Oh, and to all those who've read my other fic "Wait For Me", I'm putting that Gordon/Tin-Tin fic on hold for now. I need a good plot idea first! ~^_^~ PROLOGUE
It was Monday morning, sometime near the start of the school year. Kids wandered down the long drive to a school nestled in its grounds. It was a newish school, and looked very child-friendly. Only the best for Jeff Tracy's sons.
Five boys stopped outside the drive leading up to the primary school. They all look different ages, from a tall dark teenager to a short blonde bombshell. The smallest, Alan, looked up at his big brothers.
"I'm okay, I don't need you guys to walk me to class you know. I'm a big boy," he announced, his white-blonde hair curling around his temples and his dimples threatening to appear at any second. He didn't really give the appearance of being grown up, and at six years old and in his second year of schooling, he wasn't really all that old at all. Scott laughed.
"Sure," he agreed. At fifteen, he was the oldest of the five, and acted like it too. He never missed an opportunity to be more grown up to his dad. "And I'm a girl." Note sarcasm.
"Eeeeww!!" cried John, the middle boy, screwing up his nose. "You said you're a girl!" Being ten years old, he knew just how disgusting girls really are. Even though he was only ten, he still looked very handsome, his blond hair swept back in a cow-lick and dangling enticingly in his eyes. All his friend's mothers fussed him something dreadful.
"Yeah! Eeew!" chimed in Alan, copying his brother. The second eldest shook his head.
"Is that what you think? One day, you'll learn boys," he teased, face serious but deep brown eyes laughing. He was definitely a looker, and the girls at the high school knew it too! Being thirteen had some benefits.
"I like girls. But only ones who can play games properly and not squeal all the time. Like Aleisha, she's cool. But Sarah's not. She called me a dirty boy and I hit her and she cried and I got in trouble," spoke up seven-year-old Gordon, shaking his ginger hair out of his eyes for the umpteenth time that morning. No matter how it got cut, it always seemed to end up back in his freckled face within days. Scott sighed and shook his head.
"Gordon, you shouldn't hit girls. It's not fair on them."
"Why not?" Gordon's eyes shone with curiosity. "Aleisha hits me sometimes. Girls have arms, why shouldn't I hit them?" The injustice of that comment made absolutely no sense to him. Scott pulled himself up, looking mature and haughty.
"Because girls are the fragile sex," this word elicted a giggle from John, "and need to be protected, not attacked. You shouldn't hurt people weaker than you."
"Are you saying I shouldn't hit you then?" shot back Gordon, who then raced away down to the school, howling with laughter. John and Alan laughed too. Even Virgil couldn't suppress a snort at Scott's expense. Scott managed to look controlled and offended at the same time.
"Well when you children have finished giggling, you can go to class. Come on Virgil, we'll be late for school." He took off on his bicycle, blazer and tie absolutely straight and neat.
"See ya guys," called Virgil, riding after him. John and Alan waved goodbye and headed off down to the school too.
Gordon sat in his chair, bored to death. The teacher was blahing on about shapes and patterns and tessellations. Would he today, tell his teacher about the Year 11 physics book he's stolen from Scott's room and hid under his bed to read sometimes when he couldn't sleep, trying to figure out what it all meant? And the book on ocean ecosystems his grandmother had gifted him for Christmas? Naaah. The teacher would just give him more homework when he could be playing games and exploring in the garden.
"Today class, we have a new student." Gordon perked up. He loved opportunities to make friends.
"Her name is Adelaide Rogers. She has come all the way here from New Zealand. Say hi to Adelaide."
"Goooood mooorniiiing Aaadelaaaiiide," droned the class.
"You can sit there next to those girls, Adelaide." The teacher pointed to an empty desk. She walked politely across to the seat and sat down. Gordon watched her go, examining her face carefully. She had eyes the colour of the sea, blue-grey, reddish-brown hair in neat pigtail plaits and a smattering of freckles across her nose. Gordon thought she looked like an interesting person. He'd never met anyone from New Zealand before. When she'd sat and smiled politely to the girls around her, she looked around the room and noticed Gordon's examination of her. He had no idea he was being rude and kept staring. She stared right back, both wondering who was going to break first. The girl next to her noticed.
"Don't look at him, he's stupid," she whispered. Gordon heard, or got the gist of what she said, and in response crossed his eyes and poked out his tongue. Adelaide blinked. That was not what she'd expected!
