Chapter 24: Him
"So does anybody have any ideas on what we should do for the science fair?" Lulu asked.
"Uh aren't you the one with the ideas? I'm just here for the ride," I said. "Just promise me that there won't be any pyrotechnics this time. I don't think I can handle being a naked mole rat more than once in my lifetime."
"And whatever you need built, I'm your guy!" Carver said excited.
The three of us were huddled together sitting at our usual spot in the cafeteria. It was already the middle of the day and I've calmed down a bit as opposed to earlier. I'm actually surprised she asked us about the science fair though. I figured her head would be jam packed with ideas and she would be spending this time doling out instructions on how to perfect her idea but instead here we are being asked for our input. Never would have guessed that this would happen.
"I do have ideas. My mind is buzzing with ideas. There's so many bouncing around in there but I want this to be a team effort. If we're going to win this, we have to be in this together. I don't just want to dictate every single decision we make. That's no fun. And I promise, whatever we decide to do, it won't involve fire. That's one hiccup I'd like to avoid too," she reassured me. "Although I can't take all the blame, it was a freak accident that only occurred because of the weather. But I digress, a promise is a promise, whatever we do, we'll have your safety as the top priority...well maybe second priority."
"Lulu!"
"I'm kidding, I'm kidding. But for real, you two really don't have any ideas? Not a single one?" she asked. For someone who has a ton of ideas, she sure as hell is making it look like she's grasping at straws by asking us for help. Does she actually have anything to work with? "Anything! There are literally no bad ideas."
"Um...how about we do something VR related? Like we can control something we use everyday with VR. Ooo! Maybe we can pull off a SAO thing by putting ourselves into a game? But maybe not get stuck in it like in season one though. I don't know about you two but I don't want to get stuck in a game that can kill me in real life," I rambled. Lulu stared at me in disgust. Carver on the other hand looked deep in thought like he was trying to remember if he had watched SAO (Sword Art Online) or not. "What?! You said there would be any bad ideas! Sorry if the only thing I can think of is related to video games and anime. But hey, at least it's better than what I did in third grade. Remember that shit show?"
"Oh yeah! What were you thinking?!" Lulu laughed and snorted.
"What's so funny?" Carver asked out of the loop.
"I don't think we really need to get into it. It was just all-around bad. That's why Lulu and I work together now because I can't be trusted to make my own decisions or act on the bad ideas that I have in here."
"Fang, we have to tell him. It'd be cruel not too," she said just barely recovering from her laughing fit.
"Okay fine, if you have to," I sighed.
"So our third grade teacher, I think her name was Miss Adams or something, thought it'd be a fun idea if the class did their own science experiments. The only condition was that we weren't allowed to do volcanoes," she explained.
"Yeah and after seeing volcanoes on TV, I really wanted to do one but nope, denied at the very first chance that I had."
"Yeah and I don't how, but I think everyone in class did something food related. Like I tested different brands of popcorn to see if they popped the same and which had the best cook using the same time. But your boyfriend here decided to test the staying power of different kinds of glue."
"Glue?" Carver asked looking at me strangely.
"It's not my fault! I have boring parents! I asked them for help and that's what they came up with."
"Yeah and when it came time for Fang to present his experiment to the class, he froze and just pointed to everything. I think I'm more surprised you didn't cry though. Suffice to say, the whole class was confused. But I think she went easy on you and gave you an A anyway, right?"
"Yeah, but I don't think she went easy on me. I think she pitied me and felt sorry for my inability to form words. I was really shy back then. I was the Silent Sue of our class before we knew about Silent Sue."
"Aw babe, you're so cute! You've definitely grown though because you my friend are not shy, if you know what I'm saying," he winked.
"Ugh!" I cried as I slithered down in my seat.
"Well anyway, let's hear from somebody else," Lulu said as she turned her attention to Carver. "What about you Carv? Got anything juicy and worthwhile in that head of yours?"
"Um...well..."
She leaned in closer in anticipation for him to say something cool. He nervously kept switching up looks between the both of us as he bit into his bottom lip.
"Well, we're waiting! What do you got?" Lulu yelled.
"Um...which one is SAO again?"
"Oh my God!" she whined in disbelief, swinging her head back. "I can't believe you're still on this stupid anime stuff! I thought you had an actual idea."
"Sorry," he said scratching the back of his head. "Uh well, I'm down for anything honestly, as long Fang doesn't get hurt."
