Change of a long day

Part 2

"B…break me?" Julius repeated. Maybe he misheard him? He burst out into a fit of laughter. His friends did the same. The thought alone was worthy of another string of memes on Elmore Plus. Not only Neal's threat was hilarious, it was outright stupid. As if he could lay a hand on Julius.

"Put up your fists, pansy." Neal sneered and took off his glasses. Putting them away in the inner side of his jacket, he began to unbutton it in preparation.

All laughter immediately died down after Neal's less than scared reply. "You can't be serious." Julius responded with all manner of joking around gone.

Neal answered him by taking off his jacket. He dropped it on a more clean spot of ground and cracked his knuckles. With an even darker gray color of his long sleeved shirt, he now looked even more bland and tasteless. Only brighter colors left on him were the sneakers that were green and his hair which was blonde.

Seeing no indication that Neal was joking, Mowdown and the rest of Julius's friends began to circle around Neal in preparation to jump him right then and there.

"Yo, back up." Julius ordered while stepping forward into the circle, his body held loose and relaxed. If the 'short joke' wanted a brawl, he was going to get one. "I wanna fight this fool solo. Get out your phone and tape this, it'll be hilarious." Finally, he will get to blow off some steam after constant disappointment and disrespect from Franklin. His friends listened to his order and gave them space. Scar took out his phone and began recording what was about to happen.

"Oh this is gonna be hilarious." Scar said to Mowdown with an evil grin.

"Heck yeah it will. We should upload it after this make some serious dough out of it." Mowdown rubbed his fluffy hands together, already feeling the money flowing in.


There are certain things one should not do in a fight. One of those is dance around your opponent with an easily exploitable position of hands and legs and throw insults at him. Unfortunately, that's what Julius was currently doing.

Neal was keenly aware of what this was. He saw many videos online in regards to how people in America fought. In his country, it was referred to as 'chicken dance'. Especially prominent in schoolyard fights where kids would circle each other and throw flimsy punches or kicks, thus keeping each other at a distance. Coward tactics.

"Didn't come here to dance." Neal growled under his breath and took a confident step towards Julius. The taller teen threw a lousy punch. Neal caught it by the forearm, pulled Julius in, and rammed his elbow directly into the side of his head. Neal released him at the point of impact, and the stick figure stumbled backwards. "I'm here to fight. So I will not repeat myself again-"

The taller teen was stunned and surprised by the quick shot. So where his friends too.

"-Put up your fists. Pansy." Neal demanded. He took a combative stance, arms hovering above head, held loose. Back, slightly hunched.

Julius rubbed the sore spot on his round head and rolled his shoulders. "Okay then." He raised his fists, this time, he held himself firmly. He was focused and actually observed Neal and his movements.

The surprise factor was gone. Now it was only a matter of skill in this match-up. Circling each other, the two teens waited for the opportunity to strike. Mowdown and Scar both watched them intently without opening their mouths as this particular situation was highly unexpected. Neal was the first one to make a move.

Closing the small distance between them, Neal launched a series of quick jabs. His opponent shielded his head and the jabs hit his forearms. He then spread them out the second another jab hit him, bashing Neal's fists away and forcing him to take a step back. Julius quickly came in with a wide swing of his fist and Neal ducked underneath it, placing a quick palm strike on his side and coming out to face his back.

Julius stumbled a little and re-adjusted his stance, turning his body around to quickly face Neal again.

Neal could've kneeled him in the thigh or stomach at that particular moment, but chose against it. He still had one ace up his sleeve, after all, his new debut has to be shocking and surprising.

"So you know how to throw hands, big deal." Julius grumbled loud enough that Neal could hear it.

"Considering how I acted before, it kinda is." Neal replied with a tiniest hint of a smirk on his lips.

"You think you're being cute?"

"Stank-breath, I'm adorable."

Julius gritted his teeth, the white color of his head tinged with red and a vein bulged out. The fuse that dangled on top of his head began to smoke. "You're asking to end up head first in a trash can."

Neal didn't miss the change in his opponents appearance. He did have a legit bomb for a head, and if that were to go off...Perhaps it is for the best to shut up and continue swapping blows for now. "Come then, grant me my request."