"See what I mean?" whispered the girl next to her, but Adelaide had already pulled out her ears and puffed out her cheeks, making a monkey face. The girl huffed and sat back. Gordon grinned and pulled the most grotesque face he could summon up.
"GORDON TRACY! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" He jumped and faced the teacher, ears still tucked in and upper lip caught up on his teeth.
"I was joking!" he trilled.
"You're always joking, Gordon. If you can't control your joking to the playground and at home, you can sit in the corner and make ugly faces at the wall. Is that clear?"
"Yes, sir," sighed Gordon, sitting straight in his chair. He grinned to himself. That Adelaide girl was cool!
RIIIIIIING!
The bell shrieked outside the classroom and the children were dismissed. Gordon ran to the sport shed and grabbed a soccer ball before anyone else could, because John was on sport-shed duty and always let him in first. He ran back to his friends, kicking it across the ground to them. But his eye was caught on the girls. He stopped and watched. The girls, lead by Sarah, were saying something to her. They had the same looks on their faces as they did when they were talking to him- disgusted and patronising. Adelaide shouted something and turned and ran away from them.
"Well then, you're never hanging out with us!" Sarah shouted after her. "You're just as stupid as him!" Gordon frowned and marched over to them.
"You girls shouldn't be so mean to people. It's not very nice. I would hit you but my brother said I shouldn't hit weaklings." He swung around and walked after Adelaide. She looked close to tears.
"Hey, just ignore them, they're just silly squealy girls anyway," he told her. She smiled thankfully at him.
"They don't want to play wuth me. I just wanted to be friends," she said. Gordon's brow wrinkled at her accent.
"I'm Gordon from America and I speak English. Where are you from?"
"I'm Addie from New Zealand, but I don't know what language I speak," she replied, completely serious. Gordon accepted this reply.
"Okay. Do you wanna come play with us? Aleisha hangs with us, she's fun, like you. Come on, you'll like her." He beckoned to her and ran to his friends. She hesitated for a second, then followed him.
"Awww, what'd ya bring her for?" one of them groaned. Gordon took the ball off him.
"Naaaah, she's cool, you'll see! Come on!" He waved to her, and she came to stand next to him. "Can you play soccer?" She shrugged.
"S'pose. I'll try."
"Good! Jamie, you pick one team and I'll pick the other. Addie, you're with me!" Addie grinned, wondering about him. He seemed to be so enthusiastic and happy. She did hope they'd be good friends.
"I'm home!" Gordon yelled, throwing his bag down in the middle of the doorway. Alan, walking behind him, promptly tripped over it as planned. John took up the rear and kicked Gordon's bag to the side so people wouldn't trip over it. Again.
"Ooow!!!" moaned Alan, tears threatening to fall.
"Uh oh, the floodgates are opening!" called Gordon. "Batten down the hatches! Take cover! A storm's about to hit!" He threw himself under the dining room table, just as the first tear trickled down. John just gave him a look and put an arm around Alan's shoulders.
"It's okay. How about we put on one of those Mickey Mouse band aids, huh?" Gordon poked out his tongue and came out from under the table as John escorted Alan to the bathroom.
"Tsch. Typical." He ran out and dashed up the stairs, almost right into Jeff who was coming down them. "Oh! Hi dad!" he chirped, then skipped past and disappeared into his room. Jeff shook his head and sighed at his energetic younger son.
"Hi dad," called Scott, who'd just entered the house, Virgil behind him.
"Good afternoon Scott, Virgil," Jeff replied, acknowledging them. Virgil smiled and scooped Gordon's back off the floor from where Scott nearly fell over it.
"I'll just put this away," he said, heading up to Gordon's room. He pushed the door open until it got to about half way, then it got stuck on something. Grimacing, he squeezed through.
"Gordie?" Gordon appeared from behind a pile of toys and dirty clothes.
"Virgil! Hi! Good day at school?" He climbed over the pile and walked to his fish tank.
"What were you doing behind there?" asked Virgil, depositing Gordon's bag on one patch that seemed clean.
Without turning Gordon called, "Don't put it there, that's Alan's spot." Looking around, Virgil realised that about 2 square metres around Alan's bed were clear, and after that his clothes, Lego and dead food mingled with Gordon's and became No-Man's-Land. Virgil thanked his stars that he shared with Scott and Scott was immaculate. He moved the bag onto some clothes and watched Gordon fiddle with something small and yellow, which, when it started buzzing, he dropped into the fish tank. At a second look, Virgil realised it was a craft made out of Lego, celotape and superglue, as well as a remote-control car engine and propeller stolen from one of Alan's cars.
