Chapter 3: One step forward, two steps backwards
^3 weeks before summer was ending^
Goldie had seemed depressed today, picking at her food all day, only taking a bite or two before leaving. Hego complained about work again, Mego complained his job was worse, Wegos were playing video games, leaving it up to Shego, once again, to go see what was wrong with Goldie. Shego found Goldie in the training room, practicing the martial arts Shego taught her as heavy metal played in the background.
"Hey Goldie, can we talk?" Shego asked her.
"You can talk." Goldie replied as she round house kicked the mannequin's head as hard as she could, causing it to fall over before being lifted back up. Thank you whatever those types of weighted bottoms are called for that.
"What's wrong, you seem upset." Shego asked her.
"Nothing. Nothing major." She told her.
"Come on, you can talk to me." Shego egged on. Once Hego entered, Goldie grabbed her stuff and headed to her room. Shego followed, persistent to know what was wrong with her only sister.
"You know you can tell me anything." Shego told her as they entered her room. Goldie sighed, finally giving in.
"Fine, you want to know what? I don't want to go back to school! There, I said it!" Goldie relented. This shocked Shego a little bit.
"But you need to, you have to complete your education." Shego told her.
"I don't care. No one at school likes me. All the boys ignore me, all the girls pull my hair or push me or even tear the clothes I make, it's not worth going if it's hell." Goldie confessed.
Shego never had this problem, she was very well like, so she thought Goldie would be too, but she was wrong. Since Goldie was smart, no one really liked her for being a 'nerd', the other girls seemed jealous of her looks and the boys won't go near her due to her being smart and the girls warning/threatening them.
"But if you don't go, you'll miss out on so much, like the Junior prom you'll be attending." Shego says to her. Goldie shook her head no.
"No one will ask me out, no one will go with me. I'll be alone again, plus they might prank me worse this year if I go." Goldie commented, flashing back to when the school dance had happened.
Shego took a part time job and saved up to buy a simple black dress for her sister, to which Goldie was thankful for and took a week to add gold sparkles on certain parts as well as a trail of gold beads from the upper left of the sleeveless dress, all the way down to the bottom of it that ended mid thigh. The dress was also skin tight, so it made her look very attractive.
Hego and Mego didn't want her going out like that, but Shego had convinced them it was one night. Shego put a black hairband with a bow in her hair to keep it back, as well as black heels and hold bangles for her wrists, gold studs in the eats and black eyeliner and lipstick with gold glitter gloss and gold eyeshadow. Goldie felt like a princess, even if she was going alone.
Well, three hours later she ran into Go Tower, dripping wet and sobbing. Turned out, some popular kids poured punch all over her since she was upstaging them. Hego, in normal civilian clothes, went to the principal the next day and demanded the kids be in trouble for what happened, which they were but at the price towards Goldie. They were worse to her after that. Shego sighed as she understood why.
"Well, maybe I can talk Hego into letting you do online classes." Shego suggested. Yes, she would be confined inside, but if she would be happy and keep learning, then maybe it was for the better. Goldie went to her desk, pulled out a pamphlet, then went to Shego and handed it to her.
"I want to go here. I'm smart enough to get in, I can do most of it online while communicating with classmates online and I only have to go in 1-2 times a month to hand in certain projects or do major tests. Plus, there's optional club activities and events I can go to in person. Please! With my grades and love of engineering, I can definitely get into this school for free!" Goldie explained and nearly begged as Shego read the pamphlet Go City's High Class School of Technology.
"Well.." Shego started, trailing off as she looked up right at her sister, giving her the large puppy eyes. Shego tensed before sighing.
"Lets go talk to Hego, I'm sure he won't disagree." Shego caved. Goldie seemed so excited until they went to Hego. As soon as he saw the pamphlet, he rejected it.
"No, absolutely not." He told them.
"But why.~" Goldie whined.
"Because you need to go to school and socialize, make friends, plus this will encourage you too much into your gadgets for being a 'hero'." He said, putting the word hero in quotes.
