Growing Pains Interlude

Hello, everybody, I'm back with a brand-new chapter on deck. We covered Molly and Gil, now it's time to draw our attention to the make believer himself, Goby. Let's see how he's been doing.

P.S.: this chapter contains slight language. You have been warned.

Chapter 3

"Life's…not…fair, isn't it?" Scar asked his dinner. "You see, I…well, I shall never become king…" he continued. The mouse tried to fight his way from Scar, but Scar clearly had the advantage. The mouse squealed for help, but nobody was around to hear his pleads. "…and you…shall never see the light of another day. Adieu." The predator finished his sentence before he proceeded to eat as his pray squeaked loudly for assistance.

"Didn't you mother ever tell you not to play with your food?" Zazu interrupted.

"What do you want?" Scar scuffed under his breath.

"I'm here to announced that King Dexter – I mean Mufasa is on his way. So, you better have a good excuse for missing the ceremony this morning."

While Scar was too distracted by Zazu, he lost focus on his food. The mouse escaped from Scar's clutches and retreated back to his home. "Oh. Now, look, Zazu, you made me miss my lunch," Scar replied.

"Ha. You'll miss more than that when the king gets through with you. He's as mad as a hippo with a hernia."

"Ooooh. I quiver with fear." Scar proceeded to grew inches closer to Zazu. Since his dinner ran away, Scar decided to made the hornbill his replacement. Zazu noticed and slowly backed away from the greedy lion.

"Now, now, Scar. Don't look at me like that," Zazu ordered, but Scar wasn't backing down.

The lion continued looking down on the bird in hunger. His teeth were sharp like a thousand razors, sharp enough to pierce through skin like butter. At least that was what Goby was trying to picture instead of the leftovers stuck in between Eddie's teeth. Zazu had to escape before he became dinner, but Scar didn't let him get far. "Scar?" Mufasa's voice bang on Scar's eardrums. "Drop him."

"Impeccable timing, your majesty," Zazu commented as Scar reluctantly set him free.

"Why, if it isn't my big brother dissenting from the height to mingle with the colliers." Scar circled around the older sibling like everything was alright before walking away.

"Sarabi and I didn't see you at the presentation of Simba," Mufasa informed.

"That was today? Oh, I feel awful." The sarcastic young brother claimed while scratching his nails on a nearby rock. The sound of his nails scraping was like a female teacher's long, manicured nails on an old chalkboard. "Must had slip my mind." Once recovered from the ear trauma, Zazu noted that Scar should had been first in line as the king's brother. However, the blue bird retreated behind his boss after Scar exposed his teeth to him again. "Well, I was first in line until the little hairball was born."

"That hairball is my son and your future king," protested Mufasa.

"Oh, I shall practice my curtsy." After responded back, Scar began to walk away.

"Don't turn your back on me, Scar!"

Scar stopped halfway but only to turn his head around. "Oh, no, Mufasa. Perhaps you shouldn't turn your back on me." Hearing that, Mufasa ran up to his brother and stood right in front of him. However, there was a moment of silence for a moment. "I said perhaps you shouldn't turn your back on me." Eddie voiced his latest line louder, but nothing else happened. "Nonny, what is going on back there?"

"Stop rushing me. Just give me a minute," Nonny fired in response while taking off his mouse costume. Suddenly, a loud siren-like sound started blaring in his eardrums. He covered his ears and lifted his head toward the ceiling. The red alarm was flashing a white light while it continued to go off.

"Okay, everyone, this is not a planned fire drill. So, I need everyone to evacuate," Mrs. Tyler instructed. Students were emerging from various locations in the auditorium; from the control room to the wardrobe department or on the stage. Everybody headed to the nearest exit and followed another group of teachers and students already standing outside of the school. The entire school was abandoned from the inside filled with closed doors, opened lockers, and paper scattered all over the floor.

The teachers and other facility members were checking to see did everyone came out of the building. Sirens and flashing lights were approaching the school from a distance. "Oh snap. The fire chief is here? This must be serious," Goby pointed out. Very rare for a fire truck to arrive at the school. Usually the fire alarms would only go off during a practice fire drill or for testing.

But Eddie sucked his teeth. "Serious? Probably just another freshman who pulled the fire alarm."

"As much as I hate to agree with Eddie, Goby, he does have a point. Nobody wants to spend their summer vacation at summer school," Dexter responded.

Due to the fire alarms going off, Mrs. Tyler had taken a role call to make sure every student was present. "Alright, everyone, listen up. I just got word that there was no fire," she announced. "Another student pulled the fire alarm to get out of class." All of the students grunted, sucked their teeth, and rolled their eyes hearing that announcement. Most of the students like Dexter and Eddie were not surprised. However, everybody was still aggravated and annoyed. "Anyway, that will be all for today. We will resume rehearsal tomorrow and we'll pick up where we left off. 3:00 and don't be late."

Mrs. Tyler went back into the school while some of the students were already leaving the premises. Nonny was one of them. "Leaving already, Nonny?" Goby asked.

"Yeah. My brother is having a Bar Mitzvah this weekend, so I'm heading to the church. I'll see you guys tomorrow," Nonny said before heading out.

"Since rehearsal is over, you guys wanna shoot some hoops at the park," Dexter asked his friends, but Goby and Eddie just turned to each other. Both of them were unsure about the decision for obvious reasons.

"I don't know, man. I'm not trying to get into no mess with John and his crew," Eddie explained.

"Neither am I. You know the story between me and him," Goby added.

But Dexter sucked his teeth and brushed off their excuses. "John's still in juvie. He won't get out until September."

Goby and Eddie was still unsure. Whenever they encounter John, things always go sideways. There was always some altercation or tension. But maybe with John gone, it won't be bad.

