Tuesday, May 25, 2004

Chapter 2: Growing Pains

The next day at school Ryu was walking down the hall, when he was suddenly kicked in the butt from behind by another student. Ryu fell forward dropping all of his books onto the floor. "OOOF!" "GOOOAAL!" Charles yelled. "That is definitely worth ten points." Fred said. "Ten? That was a six tops." Charles replied. Ryu looked back and glared at Fred and Charles. "Uh-oh, looks like Son's about to pull a 'Carrie.'" "Guys, Guys! Come on, leave the guy alone for two seconds." one boy said. The boy had a large forehead. His hair was spiked at almost a vetical angle. His voice was a bit raspy. He wore a blue tanktop and jeans, and had white gloves and short white boots. He looked to be about Ryu's age more or less. "What? Are you sweet on him, Ategev?" Fred asked sarcastically. "No, I'm sweet on you." Ategev shot back. "Oh, yeah, I forgot. This is your charity project." Fred said hoping to get a rise out of him. "Go flex a muscle." Ategev said. There conversation, (if you wish to call it that) ended when the principal came out. "Is there something going on here? What is this mess? Ategev Briefs, Thalamus. Don't you punks have practice? Go!" the principal ordered. "Yes, sir... sir." Ategev said walking away. Charles and Fred followed after him. "Son, don't let those guys pick on you like that. Ok? You come to me if that happens again..." the principal told Ryu. Yea right, Ryu thought. After the principal left, Ategev came back to talk to Ryu. "Ryu old buddy old pal, when are you going to learn to stay out of thier way?" Ategev asked. "Yeah, silly me for walking down the hall. What was I thinking?" Ryu said sadly but with a hint of sarcasm in his voice. "So, I'll swing by the Son pad around eight, we'll go through that biology stuff." Ategev said, trying to change the subject. "Actually Ategev, I was going to work on one of my..." "Great, I'll bring some nosh, you bring the brains." Ategev said cutting Ryu off. "Y'know, fine but... You know..." Ryu said trying to get the words out. "What?" Ategev asked impatiently. "I don't mind doing your homework for you..." "Helping me with my homework." Ategev said cutting Ryu off once again. "But, can't you get those jerkhole teammates of yours to get a new hobby.?" Ryu asked. "Oh, forget about them. Roll it off." Ategev said. "Roll it off?" Ryu asked incredously. "Don't worry about it. After high school, you are going to, like, whiz right by them. You'll slap together with one of those internet companies that sell widgets and make forty million dollars or something. And these guys? You know how it goes. Fred Thalamus's whole life peaked, like three weeks ago." Ategev explained putting a hand on Ryu's shoulder. "Yeah, well, that ain't helping me now." Ryu replied. "I'd help you but, you know, them's the polotics of being me. See you on the flipmode." Ategev said. "Great." Ryu muttered. Later that day, Ryu was in gym class. He wasn't very athletic at all. He would barely be able to see the hoop if it wasn't for his glasses. Fred was showing off in front of the coach. "Come on, Fred, show me the moves! That's the man!" the coach said as Fred slam dunked the basketball. Then it was Charles turn. He wasn't very good at sports either, but at least he made the team. "And Charles puts it through. Charles Breedy!" the coach roared. "You're up, Son!" the coach shouted. Ryu walked up to the standing point. The coach handed him the ball. Ryu noticed that the coach was sweating. Ryu didn't do anything at first. He just stood there, pretending he didn't know what to do. "SON! BALL IN BASKET!" the coach shouted in his ears. He was sweating profusely now. Ryu threw the ball. He must have missed the basket by at least five feet. "A WOMAN! I SWEAR TO GOD!" the coach shouted. Ryu just had his hands in his pockets looking at the coach casually. "If I had to bet cash money, based on that throw, I'd say I was looking at a woman." the coach grumbled walking off. People started to laugh. Ryu silently laughed along with them. Even though they were all laughing at him, he still thought it was pretty funny. "Try wearin' a sundress next time. Maybe you can borrow one from your grandpa." Fred said. Ryu glared at him. "S.A.D..." "What?" "Social Anxiety Disorder..." "What?" "Social... Anxiety... Disorder..." "Will you leave the kid alone?" "I think it's worth