Ch 1: Instant Encounters - Gen 1 -

The cab right over took only a few hours, leaving Drake with plenty of time to glue his face to the window of the taxi and make mental notes of all of the places that he would soon be visiting in his pursuit of fulfilling activity. His mind raced as he contemplated the nights of partying filled with dancing, drinking, socializing and all else. It was a far step away from the stiff ole town of Pleasantview that he had dreaded so direly.  Here he could be somebody, here he could make something of himself that was not directly dictated by what his parents told or wished for him, it was a sense of pure revelation that sent green waves of joy surging from the tip of his toes all the way up through his body and seemed to float there above his head, as if serving as a becon of reassurance that all was right whiten the realm of Drake Jenson. These feelings however lasted only as long as it took for the cab driver to pull up in front of his new apartment. Although he did have a decent amount of money left over from his collage fund, he still found himself coming up rather short when selecting his new diggs, as such he was forced into a pad that was hardly furnished at all, not even a bed for him to sleep in. Taking a deep breath Drake closes his eyes to calm himself,

 "Alright buddy boy, we knew it was going to be like this. Your a collage graduate! Lets go find ourselves a job!", he proclaimed to himself as he closed the door right back behind him and headed down to the local public school in hopes of finding employment.

The moment he stepped foot inside the rather large building Drake felt as though he was entering into an entire new world. His childhood days were over, he served his time, and he was now a free man. Free to do what ever he pleased in what ever way he pleased, and right now he desired a job more than anything else. It was the first of many things on his list of 'things that need to be done so you can get some action'. It was a five point plan that, in his opinion, was flawless. Step one, GET A JOB!. Coming right up. Drake marched his way through the halls with his head held high and his chin pointed outward in a blatant sign of confidence in himself. Stomping directly into the principles office and slamming his resume down on the table. The principle took one brief look over the sheets of white paper in front of him and boom, just like that Drake had the job right on the spot and was to start immediately!

The day went by rather slowly from that point on, Drake had not really had much time to sleep since arriving in town and was slowly but surely starting to feel the effects of stress setting in that would undoubtedly effect his work performance. How was he going to step into this job with so much confidence and then fall short whiten the first few hours? Drake sighed and begrudgingly forced himself through the next half of the day. When the bell rang for lunch time Drake couldn't have been more thankful, although not hungry himself, he desperately needed the down time. In order to blow off some much needed steam, Drake sat down at his desk and pulled up the class computer and began browsing the local clubs and bars, just as he had built a solid list of hots and nots he was interpreted by a yellow pop up in the top right corner of the screen. It was his boss! Kary Ellis Maroof, an odd name for a rather odd women, but none the less she was his boss and Drake feared that he had just been caught slacking off on the job. He was relieved however when she began singing his praises,

"
Principle Maroof:  Ive never seen a man with such confidence in my life. Im really happy to have you working here.

Mr Jenson: Thanks for that, Ill do my best. If you need anything just let me know, and ill get it done.

Principle Maroof: Thats what I like to hear..btw.. have you had lunch yet? .. Id like to treat you to a quick meal to welcome you to the school.

Mr Jenson: That sounds great, ill meet you out front.

"

Drake signed off and headed out of the building and down the street to the food truck where he awaited Kary to meet up with him. Although she had agreed to treating him to lunch, Drake did not feel entirely comfortable with letting a lady pay for his meal, call him old fashioned that way. Instead he opted to paying for his burrito with his own cash and took a seat on the bench to chow down. Shortly after Kary showed up and took up a seat next to him, "You have to understand.." she said as she sat down in a rather informal way, "...teachers arnt really supposed to socialize on a personal level, especially not the principle. "

Drake raised an eyebrow at her in desire to protest such a rule but immediately let it go, figuring it was best not to argue with the rules on his first day. The two continued to chat for the next half an hour, Kary continually turning down Drakes attempts at buying her something to eat, something about not wanting to eat from a food truck and how only tourist or "town newbies" ate at such things. Drake wasn't sure what she was talking about, the warm greasing feeling that he got from every bite of his food truck burrito was delicious to him, instantly serving to label that truck as his default lunch eatery. As they continued conversing time slowly began to slip away from their notice, eventually causing them to fall into a dream state of perpetual conversation. As if time could have flown by directly over their heads and dropped several bombs only to be blissfully ignored as nothing more than traveling wind.

