EXISTENCE: Recovery

Chapter 13: A Stain

The girl called Vivi stood at her door, clutching her frying pan. She had relatively short hair, with a large lock rolling over her right ear. She was visibly brown-skinned, but with a golden hue, and had a good figure about her. She walked over to the two boys, looking over at them. 

The first thing Adam noticed about her were her eyes. They were golden irises, shining out from her smiling face. He slowly got up and dusted himself off, while Andre did the same. He looked over to Andre. "I told you to look out! You should have moved! I probably could've killed you from that far up!"

Andre blinked, looked over to Vivi, and back to Adam, and burst out laughing. "You? Kill me?" He howled. "I'm sorry Adam, but a shrimp like you won't ever be able to bring someone like me down." He rolled up a sleeve and flexed, showing off a defined, dark skinned bicep. "See what I mean? I've got gains, my dude."

Adam grinned. "That's nothing. Look at this!" He pulled up his own arm and flexed, showing his own well-defined bicep on a thin arm. He pulled his arm down. "I've got 'gains' of my own!" 

Vivi stepped in between the two boys. "Put those guns away, kids. We had plans, remember?" She shot a look to Andre. 

Adam looked at her. "Did I ruin something? I'm sorry." 

Vivi gave the boy a once-over, and smiled. "Well, aren't you just adorable? Who is this, Andre?"

Andre gave a sheepish grin. "That's Antar."

Vivi went wide-eyed. "Wait, Antar? Adam Antar?" She turned to Adam. "You're the kid who became a high-school soccer legend overnight?"

Adam scowled. "Overnight? I've always been good at football."

Andre chuckled. "Wow, conceited much?"

Adam folded his arms behind his head. "My dad always said that if you were good at something, be proud of it. I'm not holding back."

Vivi giggled. "Well, come on in, both of you."

Adam tilted his head. "Me too?"

Vivi walked over and grabbed him by the arm. "Especially you, kid, I want to learn everything I can about you." She dragged him inside, Andre following suit.

Adam looked around the house. It contained a nice living room area, with several hallways leading to different rooms. Sitting on the couch were two older adults, presumably Vivi's parents, watching on the large television mounted on the wall. The woman looked back at her daughter, asking "Valerie, dear, did you find out what all that noise was?" She paused and stared at the two boys behind her. "Okay, hello, Andre, and who are you?" She focused on Adam. "You're a small one. Are you also in Valerie's class?"

Vivi smiled. "Apparently so. He's the soccer star I told you about! He was wild out there!" She pinched one of his cheeks. "And look how adorable he looks! He could easily be a superstar, I bet." She turned and gave him a mischeivous grin. "I bet cute girls everywhere would want a piece of that, am I wrong?"

Adam gave a nervous laugh. "I mean, I do want to play professionally but, not for such a stupid reason like girls."

Vivi blinked. "Stupid? Aren't you a guy?"

Adam raised an eyebrow. "What's being a guy got to do with anything? I just have a dream, and I'm doing it because I want to, and I want to make my people proud!"

Andre laughed, and slung his arm around the boy's shoulders. "It's no use, Vivi, this guy's nothing like me, so don't go thinking otherwise."

Adam gave his grin. "I'm my own person."