investigating." "Then leave me alone." "Don't you worry about our little Ryu?" "No. No I don't. He's a smart and resourceful kid." Videl, Gohan, and Ryu were sitting down at the dinner table. Videl was the one talking about S.A.D. Gohan was still eating his dinner. Ryu was silently reading a book unnoticed. "But he's so quiet." Videl replied. "He's thinking." Gohan said. "I don't like it. He used to be such a happy, little boy." Videl said. "And now he's a contemplative little man." Gohan said enlightening the mood. "Just like his father was." Videl agreed. "That's right." Gohan said. "Ryu?" Videl said noticing Ryu was ignoring them. Videl didn't get a response. She noticed Ryu was reading a book. "Ryu? Ryu?!" Still no response. "Ryu?!" Videl said more sternly this time. Ryu turned around. "What's up?" Ryu asked. "What did we say about reading at the table?" Videl asked. "Did we say we liked it?" Ryu asked knewing he would get a rise out of his grandmother. Gohan smirked. "You know what, I am going to look up this social anxiety disorder on the web." Videl used as an excuse to get out of the room. "That's a good idea, Videl," Gohan said as Videl got up, "That should keep her busy for hours." "Heard you." Videl said. Gohan and Ryu looked at each other and laughed. A few minutes later, Ategev showed up at Ryu's house. They both headed down to the basement. "I never get over all the doo-dads you got. My dad doesn't have this much crap lying around." Ategev said. "Yeah, most of it, y'know, I got from my dad." Ryu said holding his biology book in his hands. "Inherited it?" Ategev asked. "Yeah." Ryu answered. "Hey, how'd your parents buy it?" Ategev asked. "Plane crash." Ryu answered sadly. "Bummer. So...uh... I bet that Jordan girl gets all hot and bothered down here, huh?" Ategev said quickly changing the subject. "We're just friends." Ryu replied. "Uh-huh." Ategev said sarcastically, picking up a jar of gray liquid. "Oh, no. Don't do that," Ryu said grabbing the jar from Ategev, "Sorry. Delicate." Ryu was begginning to think Ategev was a bit of a nuisance in his lab. "What is all this anyhow? You're not going to blow up the school, are you?" Ategev asked pointing at a chalkboard with math and physics equations all over it. "No. Stop it. This is... It's really... See, my father was working on a couple of patents, this one was for this interesting suit of armor. I can't... I haven't wrapped my head around some of the more complex components. He hadn't finished the testing before he...you know... But I've been running a series of density tests. and..." Ryu trailed off his sentence and stared at the chalkboard for a moment. "...and..." "Yeah...so, listen. I'm going to bail out of here. So..." but Ategev saw that Ryu wasn't listening. Instead of finishing his sentence he just left, leavin Ryu to contemplate his fathers work. When Ategev got home his father was on the phone. "Let me tell you something about the consumer market, Joe. The cigarette companies... Listen to me... The cigarette companies were putting addictive levels of nicotine in cigarettes decades before anyone figured it out. And when the government finally got around to figuring it out it was too late. The entire world was already having a nicotine fit. So, don't tell me that it is against the rules to add whatever additives we so desire to our own products. If I see fit to... Then, what? Deny, deny, deny." Ategev said in a very aggresive tone. Suddenly, Ategev's father's eyes widened. "Sir?" his assistant asked. "He put me on hold. Amazing." Ategev's father said. "Sir? Dad, uh... Do you remember that my science class is coming to visit the labs tommorrow? Because I was hoping that you..." "Martha?! Martha! Will you get this kid out of here?! Martha!" Ategev's father shouted cutting Ategev off. "Ategev, it might be time to excuse yourself." Ategev's father's assistant said gesturing toward the door. "Like I have nothing better to do than baby-sit your... JOE! So listen, let's start doing some figures. Just push some numbers, see how it looks." Ategev's father ordered. As Ategev steadily walked out of the room he closed the door. Even though it wasn't directed towards him, he heard his father say: "Good boy." Somehow he was very depressed for the rest of the night. Thanx for reading Sephistrife15

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