PAUL WAS MISERABLE THAT SATURDAY MORNING – thinking over-and-over… of what those VISITORS HAD ‘SAID’ yesterday…

… that he can’t walk anymore…

… he was deeply upset too…

… as-he had wished – he had LOST AN ARM like Peter, in that tragic accident – but-instead of… severing his spinal cord…’

… so that he too, would have gotten a robotic arm, of his own…

… Paul’s envious of Peter’s gift, which had OVERSHADOWED HIS INITIAL FEAR that he had faced all-Friday yesterday… of the ‘SYMPTOMS-OF’ DNA alteration after-test results.

… come to think of it, he doesn’t care anymore – because ‘they’ were the Cursed-Trio anyway, where…

… BAD-LUCK ALWAYS happened to them – Que-Serra-Serra…

… so-much-so…

… maybe he should next wear a turtle-necked t-shirt, that was printed in bold in the front, the words:

‘ENJOY YOUR PROBLEMS’

…because of his ‘cursed’ problems… that he had been getting a lot…

… nothing had worked out well for him… except in his-studies…

… so, Paul decided he should think positive, and FOCUS IN HIS STUDIES instead. It was the final term soon, starting this Monday – and after next, would be his journey to his secondary middle school – where, he should be even MORE RESPONSIBLE TO SUCCEED, so to make both his Mom, and his late-Dad proud.

‘Enjoy your problems… for-now Poey…’

Maybe he should think more positive like in solving-problem – like HIS WHEELCHAIR – of ‘how’ could he make a normal wheelchair which goes faster, like his previous remote-controlled one…

… he focused on BUILDING HIMSELF ‘one’…

… that went as fast… before school reopened.

<>

PETER WAS ON TOP OF THE WORLD – he had a lot going on in his mind too, since Friday afternoon, where the American visitors had presented a DEMO OF HOPE – for him to revive his loss…

… relinquished dreams IN THE WORLD OF TENNIS.

The downside to that was, his robotic arm would only BE READY, in 3 months from now…

… and the visitors too had warned him, of ‘not’ sharing his selfies on the social media, as the prototype arm was a patented to copyright protection laws – where if Peter violates the terms, Kimura Star Corp. – would have the rights of refusal, to deliver the product.

… Peter was thinking hard of ways too, as he doesn’t want TO LOSE OUT on the ongoing online’s POPULARITY CONTEST – where he does ‘not’ want to lose out…

… his ‘PERTH’S FAMOUS COUPLE’ FAME…

… that was dwindling ‘down’ fast in local-trends online and newspapers’ headlines– ever-since his bimbo-of-an-inspector-mother…

… had made the zoo incident, as ‘HER’ PRIORITY…

… of a closed police-investigation case…

… in all the platforms of the social media, that he was in – he WAS GETTING FOLLOWERS in an increasing at a decreasing rate – and his popularity was EVEN BEEN BEATEN… by a hero-dog.

… Peter thought of his ‘other-half’ of ‘Perth’s famous couple’ and, he sighed in disappointment… Janey had switched off her-cell phone for 4 days straight since she last spoke to him. So…

… he sent numerous messages in WhatsApp… but those too were marked as ‘unread.’

‘Why would she do such a thing like that – especially I want to badly-break-to-her of the GROUND-BREAKING NEWS, that hope-is-coming soon… I would be RECEIVING A ROBOTIC ARM from your-Uncle Jack…’

… but Janey would have ‘already’ heard the news of the robotic arm from a 3rd party source by now… through Chinatown Wong, but ‘NOT’ FROM the main source – which was him.

He was ‘not’ pleased, BEING SIDE-LINED… by a-BFF…

With-now, competing with Janey’s cobber – and Peter wanted to impress her ‘more’ with a gift, once school reopened on Monday…

… his focus was to make A BLOOD-VIAL NECKLET for Janey…

… with his own-BLOOD… JUST LIKE Billy Bob… who ‘gave-his’ to Jolie…

So, he ordered ‘it’ online on Friday night…

… his small package of the-blood-vial arrived on Saturday noon… and Peter was impressed by the super-fast delivery of Deliveroo…

<>

JANE WAS DISAPPOINTED WITH HER-UNCLE JACK – that, what was meant to be a personal sharing in Skype, had been TURNED ‘PUBLIC’… with his-sister-her-doctor-mother brought into the ‘picture’…

… It led the fearful blind-girl to fib-her-way-out, in the Friday’s questionnaire… which she had with the 2 visiting Americans.

