Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Hacker Zi ❯ Part One ( Chapter 1 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

DISCLAIMER: While Hacker Zi and its characters were created by me, some of the screen names were taken from actual people. Please DO NOT TRY TO CONTACT THEM. The story is purely fictional

Nick lifted her head from the table. Her arm was slightly touching the laptop to her left. The time said 6:37. She slowly stood up and stretched. There wasn’t much time before school. If she was lucky, she could still catch the bus.
Three minutes later, Nick set out for the bus. She always set her things out the night before, just in case she ran late the next morning. Most days, like today, it paid off. As she looked a few feet ahead of her, she saw that the bus had arrived. Seconds later it drove away, leaving her behind. The bus drivers in her area weren’t known for their patience. She’d make it to school before the bus, but it was a pain to walk.
When Nick reached her homeroom, she found that the usual jerks were already there. The room consisted of jocks and cheerleaders. After Nick checked in, she would leave. Most kids leaving a homeroom went to breakfast. Nick, however, went to another homeroom. Most of her friends were in the same homeroom, and she joined them every morning. Today, only three had arrived. Jess and Zeke were teaching Tiffany how to play a card game when Nick appeared behind her.
“You’re here early.”
“I missed the bus.”
Zeke spoke to Nick while playing his turn.
“When Jacob and Dylan miss the bus, they skip school.”
“If I did that my grandparents would make me live with them.”
“Well, Jacob and Dylan’s parents don’t care. Tiff, why did you play a weak fighter like that? Vampires are weak against fire mages, and there’s nothing special about that card at all.”
“I like Lamia. She’s pretty.”
Dylan and Jacob soon arrived, and the card game ended. There was still plenty of time left in homeroom, and Dylan was spending that time by copying homework. The others talked about different things.
“Have you guys been to Skalds lately?”
“I was there a few days ago, why do you ask Jac?”
“Someone messed with the script again. They changed a bunch of the icons. Most of the posts were deleted.”
“The security on the site was always horrible. I always received a password reminder, even though I never requested it.”
“Dylan shouldn’t you be finishing your homework?”
Tiffany looked at the page he was copying. He was less than halfway through the front page, and class would be starting soon. He was always like this, especially on Monday mornings. Video games seemed to get the best of him on the weekend. Most of his time was spent playing the newest game, homework being the least important thing in his life.
“Its called homework for a reason.”
“Yeah, and they call this homeroom for a reason, so you can do the ‘homework’ you forgot to do the night before.”
Jess gave Dylan a high five, while Tiffany shook her head in disappointment. Seeing how she was displeased, Jess tried to give his girlfriend a hug, but was pushed away. Their day was starting out perfectly. His attention then turned towards Nick.
“So Nick, how goes the hacking?”
“What do you mean?”
“I heard you hacked someone’s account.”
“Oh that. Some guy forgot their password, and the site was messed up. He wouldn’t have been able to retrieve it, and the account meant a lot to him. I just helped him get his password back.”
“How do you know it was actually his account?”
“I knew the guy. I also checked the email registered to the account. It belonged to him.”
Before the conversation could get any deeper the bell rang. Nick and Dylan shared math class together. They quickly walked next door and chose their seats. The math teacher was anything but great. He was very old and made a lot of mistakes. Sometimes he would tell stories that took up most of the class period. Dylan and Nick spent the class period drawing comics and writing notes to each other. After the homework was given out they were free to talk.
“Did you check out the site I sent you?”
“Haven’t gotten a chance to. What is it exactly?”
“Its for new bands. Ones that haven’t been discovered yet.”
“So is that why its called Destifined?”
“I guess. You’d like it though, considering half the stuff you listen to we’ve never heard of. They have demo downloads on the site, and members can be music critics. Some of the stuff wasn’t too bad.”
“.....Weird Al stuff....”
Dylan had strange tastes in music, to some. He didn’t care for the mainstream stuff, like Tiffany. He was more interested in parody music. Nick was the only one who would listen to the music with him.
The rest of the morning dragged on slowly. Nick was forced to sit through three class periods of taking notes. By the time lunch came around, the edge of her hand was a pale black from the pen ink. Nick sat at her usual table with her friends. Jess was playing another game with Zeke. Tiffany was watching the game, while resting her shoulder on Jess. Dylan and Jacob were across from Nick, both seemed bored out of their minds.
“You guys alright?”
“That damn math teacher messed up big time today. We spent the entire class period working on one stupid problem, and when we finished it, he realized he made a mistake in the VERY BEGINNING of the problem.”
Nick and Dylan laughed. They made decent grades in the class, but never paid attention to the teacher. Jacob gave them a look, then seemed to remember something important.
“Oh, I almost forgot. Zi, your boyfriend wants you to meet him in the library.”
“My boyfriend?”
“David. You guys are always together, and we can tell he’s in love with you. You guys just aren’t like Jess and Tiff....yet.”
Hearing their names, Jess and Tiffany looked to the other end of the table. Jacob and Dylan began to laugh hysterically.
“What about me and Jess?”
“......nothing.”

