Woohoo!! Chapter seven is here!
I'd like to dedicate this chapter to all my lovely reviewers and my friend Tim!! Who does not even know that this story exists, but I am just so happy that he's finally out of the hospital that I think it's necessary. XD
I also just want to mention again that after that last chapter, this story will probably be much lighter in tone and mood!
ENJOY!
"So I take it Johnny's doing better?"
"Yes, much better actually. Robert's really helping."
"That's great!"
"Yeah, although he's still not totally back to normal...I don't think he'll ever be like he was before Tyler died."
"Well it's taken him long enough just to get this far," the Frenchwoman on the other line commented.
"I'm just happy he's gotten to where he is now," Kristen told the other woman, "He's actually coming out of his room and spending time with the rest of us. He comes down for dinner and actually eats...which he hasn't done for a while, not unless he was starving."
It had been almost two months since Johnny had opened up and told Robert everything. Things were going pretty good, but the Scotsman still refused to venture out of the house—and had already promised not to go anywhere near the park.
Robert was working on that.
Johnny was also still very easily annoyed and angered—and maybe a little antisocial.
Robert was working on that too.
Actually, Robert was working on several things. He'd already fixed some things too.
And as she'd promised, Kristen had kept Antionette updated the whole time. And this current phone call had been placed to invite the Frenchwoman and her son (and Enrique of course) to come up and stay with them in Scotland for a while. She figured they all needed a break as much as she did—and, well, she was eager to get Johnny more friends...or at least expose him to other people.
On Antionette's end, the past two months were rather uneventful—though they were eventful enough to fully tire one out and leave one wanting a vacation. Her and her previous husband had come to some form of an understanding and made arrangements for both Oliver and how the whole money situation would pan out. They would have enough to get by and Antionette got to keep the house, which made her very happy. Her husband wasn't a bad man, and he wanted them to have a good life—even if he was only doing it for Oliver and Enrique.
Despite this, the woman was still not totally pleased with the outcome, but that could be dealt with later. The only thing that kept her from complaining just yet was that the court order wasn't final and that Oliver didn't have to do anything that he didn't want to.
Also, with the matter of Enrique, the Frenchwoman had received no call from the young Italian's parents asking for him back yet, so she figured that meant he could stay with her and her son for a while yet.
That was fine with her, she loved the blond like her own son. How else are you supposed to feel about a child that you raised? She also knew that Oliver would be very unhappy indeed if his best friend would have to leave.
All in all, things were going alright on both sides.
It seemed like a good time for a visit...before things got too hectic and out of control again.
"Well I'm glad he's not keeping himself locked up in solitary any more." Mrs. Boulanger (or now is it Ms. Boulanger?) paused for a brief moment, "So he's made friends with Robert then?"
The Scottish woman laughed. "You might say that...in a strange sort of way."
"Oh?"
"Yes, they aren't quite friends like Enrique and Oliver, but they get along well enough. They can sometimes be quite comical together."
The other woman laughed lightly.
After a while, Kristen got to the original reason for her call. "I take it this is a good time for a vacation?"
"Yes this would be the perfect time for a little break." Antionette answered pleasantly.
"Well then why don't you go ahead and bring the boys up here to Scotland? I'm sure they'd like it."
"Oh they certainly would," the Frenchwoman agreed. "I'm sure we can clear a spot on our schedule to come and see you guys. I'll tell the boys to start packing, we'll fly up two days from now."
"Sounds good to me," the Scotswoman then posed a question to her friend. "How long do you think you can stay?"
"I think we should be able to sacrifice a week." Antionette answered, "Is that okay for you?"
"Sure," Mrs. McGregor said, "Well I better get going...it's almost time for dinner."
"Alright, see you Saturday."
"Okay," the Scottish woman started to wrap up the conversation, but then remembered something else she might want to tell her friend. "But before I go I should probably warn you. Johnny is still a little rude and snappy."
"That's fine, I'm sure these two can handle it." Mrs. Boulanger assured the other woman.
"M'kay..." the voice was a little skeptical. "Ill see you then."
"Bye!" Antionette ended the conversation with that cheery note. She then went downstairs in search of the boys.
No doubt they were off somewhere making a disturbance.
"Mommy! Enri—"
"Don't listen to him! I didn't do anything!"
She was right.
"Yes you did! You know you did. And now mommy will know too! MOMMY!"
"No I did not! You're lying again!"