"What's that?"
"It's a yellow submarine, like in the Beatles song," replied Gordon, watching it in fascination, as it zoomed forward and began to circle the tank. Virgil came and stood next to him, wincing as something crunched under his foot.
"I made a new friend today," said Gordon, still watching the sub.
"Oh yeah?" asked Virgil as the sub began to chase one of the fish.
"Yeah, her name's Adelaide and she's from New Zealand," he replied, then pouted as the sub's motor ran out of battery and sank. "She's really nice."
"Oh. Well, I better go do some homework." Virgil sniffed, then wrinkled his nose. "Do you have three hundred year old food in here or something? Actually, I don't wanna know." He backed out as Gordon grabbed a fish net and tried to scoop out his sub, spilling half the tank down his front and on the floor. He headed down the stairs and sat on the sofa in the lounge. Scott glanced at him.
"What's up? You look a little green."
"I went in Gordon's room."
"Oh. That explains it." Jeff, unfortunately for Gordon, heard this comment.
"ALAN! GORDON!! TIDY YOUR ROOM NOW OR NO TV FOR A MONTH!!!!" he roared up the stairs.
"Aaaaaww!!!" There was a duet of groans and Alan trooped miserably up the stairs.
"It's all Gordon's mess," he grumbled. John came into the lounge too.
"You're lucky you have your own room, John," said Virgil.
"Yeah. Virgil is so messy," chimed in Scott.
"I'm not!"
"You so are!"
"Whatever," interrupted John. "I shared a room with Gordon once. It scarred me for life."
"Mmm," agreed the two older brothers, and they turned back to watching afternoon TV.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
(Time lapse: Ten years)
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Hey, Gordo," sighed a pretty auburn-haired girl, dropping onto the bench next to the teenager. "What's happening? How come you aren't in the common room with the other guys?" The now sandy-haired seventeen-year-old smiled at her, his hazel eyes happy.
"Oh, I just felt like enjoying the sun. We won't be able to do this for very much longer, you know. We'll be graduating next week. Then it's all over. Which reminds me, are you still planning on joining W.A.S.P. with me, Addie?" he asked with a grin. They'd shared almost the same courses at school, and the same ambition since they'd started high school together. Now it was nearly over.
"Of course! Duh! What made you doubt me?" she exclaimed, shoving his shoulder gently.
"I was just making sure you hadn't gone chicken on me," he replied, shoving her back with a laugh.
"Me? Chicken? Never!" Addie put on a look of fake shock. "That's never going to happen." She put her hands on her hips, and looked at Gordon determinedly. "Get outta town." Gordon raised his eyebrows and laughed.
"That's my girl!" he cried, than pulled her into a spontaneous hug. "You and me will rrrrule the Seven Seas! We'll be more notorious than Captain Hook, Blackbeard, Bluebeard, Redbeard... Do you think I should grow a beard? All the best captains had them." He pulled away from Addie, stroking his chin thoughtfully.
"No, don't grow a beard Gordon. It'd make you look stupid. Besides, I'm sure it just simply isn't done in the Air Force. Scott would be mortified! God forbid!"
"Heavens no!" Gordon shook his head. "Okay, no beard. But I will become a captain, with or without facial hair."
And that's just what he did. Within four years he had risen through the ranks or WASP to Captain of his submarine. He had a whale of a time doing what he loved best, until-
"Come on baby!!" Gordon pushed up to accelerator, feeling the wind whip through his hair. "That's the stuff!"
"Gordon! Will you please SLOW DOWN!!!" yelled Lieutenant Adelaide Rogers through the radio.
"Lighten up! This baby is safe as houses! The whole point is to test her speed. Ooooh, listen to her purrrr," he crooned. "I designed her myself, I have to test the full limitations of this craft to make sure it is as good as I hoped it would be. Besides, what can go wrong?" His laughing voice didn't sooth her concerns however. She wouldn't admit it but she had a growing feeling for that man, but she couldn't let it show until she was sure about it. She just hoped in the mean time he didn't-
"LOOK OUT!!!"
"My grandmother would kill me if she knew the last word I ever said was SHIT!!!" Gordon's voice can through the speaker, and then-
BOOM.