Here's another one!

LRW, Lady Cougar-Trombone, Rodrigo, LRFan, and LrLover444 all got it right! The youngest students in the Academy are Spin and Bob.

Long note at the end of the Chronicle.

Contains one of my favorite conversations to have written. Hope you guys enjoy!

Episode Tag to: Adam Steps Up

Chronicle #046

"Helix"

02/28/15

10:02 PM

I'll be honest, even weeks later, things had only gotten a teeny bit better. Like, the thickness of a hair strand bit better.

On the up side of things, I think I have some friends at the Academy now. Sort of. There's this kid, Bob, and he's Adam's mentee. It's kind of ironic, because he reminds me so much of Adam when I first met him. Bob's impulsive, and he's game with pretty much anything, which is not too bad but not too good either. He boarded Big D's plane and almost went down with it yesterday. Good thing Adam got him out of there in time.

I like the kid, though. He's super friendly, and he's always nice.

Sebastian is cool people, too. He and Chase disagree most of the time, and I think he has a thing for Bree, but I don't think those are bad. Chase has friends that don't like me, and Bree – I think it's great that she has a guy crushing on her. As long as I don't get to see it, I am happy for them.

Like with Bob, it's not very hard to make friends with Sebastian because he's friendly. It also doesn't seem to affect him how his brothers and sisters think of me (in case you want to know, the others think I'm a freakshow because they said I'm only technically 'one-fourths bionic'). He's okay with me being here with them, which helps a lot in getting over that fitting-in problem.

On the down side of things, I discovered something during Janelle's visit.

So, you know how we've been dating for three years now? And how I refer to her as my 'special lady'?

Yeah, well, here's a news flash: as it turns out, she and I had been on two different pages. Heck, we had been on two different chapters.

Apparently, she's not my girlfriend.

Her saying that wouldn't have been so bad if she didn't reveal it in front of Spin and his posse who do not care much for me. It's humiliating, really, especially when they laughed. I thought she would have taken it back after they left, telling me she said it out of embarrassment, which I wouldn't have minded, but she didn't. I guess I wasn't supposed to care about that detail.

You know what's crazy, though? I still did everything I could to impress her during that visit. I made sure she had everything she asked: hammock on the beach, food, drinks, everything. I also made sure she had a good time. I did all of it because I still like her.

I don't know if that makes me an understanding person or just a plain dummy.

Why must love be complicated?

I guess I should have just asked Janelle where we really stand before she left yesterday, but I didn't. I was a bit scared that she'd think I'm being pushy, and that, in turn, would push her away. But then now I'm at my wit's end trying to figure out what to do next or what to tell her the next time we talk. And how would I even treat her? Do I treat her as a friend, or do I continue giving her special treatment? What am I supposed to do? I've never had a friend-but-kind-of-a-girlfriend-but-not-really-girlfriend before.

This non-committal relationship is making my head swim.

I almost asked Big D for advice, but the last time I talked to him about girl problems he told Mom then Mom intervened. I seriously thought about asking Douglas, but then I thought that it might just get awkward. Adam and Chase are busy. Bree's love life is going great, so she may not even understand.

I'm tempted to try Google, but something tells me it's going to be the worst idea ever.

I'm hoping that chronicling will help, but no success so far.

I've pretty much exhausted all options. Last night, I even tried cleaning up to see where it would take me. It wasn't such a bad idea; I had some alone time out by the docks. Picking up the trash that Janelle and I left from earlier that day helped me think. No solutions, sadly. Just replayed the times I've spent with her to see if it was something I did.

I guess I was too concentrated on what I was doing that I didn't notice Spin and Bob standing behind me. I only found out they were there when Bob shouted, 'Leo!', and I almost hit them with the trash bag I was holding onto with a death grip out of panic.

Bob grinned when he saw they had startled me. Spin just stared.

"What are you guys doing out here?" I asked. I looked up at the sky and saw that it had gotten dark out. "It's almost time for you guys to go to sleep. Shouldn't you be heading back to the dormitories?"

"There's nothing to do inside. It's so boring," Spin said.

"Yeah," Bob agreed. "Plus, Adam, Breezy and Chase just left for the mainland."

"They what? They left me?"

"Yeah. They thought you'd gone home," Spin said.

"They said they'll be back soon, though. Adam said they just wanted to see your mom off before she leaves for her job," Bob said.

I sighed. I almost dropped everything to catch up with them, but since Mom didn't leave until this morning anyways, I figured I had plenty of time and that there was no hurry. So I just said, "Okay." As I was tying the garbage bag close, I asked, "You guys want to help? The hammock right there needs to be taken down."

"Sure!" Bob said.

"No way," Spin said at the same time.

Bob lightly swatted him on the arm. "Come on! It gives us something to do," he told Spin before walking off to where the hammock was.

Spin groaned in protest, rolling his eyes in the process, but followed Bob anyways.

"So what was this for?" Bob asked.

Spin smirked. "For his lady visitor," he said while unknotting the ropes.

"Lady visitor?" Bob repeated. "Is she your girlfriend?"

"No, she's not," Spin said in a singsong way, near laughing.

I eyed him drily.

The kid knows how to get on my nerves.

Bob chuckled, but I don't think he did it at my expense. "Oh, okay, good," he said. "We should tell Amaranth. That'll make her—" He stopped when he saw Spin looking at him with widened eyes, shaking his head, telling him to stop. He just frowned, but then he seemed to get what Spin was saying. He made a face, like he had been busted for doing something bad, and decided to abandon what he was saying altogether.

I narrowed my eyes at the two of them. I've only met Amaranth in passing before. She's very quiet. She travels regularly with Bree's Alpha Girls group, and the girls seem to like her a lot. She's not mean like the other students, but she doesn't talk much to me either. I don't know why she'd be interested to know about me and Janelle. "Why should Amaranth know?" I asked Spin and Bob slowly.

