Friday, July 22, 2005

   Cream Filling: Origins (Chapter VII)
[I hope I can end this with an exciting note . . . 'cause so far, I don't have anything amazingly kapow-ish, y'know what I mean? We'll see what happens when we get there, I guess . . . heh, meantimes I desparately hope this chapter doesn't kill this story . . . 'tis a tricky one, methinks . . .]


Cream slouched low in the office chair as he looked at his exam results on the school's website. He wasn't surprised by what he saw, though the realisation still weighed heavy in his chest. Swearing to himself, he exhaled slowly and ran his fingers through his hair again. His grades had dropped below the required percentage to allow him to keep his scholarship; his college education was over.

Cream quickly clicked through the browser and looked at the requirements for student loans and such. He was certainly eligible, and the loan would be able to cover a decent amount if not all of the next year's schooling. But considering the number of years he would have to live off of loans, the sheer amount of time and effort put forth just hurt his head. The scope was just too large for his world.

Despite the gravity of the situation, Cream couldn't help but grin and chuckle to himself. After all, he had always been joking that he was gonna lose his scholarship sooner or later. And indeed, many, many others had already commented that "scholarships are meant to be lost." Giving up on the various links about student loans, Cream changed his search.

Cream was truly glad for once that everyone else had decided to do something without him. Though he didn't dare try to imagine what the others were up to, he also knew it wouldn't take much imagination to guess what they were probably up to . . . in any case, he definitely did not want them to see him job searching at that very moment.

After all the time and effort he had already put forth, he did not want to have to stop his education right then and there . . . if the worst of it was that he worked for a year and then came back, then it was something he could get a grasp of. Unfortunately the majority of work in the local area was very small and cheap; openings for cigarette shops or fast food restaurants littered the tops of the lists. There was nowhere he could truly work in town and make the money he needed . . .

As thoughts of money swam through his head, he stopped to look at the computer he was sitting in front of and grinned. He was sitting at Knight's computer set up in the living room, not his. None of the apartment was really his - all of it came through Knight's work and family who helped set him up. He may have slept in that apartment at night, but it certainly was not home in the smallest sense.

Cream's searches shifted away from want ads to housing. Having enough money for school was enough, let alone a new place to live on top of that! Nevertheless, Cream's curiosity got the better of him and he wanted to see what sorts of prices he could find. Naturally, every free apartment and basement in the city was a place completely unreachable at his present situation. It was all a pipe-dream . . . though a dream he desparately needed to come true. He knew it now: his current friends were not good for him and he had to get away from them somehow.

The phone rang while his mind drifted in thought, snapping him back to the empty, slightly messy apartment he was in.
"Hello?" Cream answered.
"Fil'! Ya dickwad! What's up?!" It was Jason, and he was definitely not sober in any sense of the way.
"Enjoying a quiet time alone away from you guys, I guess."
"Ahaha, of course you are . . . man, you missed a hell of a party!"
"I'm sure I did."
"Well, we're comin' back for a sec - you want us to get you too?"
"Nah, that's cool, I'll just be here."
"Alright, whatever . . . hey, while you're having your quiet time, don't forget where the kleenexes are, okay?"

Cream hung up the phone after hearing the comment. Thinking back to the day downtown, he wished he had done more to the younger man than just throw him onto the grass . . .

Leaning back in his chair, he thought back to that day like he was always finding himself doing. If nothing else, Candace's expression remained burned in his mind and dared to haunt him. True, it wasn't anything they had never done in the past, and Cream had instigated more than his fair share of harrassment towards the fairer sex. But this particular time, though . . . it wasn't just some noisy girl in a bar or a scantily dressed, nameless person on the street. He shared a drink with her and several others and knew her as a friend of a friend. He stopped a thief from taking her purse and was filled with a great sense of gratification for helping her. That the other instance had to happen right afterwards left a feeling which simply did not sit well in him at all . . .

Again, Cream's hands moved faster than he could thoroughly think about them, and found himself job-searching again. This time, though, he was typing in specific occupations. The first search, "security", produced few results, mostly being just private areas downtown which also paid very little.

