Chapter 2: Pep Talks
Tristan decided to follow his brother's advice after all, choosing to look his simplest for this day, nothing too fancy (not that he wears anything fancy, of course) as to not draw any unwanted attention to himself. So after wrestling on what to wear for the best of the half hour, he finally decided to go with a pair of slightly faded denim jeans, a printed white shirt, and his favourite converse shoes. Tristan took almost half of the remaining hour to get dress and get his things fixed. So after making sure everything's in order, he began to push towards the dining area where he found his father already on his usual spot reading his morning news.
You can call the Courages a happy family for more than anything else, they do love each other (despite the occasional unimportant quarrels) and that they are quite satisfied with their present lives. They try to help each family member in the best way they can while they do their own responsibilities to mankind no matter how big or small it may be. Though humble, the Courages are natural achievers as well (or at least, most of them). Mr. Courage being the director of a firm which manufactures heavy equipments is also famous in his Hero name as the Thunder God, the man who most people say to equal the Commander. Also, along with many other accomplished Heroes, he is one of the founding members of the Top Heroes Alliance of the Twentyfirst century or much famously known as the Top H.A.T., a recently formed organization whose role is to administer and regulate all Hero activity throughout the world. Mrs. Courage on the other hand, though devoted herself mostly to being a full time housewife and to saving humanity, she is never too far behind from her husband's accomplishments for despite being a Hero, she is also one of the finest medical scientists to this date, what with her ability to slip through things and all. Jeremy and Matt are doing equally great on their own chosen fields as well. Jeremy having been recently awarded for identifying the three-thousand-seven-hundredth most potent chemical in the world and for producing a remedy that can neutralize 50 different kinds of radioactive chemicals, he has been included to the top most promising young heroes of his time. And Matt, who just graduated school, is certainly gaining more recognition from his first job at Iceland. That only leaves Tristan, whose achievements so far includes following street signs without fail, disposing his garbage on the right bins, and helping Charlie out with their homeworks without actually giving him the answers. For someone who's never done anything huge in his life, Tristan can't help but feel pressured and at the same time somewhat motivated by his family's achievements.
Tristan walked in silently towards his father before greeting him a rather half-hearted "Good morning."
The moment he saw Tristan entering the room, Mr. Courage instantly dismissed his newspaper and stared at his youngest son, pride clearly etched on his knowing face. "Ah, there's the man I'm looking for!" his father boomed delightfully, and made sure he had emphasize the word 'man' that almost made Tristan flinch. Reluctantly, Tristan took his seat across the older man whose eyes never left him. "So, are you ready for your big day, son?" he asked in a way to encourage conversation.
The boy hesitated again, "Yeah, sure, never been readier, dad." Tristan answered simply, feigning interest as he moves to serve himself with the food his mother has prepared for breakfast, now, growing a little self-conscious to his father's penetrating gaze.
Sensing that something is bothering his son, Mr. Courage began to say very carefully, "You're not thinking about that student fealty pledge again, aren't you? Tristan…" he said shifting in a stance Tristan knew only too well whenever his father's about give a lecture.
"What? Dad, no, I'm not!" Tristan said hastily, wanting to spare himself of the talk. He doesn't even know exactly what he's feeling anymore. He's been brooding over the prospect that school mayn't be as bad as he thought it would be, and trying hard as he can to convince the persistent ghost of his anxious mind that everything will turn out for the good, but still finding himself failing. What with all these mental images of him messing up in a lot of worst ways popping out in his mind's eye that he's almost afraid he's going crazy.
"He's just a little nervous, is all." chimed in his mother, causing Tristan to snap out of his reverie. She's carrying a tray laden with a pair of steaming cups of what smelled like brewed coffee and a hot chocolate for the two men, "It's normal to feel nervous. Oh you should've seen how Matthew's first day went." She added with a playful grin upon her face as she set the tray down over the table.
"Ah, right!" His father put in quickly, his enthusiasm returning and looking equally pleased at the chance for a recollection (a task he indulged rather too fondly) "Now, that is a moment I'll never forget." He began to say in a well practiced and a little exaggerated tone, "See, Jeremy's already in his junior year at the time, and decided to stay at the school dormitories instead. So, frightened at the thought of going alone to school, Matthew began to have, how do I put this, say, fits! Well, you know how your brother can freeze things up and all. Panicked as the poor boy was, he kind of lost control of himself. His temperature started to drop rapidly, and not long after everything he touches turns into ice. Why he almost did turn half of the house into an igloo, you know, like those ice houses in the north, yeah, that's it. Oh how terrified Terry and I were that day! But I tell you, I've never been so proud (although I'm just as proud of you and Jeremy, most definitely)! I say, Trist, I might even let you blast a furniture or two if you feel like it right now." his father said fervently, pleased with himself, as he went into his own fits of booming laughter, occasionally causing sparks of electricity to flicker about him.
