Chapter 1.
"They're at it again!" my brother, Tum Tum, came running in to tell me.
No, Tum Tum is not his real name. Just like Colt is not my real name. He is really Michael, and I'm really Jeffrey. Tum Tum and Colt are our ninja names. Last summer, we spent some time at our grandpa's house. "We" are me, Tum Tum and our older brother, Rocky. His real name is Samuel. Grandpa's this real cool ninja guy, and he taught us some awesome stuff. Then he gave us new names. We felt like we were really ninja's then. It kinda made us feel grown-up.
Don't get me wrong, I love being 12. In my opinion, it's the best age out of any. And I love being a kid. When you're an adult, you can't do a lot of stuff without looking retarded.
Such as, teasing your older brother about his latest girlfriend.
Tum Tum and I went running up the stairs to our room. All three of us shared a room. Last year, mum re-did a room that was supposed to turn into Rocky's. We're still waiting for him to move in.
We burst into our room. "ROCKY LOVES EMILY!" I yelled, scaring the life out of my older brother.
Tum Tum started laughing hysterically. "ROCKY LOVES EMILY!" He squealed. He always copies what I say.
Rocky put his hand over the can that they talk to each other through. "Say it any louder, and the neighbours will be over." He said. He looked annoyed. Just how I liked it. I love stirring him up.
"What are you talking about?" I asked him, "Discussing wedding plans?"
Okay, I know that was lame, but hey, I'm only twelve.
"Listen, Emily, I gotta go." Rocky said. "My brother's are here."
He said it like that explained everything she needed to know.
"For your information, Colt…" (Oh no, he had started the 'for your information…" speech) "…we were discussing the math assignment we were given today. I don't understand some of it, so Em was helping me."
"Why didn't you just call one of your other friends?" I taunted him.
"Why would I do that when I can ask Emily FOR FREE?" He shot back.
Hmmm. Good point.
"Well, why are you worrying about homework during the last week of school?" I questioned him.
Rocky sighed. He was at that age, (all of fourteen) where he thought he was an adult, and that he could boss us around, "Some day, Colt, you're gonna meet a girl, and you will not know what hit you."
"What does that have to do with anything?" I asked. That was a weird change of subject.
"Whoa-oh!" Tum Tum said. I'd forgotten he was there, "Girl talk. I'm outta here."
Tum Tum left the room. Probably to feed his face. The thing is, he IS interested in girls, in his own unique way. If Tum Tum likes a girl, he throws food at her.
But not me. Uh uh. I am so NOT interested in girls. I think girls are stupid, stupid humans that only care about their makeup and their mobile phones. *** Hey! Colt, you know, I'm a girl!***
Oh, sorry Kirilea.
Anyway, back to my conversation with Rocky. What just happened? Oh yeah, he said one day I was gonna meet a girl.
"Yeah right, like that's ever gonna happen."
Rocky smiled his 'I'm 14 so I know all the facts of life' smile. That smile irritates me. "It will. Believe me. You are gonna totally fall head over heels some day, and it'll be some day soon."
I glared at Rocky. "That's never gonna happen. Only geeks fall in love." I started heading out the door. "And I don't wear heels!"
***
As usual, as the next day was Thursday, we got up to go to school. And, as usual, Rocky was the first one up. There's a certain routine we have in the morning; our alarm goes off…only Rocky hears it. He wakes Tum Tum up, and they both spend three-quarters of an hour waking me up. It's pretty standard really. I don't know why, I just sleep through anything.
After they had woken me up, we went downstairs. As usual, we were late, and everyone was blaming me.
"If COLT hadn't slept IN we would have had TIME to tell EMILY we could RIDE with her." Rocky snapped.
"Give it a rest," I yawned, "She rides with us every day anyway."
"Yeah," Tum Tum said.
We had a quick breakfast, then the usual morning rush began;
"Mum? MUM! Where's my green shirt?" Rocky yelled.
"I haven't washed it sweetie." Mum replied. "Wear your blue one."
"I can't. I'm Rocky, not Colt!"
Mum looked confused. At that moment, Tum Tum came running in, and skidded onto his knees. He thought this was 'cool'. Today, he kept sliding until he hit the bookshelf. Several books came falling off the shelf, whacking him in the head.