"Guys, I get it already! Fang will not get hurt! None of us will! I promise! Now can we get back to the matter at hand? We really need to blow people out of the water with this. I really want to make an impression on everyone for this. It's important to me that I get this internship...wouldn't hurt to share it with my friends either."
"Do you really think it's one of those prizes that you can share with other people? I got the idea that it was meant for one person and one person only," Carver said.
"Same," I added.
"Well then maybe we shouldn't do the fair?" Lulu said disappointed. "If I can't share it with the both of you then it wouldn't be fair to the team. There's no I in team and I don't want this to be all about me. Farewell Chambers Sec, I barely knew ye."
"Oh quit being so dramatic, Lu! We're still doing this! I don't care if you're the only one who gets the prize. If it's something you really want, go for it. I'll help in whatever way I can. We're friends—no! We're a family and in this family we help each other out, no matter what! You with me baby?" he asked turning to me all pumped up.
"Not as overtly enthusiastic as you but yeah, I'm in, one hundred percent. Let's give this brainstorm another go! I'm sure we can think of something. Besides, you have nothing to worry about. There's no one else in this school, hell in the world, who's smarter than you. With your brain power, Carver's builder know how, and my uncanny resilience to failures, we're unbeatable!"
"I love you guys!" Lulu admitted smiling and pulling us into a group hug. "But for real, we have nothing."
"Well you're the leader. Are you trying to say you don't have any of your own ideas? Weren't you just boasting about having a ton of ideas?" I asked.
"How about that visor thing?" Carver asked jumping in.
"What visor thing?" Lulu asked, her brows furrowed. "What's he talking about Fang?"
"You know, that thing you two did in the past. The one that changes your hair color. I can take a look at it and possibly fix it. Think about it, we rewrite a wrong from the past. It could work."
"Uh uh, no way in hell am I going anywhere near that thing again!" I protested crossing my arms. "I thought you had my back on the whole "let's not traumatize Fang" brigade."
"I do have your back babe. But wouldn't it be cool if we got that to work? Like actually work! Don't you think that'll impress the judges? The idea already sounds futuristic. You just need a proper engineer to work out the kinks and that's where I come in," he argued.
"He does have a point," she agreed. "Let's do it!"
"Guys, if we're bringing back that deathtrap, I'm out. I'm sorry, I love you guys, but no. I'm out, there's absolutely no way you're putting me back into that deathtrap!"
–
"I can't believe she kept this deathtrap this whole time," I bitterly complained as Carver affixed the deathtrap—I mean visor, against my hairline.
Somehow these two were able to drag me all the way out to Lulu's house after school. For the rest of the day, Carver would not shut up about his excitement about it and neither could Lulu. She literally would not stop texting me every five seconds about how we were going to revive this thing and make it a reality.
So here I am standing in the hoarder's nest, Mama Rose's garage, clearly annoyed. I don't think I've ever seen this place open though if I'm being completely honest. There were an assortment of things in here from old childhood toys to stacks of old newspapers and magazines, all covered in what looked like generations of dust. If there was a color I could give this place, it'd be brown. I don't think anyone in this house uses this garage very often as the air in here smelled very...stale. It could definitely benefit from a weekly, or maybe even a monthly, airing out. I'm surprised I haven't come across a rat or a cockroach though for all the junk that inhabits this space. The only thing in here that wasn't covered in dust was the heavy case that Yukiko gave me to give to Lulu. You know the one, the one that held that very real life sword that she didn't warn me about. Yeah it was nestled in front of one of the old stack of newspapers. Speaking of, she never did apologize to me about that whole situation.
As I stood there annoyed by the whole situation, I could hear Carver tinker around with it and eventually press the button to turn it on.
"H-Hey! What are you doing?" I cried instinctively twitching due to past experiences.
"Don't worry, I'm just testing it out. I wanted to know if it still worked."
"Well be careful, this thing almost killed me once already."
"I know, I know, you've mentioned it more than once already. If it makes you feel better, it doesn't seem to work anymore. It's too banged up. I mean look at it," Carver said sliding it off of my head. He held it up in front of me and continued to examine it. The old invention was spray painted gold but you could hardly see it shine with how dusty it was and the fact that the paint had been burnt off in several places. It was dented all over and on one end it was barely hanging on. You could the old wiring holding onto it. Yeah, that's my fault. After the fire, I chucked this thing on the asphalt. "It did spark a little though."
