I sincerely apologize for not properly keeping up with my end of the bargain, but life has given me a few lemons to speak of as well some sugar for the process of making the lemonade. I finally found time to get this posted for you all and I appreciate the welcoming you have given this revamped story thus far.
dragonserpent18, I am glad I could deliver! Here's another helping for you to chew on!
TheIndividualist, thank you for your warm words! You need look no further! (well, until you finish this chapter of course!)
purplepancakes54, I am excited by your enthusiasm! Yes, I couldn't say that the story was done at all, especially when I noticed I would rush things in order to present for you all. I realize that I need to take the time and give this story and my ideas the respect they deserve, otherwise how can I truly be proud of what I have given you all to enjoy? But enough of that, please enjoy the next round!
Sonny April, I am actually editing them, taking some things out and adding new things in. Some of the first chapters remain relatively similar to the previous incarnation, but there are a few more flavor notes added to spice it up a bit. And with how many other stories we have on this site, its understandable that some details may have faded into distant memory. Still, please enjoy this continued work!
Softkitty55, Your wish has come true! at least in some part. Just read the chapter and you will understand. I can't spoil everything. What kind of writer would I be if I did that right at the beginning?
Linkwonka88, Continue I shall! Perhaps not as fast as I would like, but onward I do march in order to present this to you!
Nothingio, You will just have to wait and see what will become of our dear friend! That is a story for another day. (Though I agree, blue is very attractive :D)
avidreader, you shall have to wait and see, my dear! No surprises up front!
EmpororDarkstar, I understand that it may be upsetting, but the smoking was something I felt was needed for her character and for the ideas of what is to come with her. Please do continue to read, as perhaps you shall see something you do enjoy to the fullest!
As always, these characters do not belong to me, but to Warner Brothers and to the Dahl family.
Chapter 2: A Few Familiar Faces
Charlie took his seat in his first class, theatre, while the teacher made his way to his desk. Mr. Sween, as he was called, was a tall, lanky man with dark hair and a thin moustache. His walk was very similar to sneaking, which gave Charlie the impression that he had played the role of a villain in many theatrical performances.
"Settle down, class, settle down!" Mr. Sween called out in a voice that was soft, but strong, claiming his authority. He sat at his desk and opened the top drawer to pull out a slip of paper. As he held it aloft, Mr. Sween said, "I will now call for attendance. If you are not present, please tell me so right now."
Charlie chuckled at the little joke as Mr. Sween looked at the paper and cleared his throat to call the names upon it.
Mr. Sween smiled as he noticed the very first name on the paper. He called it with a very pleasant tone, "Charles Bucket!"
Charlie raised his hand and said, "Present!"
Mr. Sween looked at him and smiled even wider. "I should have known you would be taking this class, Mr. Bucket. Your mother was in the same theatre class as me, you know. She was marvelous, my boy, simply marvelous! And I'm sure I can expect the same thing from you! It's an honor to have you."
Charlie blushed a little as he smiled at the compliment, but he quickly noticed the other students looking at him and snickering. Embarrassed, he quickly buried his head in his folded arms, as an ostrich would in the sand. Charlie was never a fan of being praised in public, which was noticed by Mr. Sween, who cleared his throat again and continued to call out the rest of the names. Charlie was paying no particular attention until he heard a certain name. A name familiar to him, but one he never would have expected in a thousand years.
"Michael Teavee!"
Charlie's head shot straight out of his arms the moment the call reached his ears. He quickly scoped the room looking for the one who would answer, but none of the faces were ones he remembered. Unsurprisingly, none of them made any response to the name.
"Michael Teavee!" Mr. Sween called louder. The room remained silent and still. Mr. Sween then shook his head and sighed while he pulled out a pen to write about the absentee. As he did, he said, "Well, I do believe that Michael is-"
Mr. Sween was interrupted by the door in the back of the room slamming open. Every person turned to look at the figure in the doorway.
It was indeed, Mike Teavee, another person Charlie had met on the tour of the factory. Mike had left the factory having been almost twelve feet tall and as thin as a wire. He now appeared to have shrunk down to about seven feet tall, and his body had thickened into rather normal looking dimensions.
Mike, having noticed that every person in the room was staring at him, smiled and called out "The fun has arrived! Thank you, thank you very much!"
Mr. Sween sighed before saying, "I appreciate your enthusiasm for the theatrical arts, Mr. Teavee, but it would be wise that you arrive before I start attendance next time. Please take your seat. Right there next to Mr. Bucket will do."
Oh joy, Charlie thought as Mike made his way over to the table where he sat. To Charlie's chagrin, his table was the only one with an available seat. He and Mike had never hit it off when they were on the tour, and so Charlie steeled himself for whatever was to come.
