Change Has Come - Chapter Eleven: Not An Angel
The sun shone brightly that Saturday afternoon spreading a happy radiance throughout Bahia Bay. The parks were crowded, the beach was full of people, everyone was out enjoying themselves. Well, almost everyone, a certain Tino Tonitini and Carver DesCartes were inside, though for different reasons. Tino was indoors because of a pounding headache that was more likely than not caused by the rock to the head. Carver was indoors because of a suspiciously large amount of homework that required his utmost attention. Not only was it a heavy load of homework, it wasn't exactly the easiest homework either. Of course little besides eating and fashion came easy to Carver.
"Apparently someone out there hates me because I'm having the worst luck of all time. I can barely understand this stuff. I was not designed for homework," Carver muttered to himself amidst the scattering of textbooks and papers.
He looked down at his algebra textbook and he wanted to cry. Of all the days that he had to have a ton of homework, it had to be on the nicest day of the past decade. Carver tried once more to get a handle on the work but just picking up one of the textbooks gave him mental cramps. He read the first line out of his science book and stopped. His eyes were glazed over and it was official: Carver's brain had simply deflated. He tilted from side to side and finally fell over smacking his head against the floor.
"Ow! Geez, I gotta be careful. I'm gonna get killed doing this homework. It looks like I have to go to the last resort. I must call in "The Brain"," Carver thought himself.
He went over and dialed his phone, after a few rings he heard the familiar voice.
"Hello?"
"Hey Brain, I mean, Tish," Carver greeted.
"Carv, you know I don't particularly care for that nickname."
"Right, right, my bad. Anyway, I'm calling in dire need of your help."
"I sure hope you are telling the truth this time, and it isn't an emergency like you can't find food to eat."
"Hey, that would be a dire emergency. I don't know what I would do then, but thankfully that's not the problem right now. The problem right now is this barbaric homework we have. I need your help to get it done."
"I was just about to start it myself after my nice long stroll in the park. It is such a beautiful day out. Anyway, I'll come over to your place and we can do this work together."
Tish walked up to Carver's door and knocked loudly. After a few moments a disheveled Carver opened the door letting Tish in.
"You look terrible. Have you been up all night?" Tish asked.
"No, this is from me freaking out over the major amount of homework we have. I need your help now!"
"Okay, okay, let's go to your room and get started on this homework already."
Carver led the way to his room and push hard against the door due to all the books in the way.
"Geez, Carver, this place is a pigpen. I can barely walk in here."
"Sorry, but this is what happens when I'm tortured with this much work. Oh I know you probably didn't want me to, but I called Lor as well to see if she wanted to work with us on this homework. However-"
"You called that traitor?! I don't want to see her right now. She and I are at war."
"Yes, I know. Don't worry though she said she couldn't make it. Apparently, she has already made plans for the day. I tried to convince her that this homework was rough and that she should work on it, but she wasn't listening to me. Her plans must be quite important."
"Good, and I hope this comes to back to bite her on the Gluteus Maximus."
Carver rolled his eyes at Tish's scorn for Lor.
"Whatever. Let's just get to this work now."
Tish nodded, but her mind was elsewhere. In her mind she was very suspicious of Lor's plans for the day. She was almost certain that they involved Tino in some way. Tish resolved that she would have to find out.
Lor looked in the mirror and brushed it thoroughly. On any other day she would merely brush it straight, but today she wanted it to be perfect, to catch the eye.
"This takes forever, no wonder I never do this everyday. Today is special though, today is the day I finally win Tino over, and for that everything must be just right," Lor thought to herself.
Once finished brushing her hair, Lor decided to put on more deodorant to increase the powder fresh smell on herself. She didn't own any perfume or any make-up for that matter. Lor had always figured if she needed any than she would just borrow it from her mother, and by Lor's standards she would only need those items on her wedding day. Lor took a quick sniff of her armpits and was satisfied with the overpowering powder smell emanating from them.
"Ahhh, I smell and look like a million bucks. It's time to do my thing. This should be easy since I don't have to worry about Tish interfering today," Lor thought.
She took another look in the mirror and smiled at herself with pride. With a kick in her step, she headed out to Tino's house. On her walk to Tino's house Lor took in the beautiful day breathing in the fresh bay breeze.
"Now this is a day to be outside. Carver and Tish are crazy to stay inside and do that homework. Of course, if they didn't then Tish would probably be butting in at Tino's. I certainly hope Tino is willing to take a break from that homework to come outside with me," Lor thought.
