Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Cool With A "K" PART 18 - CHAPTER 1

Leo was walking through the hallways of a school when he saw Kathy running after the History teacher, holding a flower pot with flowers in it. Hmm.... Okay? Leo thought, confused. He was suddenly in a big, fancy dining room. Three people were sitting at the polished wood table in the middle of the room. Two well-dressed adults (a man and a woman) and Chris. The weird thing was that Chris was wearing a pale blue dress and he had a headband in his hair. He almost looked kind of cute, Leo thought, shaking his head, Wait, what did I just say? N-not like that! Cute like a little kid. Yuck...
Geoffry was standing in front of the table, in a suit, holding a radio and looking nervous. He set the radio down on the table and Chris clenched his teeth, saying, "No, Geoffry, don't."
"B-but I have to...." Geoffry said nervously, pressing the button on the radio.
Chris looked down at his lap, blushing and whispering something to himself. Geoffry started singing 'You're Having My Baby' by Paul Anka.
The man and the woman at the table looked at each other and then back at Chris. In the middle of the song, the man stood up and turned off the radio, glaring at Geoffry. Why was this so familiar? Why was this even happening? Why was Chris wearing a dress?
Leo opened his eyes, staring at the bedroom ceiling. Ohh, it was a dream. Okay. Leo sat up, recalling what that dream had been based off of.
"I am never watching Glee again." He said out loud. The night before, Leo had gone to Chris and my house and we watched Glee with Chris and Alice. A situation extremely similar to Leo's dream had happened in episode ten.
Leo got dressed and went into the kitchen. Mouse was sitting at the table, playing her Nintendo DSI. Leo's mom took the DSI out of Mouse's hands as she walked by.
"Hey!" Mouse said loudly, reaching for the game. Leo's mom easily held it out of Mouse's reach.
"Give it back, Jessica!" Mouse yelled, annoyed that she had to jump to get anywhere close to getting her game back.
Leo's mom shook her head, "Nope. You spend too much time playing these digital games, Missy."
She studied the DSI, looking confused, "You kids think this is fun? What do you do with it?"
"Here," Mouse took the DSI from her hands and began showing her step mother how to play the game.
I think I'll take breakfast on the road today. Leo thought, grabbing an apple and heading for the door.
"Hey, Mousey." He said, "Time to go."
Mouse turned around, handing Leo's mom the DSI and grabbing her backpack. She stuffed a piece of bread in her mouth and followed Leo out the door.
Leo looked down at her (Which wasn't hard to do because of her height). He grinned and said, "So, are you going to be one of those freaks who lives in their parents' basement for their whole life, just playing video games? No job, just a thirty-six-year-old women living her life in a world of internet games."
Mouse scoffed, "Shut up, Leo."
"Well, think about it." Leo said, "You're not that far off. You always wear that weird belt with all those pockets and wires...."
Mouse looked down at her belt that was indeed filled with pockets and USB cords, computer mouses, flash drives, and the like.
Leo took the piece of bread out of her mouth and said, "And stop eating. You're gonna be a balloon soon if you keep eating like that."
Mouse huffed, "You sound like my mother. No, you sound like your mother."
Leo grinned. Mouse was right, he was acting like his mom. Leo and Mouse were step siblings. Mouse's dad married Leo's mom, who already had Leo and his sister, Mary. Leo's mom was always nagging at Mouse about how she was so lazy and she had no skills except for eating and ruining things, which wasn't completely true. What Leo's mom didn't know was that Mouse was very good at two things: Computer hacking and cheerleading. Cheerleading isn't something one would usually expect Mouse to do. It required work, most of the cheerleaders were preppy fembots, and it took up precious video game time. 
Mouse snatched the bread from Leo's hand and ate it, "Stop tellin' me what to do." She said with her mouth full.
Leo grinned. Mouse couldn't diet if her life depended on it. He thought.




Mouse stomped into the lunchroom, her hand clamped around her orange cheerleading uniform.
I cocked my head to the side, "Hey, why aren't you wearing your uniform, Mousey?"
Mouse scowled at us and, hesitating, said shortly, "It doesn't fit."
Leo and I exchanged a look. "Really? Too small?" I said.
Mouse nodded and sat down at the table, stuffing her uniform into her backpack. "Well, screw it, I don't care."
Alice said, "Why don't you just ask for a bigger one?"
Mouse scowled at Alice and said, "There is no bigger size. Cheerleaders are typically size Barbie."
Typically. That was a pretty big word for Mouse.
Chris came over to the table and sat down, "Hi, guys."
I was surprised (but thankful) that Geoffry was sitting with one of his other many groups today. I noticed that Chris didn't have a lunch today, just a bottle of 1% milk.
I sighed, "Oh, did Daniel take your lunch money again, Sweetie?"
Chris shook his head, "Nope." Well, then.
