The Crazy Adventures of Aqua Girl

Chapter 19 - Quarter Past Midnight

"Goodnight, Cascade. You deserve a rest after those great races." I nodded at the coach in thanks as I trudged out of the reception, exhausted. I had won all of my heats, and five new shiny medals clinked together around my neck as I walked. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness of the outside, I recognized my mom's car and raced towards it, eager to get home and sleep. I swung open the passenger door and climbed in, dumping my soggy swim bag on the floor.

"Hey Mom." I exclaimed, clicking my seat-belt on. My mother was tapping away at her phone, and I caught a glimpse of it before she tucked it away. All I saw was the name 'Brian'. Hm, suspicious.

"Hey sweet cheeks! Did you win?" Ugh, Mom. You don't win a swimming heat. You just get the best timings and possibly receive prizes for that. But I couldn't be bothered to launch into a full on rant about that, so I kept quiet.

"Er...yeah." I muttered, turning Mom's crappy 80s music radio off and filling the car with silence. Ah, that was better.

"Hey, I was listening to that!" Mom cried, steering out of the car park and onto the streets of San Francisco. "Anyway, I keep meaning to ask you something but never got round to it."

Uh oh, what now?

"I...I'm inviting a friend round for dinner tomorrow night, and I'd like you to eat with us." 

Say what?

Whenever Mom had her friends round, they just drank wine and chatted the night away, always ushering me back to my room whenever I strayed out to get food.

Hang on a minute...

"Mom, is this a guy friend?" I asked, looking over as she concentrated on the road. She grimaced before answering.

"Maybe..."

Bingo.

"Mom! You could've told me! Is his name Brian?" My mother began to blush as she turned down 8th street.

"Look, sweetie, you've got to be on your best behaviour tomorrow, ok?"

Aw, sweet.

"Sure, Mom." I muttered, looking out the window at the blur of city lights and buildings. Mom pulled into the underground car park and pulled up in our apartment's space, labelled 'BROWN' for obvious reasons. 

After I had slumped on my bed and changed into my trusty Star Wars pajamas, my glowing alarm clock told me it was 11pm. Time for some 'Return Of The Jedi', I do believe. I grabbed the DVD from my shelf and pushed it into the player, flicking on my TV and plonking myself in my bean bag. Too bad I was grounded, or else ice cream would've been a nice accompaniment to this. Oh well. Serves me right for disappearing for a day and fighting my dad, doesn't it?

At the end of the movie, Leia finished talking about Luke to Han by saying "Oh. No, it's not like that at all. He's my brother." The couple kiss and I watched the final scenes of the movie before looking up at the alarm clock. 12:15am. Perfect timing. I clicked my TV off and was about to drag my beanbag to the corner of the room when I saw movement out of the corner of my eye, at my window. I dumped the beanbag on the floor and took a step closer to the window, my heart beating wildly.

I should've guessed.

It was Blaze Boy, crouching at the window with none other than Rufus, my Rufus, in his arms. He motioned for me to open the window, and I stood in my room, shocked, until I finally moved, unbolting the window at lightning pace. Blaze Boy and Rufus tumbled into my room, knocking over a pile of school textbooks in the process. Rufus bounded up to me and began scrambling up my legs, his tail wagging like a helicopter rotor blade.

"How did you...?" I was dumb-founded, how the heck did Blaze Boy know Rufus was my dog, let alone he was missing? As I knelt down to comfort and stroke Rufus, Blaze Boy tapped the side of his nose, signifying it was a secret. I hate secrets.

"I'd like to see you make up a story to tell your Mom for this one." Blaze Boy mused, as I stood back up at gazed into his creamy, hazel eyes.

"You like to make things difficult, don't you, Blazey Boy?" I retorted, smirking at him. "Oh by the way, you missed a fight the other day."

"No way. Did you survive without me?" I narrowed my eyes at him, getting annoyed.

"I'm standing right in front of you, you dweeb. I did perfectly fine. Chemiwoman and I make a great team." I stated, leaning down to stroke Rufus, who was extremely excited. "Anyway, where did you find Rufus?"

"He was roaming around 16th Street." Blaze Boy said, sitting down on my bed. Rufus joined him and curled up in a small shape, so I flopped onto the pillow.

"And why are you floating around at quarter past midnight, Blazey Boy?" I asked, liking this new nickname I had given him. I had a lot of other possible nicknames for him, but some were inappropriate, and went something along the lines of Mr Cocky Pants.

I think they suited him more, but anyway.

"Insomnia."

Oh, that thing where people can't get to sleep. Sometimes I wish I had insomnia so I could stay up all night doing useful things. 

"That's cool...and not cool." Great one, Cass. Blaze Boy's face lit up in a grin, and I was about to say something to cover up my weird comment when I heard my mom's footsteps approach my door.

You're in for it now, Cass.