How We Became Us

Chapter 5

It was Thursday after school; Heather had dragged Connor and Matt to the diner. Matt had just walked out of his debate team meeting when Heather had grabbed his wrist out of nowhere and yanked him out of the school. Matt thought he was getting kidnapped and panicked for a brief second until he realized it was Heather.

"Why must we be here when you want to see Andy?" Connor asked as she dragged them into the restaurant.

"Because I want to tell him the good news, and Kelly is here, so we can tell both of them," Heather explained, and instead of going to the back booth, she went up to the bar area and sat down, pulling Connor and Matt down on either side of her. Kelly, who was by the counter, raised his eyebrows at the trio and turned into the kitchen to call for Andy.

"Hey," Andy said excitedly when he spotted Heather but stopped when he noticed Matt and Connor on either side.

"Hey," Heather beamed, and Matt and Connor looked at each other over her head and chuckled.

"Ow," Connor and Matt yelped when Heather pinched both sides.

"What can I get you?" Kelly asked.

"We are here to do something for you," Heather grinned, and Andy and Kelly looked at each other in confusion.

"We are?" Connor and Matt asked, and Heather nodded. She snapped her fingers in front of Matt, and Matt glanced at her hand and then at her, not knowing what she was asking for.

"Bag?" Matt asked, and she nodded. Matt sighed, removed his backpack, and placed it on the counter before her. She dug through it until she pulled out a notebook and pencil. She flipped to a random page and stared at Kelly.

"What was your house number?" Heather asked, and Kelly frowned.

"615," Kelly said slowly and then Heather turned to Andy.

"620," Andy said, and Heather nodded and grabbed Matt's laptop from his bag.

"You know you have a bag as well," he said, but she waved him off. Matt looked around and ensured no one was listening before leaning closer to Kelly and Andy. "We managed to find a way to rebuild your neighbourhood with no cost to you guys, and whatever you were paying before will stay the same. We're going to make the houses look more modern, and for those who lost the house and want to come back, we are giving them a chance to choose little details about the house's structure. Like open plan, large windows, balcony, patio, etc."

"Wait, it's happening?" Kelly asked, surprised, and Matt nodded.

"I'm going over tonight to my father's construction company to talk to the board and start putting together a team, and by Sunday, the project should be up and running, and some people either from my team, Heath's or Con's would contact everyone to let them know it's happening. Heather will set up some donations to help you guys with the furnishing payment, if possible, or pay for anything else you lost. Since we are also working with Rhodes, you guys can choose from their selection of vehicles. You would need to pay for them, but Connor is working out a deal for everyone. Then the technology stuff will be from Caddell's," Matt explained and glanced over to find Heather looking at the neighbourhood in maps through satellite view.

"When will it be done?" Andy asked.

"March? April? I don't know, but early next year," Matt replied, giving a rough estimate for a timeline. He would also need to talk to the board about that.

"Oh, and I have some rough sketches of new layouts and websites for your mother's company," Heather said absentmindedly.

"I can't promise anything with the cars but you wouldn't need to pay for moving trucks, I'm covering that," Connor added in and left the two boys stunned. Andy had doubts when Heather told him Matt's original plan, and Kelly didn't believe that it was happening—or better yet, that it was happening so quickly. He would love to leave the shitty apartment he and his mom are currently living in, but he didn't trust Matthew—who was a stranger, still is—when he had said he was going to fix something his father caused.