Hunched over, fists covering his face, low enough to peek over his knuckles, Julius attacked. An actual form of boxing, which caught Neal by surprise. It seemed that Mister Sulfur-mouth was taking this fight seriously now.

This time, his punches came in straight at the target, fast and strong. Neal avoided the first jab, ducked the second, his counterpunch from the right was blocked by an elbow, he missed the left swing as Julius ducked way too quickly, barely blocked the third with his forearm and fourth jab caught him right in the face as it flew way too fast.

Neal's head snapped back from the blow, and he definitely felt the painful sting cover his face. Julius's fists were big, they easily covered his entire face, thankfully the shot was somewhat softened by the white gloves Julius wore.

Yet that jab created a problem. His nose took the brunt of the blow, and everyone knew that when hit in the nose, you can't avoid tears that pool in your eyes. Which posed a massive danger now that he couldn't see properly.

Neal took rapid steps back to gain some distance, with only one eye barely open, he saw the blur of a tall, black figure closing in. By the time he blinked out the tears, hits were raining down on him. Shielding his head and face, Neal clenched his jaw and suffered through the onslaught, but he couldn't afford to wait until his opponent tired himself out.

He had to make him back off somehow. Ignoring a strike that hit him up top his head, Neal turned his upper body, putting as much weight behind the incoming hook punch as possible. He aimed it right into Julius's lower side. However, he only bruised him as his punch sailed past the mark. Neal's opponent was too thin to be caught with an attack like that. Taking note of that, he wound up his right hand and launched an uppercut, and again, his knuckles barely scratched Julius's chin as the taller teen stepped backwards.

Judging by the gush of wind that blew on his face, Julius felt relieved that he didn't decide to take the attack.

Neal grinned in his mind. The way Julius executed the punches, his flow of movement and general strength. Skill or natural talent, Neal didn't know, nor he cared right now. But he knew that what he was witnessing is boxing. A bare bones version of it, but from the stance and movement, it was definitely boxing. That also explained why he blocked more than dodged and stood his ground.

Having gained a second to collect himself, Neal lunged forward and chained four punches into his enemies cross guard in quick succession. Searing sensation soon spread on his knuckles, they felt like they were on fire. Only now did he notice red stains on Julius's gloves. And they definitely didn't belong to the stick figure. The sharp sting of striking with unprotected hands, it was as painful as it was exhilarating. It gave him focus, made him feel truly alive in the moment.

Julius, feeling the pain course through his forearms from the rapid attacks, finally retaliated. Those boney knuckles hurt. He threw a fast jab with his right, to which Neal leaned out of the way and rammed his fist into Julius' side, this time, it was as precise as it was powerful.

But to Neal's great surprise, Julius tanked the blow and retaliated. Who would've thought that a stick figure could have this much endurance. All of a sudden, Neal's foot was stomped, keeping him in place and preventing him from getting away. "Damn it!" All Neal could do was shield his head again, but his enemy already expected as much and went for his stomach and ribs.

Only after the second strike to the left ribs did Neal realize that he repeated his guard. He could feel the air getting knocked out of him and that wasn't a state he wanted to be put in. His foot was still held in place. Neal lunged, bending forward the same leg that was kept in place. His knee stuck Julius's knee and for the first time since the fight began, the taller teen felt actual grip of pain sink its claws into his leg.

Julius stepped off of his foot, his head turning beet red out of anger. How dare this idiotic four-eyes pretend that he can do something more than be a damn punching bag.

Julius ducked below another swing sent by Neal and stepped in with his fist drawn back. A precise hook punch landed in his gut. Julius carried Neal with the swing, fully extending his arm and sending Neal sliding for a few feet. The shorter blonde was forced to kneel and cough for air once he came to a stop.

There was way more strength behind that attack than it should've been. It didn't make any sense, a thin stick figure with barely any meat on his bones shouldn't have such strength or endurance.

Julius stood in the same spot for a moment, keenly observing Neal as the kid stayed petrified by the heavy blow. Julius then spun around and threw up his hands in the air.

"And the P-U-D-I-N-G goes down for the count, ladies and gentlemen!" Scar yelled out with a victorious laugh. He tried his best to capture everything with his phone so they could watch it later. Mowdown nodded along with a big, toothy grin. While they definitely didn't expect for the joke of an idiot to know how to throw a punch, this entire ordeal was way more exciting than expected. After all, such fights rarely happened.