After Nick finished lunch she headed for the library. The others stayed at the table, playing card games. She looked around the room. David was no where in sight. Nick walked into the library and went back to the mythology section. That was his favorite type of book, if he ever had to read one. Sure enough, he was there. David was crouching, looking at a Norse Mythology book. When he saw Nick, he stood up. Taking her by the arm, they went back into the reference section, sitting down at one of the tables.
“I’m glad Jac didn’t forget to tell you.”
“Why did you want to meet here, of all places? The librarian will go nuts if she hears us talking.”
“There’s a substitute. He’s eating lunch right now. Besides, hardly anyone ever comes down here.”
“That's also a bad thing. Makes it easier for someone to eavesdrop.”
David gave her a look, then turned his head. There was no one in the library yet, most of the other kids were still eating lunch or playing football. He turned back to look at Nick, with a serious face.
“I need you to hang on to a few things for me. Don’t let anyone else have them.”
“....Alright”
David placed his hand in one of the side pockets of his blue jeans, pulling out an mp3 player and a ring. He placed them on the table in front of Nick, who seemed confused. After seeing that she wasn’t about to take them, he pushed them towards her.
“Hang on to these for me.”
“Are you crazy. I can’t take your mp3 player and class ring. Your father would kill you.”
“Just keep them. He won’t know they’re gone, and I won’t tell him.”
Nick placed the items in her pocket, then looked back at David. He seemed to be staring out into space. He then stood up, and started to walk to the exit. Nick followed him. Before they left, he looked back at her.
“You should check out the music on it. You’ll be surprised at what's on there.”
The bell rang as they walked down the hall. David and Nick parted by the stairwell. Nick headed upstairs to history class, while David went to the band room. When she reached the classroom, Jess and Tiffany were already there. They were sitting by the wall, Tiffany infront of Jess. There were three other classmates already in the room, all in different places. Nick sat beside Jess. The history teacher was always running late, so they had a few minutes to talk.
“So what did David want?”
“Well....he gave me his mp3 player and class ring.”
“Aww....Nicki, he likes you.”
“His dad is going to kill him.”
“That's what I said, but he still made me take them.”
“Maybe he’s moving away? And he wanted to give you something to remember him by, so he gave those to you?”
“Why not just say, ‘I’m moving away, keep these to remember me by’?”
“Boys are like that. They’re always difficult and hard to understand.”
“Oh please, girls are more complicated than guys. Girls can be real bitches at times. They lie, cheat, and –“
Tiffany moved to the desk on Nick’s left. She looked angrily at her boyfriend, then buried her face in a magazine. Jess began to hit his head against his desk. When he stopped, a red mark was somewhat visible on his forehead.
“Man I messed up big time.....”
“She’ll forgive you....eventually. Are you guys doing okay, you’ve been fighting all morning.”
“I’m not sure....we have been arguing a lot lately. I wish we were more like you and David.”
“Huh?”
“Well, even though you guys aren’t dating, you get along great. Sometimes we all think you guys are dating. I wish we could be like that.”
When the teacher arrived, she carried her usual cloud of smoke. During lunch her and a few other teachers suffering from nicotine withdrawal would go outside and smoke a few cigarettes. If they were ever caught, their jobs would be on the line and they would be forced to pay a fine.
History class was anything but exciting. Drawing in the margins of her notebook was all Nick could do to stay awake. The teacher rarely walked around the room to look over everyone’s notes, so she was fine. Tiffany continued to give Jess the silent treatment, even though he had tried to give her about twenty notes of apology. When the bell rang for the next class, Tiffany walked across the hall with her boyfriend following behind.
Nick headed for the computer lab, where she waited for the others. Zeke arrived shortly after Nick, and they talked while waiting for Jacob and Dylan.
“They’re fighting again?”
“Yeah, Jess really messed up this time.”
“I bet Jacob and Dylan will come in late, again.”
“Probably. I’m surprised the teacher hasn’t failed them yet.”
“Well, even if she tried to, if they had sex with her, she’d give them an A for the rest of the year.”
“Are you serious!?!”
“Yep. Last year she told our class that. If anyone took her up on the offer......”
Nick shook her head in disbelief. The tardy bell rang right as Dylan and Jacob stepped into the room. They had barely made it. They took their seats by Zeke, and waited for the teacher to give out the assignments. The class itself was easy, but it was also easy to make a mistake. Dylan had made many mistakes on his projects, causing him to receive a C in the class.
“How do you guys get here so late?”
“Well....first we never hear the bell because of the loud movies, then we stop at our lockers.”
“What for? The books are in the room.”
“We get our books for the last two periods.”