Somehow the day's beauty increased Lor's optimism in her ability to win Tino. The birds' chirping and the smiling sun seemed like signals of victory to her. The optimism went to Lor's head for a moment and she broke into a skip down the street. The loud cry of nearby seagulls brought Lor back to reality and she stopped skipping. She looked around to make sure no one had just seen her, and the rest of the way she kept herself grounded. Upon coming to the walkway of Tino's house Lor took a deep breath to summon her courage and she began walking the nerve-wracking walk to Tino's door. There were a few false starts and breaks along the way but Lor now stood in front of the door ready to knock. Another deep breath later she raised her fist and knocked on Tino's door. After a few tense moments Ms. Tonitini opened the door.
"Hello, Lor. It's nice to see you," she greeted.
"Hi, Tino's mom. Is Tino here?" Lor asked.
"Yeah, he's in his room. He has a bit of a headache though. It's probably from this lump he has on his head."
"I see," Lor said quietly.
"Well, go on up. I imagine he'll be happy to see one of his friends." Lor nodded and headed in the direction of the stairs.
Inside Lor felt terrible now about having thrown the rock. At the top of the stairs slowly opened the door to Tino's room and she saw him sitting at his desk with a bandage over his forehead.
"Hey Tino. How's it goin'?" Lor said in greeting.
Tino tuned around to her face, "Oh hey there Lor. Well, as you can see I'm bit banged up. Something hit me in the head at the park last night and today I have a headache and what looks like a horn growing out of my forehead. I hope it goes down because can't go to school looking like this."
"I'm sorry about that."
"What?"
"I mean, I'm sorry to hear about that," Lor quickly covered up.
"Yeah, well, what brings you around these parts today?"
"It's such a nice day out that I thought it would be nice to go out and enjoy the weather."
"Yeah, it is a nice day out, but we have so much homework to do that I don't think we could afford to push it off."
"Oh c'mon, the homework can't be that bad. I'm sure that you could get it done after you come back. Who knows when it will be this nice again?"
"Even so, I have this headache and this goofy looking bandage on my forehead. I don't really want people to see me."
"Don't be ridiculous. You look fine with that bandage... sorta. I think that the fresh air would do you good. It'll take your mind off your headache and it will clear your mind so you can focus on your homework."
"I don't know. Have you looked at the homework yet? There really is a lot, and my head is really acting up."
"Tino, sometimes you have to procrastinate and have fun. You're focusing on all the bad things."
"I can't really ignore my headache, you know."
"Then take some medicine for it! As for the homework it will still be here for you when you get back so you can do it then. This good weather may not be here tomorrow. Am I gonna have to force you to have fun?"
Tino thought about it for a second and sighed.
"All right. I'll go outside with you, but if I see one person laughing at me because of my forehead I'm coming right back here and I'm refusing to leave here again."
"Okay, done deal!" Lor said with a smile.
Tino got his shoes on and led the way down the stairs.
"Hey mom, I'm going out for a bit," he called.
"What? I thought you had a headache not to mention enough homework to last you a month," Tino's mom replied.
"Uh, Yeah I do, but I want to get some fresh air to help clear my mind."
Tino's mom sighed.
"I certainly hope it's just to clear your mind and it's not you procrastinating."
"Don't worry, mom. It's not."
"Okay then. Make sure to stay safe. I love you."
"Mooom! You're embarrassing me!" Tino exclaimed.
Lor laughed a bit and Tino gave her a look, but then ignored it and continued on his way outside.
Once on the sidewalk Tino asked Lor, "So are we picking up Carver or Tish first?"
"Oh they won't be joining us today. They are too busy wasting the day away doing that homework," Lor answered.
"Carver's doing homework on a Saturday? This must be serious," Tino said incredulous.
"Well you know Carver, he's full of wrong decisions like deciding to stay in on such a beautiful day," Lor commented.
"Whatever. Now without half of our usual group what should we do?"
"How about we head to the park and play some catch?" Lor offered.
"Hmm, it only involves hand-eye coordination so I should be fine. Okay, let's do it, but let's make sure to find somewhere in the shade to play. This sun is killing my head."
"Sure thing. Grab your glove from the garage and let's go."