And while Julius was strutting around in front of the camera, flexing his skinny arms and gloating about his victory, Neal was still kneeling on the ground and feeling the last attack. He felt sore. And he could taste a familiar red substance in his mouth. So the bastard had some serious skill in regards to boxing. What's more, that burst of strength.

"Start the countdown, yo!" Mowdown nudged Scar. The rat nodded with an excited grin and ran up to Neal, camera pointed at his hunched over form.

"Ten!" Scar screeched right in Neal's ear. The short teen balled his fists. What an annoying parasite this powder faced bastard was.

"Nine!" It wasn't always that Scar could stand above somebody else, so he had to enjoy this opportunity while it lasted. He even placed his foot on his back like brought Neal down.

"Eight!" Again, in his ear. It was enough of taking a breather.

"Seve-" Five fingers clamped down on Scars muzzle, preventing him from opening his mouth again. The rat's whiskers twitched in surprise.

Through the blonde bangs, a wrath filled gaze of dark blue nearly made Scar pee his pants. "Take your leg off, or I will make your foot face backwards." Scar was released, and he went running back to hide behind his friends.

Mowdown and Julius both turned around. Ever so slowly, Neal rose to his feet. He stretched out his back with a pained groan. Oh he will be feeling it in the morning.

Julius and Mowdown glanced at each other, realizing that the fight wasn't over yet. The stick figure re-adjusted his bow tie, dusted off his shorts and stepped back in the metaphorical ring with his signature smirk. "So, the Pudding refuses to be thrown out easily, that's a surprise!" Julius sarcastically applauded Neal, who didn't respond to his teasing. Julius's clapping stopped after a second and his face grew serious again. "And I took you for a melting kind."

Choosing to ignore the insulting jabs, Neal cut right to the case, "Aah, that foot stomp, a cheap one. I admire the way you fight." Neal complimented with a cold grin. He couldn't let him see that his attacks were getting to him. Oh they were, his entire upper body was aching, from the waist to the top of his head. And that insane stomach punch, he was definitely still feeling it.

It was time to fight for real, no messing around. "But look." Neal began, relaxing his hands and beginning to bounce on his feet, "That old school boxing crap doesn't cut it anymore. You gotta use your entire body. Like so."

Neal charged him and Julius was ready and fully expecting some lame kung-fu flying kick that's easy to dodge.

What he didn't expect to see was Neal's knee flying straight into his chin. A loud noise of bone meeting bone cut through the alleyway. Even Julius's buddies stared in awe with mouths agape. Julius nearly fell over his head, only his firm stance prevented that from occurring.

The real combat had begun. Neal had abandoned the 'boxing' tactics and went with his own way of fighting.

Once Neal's feet touched the ground, he attacked with his fist. But Julius was quick to recover, even after an attack like that. Enough to dodge the first punch and respond with an overhand punch of his own. Neal blocked it, his forearm against Julius's forearm, stopping the attack in place before it could reach him.

He then slid his hand forward, grabbing Julius by the shoulder and raising his elbow, thus putting Julius's arm at a distance. Neal placed a solid hold on Julius's neck with his other hand, grabbing him in a clinch. A moment later, utter slaughter ensued.

Neal sent a kick after kick into his left side, each time, the pain just kept adding up. Neal's shin felt like a baseball bat against his body. After two rapid kicks to Julius's side, Neal sent a vicious knee strike to finish the tree-part attack and followed up with a shin strike against the side of Julius's knee. His leg buckled, but Neal wasn't done. He attacked the same knee from the inner side of the leg with a painful stomp. His stance crumbled immediately with an explosion of agonizing pain. There wasn't even enough time to yell or scream.

Neal released his hold on Julius's arms at the same time, thus letting him collapse on himself.

While Julius was trying to push himself up on one arm, coughing and sputtering over such a sudden downfall and his aching body, Neal stalked around him in circles. He occasionally cast a glance over his shoulder, in case Julius's friends decide to jump in. But from the dumbfounded expressions that they had, that shouldn't happen. At least, not yet.