His next search which redirected him to government websites produced more for him. Work in the army reserves not only paid well, but also gave him a place to live and be well taken care of. He continued going through the advertisements lauding the military, citizen soldiers and all the benefits it held . . . and yet even this was not for him. To give it all up, leave town for months and begin such a commitment also just seemed too large for him. His grandfather's stories about how soldiers could get did not help matters either. Running his hands through his hair once again, enjoying the feel of it compared to what would await in the service, Cream changed his search . . .

As the young man browsed over his newest search, he heard the door unlock and open. He twisted around in the seat to see Knight and the others wobble in through the door.
"Heeeey Fil'," Jones said as he lumbered into the living room, "ya miss us?"
"With every shot so far, yeah," Cream replied sharply. Jones laughed loud and sarcastically
"Aha, I get it, he's been trying to kill us . . ." As the others snickered and made their way to the couches, Jones came up behind Cream and rubbed his head vigourously. As Cream threw his hands up to shoo the larger man away, he caught a long whiff of Jones' shirt - there was definitely more than just alcohol in the boys tonight. Knowing that, Cream could only grumble more.

"So hey," Knight said from the couch, "I think it'd be nice for you to come back out with us. Y'know, something fun for the five of us, being friends and all . . ."
"Dude . . ." Cream replied, turning back around, " . . . . . not tonight."
"Hah, that's right!" Jason said in between kicking at Tim who was standing above him. "He's got e-porn to work at tonight!" Jason curled up as a fit of laughter overtook him; the others just snickered.

Cream had had enough. He stood up and walked over to the couches directly in the center of the others.
"Hey, Jay . . ." he said, slowly directing Tim out of the way. As Jason got a brief hold of his laughing, he looked up.
"Whadayawant, ya wanker?" he asked.

Cream grabbed him by the collar, hoisted him clean off the couch into a standing position, reached back with his right arm, and hooked his hand hard into other man's temple. It wasn't the first time he had ever violently punched someone, but after the many weeks of taking lessons on campus, he could feel the difference. He was springing off his back foot, his entire body was twisting, and his arm movements were precise and sharp. As the heavy slap of skin made contact, Jason fell to the side and crumpled unceremoniously on the couch.

Though Tim immediately began laughing, the others sat stunned at what they had just witnessed.
"Fil', what the piss what that for?!" Knight demanded. Cream was not listening, however, and was already through his bedroom door before his current roommate could finish speaking. Without a single moment of hesitation, Cream grabbed his backpack and began filling it with whatever articles of clothes he could reach. Grabbing his wallet and jacket, he shouldered his bag and briskly made his way to the front door. All around him, the others were in various states of awareness and reactivity. Jason was still dazed on the couch, effectively unconscious, Jones was above him trying to wake him up by slapping him in the face, and Tim was sitting in the chair next to them, just howling with unrefined amusement. Knight stood up and shot his eyes towards the other man who was putting on his shoes.

"I don't know what the piss you're trying to prove," he said, "but you're not putting yourself in an especially great situation."
"Well, my situation certainly can't get much worse than this," Cream replied with a smile. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna get some air before the stupidity infects me." As Cream opened the door and stepped through, Knight shouted to him once again.
"Off for another run, then?" This time, though, Cream stopped and turned back around.
"Hell yeah I am!" he proclaimed proudly. "Alright bitchfaces, maybe I'll see you guys later, maybe."


The moment the door closed, Tim made his way over to the computer and looked at the last screen Cream had open in the browser.
"The police academy?" he wondered to himself . . . .


Downstairs in the apartment lobby area, Cream held his phonebook in one hand while dialing the pay-phone with the other.

"Hello? Jimbo?" he said into the receiver. "Hey, it's Cream, what's up? Uh . . . . . oh, about Candace, I promise I'll explain that soon . . . . . . um, hey . . . . . do you and your cat want a new house guest for an undetermined amount of time?"


[Exposition is painful . . . even more than getting hooked in the side of the head . . . . . hopefully I didn't screw up . . .]
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