The park was full of adults as Tino and Lor arrived. Almost all the children who usually were at the park were at home trying to get a handle on their homework. The two eventually found a nice shady spot betwixt two trees. They set up shop there with Lor standing in front of one of the trees and Tino standing in front of the other. They put on their gloves and Lor threw the ball to Tino.
"Ahhh! Too fast!" Tino squealed dodging out of the way.
The ball cracked the tree behind him, tore off some bark, and rolled back to Lor.
"Geez, are you trying to kill me? This headache is enough," Tino lamented.
"Sorry about that, I'm used to playing catch with my brothers."
"Right, right. Just try to throw the ball slower."
Lor picked up the ball and lightly lobbed it into the air. Tino caught the ball with ease and smiled, pleased that he had been able to catch it.
"Now that's what I'm talking about, nice and easy lobs, those I can catch."
Tino tossed the ball back to Lor in a nice arc. Lor positioned herself under the ball and caught it.
"How boring. There's no excitement to this with these soft throws and easy catches," Lor thought.
"Didn't I tell you this would be fun, Tino? A nice game of catch in the park on a beautiful day clears your mind doesn't it?" Lor called out denying her thoughts.
"Oh yeah, this is the way to play catch, nice, safe, and slow."
The two continued on playing catch just the way Tino said he liked it, safe and slow. On the opposite side of things it was driving Lor out of her mind. She could feel her inner jock yearning to burst out. She played catch like this when she was three years old, and it was killing her to play it like this over a decade later.
"You know I think you're right, Lor. This time out here is really helping to clear my mind. I think I can feel my headache starting to fade away a little," Tino said merrily.
"That's great. I told you so. You should listen to me more often," Lor said all the while holding in her desire to flip out.
"I'll tell ya something else, playing catch like this makes me feel like a good sports player. I'm catching everyone that comes my way. Why, if we were playing baseball I would be getting everyone out," Tino commented.
Lor held her tongue trying to ignore Tino's comments.
"Yeah, I guess, maybe..." Lor muttered.
"The MVP of the game is... Tino Tonitini! And the crowd goes wild!" Tino called out while making fake cheering noises.
Lor couldn't take it anymore and she called out, "Heads up!"
She tossed the ball to Tino who panicked like a deer in headlights so it cracked him right in the forehead.
"Gyaaaahhhh!!" Tino cried out.
He went down to the ground clutching his head. Lor smacked herself in the forehead.
"I can't believe I did it again. Don't I ever learn?"
She ran over to Tino to see if he was all right.
"Are you okay? I am so sorry. I wasn't thinking about what I was doing."
Tino seemed oblivious to Lor's presence and he just kept rolling there muttering, "Oh my forehead, it hurts so bad. My headache has doubled in strength and I think that lump is even bigger."
"I best get you home. Here let me help you up," Lor said.
She got Tino up to his feet and helped support him since he was in a dazed state. It was a long walk back to Tino's house because of Tino moaning the whole way and his reduced walking ability.
"Okay, Tino we're just about there. Just hang in there a little longer," Lor commented.
As they walked up the path to Tino's house, Ms. Tonitini spied them from the porch and came running down.
"What on Earth happened?!" she cried.
"Well, I kind of hit Tino in the head with the ball when I threw it too hard. It was an accident and I'm really sorry," Lor apologized.
"It's okay, Lor. You didn't mean to do it, but this certainly doesn't bode well for Tino's forehead."
"Hey mom, look at me I'm an airplane. Wheeee!" Tino spouted
"That doesn't sound too good," Lor commented.
Tino's mom shrugged a bit, "I'm sure it's fine."
"You know, mom, I'm really looking forward to supper," Tino mentioned.
Ms. Tonitini stared at him for a second, "Okay, now we should be worrying about him."
Lor and Tino's mom helped Tino the rest of the way into the house and sat him down on the couch.
"I'm really sorry about this Ms. Tonitini. I didn't mean to do this to him," Lor said feeling really bad about her actions.
"Don't worry about it, he'll be fine, and I know you wouldn't intentionally hit him in the head. You are his friend, after all."
"Right, his friend, yeah, I wouldn't do it on purpose," Lor said quietly.
"At least now that he is at home he can start that homework of his," Tino's mom commented.
Immediately, Tino let out a loud moan voicing his distaste of the homework.
"Yeah, I need to get that homework started to so I best be going," Lor commented.
"Okay then. See you later, Lor and don't worry about Tino, he'll be just fine," Ms. Tonitini assured her.
Lor nodded and left for home.