"I am too a hero! Plus, I hate school! I hate the kids there because they hate me! I'd rather quit if I have to go!" Goldie whined and raised her voice in exclamation.
"I said no." Hego told her.
"Hego, you saw what happened during her dance and what happened after, it's a toxic environment for her." Shego explained.
"Shego, nothing you or Goldie will say can persuade me." Hego told them.
"What if I told you I could qualify to get in for free? I can join after school activities with no hassles, plus I won't invent anything that will reveal any of us! Please! Please, please, please! I really want to go here! I can do most of it online, so I can have more time to repair things here and help more with Wegos' homeworks, plus I can look for a part time job!" Goldie said, listing as many positives as she could.
"Still no." Hego said, now pretending to look through a newspaper.
"Please, it'll keep me out of trouble more!" Goldie begged once more.
"No." Hego said firmly.
"Hego, at least go with her to check out the school. She's really smart and it'll make her happy." Shego said, giving her all at this.
"Still no, end of discussion." Hego said in annoyance. Goldie crossed her arms.
"Dad would let me go." She pouted. Hego pulled the newspaper down and glared at her.
"What did you say?" Hego asked her.
"Dad would let me go. He'd encourage it and mom would too." Goldie told him flat out.
"Well their not here. I am!" Hego scolded her.
"And you're doing a bad job! Shego's the one to do most of the work with raising me and the Wegos while you play pretend at being leader and being the hero people think you are when you're actually a jerk!" Goldie shouted at him.
"Hey! I gave up going to college to care for all of you! I slave away to put money aside for all of you to get an education while I couldn't! Don't be an ungrateful brat!" Hego scolded, putting a finger right in Goldie's face.
"Alright, calm down you two." Shego said as she tried to get between the two.
"If money is what you care about, you'd let me go here so you'd save money for mine and Wegos' college, as well as I can further my education in mechanics and engineering to get a great job in the mechanical science devision somewhere as great as upperton or middleton to put money aside for the Wegos and to even help you with a higher education in anything you wanted! Or are you too damn stupid to see that?!" Goldie yelled right at him in his face, her fists trembled and shook with rage.
"Alright, enough!" Shego interjected, but failed to stop it.
"I want you in a normal school so you can be normal and social! Not nesting in your room like a troll and keep trying to be a hero that you'll never be!" Hego raised his voice, his hand glowing blue from rage.
"Enough you two!" Shego yelled at them.
"I wish mom and dad were alive! They'd believe in me!" Goldie yelled at him.
"Well their not, they've been dead for 8 years! Get over it, already!" Hego yelled in rage.
"I'll never get over it! They'd be proud of me, but instead I'm left with a jerk of a brother who hates me, doesn't see me as a hero and will never be proud of me!" She yelled at him.
"I've sacrificed for you, yet you act like a brat!" Hego screams at her.
"Will you two stop before-" Shego started, but it was already too late.
"I wish you were dead instead of mom and dad so I could have a better life!" Goldie screamed at him, causing Hego to go into a blind rage from her words. Without thinking, he used his strength and smacked her so hard, she went through a wall. Since she had no super suit on, she got a lot of damage from that blow.
"You think that! Really?! I should've left you with Aviarius then! Maybe he would've made you realize how lucky you had it!" Hego yelled as he took the table and threw it at Goldie. Shego jumped in and slashed it apart as she glared at Hego.
"Enough! Look what you did!" Shego shouted in rage. Hego snapped out of it, not realizing what happened until Mego and the Wegos walked in with groceries. Mego immediately dropped the bag, which a clone Wego caught, before going to Goldie.
"Goldie? Goldie! Wake up!" Mego yelled and lightly shook her, causing a moan to escape her mouth. Hego then saw the crumbled wall and Mego hold an injured Goldie.
"Did, did I-" Hego tried to ask, but he couldn't utter the words.
"I told you both to stop before it got out of control, but look what you did!" Shego screamed in rage.
"Hego." One Wego muttered out.
"How could you?" The other asked him.