"Gregory!" his mother snapped in disgust, clearly not pleased with her husband's lack of proper example for their son, "You should know better not to give the boy any ideas! He can't have any trouble now and not certainly on his first day! " she said as she sat beside the hulky man that his father whose laughter's finally receding to gather his bearings.
"Oh give the old man a break, Terry. I'm just trying to lift the boy's spirit!" Mr. Courage countered good-naturedly, and then turned to his son and spoke in a low but nevertheless audible enough voice in an attempt to conceal it from his wife (who heard it anyway), "But I mean it, Trist, about breaking a thing if you feel like it." He said, giving him a playful wink.
"Gregory!" Mrs Courage gave her husband her fiercest look who instantly earned two raised palms up from the man who mean for surrender.
"No, seriously, dad, mum. I'm fine." Tristan said finally, "I'm just not sure what to expect. I mean, it's obviously different from middle school where fitting in is hard enough, considering that I have to be normal like everybody else. But now that I'm going to Sky High to finally meet more of… of our kind, without the limitations set for myself and the other kids, is just a huge change! Besides, aside from Charlie, Matt, Jeremy, and a few cousins, I've never been around crowd of teenage superheroes before. I'm just a little – well, fine – I'm really nervous! What if I suck at it? What if I don't fit in well enough? What if I don't please my teachers? What if I don't make it to Heroes' class like Jeremy and Matt, and the both of you did? Or worst, what if I mess things up so bad I got kicked out on my very first day at school! Well, if that's even possible, then I will be the first!" Tristan said truthfully this time, and having spilled out his concerns, he can't help but feel a little more relieved.
After hearing their son's sentiments, Mrs. Courage immediately went and wrapped a motherly hug around her son, and began to pat him on the head, "Oh Trist. It certainly is a big change," his mother conceded, "but you must understand that it's all part of the process we all must go through. I know it's a lot of pressure for you now, and I'm not going to add more by telling you to push yourself harder by fitting in or whatnot, instead I only want you to be yourself. What's really important here is for you to learn what being a true hero means, because that's what you are, what we are. And it doesn't really matter if you learn it through hero class or... or hero support." She said as gently as she can.
Mr. Courage cleared his throat loudly before speaking that Tristan has the slightest impression that the older man doesn't approve of his son being on hero support, though nevertheless discreetly hid it for Tristan's sake, "Well, sometimes, change isn't so bad as it seems, especially if it's for the better, don't you think?" his father put in, "Though it may be hard at first, until we get the hang of it, it wouldn't be so much of a problem. Worry not, son, I'm a quite certain that you'll manage, why because you're a Courage!"
Tristan half listened to his parents' ramblings, while musing to himself that he's still fortunate despite his worrying, reminding himself that there are others who got it a lot worse than he did and at least he's not freezing things up like Matt did. But not so much as to rid the queasiness in his guts as he realizes how close he's getting to the place he dreaded the most – school. Pull yourself together, Trist! And stop being a wimp! He scolded himself, and though he's already lost his appetite, Tristan decided to busy himself with his breakfast before he could say more to encourage his parents on giving him more pep talks.
Several minutes passed as the Courages ate in companionable silence when the door bell rang. Charlie! was Tristan's immediate thought. Thankful for an excuse to relieve himself of the concern glances his parents are giving him, he volunteered to check the door.
Surely, upon opening the door, a rather tired looking Charlie greeted him. They boy's an inch or two shorter than Tristan was, though gangly, his pink and freckled face held a certain wisdom about him. Tristan also made a mental note of the dark circles under his friend's eyes. "Wow, Charlie. You look… flowery." Trist gaped at him, noticing for the first time the brightly and awfully printed Hawaiian themed button up shirt he's wearing, and wherever he look at him, colors just clashed against each that its almost too painful for the eyes if you stared long enough.
Charlie only gave him a tired shrug, and said, "Just came back from Hawaii, and you know how my mom's a member of this huge pro-environment organization? Yeaah." his shoulders slumped, making him look very much like a defeated parrot.
Seeing his friend like this, Tristan is torn between laughing and telling Charlie that he is just as miserable as him, only on his part, without the ridiculous Hawaiian theme shirt. Resigned, Tristan glanced at his wrist watch, and decided if they make it very quick they might still make a few minutes before the school bus arrives, "C'mon, I think I have a few shirts upstairs that would fit you just right." He said finally for he can't bear to see him to look like that any longer (not that he's ashamed of him of course, but because he knows exactly how it feels to be in such a situation). Charlie perked at this, happy that he's finally getting rid of the wretched flowery dress, so the boy meekly followed his friend into the house.