When school finally let out, Nick was ready to go home. On the bus, she listened to David’s music. There were some decent bands, like Mudvayne and Sparta. Some songs were even by his band. She was surprised. When she got home, she logged on to her computer. Hardly anyone was on. When she went to Skalds, she wasn’t surprised to find that it had been hacked again. After looking the site over, she sent an instant message to her friend Neo.

Zi: Hey, did you see it?
Neo: Skalds? Yeah, what a mess.
Zi: They should really upgrade the security on the site.
Neo: Yeah, that would help.
Neo: Unless its an inside job. So how was your day?
Zi: Strange. A friend gave me something that could get them in trouble.
Neo: Police trouble?
Zi: Parent trouble
Neo: That's worse. At least the police can protect you. With parents, you’re pretty much screwed. My day was dull.
Zi: Work?
Neo: Bingo. Bunch of grunt work. -.-

Nick talked to her friends for most of the night. At nine she signed off and went to bed. She felt really tired, so she didn’t fight it. When she woke up the next morning, it was going on six. She got ready for school, and then headed downstairs to make some breakfast. Normally she’d oversleep and wouldn’t have time to eat anything. She settled for some toast, then started to walk to school at 6:40.

When she arrived, hardly anyone was in her room. After signing in, she went straight to her other homeroom. Zeke was the only one there. The others still hadn’t arrived yet. This seemed kind of strange to her.
“Hey, where’s Jess and Tiff?”
“.....They’re not coming today. Neither is Jacob and Dylan.”
“...Did something happen?”
“First....you might want to sit down.”
Nick sat down next to him, as he began to tell her the news. Last night at a little past ten, David had committed suicide. There was a fight between him and his father, after which his father left to go to a bar. David had been upset, and shot himself with a shotgun. The funeral was going to be held over the weekend, but the school was planning to do a tribute to him sometime today.
“I tried to call you, but you must have been asleep. The teachers aren’t going to make us do anything today, but if you want, we can go talk to the councilor.”
“.....No, that's alright.”
She didn’t know what to say. How could she react? The fight they had last night.....was it because of the mp3 player and ring? Or was it something else....Was David in trouble with someone? Talking to the councilor wouldn’t help much. What could they do? Have you write a letter to him, a letter that he would never read.
The day was slow, but at the same time it was fast. The classes seemed to end quickly, but the day seemed to last forever. There was nothing to do during class, most of the school was in the library, talking to councilors. Nick just put her head on her desk and thought about the day before. During lunch she couldn’t eat. Her hand shook so much that the food fell off her fork. In the afternoon an announcement was given, telling everyone to go outside by the flagpole. When they walked outside, a teacher handed each student a candle. One candle was lit, and with it, other candles began to burn. A prayer was said, and a song was played. Then the burning candles were placed on a stand.
When this was finished, the students were let out early. Instead of riding the bus home, Nick chose to walk. When she got home, she went straight to bed. The next morning, Nick stayed in bed. The phone rang, but she let the machine get it. Her friends were concerned because they hadn’t seen her at the funeral.

