บท 11: Old 'Friends'

[The Next Day]

*Knock, Knock*

"Zane! They are almost here! Are you awake?" I heard my mother calling for me.

"no" I replied. I don't even have to open my eyes to know it's too early for whatever my mum is planning. Im just gonna keep sleeping-

Wait, someone is coming?

"Zane Zanithy Zouglas, Get up right this instant or you're grounded from the Nest!"

*Thump*

I ran across the room, threw my shirt off and changed it for a clean one, did the same process with my pants then ran to the door, taking about 14 seconds to pull off. Opening the door while panting I look at her and ask, "You didn't really mean that right?"

But she gave me a look that told me that she really would lock the Nest. Who knew if she would put on a shocking doorknob on it but I can't afford to delay my experiments anymore.

"Get dressed PROPERLY. In your NICE CLOTHES. We are having old friends coming over and I don't want them to see you half awake in casual clothes while I and Cliff all look like this."

It was then I realized my mother has gone all out dressing up. I can't imagine an old friend would warrant such treatment, especially if you are reconnecting with them for god knows how long now. But I don't want to make her even angrier, so I just nod and watch as she walks away.

'Wow, that was close. I can't remember the last time she cared about how I dressed... like ever.'

Deciding to go on a deep dive into my closet, I try to search for something remotely presentable. My current closet is just sweatpants and T-shirts for home wear and a uniform for school. After giving up my search, I went to open my door and tell my mother that I don't have any presentable clothes. But before I could grab the door handle, it flung open with my mother's face on the other end of it. After getting over my initial shock, I can see she is holding a fancy little black suit with stupid frills on the end of the sleeves... Oh no.

[1 Very Annoyed Dress Up Later]

God, I can hardly breathe, I can't believe people willingly wear these types of clothes. Whoever I'm meeting better be worth it.

"Zane! Get ready, they are almost here!" I heard my mother shouting from the front door.

"Who are we even meeting too begin with?"

"Your Aunty"

Huh? You have relatives? Where are all the family photos? What do you mean?

"Don't give me such a confused look, why do you think we are reconnecting?"

Before I could even reply there was a banging at the front door, which caused me to frown.

'What a horrid way to knock, it's like this person is just punching the door.'

Dad opened the door to see who had knocked when a tall, skinny figure walked into the door frame. Wearing a fancy black dress and holding a black umbrella, she surveyed her surroundings before looking at my mum.

"Martha! Why do I have to knock, or even have to take the Knight Bus? Do you have no Floo Network installed?"

Floo network? Is that some sort of new transportation system? Has this world always been slightly different than what I expected and just never looked deeper for convenience? Surely not right?

As if to prove my point my mother immediately snaps back with a,

"What is a Floo Network?"

The figure in the door frame gave my mother a long stare, before opening her mouth to presumably explain what a Floo Network is before my dad cuts her off.

"Let's not all stand at the door, come in, come in, I'm sure the journey here was long."

"It would have been ten times faster if you just opened your damn-!"

My mother cut her off again.

"Abagail, it's been so long, let's not complain within the first few minutes ok?"

I shivered instinctively when I heard my mother's quip towards my presumed aunt, Abagail.

"Whatever! Who is this runt staring at me without introducing himself?"

Is she talking to me? I look around as if to see if there's someone behind me or I have suddenly gained a sibling. Turning back to Abagail I look at her with a confused look, as if I'm looking at a confused old lady who has entered the wrong house. As if she can sense my thoughts, looking at her forehead vein throbbing. She lashed out at me.

"YES, YOU, WHO ELSE IS A LITTLE RUNT IN THIS HOUSE?"

I decided to keep looking at her, hoping she can understand I'm thinking of her being the runt. But before I could see the results of that, my mother stepped in.

"How DARE you talk to my son like that, Zane, go to the Nest."

Looking at her with undisguised glee, I simply said "Ciao" and walk to my room to get this stupid suit off of me. While I was walking away, I heard my mother start to go off and I somehow felt bad for Abagail. Sounds like my mother brought up some childhood thing, which resulted in Abagail screeching, before running away in embarrassment(?), Im not totally sure, but it was funny to watch from a distance.

Staying in the Nest, I prepare to read a new shipment of books before my parents walk in with a serious aura. Never a good day to see my Mother serious, let me tell you. However, before they can even open their mouths.

"I don't care."

Looking at them both, gauging their reactions. I know they wanted to tell me why my mother's sister was such a character but I needed to make it clear to them that I genuinely don't care because it didn't affect me in the slightest.

After a minute of silence, my Mother gets up and walks away. Suddenly I'm feeling like I didn't explain myself properly and turned to my dad to try and clear it up.

"I mean, I don't care because it didn't affect me." My Dad gets up as well, and just nods, before walking out as well. Im not sure why I'm feeling uneasy about what just happened, but I don't see anything that went wrong so I'm probably fine.

Hearing the door shut, I tried to turn my attention back to my book, but it was not as desirable anymore. Thinking this I just start looking at my desk while zoning out, before realizing I was looking at the now faded ink stain.

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A/N: Hello. Me. Im sure you know me by now.

Anyways,

I took a break, watched some youtube, uh, I don't remember the past 3 hours, wrote another chapter. Did Zane mess up with his parents by assuming what they were going to talk about? almost certainly. What were they going to talk about? Guess.

Anyways this is the first misunderstanding and probably the last, I want to use misunderstandings as a way to teach Zane to communicate more effectively compared to just trying to have the foresight to see what people are going to say and thinking about how to respond to what you think they are going to say. Something I have ended up doing quite often myself.

I have also re--re-redone the synopsis. I think it fits better because I steered the story away from what it was originally going to be.

If you are reading the novel like 'When does he get crazy' just put some perspective on things, or you can wait for me to show you in the coming chapters.