Paranoia!

The beacon of dawn blinked through the horizon, swaddling a warm blanket over the waking cityscape. Jered's eyelids fluttered restlessly upon contact with the invading lights, prompting him to turn and toss with a displeased grunt. He swerved his head deeper into his pillow, yanking the disheveled heap of sheets over his head in an attempt to block the sunshine and resume his rest.

Right before he could fall back under Hypnos' sweet magic spell and venture into his dreamlands, the loud beeping of his alarm clock blared out with the sadism only an infernal gadget such as that could muster up during morning times, successfully interrupting Jered's snooze. A bloodshot eye cracked open and peeked out the comfort of his cushion, ready to plummet to the depths of hell whoever or whatever dared to rouse him from his slumber.

With his target acquired, his hand lashed out and whipped down at the top of the still screeching device.

However, due to him being groggy and incensed by the intrusion of the unwanted noise in the otherwise peaceful atmosphere of his room, the thought of his overall augmented physical attributes doing more damage than good was carelessly shoved away by his mind.

A violent thud sound overlaid by a crack one overlapped the constant beeping of his clock, before the latter finally stopped altogether with a last death clatter.

Heaving a frustrated sigh, he sleepily stared at the outcome of his handiwork. The good news was that he managed to stymie that hell's spawn from making any more noises. The bad news, he would have to replace it with a new one and probably repeat the process the very next day.

In the end, Jered decided to shrug it off and not buy anything that he will wind up breaking anyway. Screw the sun and the screw the alarm clocks! Feeling a wave of satisfaction and accomplishment, he slowly but surely smiled himself back to sleep.

"JEEREED!" his mother's timely yell broke him out of his short happiness, "GET UP!"

"Oh no..." he w.h.i.n.ed in the muffled clutches of his pillow, "Just lemme sleep in for today!" maybe that was not a wise reply because a chain of heavy stomps soon started ringing out, growing closer and closer to his door, "Jered von Jacobs!" the door was swept open so hard he was surprised it was not torn off its hinges.

"Ahhh... fine," he never felt so exhausted in his life, it was probably his stressful and hazardous weekend's weariness sieging him all at once. Good thing he went to sleep early that day, "Don't look at me like that, I'm getting up... here, look..."

Jered braved on through the bags of sleepiness hiding behind his eyes and stood upright, "Here..." he reiterated, his shoulders slumped and his face crumpled in the telltale signs of somnolence, "Imma be ready in a minute."

"Hmm..." Jane studied him as she crossed her arms and c.o.c.ked her head slantwise, a dangling tress of blond hair draping over her face from her mop of hair bundled up in a ponytail, "... are you okay sweetie? I've never seen you so tired before."

"Yeah... it's okay, don't worry... I just need--" he cut himself off with a yawn, "-- a good shower and I'll be fine." he tried to rub the sleepiness out of his face, squeezing his eyes a couple of times for good measure.

When there was no answer, he leered at her. Jane quietly stood there, at the threshold of his room with her eyes fixed onto him, seemingly scanning every nook and cranny of his body. The pregnant silence that ensued allowed for his mind to sober up and take in the state of dress his mother was donned in.

Her attire was definitely meant to arouse s.e.x.u.a.l attraction. Especially when she wore it like a second skin, it was like the garment was personally tailored to look like skin paint on her instead of silk.

That train of thoughts he had unconsciously embarked in stopped by on a more important question. Who? Who was she wearing that sensual piece of cloth for? There was no way his mother would enrobe herself in such a scandalous way, not even in front of her family. This had seemed to change in the past few days though.

Something must have goaded her into this change, or someone mayhaps. Jered frowned, could it be a lover? It had been quite a while since his father had died, it would have been perfectly within reason for her to find someone else to rekindle her flames of passion with.

He wondered if Jasmine knew anything about it.

... or maybe he was just paranoid, heh. Would have not been the first time.

"Mom?" he snapped his fingers at her, "I'm going to wash up."

"Oh..." she replied with a quirk of her eyebrow, "Hm. Go, I'll go make breakfast for both you and Jammie." she beamed at him before she spun around and waltzed out.

He watched her leave with an amused smile tugging at the corner of his lips. It must be a mom's thing to easily switch between a 'I brought you into this world, I can take you out again' to 'Where does it hurt sweetie? Let me kiss your boo-boo!'

And do never let her count to 3 when's angry...

--

Jane was in deep thought when she traipsed down the stairs. There was something off about her son, and she was hellbent on finding what it was. Admittedly, his odd and mystic behavior - not to mention changes - was foolproof evidence that something was going on. Her sixth sense was tingling in worry.

He was exhausted, the poor thing. There were dark circles under his eyes; an evident hint of his fatigue. Thankfully, his body didn't seem to be under any other distress aside from a wanton need of energy. She also took notice of his bulkier frame, his muscles had certainly gained more mass. Was he working out?

... she may have stared at him for longer than necessary, but that was a worthless slip-up that she conceded herself, nothing to fret over.

Even so, he should have not been so out of it. His eyes were garnished by a vast array of blood-red veins that slithered around his green irises. She hoped a fresh shower would reinvigorate him, otherwise, it would have not been a problem making him skip a day or two of school.

What did cause his wooziness though?

Jane went through a slew of possibilities inside her head. He was physically drained, and from the looks of it, mentally worn out as well.

Did he get himself a girlfriend?

She stopped in her tracks, an almost unnoticeable frown marring her features. Was that truly the answer? A girl? Didn't seem like it... but he was of that age where the discharge of hormones in their bodies could literally drown a whale.

And... if that was the case, should she investigate the identity of the wench that allegedly stole her son's heart? Should she give him some tips on how to treat a maiden? But Jered wouldn't hurt a fly...

Maybe she should just ask him and be done with it. However, she was also aware that youngsters were quite privy about their love life, and she didn't want him to think she was too intrusive, despite her having all the rights to be as such.

She wondered if Jasmine knew anything about it.

"Mom?"

Speak of the devil...

"Yes, sweetheart?" the clacking of the knife in her hand came to a halt as she glanced at her daughter.

"Hasn't Jered came down already?" she flopped down on a chair, "We're gonna be late if he doesn't hurry up."

"Hmm... he should be done showering, he must be dressing up as we spe--"

"No need to worry, I'm ready." Jered announced loudly as he clambered down the stairs and into the kitchen, "Oh boy... I'm ravenous, is it ready yet mom?" he parked himself next to Jasmine who scrunched her nose indignantly at him.

"You've been showering for a quite a while haven't you?" she eyed him up and down suspiciously, "What have you been up to in there?"

He snorted, "Certainly not what you are usually up to in there..."

Jane stifled back a chortle as her daughter huffed in reply, "Okay... here, stop bickering and start eating." she placed a batch of plates filled with delicious-looking food in front of them, before sitting down herself.