That night Lor flopped onto her bed kicking herself for her actions.
"I can't believe it. What was I thinking? I screwed it up again. I really need to control my temper, but it was killing me to play like that and to listen to him boast about it. I need to play against real competition that's what I like. I can't stand this little kiddy stuff."
Just then Lor's phone rang and she picked it up.
"Hello?"
"So you thought you could get Tino today while I was busy at work?" came Tish's voice across the line.
"What?! How do you know about that? Are you spying on me?!"
"Well, when I heard you had 'other plans' I was suspicious and so I just called Tino's house before this to find out if you had been by there."
"I can't believe you. You really want an all out war don't you?"
"I'm not about to let you win by trickery, and I'm not about to let you physically hurt Tino anymore. Hitting him with a rock and then hitting him with a baseball, you really need to control your emotions. You are much too wild and out of control for Tino."
"Grrr, both were accidents! I'm not trying to hurt him!"
"Well, you are and Tino is my friend so I don't like seeing him hurt so much."
"Oh c'mon, Tish, I'm Tino's friend too. This is crazy. You don't know when to quit."
"I know when to quit, remember I have the rational mind here. I know just how to win Tino over."
"You are dreaming, Tish. There is no way you can win Tino. This is harder to do than anything else in the world. It's even harder than Algebra!"
"That's your perception. I'll make sure to show you how it's done and how easily it's done."
"When haggis fly, Tish. If it was that easy than you would have won Tino by now."
"I haven't gotten Tino yet because you have been hindering me so far."
"Whatever, Tish. I'm done with this conversation. You've got no chance. I need to get started on my homework too. Goodbye."
Lor slammed the phone down and went back to pouting on her bed. "I can't believe all of this. It's so ridiculous."
End of Chapter 11
Finally, I've written a new chapter. This is what happens when you are a slacker. I'm not talking in writing this I mean being a slacker in school. All of my work had piled up on me and so I needed to take care of all of that before I got to this chapter. I have a theory, though, that laziness is a disease. Like how obesity can be caused by a problem with your glands or whatever, I think the same thing can be said for laziness. I'd research it, but I'm too lazy. Anyway, I am still alive and I am writing so don't be discouraged this story will be finished. Keep on reading and reviewing.
The sun shone brightly that Saturday afternoon spreading a happy radiance throughout Bahia Bay. The parks were crowded, the beach was full of people, everyone was out enjoying themselves. Well, almost everyone, a certain Tino Tonitini and Carver DesCartes were inside, though for different reasons. Tino was indoors because of a pounding headache that was more likely than not caused by the rock to the head. Carver was indoors because of a suspiciously large amount of homework that required his utmost attention. Not only was it a heavy load of homework, it wasn't exactly the easiest homework either. Of course little besides eating and fashion came easy to Carver.
"Apparently someone out there hates me because I'm having the worst luck of all time. I can barely understand this stuff. I was not designed for homework," Carver muttered to himself amidst the scattering of textbooks and papers.
He looked down at his algebra textbook and he wanted to cry. Of all the days that he had to have a ton of homework, it had to be on the nicest day of the past decade. Carver tried once more to get a handle on the work but just picking up one of the textbooks gave him mental cramps. He read the first line out of his science book and stopped. His eyes were glazed over and it was official: Carver's brain had simply deflated. He tilted from side to side and finally fell over smacking his head against the floor.
"Ow! Geez, I gotta be careful. I'm gonna get killed doing this homework. It looks like I have to go to the last resort. I must call in "The Brain"," Carver thought himself.
He went over and dialed his phone, after a few rings he heard the familiar voice.
"Hello?"
"Hey Brain, I mean, Tish," Carver greeted.
"Carv, you know I don't particularly care for that nickname."
"Right, right, my bad. Anyway, I'm calling in dire need of your help."
"I sure hope you are telling the truth this time, and it isn't an emergency like you can't find food to eat."
"Hey, that would be a dire emergency. I don't know what I would do then, but thankfully that's not the problem right now. The problem right now is this barbaric homework we have. I need your help to get it done."
"I was just about to start it myself after my nice long stroll in the park. It is such a beautiful day out. Anyway, I'll come over to your place and we can do this work together."
Tish walked up to Carver's door and knocked loudly. After a few moments a disheveled Carver opened the door letting Tish in.
"You look terrible. Have you been up all night?" Tish asked.