I looked around at my friends and said stupidly, "Okay, then. Why no lunch?"
Chris looked at me and said, "I'm on a diet."
I managed not to laugh, but Mouse didn't hold herself back. I said cheesily, "Okay, and just why is that, Chris?"
Chris sipped at his milk, "I'm too fat. I need to lose weight."
Alice and I exchanged a 'sure' look. Chris was tiny, he in no way needed to lose weight.
I sighed. I hadn't expected that I would have to have this talk with him, "Chris, that's ridiculous. How much do you weigh?"
"One seventeen."
"One hundred seventeen?" I asked.
Chris sighed, blushing, "I know, it's awful."
I shook my head, "No, Chris, that's not very much." 
"How tall are you?" Alice asked him, looking concerned.
"I don't know," Chris said, "63, 64 inches or so."
Leo snorted, "Dang, you're short." 
Nice self-esteem pep talk, Leo.
Chris put his head in his hands, "Just stop, you guys. I don't care if you think I'm underweight. That's what's ridiculous here! I. Am. Fat."
I groaned, at loss for words. The whole scenario was silly, Chris is really little for his age and it's crazy for him to think he's fat. Maybe I can just try to make him forget about it.
"Well, Geoffry still loves you." I said stupidly. Maybe that wasn't the best thing to say. 
Chris sighed sadly, "Not for long. Fat people just aren't attractive, it's a fact."
Mouse threw a dinner roll at Chris, hitting him in the head. He said flatly, "Sorry."
Chris ran his fingers through his hair and, after about three seconds, broke down right there. "WHAT IF GEOFFRY DOESN'T LOVE ME ANYMORE???"
Chris grabbed my sleeve and cried into it. I unhooked him from my arm and looked around at the people staring at us. I sighed, "Chris, no offence, but you're being really stupid right now."
"Saying 'no offence' doesn't cover for that." Chris whimpered.
"You know, Angie's got a point." Leo said. Having noticed that Leo just used my nickname, which he doesn't often do, I glared at him. You aren't seriously trying to be cute with that, are you? I thought.
"Um..." Leo said awkwardly, trying to back me up, "You, uh... You aren't fat, Chris."
Confused, Chris cocked his head to the side and Leo looked at me for help. I gestured for him to go on. 
Leo said, "Um.... If Geoffry is a good person, he'll still love you even if you don't think he will."
I smiled at Leo, I knew how hard that was for him. That was pretty deep, man.
Chris blinked, "Um.... Are you feeling alright, Leo?"
Leo sighed and went back to eating his lunch.
I turned to Mouse, "So, what are you going to do about the uniform?"
Mouse shrugged, "Oh, I don't know. Maybe Jessica can fix it.... I-it's not like it's important."
"Well," I pried, "It seems like you might think it's kind of important. Put the soda down, Mouse."
Mouse let go of the soda can that she had been involuntarily crushing in her left hand.
She huffed, "Shut up, Angela." I was a little bit surprised that Mouse said that to me, she usually wouldn't.
I pointed a finger at her, "That is proof that you're mad about it. Pure proof." 
Mouse groaned, "What's wrong with you guys? If I do or say anything different than usual, you all give me crap for it!"
Chris stopped filing his nails and said to Mouse, "Well, Alice and I haven't said anything rude to you yet. By the way, lay off the doughnuts. They're pretty much just fat and sugar. You are going to get diabetes. There, your turn, Alice."
Mouse scowled and chucked another dinner roll at Chris. She yelled, "Lay off the Glee! You sound like Kurt!"
Leo grinned, "You watch Glee, Mouse?"
Chris crossed his arms as I tried not to laugh. He smoothed his bangs and said, "Kurt and I are nothing alike. He is so stupid! I mean, episode four was just dumb. You know, when he put on that tacky unitard and taught the football team the single ladies dance? Uhg, what a moron."
I almost burst out laughing, "You would so do that, Chris!"
Alice shrugged, "Also, you're kind of a spitting image of him, Chris."
Chris looked offended, "Now you girls are just being ridiculous. I do not look or act like him!"
"You sing show tunes." I said.
"You have almost the same exact hair as him." Alice said.
"You have the same adorable baby face." I said, smiling.
Chris smiled modestly, blushing a little, "Well, well, Angie. Adorable? That's a pretty strong word..."
"You're gay." Mouse said flatly, "Shouldn't Kurt be kind of like your T.V. idol?"
Chris scoffed, "Stereotyping! Plus, he obsesses over Finn waaay too much! And he is so.... We're nothing alike."
I laughed, "Let it go, guys."
Mouse said, pointing to Chris's nail file, "You're filing your nails. I swear, when you do that, you look just like Kurt in episode six right after Finn comes in, all hyper from those pseudoephedrine pills Terri Schuester gave him."
We all stared at Mouse for a second before Leo and I busted out laughing.