"Nothing," they both said at the same time.

"Okay, you guys do know that your response just totally did not make sense, right?"

"Hey, Leo, let me pick your brain on something," Bob diverted, dropping his end of the hammock and walking towards me. "So we've been told that all of these trainings we're doing is so that we can save the world. I'm just wondering, does the world really need saving? Are the conditions really that bad?"

I stared at him. "I know you're just trying to avoid the question," I said.

"Oh, come on! We're asking you something legitimate here!" Spin said, annoyed. "I thought you want to be a mentor? Wouldn't answering us be a chance to be that?"

I looked at him. As much as I'd like to keep on insisting that they answer my question, Spin honestly got me with the mentoring bit. I knew very well they were just trying to distract me, but I figured it wouldn't hurt if I answered and played along. I sighed. "Yes. The world is in a really bad condition," I said.

"But it doesn't look bad from here," Bob said.

"Don't be fooled by what you can only see in front of you," I said. "I know that here in the island, everything seems fine, but it's different out there. Look, you two are too young to know right now, but believe me when I say that living life out in the real world? It's not easy."

"What do you mean?" Spin asked, and this time he looked like he really wanted to know.

"Well, you remember the Bionic Battle that they started? Which is a bad idea, by the way?"

"Yeah…"

"And you know how in it, the strongest student wins?"

"Yeah, I remember."

I shrugged. "People live like that out there every day," I said. "But unlike the Battles here, out there there are no rules. When someone is down, they don't stop. They keep going. Until something bad happens. Even then, they'd still keep going."

Bob frowned as he thought about it, obviously disturbed by what I just said. "That's… That's terrible," he said.

I gave him a consolatory smile. I patted him on the shoulder. "I know, buddy. Sadly, that's the truth," I said.

As I was folding up the hammock, Spin asked, "Then why are we trying to work so hard to protect these people?"

"Because – there are some out there that are worth the effort," I answered. "There are good people. There are not very many of them, but still. They're the ones we will be protecting, the ones we need to care about."

"Care about?" Spin asked. "You mean like, love them?"

I nodded. "Yeah. Pretty much," I said.

"Okay, I'm confused," Bob said. "Are we supposed to protect people or love them? Because I don't think I can do both."

I thought about it. "If you're going to choose between protecting people or loving them, choose to love them," I said. "Love enables you to do many things, sometimes even things you never thought you're capable of." I looked at Bob. "Like doing two things at the same time."

He thought about it. "Adam, Bree and Chase never taught us that before," he said.

I tucked the hammock in my arm. "Feel free to pass that along," I said. Walking up to them, I continued, "Now, about your sister…"

Spin and Bob looked at each other. Then, they gave me excuses.

"Yeah, it's getting late, and we should probably just head back…"

"We need to head in, because, uh, Sebastian might be looking for us…"

I crossed my arms. "You know, if you don't tell me, I'm just going to have to ask her as soon as I go in," I said.

The two of them looked even more horrified when I said that.

Spin, being that he's Spin, decided to derail me by spinning towards the garbage bag that I'd set down on the ground, spreading all the trash I've just cleaned up all over and creating a big mess.

When he stopped, I was the one looking all around me in horror. "What in the world…?" I said. I looked up to confront Spin about it, but I only saw him yanking Bob by the sleeve of his shirt as they ran away. "Hey!" I called after them. "Come back here!"

But they were gone. I could have run after them, but I knew I'd be too slow. Plus, I had the docks to clean before I could hunt them down.

When I came in, I couldn't find the two of them. Honestly, I've forgotten all about Amaranth at that point. I was too upset. I almost went into the capsule dormitories just to look for them, but since I'm not really that knowledgeable which ones are for the girls and which ones are for the boys, I opted against it. No need doing something that will make me least popular than I already am. So, I just went home.

I thought about going back to the Academy today, but it's a Saturday. I didn't feel like it. I guess it's one of the perks of not being a mentor: whereas Big D, Adam, Bree and Chase had to go back to the island to supervise the students, I did not have to do anything. I had the house all by myself (sort of, because Douglas kind of milled around the kitchen, too – but only when it was time to eat). I got to do whatever I wanted to do: I binge watched my favorite shows in my pajamas all day and ate all the cereal I could eat.

I was the King of the House, baby, and that's all right with me.

King of the House still needs some answers, though. I have no idea what to do with this thing with Janelle. I still like her, very much, but if she's never been serious and don't really feel the same, what's the point? I don't want to think about breaking up with her. Then again, is it really breaking up if, to her, we've never been together in the first place?

I don't know. This is seriously driving me nuts. It seems like it shouldn't be a big deal because other guys don't mind not having a defined relationship. It's what's normal and preferred nowadays. But that's the problem, and that's what makes it a big deal for me. I'm not like other guys. This will probably make me sound like a weirdo, but labels do kind of matter to me. Three years is three years. I don't think it's fair to be in a relationship that's one-sided, much more so stay in it longer.

Ugh, love.

Why must it be so complicated?

Signed,

Leo Francis Dooley

03/01/15

12:03 AM

The Adam Chronicles

In Adam Steps Up, Bob revealed that he has a phobia of what? Answers and reviews are appreciated!

Okay, so the note. As you can probably tell, this entry is my official resignation: I'm jumping off the Janelleo ship. I'll make sure to keep the entry as close to canon as possible but as regards this pairing, the Chronicle will more than likely not involve it anymore.

Sorry. What transpired in this episode just did it for me.

I may introduce an OC to replace Janelle if she's ever in an episode, or I'll probably just let Leo remain single until the end of the series.

Anyways - one more update, and we'll be caught up!