Hey guys, I'm back with a new chapter, I must say, been a while since I worked on this one, but, as the saying goes, all good things come to those who wait. Plus it took me a while to figure out where I wanted this to go from here.
The Monterios VS The Conterios Part 1
Once again, it was just one of those sunny, nice days that just gave Fernando that 'calm before the storm' type of foreboding feeling. Linda didn't so much as burn a crumb of breakfast and Tulio got to work on time, and Fernando, still in the early stages of summer vacation, didn't have much to do, so he had settled on going to the park with his soccer ball. Fernando just didn't know why he had these foreboding feelings, he just knew that he usually wasn't wrong and boy was he not wrong about today.
Tulio smiled as he finished signing off the last bit of today's paperwork before stretching a bit before finally leaving his office and heading into the part of the aviary that housed the sick and injured birds to keep their wounds from getting worse or spreading whatever was making them sick, picking up a bag of feed as he went. He quietly hummed one of his son's Michael Jackson remixes under his breath as he went, waving as he passed a co-worker before beginning to feed the sick and/or injured birds.
"Why hello my little feathered friends," Tulio greeted with a friendly smile pouring some seed in an aqua-green parrot's feeder. He just started to speak to them in his perceived bird language when someone commented in amusement, "Really Tulio, you call that bird communication? My grandmother can do better than that!" Instantly, Tulio's expression dropped into a highly unamused and rather annoyed and resigned type of look.
Sighing, he turned a deadpanned look to the person who had spoken as he replied, "Good morning to you too, Amelio."
The Conterio family were rather disturbing, almost identical copies of himself, Linda and Fernando, right down to similar names, like the US movie-type of disturbing. Bar the names, the biggest differences between them were different hair and eye colors as well as some minor differences in their facial features. Looking at Amelio now made it easy to pinpoint those differences; Amelio had a sharper nose and eye shape as well as a slightly darker skin-tone, plus he didn't have glasses, his hair was black instead of a medium brown and his eyes were a poisonous green.
Both families hated each other with a passion and competed over just about every little thing, though the Monterios tried to be polite and the bigger people, the Conterios knew how to push their buttons and make it difficult.
"Morning Tulio," Amelio replied in kind, sipping at his coffee, "You know I can make better communication with these birds than you can."
"Oh please," Tulio scoffed rolling his eyes, "You can't even communicate with the dead!"
"Well then, watch this," Amelio replied and started speaking in bird language, earning rather freaked out and startled squawks, "You see, they know what I'm talking about."
"Well, watch me do it twice as better as you!" Tulio huffed before doing the same as Amelio had done, before shooting his counterpart a smug smile, "Top that!" At this point, the birds just started to look between the two back and forth.
"Please," Amelio rolled his eyes, "I actually went to bird language school, I know what I'm talking about."
"You wouldn't know the difference between a certified language school and a movie theater," Tulio stated crossing his arms. "Oh yeah?" Amelio shot back, "You just make stuff up as you go along!"
"Well, if that's true, then how come they respond back to me?" Tulio asked incredulously. "Because they don't know what you're talking about!" Amelio replied agitated, "Me on the other hand..." This led to them competing over speaking to the birds in their perceived idea of speaking bird language.
"I swear these two are the dumbest people in the entire building, subspecies included," A small green and yellow parrot, who had both wings in bandages, commented with a shake of the head. "Agreed," Nigel, who was in with a foot in a cast, "At this point the only human I even remotely respect anymore is Fernando."
Meanwhile, at the grocery store, Linda was shopping, picking out the ripest fruit and putting them in plastic bags before placing them in the upper part of the cart so they wouldn't get bruised. She just started to look at the frozen food section when she heard, "Oh, Linda, funny seeing you here." Linda softly groaned before putting on her best (given her situation) polite smile as she turned to the woman who had spoken.
She was basically a Brazilian version of Linda with the same black hair as her husband Amelio, with sharper eyes and chin then Linda along with higher cheekbones, and her eyes were a dark brown. Unlike Linda, she didn't have glasses, but did wear a distinctive forest-green scarf with thin earthy brown designs on it instead. Her clothes were looser and less constrictive compared to Linda's, but did own a bookstore like Linda did.