"No, this is from me freaking out over the major amount of homework we have. I need your help now!"
"Okay, okay, let's go to your room and get started on this homework already."
Carver led the way to his room and push hard against the door due to all the books in the way.
"Geez, Carver, this place is a pigpen. I can barely walk in here."
"Sorry, but this is what happens when I'm tortured with this much work. Oh I know you probably didn't want me to, but I called Lor as well to see if she wanted to work with us on this homework. However-"
"You called that traitor?! I don't want to see her right now. She and I are at war."
"Yes, I know. Don't worry though she said she couldn't make it. Apparently, she has already made plans for the day. I tried to convince her that this homework was rough and that she should work on it, but she wasn't listening to me. Her plans must be quite important."
"Good, and I hope this comes to back to bite her on the Gluteus Maximus."
Carver rolled his eyes at Tish's scorn for Lor.
"Whatever. Let's just get to this work now."
Tish nodded, but her mind was elsewhere. In her mind she was very suspicious of Lor's plans for the day. She was almost certain that they involved Tino in some way. Tish resolved that she would have to find out.
Lor looked in the mirror and brushed it thoroughly. On any other day she would merely brush it straight, but today she wanted it to be perfect, to catch the eye.
"This takes forever, no wonder I never do this everyday. Today is special though, today is the day I finally win Tino over, and for that everything must be just right," Lor thought to herself.
Once finished brushing her hair, Lor decided to put on more deodorant to increase the powder fresh smell on herself. She didn't own any perfume or any make-up for that matter. Lor had always figured if she needed any than she would just borrow it from her mother, and by Lor's standards she would only need those items on her wedding day. Lor took a quick sniff of her armpits and was satisfied with the overpowering powder smell emanating from them.
"Ahhh, I smell and look like a million bucks. It's time to do my thing. This should be easy since I don't have to worry about Tish interfering today," Lor thought.
She took another look in the mirror and smiled at herself with pride. With a kick in her step, she headed out to Tino's house. On her walk to Tino's house Lor took in the beautiful day breathing in the fresh bay breeze.
"Now this is a day to be outside. Carver and Tish are crazy to stay inside and do that homework. Of course, if they didn't then Tish would probably be butting in at Tino's. I certainly hope Tino is willing to take a break from that homework to come outside with me," Lor thought.
Somehow the day's beauty increased Lor's optimism in her ability to win Tino. The birds' chirping and the smiling sun seemed like signals of victory to her. The optimism went to Lor's head for a moment and she broke into a skip down the street. The loud cry of nearby seagulls brought Lor back to reality and she stopped skipping. She looked around to make sure no one had just seen her, and the rest of the way she kept herself grounded. Upon coming to the walkway of Tino's house Lor took a deep breath to summon her courage and she began walking the nerve-wracking walk to Tino's door. There were a few false starts and breaks along the way but Lor now stood in front of the door ready to knock. Another deep breath later she raised her fist and knocked on Tino's door. After a few tense moments Ms. Tonitini opened the door.
"Hello, Lor. It's nice to see you," she greeted.
"Hi, Tino's mom. Is Tino here?" Lor asked.
"Yeah, he's in his room. He has a bit of a headache though. It's probably from this lump he has on his head."
"I see," Lor said quietly.
"Well, go on up. I imagine he'll be happy to see one of his friends." Lor nodded and headed in the direction of the stairs.
Inside Lor felt terrible now about having thrown the rock. At the top of the stairs slowly opened the door to Tino's room and she saw him sitting at his desk with a bandage over his forehead.
"Hey Tino. How's it goin'?" Lor said in greeting.
Tino tuned around to her face, "Oh hey there Lor. Well, as you can see I'm bit banged up. Something hit me in the head at the park last night and today I have a headache and what looks like a horn growing out of my forehead. I hope it goes down because can't go to school looking like this."
"I'm sorry about that."
"What?"
"I mean, I'm sorry to hear about that," Lor quickly covered up.
"Yeah, well, what brings you around these parts today?"
"It's such a nice day out that I thought it would be nice to go out and enjoy the weather."
"Yeah, it is a nice day out, but we have so much homework to do that I don't think we could afford to push it off."
"Oh c'mon, the homework can't be that bad. I'm sure that you could get it done after you come back. Who knows when it will be this nice again?"
"Even so, I have this headache and this goofy looking bandage on my forehead. I don't really want people to see me."
