Story: Middle Part 27
[[Continuity Note: Jessica and Alf told Jessica's parents that Damien has magical powers. I don't want to write the next scene so this is filler interlude... I think I'm running out of plot, anyway. My story's going to finish far short of 50 000 words.]]
On Saturday morning, Alf was sitting at the breakfast table with a bowl of Weet Bix and banana slices when his mother came traipsing in with far too much good cheer for that time of the morning.
"Good morning, Alfie," she greeted him with beaming smile.
"Morning, mum," Alf responded before shoving another spoonful of cereal into his mouth.
She sat at the table beside him. "Is that enough for you?" she asked. "I could make pancakes or something. I'm sure we've got eggs."
Alf shook his head. "I'm fine." He honestly didn't think he'd manage to stomach that much this early in the morning. Not to mention he was looking at the prospect of visiting Damien's house later to tell him the good news. And that was not a happy prospect.
"Are you sure?" his mother asked, outwardly a little put out that there seemed to be nothing she could do to make her son's mood match her own.
"Sorry mum." Alf was apologetic.
"It's not your fault," she sighed, getting up from the table and rummaging in the fridge, presumably to see to her own breakfast.
"I'm sorry I haven't been home as much, recently."
His mother turned to give him a sad smile. "You needn't apologise. You're growing up. That's what teenagers do."
"That doesn't mean I don't feel guilty sometimes."
"Well," his mother suggested. "If you've got time to spare today, you could make it up to us. Your father's home from work for once. We could go on a picnic or something."
It took Alf a moment to wonder if he should get right on the Damien situation or if it could wait a day. Surely it could wait a day. It wasn't every day that his father had the day off. The Alduses would surely understand that. In the moment that Alf took to think this over, Mrs Struthers began to grow worried that her son truly didn't want to spend any time with them.
So she was a little startled when Alf suddenly suggested "Let's go to the beach. It's been warm the past few days."
"Sure," she nodded. "I've just got to get some things together. Did you want to invite Damien?"
Alf winced.
"Still not talking to you?" his mother asked rhetorically. "He'll come around." His mother just reminded him of his duties. Damien would come around, merely because Alf would have to make him. "Did you want to invite Jessica instead, then?"
Alf shook his head. "It'd be nice just us."
His mother smiled. "We'll I'm going to get some food ready. You should pack a bag and tell your dad what we're doing."
"Okay," Alf nodded, then headed upstairs. First he knocked on his parents' door, telling his father that they were going to the beach. He didn't seem too enthusiastic, but Alf thought that had something to do with the fact that he'd been woken from his sleep.
He headed into his room and quickly called Jessica on her coin. She didn't pick up, so he left her a message and hoped that it would be okay.
Alf took it upon himself to pack a backpack for himself. He changed into his board shorts, slipped on some thongs and a shirt then went in search of sunscreen. He threw that and a towel, his magical orb and mp3 player into a backpack. He brought that downstairs and looked observed his parents. His mother had packed a bag full of junk food and water bottles. His father was sitting shirtless at the table, hurriedly eating his breakfast of scramble eggs and English muffins.
"Put a shirt on, dad," Alf complained.
He just grinned at his son. "Sorry son, if your mother couldn't make me, why do you think you'd have better luck?"
Alf raised a metaphorical eyebrow. With all the attempting of that gesture, he was certain that in a few months he'd actually be able to raise his right brow. "Well, maybe the combined power of our disgust would be enough?"
"Oh your mother was far from disgusted," his father smirked.
Alf's eyes widened and he sank into a chair covering his eyes and ears by virtue of the fact that he was graced with unusually large hands and a smallish head. "Not listening, not listening."
Mr Struthers laughed at his son's antics and leaned up to plant a kiss on his wife.
"All right, all right," Mrs Struthers stated, lifting plates from the table and placing them in the sink. "We'll just get changed and be ready to go soon."
Half an hour later, his parents were ready and they loaded themselves into their car, headed for the nearest beach.
When they got there it wasn't too crowded, despite the warmth of the weather recently. They set out their towels and sank the beach umbrella into the ground.
Alf ran off to soak quickly, swimming out as far as he dared, remembering to keep between the flags. He hovered in the shallows until he was tired and consequently ravenous before heading back to the set up that his parents were still occupying.
