Chapter 3 - My brain is not damaged, but in need of some repair
"Does the whole society think we're stupid?" Keely asked as she sat down at the seat opposite Phil.
Phil looked up at her, and raised his eyebrows. "I'm guessing we're excluding Owen from this conversation."
"But honestly, do they really think we're going to eat this muck, and then not sue them when we're 20 and we have major heart problems?" Keely said, as she poked her fork into what looked like salad, but could just as easily have been meat.
Via walked over to Keely, but seeing Phil, she swirled on her feet, and began to cough.
"Oh my god," Keely groaned and threw her fork down.
Phil looked over at Via, who was standing talking to Owen, but kept shooting glances over at their table. "What's going…"
Keely put a finger to his lips. "No. Don't you dare ask, because I will get madder than I am now." She slowly took her hand away, and opened her soda can.
"Okay," Phil said, and sat back in his chair, just watching Keely.
Keely took a drink, and then caught onto the fact that Phil was staring at her. Automatically bringing her hand up to her face, she looked worried. "What? Do I have something on my face?"
"No. You're p…you're okay," Phil said, covering up what he was going to say.
Keely smiled, and took another gulp of her drink. "Good. Because I have enough on my plate. I don't need to be looking like a clown right now."
Via came over and sat down, not making eye contact with Keely or Phil.
"Hey Via," Phil said, and broke his gaze from Keely.
Via almost choked on her sandwich, and then forced a smile. "I'm fine. How are you?"
Keely widened her eyes, as Via looked at her. "Via. Don't you have, like a science book to hand back to the library?"
"Nope," Via shook her head. "But if I'm disturbing anything, I'll go…"
Phil laughed. "And what would you be disturbing? Keely's ramblings about how pathetic her life is?"
"Hey!" Keely faked hurt.
Via looked at both of them. "You know what, I think I might be in the middle here…"
Keely grabbed Via's elbow. "No. You're staying," she leaned forward to get the salt, but was actually talking to Via. "And I'm gonna prove that there's nothing going on."
"What was that?" Phil asked.
Both Keely and Via looked up at him. "Nothing."
"Okay, whatever," Phil said, looking at them suspiciously.
"Guys!" Owen yelled, as he sat down opposite Via. "And Via, you are looking charming today."
Via rolled her eyes and looked back down to her sandwich. "Hey Owen…"
Owen nudged Phil, and raised his eyebrows a few times. Phil groaned. Owen couldn't honestly believe that his plan would work. Then again…it was Owen.
"So, Owen. What's up?" Keely said, pushing her lunch away from her.
"Nothing. Much. I was just telling Via that I'm destined to get an A on my next algebra test," Owen grinned.
Keely's eyes swivelled down to her hands. "Yeah, and pigs fly."
"Pigs fly?" Owen asked, seriously.
Phil smiled with sympathy at Owen, and then looked at Keely, smirking.
Keely rolled her eyes at Owen, and then got up. "Guys, I have to go. There's a thing that needs seeing to, in the…um…Broadcast Lab. Phil, can you help me?"
"Sure," Phil said, cottoning on to the fact that Keely just wanted to get away.
Via said goodbye, and then watched as they walked away. Yeah right, there was nothing going on between them.
Keely took a deep breath as they left the cafeteria. "That was intense."
"What?" Phil asked, as they began to walk down the corridor.
Keely followed him. "Having to live another lunchtime, with Owen being stupid, Via being accusative and me and you watching from the sidelines."
"You're really hung up over this, stuck-in-a-rut thing, aren't you?" Phil said.
"Yes. I mean, all my life, I've lived in Pickford, and nothing exciting ever happened to me, until you came," Keely said, extravagantly motioning with her hands, her whole life.
Phil smiled. "I'm glad I could be of assistance."
"And now, the novelty of that has worn off, and now I'm boring again. And I don't want to be boring again," Keely moaned.
"You're not boring Keels," Phil said, sympathetically.
Keely nodded as she opened the door to the Broadcast Lab. "Yes I am! I am stuck in this boring town, with no excitement, no happiness and NO BOYFRIEND!"
"Keels…" Phil winced as Keely announced her life to Mr Hackett, who was sitting waiting in the Broadcast Lab.
Keely gasped as she opened her eyes and saw her Vice-Principal sitting there. "Um…Mr Hackett…I…we were rehearsing for a play. It's called…um…Stuck in the Suburbs…"
"Stuck in the Suburbs?" Phil murmured behind her. "Isn't that a Disney Channel film?"
Keely nodded and whispered back. "Yes, but I had to think of something," and then, bringing her voice back to the perky, loud normal tone, she smiled. "Hey Mr Hackett. So, what're you doing in here?"
Mr Hackett got up, and looked from Keely to Phil, and then back to Keely. "What are you both doing here at lunchtime?"
"We…" Keely tried to think of a reasonable excuse. Broadcast Lab had been banned at lunchtimes unless pupils were editing recently filmed pieces, thanks to Phil's Wizrd. It had gone off, and destroyed reels and reels of film.
Phil nudged Keely with his elbow. "Don't you remember Keels? We have to edit that piece of you talking to Danny Dawkins about the weather."
Mr Hackett looked suspiciously at Phil, but was greeted with a forced smile. The same expression was plastered on Keely's face. "Hmm…well, I only came in here to talk to you about your news broadcast this morning. I wasn't impressed with your opinion on my rules about the fundraiser. Can you please not contradict me? It encourages students to, as well."
Keely nodded. "No problem. I'm sorry. I just…didn't think."
"And your personal life, like whether or not you're going to the movie night, shouldn't be involved at all," Mr Hackett said.
Phil put his thumb up. "Okay. We'll keep that in mind!"
"Thank you," Mr Hackett said, and with one last look around, he left, leaving Phil and Keely standing in the doorway, Phil with his thumb up.
Keely looked over at Phil. "Can you put your thumb down, please?"
Phil did so, and watched Keely flop herself onto the couch, and buried her face in a pillow. "Are you okay Keels?"
"I'm fine. I just announced my life story to my vice-principal, and I'm still stuck in the same old life as before. The world sucks!" Keely screamed.
Phil closed the door. "Keely, calm down."
"Easy for you to say. If things get boring for you, you just hop on a Skyak, morph yourself into Brad Pitt, or whatever, and attend a movie premiere in LA. You get as much excitement as you want. But in the 21st century we aren't as lucky!" Keely groaned.
Phil laughed. "But it's kind of hard when Brad Pitt is already at the premiere."
"You know what I mean. I'm saying, life sucks when you can't change it whenever you want to," Keely said, sitting up.
"Well, it's the kind of life that you can't change that makes the world more exciting. You don't know what comes next," Phil smiled.
Keely rolled her eyes. "Can you stop being so logical? It annoys me."
"I can't help the way I am," Phil grinned.
Which was exactly why Keely liked him. He was himself. And nothing else. No matter how annoyingly logical he got.
Hm...what to put in the next chapter?
Well, until you review, I won't start it. So you can give me ideas, if you have any, of where you want the story to go. I have a rough idea, but if you could fill in the vague areas, I'd be appreciative...
Peace out...