Something was weighing heavily on Goby's mind. It wasn't common for Eddie to find him struggling in the era of sports, but his one-on-one match against Dexter proved otherwise. "Come on, Goby, you're not going easy on me, are you?" Dexter asked.

Goby sucked his teeth in response while rolling his eyes. "Please. All the greatest ball players stumble a few times. But they always bounce back," he proclaimed while passing the basketball back over to his friend. Since Dexter scored that last point, it was his ball.

While Dexter was dribbling the ball, Goby spread both his arms out to prevent him from getting pass. "That's a positive way of looking at things, man. But I don't think even the greats could recover from this."

Dexter shifted his body to Goby's right. However, he moved the ball from his left hand to his right. Dexter shifted his entire body to his right in a split second without giving Goby the chance to even blink. The indigo-haired teen stumbled and collapsed on all fours while his friend rushed over to the basketball net. Once he was close enough to the net, Dexter shot the ball. The basketball bounced off the backboard before touching the rim. Eventually, the ball went through the net. "Damn, Goby. You're part of the Brantley family and you let him cross you like that?" Eddie asked.

After standing back on his feet, Goby brushed himself off. However, he had nothing to say. "And that makes the final score: 15 to 12," Dexter said. He couldn't help but gloat for a bit. "You must be stumbling for a while now."

"Shut up, man. I…"

"What? Let me cross you so easily and made you break your ankles? I think not." But Goby brushed him and his gloating to the side. "But seriously, Goby, are you two still worried about John? I told you guys he won't be out in the Fall."

"It doesn't make things easy," Goby said.

"He's right, Dex, especially the fact he has ties with the Southside Lords," Eddie tuned in. He also pointed out the Southside Lords had been running the neighborhood lately. Just stepping on their territory was a casually for war. "And since we moved out of this neighborhood, they basically said we're no longer welcome."

"Not unless you guys have me around." The three teenagers turned to a familiar face in the form of a pair of red shorts, a black T-shirt, and spiky, red hair. He walked over to the boys while tossing his gym bag near the trees. "Since we're all here, you guys in a mood for a two-on-two game?"

"Nice to meet you too, Chris," Goby said. "What brings you by?"

"Well, I was minding my own business when I noticed you guys here. Not the smartest thing to do with the Lords running around. So, you guys wanna shoot some hoops or not?"

Walking up from behind, Eddie snatched the ball from Chris's hands. "I'm down for a game. Better than standing around in this hot sun doing nothing."

Chris paired up with Goby while Eddie and Dexter were on the same team. For the next half hour, both teams took turns passing the ball around and making shots. Each team giving it their best to prevent from losing to their opponents. The team of Eddie and Dexter had 10 points while Goby and Chris were up by three. They needed two more points in order to win. Chris passed the ball to his teammate, but it was intercepted by Dexter. However, the ball bounced off his hand and was rolling down the court.

Good news was somebody used his foot to stop the ball from rolling further. Bad news? "Oh shit!" Eddie voiced.

The guys were in for big trouble. That trouble was in the form of a dark male wearing jean shorts, a plain white tee, and a black bandana wrapped around his head. He was joined by three other guys wearing the same colored shirt and bandanas. Dexter couldn't just walk over there and retreat his ball. It wasn't that simple since they weren't supposed to be at that court in the first place. "What do we do now?" He asked his friends.

"Let's just get out of here," Goby answered. He turned around but only to find his worst nightmare. Walking on the court wearing the same white tee, blue jeans, and a snapback backwards was John.

"Leaving so soon, G-Man? I just got out of the joint today man," John replied.

"I'm happy for you, but its time for us to leave." But Goby and his friends were surrounded by John's crew.

They weren't about to go anywhere even if they really want to. "So, you think you can walk on our turf and get away with it? Naw, man. That ain't happening."

"Wait, ain't you that punk Goby who ran away after losing a fight?" One of John's crew members pointed a finger at the male.

Goby already saw the red flags coming to the court. Nevertheless, he was not about to let himself get harassed for something that was out of his control. "For the record, I didn't run away. My mom moved us out of the neighborhood."

"Yeah and to that little stuck up neighborhood and attend that stuck up school? You think you better than us, huh? With your punk self?" John stepped up until he was only an inch away from Goby's face.

Dexter stepped into the circle and in front of John. Since he was the one who convinced Goby and Eddie to play some ball on the court, Dexter felt he had to get them out of their situation. "Wait a minute, John. We didn't come here for that," he explained. "We just finished rehearsal and just wanted to play some ball to burn out some time."

But Dexter received a serious glare at the troubled male. John just stared at his enemies before snatching the basketball from Dexter's hands and tossing it far away off the court. "Not anymore. This is our court and don't nobody could just come here. So, you fools better get outta here. Next time, I'll toss you."

Dexter would ask for his ball back, but something was telling him that wouldn't be a wise decision. As the four were leaving, they were reminded just how troublesome John and his crew and all the mess they got them into, especially Goby. "Look…"

"Whatever, Dex. I don't wanna hear it," Goby cut him off. "I'm going home. I'll talk to you guys later."

Just in case you're a little confused by the beginning, Goby and his friends Eddie, Dexter, and Nonny were rehearsing for a school pay version of "The Lion King." Goby is playing Zazu, Eddie is playing Scar, Dexter is Mufasa, and Nonny is the mouse that Scar attempted to eat as well as in charge of sound effects.

I am really sorry talking about canceling this fanfic. I don't know what I was thinking at the time I put out that author's note. But since the world has been social distancing, I have plenty of time to finish up some old fanfics like this one. Three chapters down, four more to go. I added a seventh chapter for Zooli. Next chapter will be about the drama queen, Deema. Until next time…

Stay safe, stay tuned.

P.S.: if anybody have any ideas for Oona, DM me your idea and we can discuss her chapter.