Chapter 4
Final Fantasy, Game or Tool?
The next day, on the way to the Carter's, Jessy went over the "plan" as BJ had called it in her head, going over who and when to say stuff. Something about this whole mess didn't seam right to her, not wrong, but just not what it seamed to be at first glance.

When Mrs. Morris stopped the car in the driveway, she told Jessy the time she wanted her home. Jessy took note as to how long she had here. Seven hours of stealth and spying around Nick's room, she thought to herself. She had to be home at five and it was five till ten now. She slowly took her time walking to the front door, where at exactly ten, she rang the doorbell. Nick did not seem surprised by this planned visit when he answered the door.

"Good morning sunshine!" Jessy greeted joyfully to Nick, who looked like he was half-dead. "Yeah, whatever to you too." He mumbled from under the mass of hair sheltering his droopy eyes. He shut the door behind Jessy and then left to the kitchen.

"Man, someone is a little grumpy this morning" Jessy said to BJ about the blond grouch in the kitchen.

"Hey Jessy. Yeah, he had been like that today, he will be better once he has been awake for about 15 minutes." BJ answered, also hinting when to start the 'plan' rolling into motion.

The plan had to work perfectly or it would not work at all. In 15 minutes as BJ had hinted, Jess was to ask Nick to help her with a part in one of his games, which she owned also. The only place where they would be able to play would be in his bedroom. After a few minutes of game play, BJ would call Nick downstairs to distract him from Jessy for a few minutes. Right when he left, she was to look in specific places. All of these places were secretive and some of them are hidden in the mess of a room. She looked at the clock, then at her young friend watching cartoons on the television. Where was Nick? She had not seen him since she came in to the house. Two minutes left, Nick reappeared from the kitchen, and stood watching the TV for a minute. She wondered why she was actually doing this, maybe she was dumb, or maybe she just wanted to act like a kid again, she didn't know, but the agreement had been made and the plan was underway. Show time.

"Hey Nick, could you help me with a part in my game? IT is Final Fantasy Three." Jessy asked him, right on cue.

"Yeah sure, but Aaron will not give up his cartoons, so it would have to be in my room is that okay?" He said, surprised that she asked him for help on a game she already had won long ago.

"It doesn't matter to me."

"Okay, come on, my room is a mess, just to let you know" he warned his blond friend.

They passed by BJ who crossed her fingers as a sign of good luck, and she hoped that this would go by quickly, she didn't know why, but she just did. The two Nintendo obsessed adolescence walked up the stairs and down the hall. He opened the door into the mid-sized room, and let Jessy inside. Trash, books, clothes and some games all scattered the floor; Nick quickly kicked them out of the way in front of the television, so they could sit on the dark carpet. Things went according to plan for the next ten minutes. Then, BJ's voice came though the door, calling Nick to take out the trash.

"Hey, I will be right back, don't do anything." He said as he left.

Jessy set to work just as he left. Where is that shelf again? She asked searching the bookshelves in the room. Nothing at all came up. Well place number one came up blank, so she continued looking for the game. Under the twin bed, (place number two) also had the same outcome, no game. The next place was a desk on one wall in the room. She opened the large bottom drawer were she was directed to look. Inside files of papers, were organized neatly. She stopped to look at some of these papers to find them songs and poems that this young man had been writing. In a different color file, were sketches and drawings, mostly super hero looking guys and cartoons, but some life drawings. In the very bottom, a new folder caught her eye. She didn't know what it was, maybe how it was so unworn as the other folders. She opened the folder to find blank pages. She flipped though the white paper until some color caught her eye. She got back to the page to find she was looking into the eyes of a young, blond, beautiful, girl. Oh my god! She thought when she recognized the eyes, it was her own face she was looking into. The next page was filled with scratched out lines and words, in a poem that she knew had to be about the picture. She closed the whole thing shaking, why was Nick drawing her, and writing about her? She asked herself. Her head flamed up, and her face cooled to an ice white mass, breaking into a cold sweat. Just as she had been told, to get out of this was her own plan, she was on her own. She carefully put the folder back into the drawer, and shut it, trying to not make a lot of noise with her trembling hands.

"Sorry, I had to take so long, where were we?" Nick said as he came into the room. She reformatted her face to not look like she was terrified of the contents of his room. They played the Nintendo game for about half an hour until Jessy found a spot to stop. She thanked him for his help and went to report to BJ. She found her in her room listening to the radio.

"So how did it go? Did you find it?" BJ asked Jessy before she even closed the door behind her.

"No, I got to his desk drawer, but that is it." Jess said shaking inside still seeing the picture in her head.

"Oh, shucks, well, thanks for trying. Are you all right?" BJ said sitting by Jessy on her bed.

"Huh, oh, yeah I just didn't sleep well last night," she lied.

"Oh, you don't look to great, maybe you should go home." BJ suggested. Jessy and BJ went downstairs and gathered Jessy's belongings.

"Nick! I am borrowing the explorer for a bit, Jessy is not feeling well and I am taking her home!" BJ yelled to her older brother.

""Okay," he said coming down the stairs. "Sorry you don't feel well, darn, I was hoping that you could come to the beach with us tomorrow. So you think you can make it?" He continued giving her a hug.

"I'll let you know okay Nick? But I think I just need to get some rest now." Jessy said rubbing her sweaty forehead. Jessy felt rather ill and she thought she was going to through up. She found Aaron and apologized and then left. BJ drove her back to her grandmothers. Mrs. Morris was of course out to lunch, so the note by the phone said, and so she was home alone for the time being.

By herself in the mobile home, Jessy changed into lounging clothes, a pair of pajama boxers and a big tee shirt, and got ready for a nap on her couch. As she lay in silence, she began to wonder about the events of the day. Maybe she was not supposed to find any game cause there wasn't any, maybe she was supposed to find the drawing and poem. Was the game an excuse to expose something that had gone unnoticed? Was Final Fantasy a game, or a tool of truth?