"Don't be ridiculous. You look fine with that bandage... sorta. I think that the fresh air would do you good. It'll take your mind off your headache and it will clear your mind so you can focus on your homework."
"I don't know. Have you looked at the homework yet? There really is a lot, and my head is really acting up."
"Tino, sometimes you have to procrastinate and have fun. You're focusing on all the bad things."
"I can't really ignore my headache, you know."
"Then take some medicine for it! As for the homework it will still be here for you when you get back so you can do it then. This good weather may not be here tomorrow. Am I gonna have to force you to have fun?"
Tino thought about it for a second and sighed.
"All right. I'll go outside with you, but if I see one person laughing at me because of my forehead I'm coming right back here and I'm refusing to leave here again."
"Okay, done deal!" Lor said with a smile.
Tino got his shoes on and led the way down the stairs.
"Hey mom, I'm going out for a bit," he called.
"What? I thought you had a headache not to mention enough homework to last you a month," Tino's mom replied.
"Uh, Yeah I do, but I want to get some fresh air to help clear my mind."
Tino's mom sighed.
"I certainly hope it's just to clear your mind and it's not you procrastinating."
"Don't worry, mom. It's not."
"Okay then. Make sure to stay safe. I love you."
"Mooom! You're embarrassing me!" Tino exclaimed.
Lor laughed a bit and Tino gave her a look, but then ignored it and continued on his way outside.
Once on the sidewalk Tino asked Lor, "So are we picking up Carver or Tish first?"
"Oh they won't be joining us today. They are too busy wasting the day away doing that homework," Lor answered.
"Carver's doing homework on a Saturday? This must be serious," Tino said incredulous.
"Well you know Carver, he's full of wrong decisions like deciding to stay in on such a beautiful day," Lor commented.
"Whatever. Now without half of our usual group what should we do?"
"How about we head to the park and play some catch?" Lor offered.
"Hmm, it only involves hand-eye coordination so I should be fine. Okay, let's do it, but let's make sure to find somewhere in the shade to play. This sun is killing my head."
"Sure thing. Grab your glove from the garage and let's go."
The park was full of adults as Tino and Lor arrived. Almost all the children who usually were at the park were at home trying to get a handle on their homework. The two eventually found a nice shady spot betwixt two trees. They set up shop there with Lor standing in front of one of the trees and Tino standing in front of the other. They put on their gloves and Lor threw the ball to Tino.
"Ahhh! Too fast!" Tino squealed dodging out of the way.
The ball cracked the tree behind him, tore off some bark, and rolled back to Lor.
"Geez, are you trying to kill me? This headache is enough," Tino lamented.
"Sorry about that, I'm used to playing catch with my brothers."
"Right, right. Just try to throw the ball slower."
Lor picked up the ball and lightly lobbed it into the air. Tino caught the ball with ease and smiled, pleased that he had been able to catch it.
"Now that's what I'm talking about, nice and easy lobs, those I can catch."
Tino tossed the ball back to Lor in a nice arc. Lor positioned herself under the ball and caught it.
"How boring. There's no excitement to this with these soft throws and easy catches," Lor thought.
"Didn't I tell you this would be fun, Tino? A nice game of catch in the park on a beautiful day clears your mind doesn't it?" Lor called out denying her thoughts.
"Oh yeah, this is the way to play catch, nice, safe, and slow."
The two continued on playing catch just the way Tino said he liked it, safe and slow. On the opposite side of things it was driving Lor out of her mind. She could feel her inner jock yearning to burst out. She played catch like this when she was three years old, and it was killing her to play it like this over a decade later.
"You know I think you're right, Lor. This time out here is really helping to clear my mind. I think I can feel my headache starting to fade away a little," Tino said merrily.
"That's great. I told you so. You should listen to me more often," Lor said all the while holding in her desire to flip out.
"I'll tell ya something else, playing catch like this makes me feel like a good sports player. I'm catching everyone that comes my way. Why, if we were playing baseball I would be getting everyone out," Tino commented.
Lor held her tongue trying to ignore Tino's comments.
"Yeah, I guess, maybe..." Lor muttered.
"The MVP of the game is... Tino Tonitini! And the crowd goes wild!" Tino called out while making fake cheering noises.
Lor couldn't take it anymore and she called out, "Heads up!"
She tossed the ball to Tino who panicked like a deer in headlights so it cracked him right in the forehead.
"Gyaaaahhhh!!" Tino cried out.
