Generation Three - Chapter Five

Note: I'm going away tomorrow until next week Thursday, but I'll try to write at least one more chapter so I can schedule it for while I'm away :) No promises for more than one, though ;)
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"I'm sorry I can't meet you in the park, I'm grounded." Our garden wasn't exactly the most impressive place for a second non-date. My parents had put a lot of effort into the house as far as inside the walls went, but they had hardly touched the outside. Mum told me sometimes how she used to have a little garden, but there was no sign of that around now. Dunno, it probably died or something.

"That's alright. Your house is nice!" I wondered when she'd tell me that she was a witch. Was she going to? I wanted to just ask her about it, but I also wanted her to say it because she wanted to, so I waited. It wasn't easy to just stop thinking about it, though. Witches were real! Who'd have thought? Then I thought: what if she can read my mind? Could they do that? Was she reading it right now?



"Are you okay?" She asked, looking a little worried because I had probably looked worried about the whole mind reading thing. I really wanted to ask her, but I would just have to be patient. If she was capable of reading my mind it said a lot about her that she wasn't. Or maybe she was but she didn't tell me.

"Yeah, just thinking about something." I was kinda conflicted. I wanted her to be honest with me because I really liked her, but I also really wanted to kiss her. But then I didn't want her to think that she had to tell me because I kissed her, so I now had to hold back and be patient for two reasons!

"I'm sorry, I can leave if you're busy."

"No, it's nothing like that. It's not important or anythi- actually, it is, but it's nothing that can't wait. Actually-" Sigh. How was I ever going to tell her?

She laughed. "What is going on in that head of yours, Rhys?"



And that answered my question. I was going to tell her like this. Now.

"I really like you, Danni." Then I thought of the best idea. "Your boyfriend is a very lucky guy to have you." Aha! Now she knew that I liked her, and I was about to find out if she was single! Genius!

"I don't have a boyfriend, silly." She looked all serious, and a little sad, which kinda hurt. "It's a long story."

"I have time! I'm grounded, right? It's not like I'm going anywhere."

She sighed. "No, really. It's not easy to talk about, Rhys. What if you won't like me any more once I've told you?" My heart was racing 100 miles an minute. Did this mean that she liked me, too? Score!

"I could never not like you, Danni. Whatever it is, I'll manage." I tried to look all serious, too, but she was so pretty that it was hard to focus. For a moment it looked like she wasn't going to tell me after all, but then she said it. The one thing I had been waiting to hear.



"I'm a witch, Rhys." She looked so worried about my reaction that I thought it'd be a good idea to ease her mind.

"I know. I saw you arriving on a broom." I had already known, and it hadn't bothered me. Much. That was a good thing to say, wasn't it?

"You saw me arrive? Were you watching me?" She sounded very paranoid, and it made me feel bad. This wasn't exactly the reaction I had been hoping for.

"No, of course not! I was just looking outside when you got here." Danni still looked a little unsure, but less paranoid.



"A-and you don't mind?" She asked after a few tense seconds.

"Why would I? I think it's awesome!"

"Really? This town hasn't been very forthcoming to my family and me. They think we're f-freaks."

"I think you're the most amazing girl I've ever met. As long as you don't turn me into a toad I don't mind one bit!" The prettiest girl I knew was a witch! And here I had been thinking that she was special - turned out she was even more special than I had thought!

"I won't" she giggled, looking very shy all of a sudden. "I'm glad you don't mind. I like you, too." I wasn't sure if my heart went faster than before, or stopped.

Since she had told me there was only one more thing I was dying to do.



So I leaned in and kissed her. Her lips felt irresistibly soft and warm. I was worried at first that she didn't like it, but then I could feel her smile against me and she kissed me back.

I was officially in heaven. The dreams from a few nights ago came rushing back into my mind, and made me pray that she definitely couldn't read my mind. The thing was, this time I didn't mind. I actually kinda wanted what I remembered. But not yet, though. We were only just kissing - which felt amazing - it was too early for any of- of that.

She smiled at me when we eventually pulled apart.

I took her hands into mine, to make sure she knew that I meant it. "Wanna see the house from the inside? I can give you a tour!"