"What is wrong with you! Like, seriously, even I wouldn't loose control like that, you over-sized buffoon!" Mego said before carrying Goldie to the medical wing.
Hego seemed to break mentally at his moment. Hego, the eldest of the Go siblings, the one who took custody of them all to not split them up, the one who raised them up and did his best to protect them, lost control in a fit of rage and hurt his youngest sister, his second youngest sibling and the only one without powers. He fell onto his butt, looked down at his hands and started shaking.
"I-I didn't mean it… None of it..." Hego muttered out.
"I know neither of you meant what you said, because you were both angry, but you shouldn't have been stubborn! She asked to switch schools because of the bullies, something you can't prevent. She could make friends, she could be doing more activities and could be doing better mentally, but you seem to make it harder for her. You've pushed all your sadness to the side, but Goldie hasn't and still feels this pain, the emotional wound isn't healing properly and you just expect her to accept what is around her. She can't keep trying to adapt in an environment like that, which is why she wanted to ask you. You're so stubborn and one sided, you can't see the pain she has. Sure, what she said was awful and I'm sure she didn't mean it at all, but with a chance to flourish and be herself enough to make at least one friend? Why would you ruin that for her? I want you to go see her as soon as she's awake and actually talk to her, not fight with her, not tell her no, but really listen to her and let her listen to you, don't make her like you've been trying." Shego advised before going to the Wegos and helping them to put food away.
Mego was tending to Goldie's wounds, mostly bruises and a mild concussion only, thank goodness. Mego did this because he is actually taking medical classes on the side to learn about the human body to keep himself healthy most of the time. As Mego used a wet cloth on Goldie's head, her eyes fluttered open as a pained moan escaped her lips.
"Hey Gold, ya ok?" Mego asked, using his nickname for her.
"I feel like I got hit by a semi." She groaned out as she tried to sit up, but whimpered and laid back down.
"Yeah, don't get up. Apparently Hego smacked you through the wall or something, which means you made him pretty mad. Of course, I wouldn't dare to make him that mad." Mego told her, then added himself into this.
"Yeah, I said something dumb." Goldie groaned out in pain.
"Listen, just lay here for an hour so that mild concussion don't get worse. I'll go check on Hego right now." Mego tells her as he gets up and heads out.
"Mego." Goldie called out, causing her second eldest brother to stop and turn his upper body slightly to look at her.
"Thanks for bringing me here. Could you… Let Hego know I want to talk to him?" She said then shyly asked him.
"Sure thing, Gold." He said with a smile before walking out.
Mego might seem to care only about himself, but he did show he cares about his baby sister, Goldie. See, Goldie and him do fight, but he respects her for a few reasons. One reason being she designed the costumes, which he did like. Not only designed them to match but with different colors, but she also catered the suit to adjust to when he shrunk so he wouldn't end up naked. That was another thing that had him respect her. She didn't completely belittle his powers like his brothers did. (No pun intended.) Yes, she did lightly tease him once in a blue moon, but she always made sure he felt important, whether it be looking for a missing piece in small nooks and crannies, helping with her small models for him to practice fighting with, or to learn how to defuse a bomb or anything with wires and pick locks while he's tiny. Goldie always made him feel useful.
Another reason is, when he runs low, she always lets him borrow her skin care products so he doesn't have to ask Shego, get rejected then sneak in to use hers only to get caught and scolded/beaten up. I mean, Mego's skin is so important to him, don't wanna get winkles anytime soon. Goldie and him might not have a perfect sibling relationship, but it was better than in the past before their parents passed and better than her and Hego's right now, so he can't complain much if at all. Mego found Hego and looked at him.
"Never in my life did I think you'd do that to any of us, especially not to Gold. But, for whatever reason, she wants to talk to you. I'd go see her, but don't you dare lay your hands on her again." Mego threatened. Usually they were empty due to his lack of power against Hego, but Hego looked and could see Mego actually meant it! Hego sighed before picking himself up and slowly made his way to the medical wing.