"I-It did what?!" I cried jumping back into one of the stacks of magazines. Nervously, I looked up at the stack. It was teetering back and forth, it was clearly about to topple over but I was frozen in place, my feet wouldn't move.
"Watch out!" Carver yelled as he jumped towards me.
It happened in a flash. The stack of old magazines had toppled over taking me with it, swallowing me whole. Why, oh why, am I so accident prone? I tried pushing myself up but to no avail. Panicked, I tried wiggle my way out of the mess but the sheer weight of all of the old magazines on me was too much for me handle. As I lied there accepting the fact that I couldn't move much at all, I could feel the weight shifting around me. I couldn't move my head to look but I could feel someone near me. Was it Carver? There's no way of knowing until this crap is off of me. As the weight continued to shift around, I tried to push myself out again, this time with success as I was able to push off the remaining magazines off of me as I gasped for air.
Knelt over, clutching my chest, breathing heavily when in the corner of my eye, I see this strong figure push up causing the rest of the magazines to jump off of his back. It was actually pretty cool. Somehow it reminded me of some superhero movie I saw when I was a kid.
"Fang!" Carver cried clinging to me. "I'm so sorry. Are you okay?"
"I-I'm fine, thank you. It probably would have been a lot worse if you didn't help me out. I was starting to freak out cause I could barely—Aaaaaaaaaah choo!" I sneezed and sneezed some more. "Sorry, it's all the dust. I can't—Aaaaaah aaaaaaaaaah choo!"
"Sorry, I was just trying to be funny. I-I didn't mean for any of this time happen," Carver apologized as he attempted to get as much dust off of me as he kept patting and swatting at me.
"Well look at what you did, you jerk!" I joked.
"I-I'm sorry, I—."
"What in the—What did you guys do? I was gone for one minute and you guys made a mess! Do you know how much trouble I'm in? I'm not even supposed to be in here!" Lulu cried as she freaked out over the mess we made.
"Sorry, it's all my fault," Carver apologized. He stood up and frantically started to stack the magazines back up.
I felt bad. I mean it kinda was his fault but it was mine too for overreacting. I mean did I really have to react like such a scared-y cat? Sighing to myself, I shrugged and started to help him stack the magazines with him but in smaller stacks. Not even sure why they were stacked up like domineering towers in the first place. It's like someone wanted them to be knocked over. As I was piling on my messy stacks, he stopped me.
"Don't worry about it. I can do it. It is my fault."
"Carver, I don't mind. And no, it's not all yours, I contributed to the mess too."
"Only because of me."
"True, but still, I'm at fault too...even if it is only a little bit."
"Oh my God, it's more of the gay bi boy stuff. You two are gross, ugh," Lulu sighed.
"You're just jealous that Carver and I are cute together while you and Yuki are basically non-existent."
"That's not true, we exist."
"Yeah, barely. What's up with you two? You act more like acquaintances instead of girlfriends."
"Nothing. What do you mean?"
"Uh you two are...what's the word?"
"Awkward? No, standoffish," Carver joined in.
"W-We're working some things out. Sorry if we're not gushing over each other like you two always are," Lulu said defensively.
"Looks like someone hit a neeeeeeeeerve," Carver joked which only made Lulu even more annoyed.
"Maybe I shouldn't have said anything, I'm sorry. It's just that you two have just been acting weird is all," I apologized even though I don't think I meant it this time.
"Well don't worry about us, we're good. We're Gucci. How about you two? How did this happen?"
"Do you want to tell her or should I?" I asked scratching the nape of my neck.
"Well uh, I made one poorly timed joke and yeah," he said with a cringe worthy straight frown.
"What he said," I said with my hands under my shirt scratching my back.
"Are you okay?" Carver asked concerned.
"I-I think so. I'm just really itchy," I said furiously scratching my head. I felt like a dog the way I kept contorting my own body just to get that good scratch. As I kept scratching, I could see a plume of dust fall off of me. Just how much dust did my body absorb on impact? "I think it's the dust. I just had to eat it."
"Wait you ate it?" Carver concerned again.
"No, I just meant that bad things always seem to happen to me. But it wouldn't surprise me if I did eat some," I shuddered at the thought. "Ick! Gross, please tell me I didn't actually eat any of it."
"Okay well we have to make this look exactly as it did before this all happened. Grams will know if anything's out of order."
"But I like the little stacks," I whined. "They're safer."
"Wouldn't she know something happened regardless? I mean look at how much dust is on the ground now and the impact swept away most of the dust that was in that spot, our footprints are half gone. I think it's safe to say you're screwed already."
