ᴅᴏᴜʙʟᴇ ʟɪғᴇ✗ᴄ.ᴅᴀᴠᴇɴᴘᴏʀᴛ/ʙ.ᴀʟʟᴇɴ

Chapter Four

"Shit," I cursed as I, once again, managed to trip over my own feet. 

"Hang in there for a bit longer buddy," Leo whispered. "Just wait until we're in the lab and out of Bree's range of hearing". 

"Buddy?" I laughed back, earning a glare from Leo. 

I glanced down in shame, idiotically achieving another stumble. 

The trip to the lab seemed like forever. My sudden change in height resulted in many bruises and face plants with the floor, which also caused Leo to come up with a ship name for me and the floor - Choor. 

Once the three of us finally reached the lab, I instantly rushed to flop down into a chair. I had begun to get dizzy; probably an effect of being unbalanced for a long period of time, but I'd just have to get used to it. 

"I think I might've been a bit too eager to get you out of that hospital bed, Chase," Mr Davenport sighed. "I should've left you more time to adjust to all this". 

"It's fine," I quickly replied, avoiding a long scientific lecture. Any other time I would've loved to listen to what he had to say, but, this time, my head already hurt too much.  But, to be honest, I would've loved to have more time to 'adjust' to this body. Theres so many things that I had to do differently now: actions, speech patterns, dietary requirements, re-learn how to walk without constantly tripping up... 

"You OK Chase?"

I looked up, slightly startled. It took me a moment to digest what I was being asked.

"Oh, um, yeah. I guess I am". 

"You sure? You just turned down a nerdy lecture from Big D. That usually indicates that there's something wrong with you". 

"Sure," I replied, missing the weird look Leo was giving me. "It's just a lot to take in. I'll be fine in a day or so". 

All three of us sat there in silence for a while, lost in our own trains of thought. 

"How long has it been since Bree last saw me. Well, last saw Chase?" I asked, finally breaking the dead air. 

"Why do you ask?" Leo quickly responded. 

I shrugged. 

"In the ride home I overheard you guys talking about how it may be hard for me to adjust since it'd been a while. I assumed you were talking about the period of time since I was 'alive'. Plus, she seemed a bit offended at the thought of Gavin taking over my place... if that makes sense. Besides, and it's quite hard to miss this, practically all of my belongings are gone. You don't get rid of a dead relatives things a day after they pass". 

Leo looked over at Mr Davenport. "I told you he'd notice," he hissed. 

Mr Davenport rolled his eyes at Leo before turning to me. 

"Four months" he said seriously.

I sighed. 

"Seriously Chase, we kinda helped you in a way here," Leo laughed. "You need new clothes anyway. There is no way that any of your tiny doll clothes would fit you now". 

I glared at him, although he did make a pretty good point. I was going to have to buy some new things.

I stood up and sighed, listening to Leo and Mr Davenport ramble on about something; I honestly couldn't give a damn about whatever they were talking about. I slowly walked over to the line of capsules, running my hand along my one.  At some point the other two stopped talking and watched me. 

"How am I going to use this without drawing attention to myself?" I asked, unintentionally out loud. 

"I already thought of that," Mr Davenport said proudly. "These past few years I've been working on a way for you, Adam and Bree to go without having to use your capsules. I finally found the answer to that, and have installed it into your chip. Sadly, we had a run in with Douglas last month, who destroyed all my research into creating the device. So, basically, you're the only one who doesn't have to use their capsule. However, it is a prototype you're using, so do let me know if anything feels wrong".  

I nodded. 

"Bree was the one who decided we shouldn't get rid of it though," Leo added. 

"Hey, Leo!" An upbeat voice came from behind us. I spun around only to see Adam striding into the lab, a grin spread across his face. 

"Yeah, Adam?" Leo replied. 

"You're smart, right?" 

"Well, not trying to brag or anything, but I've been getting straight A's in English for the whole of this year".   

"Perfect! You can do my chemistry assignment for me! I'd usually get Chase to do it but he's not here anymore, so you're getting promoted to the nerd of the house". 

"Awesome" Leo muttered, rolling his eyes. 

"Hey, who's the guy by the Capsules?" He gasped suddenly, "you aren't one of Douglas's evil henchmen are you?" 

I rolled my eyes as I watched Adam get into a fighting stance. "You can't be serious" I muttered. 

"That's Dr Fowler, my new intern" Mr Davenport told Adam. 

Dr?

"Huh?" He replied. 

Mr Davenport sighed. "Well," he said. "I need to go upstairs and do a... thing. Have fun trying to explain the word intern to Adam". He quickly left. 

"Seriously, who is that?" Adam prompted. 

"Big D's lab assistant," Leo clarified. 

"Oh," Adam said. 

He quickly walked up to me, grinning, and stuck out a hand for me to shake.

"How's it going, I'm Adam". 

"Gavin". 

It was a bit of an awkward exchange, since I now happen to be the same height as him. Awesome, I thought. No possible way of him making anymore short jokes.  

"So, this means you're smart, right?"

That question caught me off guard. "Um..."

"Oh yeah, he's insanely smart," Leo said. "Almost as smart as Chase was". 

"Sweet," Adam breathed before turning to Leo. "Sorry Leo, but I'm afraid you're getting replaced". He then turned back to me. "Gavin, bud, you'd be alright with doing my chem homework, right?"

I sighed, nodding. Despite Adam making it sound like I had a choice in the matter, I really didn't. Besides, I knew I wasn't going to be returning to Mission Creek High any time soon, so doing Adam's homework would be the closest way I could get to being at school again. 

"Awesome," Adam cried before running out of the room, leaving me and Leo alone in the Lab. 

I quickly turned to Leo, shooting a look in his direction. 

He shrugged. "Just thought you'd like to reprise your role of being the 'nerd of the house'". 

"Thanks mate, I appreciate it". 

I paused. 

That was definitely not how I usually spoke... 

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Hey guys!! So, I hope you enjoyed this weeks chapter. Please let me know what you think!

By the way, I'm now on summer holidays so I'll probably be more active than usual now so that'll be fun :) 

As always, thanks for reading! Have a great day! 

Emmy :)