"Sure, that sounds nice." No one else was home, so she didn't have to meet my family already. My parents would have left for dinner by now, and Amy was visiting a friend. I showed her every room, introduced her to Mum's ancient fish Ted, and saw her eyes light up when she saw my chemistry table.

"Ooh! You mix your own potions? Dad does, too, although I suspect his might be a little different to yours." She blushed at the mention of her magical ancestry, but I was very intrigued.

"Maybe one day you can teach me." My voice sounded a lot more seductive than I had intended. Maker, I did not want her to think I was one of those guys!

I led her upstairs, where I didn't really have much to show.

"This is my parents' bedroom, this is my sisters' and this one there is mine. Oh, and that door there is another bathroom."

"Hmh." I turned around a little too late.



A pillow hit me straight on my head. I was about to complain that this wasn't a very fair fight since I didn't have one, when a second pillow appeared in my hand. I noticed the mischievous but playful smile on her lips, and started the counter attack.

She had just made two pillows appear from nothing. Or had she called them from my room? This was going to be fantastic.

When we had to stop for breaths, an idea popped into my head and suddenly there was nothing I wanted to do more.



"Come with me" I said, taking her hand back into mine.

"Where to?"

"It's a surprise. Don't worry, we're not going far." Her hand squeezed mine as if to tell me that she trusted me, so I led her back down the stairs and outside behind the house. When we reached a quiet corner with view over the city's skyline I sat down, pulling her down with me.



"You can see nearly all of Brooklyn Heights from here." Some nights, when it was foggy, it was a little harder to see everything but tonight was clear. This couldn't have been a more perfect night for this.

"You know what else you can see?"

"You?"

"That, too" she laughed "But I didn't mean that." She pointed into the sky and my eyes followed her finger.



There were a million stars up there. I had noticed that before, obviously, but I had never seen it all like this. Had the night sky always been this... this... magical? I had never noticed until Danni had pointed it out to me.

She really was special. I had known it from the moment I had first seen her, and now I knew what it was that made her special. She was a witch, and she liked me.

"Will you go on a date with me? Please?" I wanted to make her happy. If she went on a date with me I could show her just how much she meant to me already.

"This feels like a date to me."

"To me, too, but I mean a proper date. I can take you to the park if you like, or we can go see a movie. Anything you like, I'll make it happen." She smiled at me and snuggled closer. So close that I could feel her warmth on my arms. I wanted to hold her so badly, but I didn't want to do too much at once. We had already kissed, and held hands - I didn't want to overdo it.

"I'd love to." This was what being in love felt like, I just knew it.

Unfortunately, it was getting late and I didn't want to get her into trouble. She also had a curfew which she didn't want to break again, so we said good night. This time it was Danni who kissed me, and I really wanted her to stay. I didn't want her to go away where I couldn't be with her.

When I went to bed that night I expected more dreams involving her and me, but nothing happened. I slept without waking up once, and was even up a little earlier than usual.



I had loads of time before the school bus was meant to arrive, so I sat down to eat some breakfast. Just as I was about to grab my bag and get into my shoes, Mum interrupted me.

"Going somewhere?" Oh Maker, Mum included school in my punishment, too?

"It's ten to eight, the bus will be here any minute."

"Think again, young man, you're still grounded." I sighed, but resigned to the fact that I probably couldn't sneak out. Which actually sucked, because I was starting to fall behind. A lot. And my final exams were just around the corner.

Since I apparently wasn't going to leave the house, I decided to experiment a little.



However, only one hour later and Mum came busting into the room, looking not too happy with me.

"What are you doing here?"

"You told me I was grounded, remember?"

"DON'T TAKE THAT ATTITUDE WITH ME, RHYS! IT'S A SCHOOL DAY, AND YOU'RE HOME BEING LAZY!"

"But-"

"NO EXCUSES!" She took a deep breath in, but still sounded mad when she continued. "I'm revoking your computer rights. No more games for two weeks." With that, she left.



What the fuck was going on? Were both my parents losing it? Since when was not going to school a punishment? And I had never played computer games, I couldn't care less about that addition.

It was just as they say. You can't please everyone.

