"Late Nights" - Speed
Later that night, I finally got to see Headmaster Spritle.
X and I were watching TV while dad was off doing whatever it was he did when he left when we heard a few soft taps on the door frame. I instantly perked up. "I was wondering when you'd drop by!" The visitor smile half-heartedly. Though he was presentable in his usual attire, I couldn't help but notice the tired look in his eyes. "Are you ok?"
Spritle chuckled. "I thought I was going to be asking you that." X gave a small respectful nod and left the room. "I'm fine," I said as he pulled X's chair up beside the bed and sat down. That seemed to brighten him a bit, and I pressed him again. "Are you ok?" He nodded. "I'm fine. Just a bit too much press." I frowned.
"Seems like it. It's all over the news about 'how Speed Racer's younger son almost died'," I mumbled. It was hard to find anything else on the racing channel, and a few days ago my accident was even on the actual news.
Uncle Spritle set his hand on the edge of my bed and paused for a moment in thought. "Don't worry about it. As soon as you're back on the track, I'm sure all the hype will die back down and everything will return to as normal as it was before."
I grinned at that bit of optimism. Just then, dad walked back in with a notepad and pen in his hands. He gave a small smile and glanced up from what he was scribbling. "Evenin' Spritle." The headmaster looked up, a bit confused. He blinked once he pieced together my "Uncle Albert's" true identity. "Oh, hello!" he replied. Dad jerked his head slightly in acknowledgement, not breaking his focus away from the paper. I cocked my head slightly, wincing at the short spark of pain. It still wasn't fully healed. I massaged it for a few seconds as X returned as well with a small bag of Doritos. He stopped for a moment. "What? I was hungry," he said defensively as he leaned against the wall. I shrugged. "I didn't say anything." He rolled his eyes and munched on another chip.
When I returned my attention to Uncle Spritle, he was looking up at his brother. It confused me a bit. Was that dread? I was mildly alarmed and looked at him as well. He glanced up again before doing a double take. He frowned. "What?"
X sneered. "Coming up with another plan to endanger us all?" Dad shook his head solemnly and for a split second I saw that X had hit him where it hurts. I threw my brother a glare, but he wasn't paying attention. "No. I'm trying to design a better camoflauge system for the Mach 5," he said and went back to sketching. "You might wanna ask Connor about that. Just don't press the big red button," I suggested with a chuckle, remembering how Chim-Chim and I had been turned invisible ourselves. He nodded but didn't look up.
I turned back to Spritle as he stood. "Well, I'd better get back to the academy to finish up for the night," he announced and gave X his chair back. "Call me when the doctor's say you can leave and you can stay at the house until you've recovered. I can pick you up when you're ready." I nodded and waved as he left the room.
Author's Note: Wow, sorry for the lame chapter... o.O Hopefully the next one will be slightly better.
