Do You Want to Join My Club?

Jay laughed, his friends' timing couldn't have been worse.

"I didn't do their thinking for them. Just asked them." Kyle could see Alejandra didn't believe him but looked at the boys coming over to them.

"Did Jay really tell you guys what books to choose?" she asked them. She was a really clever girl and phrased the question as if it was obvious Jay chose their books for them. It was a trick to uncover the truth.

All three friends knew this was a delicate situation for their friend. The girl he liked was asking them if he told them which books to choose; was she asking because she wanted to see if he was really that smart or what?

Jesse, who had the most experience with women, took point on the question, or he tried to. "Heck yes, he told us exactly what to do, without him, I'm sure we would have messed up big time!" Rusty blurted out.

Jay face-palmed and Jesse could see it wasn't the right answer. Rusty was confused. Jesse slapped him upside the head before saying what he tried to tell her before.

"Don't listen to him, he's an idiot, you'll just misunderstand what happened. He gave us three guiding principles to help us find good matches.

1. You must either start with a clear crystal book or an obsidian book.

2. Know who you are and what you want.

3. Don't try to sync with powers or abilities, sync with the source of those powers or abilities.

After he gave us these three principles he told us to go and do our own research," Jesse said.

"Did he ever discourage you from a choice, or hint that you should make a different choice in your books?" Alejandra asked to see if she could catch them in a lie.

"No, this guy didn't even want us to tell him what we chose. He said it would taint his data," Danny threw in.

"Then why did he get onto you about your choice?" She asked Jesse.

"He didn't get onto me for my choice but for doubting my choice. He was getting onto me for almost changing my mind. I was worried I made a mistake.

Everyone else had their own approach and I didn't know if Jay's approach was any more right than theirs. I also didn't trust myself.

He reminded me to stay true to my decision," Jesse told her sincerely.

"He told us we needed to believe in our choices or it would get harder and harder down the line to make the right choice," Rusty said.

"Why did you want to change your mind; don't you trust your friend?" she asked Jesse.

"Of course, he's my boy, but he told us himself this was just his theory. Jay's smart, but is he able to see what others can't? I wasn't sure if he was that smart." Jesse said as the other two nodded their heads in agreement. It seems they also had their doubts.

"Wow, impressive, not just that Jay came up with a method to help all of you to make good choices, but that you guys followed him. You guys must be really great friends," Alejandra truly was impressed.

Not a lot of students would listen to another friend as much as these guys listened to Jay.

"We've known each other since elementary school," Danny said.

"He's always been right more often than wrong about these things," Jesse said.

Alejandra turned to look at Jay who was wearing a smirk. "Do you have like a secret formula or are you a prophet?"

"I've been studying this stuff very carefully since I was a kid," he said.

"It's true, you should see all these books and printouts he's created," Rusty jumped in excitedly.

"You don't like storing things on the computer?" she asked.

"I'm not a computer genius. If I'm right and I get hacked then all of my theories and ideas can be claimed by someone else. All the years of hard work I've put into this will be nothing," Jay said.

"Couldn't someone just steal the hard copies?" She asked.

"Yeah, but it's harder to do that." He said.

"I don't mind answering more of your question, but that's under the condition you answer a very important question for me," he said.

{Uh oh, here it comes, he's going to hit on me again. It's too bad, I enjoyed the low pressure he was putting on me. Yeah, he's flirty, but most guys are. I just don't want to be badgered.} She sighed internally.

"What's the question?" she asked.

"Do You Want to Join My Club," he emphasized each word to tease her a little.

"What club?" she asked.

All four boys started laughing when she asked the question.

"The Secret Society of Scientific Syncers," he said grandly.

"The what?" Alejandra was once more surprised. Were these guys starting a super-villain club?

"Look, we are all aiming to be Lugals. The problem is there isn't a clear way to accomplish this with much certainty. It looks like a crapshoot as far as I can tell.

We want to take the guesswork out and become Lugals together and pave a reliable path for others.

We're doing big things, but we want to keep things a secret. If you join us, you'll need to keep our secrets as well as your own." Jay explained.

"If I join will you tell me what you chose?" she asked.

"No, not immediately," he responded.

"Why not?" This isn't about what I'm choosing. It's about being seriously committed to the pursuit of the top realm as Collectors.

I don't want you to join just out of some childish curiosity. I want you to join because you want to pursue as perfect a path as possible, and you believe in the work we're doing."

Jay looked very serious and unlike other guys, he didn't let his interest in her compromise the integrity of his goals. She liked him more and more.

"I don't know how serious I am or how much I believe in what you're doing." She was being honest with him.

She didn't want to commit to something she didn't really believe in, especially when Jay was so serious. She felt like it would insult him.

"Okay, I can respect that. You can think about it and decide later. For now, I'll show you our successes, but you aren't allowed to ask how or why we succeeded. I definitely won't tell you what I chose. How does that sound?" Jay asked.

"Yeah, I'm okay with that. I'll let you boys play at being the Four Musketeers, and I'll see how it goes."

"Don't you mean Three Musketeers? Rusty asked.

"Everyone, even the writer pretends like d'Artagnan isn't a Musketeer," she said with a smile.

"Fine, we're the four Musketeers, and you can be Lana Lang." Jay laughed.

"Why Lana Lang?" She asked.

"Lana was always trying to uncover Superboy's secret idea but was never able to. When you get tired of being Lana, you can join up and be Musketeer number 5," Jay said.

Alejandra and the boys laughed together.