His mother laughed at him as he collapsed onto his towel, complaining of a deadly empty stomach.
"I thought you wanted to spend some time with us, Alfie," his mother goaded.
Alf instantly felt guilty and turned to face his mother. "You have me for the rest of the afternoon."
"Fish and chips for lunch, then?" Alf's dad asked.
"Of course," Alf nodded. He went off and Alf lazily stretched on his towel.
The Struthers family spent a relaxing afternoon at the beach, lounging on the sand and sharing jokes. It was late before they even thought of going home, so grabbed dinner at a McDonalds before heading home.
Alf would have had a much nicer time of it if he hadn't had his Damien issue hanging over his head. He took a deep breath as he tried to get to sleep, his nervousness keeping him up. He could do it. After all, what's the worst that could happen? Damien could try to keep him out, but he knew pretty well how to get through a door. Damien could hurl insults, but what could he say that would hurt more than what had already occurred? Damien could try to attack him, but with his training, and Damien's lack of training, he should be okay. Even if Damien did have better reflexes. And anyway, the Alduses knew where he was, and they'd be able to come to his rescue quickly enough... not to mention collectively they were sure to be better than Damien. It was going to be okay. He hoped.
[[End scene.]]
Story: Middle Part 26
[[Continuity Note: Jessica and Alf discovered Damien's secret.]]
It was a great deal easier for Jessica to grab her parents' attention than it was for Alf, so he let her do that while he waited in the sitting room where all their important discussions took place.
"All right," Mr Aldus invited, looking every inch a gentleman of leisure. If it weren't for the cut of his shirt and lack of amber alcohol in a glass he'd look like a man out of the nineteenth century. Though, Alf amended, it wasn't quite a fitting description as most men would. "What is it this time?"
"The excitement never stops," Mrs Aldus remarked as she gracefully took her place, before summoning tea and a tray of cakes.
"It's about Alf's friend Damien," Jessica said. "We think he's like Alf."
"Like Alf?" Mr Aldus' eyes widened. "Then it is true! The non-magical folk are evolving."
Alf winced at the way he termed it. Something about it made him feel very offended.
"So he can use magical powers, too?" Mrs Aldus queried. "And he's definitely not related to a family?"
"Well, we haven't checked the book yet," Jessica admitted. Mrs Aldus had summoned it before Jessica had finished that sentence. "But," Jessica continued. "How likely is it for him to live so close to us without us noticing?"
"And," Alf frowned. "If he's always had it, he would have believed me when I told him that I could do strange things."
The adults shared a look. "He doesn't seem like any magical boy I've ever met," Mr Aldus proclaimed.
Meanwhile Jessica had flipped the book open to the appropriate pages. "Nothing," she stated, satisfied.
"Well," Mr Aldus said. "Since you were his friend, I guess you'd better be the one to convince him to meet with us, Alf."
Alf nodded slowly, knowing that it would fall on him, no matter whether he wanted it to or not. And he didn't want to. Definitely not.
[[End scene.]]
Story: Middle Part 25
[[Continuity Note: See note for part 24]]
They still hadn't given up on stalking Damien, even if they had given up on tracking him magically. Despite this, Alf and Jessica felt that they hadn't had any just plain hanging out time in so long that they weren't even stalking Damien when the mystery of his money was revealed to them. They were sitting in the window of their local gelato place, eating out of plastic cups with plastic spoons when Alf noticed Damien walking past.
"Do you think we're ever going to find out what's up with him?" Alf asked Jessica, scraping the last of the dessert from the bottom of his red cup then pushing it aside.
Jessica shrugged. "Does it even matter anymore?" she asked with a frown. She still hadn't finished half of her cold treat.
"Kind of," Alf said. "I mean, it's suspicious. What if what he's doing is illegal?"
"What if it's not?" Jessica countered, leaning forward and raising her spoon to emphasise her point.
Alf shifted uncomfortably. He didn't know why it was suddenly so important to him. If he was just jealous or if it was some sort of magical sixth sense. "What made you go along with this in the first place, again?"
"I had a feeling," Jessica responded, immediately sticking her spoon in her mouth afterward, as though afraid to say anything more.
"Don't you still have this feeling?" Alf asked.
"It's died down a bit."
"Are you sure that's not just because you want it to? Because your rational mind says you shouldn't be listening to feelings?"