No matter what I did, I was wrong. And now my grades were going to suffer from it.
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Wishes fulfilled

Kiss Danni for the first time
Pillow fight with Danni
Go on a date with Danni
Talk to Mum
Do Laundry

Generation Three - Chapter Four

"Rhys! I'm so glad you came!" The look of relief on her face was almost too much for me. I was so happy to see her, but felt guilty because she had doubted I'd come. For the first time, I really noticed her eyes. You know, I didn't just see them, I saw them. Their dark brown colour drew me in, and I found it hard to look away.

"Of course I'm here, I invited you!" I explained, trying my best to sound smooth. But it wasn't easy. Just seeing her now brought the dreams from the night before back into my mind, and it was all I could do to stop myself from blushing. Explaining to her that I'd dreamed of sex with her was not something I wished to talk about on our first non-date.

"I know, but we're not exactly long-time friends. I thought, maybe you'd change your mind and wouldn't show up, since we've never talked much before now."

"I wouldn't do that" I smiled, hoping to put her mind at ease and make her feel relaxed. Or was I hoping to relax myself? Probably both. "Maybe we can change the long-time friend thing, though?" The more time I spent with her the more I wanted to get to know her. She was a sweet, friendly girl, there was no other, perverted reason!



"Maybe we can" she smiled, and my knees went weak. Maker, was this it? Was I falling in love with Danni? How could this happen so quickly? "But why would you want to be friends with me?"

Her question took me by surprise. Justified as it was, I felt a little taken aback. "Why wouldn't I?" Yeah, I know, it was a lame answer, but I needed more time to think of something better.

"Because I'm two years younger than you, so I'm also two years below you in school. We hardly know each other, and there are probably other people you could be friends with who are better for you." I had no idea what that meant.

I said the first thing that came to my mind. Stupidly, without thinking. "How about I decide how good you are for me once we've gotten to know each other a little more?" Oh Maker, that sounded awful! I was not a pervert!



To my relief, she giggled. "Alright, then. What do you want to know about me?" She was the best girl in the world for ignoring my terrible lines. Most of all, for not thinking me a creep.

"Tell me about yourself." Girls liked talking about themselves, right?

"You'll have to be more specific than that!" She laughed, making me feel like an idiot and causing me to blush.



"Erm, okay, what kind of music do you like?"

"Probably not the same as you!" She looked shy, but so cute! So she was playing hard to figure out, fine by me. I was going to stay here all night talking to her if I had to.

"Why would you think that?" Every time she danced around a question, it made me more curious. I was more intrigued by her now than I had been when I had first seen her, cheesy as that sounded. I had to get to know her, I just had to!

"Well, people my age like all this new music, don't they? Techno, and these girls who can't sing but are popular because they wear loads of make-up and dress cheap."

"And you don't?" She shook her head.

"No. I prefer older music. You know, like the Stones, or Queen. People who wrote their own music, and played actual instruments." That proved it, didn't it? We were meant for each other.

"Yeah, me too!" Again she looked relieved. "What else? What do you like to do when you're home? What subjects do you like?" I wanted to know everything there was to know about her, especially now that I knew we liked the same music.



"I'm good at Biology and Chemistry, and-"

"Wow, seriously?" She was full of surprises! "I'm good at those, too!" In fact, I had been busting my butt to get good marks everywhere. I wanted to graduate with the best possible grades, and had been working hard to get there. "And at home? What are your hobbies?"

"I think you've asked me enough for one night, haven't you?" Her laughter was music to my ears. Such a pure sound!

"Absolutely not, I want to know more! But if you want to leave...?"

Fortunately, she shook her head. "No, I don't. But I'd like to ask you some things now! What are your hobbies?"



We were talking until late into the night, forgetting all about the time. I told her about the instruments I played and my singing, and she told me how she had often felt lucky ever since she was a child.

I had just asked her if she felt lucky now that she had met me, when flashy lights appeared behind my back. I turned around only to see a very angry looking police man walking towards me.

"Do you know what time it is?" He asked, sounding very bored with his job and like he hated me simply for being outside.

Truth was, I didn't have a watch, and neither did Danni, but I could guess that it was well past my curfew.