"Same to you Nevada," Linda said politely, hoping her smile didn't look too forced, once upon a time she would've loved to have been friends with the admittedly beautiful woman, but events with their families soured the idea for her. "You know, my bookstore is booming surprisingly well," Nevada said in false good-natured conversation as she grabbed a can of soup from the shelf opposite of the freezer Linda was at, "You might want to be careful, yours just might find itself out of business."
Linda gave a slightly forced laugh, "As if," She settled on a package of ground beef, "I've been selling books back in Minnesota for years and even after I moved here, I have yet to lose a single customer." They both started down the aisle.
"Oh goody," Nevada said sarcastically, before bragging with a smirk, "I went to business school in North Carolina and got a degree."
"Okay, but at least I kept and raised an endangered bird," Linda replied with a smug smile. "Well, at least I saved my little cardinal from getting hit by a car," Nevada said refusing to let Linda one up her or have the last word. "I took care of Blu when he was sick," Linda stated. "And I took care of Red when he had the bird flu," Nevada retorted huffily, "So that's that."
They both paused after turning into the dairy aisle to see they were having a super sale on the eggs and there was only one carton left. Linda and Nevada looked at each and began pushing each other side to side, then started running for it.
"I won this round!" Nevada cheered but then saw Linda skating with her cart at full speed and bypassing her. "In your dreams sister!" Linda taunted before getting to the last carton first, turning a victorious smile at Nevada as she put it in her cart, "Beat ya!"
"That's okay, I got a can of chicken soup for less than a super discount, plus I have a coupon," Nevada smiled back viciously, "Have fun spending more Minnesota girl!"
"You just can't take a loss, can you?" Linda asked with a slight frown as she pushed her cart. "I'm the best and you know it," Nevada replied smugly and just when Linda was about to lose and let Nevada have it, they noticed all of the lines for the cashiers were crowded save for the last one. Both women looked at each other before racing for the counter.
Meanwhile, at the park's soccer field, Fernando was minding his own business, playing around with his soccer ball when a voice called, "What's up Fernando?" Fernando bit back an annoyed groan before turning a polite smile to his own Conterio counterpart. Bernardo was Fernando's double in almost every sense save two, sharp features and he didn't have the ability to hear animal's voices like Fernando did.
"Did you want something Bernardo?" Fernando asked politely as he kept his ball in the air but also kept his eyes on the Conterio. "I just thought since we were both here we could kick the ball into the net," Bernardo answered a smirk appearing onto his face, "Unless your scared to face a Conterio."
Fernando wasn't about to take it and said, "Bring it!" Before kicking the ball to Bernando. They then began trying to out run and out skill each other.
"You're so going to lose Fernando!" Bernando said trying to score a goal, but Fernando stole the ball. "Never going to happen," Fernando smirked, "You know I'm the best player on my soccer team."
"True, I got the same title as you," Bernando relented before doing a spin-kick move and stole the ball back, "But I'm better." And they continued like this until sunset.
That evening in the Monterio home, Tulio, Linda and Fernando were sitting at the table for dinner. Tulio had just taken a painkiller for his headache and Fernando had somehow strapped an ice-pack on his leg. "So, how was your day Tulio?" Linda asked to start conversation.
"Oh, it was just fine honey," Tulio replied, "Up until I had to compete with Amelio in speaking bird; now that really got my head hurting."
Linda turned to Fernando, "What about you sweetie?"
"I'm on dad's boat, Mom," Fernando answered, "Bernando and I went at it at the soccer field again."
"Huh, looks like we all got beef with them, I had to play super mom with Nevada at the store," Linda said frowning at the memory as she ate, "And spent more then I expected to because of her."
The very next day, the family of three decided to spend the day out together for some need fresh air and bonding time as they wondered around the city, when they eventually spotted the Conterios. "Dad what are we going to do?" Fernando asked, not wanting to deal with them again after yesterday. "Just relax and hope they don't spot us," Tulio replied.