His mind raced, trying to understand why he lost control. It wasn't just her words, it was just as Shego said. Hego had no time to be sad nor mourn the death of their parents. He grew up and got custody, becoming the next father figure they could have, had to give up on the college of his dreams to keep his family together, had to give up his friends and social life to keep theirs alive. With this, he just kept it all bottled up. Goldie just happened to shake the bottle as hard as she could this time, causing it to erupt. He hadn't meant to black out in rage, it just happened. If Shego wasn't there, he'd probably have really hurt her, or worse. He was soon in the medical wing, with a nervous sigh he went into the medical room she was in.
"Goldie?" He called out, unsure if she was still awake.
"Hey Hego." She muttered out, nervous to talk to him. For all she knew, he actually hated her enough to kick her out. Hego went over to her and sat in a chair near her bed, he had to be strong for the both of them. Goldie looked away from him, scared to see his disappointed look again, but this hurt Hego since he thought she was mad at him.
"Goldie-" Hego started, but Goldie interrupted him.
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean it when I said I wish you had died instead of our parents." She whimpered out as she began to lightly shake. Hego looked down in shame.
"I know, I shouldn't have gotten angry like that. I didn't mean to hurt you at all, I didn't mean what I said about Aviarius, I just… I just got so angry." Hego confessed.
"I'll go to public school, I'll stop inventing, just… Just please don't kick me out." Goldie whimpered out before she finally sobbed, turned to her side and shaking.
"Wha-kick you out?" Hego questioned in a stammering tone.
"I get it, you hate me, but please don't kick me out. Please." Goldie sobbed out. Hego finally understood.
Goldie thought Hego hated her since he always seemed to look down on her, never really praised her and him smacking her through the wall seemed to solidify her thoughts. Hego felt his cheeks were wet, he was now crying from what she thought. Shego was right, he pushed everything down and took it all out on Goldie. He very gently scooped her up, causing her to squeak and tense up in fear, before he sat on the bed and held her close as if she was little again. Technically for him, she was still little to him, but he imagined her at 3 years old and he held her like this after Mego pranked her with a scary face in her closet.
"Goldie, I would never kick you out and I could never hate you." He tells her. She clung onto him and sobbed, not sure if he meant it.
"But… I'm a failure, I keep disappointing you, it makes sense you hate me." She sobbed out.
"I'm not disappointed, I just don't want you getting hurt when you can't handle something. Your inventions, the outfits, they were great. I should've expressed it better, but I just don't want you getting hurt. When Aviarius kidnapped you, I was worried beyond belief. I thought you'd stop putting yourself in danger, but you keep going. I just don't want you hurt at all. Yes, I do want you to live a normal life, but I do want you happy. I just worry about you, maybe too much." He tells her.
"But, but you don't seem like you like me at all." She whimpered out.
"I just, I had to bottle up all my sadness to care for all of you, seeing you still hurt hurts me because I can't express it, but you are able too and feel hurt the most from it. I guess, I'm jealous that you can express yourself, I'm upset that you had a better relationship with our parents, but I admire you don't give up. I never meant to hurt you, I blacked out in rage. All my emotions I bottled up, they boiled over to where I couldn't control it." He confessed to her as his tears started spilling out.
"Why can't you express your sadness? We all know you feel it, we all know you have sadness, I just thought you grew a stone heart to not feel it, I thought you hated me because I'm the odd sibling out. I don't really look like any of you, except close to Shego, I don't really act like any of you, I keep to myself because I feel left out all the time. I try to prove myself so you'd love me and be proud of me like you are with everyone else. Is it too much to ask?" She whimpered out as her tears never stopped. Hego's heart broke, you could hear the glass break sound from it, he realized the damage he was doing.
"Goldie, I do love you, I thought trying to keep you safe and wanting you to have friends was showing I love and care for you. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." He said as he held her closer.
"Do… Do I have to leave?" She whimpered out, still afraid she'd be sent to a strict private school.
"Absolutely not. Go Tower is your home, it always will be. I don't want you to leave unless you want to, even then I don't want you to." He tells her gently. She looked up and noticed he was finally crying, something he hasn't done since their parents died. She wrapped her arms around his neck, hugging him back, as they both cried, finally letting everything out. They were there for roughly 20 minutes before they dried their eyes.
