Chapter 21

"Something wrong?"

Justin glanced up from the plate of fries he'd been picking apart. "What?"

The bartender gestured to the plate. "You're not normally quite so vicious with your food."

"Everything's fine. Can I get a smoothie?"

"Sure. What flavour you want?"

"Surprise me. I'm going to sit down."

"We'll bring it out to you."

He wandered down to one of the tables, slumping into a seat. The place was half full today, a group of kids hanging out by the video games, two teenage boys playing pool, some women chatting and laughing in a booth, a young boy studying at another table. He liked it when there were people around; he liked the buzz of the place, the feel of it.

He needed it, today.

"I'm not a kid," he told his plate, ripping up another fry. "He doesn't need to lecture me like that."

"Uh."

He turned to see a lanky boy leaning over from the next table. "Yeah?"

"Sorry to interrupt your - whatever," the boy said, eyeing him, "but can I borrow your ketchup? We're out."

"As if you need any more," the girl with him muttered, but Justin was already passing over his bottle.

"Thanks," the boy said cheerfully, proceeding to drown his burger. The girl made a disgusted noise, but it didn't stop her stealing some of his fries. "Conner," he added, passing the bottle back.

"Justin."

"New in town?"

"Nah, I just don't come here very often."

"Us either, but Kira's hiding from her boyfriend, he works in the - ow!"

He glared at Kira, who smiled innocently. "We're sorry to bother you," she told Justin. "Thanks for the ketchup."

The waitress arrived, unloading Justin's smoothie and two oddly coloured, frothy drinks for Conner and Kira. She eyed Justin's plate, sighing. "Is that any way to treat my good fries? Want another plate?"

Justin smiled sheepishly. "Thanks."

She huffed, turning to Kira. "You see him do that again, give him a smack. Waste of food." Kira grinned uncertainly and the waitress headed off, taking Justin's plate with her.

Justin ignored Conner's curious looks for a few minutes before finally saying "I don't need a babysitter."

"Just curious what's got you in a mood," Conner said easily. "Lose a little league game or something?"

"No. My..." He thought for a moment, trying to think how best to phrase it without giving anything away. "My Sensei won't let me - compete. The other students are bigger than I am and he thinks it'd be dangerous for me. I'm good enough, but every time I try he pulls me back out."

"He's probably just looking out for you," Kira said sympathetically.

"I don't need him to look out for me, I know what I can handle."

"Yeah, but he's your teacher, he's supposed to be overbearing."

"Our teachers are," Conner agreed cheerfully. "Dr O's always lecturing us."

"He only lectures you because you do stupid things," Kira corrected him.

"It only seems stupid to you, because you're not the leader. They're actually very well thought out plans," Conner assured her.

"Uh huh." Kira folded her arms, studying him. "Krista."

Conner winced. "All right, not my brightest moment, but it worked out, didn't it? And we got new - you know." He gestured vaguely; it must have meant something to Kira, but to Justin it looked like he was signing wings.

"And Dr O yelled at you for it." She grinned, turning back to Justin as his new plate of fries arrived. "Can you talk to him? Your Sensei, I mean."

"He thinks I'm a little kid," Justin muttered, starting to shred the fries again.

Kira leaned over and pulled the plate away. "That's no way to treat good food," she reminded him. "Can you talk to someone else in your class, get them to talk to the Sensei for you? Someone he might listen to?"

"Maybe," Justin muttered. "Can I please have my fries?"

"Are you going to eat them?" Kira grinned at the look on his face, pushing the plate back towards him.

"Don't forget the ketchup," Conner said helpfully.

Justin nodded, reaching for the bottle. "Have you tried explaining to your Dr O why you do things the way you do?"

"Sorry?"

"If he's complaining because he thinks you're doing stupid things, but they're actually plans, try explaining the plans to him afterwards. Maybe he'll realise you know what you're doing."

"That might actually work," Kira agreed.

"Yeah, except most of the time it's..." Conner repeated the gesture. "You know, instinct."

"Well, he's been - where you are. Maybe he'd understand."

"Maybe," Conner muttered.

"Hey, so tell us about your competions!" she said brightly, turning to Justin. "That must be fun!"

Justin described the last couple of competions he'd been to, lightening up on the details when he realised they weren't really following. Kira, at least, was nodding, but Conner was busily drawing pictures in his left over ketchup.

When he asked about them he got a long stream of enthusiastic soccer description, and a brief 'oh, I play guitar' from Kira. He and Conner ganged up on her to try and get her to play, but she refused, grinning.

"This is not the girl who got detention on the first day of school for playing on school grounds," Conner lamanted.

"No, well, it's been a bit of a weird year, hasn't it," she agreed. "Maybe another time."

"Ok," Conner declared. "This is what we're going to do. I will talk to Dr O; you," he pointed at Justin, "get someone to help you talk to your Sensei; and in a few days, when we've both done that, we'll meet back here and you," he pointed at Kira, "will play. Deal?"

Justin smiled. Conner kind of reminded him of Tommy, when he thought about it. "Yeah, deal."

"Excellent. Drinks all around to celebrate." He raised a hand for the waitress.

At the bar, Chip frowned at Adam. "Why do you look like whoever your enemy is has just walked in?"

Adam glanced at him, frowning briefly. "Because that is Justin, he's on Tommy Oliver's Turbo team with me. And those are Conner and Kira, they're on Tommy's Dino team. And they don't know who they are."

"So?" Chip asked. "They won't remember, even if they do find out."

"Something like that, they'll remember," Adam said grimly.

"Want me to go distract one or the other of them?"

"Nah, I'm on Justin's team, I'll go offer to walk him home."

"Good luck, I guess," Chip offered. Adam smiled tightly, ambling down to the table the three were now sitting around.

"Hey, Justin," he said brightly. "I thought that was you. I'm heading into town, want to walk with me?"

"Sure," Justin agreed. "Actually, I wanted to talk to you anyway." Looking back at the others, he added, "Thanks, guys. I'll see you around."

"See you, Justin," Kira said cheerfully.

"Remember the deal!" Conner yelled after him. Clapping his hands together, he added, "I think that went really well. Game of pool?"

"Who said you could put me singing up as a prize?" she asked sweetly.

"Um - you're a great singer?" Conner said hopefully.

She narrowed her eyes at him, scowling. "I'll be watching to make sure you actually talk to Dr O, you know."

"Yeah, well, whether I do or not, I think we helped that kid."

"Good for us. Come on, I'm gonna beat your ass at pool. See if you ever offer me as a prize again."