An Unexpected Friendship-2

James had a hard time wrapping his head around the fact that The Jarad Fullbody ran away from home. Let alone the fact that he ran away so that he could meet a friend at Valgoore. He didn't know him pretty well, but James knew that this was a bullshit story. Jarad may have run away from home, but he didn't just run away to meet a friend. He ran because of some entirely different reason.

Jarad is a boy that has everything in this world. He was a genius and he is also a member of the Fullbody family. He lives with his family in the Fullbody complex which alone showed that he and his family members are a resourceful bunch. That is why it didn't make sense that he need to sneak out like this to meet up with a friend. James was about 70% sure that Jarad wasn't telling the truth about why he is going to Valgoore.

But the thing was that it didn't matter to James. Whatever Jarad was hiding was his business. He didn't want to put his nose in someone else's business, that is why he didn't ask him a lot of questions about his destination…

After Jarad came and sat beside James, he refused to leave him alone. He insisted that they should travel together. This way both of them wouldn't get bored in the 8-hour journey to Valgoore.

"Mr. Fullbody, my seat is in the sleeper coach S1. Where is your seat?" James curiously.

"My seat is in sleeper coach S5. But don't worry. It doesn't matter. If we are traveling together, we can buy tickets for VIP compartments. This way we would be able to travel together." Jarad said with a smile. Hearing this, James also smiled, but inwardly he started panicking.

As the name suggests, VIP coaches are for the VIPs. They are extremely extravagant coaches and very costly too. James's mother once told him that the VIP compartment cost around 30 gold coins. His mother's monthly income is only 40 gold coins. Currently, James didn't even have 1/4th the amount needed for the VIP compartment.

James didn't want to embarrass himself as he didn't have money for a VIP compartment. So he decided that he should decline Jarad's request politely and travel with the ticket that he did have…

"I am sorry Mr. Fullbody, I don't think it would be a good idea. You ran away from your home. And there is a high chance that someone would recognize that you are wearing a disguise. That is why I don't think that we should travel in the VIP compartment." James said politely. It is well-known fact that only the powerful awakened ones travel in the VIP compartments. That is why it would make sense that someone would discern that he is wearing a disguise.

"Nonsense. Nothing like that would happen. To ensure nothing like this happen, all we need to do is ensure that none of us will leave our compartments. Then everything will turn out just fine." Jarad said enthusiastically.

"But Mr. Fullbody…." Before James could say anything he was cut off by Jarad.

"No ifs, no buts, no coconuts. I want to have a long chat with you as a senior. And now from now onwards, please call me Jarad." He said.

"Yes… Jarad." James said with a smile. But inwardly he was panicking. He didn't have money to buy a ticket to VIP compartment ticket. Now as Jarad was not listening to him, he decided that it would be better to come clean about it. He obviously could not run away from this situation. That is why it would be better if he comes clean now…

But as James was about to say something, Jarad handed him a grey color pouch.

"Here take this," Jarad said while handing James a pouch.

"What is this?" James asked.

"This is my money pouch. Buy two tickets for the VIP compartments and make sure that they both are side by side." Jarad said.

"But Jarad…." But once again, James was cut off in between.

"No no no… You are my junior. There is no way in hell that I will let you pay for the tickets. And I think you are probably right. There is a chance that someone would recognize me in the compartments. So I will go and use some magic and change my disguise. You go and buy the ticket and meet me here in 5 mins, okay?" Jarad said.

"Okay," James said and then he got up with Jarad. Then both of them went their separate ways. While a smile appeared on James's face as he was happy that he didn't have to buy the ridiculously expensive ticket…

***

Ten minutes later, The Valgoor express came to a halt at platform number nine. By this time, James had successfully bought two tickets to the VIP compartments and was waiting for Jarad to come back by the bench where they were sitting originally. As he was standing by the bench, an old man came toward him.

The old man was wearing a fancy two-piece suit and as he came to James, he said "Did you face any problem while buying a ticket young man" he said in an old man's voice.

"Jarad?" James asked as he heard the old man's question.

"Who else could it be?" the old man asked with a smile. Then James showed the old man the tickets. "Let's go then…" the old man said while snatching one of the tickets from James's hand.

Both of them boarded the train one after the other. As Jarad had instructed James, he bought tickets to two cabins which were side by side. While boarding the train, Jarad asked James to sit tight for now. After the train would start moving he will come to his cabin to talk to him. James followed his instructions and went straight to his compartment.

When James entered the compartment, he was pretty impressed because of how nice it looked. There was a big bed by the side of the room. On the other side room, there was a reclining chair and a tea table. There was a large tinted window just in front of the bed from which one could enjoy the sceneries of the world while lying down. The quality of the stuff in the room gave it a very very fancy feeling.

James then first locked his door and pushed his suitcase under the bed. Then he sat on the reclining chair and opened his book once again…

***

The train started moving half an hour after James and Jarad boarded the train…

James who was trying to concentrate on the book was unable to do it because of one simple reason. As he started reading his book a strange thought came to him. While sitting in the chair he started thinking about the reason behind why Jarad Fullbody insisted on traveling with him?

He was having a hard time comprehending that all of this was happening. He didn't know the motive behind Jarad inviting him to the VIP section and this was bugging him. Jarad had already given him a hint, as he earlier said that according to Miss Hubert, he was the best candidate for a job. But what James didn't understand was what job was he talking about.

James was smarter than most of his peers. But that didn't mean that he was special. He had heard about a lot of kids of his age who are better than him in many aspects. So the question remained…

What was Jarad after…