"I better go" Danni said, and attempted to leave when the police man stepped into her way.

"I don't think so" he said. "Get in the car, both of you. You can tell me where you live inside." We did as he asked, and mumbled our addresses.



Needless to say, Dad was pretty cross.

"YOUNG MAN, DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW LATE IT IS?" Why did people keep asking me that?

I shook my head, convinced that anything I'd say would make things worse for me.

"GO TO YOUR ROOM, IT'S TEN TO MIDNIGHT!" Oops. Maybe it was time I bought a watch?

I nodded, hanging my head as I started towards the stairs.

"You're grounded." Dad exclaimed with a more calm but still pretty angry voice. He tried to hide it but he was raging.



"Grounded?" I had never been late once, and had done very well in school over the last months. Surely I deserved to be let off with a warning this once?

"You heard me. Now get to bed!"



Being grounded sucked. I couldn't invite Danni out any more since I couldn't leave the house, but we talked on the phone and I did get more studying done. My final exams were getting close, so it wasn't such a bad thing.

But it was definitely unfair. You know how I got grounded because I was home late once?



My sister burned down the kitchen, and no one cared. I didn't see it happen, but she told me - away from our parents' ears - that she had started breakfast that morning. She had never made waffles before and had underestimated how long they'd take to cook. Before they were fully cooked, our school bus arrived. She thought she had switched the oven off, but she obviously hadn't.

To my annoyance, my parents blamed it on the old kitchen appliances, and decided it was time for new furniture. So just to summarise this: I make a small mistake -I get grounded. My sister sets the kitchen on fire - it's treated like a blessing.

Yeah, I was confused, too.



It was even more confusing, however, when I came home that day.

Dad was fuming! "Where were you?" Just like the night before he tried to sound calm, but failed miserably.

"Erm, at school? It's Tuesday."

"I thought I grounded you?" Wait, so now going to school was forbidden, too? Why had no one told me that?

"You had, but I-"



"NO EXCUSES, RHYS! YOU DON'T LEAVE THE HOUSE WHENEVER YOU LIKE WHEN YOU'RE GROUNDED, YOUNG MAN!"

"Okay." I was a lot more upset this time than I had been the night before. How was I supposed to know that going to school was off limits when you were grounded? So he wanted to punish me, but forbids school.

I dragged myself inside, and started to dabble around with some chemicals.

It really sucked to be grounded, but it had been worth it. Danni hadn't left my mind since the cop had brought her home the night before, so focusing at school had been difficult. I was pretty sure that I was in love with her, and I was sure of one other thing, too.

I wanted to kiss her.

When I couldn't concentrate on my potions any longer, I picked up my phone and dialled her number. I only wasn't allowed to leave the house, right? Dad hadn't said anything about having friends over.

She agreed to come over right away, and I admit, I looked outside the window every other minute to see if a taxi pulled up outside the house.

What I didn't expect was what I actually saw.



Was Danni flying a broom?
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Look! It's the new kitchen!

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Wishes fulfilled

None :( Sorry, Rhys -.-

Generation Three - Chapter Three

You can only live in a house that smells of dirty laundry for so long, so I eventually caved in and did my parent's job. I had to wash three loads overall to get it all clean, but some hours and some opened windows later and it smelled acceptable again.

The worst part of me doing this was that Mum clearly had the time to do it herself. But instead, she had gotten herself a new hobby. I couldn't imagine where she had gotten the idea from, but she had started upgrading our stuff. You know, like showers, and sinks. Dad and I were worried that she'd end up electrocuting herself, but so far she hadn't touched anything electrical.

Amy had also gotten herself a new hobby. Mum thought she had started playing because I was playing so many instruments. I thought she did it to be annoying. She had never had any lessons before, or had even held a guitar before, so I wasn't sure why she had gone out and bought one. But it was hurting my ears.

Luckily, she played in that small room next to the TV, whereas I played in my experimenting room. I had bought myself a small portable piano, and was hoping to have the time eventually to play it in the park where I could have an audience.