"Tulio! Linda! Fernando!" Amelio called out, "Hey, we're over here!"
"Too late," Linda groaned before they walked over to the other family. "Hey guys, are you signing up for the family competition?" Amelio asked them, "We already did."
"You know, funny you should bring that up," Tulio said, "Me, my wife and my son have already signed up for the competition."
"Well isn't that a small world?" Nevada laughed, "Can you imagine two neighbor families competing in the same contest for that trophy?" She motioned to where the first prize trophy was displayed.
"I know for a fact we're going to be the ones bringing that trophy home," Fernando grinned. "Oh please, we can beat you guys in our sleep," Bernando stated confidently.
"Now Bernando that's not a very nice thing to say," Nevada, surprisingly, scolded her son. "Thank you for saying that Nevada," Linda smiled thinking she may have misjudged the woman. Nevada then smirked, "We'll beat them without even trying."
"Okay, I thought we were going to play good sportsmanship," Linda said in frustration, her game face on, "But clearly, we're going to play shoot to kill!"
"That," Tulio said backing his wife up, "And you know the Monterios are going to beat the Conterios."
"Careful, Tulio," Amelio said warningly, "Don't go make assurances you can't keep." Both families stared each other down in challenge.
That night, Fernando, being the only dancer of the family, spent most of the time teaching Tulio and Linda how to dance as the very first round of the competition was a dance off. When the next day came, a large crowd had come to watch the competition. All of the participating families were backstage, mostly doing last minute prepping.
"I'm kinda nervous," Fernando admitted as they waited for their turn. "Its okay sweetie, we got this," Linda assured with a confident smile. "That's right, we've been practicing for this event, we'll be fine," Tulio agreed.
"I wonder what the Conterios have in store," Fernando wondered idly. "One way to find out," Linda replied as they picked a place to sit and watch the show from backstage and wait their turn like the other families participating.
"Welcome to the event everyone," The announcer began, "Now please welcome our first dancers the Conterio family." As he left the stage, everyone began to clap as the music for Poison by BBD began to play as Amelio, Nevada and Bernando came onto the stage dressed in street dance clothes to match the music and they started to dance.
"I know they didn't," Linda commented. "They're making sure that they win the first round," Fernando said arms crossed as the Conterios did the signature dance of Poison, by doing the same thing as BBD and when it was all over the crowd clapped with joy. "Now I know this means war," Tulio said. "Agreed," Linda replied before they went to get ready for their turn.
As they were finishing getting ready, Amelio, Nevada and Bernando came by. "Hey guys, we just wanted to wish you good luck," Amelio started in a feigned-friendly tone.
"And to make sure there's no hard feelings," Bernando finished with a grin, "You guys can keep the trophy warm for us when we win." They walked away laughing as the Monterios glared after them.
"Okay, now we have to beat them," Fernando stated. "Agreed," His parents added.
When it was finally their turn, they walked out onto the stage as the music for Remember the Time by MJ played. Their clothes were a mix of Egyptian style with Brazilian colors and face paint. As they danced, they did the moonwalk together and when they did the lean in the crowd went crazy, no one seemed to notice a man in a dark jean jacket with a black cap and sunglasses recording the family. When the song was finally brought to an end, the entire crowd was cheering for them. After that, all the families that had participated came out onto stage, waiting to see who had won the first round.
"Okay, so first place goes to...the Monterios!" The head judged announced and the crowd cheered.
"We did it!" Linda squealed as they shared a celebratory group hug, "We won the first round!" The other families all congratulated them in good sportsmanship, except the Conterios, who were glaring.
"Okay, you guys might've won the first round," Amelio said begrudgingly, "But remember, there are still three more challenges left."
"And this time, its going to be us winning!" Bernando continued with his arms crossed. "Believe that!" Nevada added.
And I'm going to end it here, hope the wait was worth it, cause I can only stretch something so far.
Tell me what you guys think!
Till next time everyone!