Jane wanted to put the WHOLE ‘MESSY’ INCIDENT behind her – as she knew that to worry was a total waste-of her ‘time’… and it doesn’t change anything all…

… all it does that it was… stealing her ‘joy’ in her-life… and keeping her mentally ‘BUSY-WITH-NEGATIVITY,’ by accomplishing-nothing.

… she ‘focused’ her limited, precious time, on programming Boyyo – because she needed this interactive-tool to be ‘ready,’ when school reopened 2 days from now.

… Alicia had ‘not’ visited her all-Saturday…

… she too was busy helping her mother at the saloon, because it was the busiest business-day of the week.

<><>

THE WALKERS WENT TO CHURCH ON SUNDAY – Peter noticed the ‘new’ hairdo of inspector-mother had gotten yesterday – it was nothing fancy, due to her police-duty.

…and… during the long-winded, Mass’s sermon…

… Peter also caught Paul mesmerized… staring ‘deeply’…

… at the statue of St. Michael.

<>

ON THE SAME, LATE SUNDAY MORNING, Alicia visited her BFF. She was delighted that Janey was more composed-and-confident to go to school tomorrow. Jane had managed to programme 60% of Boyyo’s data…

… and Alicia assured her, that she would compensate the rest.

… Alicia asked Jane how did her Friday’s ‘test’ with her uncle’s medical team go. The blind girl was silent, and the compassionate-Alicia held her shoulder and told…

“Jane… you don’t have to talk about it.”

“… but I trusted him… and I ‘told’ that it ‘was’– and, he didn’t believe me, Ali.” Tears of disappointment fell… beneath her dark glasses – and Alicia bent to hug her…

… Alicia knew how Jane felt, as her blind-BBF– who had regarded her scientist-uncle… as her, a true mentor – and was aspired to be a scientist like him too, by studying hard – after coming from her previous blind school…

Now…

… her uncle would be ‘dictating’ her life… with Boyyo.

“I have to tell ‘lies’ to his medical team to ‘cover-up,’ and Uncle Jack would have ‘known’ it by now.”

Alicia kept hugging the blind girl and she listened – it was ‘not’ her place to say, what was good-and-bad when Uncle Jack was Jane’s blood-family…

… but-Alicia ‘knew’ from her ‘own-past’…

… on how blood-family was-and-worked…

<>

AFTER CHURCH, THE WALKERS CAME HOME – Peter disappeared upstairs…while Paul changed from his Sunday’s-best… to his regular house-shorts.

… he noticed his mother had ‘not’ changed from the dress she wore from church. Caroline hung around the kitchen having her coffee, and grooming her new-do hairstyle which she just had, from Alicia’s mother’s hair-saloon, the MataHari yesterday.

The hair-looks suited her, complementing the makeup she WORE A LOT LATELY… and her perfume ‘consumption’ she had on her too – EVER SINCE HIS DAD died 2 years ago.

… Inspector-mother’s phone rang, FROM A CERTAIN-SOMEONE – and Paul’s Mom hurried off… and saying that she was going to the ‘office.’ And, she left…

As the Audi then pulled away, Paul suspected his Mom was having lunch with a ‘certain-someone’ – and hoped his twin, Peter…

… would ‘not’ over-react, if he found out.

-O-

… Paul went to his room to complete a side-project…that he had been doing since last night – behind the closed-garage-door… he held the solder-gun iron, and welded a round metal disk to a dynamo…

… he was into Science-fair-mode, building his own version of a super-fast wheelchair – in Tony-Stark-style…

… humming to himself… the theme music of the MCU’s Avengers.

<>

ALICIA WAS STILL AT THE WILSONS – she had washed and shampooed her BFF’s hair while the blind girl was soaking in the bathtub…

… later, re-braided Jane’s 3 dreadlocked hair, to be neater, for school tomorrow.

Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

-O-

Both tweens were on the Queen-sized bed – as they both were multi-tasking on study-revision and with social media. Alicia told her ‘secret’ that she had a CRUSH ON PAUL WALKER…

... and Jane responded that she ‘knew it’ by the tone of her BFF’s voice when she spoke of him.

“But Janey… I wish it was better ‘compatibility’ as Taurus with a Gemini. Even in the Chinese zodiac, we both are ‘NOT’ COMPATIBLE as soulmates… unlike like ‘yours.’

“What soulmate of mine…?” The blind girl was confused…

… her Chinese-BFF explained…

“It’s like this… you are a Virgo… and you share the same house planet of Peter’s Gemini – which is the planet Mercury – and, that makes you ‘both’ as a high possibility, of being ‘soulmates.’”