As it was, I hardly ever had the time to practice. I often wound up playing for a few minutes before I had to leave for school, which didn't amount to much time at all. My small private lab was becoming like a sanctuary for me, you know? All this time I spent in it, experimenting, discovering new potions and playing my instruments... It would be the first room to get a make-over once I had a job. Once I was old enough to focus on my rock-star career. The deep red was just too girly for me.

For now, I was too busy to think that far ahead. School really had me weighed down. I even had to turn assignments down, which my teachers sometimes offered me for some extra credit. Not that I needed it, I had earned my A a while ago, so I didn't feel too bad for refusing.

Besides, I had set myself my own research project.

Danni Cavender.

She was a girl a few years my minor, but she was just about the most interesting girl I had ever seen. We had talked a few times during recess, but not often enough for me to consider us friends. She had given me her number during a field trip some days back, and I had been burning to call her ever since.

There was something different about her. She was special, but I couldn't put my finger on it. What could I say? For reasons I couldn't explain, she had fascinated me since the moment I had first seen her.

I knew where she lived, and had wanted to go over and have a chat, but I didn't want to seem like a creep. Instead, I phoned her. That's what she had given me her number for, right?

Somehow, I was really nervous while her phone was ringing. I hoped she wouldn't think me a creep for calling her, since we hadn't talked that often.

"Hello?" My heart did a little somersault.

"Hi Danni, it's me, Rhys? You gave me your number on that field trip to the police station some days ago." I sounded calm, much better than I felt. Smooth, Rhys! This was going well!

"Oh, hi, Rhys! How are you?"

"I'm fine, thank you! Listen, I had fun talking to you on that field trip. I thought maybe we could get to know each other a little better? Say, after school tomorrow, in the big park?" My heart was racing, but my voice didn't betray me. I sounded as calm as I usually did.

"Sure, that sounds like fun!" She said yes!

"Great! I'll meet you there, then? Around three?" That would give her an hour to get ready if she wanted to change anything. Girls liked having a chance to get ready, didn't they?

"Okay, I'll see you at the park!" We hang up, and I was very excited. She always sounded so sweet when we had talked before, and just now on the phone. I couldn't wait to get to know her properly.

As it turned out, me calling Danni was the start of an interesting and eventful night. Mum came home from work, and announced that she had retired. It was obvious that Dad was relieved to hear it, even though I couldn't imagine him doing the same. Ever. He just loved his job too much.

It was also the night of that weird blue-ish mist. From the looks of it, all of Brooklyn Heights had been submerged in it. It had this weird glow to it, and seemed to cover everything. As far as I could see from my bedroom window, anyway.

The strangest thing was when we heard a sort of groaning coming from outside. I had never heard anything like it, but followed my parents out of curiosity.

You won't believe this, but there was a ghost on our lawn. I had never seen one before, but I was pretty sure that that's what it was. It was kinda blue, and see-through, and it was hovering in the air. Its movements were slow and it didn't speak, but every now and again I heard this strange moaning sound again. Like the normal complaints from old people, but there was a definite echo and I didn't see his mouth opening.

Just when I thought that this night couldn't get any more odd, I saw a second ghost! It looked exactly like the first one, but it was a woman. They both seemed peaceful enough, so we left them alone and went back inside, all of us unsure of what the fuck we had just seen.

Needless to say, falling asleep wasn't overly easy that night. The blue mist didn't just fill all of Brooklyn Heights, it also filled every single tiny space in our house. It was unsettling, and I felt uneasy. Just like the ghosts it didn't seem to cause any harm, it was just there, looking very unnatural. Feeling very unnatural.

When I eventually fell asleep, I had... dreams. Involving Danni. Now I just want to make very clear that I'm not a pervert! I had never had this sort of dream before. Hell, I had never even fantasized about this sort of thing before! It got pretty heavy in my dream, and when I woke up just as I was getting used to it I was hard as a brick, and felt very embarrassed.

I had only talked to her a few times! I couldn't even picture her face properly without leaving out details. Or at least I thought so. After all, I hadn't paid that much attention to her big brown eyes before, or her freckles. It wasn't right to have dreams like that about a girl I hardly knew!

Maker, it was a good thing I didn't have to share my room.