"Just fix it please, I'll deal with the backlash later," Lulu said rubbing her temples. "Why do I feel like this is going to cost me a serious migraine?"
"Now I see why you two are best friends. You both worry too much. Everything will be fine. Baby you can step back now. I don't want you to stress out about this. I'll make it look just the way it was," Carver said as he took my mini stacks and stacked them on top of each other.
Lulu stood back and watched as he stacked them back up like it was. The only thing missing was the dust. If only we could buy dust, we could just pour it over everything that got dusted off. Carver dusted himself off and turned to us with a smile and two thumbs up.
"It's not the same but it'll have to do," Lulu sighed. "By the way, were you able to find the visor?"
Carver and I looked at the ground where we found the visor crushed to oblivion.
"About that," Carver said scratching his head. Without being too obvious, he kicked the chunks under a table. "Maybe it's better if we just create something new. It was pretty beat up already. I couldn't do anything to save it."
"Just wearing it again gave me flashbacks. All in favor of coming up with something new?" I asked raising my left hand.
"I guess we don't have a choice, do we?" Lulu sighed again. "I was actually looking forward to seeing Fang roasted like a marshmallow again."
"Oh ha ha, very funny," I said sarcastically.
"Honestly, me too. I think you'd make a pretty cute marshmallow babe," Carver added.
"You'd make a pretty cute marshmallow," I mocked in a dumb, low neanderthal voice. "You two are the worst friends ever! I hate you both right now."
"Come on babe, you have to learn how to laugh at yourself every now and then," Carver said patting me on the back.
"You have to laugh at yourself and blah blah blah," I mocked again.
"Well it looks like I'm going to have to work my magic on you tonight to make you smile again. Lu, I'm going to take Fang home and we'll see you tomorrow?"
"Uh huh, magic," she smiled wide eyed. "I'll text you two if come up with anything."
"Sounds good! Bye Lu!" Carver yelled as he took me by the hand and we walked away.
"Wait!" Lulu yelled. "Fang, we have a shift tonight! I'll see you guys later tonight and we can discuss this further."
"Oh crap, I forgot," I whined. Without turning around, I yelled back, "Okay, I'll see you tonight!"
Carver and Grandpa George have been working on the station wagon ever since that day it died on New Year's Eve. They got it to work for maybe a week after but then it died again. It was weird. Carver's told me nonstop about how every time they think they have it fixed something new pops up and they have to reevaluate their diagnosis or something. I don't know a lot about cars but with how much money they've put into it trying to repair it, maybe they should consider looking into getting a new car. Carver told me that that car has been in their family for years though. Apparently it was Grandpa George's car when he was in high school and he hasn't had the heart to give it up. I think I remember Grandpa George telling a story about how Carver's mom was either conceived or Grandma Aggie gave birth to her or both in that car. Oh god and my first time was in that very same car. If that car could talk, am I right?
"So how go the repairs on that car?" I asked while we walked in direction of Carver's house. "Because as much as I just looooooooove these walks, I'd much rather be in a car. You know, so I don't have to do any extra exercise than what I already reluctantly get in P.E."
"Oh shut up, you enjoy walks with me. Methinks thou dost protest too much," he laughed. I think we're almost done though. After we thought we had a bad battery and buying a new one, we found out we just needed to change out the alternator. I just ordered a new one so after we replace the old one with that, it should be smooth sailing."
"You just said a lot of words that I didn't understand. And how dare you bring up Shakespeare, my arch nemesis!"
Carver stopped in his tracks as he turned to me and squinted at me. I've learned that this is his way of showing me that he's judging me since he can't be as expressive with his face as I am with mine, even though I'm usually doing it without me knowing. That's just my face. It has a mind of its own.
"Okay, you got me. So maybe the only word I didn't quite get was alternator but it sounded way cooler saying it the way I said it. A-And I-I guess I'm fine with Shakespeare as long as you're the one saying the lines and we're not going around the class reading paragraph after paragraph."
"You're lucky you're so cute," he said ruffling my hair causing even more dust to fall from the top of my head. "I thought we dusted you off already? I didn't realize you were so dusty. I'm sorry."
"What can I say? I'm like a sponge," I shrugged. "I don't know if I've mentioned this before but you don't have to apologize all the time.
"Sorry," Carver said scratching his head. "See there I go again. It's a force of habit. I just always feel like I have to apologize, even if it's for something insignificant. Sorry if it bothers you, I'll try to remember not to say it so often."