Lots of silent cursing alerted Neal, his opponent was back in action, sort of. Only one fist raised, limping on one leg and a furious glare directed his way. "Yeah, I know that feeling. Your ribs all messed up. Maybe you can't raise your left arm. Same for your leg, no pressure on it otherwise it'll sting like crazy." He explained to the older teen as he came to a stop a few feet away from him.

Unfortunately, what applied back in his country on humans, didn't really seem to apply to these inhuman creatures. Julius, although wincing from the burning pain in his side, still raised his left arm and formed a fist. And his limp wasn't nearly as bad as Neal expected it to be. Which was absolutely unfair in his opinion. "Oh you gotta be kidding me. Is everyone super powered in this crazy ass town? Damned be cartoon logic."

Neal was feeling the exhaustion set in, to make matters worse, the damage he sustained was becoming more and more apparent, especially to his knuckles. The latter of whom was one of the reasons why he switched out from punches to kicks. He needed to get this over with, but not before sending a message to those monsters around him.

"I have some bad news-" Neal began, loosening up his stance and beginning to bounce on his feet, "This is ending with you looking like a loser." He began advancing, quickly and methodically.

Only now realizing the full extent of what Pudding was capable of, Julius felt unsure about pulling a victory. He considered calling for help from his friends, but in doing so, he would appear like a total coward. Running from Pudding of all people wasn't an option too. It was for the best to carry on and land a knockout blow. Hopefully.

Neal was the first to launch an attack by sending a left high kick aimed at Julius's head. Yet when Julius blocked it with both hands, he felt that it was way too light, it didn't have the weight or momentum behind it.

The left kick, was a feint. Julius caught on too late. Neal already switched out his legs, the right shin crashed into the side of Julius's head with enough force to rip him off the ground and put swirly stars in his vision.

Before he knew it, Julius felt the cold, hard surface underneath his back as the world once more spun around, this time so fast that everything blurred into one mess.

Everything went silent besides the distant chatter of kids leaving the school. They had no idea of what transpired in the alley hidden by the schools shadow, nor did they need to know. Neal nudged Julius with his shoe to check on him. He only received groans as a response. More silence followed. Mowdown didn't know what to say, he stared at the prone form of what he believed was their smart and strong friend/leader of the trio with his mouth agape. Scar was rendered speechless, phone in his hand was shaking as the recording still continued. What he believed to be the strongest, alpha of all alphas now laid on the ground, taken out by someone who was at the bottom of the established pecking order.

Neal on the other hand, had to tie up some loose ends. "Well, what are you waiting for?" He asked, aggressiveness lacing his growl. He turned around to look at the two, utterly stunned students with a challenging snarl. "I just laid out your baby boy. Bring it!"


Scythe was annoying. A quick rat. But went down after a well placed palm strike to the jaw. It was Mowdown that posed the biggest problem for Neal. Big guy certainly had a lot of strength. Alas, he didn't use it properly. Shin strike to the back of his knee made him kneel under his own massive weight. After that, it was only a matter of grabbing the nearest trash can lid. No way he was going to scrape his knuckles more.

Neal backed up against a wall and slid down to sit on the ground. His everything felt sore. "Well, that certainly happened. Ouchies." He said to himself in a slightly dazed manner. There was no glory in what he did, nor he took pride in his actions. But it had to be done.

"Note to self, if I have to fight again, use elbows more than punches." After all, he didn't expect such endurance from Julius. And who knew how durable were those Franklin guys, who seemed to get more numerous and aggressive in the area.

Regardless, after the adrenaline wears down, Neal knew that he will feel way worse. He checked his jacket, brushed off any dust that might've been on it and put on his glasses again. An action considerably harder to do now that he has inspected the damage.

Question was, what to do with the four scraped knuckles on each hand? Nevermind the fact that the tiny scars dotting each one will grow in number again. Stuff hands into the pockets and hope no one notices? No, that's just idiotic. Go to the school nurse? No, the questions that would follow would be hard to explain.

Fortunately, a clear as day mind, meant faster, deeper thinking. Neal had missed this feeling of heightened awareness. Even if he felt miserable and saw the world for what it truly was. Ignoring that thought, he had someone in this school.


Teri sat down on the bench of the playground and sighed. Finally, the school had cleared out. All those that remained were the teachers, the football team and the girls from her team. Now she had some peace and quiet to calm down and collect herself. This moment of silence was very much welcome and even needed, considering what was coming tonight.