"Would going to that school really help you?" He asked her gently.
"Yes, I feel like it would. If I still get bullied, at least I can ignore it for a school I would love versus me indifferent towards." She explained as she rubbed her eyes dry.
Hego knew, since he was the main guardian over her and the Wegos, he would have to be there to take care of everything then have Mego and Shego be placed on the papers as back ups.
"Then, we'll head down there tomorrow. We'll look into it, just the two of us, then maybe grab lunch after?" He asked her, hoping to form a new bond after this.
"You, you mean it?" She asked him skeptically.
"Yes, but if it's not a good school, then we'll find a better one for you." He tells her as he smiled a small smile. She then hugged him tightly.
"Thank you, Henry." She said happily, using his real name instead of his hero name. Instead of scolding her for using his real name, he only hugged her in return.
The next day, she wore a black thin long sleeve shirt with gold buttons going from the shoulders down to the elbows, half black half gold cargo pants, black on the right with gold on the left, gold coin patterns on on the black pant leg bellow the knees, black boots and hair left down but with a black head band holding a little bit of it back while Hego, wearing office attire, walked into the school to talk to someone.
Goldie did a test while Hego filled out paperwork. Once both were finished, they got a tour of the school, learned all the after school activities and much more. Goldie's eyes shimmered more and more as they went through everything, while Hego seemed slightly lost. Mechanics was never his strong suit. He took one look at Goldie, who was now marveling at the first place pictures of the robots and the trophies in the case, before smiling. He knew she found her passion.
"Goldie, could you please come over?" He called her. She immediately came over to him.
"Please tell me I can come here!" She said energetically, hoping and pleading.
"Well, you have excellent scores, you'd be able to enter for free and I have a feeling you'll be in our high honor roll in no time. Do you happen to have any projects on you?" The Principal asked her. Goldie smiled, digging in her pocket before pulling out a pen.
"I made this recently." Goldie said with a smile.
"A pen?" Henry/Hego questioned while using one finger to scratch the top of his head.
"I'm sorry, but a pen isn't that impressive." The Principal said, slightly disappointed at the sight before him.
"A self writing one, in case anyone breaks their arm, or something similar." She said to him. She pressed a button and the top opened to reveal a mini suction cup. She took it and stuck it on her before clicking the pen open.
"May I?" She asked, pointing to the clipboard and paper the Principal had.
"Not at all." He said and handed it to her, causing Henry to be confused.
She held the clip board low, then held the pen in a way as if she was writing before letting it go, causing it to float as the suction cup blinked a low red light to indicate the writer was thinking. Soon, the pen began writing all her thoughts down, basic instructions on how the pen worked, then took it to turn it off.
"As you can see, I think, it writes." She said as she gave the principal back his clipboard, showing the instructions, then took off the suction cup and put it back in the pen as she explained. The Principal looked it over and was astonished.
"Incredible! Simply flawless work and in cursive!" He marveled.
"Yes, the only draw back is I have to input a language in order for it to write in it, as well as it can only hold 3 languages at a time, but I can improve it later on as I learn more." She explained with a bright smile.
"You certainly can here! Welcome to the school, Miss Gomelt!" The Principal said before they shook hands.
An hour later, Henry and Goldie were eating ice cream on a bench, he had simple hard vanilla in a bowl while she had soft swirled half chocolate half peanut butter on a regular cone. He took a bite from his spoon, watching his little sister happily kicking her feet back and forth as she had licked the bottom first for it to melt less, followed by a big lick to the top, smiling happily. He smiled as he imagined a 4 year old her, not the 15 year old in front of him. Goldie caught him staring and gave a curious look with her head slightly tilted.
"Henry?" She questioned.
"Sorry, you used to do that when you were 4." He commented. She then smiled.
"Guess old habits die hard." She said simply.
"Honestly, I can't remember the last time we spent time together like this." Henry commented before taking another bite of his ice cream.
