CHAPTER THREE

Four months had passed since that horrible day.  Well, horrible for Nick.  A.J had hooked up with Janet and they were dating.  Nick had tried to warn A.J of her, but A.J just laughed and gave Nick a slice of garlic.  Nick was pretty upset that the guys did not believe him, and A.J seemed to be getting pretty close to Janet.  One day, two weeks before Halloween, Nick was sitting in his hotel room, playing on his game-boy.  All of a sudden, there was knock on the door.  "Come in."  Said Nick with out looking up from his game-boy.  The door opened and Nick looked up, it was Janet.

 
"Hi!" she said cheerfully.

"Oh, hi."  Nick looked back down at his game and basically ignored the fact that Janet was in his room.

"Why do you hate me?"  Nick looked up, surprised.

"What makes you think that I hate you?"  

Janet looked furious.  "Well, you always ignore me when ever we're alone, you talk behind my back, you kept telling A.J to 'watch out' for me because I'm 'dangerous.'"

"How did you find that out?"  Said Nick, bewildered.

"A.J told me."

"Well, you never know who you can trust now a days."  Nick looked back at his game-boy.

"God!  Your so annoying!!"  Janet was fuming.  

Before Nick could tell what happened, there was a flash of red light.  Nick looked up and over his shoulder, and gasped.  There was a huge hole in the wall.  It was still burning on the sides, but not much.  Nick looked back at Janet.  Her eyes were wide open and her hands were covering her mouth.

  
"Ow!"  She said all of a sudden, holding her right fore finger.  She rushed into the bathroom.  

Nick could hear the sound of running water.  He put down his game-boy and ran in to where Janet was.  She was running water over her finger.
"What are you?"  Nick asked, frightened, but determined to find out what she was.

"I'm a person."  She replied.

"No you're not!"  Shouted Nick.  "A person does not put holes through walls and have changing colored eyes!"  

Janet turned around to find a red-faced Nick.  "Changing colored eyes?"

"Yes, your eyes change whenever...wait."  Nick grabbed Janet's shoulders.  "Janet, look into my eyes."

"No!"

"Why are you resisting?  It's not that big of a deal."

"I won't do it!"

"Why?"  

Janet did not answer.  

"Janet if you look into my eyes, I will let you go."  

Janet hesitated.  Slowly she brought her head level to his and stared at him.  After 15 seconds of eye contact, Janet's eyes started to change.
"Nick, let me go!"  She tried to wriggle out of his grasp, but he held on.

"Not yet."  He was staring in to her eyes, completely amazed at the changing of the colors in her eyes.

"Nick!  Stop!  Let me go!"  Janet was crying.  Nick let go.  Janet stumbled out of the bathroom and headed towards the door.  Nick got there before she could and locked it.  He threw the key out the hole in the wall.

 
"Nick, please, no."

 
"What are you?"  He asked again.

"I'm...I'm..." Janet looked away for a second.  Then smiled.  "I am exactly what you think I am."  

Nick felt a jolt of fear.  

Janet looked up suddenly right into his eyes.  Janet's eyes were red. "Your next Carter, and there is nothing you can do about it."  She started towards him.  

Nick stumbled and fell over his suitcase.  He pushed himself away from Janet until he was against the wall.  

Janet stood where she was the whole time watching him.  She smiled an evil smile.  

Nick blinked.  All of a sudden Janet was right on top of him!!  "How did you...?"  

Janet smiled again,  "That is not important."  She grinned, showing off two glistening fangs!  

Nick screamed and she laughed and she started to lower her head towards his neck.

"HELP!!"  He screamed.  "HELP ME!! AAAAAHHHHHHH!!"

"Nick, buddy, NICK wake UP!"

"What?"  Nick opened his eyes.  

A.J's face was two inches from his.

"AAAAAAHHHHHHH!!  Get away from me!"  Nick pushed A.J away.

"Just wanted to see if you were dying or not."

Nick sat up quickly and looked at his wall.  The hole was gone.  "Where is Janet?"  Nick asked.

"Janet?"  A.J looked confused.  "She's at the gym...why?"

"Uh..."

"Are you going to try hit on my girl? Don't get any idea's Carter!"  

Nick forced a laugh.  "Okay, Okay!  Now why did you intrude in on my space?"  

A.J looked at Nick in a weird way.  "Duh!  We're leaving for Madison, Wisconsin in...oh..."  A.J looked at his watch.  "Fifteen minutes."

"WHAT!?!?!"  Nick sprang up and started to throw stuff in to his bag, not even bothering to fold.  He grabbed a white shirt, red sweatshirt with a hood and some baggy khakis and threw them all on.  He ran into the bathroom and grabbed his toothbrush and everything else and threw it in to his bag.  In five minutes, he was packed and ready to go.  

A.J stood there the whole time, watching Nick with amusement.  

"Where the HELL is my hat?!?"  

A.J grinned.  "Right here."  

Nick looked up and saw A.J holding a blue baseball cap.  "To tell you the truth, Nick my man, this will not go with your outfit at all."

  
"Oh who gives a shit!"  Nick said angrily.  He grabbed his bag and dragged it over to A.J.  Nick snatched the hat and put it on.  He dashed to elevator and pushed the "down" button.  A.J followed him the whole time, grinning.  When the elevator reached the lobby Nick dashed out with his bag.  Running as fast as he could.  All of a sudden he heard his name being called.

 
"Hey, Frack where are you headed?"  

Nick turned around to see Kevin, Howie and Brian sitting a table in the dinning room, eating breakfast.  Nick was confused.  "Why are you guys sitting there?  Have you packed yet?  The bus is supposed to be leaving in..." Nick looked at his watch.  He blinked and looked at it again.  "Hey, that's strange, my watch says 7:25."  

Brian looked confused.  "Uh, Frack, it IS 7:25."  

Nick was really confused.  "But A.J came up and told me that..." Nick stopped.  He was getting it.  He turned around to see a laughing A.J.

  
"I c...can't...believe...you...you...fell...for...it."  Said A.J in between laughs.  "The bus doesn¹t leave for another 3 hours!!  HAHAHAHAHA!"

Nick looked at A.J and started to feel a little angry.  "So this whole thing, it was just a...a...a joke?"

"Oh yeah!"  Said A.J still laughing hysterically.  "I¹ve always wanted to do that to someone!"  

Nick did not know what to say.  He put down his bag and went over to join the boys.  He sat down at the table, stiff and blank-faced.

  
"Hey, Nick, are you okay?"  

Nick shook his head.  "Oh, yeah, sure.  I'm just super pissed at A.J." He said in a dangerously quiet and calm voice.  All of a sudden a waitress was at the table.

"Would you like anything to eat?"  She asked Nick politely.  

Nick held back his anger.  He looked at the waitress and smiled.  "I'm fine.  Right now, I have to go kill someone."  

The waitress looked very confused as Nick went over to laughing A.J.  "A.J," said Nick, "I'll give you two seconds to run."  

A.J stopped laughing and looked up to see a very ticked-off Nick.  "Nick, how generous of you to give me a head start," Said A.J.  "You are a true friend."  

Nick looked at his watch.  "Oh my A.J, two seconds is already up, you missed your chance, now hold still so I can break your neck."

A.J didn't hold still.  He was off in a flash, racing down the hallway...