One more practice before the big show. She felt worried to say the least. No, this was much worse. Performing in front of hundreds, possibly thousands of people is no small undertaking. Teri kept repeatedly checking her pulse just to make sure she wasn't going to have a heart attack due to her stress. Perhaps she should just go to the hospital and get herself checked? No, not this time. She couldn't use her suspicions of a heart function failure as an excuse to weasel out of this. After all, she wanted to be a cheerleader, she wanted to be someone, not just that one girl everyone will remember for suddenly fainting in the class because she thought a mosquito bite poisoned her blood. Even though she had no blood to begin with. Spectacular! Thinking about it only made her heart drum faster.

There was no running from the responsibility that she put on herself. And now she was internally freaking out and twirling her thumbs rapidly. Why did she sign up for this? Nobody told her she'll have to do acrobatics in front of such a tremendous crowd.

A small pebble landed by her legs. Perfect! A distraction is exactly what she needed right now. Teri looked around with her eyebrow raised. She found Neal waving her over behind the corner of the school.

Wondering what he might need, she approached him with a little caution. After all, meeting behind the school was a little strange. "Did you threw that rock?" She asked in a more than displeased tone and Neal answered with a nod. "Do you know what would've happened if you h-?" Only from up close did Teri notice how haggard he looked.

His jacket rugged, not straightened out like it usually was. There was dust all over his gray jeans and shoes. Blonde hair dishevelled. At first, she was displeased, then, slightly disgusted, and now, irritated. Putting her hands on her hips, she re-inspected his appearance with a critical eye, "Do tell, what happened? Did those jerks did something to you again?" Teri asked, drawing her conclusions early on. Oh she was so reporting them all to the principal.

"Close, but no prize." Neal answered. Teri had the classic 'explain to me' look on her face.

Deciding to cut straight to the point, he asked, "You said your mother was a doctor?"

"Yeah, why?" She asked, suspicious as to where he was going with this.

"Well…" Neal pulled his hand from his pocket and lifted it up for Teri to see. The bear girl covered her mouth to keep herself from shrieking as she backed away. Neal's hands, specifically all eight of his knuckles were bruised very painfully. "I need your help."

"Is that, b-b-b-blo-" She stammered out of rising fear and disgust, not being able to even finish the sentence. Seeing the pictures on her mother's website was one, but seeing it for real, in front of her eye's, was a completely different experience. A horrific one at that.

"Yes." Neal replied and managed a painful smile. "Got any disinfectant?"

She swallowed hard and with a shaky voice replied, "You g-got to s-see the n-nurse." Teri tried her best to look anywhere but that painful sight.

"I can't!" He denied her suggestion without even thinking about it.

"W-why!? Look your h-hands!" Teri began to feel upset in the stomach. And lightheaded.

"The nurse, she'll ask what happened, I can't tell her that I got hit by a…that I got into a fight." Neal decided to be honest with Teri, mainly because he stopped caring at this point. The pain was becoming more apparent and soon he'll be whining in agony if his little problem wasn't going to be taken care of. "Then the principal will learn of this, after that, I might be kicked out, and I can't, I just can't be kicked out of this school." With each word he got more desperate, his voice cracking every so often. "And I can't go home looking like this either!"

Teri couldn't refuse even if she wanted to. She was actually going to call an ambulance, or even drag him to the hospital herself, even if it meant that she'll arrive late to her last practice. But judging by what Neal said, he didn't want anyone finding out about his injuries, or that he got into a fight. Taking a deep breath, Teri gestured towards the bench that she recently got off. "Go wait there, I'll be right back."


"You're dumb."

"I know."

"You're dumber than Darwin and Gumball."

"I'm aware."

"Dumber than Jamie."

"You're right."

"Number than that rock."

"Mhm."

Getting scolded by a girl who also happens to be born of paper, a humanoid and a bear, whom he also has a crush on. After having a fight with a live plush toy, a rat, and a stick figure. Did the plane that was taking him to America jumped to another dimension? Since when did life get so random?

Neal's left hand was bandaged up completely and some might say, it was done by a professional. More surprising was the fact that he didn't feel a thing. When it came to bandaging his right, their eyes met for a second and Neal immediately glanced away.

