Chapter 20: Stepping Up

I stepped up to the door and pushed the doorbell. Taking a few steps back I kept my eyes onto the door until it opened up, revealing a middle-aged woman on the other side.

"Oh, Kameron. I didn't know you were coming by." She said.

"Hi, Mrs. Barriga. When I heard about Lars from Sadie I wanted to come by to check on him too. I brought a little something that'll help him out a bit." I replied as I held up the pot in my hands.

"Well aren't you sweet. Please, come in."

My lips stretched a bit as I entered the house. I made my way into the kitchen and placed the pot onto the counter. Placing a hand onto the top I pulled it off, letting out some steam into the air. Turning my eyes to the upper cabinets I opened one to see a large selection of bowls. I grabbed a small one and closed the cabinet door before grabbing the ladle I brought with me.

"Kameron."

"Yes?" I replied as I noticed her walking up to me.

"How have you been? It feels like it's rare to see you come over here."

Once I was done putting in enough into the bowl I turned myself to look at her. "I've been okay. I've been dealing with family issues the past couple of days and we've managed to come to an understanding. And I'm sorry for not being here as much as I can. New things keep popping up to me here and there and I haven't been able to make any time for Lars or Sadie."

"Aw, honey. What matters is that you're here now. And I'm sorry for asking about this, but what happened to your eye?"

"It's...kinda complicated to explain. I've been wanting to tell Lars something for years, but never had the courage to do so and when my eye changed I think now is the time despite the circumstances."

"Okay then. He's up in the attic with Sadie and Haley. If there's anything you need just let me know, okay?"

"I will. Thanks, Mrs. Barriga."

After our talk I took a spoon from a nearby drawer and placed it into the bowl before picking it up. Another advantage of having crystallokinesis, having it onto your fingers so you won't burn yourself.

Making my way upstairs I noticed the ladder to the attic and slowly made my way up there. I didn't really enjoy going into attics, but the one in Lars' house was the only exception due to it being his room as well. Which was kinda weird considering that there was an extra space on the upper floor, but I guess he wanted more privacy. When I reached the top I noticed Sadie sitting in a beanbag chair while Haley was on her knees near Lars and his bed. Lars himself didn't look too well with the thermometer in his mouth and the ice bag on his head, plus the bags under his eyes.

"Hey everyone." I announced as they soon turned their attention to me.

"Kameron? What are you doing here?" Lars asked weakly.

"Sadie told me what happened and I came as soon as I could. Plus I got this that'll help you recover a little quicker." I replied as I approached his bed. "It's my sister's recipe. Whenever I got sick she makes this and it helped me get better."

"Thanks, man. That's very...very...*achoo!* nice of you."

I quickly moved backed up a little before he sneezed. "Dude, ya gotta use the vampire sneeze when you do that. No offense, but we don't want to get sick too."

He sniffled a bit and apologized before I came close to him and got down onto one knee next to Haley. Pulling the thermometer out of his mouth I stirred up the substance in the bowl with the spoon before blowing it and slowly raising it to Lars' face. He took notice of this and opened his mouth as the spoon entered inside. I then pulled it out as I watched him swish it in his mouth before swallowing it.

His eyes shot open as he looked at me, "Wow. This is really good. Which one of your sisters made this?"

"Azurite. She's a doctor and she knows a thing or two about taking care of someone."

"Umm...Kameron. Would it be okay if I fed Lars?" Haley asked next to me.

I turned my head to her, "Sure. Just be careful. The bowl is a little hot."

I gave her the bowl as she placed her hands on the edges before putting it on the edge of the bed. "Thanks for coming, man." Lars said just as Haley gave him another spoonful.

"It's no trouble. Plus you look like a mess."

"Yeah. Let this be a lesson on why it's important to wear gloves whenever you clean the bathrooms at work." Sadie added.

"I wash my hands whenever I'm done." Lars countered.

"Yeah, but this is why we wear them to prevent ourselves from ending up like this."

He groaned as Haley gave him another spoonful. As he swallowed he spoke up again, "Let's not even mention work. The boss is gonna kill me if I don't show up tomorrow."

"What's happening tomorrow?" I asked as I raised an eyebrow.

"It's Truck Tuesday. Every first Tuesday of the month we get a truck to restock items for the store and every time we handle it our boss always has her eyes on him. And if she thinks he's faking another sick day excuse then that'll be it." Sadie explained.

"She's always on my ass to make sure I'm working. And she doesn't believe a word I say after I made too many excuses." Lars added as Haley kept feeding him.