Mum went to help him up. I realised I couldn't find my history assignment. And I had worked so hard on it too. I was up all night on Saturday finishing it.
I could feel a tantrum coming on.
Rocky saw the warning signs. "Okay, bye mum!" He quickly kissed mum goodbye, and ushered me and Tum Tum out the door.
As soon as the front door closed, I let out a loud yell of anger. Emily, who was about to ring the doorbell, got a full ear of it.
She screamed in surprise. I suppose, when you're about to enter a house, you don't expect a 12 year old to come out and blast your eardrum.
"Oh, sorry Emily."
"Yeah, no problem." She was rubbing her ear, so I think it was a problem. But I took off anyway.
I just was not in the mood to ride with anyone today; not after the terrible loss I had just been through. So I rode really fast so that the others couldn't keep up with me. It wasn't very fair on Tum Tum, leaving him with the lovebirds, but I didn't really think about anybody else.
As I was riding past the park, I saw a strange sight. I stopped to watch. In the park, there were two people; a man, and a kid about my age. The kid was wearing a karate suit, and a baseball cap. He was standing in front of a stack of three thick slabs of wood sitting on two bricks. I had a feeling I knew what was about to happen, and I was right.
The guy my age let out a big yell, and chopped the boards with his hands. The older guy held up the three boards, and I could see all three had been chopped into perfect halves.
I was really impressed. This boy was good. I wondered why I hadn't seen him around here before.
Suddenly, the boy took off his baseball cap, and a sheet of dark-brown hair fell onto his shoulders. My jaw dropped. The guy was a girl!
"Hey, whatcha doing?" My older brother suddenly appeared behind me.
"Oh, nothing." I said. I got back onto my bike. I took one look back at the girl, then rode off to school.
***
I got to school, and, guess what? My history assignment was where I left it. Uhh, in my history notebook. The only place I didn't look.
History was last lesson. So after lunch, I handed it up to my teacher, and sat down at my desk.
"Students," My teacher started, "Blah blah blah blah blah blah, bloo bloo bloo bloo bloo bloo, yada yada yada yada, boring boring boring boring boring, lardi lardi lardi lardi-Jeffrey?"
"Huh?" I came out of my stupor.
"Well, what's the answer?"
"Errrr, uhmmm-"
"You weren't listening?"
"No, I was, uhhmmm-"
"Well, what is it?"
"Um, false?"
My teacher stared down at me. Hard. Then she smiled. "That is correct."
'Phew. Lucky break.'
Unfortunately, I said that out loud.
"Jeffrey, you will stay after class today, and write, "I must listen in class" one hundred times on the blackboard."
"Oh come on!" I snapped. "Isn't that a bit Bart Simpson-ish?"
"Hmmm. I suppose so." My teacher said.
I was surprised. "You do?"
"Yes. That's why you will write it in your History book two hundred times."
Well, I guess I shouldn't have opened my mouth.
***
I told Rocky I had detention and wouldn't be riding home with him. He looked disappointed in me, but I ran inside before he could say anything.
I sat down at my desk, and started writing. By about the 5th line, I was bored. So I started staring out the window.
This is what I saw in that detention time; Birds singing the same thing over and over, green trees, a basketball court, more trees, two bullies pestering two boys to play two on two, a girl in a karate outfit—wait a minute…
I ran over to the window, and opened it up. "Hey!" I yelled to the girl. She looked confused, but came over.
When she reached the window, I saw that she had brown eyes.
"You're the girl that was in the park this morning!" I said.
"Yeah. Why? Did you see me?" The girl had a nice smile.
"Yeah. You were really good. My name's Colt." I said.
"I'm Eleanor. My friends call me Elle." She had brown hair that had cool auburn tinges.
Suddenly, I remembered that I hated girls.
"That's great. You can go now." I said abruptly.
Eleanor looked confused. "But why did you call me over--"
"I said you can go now." I went back to my desk.
Eleanor stood there. Suddenly, she exploded. "You are the biggest jerk I have ever met! Why in God's name did you call me over to the window if you just wanted to brush me off?! You are just wrong in the head!"
With that she ran off.
I was amazed. I had finally found someone to rival my temper.