How gentle and careful she was being with him. And she was right next to him too. He felt the blood rushing to his cheeks and he had to hide his face with his free hand before she noticed. "Okay, chill out, cowboy. Don't start getting any ideas just yet. Take it slow."

"Why did you get into a fight?" Teri asked while expertly wrapping up his damaged hand.

"Because I had to. Those di-" Right, no heavy cursing allowed. Man, sometimes it really sucks to be around younger, innocent people. And only by one year too, what are the odds. "-those jerks weren't going to leave me alone. So I did the logical thing."

"They used violence to have fun. I used violence to stop their fun. Fight fire with fire." He elaborated.

"And you think that violence is the answer to everything?"

There was no point in sugar coating anything here. So he gave her an honest answer. "Most of the time, yes."

Teri tightened the bandages around Neal's knuckles to discipline him, causing Neal to hiss in pain. Clearly, that was the wrong answer. "Hey! Come on. You saw what they were like. How they kept pushing me, trying to get a rise out of me. Keep messing around with chemicals and eventually you'll get a reaction."

She had a lot of things to say in regards to how Neal dealt with this. There were definitely other ways, but she already had enough on her mind as it is. "If that's what you think, I'm surprised that you're still not in the detention class." She sighed in response.

"I play my cards carefully. Most of the time. I think it's about time for me to change that." Neal could tell her that he previously operated on half the brain capacity. If his head was clear from the very first day, he might have ended up in the detention class. But at least he wouldn't have given everyone the impression that he was a pushover. No, that part he will keep to himself. Only Alan knew and it will stay that way.

"There. All done." Teri released Neal's hand with a huff. This certainly helped her to relax a little. And her stomach wasn't nearly as upset as before since his hands were taken care of properly.

"Wow. You're amazing." Neal murmured while inspecting her work. The bandages were wrapped tightly enough, going around each of his fingers and thumbs. Yet not tightly enough to cause pain or discomfort. If he had tried to do this on his own, it wouldn't have looked or felt nearly as good. "Thank you." He felt genuine gratitude for her, but there wasn't much he could do to thank her other than with words.

"No problem. I just hate seeing people in pain. That's all." It was strange seeing her classmate talk and behave so differently. Although that didn't let her get distracted from the thing that really mattered, "Be sure to shower once you're home, from the look of your clothes, you rolled around on the ground for a bit."

"Yeah, I will. Don't worry." Neal replied and checked his clothes while thinking to himself, "I hate seeing people in pain. Man, she is amazing."

Both kids fell silent. Neither of them knew what to say, and Neal didn't really feel like going home either. After all, they were alone now. Sitting so close to each other. And again, Neal's blood pressure spiked. He had to say something. This was yet another perfect opportunity. Besides, he will never get anywhere if he keeps his mouth shut.

"Big day, huh?" Neal eventually asked.

"I guess you can say that." And now her worries were slowly returning. Just great.

Neal didn't have a ton of experience in talking to the girls, but he always heard that confidence is the key. Perhaps he should try flirting, or teasing her a little? "So, I have a question. Will you be wearing one of those two piece cheerleading uniforms?"

His question caught her by surprise. "What!? N-no! What brought this up?"

Neal shrugged, smiling innocently he responded, "Nothing, I was just wondering if I'll get to see you in a hot costume is all." He tried his absolute best not to stutter and contain his raging blush, "You're already plenty of cute, add 'hot' into the mix and that will make me get the front seat tickets."

Never before been called cute, or complimented at all, it was hard for Teri to ignore what he said. From accelerated heart beat and the feeling of blazing red cheeks, Teri was almost convinced that she suddenly had a fever. "Can't s-say that I will." She barely stuttered out the words.

"Oh. Reality is quite often disappointing." Was her classmates answer in a dramatically serious and sad tone. Now she wasn't sure if she could form a cohesive answer from her surprise. This was quite literally coming out of nowhere. And to make matters even more embarrassing, did he seriously want to see her in a skimpy two piece outfit?

On the other side of the bench, Neal couldn't take his eyes off Teri. He was right with his first impressions, she was adorable. Her unique charm attracted him. And from the way she was squirming in her seat, blushing madly and staring holes into the ground, he probably succeeded in sending a message that he was interested in her.