Both boys were shouting at the top of their lungs. Antionette followed the noise up another set of stairs and into Oliver's room where the boys had been playing together peacefully until now. Upon entering the room, she was attacked by both of the boys who were each shouting their own versions of what happened at her.
"Mommy mommy mommy! I was minding my own business when Enrique decided he was going to attack me and he jumped on me!"
"No no no no no! I did not! You pushed me off the bed first! It was self defense!"
"Well you didn't have to jump on me!"
The two had turned to face each other and instead of complaining to Oliver's mother and had begun to fight with each other.
"I only did that after you pushed me off and then you jumped on me!"
"I fell on you Enri! There is a difference."
The Frenchwoman rolled her eyes.
"Oh did you now?" Enrique retaliated, "In that case I 'fell' on you too!"
"That is not true! I know you—"
"Boys!" The woman cut Oliver off, successfully getting the boys' attention.
"What?" They said so innocently that you would have thought that they were actually innocent.
She knelt down to face the two troublemakers. "Oliver, did you push Enrique off the bed?"
"Um...maybe," her son responded, only slightly convincing.
"Yes, he did." Enrique helped.
"And Enrique," the woman rounded on the blond, "Did you jump on Oliver?"
The Italian opened his mouth to answer but Oliver cut him off.
"Yes! And he knocked me off the bed in the process!"
Enrique sent his best friend a glare. "You shouldn't have pushed me in the first place."
Antionette rolled her eyes, then interrupted their bickering yet again. "Enrique, I asked you if you jumped on Oliver. Did you?"
"Well...uh...not really...I'd say it was more of a tackle."
The woman raised a delicate eyebrow. "Really?"
The Italian nodded enthusiastically.
"Oliver, what did you do after Enrique jump—ah—'tackled' you off the bed?" the Frenchwoman continued with her interrogation.
Her son gave her a mildly conceited look, "I crawled out from under him and stood up. Then I tried to get away before he decided to attack me again, but he grabbed my ankle and I fell on him!"
"No no NO! That's not what happened at all! I got off you, then you got up and jumped on me!" Enrique defended himself.
"I see," Antionette said skeptically, "well if I don't get the truth, then neither of you will be going to Scotland with me."
"What?" Oliver blinked at her, suddenly quiet and less demanding.
"Scotland?" Enrique inquired, tilting his head slightly to the side.
"Yes. But I'm afraid I can't take liars to Scotland, so you two will have to stay put while I go alone." She paused for dramatic affect and to see how her son and his friend were reacting. "Maybe I'll take someone else's good children," she fake pondered.
The two boys gasped.
"No no, you don't have to do that!" Oliver said whilst waving his hands out in front of him as though this would stop her from doing what she's mentioned.
"Yeah, we'll be good I promise!" Enrique backed his friend up, his own hands clasped as if praying—which in a way he was. (A/N: XD)
"Hmm..." Antionette pretended to think some more. "Maybe if I knew what really happened...?"
"Oh sure!" her son replied instantly.
"Of course, anything!" the blond promised.
"Well then, now that you've decided to tell me the truth," the woman turned to their eager faces, "Oliver, did you jump on Enrique after he knocked you off the bed?"
The green haired boy hung his head in defeat. "Yes," he mumbled.
"I see," she turned to Enrique, "And you tackled him off the bed before he jumped on you?"
The Italian nodded, eager to please, "Mmhm."
"But I do believe," the Frenchwoman said as she turned slowly to look at her son, "that you started all this by pushing Enrique off the bed in the first place."
Oliver gasped and looked at his mother with wide eyes, "Do I still get to go to Scotland?"
"That depends..." the woman tapped her chin in mock thought, "are you sorry?"
Catching the hint, Oliver turned his head quickly to face Enrique. "Sorry I pushed you off the bed Enri."
"You should be," the blond said smugly.
"And Enrique," Mrs. Boulanger continued, "would you like to apologize for your actions?"
"But I didn't—" the Italian stopped short when he saw Antionette cross her arms. "I'm sorry Oli," he instantly changed his mind about apologizing.
"I forgive you." Oliver accepted the apology properly to earn himself points with his mother.
"Well I guess that's that." The woman stood up and turned back towards the door. "I'll be seeing you two," she said as she began to leave.
"Wait!"
Two small figures attached themselves to her legs, stopping all movement and immobilizing her.