Drake stood up and headed towards the trash can to toss the wrapper from his lunch, all the while making sure to rub his hands across his paints casually to release himself from the sticky grip of the burritos grease. Today's lunch with Kary was everything that he wanted his new life to be, spontaneous, interesting, and filled with the company of beautiful women. Turning back to her, Drake took a direct approach asking her flat out, "So.. you seeing anyone right now?" The question was posed in such a way that if she took offense to it he could easily back out, labeling it nothing more as idle chit chat, but in all truth his intentions were far more devious. 

Kary sighed loudly, "Why'd you have to go and say that for huh?.." Opening her arms and slowly manufacturing a false smile to slide across her lips she continued, "We were having a good time right? Why complicate things like that..?" her tone of voice suggested that there was something to be gained from prying further, which is exactly what Drake did. " It was just a question geaze, you dont have to make such a big deal about it. Back where I'm from asking someone if they are in a relationship or not is just part of regular conversation among friends. Excuse me if you city folk dont care to know each other well enou..." Drake's defensive rant was cut short by the warm sensation of a women's arms curving around his neck and resting on his back. 

 It was amazing, it was wonderful, it was more than Drake could process in such a short amount of time, and even more so it was unexpected. What had he said to warrant such a reaction? It was so far beyond him that his head began to hurt from the hundreds of possibilities that ran through his brain like a flickering slide show. Rather than ruin the moment by trying to make too much sense of it, Drake closed his eyes and pulled her in closer to his chest. So what if this made no sense at all?, why destroy such a  heavenly experience of synergy with logic, for all he knew he was dreaming, and if he was he most definitely was not ready to wake up.

Kary locked her face behind Drakes shoulder, trying her best not to break out into tears and scare him off with her display of emotions. Hell she barely knew this guy and she so suddenly unleashed a wave of emotion upon him that would obviously creep him out, but she just couldn't help herself. Sometimes during times of trouble, one just needed a friend, one just plain needed someone to lean on, and as sad as it was to admit, Drake was the closet thing that she had to a reliable shoulder. "Me and my husband..we just had a divorce this mourning.. I thought coming to work would help me clear my mind..." Before Drake could even respond, Kary broke free from his grip and turned around, heading off down the street with her face covered by her hands in embarrassment. Drake looked longingly down the street, trying to make some sort of sense of what had just happened. 

"She had a divorce, and she chose me to confide in?.. Why?"

After work Drake was finally able to make it to one of the clubs that he had been so desperately been wanting to visit. Ever since he was a little kid he had always fantasized about what it would be like to become a socialite who lived in the city, sipped drinks in fancy bars and wore colorful suits made of random assortment of animal hides. But some how, even with everything that he had been hoping for, he was still left wanting. All he could think about was Kary and how she had ran off so suddenly, "I should have gone after her, I should have made sure that she was alright.." Drake took another sip of his drink and raised his chin in response to its burning sensation rolling down his chest, "Screw it, When I see her again I'm going to just walk right up to her and demand that she tell me what her deal was" Getting up to leave, Drake promptly paid his tab and headed outside, before he could even make it to the side walk his phone began to vibrate!

Drake picked up the phone and put on the most attractive voice that he could muster up, "Hello, this is Drake." The phone seemed to buzz with heavy static for just a moment before Kary's voice shimmered out of the receiver quietly, "Drake...can you hear me?... please Drake, I need you right now. Please, come to my house as soon as you can, ill text you my address ok?" Drake tried to speak but was met only by an empty dial tone. "What the fu.." he said to himself before shaking his head and running out towards the street headed to the subway. Kary needed his help, all things else could be figured out later. But first, Drake took a detour back to his house for a bit of a precaution. 

Once ready, Drake made his way over to Kary's, he was not sure what was wrong or what was happening, but he wanted to be prepared for the worst. Lowering his eyes to the ground, Drake whispered a short prayer to himself for protection before tucking the black hand gun into the back of his weights belt.