Clearing her throat, Teri attempted to carry on with the conversation, "Well, there is no price tag this time. It's a school event after all. So you can come watch the game for free."

"I'm definitely not going for the game." Neal replied with a wink, hoping that she will catch on to what he meant.

"And do tell why are you going then?" Teri asked, absolutely oblivious to what Neal implied.

He rolled his eyes and shook his head with a quiet laugh, "Hah. To see you perform, obviously." He glanced at her, not shying away from making direct eye contact, "What, you think I would miss your awesome performance after you hyped it up so much for the past few days?"

Unbeknownst to Neal, he not only reminded her of what's coming tonight, he actually managed to put more pressure on her. Teri did say that she trained a lot with her team, but will it be enough to inspire their team and put on an amazing show? All of that, without embarrassing herself or her friends. Again, Teri began to feel like she will hurl out of stress. "How do you know it will be awesome? It could be the worst you will ever bear witness to! All because of me" She flailed her arms around, the panic and worry overtaking her.

Neal, seeing the state she was putting herself in, attempted to soothe her worries without giving himself away, "With all the training that you did, you won't be able to mess up even if the worst stage fright hits you." Neal spoke while checking out the bandages on his hands. "When you repeat a motion over and over again, your body records it and you start doing it automatically." This was as close as he could get to adapting the concept of 'muscle memory' to someone with no actual muscles. "Besides, you have the experience, you have the skills, you have dedication and drive. And you have perfect grades, which means you're smart." Neal named almost all her qualities that made him fall for her.

He returned his gaze to her eyes again, this time growing more serious, "So yeah, it will be awesome, because you're awesome." He spoke with full confidence as if presenting only facts and evidence.

Neal's words did manage to calm her down a little. "Yeah, I did train like crazy for the past few days. I have nothing to be afraid of!" She said with a determined look. One last practice and then she'll take the bull by its horns.

Neal smiled to himself. Finally, someone who actually listened. And from the look of pure determination that she had, Teri will do absolutely amazing. "Heck yeah, that's the spirit. Show them who's the boss."

Teri all of a sudden realized that she stayed here for too long, she had practice to attend to. "Oh no. Do you know what time it is now?"

"The time? Yeah, let me just-"

Before Neal could take out his cellphone, Teri seemingly out of nowhere took out a pencil. She drew a pocket on herself and from that pocket, took out a phone. A paper one, much like her. In a form of a smartphone. And it functioned just like a regular phone.

Neal looked at her like she was an alien or some kind of wizard. "What kind of witchcraft…?" He silently murmured to himself. Now it was his turn to be surprised. Or rather, confused. He closely observed how she deposited her 'phone' back into the 'pocket' and erased it with the pencil eraser.

Of course to Teri, it looked like he was staring right at her chest from up close. Feeling the heat on her cheeks return, she stood up while covering herself out instinct. "Ahem! Well then, I'm going to go now." She said, her voice returning to normal, if not a little shaky.

Being woken up out his questioning of universal laws, Neal sprung to his feet too. "Ah yes, of course." Teri was shying away from him a little too much. Did he do something wrong? "So, I'll see you tonight I guess."

"Yeah, yeah. Be sure to come." Teri said as she rushed to get to the final gathering of her team. Wait, why did she say that? She shook her head. No, she needed to focus, after all, this event was important.

Neal watched her go as he sighed dreamily. No, he will not miss her performance, not in a million years.


Alan happily hummed to himself as he cleaned the kitchen stove with a rag on his string. He already done the dishes after lunch. And there were still some chores to do before dinner.

Usually, Neal would help him with the dishes, but now, he wasn't present during lunch. Just as Alan began to wonder what held him up for so long, he heard the front door open and close. He floated out of the kitchen to welcome his friend back.

"Heyah, Neal! How are you-" He stopped mid sentence when he saw Neal taking off his shoes. He had bandages wrapped around his palms. "Whoa! Neal what-"

"Nothing." Neal jabbed his hands into the jacket pockets and jogged up the stairs quickly, leaving behind Alan to question what could've happened to him. Neal ducked inside his shared room and closed the door shut.