“Nonsense!”

The blind-girl laughed out…

“This is so silly… I’m a girl-of-science, I refuse to believe of some dumb zodiac BS – unless it was backed by scientific facts and figures.”

<>

PETER OPENED THE PACKAGE BOX – that had a tiny, hard-plastic cylindrical vial – attached to a silver-coated, pendent chain.

He had bought it from eBay for a steal – where, he had to now have to top-up to fill the vial, WITH 12 DROPS of his own blood.

Being one-armed… Peter had to do it the ‘hard’ way – while…

… he had to bite on a needle with his teeth… and prick his fingers, and at the same time – fill it into the vial.

It got ‘messy,’ when he dropped the vial, a couple of times on the floor… spilling a drop or 2. But he was persistent, enduring the pain and the anticipation. But until he became woozy, seeing his own red blood.

“Bloody-rack-off!!!”

… Peter cursed and gave up…

… he sucked the tips of his fingers… as he looked at the vial, that was half empty – he put it away on the side-table of his bed… and wanted to complete the task later.

He went on to YouTube to watch some John McEnroe’s previous tennis matches of the past – as McEnroe was a leftie… and PETER ‘TOO’ WAS a southpaw ‘before,’ like his idol…

… soon, he would be-back-again in action – when his-left hand-robotic arm arrived.

<><>

PAUL FINALLY DID IT – he had managed to build his own version of ‘electric wheelchair’ by that Sunday evening. He was ‘test-riding’ it…

… when Peter came down the stairs – as he saw Paul in an ‘Einstein-sticking-his-tongue-out’ t-shirt… who was speeding away from the kitchen to a living room, like a bogan-F1-racer.

Peter remembered that ‘SAME’ FOLDABLE WHEELCHAIR –which Paul had ‘forced’ him to lug along, while he harness-chained-him… and they both flew over to the zoo. It was the same ‘alibi’ wheelchair which…

… Paul HIT HIM OVER THE HEAD, that splashed him below, into the crocodile pool.

“Whoa mate, slowdown in the speed limits – or else, Mom will give you a speeding ticket.”

… Paul laughed as he came to a halt, and explained to his twin…

“I had this idea when I touch the round, metal plate here and discharge ‘my’ electricity – it ‘worked’ the dynamo here, which propelled the chair to move.”

Peter was ‘NOT’ BOTHERED… he took the pizza box from the kitchen counter and walked back upstairs, sarcastically saying…

“Good on ya! Kudos Stephen Hawkins… you should win a Nobel Prize for that – big-brains-short-legs.”

Peter thought it was such a shame-and-waste – that Paul who had these ‘great’ superpowers, but ‘chose’ to TRY ‘HARD’ TO CONCEAL it…

… with his ‘alibis and denials,’ just TO MAINTAIN A SECRET IDENTITY.

… too bad…

… that he was ‘NOT’ GIFTED WITH such mighty super abilities – because Peter would be a true-blue superhero in the Australian public’s eyes.

… his YOLO motto – You Only Live Once… so go live it and be a legend and, enjoy the fame while it lasted.

But-he had his personal agendas too…

… with his own ‘Perth’s famous couple’ fame efforts, which he was going to popularize once school reopened tomorrow. It was the starting point – of ‘other’ fames to come…

… once he got his robotic arm… and be a tennis-legend soon.

-O-

… Peter entered his room, with the box of pizza…

… where at the corner wall, he had built a ‘shine’ – to dedicate his “Perth’s famous couple’ fame – with pasted newspaper cuttings of the zoo incident. He gazed for a long time at the photo of Janey and himself …

... both, spotting a blackeye each.

… the one-armed boy began ‘punching’ his own face – and he was in pain… but it was worth the effort…

..., he would HAVE A BLACK-EYED-shiner with some swelling, once he woke up in the morning… and went to school tomorrow.

<><>

PETER WOKE UP AT 6 AM. and felt sore in his face with a black eye – but it’s ‘worth’ it, as he was ‘game’ to go to school… as a hero-champ.

He did ‘not’ bother to take a shower… as it was cold outside because it had rained last night. Anyways, he DOES ‘NOT’ SHOWER OFTEN – but he does so whenever, he was practising tennis – in other times… if he doesn’t sweat, there was no point to bathe… when he had an air-con unit in his room, despite the Aussie blazing arvo-heat in the afternoons outside.

He suit-up into his school uniform – and packed his usual 2 Babolat racquets into his backpack, a ritual which he does daily, whether he went to practice or ‘not.’ It was a visual reminder, that he was a ‘champ’ always…

… and was making his COMEBACK SOON.