"It's not that it bothers me, it's just that—well I just thought—you know what? Forget I said anything. At least I know you care enough to say you're sorry. Some people can't even say it, so I appreciate you for saying it," I said as I started scratching at the nape of my neck. The itch eventually spread all over my body. It was annoying. I had to stop in place just so I could focus on relieving that itch.
"Uh babe?"
"What? I don't know if you've noticed but I'm a little busy at the moment."
"I know it's just that you have these weird, red spots all over your body now," Carver said showing me the pictures of his phone. There were these tiny, red spots spread out sporadically all over my body. It kinda reminds me of the random stress rashes I would get as a kid. I'm sure you can guess already but yes, I was bullied for that too. "I-Is there anything I can do?"
"Uh how far are we from your house?" I asked hunkering down to scratch myself some more.
"Not too far now, we're just a few houses down now. Do you think you can stop scratching for a few minutes and muster the strength to bring yourself there or maybe I should just carry you there instead?"
"No, I-I can do it. Thanks though," I said controlling the urge to scratch, only to twitch when the itch got too unbearable. "I hate being allergic literally everything, but a nice shower should clear this all up. Mind if I borrow some clothes, I'll bring it back after I do laundry."
"Are you kidding me? Baby, my clothes are your clothes. Plus I think it'd be hot to see you wear my clothes," he admitted biting his bottom lip.
"Why is the thought of me wearing your clothes getting you all hot and bothered? Is this some sort of weird kink you're just now revealing to me?"
"I wish I could tell you because I don't have the answer for you. But just thinking about you prancing around in my underwear, I think I'm going to nut just thinking about it."
"Oh my god stop, you're being so weird right now," I said smacking him in the arm.
"Got you to stop thinking about scratching yourself to death though didn't it? Look, you're not even twitching anymore," he winked.
"I can't believe something like that worked," I said in disbelief. I look down at my arms and the spots were still there, just no itch. My whole body was covered in the remnants of my scratches though. Also I looked like a boiled lobster, I was red all over from all the scratching on top of the spots. "I wish it took the spots with it too though."
"And just like that, my valiant efforts have been thwarted. Can't win them all I guess. But at least we're home," Carver said as we reached his driveway.
"Carver, who's that?" I asked pointing to the tall figure peering into their house from the front porch.
"Stay behind me," Carver said standing in front of me. We watched him as we crouched down and snuck around to the side. Whoever this guy is, he clearly was trying to get in as he very obviously tried to open a nearby window and then when that didn't work, tried to pry his way into the front door without success.
"I-Is he trying to break in?" I whispered.
"I don't know, but he came to the wrong house," he said through gritted teeth.
"M-Maybe we should call the cops? I know I've said that they're basically useless in this town and they are. Sheriff Hampton's the worst, but I don't think this is the time to show off your bravado. You could get hurt."
"I don't care, as long as you don't, that's all that matters to me," he said puffing out his chest. "Stay here, if this goes south, only then can you call for help."
And with that Carver jumped from out of the shadows to confront the stranger.
"Carver don't!" I cried running after him.
"I don't know who you are or what you're doing here, but in this town we don't just try to break into people's home," Carver announced cracking his knuckles. "I'm going to make you regret ever choosing my house."
"It's been awhile hasn't it Carver?" the man chuckled in a sinister way. "I've missed having you around so much."
The stranger turned around and it was the ghost that I saw weeks ago. Gone was the horrible smell of death and the disheveled look to him and now he was wearing a black suit with copious amounts of nice smelling cologne, the kind that just draws you in. He had a perfectly chiseled square jaw with his jet black hair, slicked back. He looked very professional and I hate to admit it but insanely attractive even though his actions were clearly villainous. When I turned to Carver to tell him that that was the ghost, I was instead met with him shaking in his shoes.
"H-How did you find me?" he mumbled.
"Carver? Is everything okay?" I asked concerned.
"R-Run," he mumbled again.
"What?"
Carver turned to me and grabbed me by the front of my shirt with fear in his eyes and said, "Run! And don't look back. Please, you have to get out of here!"
"Carver, you're scaring me. What's going on? I'm not leaving you behind with the ghost."
"Ghost? What are you talking—he's the one you saw back then, isn't he?"
"Yeah, I can clearly see now that he's no ghost though if you can see him. Who is he? And why are you acting so strange?"
He gulped as tears started to slowly flow down his cheeks and somberly said, "He's my dad."