When I woke up the next morning, the mist was gone. Like it had never been there to begin with. My feelings of unease were gone, and I felt even worse about what I had dreamed about. The worst part was that I had really liked the dream, and had secretly wished that it would happen again. Let me just say again: Not a pervert! I didn't lust after girls I didn't know. Hell, I had never lusted after any girl before!

I really wanted to take my mind off it as much as possible before meeting her in the afternoon. Whatever had happened that night, I didn't need it to happen again. I focused on this new formula I had found in my chemistry book, and hoped that for once it would turn out well.

The day just flew by, and before I knew it my Biology class was over and I was heading towards the park.

I hadn't been waiting long when I saw her approach from the corner of my eye. I hadn't seen her arrive or anything, but I knew that she was now walking towards me.

Because of that dream the night before I wanted to get to know her even more. Not to re-enact its contents, but because I felt like I owed her. There was no way she could have known, but I knew, and I wanted to make it up to her.

"Rhys?" I heard her ask, her voice showing that she wasn't sure if she recognised me or not.

Calm, Rhys, I thought. You can do this.

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Wishes fulfilled:

Do Laundry

Generation Three - Chapter Two

Making potions wasn't as easy as I had imagined. My chemistry teacher always made it look like the easiest thing there was, but it really wasn't. I had already spent every afternoon after school on this project, sometimes until late into the night, and had nothing to show for it.

Most things I had created in this room so far had either exploded on me, started bubbling which had made them look suspiciously like acid, or had smelled so bad that I had happily destroyed them. I had spent so many months on this already that it seemed weird to me that I still hadn't come up with anything, but there you have it. Countless hours of work and effort, and absolutely no result.

But what can you do, huh?



I couldn't work on my formulas in school either, 'cause I actually really wanted an A. I wasn't as smart as Mum, but I was smarter than most of the idiots I went to school with. Every day I came home it was homework first, experimenting second. And singing? Yeah, I hardly had time for that. It sucked, but I just couldn't make the time for it during the week.

The worst part? That smell. My parents were many things, but tidy wasn't one of them. There were heaps of clothes lying around the whole house, but the plates with week old food rests were the worst. I couldn't do anything about them 'cause I already had too much to do, Amelia was a little girl and couldn't have cared less, but my parents had all the time in the world. Dad often worked from home, and Mum hardly worked at all.

Some great parenting that was.



How was I supposed to concentrate with the smell of gone-off chicken rests? Have you ever smelled gone off lemon? The house was a trash pile, seriously.



I was nearly more disturbed by my little sister, who was almost a teenager but was still talking to thin air. Sorry, not thin air. Patterns. That was this freaky looking doll's name. Or so she said, anyway. Honestly, if he actually was real, wouldn't he have an actual name? Like, I dunno, Rick or Harry or something normal like that?

It was impossible to ask her about this, though. Of course he wouldn't! She'd say. He's a doll, stupid, he doesn't have human names! See what I had to deal with? And she was calling me stupid, imagine that.



I was ecstatic when I finally had a drinkable potion in front of me. It sure took my mind of my weird sister, and made this all feel like less of a time waster. I wasn't too sure what it was, but it smelled all right. To be on the safe side I did some tests on it, which all showed that it was safe to swallow.

Of course, no one volunteered. I suppose I couldn't really blame them, but I would have loved to know what exactly I had created. Then again, I wasn't too fussed about drinking this myself, so unfortunately I wasn't about to find out.



It only took my mind of things for so long, though. My sister was a teenager by now and had started High School, but guess what? Yeah, she was still going on about Patterns. My obsession with my doll hadn't lasted that long or gone as far as treating her like a real person, so something was obviously off with my sister.

Needless to say, my parents were somewhat worried. How'd you feel if you walked in on your sister having a freaking pillow fight with herself? I hadn't even known it was possible, but I had seen her do it with my own eyes. Honestly, I didn't know what to think. It was a doll, for fuck's sake, but she was convinced it was more than that.

"Hi, Rhys. Have you got a sec?"

"Hmh" I answered, meaning no, I'm doing my homework. Which she didn't understand, so she started talking about Patterns.



"You really can't see him?"