A change of clothes was in order. After that, he needed to figure out how to hide the bandages on his hands. Just as he removed his jacket, he heard the door knob move. Neal was by the door and holding it firmly shut by the second. "Don't come in! I'm changing!"

"Oh! Sorry, dear!" It was Alan's mother, Jessica. "I just wanted to know if you're coming with us to the football game tonight!"

"Yeah, I'd like to tag along if that's okay with you!" He asked over the door.

"Of course! Oh, and could you come down to help Alan with the chores?"

"Yeah, I'll be down in a moment." Neal replied as if distracted by something else as his mind was set on other things.

Gloves. He needed gloves until he could remove the bandages. Did he bring any? He checked the wardrobe, all of his usual clothes besides Alan's ties. He checked the bottom drawer. He had brought a box of rubber gloves for alchemy, and a pair of gloves for winter. Thankfully, they were fingered gloves, not the full enclosing kind.

He slipped them on. Perfect. Gloves will be easier to explain than why his hands were bandaged. He also switched his clothes, gray jeans to black skinny jeans, a gray jacket with a zipper and white tennis shoes.

After the said chores were done, there were questions as to why he wore gloves indoors and during the spring of all times. "I'm just cold." No more questions were asked after that.

A quick nap and early dinner later, the entire Keane family, plus Neal set out towards the stadium.

The drive wasn't quite what Neal expected as the family broke out into some kind of a song, but it didn't bother him that much. What bothered him was the fact that they tried to get him to sing.

Even more bothersome was the fact that the parking lot near the stadium was packed. And people, so many people from the entire Elmore were gathering to the stadium. It took them quite a long time to find a spot. Of course they would have been parked a lot sooner if Dexter -Alan's father- didn't let some pink, fat bunny man cut him off and park first.

Eventually, they decided to park outside of the stadium. Two blocks away from Franklin's school. All the corners of the street were jam packed with parked cars and people, all heading to the stadium near the school. So their car ended up parked at the end of the street.

And the people. By all that is holy, the people. Neal's eyes began to hurt from all the differently colored beings that traveled towards the stadium. It was something straight out of a child's imagination. Neal re-adjusted his glasses and kept his eyes solely on the back of Alan. He didn't really want to lose sight of them in this mass of people. Since Keane's were balloons, they floated above people's and got ahead. And unfortunately for Neal, he had to squeeze through the masses. He lost count of how many times he got poked in the rear by a sharp edge, bumped by someone who didn't even have legs, or his elbow brushed against someone who was slimy.

By the time he reached the stadium, he completely lost Alan and his family. But that hardly mattered, he'll find them eventually, and the game was far from starting. There were a lot of shops set up by the stadium, colorful tents, hotdog carts and root beer stands. Even temporary attractions for children. All of this began to look less like a football event and more like a carnival. Franklin's stadium was just as big as the neighboring schools, if not a little bigger. An enclosed box of concrete, from which the lamp lights shone into the darkening sky of Elmore. The entrances were packed full of people who wanted to get in quickly, so until they cleared up, Neal decided to hang around outside.

Despite so many different individuals, they behaved like normal people. Except for those dressed in red. There was a very clear difference between the fans of the game, ones dressed in blue belonged to Elmore junior high, the ones dressed in red, to Franklin. And everyone could feel the tension in the air.

Neal put some distance between himself and the stadium as there was one more thing he wanted to see. The infamous Franklin school that produced a ton of hoodlums that not only terrorized Elmore junior high, but vandalized other people's property. Although after the game, it should stop, whatever the outcome might be.

It was a good distance away from the stadium, but one could still spot it's shadowy outline in the distance. And it looked like a normal building, three stores high, rows of windows on both sides. What caught his attention was another, bigger building besides the school. Four stores high, with balconies near each of the windows, painted deep shade of red. A dormitory? Why would a simple school even need that?

And his assumption was correct. He noticed few students leaving the building. One was dressed in full football gear, flanked by what Neal assumed were his friends and fans.

Not wanting to get spotted by those who cause relentless trouble, he headed back towards the stadium. The entrance should be more clear now, so getting in won't be such a huge hassle.

Neal mentally braced himself for what he assumed will be a very boring time until the cheerleaders roll out. "Okay, let's see what everyone is so excited about."

-End of chapter 11, part 2-