The next week of school seemed like a dream. Her friends were able to cheer her up some, but she still wasn’t back to normal. The ring David had given her was now on a chain around her neck. Her grades didn’t drop, but the teachers still grew concerned. A phone call was made to her grandparents. The principal explained the situation, and her grandfather said that they would have a talk with Nick when she returned home. That night, they called her.
“Nick is everything alright?”
“Yeah, I’m fine.”
“Well, your principal called us today. He said some of the teachers were concerned with your behavior.”
“I’m fine, really.”
“I know, but your brother’s going to come stay with you, to look after you.”
“I have a brother!?!”
“Yes, we’re sorry we never told you Nikki, but you would have been too young to remember him. He’s decided to come live with you. He’ll be arriving tomorrow morning.”
She had a brother. Her grandparents had never mentioned it until now. Was he coming because of what had happened last week? Were they afraid she would do what David had done? That was probably the reason. It would be strange, living with someone she barely knew.
After speaking with her grandparents, she went online. A few friends were on, some of them classmates. Four messages popped up at once. Instead of talking to them individually, she created a chatroom and invited them. Someone else was also invited.

Neo: What's up guys?
Fanning121: nm
Zephon: same
MadPirate: just playing a game
Leon: nm either. How bout u Zi?
Zi: I found out I have a brother.
Neo: How old?
Fanning121: seriously?
Zi: I’m not sure. He’s arriving tomorrow
MadPirate: why? Cuz of last week?
Zi: Probably
Leon: our parents have been doing stuff too so don’t worry.
Neo: I don’t mean to be nosy, but what happened?
Zephon: friend committed suicide.
MadPirate: And now our principal has banned stuff like CKY cds. We can’t have mp3 players either
Neo: That must have been hard for your school, the death of a student.
Fanning121: People who barely knew him blamed themselves for what happened. Councilors were called out, the library and guidance office was a mess.
Zi: Lets change the subject.

For the rest of the night they talked about video games. Occasionally the subject would change to the news, and about the latest computer hacker getting arrested. At midnight Zi said goodbye to her friends, then went to bed.
The next morning Nick awoke to the sound of knocking. Looking at the clock, she saw that it was almost noon. Dragging herself out of bed, Nick went to answer the door. There was a young man outside. He wore blue jeans and a gray shirt. His black hair was pulled into a low ponytail that touched the back of his neck. Nick noticed that they had the same blue eyes.

“Well good morning. I’m Marc, you must be Nick, right?”
“Yeah”
Nick walked into the house. Marc followed her inside, shutting the door behind him. They walked into the kitchen, where he took a seat at the table. Nick offered him a glass of orange juice, which he accepted.
“I’ve wanted to see you ever since we left. And now that I have, I don’t know what to say.”
“Why didn’t grandpa tell me about you, and why was I left with them?”
“It was for your own good. Dad was drunk all the time, and was constantly hurting mom. She didn’t want you to grow up with that going on, so she had her parents, our grandparents look after you.”
“Why didn’t you stay?”
“I wanted to, but dad caught us before we could get back.”
“Was he angry?”
“He was furious. They started fighting, and the cops arrested him later. He went to jail for half a year. When he got out mom let him come home.”
“Even though he hurt her?”
“When you really care about someone, you tend to look at things differently. That's what she told me. A few years later though, he killed her.”
“But why?”
“I don’t know, but he wasn’t arrested until about five years ago. He’s in prison for life.”
“....can we talk about something else?”
“Sure, you can ask me anything.”
Nick thought for a moment. There were so many things she wanted to ask him. She could imagine that at the same time, he was searching for questions to ask her.
“What kind of job do you have?”
“I’m a detective. Do you have a job?”
“Just school. Are you married?”
“Still single, and yourself?”
“I don’t have a boyfriend.”
“Any hobbies?”
“The Internet, sometimes I play games or watch movies.”
“Thats my favorite hobby, watching movies."
"Which kind?"
"Thrillers."
"Mine too."
"Then it looks like we'll get along great."
After they finished talking, Nick helped him carry his things inside. His belongings were placed in the room on the second floor, down the hall from Nicks. While Marc was unpacking, she cooked lunch. As Marc was coming down the stairs, the doorbell rang. Two boys and a girl were standing outside.