly decorated dessert I had never gotten a single bite of that night. But then again, because of me, no one else did either.

"Wait, you were there? I didn't see you." I said, staring at the house in front of me. It was a simple two story house, seeming to have been somewhat recently painted in white and the blue and very shiny roof was reflecting the sun horribly, causing me to shield my eyes as I got out of the truck.

"Well, you were pouting in the corner and avoiding people all night, that might have something to do with it." He replied, closing his door as I did the same with mine. "And I had these huge glasses back then, basically took up my whole face. Years later when we went on our, um, date, you probably didn't realize I was the boy back then that came over to help my frosting covered mother off the floor."

"So, that means the wedding was the first time we actually met?" I asked.

"Kind of, I mean, we still didn't know each other then and it's not like we talked." I accepted the answer but still needed one to a different question.

"So, to get us back on topic, what's this me talking to your parents thing about?"

"You'll see." His reply made me release a large breath of air and roll my eyes, letting him know just how frustrating he was. 

John didn't bother knocking on the door as he entered the house, not that he needed to, it was where he lived after all. There were three people on the couch, looking to me like they were fighting over the remote and each failing miserably. One of them I recognized instantly as Jack, his black hair moving in front of his eyes each time he tried to grab the remote. I ended up swallowing hard and just kinda staring at what was taking place before me as, finally, someone emerged with the remote victorious.

"Ha, I win, time to watch Firefly." Danny said, dropping onto the furniture and landing with a loud thump. And yes, when I say Danny, I do mean the one I met in the test, the one sitting next to Jack.

"Come on, dude. I'm still getting over what happened in Serenity." The other person whined, running his hands through his kinda long brown mop of hair.

"Clay, we don't talk about what happened in Serenity, remember." Danny said to him. "Besides, watching the beautiful and happy times before that horrible ending will make us feel better about what happened to Wash." He was either pretending to get choked up by his words or was really about to spill his tears over the sentence he just said. And being a Firefly lover myself, I knew of the painfully emotional ending he was referring to and why he would cry over it.

"Yeah, good idea and all, Danny. But how about a little bit of Star Trek before seeing that same beloved character playing with toy dinosaurs that should be cursed for their sudden but inevitable betrayal?" Jack added.

"Listen to Jack, Danny. It's only logical." The guy, who is apparently named Clay, said, doing a pretty good interpretation of Spock as he did, even using the Vulcan salute.

"Are you geeks finished with your little debate now?" John asked beside me, causing the guys to whip their heads around. Jack was smiling like he always had in the test, making my stomach have the weird fluttering kind of feeling I always got when he was around. 

"Hello to you too, John." Jack said sarcastically, getting up as John walked through the livingroom and into the kitchen as I followed behind him. Once we got in there and turned around, I noticed that not just Jack but Danny and their friend had come too, forgetting about the fact that they wanted to watch something just moments before.

John proceeded to open the fridge and grab a thing of strawberries to which I gave him a slight look as he bit down on one. "What, Lexi? I picked you up in the middle of the day, lunch time."

"You didn't have to pick me up at all." I pointed out. I saw him roll his eyes and continue eating.

"So, Lexi." Jack started, making me turn to him, watching as he stole a strawberry from John. "What brings you two here? Decided to date my brother after all and he brought you here so you could get to know the family better?"

"Don't even joke about that, Jack. You know how that date ended." John warned.

"Whatever. But you know how Mary and mom are, you two will end up together."

"Aren't you supposed to be, I don't know, spending the day with your recently discovered alive dad like you have been since you got out of the hospital?" John asked, changing the subject, a hint of anger in his words.

"Yeah, but he said he had something to take care of. He should be coming by later though." He answered back.

"Absolutely freaking perfect." John mumbled. I don't think Jack caught it.

"Um, not to ruin this bonding moment between brothers but do you mind introducing us to your friend?" Danny piped in.

"My name's Lexi." I said to him, it feeling weird to be saying it to Danny, someone I already knew. But he didn't seem to know me at all. Looks like someone else besides for Jack doesn't remember the test.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Danny." He replied.

Yeah, I know.