"Mouse! You are such a gleek!" Chris exclaimed, giggling.
Mouse looked at him like he was an idiot, "Gleek? Seriously, Chris?"
"Glee-geek. Duh." Chris said excitedly, "Who's your favorite character? I like Mercedes!"
"You would." Mouse snorted, "They're all freaks. Puck is cool. He is always throwing Kurt in the dumpster, we have a few things in common...."
Kathy suddenly came and sat down next to Mouse, "You watch Glee, Mouse? So, Puck is your favorite? Oh my god, he is, like, so hot! Did you see the episode when...."
Chris, Kathy, Alice, and Mouse started babbling about Glee; A stupid T.V. show that Chris is obsessed with. I was really surprised Mouse watched Glee. It's about all these high school kids and this glee club and they sing and it's really stupid.
Eventually, Kathy left and I tried to change the subject, "So, Mouse. Uniform problem. What are you gonna do? You can't be on the team if your uniform doesn't fit."
I know I sounded a little rude, but Mouse was almost always rude and I wanted to see what she was going to do about the uniform.
"You can become a vegan," Chris said, "Like Alice and I. It's really good for-"
"Woah, woah, hold up, little brother." I said, "Like Alice and you? Did I miss something?"
Chris nodded, "Notice how cute and skinny Allie is?" He said, gesturing to Alice's hips. 
She blushed and chuckled modestly. "Chris...."
Chris smiled and continued, "Well, I figured being a vegan would help me lose weight, so...."
"Chris," I said flatly, "You are not becoming a vegan. Dad would kill you and, trust me, that is not something that you should look forward to. Alice is a vegan because she believes it's wrong to hurt animals and she thinks meat and eggs are yucky. Chris, you drink milk every day." I was on a roll now, "When you're a vegan, you can't eat meat, anything with eggs in it, ice cream."
I turned to Chris dramatically and said, "Yogurt."
A look of horror slid over Chris's face and he paled, "N-no..... Yogurt?"
I nodded, "No yogurt."
Chris turned to Alice and I wondered if he would back down right here, right now. He whispered something to Alice and she nodded.
Chris turned back to me and, a serious look on his face, said, "Bring it."
Wow. I was sure the yogurt thing would get him, vanilla yogurt is my brother's favorite food. Crap, now mom would have to work so much harder to feed him, at least if she went for it. I was a little scared for her because she always tried to do as much as she could for us and this would just make her life harder. Not to mention how dad was going to freak.
I turned back to Mouse and, without saying anything, raised an eyebrow at her. Chris, Alice, and Leo looked at her too. 
Seeing that all eyes were on her, Mouse groaned and said, "Guys! Stop staring at me!"
"So, what are you going to do?" Leo said.
Mouse looked like she was about to punch Leo in the face. She hissed, "Why do you guys keep asking me that?"
"If you answer the question, we'll stop." Chris said, childishly fighting back a grin, "Oh, and while you're at it, why are you still on the team? Do you..." He gasped dramatically, "Like being on the cheerleading squad?"
Mouse narrowed her eyes at him and said, "No, I don't like being on the cheerleading squad. Cheerleaders are stupid."
"Did you just say Lydia was stupid?" Chris pried grinning smugly.
Mouse shook her head, her face flushing a bit, "I never said that! I-I said the cheerleaders were stupid! You're putting words in my mouth."
"That's called categorizing, Mousey." Chris said, beaming, "Lydia is a cheerleader."
Mouse sat in silence for a few minutes and we went on talking about other things. 
Mouse stood up, chucked one last dinner roll at Chris's head, and stormed off.
Chris picked up the dinner roll that had been thrown at his head moments ago and said, "How many dinner rolls has she thrown at me today? Enough rolls. More variety, please."
"Three, I think." Leo said, grinning as Chris took a bite of the roll.
"I shouldn't be eating this." Chris said guiltily, "Carbs."
"Don't be stupid, Chris." I said, "Shut up about the diet already."
Leo nodded in agreement. He hadn't said so himself because he was completely fine with agreeing, but he knew to keep his mouth shut in case he would make Chris cry (Which isn't a hard thing to do).
"I'm not listeniiiing." Chris said, covering his ears, "You just can't tell when people need to diet. You're too nice, Angie."
"Did you watch Mean Girls last night?" I asked my brother.
Chris looked at me and said, "Nope, I didn't. I watched a movie.... about high school girls, b-but it wasn't that one."
I sighed, "Oh, of course. You didn't watch Mean Girls, you watched some other movie about high school girls, diets, teen drama...."
"Well, as you know," Chris said, "I have a rather large collection of those movies."
"Chris," I said, "Face it, you couldn't lie if your life depended on it."
Chris shook his head, "I'm not lying."
I sighed. This was a stupid conversation and, even though I knew I could win if I tried, I let it go.

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