Ouch. I met the lady at the Big Doughnut and she seemed nice, but I guess when you slack off too much then your boss starts to get a low tolerance approach. He told me the only reason he got a job in the first place was because his parents told him to. This time he wasn't faking any sickness though and even though I'm sure he'll be happy that he shouldn't have to work anymore I don't think his parents would feel the same way. Given the state he was in there was a possible solution to this problem, though my family would have a problem with it, but this is for my best friend.

"What if I took your place?" I offered.

He raised an eyebrow as I said that. "You sure? You don't *achoo* have to do that, man."

"I don't mind. You're sick and I don't want Sadie doing everything by herself. Plus my family works and though I earn money through chores, I want to help out a bit more since I am at the age of getting a job."

He then turned his head to Sadie, "What do you think?"

"Sure. I don't mind." She then turned her eyes to me. "But what will you tell your parents about this?"

"We'll work something out. But besides that there's something I kinda want tell you guys."

"What is it?" Lars asked as he, Sadie and Haley turned their eyes to me. I sucked in some air through my nose and exhaled from my mouth. Though Haley was here too I didn't mind as much since she would probably want an explination on what happened when the oceans were taken last week.

"Kameron, we talked about this." Mom said.

"I know mom, but I'm just helping him out until he gets better. And I'm not in school at the moment." I replied.

She took a sip from her cup before placing it back on the table. "Well...I suppose I can't say "no" to that. However, as much as I appreciate you doing this, remember the discussion we agreed to."

I groaned a little, "Focus on your academics and assignments until I graduate. When I graduate then I'll have the opportunity to get a job."

"Good."

I then got up from the table and left the kitchen. Good thing I asked Lars if I could borrow his work shirt. It's gonna be so weird tomorrow, but better to start early than being late.

Loud beeps echoed into my ears as I shot my eyes open. Turning my eyes to my phone I shut off the alarm and sat up. 6:00 a.m. I opened my mouth as a yawn exited out of me. I got out of bed and exited my room and made my way to the bathroom. Lucky for me that nobody was up around this hour, but I still needed to be quiet because the last thing I wanted was to see anybody pissed off from being disturbed.

Teeth, check. Uniform, check. Keys, check. Breakfast, later on. Now that all of that was taken care of it was time to go to work. Descending downstairs I made my way to the garage and grabbed my helmet before opening the door and heading out on my bike.

The sun was waking up on the horizon as I traveled down the sidewalk. The wind felt refreshing as I kept going and it felt kinda strange doing this sooo early since I'm use to getting to school on my bike. After passing several houses in the neighborhood I made to Beach City. No-one was around and all of the businesses were closed, which would give anybody a creep vibe, but to me it seemed peaceful for the time it was given. This place is always a hot spot whenever summer kicks in and many people love to come here to relax, have fun and just enjoy the time they have. It's not gonna last forever, so everyone should get the chance.

Entering the boardwalk I witnessed the Big Doughnut up ahead with Sadie and her boss near the door. The woman was taller than her and was African-American with black hair styled in long braids. She also wore a Big Doughnut shirt along with black pants and dress shoes. Her eyes were crystal blue, just like my mom's and had on small gold earrings.

As I pulled up to the bike rack and took off my helmet before locking up my bike I approached then as they turned their attention to me. "Good morning."

"Hello there. It's Kameron, right?" The lady asked.

"Yes, ma'am. Happy to lend a hand." I replied as I raised my hand to her.

"Good to hear. My name is Nico Smiley." She replied as she placed her hand in mine.

My eyes widened as I heard her last name. "Wait. Smiley? Are you Mr. Smiley's sister?"

"Actually yes. He used to be an actor/R&B singer and has done a few songs here and there for this very establishment." She replied as we released our hands from each other. "After I was done with school he helped me get a job here to keep me on my feet. And after putting in some hard work I became the manager. And I apologize if this sounds personal, but what happened to your eye?"

"Have you heard of Gems before?"

She raised an eyebrow, "You mean those people with strange powers fighting those monsters?"

I nodded.

"By any chance are you a relative to a young boy named Steven?"

"No, just a friend. Though we both have Gems too." I replied as I showed her my Gem.

"Interesting. I'll ask more about that if I ever feel up to it, but for now we all got a truck to meet."

Going toward the back of the store the three of us notice a massive truck coming up. The truck soon passed us and stopped near the front before the back door was opened by a man with a plaid shirt.

"Mornin' Ms. Smiley." He said as he waved his hand.

"Morning."

"We've got the goods. And I see you've got a new Doughnut boy."

"He's just filling in for Lars. For once he isn't faking a sickness, so his friend decided to take his place for a while."

"That's friendship for ya. Now let's get these boxes out."