He went down to the ground clutching his head. Lor smacked herself in the forehead.
"I can't believe I did it again. Don't I ever learn?"
She ran over to Tino to see if he was all right.
"Are you okay? I am so sorry. I wasn't thinking about what I was doing."
Tino seemed oblivious to Lor's presence and he just kept rolling there muttering, "Oh my forehead, it hurts so bad. My headache has doubled in strength and I think that lump is even bigger."
"I best get you home. Here let me help you up," Lor said.
She got Tino up to his feet and helped support him since he was in a dazed state. It was a long walk back to Tino's house because of Tino moaning the whole way and his reduced walking ability.
"Okay, Tino we're just about there. Just hang in there a little longer," Lor commented.
As they walked up the path to Tino's house, Ms. Tonitini spied them from the porch and came running down.
"What on Earth happened?!" she cried.
"Well, I kind of hit Tino in the head with the ball when I threw it too hard. It was an accident and I'm really sorry," Lor apologized.
"It's okay, Lor. You didn't mean to do it, but this certainly doesn't bode well for Tino's forehead."
"Hey mom, look at me I'm an airplane. Wheeee!" Tino spouted
"That doesn't sound too good," Lor commented.
Tino's mom shrugged a bit, "I'm sure it's fine."
"You know, mom, I'm really looking forward to supper," Tino mentioned.
Ms. Tonitini stared at him for a second, "Okay, now we should be worrying about him."
Lor and Tino's mom helped Tino the rest of the way into the house and sat him down on the couch.
"I'm really sorry about this Ms. Tonitini. I didn't mean to do this to him," Lor said feeling really bad about her actions.
"Don't worry about it, he'll be fine, and I know you wouldn't intentionally hit him in the head. You are his friend, after all."
"Right, his friend, yeah, I wouldn't do it on purpose," Lor said quietly.
"At least now that he is at home he can start that homework of his," Tino's mom commented.
Immediately, Tino let out a loud moan voicing his distaste of the homework.
"Yeah, I need to get that homework started to so I best be going," Lor commented.
"Okay then. See you later, Lor and don't worry about Tino, he'll be just fine," Ms. Tonitini assured her.
Lor nodded and left for home.
That night Lor flopped onto her bed kicking herself for her actions.
"I can't believe it. What was I thinking? I screwed it up again. I really need to control my temper, but it was killing me to play like that and to listen to him boast about it. I need to play against real competition that's what I like. I can't stand this little kiddy stuff."
Just then Lor's phone rang and she picked it up.
"Hello?"
"So you thought you could get Tino today while I was busy at work?" came Tish's voice across the line.
"What?! How do you know about that? Are you spying on me?!"
"Well, when I heard you had 'other plans' I was suspicious and so I just called Tino's house before this to find out if you had been by there."
"I can't believe you. You really want an all out war don't you?"
"I'm not about to let you win by trickery, and I'm not about to let you physically hurt Tino anymore. Hitting him with a rock and then hitting him with a baseball, you really need to control your emotions. You are much too wild and out of control for Tino."
"Grrr, both were accidents! I'm not trying to hurt him!"
"Well, you are and Tino is my friend so I don't like seeing him hurt so much."
"Oh c'mon, Tish, I'm Tino's friend too. This is crazy. You don't know when to quit."
"I know when to quit, remember I have the rational mind here. I know just how to win Tino over."
"You are dreaming, Tish. There is no way you can win Tino. This is harder to do than anything else in the world. It's even harder than Algebra!"
"That's your perception. I'll make sure to show you how it's done and how easily it's done."
"When haggis fly, Tish. If it was that easy than you would have won Tino by now."
"I haven't gotten Tino yet because you have been hindering me so far."
"Whatever, Tish. I'm done with this conversation. You've got no chance. I need to get started on my homework too. Goodbye."
Lor slammed the phone down and went back to pouting on her bed. "I can't believe all of this. It's so ridiculous."
End of Chapter 11
Finally, I've written a new chapter. This is what happens when you are a slacker. I'm not talking in writing this I mean being a slacker in school. All of my work had piled up on me and so I needed to take care of all of that before I got to this chapter. I have a theory, though, that laziness is a disease. Like how obesity can be caused by a problem with your glands or whatever, I think the same thing can be said for laziness. I'd research it, but I'm too lazy. Anyway, I am still alive and I am writing so don't be discouraged this story will be finished. Keep on reading and reviewing.