Mike remained silent as he sat down and removed his backpack. The quiet was deafening, and it stretched on unbearably for what seemed to Charlie like years. As if to break the tension, Mike softly said, "Hey, Chuck."
"Hey," was all Charlie could think of to respond.
"Never thought I'd see you again."
"Likewise."
The silence returned as Mr. Sween began his lesson, which appeared to be on how theatre began.
"So, you live around here now?" Charlie asked.
"Yep," was Mike's reply.
"I thought you lived in Colorado."
"We did. My mom worked for a law firm. Receptionist, actually, even though she had taken classes to become a lawyer. She got a partnership offer in the area, which she took without any hesitation. As such, we packed our bags and hiked on over. My father tried to get a position as geography teacher here. No go. Turns out the positions were already filled. But there was an opening, so quicker than you can say 'Bob's your uncle,' my pops is a history teacher. Which would have been good, I guess, if it hadn't been for the fact that it's the freshman class."
"I see," Charlie said. Mike had been rather open, so Charlie had decided that was his way of trying to be friendly. He didn't want to seem rude, so he continued the conversation by asking,
"So, what's the reasoning of you taking a theatre class?"
Mike shrugged. "Well, I figured it would be better for me to learn how to act than to just sit back and watch others do it. Even though that is a fun thing to do. Oh well, only so much you can do when your time with electronics gets almost obliterated."
Charlie just nodded. He knew Mike had always been a television freak, but he figured after being shrunk by a giant camera, he would have been a bit more wary of any sort of electronic.
"And how did you get shorter? You were way taller when you left the factory."
Mike smiled after Charlie had asked the question. "Well, best guess is that the pull of the force of gravity was already making a bit of progress on bringing me down to my current height. I also drank a good amount of coffee. They say it stunts your growth. Apparently it can also revert it. Who knew, right?"
Charlie laughed as Mike finished his explanation. He didn't want to say it, but Mike had sounded much like Willy Wonka would have, given the circumstances.
"Once you two are done socializing," Mr. Sween said, turning to the duo as he spoke, "maybe you can actually pay attention and take notes. My class isn't an easy A if that's what you were looking for."
Mike and Charlie quieted down at the teacher's remark and began to truly participate in the studies. After the lecture part of the lesson, the two compared schedules and noticed that their study period was the same.
"Wow. What sheer dumb luck, huh?" Mike asked.
"Yeah. Especially since Violet's in there too."
"Violet?"
"Yeah. We were on the bus together. Found out she also lives nearby. Big coincidence, huh?"
"Weird coincidence if you ask me."
Charlie shrugged as the bell rang, signaling the end of class.
"Hey Chuck! Meet me before we go to study hall," Mike said. "No offence, but you look like the kind of guy who might attract unwanted attention. Figure you could use a bit of backup."
Charlie nodded his agreement before the two darted off in search of their next classes.
Violet arrived to her second class, geometry, just as the bell for the start of classes finished ringing. Sighing with relief, she glanced around the room for the perfect seat (which would be a table that nobody would be sitting at other than her). Unfortunately for her, the only available seat was one next to a guy who had "jock" written all over him.
Ugh… I hate jocks… Violet thought. Still, she sat down next to him, which gave her a better view of her "partner." He had a thin midsection that, should he not have been wearing his European soccer team jersey, she would have sworn had a six-pack. His arms were also a bit beefy, and were bristling with muscles. His face was chiseled to perfection, and Violet noticed that many of the girls (mainly the popular ones) were taking glances at him and giggling in a nauseatingly girlish way.
Mrs. Frogles, who had been Violet's math teacher the year before, sat behind her podium and began to call attendance. She was a slightly frail looking woman appearing to be in her late sixties at least, who had a mildly orangey skin tone, and a short stature that made it difficult for anyone to see her even as she sat on her elevated chair. Everyone in the school would joke that she was the only math teacher on campus as she would teach three different courses a day. Even so, Mrs. Frogles was a clever woman who knew almost everyone in the entire school, which led everyone to wonder why she stayed teaching math instead of trying to go for a better career.
After Mrs. Frogles had read a few names from the list, she narrowed her eyes and sighed, "Ah, Violet Beauregarde."
"Here, Mrs. Frogles," Violet said as she removed her hoodie, revealing a purple V-neck shirt that seemed to fit her a bit tight. Mrs. Frogles always made her classroom stiflingly warm, much to Violet's dismay. It reminded her of when Wonka said he had to keep the factory warm for his workers, the Oompa Loompas, as they were used to a tropical climate. She laughed inwardly at the thought of Mrs. Frogles maybe being related to them.