"No, sis, none of us can."

"But he's right here! Next to me!" She looked at me as if she didn't believe me, and sighed when I didn't cave in. "Listen, can I ask you something?"

Maybe I should chat to her about impossible things while she was doing her homework, and see how she likes it. My turn to sigh. "Sure, what's up?"

"You're really good with those potions, huh?"

"I've been working on them for months and created one thing, which no ones wants to drink." If she wanted to interpret that as a yes, let her. No one correct her.

"Listen, erm..." You know that feeling when you know something's coming but you're not sure what it is so it makes you all nervous? Yeah, I was feeling that in this very moment. "Patterns says there's a potion that could turn him visible to you guys. He'd look like you and me, not like a doll." Oh Maker, where had she heard that rubbish?

"Erm, okay?" What was I supposed to say to that? It's not every day your little sister asks you to turn her imaginary friend into a real person. Can't say I was prepared.

"Well, do you think you could make it?"

It was a stupid plan, but she was my sister. "Don't think so, just look what I've created so far. This potion you're on about sounds tricky, I doubt I could just make that." She left after that, but thanked me for trying. Didn't remember saying that I would give it a shot, but apparently it had sounded like that to her. Little sisters, huh?



Talking to my Dad was much easier. He wasn't insane, for one. Or actually, maybe he was, 'cause he was still using that slip-and-slide every day, nearly all day. Wasn't he told old for this? I was worried his bones would just crack one day, and that'd be it! The way he threw himself at this thing couldn't be healthy at his age.

That was partly why I wanted to talk to him. I had always gotten on with both my parents, but never quite as well with Dad as I had with Mum. He was old, and I wanted to make sure that we had a good father-son thing going when his time came. Not that I thought that was any time soon, he was healthy for all I knew, but you could never be sure, right?

Only thing that annoyed me with both of them was that they insisted to teach us how to drive. Couldn't say I was overly interested, but it seemed to mean a lot to them, so I figured it could bring us closer if Dad taught me. Mum was gonna teach Amelia, who was way more thrilled at the prospect than I was.



In all fairness, it wasn't that bad. Dad was a good teacher, it was just scary like things usually were when you did them for the first time. I was scared I was gonna crash us into something or someone, but Dad didn't let me go as far as the city.

He did let me go as far as the bridge, though.



It was a weird feeling driving across myself, especially since I knew how bad traffic usually was on the other side. People in the city were worst drivers than I was in my first lesson, I had no idea how they still had their licences.

I was grateful when he demanded I turn around immediately after the bridge. He was so persistent that I thought I'd have to make a U-turn for him to be happy, but got away with driving within the law.



When the weekend came I made my way down to the karaoke bar. I had done some more experimenting on the Saturday, and really needed some fun after some more disappointing non-results.

It was still early, only just gone one, so no one was really around yet. Just me, the bartender, the proprietor and some desperate wanna-be who couldn't have done a worse job. Since the karaoke machine was occupied, I decided to just wait for her turn to be over and watch. But Maker, she was bad!



It was a good thing no other customers were around, she would have scared them off easily. I wondered, not for the first time, if she was just here for the fun of it, or if she was like me. If she wanted to become a famous singer one day. To be honest, with her lack of talent I hoped for the first option, just to save her the embarrassment.

Painful as it was, I was patient and waited for her to be done. I gave her some polite applause, and made my way over to the machine as she made her way down.



Our eyes met. She looked amused, like she knew that I had only clapped to be polite. She also gave me that look that said You do it better, then! 

Oh, she was on!



The moment I started singing I owned that stage! It was fair to say that I sang my heart out, and Maker had I needed it! With school and my experiments, I only really had time for this at the weekends now, which really made me crave graduation.

Once I was done with school there was no way I'd ever be doing anything else every again, but until then I had to take what I could get.

Singing helped me relax, and I sure needed a lot of that.



Creating some potion to turn something imaginary into a solid, real person was going to be stressful enough as it was.

Might as well sing when I had the chance.

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Wishes fulfilled

Earn an A in school
Join an after school activity
Discover a potion
Finish a book
Become best friends with Dad
Sing Karaoke