"Yes?" She looked down at her son.
"What about Scotland?" he asked innocently.
"Oh yes. I suppose I did mention that..." She pretended to just remember, "Perhaps if you two would let me go I could tell you more."
They instantly detached themselves.
Antionette strolled casually past them and sat at the foot of her son's unnecessarily large bed.
The boys followed her at lightning speed and sat down on either side of her.
"My friend Kristen has invited us to come and visit her and her family in Scotland. We'll be staying at her house for a week," the woman began to explain.
Enrique scrunched his face up, "Will there only be adults there?"
Antionette laughed. "I'm sure you two could entertain yourselves if it was only adults. But no, there will be other children there."
"Who?" Oliver wanted to know, delicately swinging his legs.
"I know their son Johnny will be there. And his friend Robert should be there too. They're both around your age." She told the two. Then she thought for a bit before adding on, "Kristen told me that Johnny can be a little mean sometimes, so I want you two to be nice. And be on you best behavior."
"Oh don't worry," Oliver assured his mother, "I'm always on my best behavior."
"And so am I." Enrique told the woman.
"That's good to know," she informed them.
"When do we leave?" the French boy asked her.
"Saturday," Antionette answered, "so we had better get packing."
"Okay!" Oliver jumped off his bed.
"This is gonna be fun!" the blond followed his friend off the bed.
"Yes it is." Antionette agreed, watching as the two ran off to Oliver's closet to find his suitcase.
In Scotland, Robert climbed the stairs and entered Johnny's room with confidence.
The Scot was sitting by his window, staring out and looking bored rather than sad. He turned to the German when he heard the other boy enter the room. "Hey," he mumbled a greeting.
"Your mother just told me we'd be getting some guests here this weekend." Robert told the redhead.
"Really?" Johnny adjusted himself so he was sitting facing Robert, his back to the window and his feet dangling over the edge of the window seat. "Who?"
The Jurgen took a seat on Johnny's bed, directly across from the other boy. "Her friend Antionette, her son Oliver, and his friend Enrique."
"Hmm..." this was Johnny's only response.
Robert guessed that the other boy was thinking of ways to stop this visit from happening. Or at least on how to corrupt the visit in some way.
"Your mother also said that she wants you to try your hardest to be polite and civil."
Johnny snorted. "Yeah, we'll see. Did my dad have anything to say?"
"He said that you better play nice with the other kids, or he'll leave you to rot on the moor." Robert repeated what Mrs. McGregor had told him her husband said.
"Figures..." Johnny muttered, "Too bad I won't."
Robert sighed. "Why must you always be so set on being antisocial and rude?"
"Because people are antisocial and rude to me." Johnny defended himself, sounding to Robert a little like the Scot was mocking him.
"Well they expect you to at least try and be friendly. And for that matter so do I." The German stressed to the stubborn boy.
There was silence for a while. (A/N: It appears that silence likes Johnny...it always seems to happen when he's around.)
"I think I'm getting sick," Johnny said.
"Oh really? What a shame," Robert didn't believe the other boy for a second. He knew Johnny better than that. "I hope you don't get our guests sick. That would make for a very unpleasant trip for them indeed."
The Scot crossed his arms with a huff. "Oh alright! I accept that they're coming and I can't change that."
"Good."
"But I won't play nice with the other kids."
"Yes you will." Robert told him.
"No, I don't think I will."
The German rolled his eyes, "Well I think you should at least try."
"I'm not promising anything." Johnny said adamantly.
Robert slid off the bed. "You'd better be nice...I don't think you'll want to make a bad impression."
"I think I do want to."
The ruby eyed boy heaved a huge sigh at the other boy's defiance and asked to no one in particular: "Why are you so stubborn?"
"I dunno." Johnny shrugged, sarcasm edging his voice. Then a thought struck him. "When will they be here? And more importantly, when are they leaving?"
"They'll be here on Saturday. I believe that they're staying for a week." Robert answered in a nearly emotionless voice.
"Great." Yet more sarcasm.
"Yes, it is," Robert shot back, "Now let's go. It's time for dinner."
"Of course your royal majesty." Johnny followed the German our of his room, still not looking forward to the upcoming visit.
There you go, another chapter!!
I hope you enjoyed it...Also, they all do have their beyblades by now...I just didn't really want to describe that because it's not that interesting to me. All you need to know is that they got them from their fathers.
Review please? I do so love it when you do.