Peter held his cheaper, ‘5-year-old’ Babolat racquet passionately…the one that his father bought for him on his 8th birthday…

… and he won the junior championship a year later, with it. It was his ‘WEAPON OF CHOICE,’ that compared to the more-expensive, 3-year-old Bobolat that was sponsored merchandise… by a Perth retail outlet back then, which he kept as his back-up.

He felt like an unstoppable ninja with the 2 racquets handles, sticking-out of his backpack…

… just like his favourite MCU villain – named Deadshot.

In the bedroom, he was ready to go – and reached out for his set of house-keys, on his bedside table – when he saw THE BLOOD-VIAL…

… he had ‘not’ completed his gift-for-Janey-task yet, and, he said to himself – that it could ‘wait’…

… and he doesn’t want to cramp and overloading the excitement, of it ‘all’ on the first day…

… of walking down in ‘fame,’ at school later.

-O-

It was 6:44 AM, and for THE FIRST TIME, he roused earlier than his mother, who woke up at 7. Even the same timing-downstairs, where ‘he heard’ Paul showering.

… Peter went outside, it was still dark, cold and wet – he decided to cycle to school.

It would make a sexy-story entry in his biography, someday – of the mention of a one-armed tween champ, who cycled 10 km to school every day, rain or shine…

… and also, excelled in-game practice, ON HIS ROAD to his tennis greatness.

<><>

HE REACHED THE SCHOOL’S PARKING LOT – after all the build-up of the earlier, with egoistic confidence… but-Peter was ‘now reluctant’ to enter the building.

He was known by his reputation of being a REBELLIOUS FIGHTER in school, by many. The son of Perth’s respectable police inspector – who have BEATEN-UP STUDENTS in his fit-of rage in the past…

… and who currently doesn’t HAVE ANY ‘REAL’ friends.

… also-Peter was a sole-loner – who went to school to ‘ONLY’ PRACTICE HIS SPORTS… and ‘not’ his studies.

The one-armed boy mustered up his courage and told himself that, what has he got nothing to lose if everything was status quo – either…

… most schoolmates would ‘not’ even make eye-contact with him… avoid him… laugh at him behind his back – etc. etc…

He stepped up to the glass-door entrance and ingress-ed. There was the larrkin-boy-prankster… who in the past teased him – as ‘one-armed-bandit’ – but was now yelling…

“He is here! HE IS HERE! ‘Our’ champ is here!”

It followed by clapping and cheering… as Peter walked further in the hallway. Some students came up to shake his only-hand – and before long, the one-armed boy was a ‘magnet’… who had boys and girls lovingly attracted to him like iron-fillings – as they gathered around him, and were inspecting ‘his’ blackeye…

… that he had gotten from the ‘zoo-incident.’

There were those haters too – the so-called elite, SHS Boys’ tennis-team players – who eyeballed him from the corner. They were ‘not’ bother if Peter had won the mixed-doubles ‘match-up’ that had gone viral in YouTube… which DOESN’T CONCERN THEM, one a bit – because the Top-3 Boys’ players of Stamford High have beaten Peter – ‘fair and square’ in their more competitive-class category.

In no-time, Peter was bragging about the incidents of the zoo – where he was punched by the ‘kidnapper’ of Jaheem – that dropped him into the crocodile pool, where he narrowly-escaped – and also, he had ‘helped’ Piper-the-hero-dog… in the rescue of the baby-boy from the ferocious black panther… with the-boy, was his girlfriend’s adopted-brother…

… soon, it ‘got’ everyone asking – ‘where was Jane?’

<>

JANE WAS DRIVEN BY HER MOM TO SCHOOL. She had switched off her AI-Boyyo… and was listening to the car’s stereo music, of her mother’s choice-and-tasted in classical rock…

… Eric Clapton’s ‘Cocaine’ was singing – as the blind-girl was SURPRIZED OF WHY, a dangerous drug-related song was on air-playing – and also, WHY HER MOTHER was listening to it?

The Mazda reached the Stamford High, and Alicia was there… waiting for her BFF. Alicia greeted Dr Shelley Wilson, good morning.

The doctor-mother noticed the Chinese girl had changed her hairstyle overnight to a short, boy’s crop…

… she looked like Lily, the character in the TV series ‘Devs,’ Shelley thought.

… Jane alighted from the SUV, with a three-quarter healed blackeye… behind her dark-sunnie, and wearing her beanie-cap over the shiny-new, AI headset.