"And i'm Clay." The other guy said. "And before you ask, because people always seem to make it a hobby when they meet me, it's a nickname."

"You gonna tell her why, Clay?" Jack asked, lightly shoving him in the shoulder.

"When I was in kindergarten, my teacher passed out some modelling clay. I think she told us to make something for our parents with it, I don't know, I wasn't really paying attention. And why? Well, I thought what she had set down in front of me was some kind of candy. I'm pretty sure you can imagine what happened next." Clay explained.

"I was there, it was hilarious. But kids back then, they gave the worst names to tease people with." Danny said. "I mean, they were laughing and calling him Clay forever but once we got to like sixth grade, the poor guy wasn't picked on anymore because the name wasn't tease worthy. At least that's what I heard anyway. My dad started homeschooling me in the second grade, brought me around the world with him, showed me a bunch of cool things. So, all I could do was wait to see my dear ole friend during the summer and tease while we were out in public." He sighed. "God, those were good times."

"Dude, no need to spill your life story on her. Saying the teasing stopped in the sixth grade was a great ending." Clay responded. "You'll have to excuse him, he's crazy." He told me.

"Oh, come off it. You are best friends. If he's crazy, you are too for talking to him." Jack added. "Which I guess makes me crazy for hanging around with you lunatics."

They continued on with simple conversation after that, me not really hearing all of it as my mind still tried to process that two people I knew in the test didn't remember it. And also wrapping my mind around the story Danny told me. Reid spilled about the whole Danny and his dad travelling thing, but it was nice to hear it from Danny himself. "Well, i'm gonna head out. If my dad shows up, call me, i've got my phone." Jack told John as I tuned back into the conversation. "Oh, and have fun with your little girlfriend." He teased on the way out of the kitchen.

"I'm not his girlfriend." I ended up yelling. I already had to deal with Jack calling me his girlfriend in the test even though I guess we technically were dating, I wasn't having him call me John's girlfriend.

"Keep telling yourself that, princess." And the second it was out of his mouth, I froze. But the thing was, so did he, eventually shaking his head slightly and walking out again. I soon heard the front door close and I turned to John.

"Did he just call me princess? As in, the name he called me in the test." I asked.

"That's what I heard too. Maybe he's remembering stuff." He responded. But I couldn't believe it, not yet.

"Or not, it doesn't really matter." Even though it did. "Does Danny not remember the test either?"

"It seems so." 

"And he was friends with Jack out here and you didn't think about bringing it up?"

"Wasn't the biggest thing on my mind. I mean, Jack, my brother, can't remember anything about it and his dad is Reid. I think I have the right to not mention certain things to you that I don't think are extremely relevant." He answered, putting the strawberries back in the fridge. "But speaking of extremely relevant, my parents should be around here somewhere."

And as he said it, I heard steps on the stairs, showing a tall man with short brown hair. "John, is that you? I thought I heard you come home. Listen, we need to talk about what happened earlier." When he saw me standing next to John he stopped, causing the two people who were apparently behind him to as well.

"Actually, that's exactly what I wanted to do. Tell Lexi what you told me." John said, irritation clear in his voice. The man that I assumed to be his dad walked deeper into the kitchen, the two people coming out from behind him. One I knew as John's mom, the other was Natalie.

"I think I should explain." She said. "This is Martha and Henry, John's parents and Jack's adoptive ones. Henry worked with me to keep you being a disrupter a secret, Lexi." She paused and then continued. "He was the one who also had to watch Jack's brain to see how he would react in the test."

"Wait, what are you saying exactly?" Martha opened her mouth to reply to me but I had a feeling I already knew what the answer would be.

"I'm sorry, Lexi. But we sent you to the test."

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Did you like it? Did you not? Please tell me what you think and vote for this chapter if you did like it. Also, to those who have seen Firefly, I hope I didn't open up any wounds about Wash. And to those who haven't or maybe don't even know what Firefly is, watch it, just watch it and then have your heart torn out in Serenity. But yeah, I love Firefly and just love the second season(if they had one *shakes fists angrily*). And I am a huge fan of Star Trek as well. Anyway, not going to ramble anymore. This chapter is dedicated to my younger sister Book_Love00.

Live long and prosper :)