"They're at it again!" my brother, Tum Tum, came running in to tell me.
No, Tum Tum is not his real name. Just like Colt is not my real name. He is really Michael, and I'm really Jeffrey. Tum Tum and Colt are our ninja names. Last summer, we spent some time at our grandpa's house. "We" are me, Tum Tum and our older brother, Rocky. His real name is Samuel. Grandpa's this real cool ninja guy, and he taught us some awesome stuff. Then he gave us new names. We felt like we were really ninja's then. It kinda made us feel grown-up.
Don't get me wrong, I love being 12. In my opinion, it's the best age out of any. And I love being a kid. When you're an adult, you can't do a lot of stuff without looking retarded.
Such as, teasing your older brother about his latest girlfriend.
Tum Tum and I went running up the stairs to our room. All three of us shared a room. Last year, mum re-did a room that was supposed to turn into Rocky's. We're still waiting for him to move in.
We burst into our room. "ROCKY LOVES EMILY!" I yelled, scaring the life out of my older brother.
Tum Tum started laughing hysterically. "ROCKY LOVES EMILY!" He squealed. He always copies what I say.
Rocky put his hand over the can that they talk to each other through. "Say it any louder, and the neighbours will be over." He said. He looked annoyed. Just how I liked it. I love stirring him up.
"What are you talking about?" I asked him, "Discussing wedding plans?"
Okay, I know that was lame, but hey, I'm only twelve.
"Listen, Emily, I gotta go." Rocky said. "My brother's are here."
He said it like that explained everything she needed to know.
"For your information, Colt…" (Oh no, he had started the 'for your information…" speech) "…we were discussing the math assignment we were given today. I don't understand some of it, so Em was helping me."
"Why didn't you just call one of your other friends?" I taunted him.
"Why would I do that when I can ask Emily FOR FREE?" He shot back.
Hmmm. Good point.
"Well, why are you worrying about homework during the last week of school?" I questioned him.
Rocky sighed. He was at that age, (all of fourteen) where he thought he was an adult, and that he could boss us around, "Some day, Colt, you're gonna meet a girl, and you will not know what hit you."
"What does that have to do with anything?" I asked. That was a weird change of subject.
"Whoa-oh!" Tum Tum said. I'd forgotten he was there, "Girl talk. I'm outta here."
Tum Tum left the room. Probably to feed his face. The thing is, he IS interested in girls, in his own unique way. If Tum Tum likes a girl, he throws food at her.
But not me. Uh uh. I am so NOT interested in girls. I think girls are stupid, stupid humans that only care about their makeup and their mobile phones. *** Hey! Colt, you know, I'm a girl!***
Oh, sorry Kirilea.
Anyway, back to my conversation with Rocky. What just happened? Oh yeah, he said one day I was gonna meet a girl.
"Yeah right, like that's ever gonna happen."
Rocky smiled his 'I'm 14 so I know all the facts of life' smile. That smile irritates me. "It will. Believe me. You are gonna totally fall head over heels some day, and it'll be some day soon."
I glared at Rocky. "That's never gonna happen. Only geeks fall in love." I started heading out the door. "And I don't wear heels!"
***
As usual, as the next day was Thursday, we got up to go to school. And, as usual, Rocky was the first one up. There's a certain routine we have in the morning; our alarm goes off…only Rocky hears it. He wakes Tum Tum up, and they both spend three-quarters of an hour waking me up. It's pretty standard really. I don't know why, I just sleep through anything.
After they had woken me up, we went downstairs. As usual, we were late, and everyone was blaming me.
"If COLT hadn't slept IN we would have had TIME to tell EMILY we could RIDE with her." Rocky snapped.
"Give it a rest," I yawned, "She rides with us every day anyway."
"Yeah," Tum Tum said.
We had a quick breakfast, then the usual morning rush began;
"Mum? MUM! Where's my green shirt?" Rocky yelled.
"I haven't washed it sweetie." Mum replied. "Wear your blue one."
"I can't. I'm Rocky, not Colt!"
Mum looked confused. At that moment, Tum Tum came running in, and skidded onto his knees. He thought this was 'cool'. Today, he kept sliding until he hit the bookshelf. Several books came falling off the shelf, whacking him in the head.