Walking up to the man I brought the box carrier as he lifted a box and gave it to me. It felt heavy, but nothing I couldn't handle as I placed it onto the carrier. He handed me another one and I repeated the process until the fourth box. Then I wheeled the boxes inside toward the backroom and placed them down on the left side of the room. Going back outside I saw Sadie passing me with her load as I went to go get another one. Back and forth, back and forth, back and forth we kept picking up more boxes and putting them into the backroom. Considering that this was a convenient store I'm not sure why I'm surprised that so many boxes had to be taken in. When a business like this gets up and running I guess they want everything they need to make sure the customers are happy and have what they came for.

One more load. As I placed inside and put the boxes away I turned around to see Ms. Smiley coming in before closing the door. "Okay. Sadie, can you show him where everything goes and how to stock?" She asked. "Yes, ma'am." Sadie replied. "Kameron. After Sadie shows you how we do things I need you to watch this video tape so that you can understand how things are done around here, understand?" "Yes, ma'am." "Thank you. I am going to be up front and take care of anyone that might come in at this hour. Talk to me after you're done and I'll take care of you afterwards." "Yes, ma'am."

She smiled as she went up to the front while we remained in the back. "Okay, Kameron. If there are boxes with doughnuts then we save those for the front as well as cups, napkins, drinks, etc. Cleaning supplies remain in the back. Deal?"

"Deal. And you guys have your doughnuts delivered instead of making them?"

"Yeah. There was an accident and an employee was sent to the hospital, so from that day forward our doughnuts are made from a corporate bake station they deliver along with the supplies so we won't have to ask for two trucks coming in."

Sounds reasonable. I soon cracked my knuckles and began unboxing.

"So...a girl named Lapis Lazuli took the oceans to go home and you fought her, but Steven was able to help her by healing her Gem?" Sadie asked as we were stocking.

"It was cracked. When a Gemstone is cracked it causes issues to the Gem itself. My brother Pyrope cracked his Gem once and all of his powers got weaker until our Dad healed it up."

"Wow. Kameron, that's crazy."

"Yeah. I wanted to tell you and Lars about it, but...if I did then you wouldn't see me as a friend anymore."

She gasped as she turned her head to me, "That's not true. No matter what you are you will always be our friend. Even if you turned into a monster that wouldn't change anything."

I looked at her as she narrowed her eyes at me, "Really?"

"Yes."

"Thank you, Sadie. To be honest, I'm not as open with this as Steven is. He always tell everyone what his family does and they either don't wanna hear it or already know and chose not to care."

"I'll say. You shouldn't hide it either. Everyone has their own opinion on this and you shouldn't be afraid of the negatives."

"That's easier said than done." I replied as I picked up the empty box and walked away from her.

As I placed it in the back I went to Ms. Smiley and she brought out the video tape for me to watch.

"Okay...bathrooms are cleaned." I said as I exited out of the woman's room.

I turned my head to see the men's door open and coming was somebody I didn't want to see at the moment. He turned his head to me gasped, "Kameron. Since when did you start working at the Big Doughnut?"

"Lars got sick so I'm filling in for him."

"Really? Aw, that's not good. Is he okay?"

"He's alright. He just needs some rest for a while and some soup. After that he'll be on his feet as soon as he can."

He smiled at me until it quickly dropped, "Kameron. Can I ask you a question?"

"What's up?"

"Can you tell me about the Rainbow Gems?"

My eyes shot open as he said that. "What do you want to know about them?"

"Who are they? And did they help my mom protect the planet?"

Dammit... What was I suppose to say to him? What could I say to him? I..can't. As much as I wanted to and as much as he deserved to know the truth as I just did, it wasn't my place. I doubt the Crystals would ever tell him. They'll try to work around it or make something up. Lies. I get that he's a kid, but he's turning fourteen soon. That's something that I can't stand. Everyone lies or be someone that they're not just to keep something the way they want it to be. Be somebody that's fake. But on the other side of the spectrum the reason we lie is because the lies we tell maybe less horrific then the truths we keep hidden. We pretend to hide who we are because of sadness, anger, grief or any reason for the benefits of others. Some things are better left unsaid, but at the same time we can't live like this and be kept in the dark. It doesn't matter what the draw back will be, that alone can be handled later, but it's better to be honest and be yourself than live a lie.

"Steven. Leave it alone for a while, okay?"

"But I want to know."

"Drop it!"

He gasped and backed up a little. "Just drop it right now. Now isn't the time for this. Please understand and go home, okay?"

He frowned and turned his attention to the floor. "Okay..."

He turned around and started walking away. I didn't mean to shout, but this really wasn't the time right now and it already hurts for me as it is for him. For now, I gotta get back to work.

End of Chapter 20.

Sorry if it's a little short for any of you. Gonna add some filler for a while until we get to the more interesting stuff later on, so please bear with me.

Hope you all are doing well and I'll see you all soon.