She said bye to her mummy, and the car drove off. The blind-girl used her walking stick, despite Alicia held her hand.

Alicia teased her…

“Your ‘soulmate’ is in the hallway bragging-away – and if YOU GO IN NOW, Janey – you will get a standing ovation like a prom-queen, with your Boyyo as a tiara.”

“Eww… I don’t like that, Ali – I’m going to school here, to study, ‘not’ to be – popular… or to fall in love… eww-again…”

They both laughed…

It made Alicia wonder if the ‘THINGY’ OF JANEY-AND-PETER WAS OVER… in between of ‘the Perth’s famous couple’ hype…

… of less than 2 weeks.

… Jane stopped at the foot of the stone steps… and hesitated. Alicia asked…

“Janey-gee, what’s the matter…?”

The blind-girl said. “Ali, can we wait here, till the school bell rings.”

Then Jane was vented out, her dissatisfaction to her ‘cobber’, of her frustration of being blind – where she took twice-as-long to read and grasp information, compared to a sighted person – and what she needed took ‘more’ time, and, time was what she doesn’t have much…

… and-now… THERE WAS PETER…

… bugging her to join the selection of the tennis mixed double when school reopened.

So much so, she had switched off her phone JUST TO AVOID HIM. Jane needed more time to catch-up, where SIMY had left her ‘gaps’ – if she ever wanted to get through the final term…

… she simply wanted to SAY ‘NO’ TO PETER – but she doesn’t know-how…

“Now, come to think about it… I regret ever wanting to learn tennis, in the first place. Ali –why did I get into this mess? I was in foolish thoughts, and was trying to ‘show off’ that my SIMY was capable to learn tennis…

“… then after the Treeton field trip incident… where I was ‘cursed’ with the powers – of the 3rd Eye… and again, and again, I made the SAME MISTAKE by being ‘supportive’ to Peter, and so much so, I used ‘it’ – and that how… YOUTUBE VIRAL VIDEO came-about… of a blind girl playing ‘tennis…’”

The school bell rang.

<>

5 MINUTES EARLIER, BEFORE THE SCHOOL BELL RANG – Paul used the other school’s entrance, with ramp facilities. He was manually rolled over in his wheelchair, when he heard the public announcement on the speakers, as he entered the long corridor…

The message was Principle Tom Harris would be ABSENT FOR 3 DAYS from his duty, due to a family emergency – MS BURNELL, THE VP and disciplinary teacher… would be relieving his-duties, IN THE PRINCIPAL’S ABSENCE.

… Paul remembered yesterday, that his inspector-mother has ‘lied’ to him, to have lunch with a certain somebody, which was his ‘own’ school-principle – by giving him a sloppy excuse, that she was going to ‘work.’

‘Come on Mom, you wear a uniform if you went to work – ‘not’ a dress. FYI, your other son, the Cursed-One – is ‘triggering’ was your date, Tom Harris – who – 10 days ago, by Peter’s wrath of you-both… had caused the Queensland Barrier-Reef quake-disaster… when you ‘both’ arrived late, to Wilson’s dinner invitation.

‘But… how could you have known…Mom… ‘how’ could you know…?’

-O-

… Paul arrived at the hallway of his class, and he saw his twin had a crowd congregating around him… while he told his tall-stories. He noticed Peter had a ‘black eye.’

It puzzled him – was he fighting…?

Every tween that stood around, were looking up to him – and HIS ‘NEW’ REPUTATION, of being one half of ‘Perth’s famous couple’ which preceded him, as a local ‘homecoming’ honour.

Paul was glad that he was ‘invisible’ – ‘not’ mentioned in any social media platform… which kept his secret identity ‘safe.’

… he was an old-news ‘too’…

… who only had got a single mention in the printed newspaper, in the zoo incident. He SHOULD BE ‘FORGOTTEN’ in everyone’s mind ever-since when he was also had been WHISKED AWAY in a police car… from any cameras of the reporting media crew…

… but ‘NOT’ TRUE, with Peter and Jane…

… they were the Cursed-pair, IN THE ‘HOT-SPOT’ of one of the prime-news trending locally – with their ‘Perth’s famous COUPLE’ FAME WITH multimedia platforms.

That will keep his atrocious twin busy… for the next couple days with his-Janey… while the school principal was ‘away’…

… in the meantime, for Paul…

… who had to figure out subtle ways…

…without suspicion…

… on HOW TO end the ‘Carol and Tom’ relationship…

‘Sorry, Mom – it ‘had’ to be done… for the ‘greater’ good…’