"Morning, Mr. and Mrs. C." Charlie greeted Tristan's parents as they made their way to his room. Tristan hastily shot them a look, and a shake of his head who immediately understood and just said a good morning back to the other boy, leaving the comments unspoken to themselves.
"Say, Charlie," Tristan said finally when they got in to his room, pointing him where his closet is at, so Charlie can start to search on for something to wear, "Have you checked on R. P. Grief's latest post already?" Tristan asked eagerly, wanting to tell him everything he had learned this morning as soon as he can. As it happens, Tristan took the liberty to get his friend to read the mysterious blog site as well so they can exchange their opinions about it (though mostly it has fallen to Tristan to share his opinions as Charlie rather prefers to listen and ponder his thoughts).
"Too flashy?" Charlie asked as he tried on an aqua blue shirt with a 'Greatest Hero in the Universe' print in front, placing it over his own and then shaking his head, discarding that one, "Not recently. I got caught in a lot of activities this summer. Dad's trying to get me involved with stuff, trying to get my powers out, you know. He wouldn't have me go to school without it. What about this one?" He said, now trying on a green polo shirt that's a little too lose at the arms it flops, probably a shirt of Jeremy which got mixed up on Tristan's stuff.
Presently, experts believes that when a child born from two gifted parent or one gifted parent with a non-gifted human spouse, reached his or her adolescent years without so much of a hint of extraordinariness, that child is most likely not to develop any gift. Although there are very rare cases, may be one in a thousand who may still develop a gift during their later adult years. Of course, there are always those ones that are subjected to various circumstances such as genetic experimentation or an exposure to radioactive chemicals or bitten by animals exposed to foreign materials that even though they don't have direct ties to any persons with gifts, they may still acquire powers beyond human capabilities.
Meanwhile, in Charlie's case, he's got one gifted parent (his dad), which gives him a 50% chance to develop a gift as well. The bad news is, his about to turn 13 in three months, which clearly explains why his dad's on the hurry to force his powers out.
Fortunately, Tristan got his gift much earlier than he expected (sometime in middle school), and the feeling he'd felt during that time is just unexplainable, he felt relieved, and shocked, and happy all at the same time. Now, however, he feels exactly the same for Charlie but with a slight mingle of uneasiness because if Charlie happens to have not acquired any gift through the summer, he would feel very sad for him indeed because Tristan knew how important this is for Charlie, "Did you… did you get it?" Tristan asked very carefully as to not wanting to hurt his friend's feelings in case it's for the worst.
The other boy remained unmoved however, totally unaware of Tristan's discretion. Charlie went on trying a different shirt, "Mickey mouse? Seriously?" Charlie said with wry smile on his face, discarding that one too, "What do you think? I wouldn't be here if I didn't have one on the first place." He said finally.
With that, Tristan felt relieved altogether. "So what was it?" he said in genuine curiosity. Entirely forgetting about the subject he had presented much earlier.
Charlie instantly gave him a satisfied grin as if he's anticipating this very moment, his weariness vanishing completely. "Here, watch." He said simply, dropping the shirt his holding, and then stretching out both his hands in front of him towards the heap of discarded clothes on the floor. At first, nothing happened. Screwing his face more, deep in concentration, soon enough though very sluggishly, the clothes began to move and hover in front of him, up and up ever so slowly until they reach a certain height and then flops back down into the floor. Charlie's quite pleased with himself, "I practiced all this past few weeks. I really do hope it's enough to place me on Hero class." He said still grinning.
Tristan's now grinning back at him as well, "That's awesome, Charlie! Your summer must've paid off after all." He said, truly happy for his friend.
"Naah, I almost thought I wouldn't get one." He said shyly, "And it's not as awesome as your power anyway."
This time, it was Tristan's turn to flush, "It's nothing special really."
Charlie's now wearing a two-toned shirt of red and white, and he seems to like it, "I think I'll go for this one." He said, and then he turned to face Tristan, "You're far too being modest, Trist. Though I've only seen you twice to use your gift before, I most certainly know what's awesome when I see it. Do you remember how you completely knock down that old buil –"
"Shh!" Tristan hissed, "They don't know about that, remember?" he said in a low voice, nodding his head towards the kitchen where his parents is at. Charlie nodded apologetically. "Anyway, we're gonna be late for the bus. I think we should get going now before we suffer a whole semester standing our way to school." Charlie agreed, and so with Tristan's help they both return the discarded clothes back into Tristan's closet as quickly as they can. Mr. and Mrs Courage said their final reminders to both boys and finally, they're both off… off their way to Sky High.