Suddenly, the sound of laughter broke into their conversation. Alf and Jessica looked up to see who was laughing. Standing beside their table was Rock.
"Sorry, I couldn't help but overhear," he stated with a malicious smirk.
Jessica frowned. "I never picked you for an eavesdropper," she told him.
Rock smiled. "And I never picked you for an idiot."
"Hey!" Jessica protested, not entirely certain if she was supposed to be offended or not.
"But if you're not going to be polite, then I'm not going to tell you what I know."
"Who says we even want to know what you know?" Alf asked with a frown.
"Because it concerns your little friend and his big secret."
Alf and Jessica shared a look. How had he known that that's what they were talking about? How had he known that that was what he was going to do? And how did he even know what Damien's secret was anyway?
"Why would we believe anything you say?" Alf asked.
A sneer curled Rock's lips. "Well, you see," Rock leaned forward placing his hands on the table, as though sharing some huge secret. "You'll know if I tell you."
Jessica had enough of this and smacked her hands on the table, standing as she did so. "Look, either tell us or don't. There's no reason for you to drag it out."
Rock stood straight, trying to use his height to intimidate her. It didn't help. Jessica still remembered a time when she was taller than her cousin. Seeing that he hadn't worked, he just laughed. "He's a freak like you guys are." And with that comment, he walked away.
Jessica was beyond furious. "Don't you dare call us freaks when you know perfectly well that you're the one who's freakish beyond repair." She chased him out of the gelato place, leaving Alf staring at abandoned plastic cups.
Was it true? And had Rock meant what Alf thought he meant when he used the term 'freak'? Did he really mean that Damien was in fact like Alf? That his best friend had scorned him for something he had himself? Called him a liar when he must know it was true?
Alf stood, following Jessica's path out the door. He found the two cousins on the corner, obviously occupied throwing names at each other. Too occupied to noticed that Damien was coming back around the corner kicking a footy. A football that mysteriously always bounced back to his foot.
Alf walked over to Jessica, not taking his eyes off his ex-best friend. He tapped her on the shoulder and merely indicated with his head when she looked at him furiously.
"Oh," she said calmly.
"Told you so," Rock stated, then walked off.
Alf thought about following him, but that wasn't usually well received so he just stood there next to Jessica. Then Damien made eye contact with him. The look that passed over Damien's face revealed all to Alf. He knew that he knew. Damien let the ball slip away and all but ran from the street.
"I can't believe Rock was right," Jessica muttered.
"I can't believe Rock told us," Alf commented.
They looked at each other, and in silent agreement began walking toward Jessica's house.
[[Random note: back-up friends.]]
Story: Beginning Part 1
[[Continuity Note: Yes, you read that correctly, I'm going to attempt to write the first bit of this story in which I introduce the protagonist and all that.]]
He liked to listen to loud angry rock music on the quietest setting his headphones would allow. He liked watching sports on television, but he hated playing them even if he wasn't truly awful. He liked eating taco shells by themselves.
He was Alfonso Struthers. Better known as Alf. Though, depending on who you were, you might have known him better as Alfalfa, or Sprout. But you would have still known as Alfonso Struthers.
Other things he liked included: his best friend Damien Reid, his parents, Alyssa Marx (though he'd never admit it) and bouncing small rubber balls off his ceiling.
So some of the things he liked were a little strange. Some of the things he liked were pretty normal. Alf always thought of himself as pretty mediocre, pretty average, pretty normal. Nothing about his appearance particularly stood out. He had light brown hair and dark brown eyes. He stood in the middle of the middle row in school pictures.
But Alf liked being ordinary. He didn't want to be particularly acknowledged. It was nice to recognised sometimes. But he didn't want to be known as the smartest kid in school, and he didn't want to be known as the most athletic, or the most musical. He was happy being himself. After all, it meant that he could easily find himself when the school photos came back.
Unfortunately, despite what Alf liked, he was suddenly going to find himself being extraordinary... and acknowledged for his efforts, to boot.
[[Neh, it's not so great, but who really cares? It's words!]]
Story: Middle Part 24
[[Continuity Note: This follows an interlude in Jessica's bedroom.]]
It was Friday when Alf and Jessica finally caught on to what Damien was up to.
[[Yeah it was only a sentence. Who cares?]]