Mum went to help him up. I realised I couldn't find my history assignment. And I had worked so hard on it too. I was up all night on Saturday finishing it.
I could feel a tantrum coming on.
Rocky saw the warning signs. "Okay, bye mum!" He quickly kissed mum goodbye, and ushered me and Tum Tum out the door.
As soon as the front door closed, I let out a loud yell of anger. Emily, who was about to ring the doorbell, got a full ear of it.
She screamed in surprise. I suppose, when you're about to enter a house, you don't expect a 12 year old to come out and blast your eardrum.
"Oh, sorry Emily."
"Yeah, no problem." She was rubbing her ear, so I think it was a problem. But I took off anyway.
I just was not in the mood to ride with anyone today; not after the terrible loss I had just been through. So I rode really fast so that the others couldn't keep up with me. It wasn't very fair on Tum Tum, leaving him with the lovebirds, but I didn't really think about anybody else.
As I was riding past the park, I saw a strange sight. I stopped to watch. In the park, there were two people; a man, and a kid about my age. The kid was wearing a karate suit, and a baseball cap. He was standing in front of a stack of three thick slabs of wood sitting on two bricks. I had a feeling I knew what was about to happen, and I was right.
The guy my age let out a big yell, and chopped the boards with his hands. The older guy held up the three boards, and I could see all three had been chopped into perfect halves.
I was really impressed. This boy was good. I wondered why I hadn't seen him around here before.
Suddenly, the boy took off his baseball cap, and a sheet of dark-brown hair fell onto his shoulders. My jaw dropped. The guy was a girl!
"Hey, whatcha doing?" My older brother suddenly appeared behind me.
"Oh, nothing." I said. I got back onto my bike. I took one look back at the girl, then rode off to school.
***
I got to school, and, guess what? My history assignment was where I left it. Uhh, in my history notebook. The only place I didn't look.
History was last lesson. So after lunch, I handed it up to my teacher, and sat down at my desk.
"Students," My teacher started, "Blah blah blah blah blah blah, bloo bloo bloo bloo bloo bloo, yada yada yada yada, boring boring boring boring boring, lardi lardi lardi lardi-Jeffrey?"
"Huh?" I came out of my stupor.
"Well, what's the answer?"
"Errrr, uhmmm-"
"You weren't listening?"
"No, I was, uhhmmm-"
"Well, what is it?"
"Um, false?"
My teacher stared down at me. Hard. Then she smiled. "That is correct."
'Phew. Lucky break.'
Unfortunately, I said that out loud.
"Jeffrey, you will stay after class today, and write, "I must listen in class" one hundred times on the blackboard."
"Oh come on!" I snapped. "Isn't that a bit Bart Simpson-ish?"
"Hmmm. I suppose so." My teacher said.
I was surprised. "You do?"
"Yes. That's why you will write it in your History book two hundred times."
Well, I guess I shouldn't have opened my mouth.
***
I told Rocky I had detention and wouldn't be riding home with him. He looked disappointed in me, but I ran inside before he could say anything.
I sat down at my desk, and started writing. By about the 5th line, I was bored. So I started staring out the window.
This is what I saw in that detention time; Birds singing the same thing over and over, green trees, a basketball court, more trees, two bullies pestering two boys to play two on two, a girl in a karate outfit—wait a minute…
I ran over to the window, and opened it up. "Hey!" I yelled to the girl. She looked confused, but came over.
When she reached the window, I saw that she had brown eyes.
"You're the girl that was in the park this morning!" I said.
"Yeah. Why? Did you see me?" The girl had a nice smile.
"Yeah. You were really good. My name's Colt." I said.
"I'm Eleanor. My friends call me Elle." She had brown hair that had cool auburn tinges.
Suddenly, I remembered that I hated girls.
"That's great. You can go now." I said abruptly.
Eleanor looked confused. "But why did you call me over--"
"I said you can go now." I went back to my desk.
Eleanor stood there. Suddenly, she exploded. "You are the biggest jerk I have ever met! Why in God's name did you call me over to the window if you just wanted to brush me off?! You are just wrong in the head!"
With that she ran off.
I was amazed. I had finally found someone to rival my temper.