Mrs. Frogles looked at Violet with a stern eye, as if examining her like a new science experiment. "You won't be causing any trouble this year, will you, Violet?"
"No promises."
Mrs. Frogles kept an eye on her for a minute, then resumed calling attendance. Violet became oblivious to the other names as she got out her notebook. Many of the other students began whispering and pointing at her, and a few even silently laughed. Violet chose to ignore them all for now. Just when she got her pencil out of her pack, she heard something that made her stomach churn.
"Augustus Gloop!" Mrs. Frogles called.
Oh shit, Violet thought. Another member of the tour. Can't you be done torturing me, God?
As she straightened up, she scanned the class, looking for the boy she met on the tour. In her memory, he was a tub of lard with a face on it. She knew it was cruel to think that way, but back then he was just a stupid kid who happened to be in the way of her victory. Her observation of the classroom was void of anyone that could even resemble the tubby guy.
Maybe he's late? Violet thought, partially hopeful. Or maybe he'll never show up?
Violet could never have been prepared for what came next. The jock she had been forced to sit next to raised his hand and said, "Here." Violet was floored.
The hell happened to you? she thought.
Augustus turned to her and politely asked, "How have you been, Vi? You're looking a lot better than I imagined."
At first Violet couldn't speak. How could she? It was an almost impossible thing to imagine! Upon a closer inspection of his face, she could notice a few features that she remembered from him (what few she could recall), but the most amazing thing she noticed was his accent. More notably, the lack thereof.
Quickly, she focused her attention and cleared her head, which allowed her to notice something else about him. He had his eyes positioned not at her face, but at her chest. Only now did she realize that her shirt was revealing her greatly ample amount of cleavage. She managed to smile before she decided to answer his question.
"I've been good, Gus," she said as she put her elbow on the table and lay her cheek in her hand.
"Do you mind if I call you that? Augustus is just a mouthful."
"Not at all," he replied, his eyes seeming to be drawn only to Violet's bust.
Violet shrugged, then put her other hand under his chin and lifted his face until his eyes were looking in hers. "I'm up here, you know. I'm sure they're a great sight, but my face needs some attention too."
"Sorry," Augustus said, blushing. "Anyways, I'm sure you want to know why I'm here."
"I'm all ears."
"I'm a foreign exchange student." Gus started. "I started taking English lessons when I got back to Germany after the tour. I also started to work out because I finally realized that my weight was a problem. I started playing sports, mainly soccer, and that helped me lose weight as well. It didn't take me long for my school to offer me the chance to come to America. Needless to say, I took it without hesitation."
Violet listened intently while he explained himself. She then asked, "So, do you know which person you switched with? It had to be someone from around here."
"Yeah, we met before we signed the agreement for the exchange," Augustus responded. "Apparently that's part of the procedure. My exchange partner was some girl by the name of Cornelia Prinzmetal."
Violet began to laugh loudly once she heard that. "Oh my god! That's priceless! That traitorous whore followed me up here just to torment me. She thought she'd get the better of me, huh? Well, sayonara, you wicked bitch of the east!"
"Ms. Beauregarde!" Mrs. Frogles called from the front. "I will not tolerate any foul language in my classroom, especially during the lesson!"
Violet and Augustus both jumped at the shout. They hadn't even noticed she had been teaching for the last few minutes. The other students snickered as they watched Violet being scolded.
I'll give them something to really laugh at, she thought.
Smiling innocently, Violet then asked "Foul language? What could you mean by that? Oh, you mean bitch? That's not a bad word, you know. It's in the dictionary. Means 'female dog.'"
Some of the others laughed out loud, and a few others giggled. Mrs. Fogles hushed them all with a quick glare in their directions before replacing her eyes on Violet.
"Violet, if you say any more of those curses, I will have to report you to the principal!"
Violet bit her tongue. Nobody, not even troublemakers, ever dared press a teacher's buttons when the principal card had been played.
The principal had never been a good person to the students (even the goody two shoes had a hard time staying out of trouble with him). He was a stickler for rules, and he seemed to add more rules to the list every day. Violet hadn't been the best student the previous year, and she was certain he had a whole file cabinet full of misdeeds with her name on it. She was a bit amazed her record hadn't gotten her expelled.
Mrs. Frogles, having established her authority, cleared her throat and continued her lesson as if nothing had happened.
Augustus leaned to Violet and whispered, "You have a point, you know. Bitch really does mean 'female dog.' Also, the bitch in question likes Germany and my family, so she might stay there until graduation."
"Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord!" Violet whispered back, and the duo chuckled quietly at the thought. They then continued their lessons in silence, each knowing that a friendship between them had just been born.
Thank you for reading this chapter in An Unlikely Reunion! I will do my best to get more out to you as soon as I am humanly possible!