"I can." She told him. He curiously looked at her.
"When?" He asked her.
"When I was 9, I was upset. When you asked me what, I was so~ embarrassed, but I told you since sis wasn't there. You know, when I my red peony bloomed as you put it. Well, you seemed so awkward, but I was upset since I didn't really know what was going on. You had to try and explain it, then took me to the store to buy all those things I'd need, got me a candy bar to munch on as well and paid for everything. I remember all the looks you were getting, but I loudly called you the best big brother in the world and my hero for helping understand what was happening to me. You turned apple red as the cashier lady laughed, but you still did your best. Once we got back, sis was there and you had her explain it better and help me. Honestly, it was the best memory. Plus, once she and I were finished in the bathroom, you had a chocolate sundae with brownies in it for me with a copy of 'Beauty and the Beast' in the VCR for us to watch. I fell asleep after the third time and sis told me you carried me to bed after, even putting a mat down on the bed in case I had an incident." She explained as she had a smile on her face. Henry, however, was apple red from that story.
"You, uh, remember that?" He asked awkwardly.
"Yup, every moment. Honestly, that was the last time we actually hung out, just the two of us." She said as she looked back on all her memories. Either her and Hego were with someone else, all of them of he wasn't in the picture at all.
"Yeah, I actually called out of work that day just so you wouldn't be left alone." Henry confessed.
"Really?" She asked him, knowing full well at that time taking time off was like pulling teeth.
"Yes, at first they weren't happy, but when I explained you were 9 and there was no one there, they caved. I still got a write up, but it was worth it." He told her with a smile.
"What do you do again?" She asked him.
"I work in an office for a fast food franchise called 'Bueno Nacho'. There are none in Go City yet, but we're working hard to try and have one open. The closest ones are in upperton and middleton." He explained to her.
"Oh, so you just check paper work and such?" She asked him.
"Yes, and if I do well, when we get a Bueno Nacho open, there's a good chance I can be promoted to manager or assistant manager of the location." He gently bragged.
"Well, you're a hard worker, so you'll succeed." She tells him as she ate the last piece of her cone.
"I hope so." He said as he tossed his bowl and spoon in a can next to the bench.
"I'm still sorry about our fight." She said to him.
"As am I." He replied.
"Do you miss them?" She asked as she looked up at the clear blue sky of the sunny afternoon.
"Mom and dad? Yes, I miss them a lot." He said as he looked up to the sky as well.
"That day, when the meteor came down… Was that going to be your last say with us before you went to college in another state?" She asked him sadly, wondering if it was true or not.
"Yes, I was trying to figure out how to tell all of you, but the meteor struck before I could. Once the funeral happened, I saw how all of you were sad, crying and in pain. I couldn't leave you all like that. I made a choice to give up my dreams to care for all of you." He tells her.
"Was it a hard choice?" She asked him.
"I'd be lying if I said no." He told her, hoping it wouldn't hurt her hearing that.
"I'm glad you chose to keep us, but I don't think I'd be upset for long if you chose to take the other path." She confessed to him.
"Really?" He asked her.
"Sure, we'd probably be separated, but you'd be doing well, you'd succeed and then you might've tried to get us after, or just left us to our new lives. Either way, if you had left, no one would know what to do with their powers, not to mention they'd be used and exploited. You keeping us helped in many ways, so maybe that meteor was a way to keep us together, so we wouldn't loose ourselves and each other as we grew up." She explained, eyes never once leaving the sky.
"You know, I think that's the wisest thing you've ever said. How is it you're so smart?" Henry asked Goldie.
"Maybe that meteor made me a super genius." She joked, looking right at him with her eyes closed and a bright smile on her face. Henry had no words, but gently ruffled her hair, causing her to giggle.
"I'm just glad you're the genius and not Micah." He tells her, revealing Mego's real name.
"Because then he'd have an ego the size of Go City?" She asked in a joking manner. Henry started laughing as he agreed with her.
"Don't ever change, Goldilocks." He tells her with a smile.
"I'll try my best not to." She said, smile never fading.